Introducing Balance Billing: Automate Prepaid and Postpaid Credit Management in m3ter

What is the new Balance Billing feature?

m3ter’s new Balance Billing feature enables SaaS companies to automate and manage prepaid and postpaid usage-based credit balances directly within the platform. It supports both scheduled and on-demand (ad hoc) balance transactions, which can be (optionally) billed automatically via Charges—appearing as line items on m3ter-generated bills.

Key Terminology

• Balance Transaction: A record that increases or decreases a customer’s available credit balance. Transactions can be created manually or on a recurring schedule.
• Charge: Defines the monetary amount to be billed for a Balance Transaction. Charges appear as bill line items and can also be scheduled or created ad hoc.
• Bill Job: The automated billing process that collects Charges and generates bill line items to be invoiced.

How does Balance Billing work?

1. Merchants can create Balance Transactions, manually or on a schedule. Both ad hoc and schedule transactions that automatically adjust the balance total.
2. To bill a Balance Transaction, a Charge must be created (either ad hoc or scheduled). The charge can be created in the same or different currency to the Balance Transaction.  
3. Any currency configured in m3ter can be used to create both the charge or the balance transaction.
4. When the bill job runs, it collects all active Charges and adds them as bill line items to be invoiced through the accounts receivable (AR) system.

What use cases does this feature address?

• Handling multi-currency balances, where the balance currency differs from the charge currency.
• Supporting customer specific top-up amounts based on individual usage patterns.
• Automating balance replenishment, via a schedule ensuring service continuity.
• Provides flexibility by decoupling Charges from Transactions, allowing customers to schedule billing independently of balance transactions (top ups).

Benefits of Balance Billing for Usage-Based SaaS Companies

• Simplified management of prepaid and postpaid credit models across various currencies and customer-specific configurations.
• Automation of balance top-ups and billing, reducing manual workload.
• Transparent, itemised billing for customers receiving prepaid service credits or postpaid balance adjustments.
• Flexibility to manage billing and balances independently or in tandem, depending on the business model.

What is being introduced?

• Support for automated or manual Balance Transactions (credits/debits).
• Ad hoc and scheduled Charges to bill for balance usage or top-ups.
• Enhanced console visibility to preview and manage Transactions and Charges.
• Integration with the bill job to automate the billing of created Charges.

How does billing automation work for balances?

To bill a balance:

1. Create a Charge:

• Option 1: Ad hoc – manually enter a charge amount.
• Option 2: Scheduled – define a recurring charge with frequency and amount.

2. Run the bill job:

• Automatically picks up eligible Charges and generates corresponding bill line items.

All Charges (scheduled or manual) can be previewed and managed within the m3ter console.

How are Balance Transactions created?

1. Ad hoc: Manually initiated by a user.
2. Scheduled: Configured with a recurring frequency.

All Balance Transactions are immediately applied to the balance amount. Balance Transactions are visible and manageable via the Balances UI in m3ter.

See It in Action

Screenshots below show how to create both Balance Transactions and Charges ad hoc and scheduled - along with how they appear in the m3ter console and are processed by the bill job.

1. Creation of a specific “ad hoc” charge amount.

2. Creation of a schedule for a recurring charge amount.

3. Console view of scheduled and ad-hoc charges.

4. Running the bill job results in the creation of bill line item/s (from the previously created charges) on the m3ter bill.

Creation of balance Transactions

1. Ad Hoc: Triggered manually whenever required.

2. Periodically: Based on a recurring schedule using a predefined frequency.

3. Console view of Both ad-hoc and scheduled transactions.

Get Started

Ready to simplify how you manage prepaid and postpaid balances? Log in to m3ter to explore the new Balance Billing capabilities or contact our team for a guided walkthrough.