Feature request: per device billing

felix

It would be great to create recurring invoices that include device counts in the product for selling per device billing services.

johnny

I like this idea. We also have a per device plan as well as per user plan with 3 levels each.

Maybe we can do the same for per user by matching the contacts of a client as well.

Maybe we can do a select box in contacts and assets with managed contract select dropdown that is predefined under products and allow you to select the recurring invoice Number beside it

I'm not sure the best way of going about this but deff puts some thought that wasn't there before

felix

johnny It looks like you're half way there already if you can add a service to an invoice. Unless I'm misinterpreting the use of 'Services' under a client page.

wrongecho

Services is more for documentation. It's intended as a high level way to link together assets, passwords, documents, client contacts, etc.

https://forum.itflow.org/d/8-services

felix

wrongecho OK, I see its usefulness now. The way Services allows attaching of users and assets is how I would imagine per device/user billing would work. If recurring invoicing can pull the service's user and asset counts, it would satisfy the feature requirements. Billing might be different depending on asset type so that's an extra concern.

felix

I was just thinking backup space used might be another concern for this feature. The two options I was considering:

A post backup script that sends space used information though the API
A calculation based off HDD space used in general (works for image based backups)

I imagine the simplest implementation of this part of the feature would be handled by a new asset field that collects disk space used (either from the PC or the backup software depending on individual strategy). In my research, I came across PSAs that have this feature only for their proprietary backup software. Some have this feature only through extensive customization. Implementing this feature means ITF can compete with over priced PSAs.

wrongecho

felix

Hey Felix.

First, thank you so much for helping out on the forums. Your contributions are noticed and appreciated.

For this type of thing, I think the ability to have custom fields is probably going to be best. That way people can store whatever they want from their custom scripts via the API rather than being tied into what we "allow" - the possibilities would be endless.

felix

wrongecho I couldn't agree more, the asset API is already fantastic. I can't wait to see it expanded to passwords, invoices, and tickets.

Thank you to you devs, you're so accommodating and attentive. I'm happy I can take part in something I actively use everyday.