Creating Meters
This topic explains how to create a Meter for collecting the data which you will use to set up usage-based pricing for your Products or data required for other business purposes.
Understanding Meter Options! We strongly recommend that you review the options available for configuring Meters before you attempt to create them. See Reviewing Meter Options.
To create a Meter:
1. Select Usage>Meters. The Meters page opens.
2. In the Product drop-down, select the Product for which you want to create the new Meter.
Tip: Global Meter? You can create a Global Meter, which is not tied to a specific Product if you want to charge across several Products on the basis of the usage data the Meter collects. If you remove the selection, (Global) will show for Product.
3. Select Create Meter. The Create page opens:
4. Enter the Meter details:
Name. Descriptive name for the Meter.
Code. Unique identifier for the Meter in the m3ter system. You will need this Code as a unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to update a Meter.
Notes:
When you've entered a Name and clicked in the Code field, a Code is automatically entered based on the Name. You can then edit the auto-generated Code as required.
The Code string has a maximum length of 80 characters and must not contain non-printable or whitespace characters (except space), and cannot start/end with whitespace.
5. Add the Data Fields you need to collect usage data. For example, a field to collect data on the volume of files stored on your service:
Name. Descriptive name for the field.
Code. Unique Identifier for field. You will need this Code as a unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to submit measurements for this field.
Notes:
When you've entered a Name and clicked in the Code field, a Code is automatically entered based on the Name. You can then edit the auto-generated Code as required.
The Code string has a maximum length of 80 characters and can only contain letters, numbers, underscore, and the dollar character, and must not start with a number. The same applies to the Code used for any Derived Fields you add to a Meter - see Step 6 below.
Category. Defines what type of usage data you want to collect using this field. Select a Measure field type for this example.
Unit. Defines the unit of measure, which is GiBy for this example.
Important: Units of Measure? The units you use for your Data Fields should conform to The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM), which is designed to facilitate the communication between electronic systems of quantities with their units. In our worked example, we therefore use GiBy as the unit for gigabytes stored.
6. Add any required Derived Fields or Custom Fields to the Meter:
For more on Derived Fields, see the next topic.
For more on Custom Fields, see Adding and Editing Custom Fields. We strongly recommend reviewing Working with Custom Fields before you create and use Custom Fields.
7. Select Create. The Meter Details page opens:
8. If you want to edit a Meter's details, select the Edit button, make your changes, and click Update.
9. If you want to remove a Meter, return to the Meters page and select the Delete button for the Meter:
A confirmation popup opens.
10. Select Yes to confirm the delete action.
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