Performing Billing Queries and Reviewing Results
On the Billing tab in the Data Explorer, you can use the Query Builder to configure and perform queries against the Billing data for your Organization in m3ter. The Query Builder is designed to let you quickly set up and submit a query that returns precisely the right data set to serve your current analytical purposes. You can then review the data in either a flat Data Table or a Pivot Table format.
This topic explains how to work successfully in the Data Explorer to configure and perform queries against your Billing data and review returned data.
Building and Performing a Billing Data Query
To submit queries for Billing data and review returned data:
1. Select Data Explorer. The Data Explorer opens with the Usage tab selected.
2. Select the Billing tab. You can build the specific query you want to perform against billing data collected for your Organization.
3. In the Select period section, define a period to retrieve billing data for:
Time period. Use the drop-down list to select a period for which you want to retrieve billing data. Today is the default. If you want to select a specific period, you can use Custom.
Start date and End date. If you have selected Custom for the query Time period, these date/time fields will be enabled. You can use calendar popups to select the start and end dates/times for the period you want to query.
Start dates are inclusive and End dates are exclusive. For example, if you want data returned for the entire month of June 2023, you must set the Start date at June 1st 2023 and the End date at July 1st 2023. If you set the End date at June 30th 2023, the Custom Time period for your query will end at midnight on June 29th 2023.
Tip: Timezone for Query Start and End Dates/Time? The Start date and End date fields will show the timezone you've set for your Organization. See Managing your Organization.
4. In the Apply filters section, enter the details of any filters you want to apply to the billing data returned for your query:
Line item types. Filter on line item types:
All Line item types. Data will be returned for all Bill line item types.
Selected values. Use the drop-down to select the Bill line item types for which you want to return Billing data.
Accounts. Filter on Accounts:
All Accounts. Data will be returned for all Accounts for which Bills have been created.
Selected values. Use the drop-down to select the Account Code of those Accounts for which you want to return Billing data.
Products. Filter on Products:
All Products. Data will be returned for all Products for which a Bill has been created.
Selected values. Use the drop-down to select the Products for which you want to return Billing data.
In this example we have:
Defined a Custom time period of one month. The Organization Timezone is set to UTC.
Selected a single Account and a single Product to return Billing data for.
Selected for three line item types in the returned Billing data.
5. Select Perform Query. The query executes and the resultant data is loaded into the data tables.
Important: Limits imposed on response payload size and number of rows!
Response too Large: If the response payload for your query is >10MB, this exceeds the limit and you'll receive an error message to inform you. You can either use the available filters to further limit the query result set and re-run your query or use the Export button to download the current results in a
.csvformatted file - see Exporting Query Results.Number of Rows Returned for Query: If the number of rows returned by your query exceeds 5001 but the payload size limit is not exceeded, then only the first 5001 are loaded. You will not receive an error and if you suspect your query return contained more rows, we recommend you use the Export button to download the results in a
.csvformatted file and check.Number of Rows for Export: If you download the query results in a
.csvformatted file, the number of rows is limited to 20001.
Reviewing Billing Data Query Results in a Data Table
You can review the Billing data returned for your query in a Data table:
You can make adjustments to the Data table to:
Show/Hide data element columns.
Reorder the columns.
To Show/Hide columns:
1. Select the book icon at top-right of the table:
A panel appears showing the columns available for the table and you can use switches to select your Show/Hide preferences:
2. Select Update - the panel closes and the Data table refreshes for your Show/Hide selections.
To reorder columns:
1. Select the book icon at top-right. A panel appears listing the available table columns.
2. Drag-and-drop these into a top-bottom ordering to correspond to the left-right ordering you want for the Data table:
2. Select Update. The panel closes and the Data table refreshes for the selected column order:
Reviewing Billing Data Query Results in a Pivot Table
You can review the Billing data returned for your query in a Pivot table:
Tip: Saving Billing Queries? You can save, update already saved, and re-use saved Billing queries. You can also load pre-configured Standard Queries directly into the Query Builder. See Saving, Updating, and Re-Using Queries.
Additional Support
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