Changelog 2023 - m3ter Documentation

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: /llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

More on New Features? Please see the Product News blog for more detailed information on the value you can get from the new features in each release.

December 2023

Product Updates

• The Xero native integration is now available as a beta release version. See Configuring Xero Integrations for more details.

Console Updates

• When you price a Custom Plan for an Account, the Plan is now clearly labelled as Custom in the Pricing Grid.
• The Plan Template create/edit forms in the Console now shows an optional Code field.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: A bottom border misalignment issue that could occur in some browsers for the Bill table page in the Console has now been resolved.
• Fix: On some browsers, a validation error was shown when attempting to enter a decimal value in the Console usage data measurement submission form. This is now resolved.
• Fix: The Recent Accounts panel on the Console Dashboard page now correctly loads only the five most recently visited Accounts.
• Fix: On create and edit forms in the Console, pressing the Enter key after entering a search term in a searchable select drop-down field resulted in the form being submitted prematurely. This no longer occurs.
• Fix: Resolved issues for search API calls: Search Accounts, Search Bills, or Search Commitments:
  • If sortOrder is specified in a searchQuery, the sort now works correctly.
  • The way in which the tilde ”~” comparator works when used in a searchQuery string is now explained in the API Reference topic for these calls.

November 2023

Product Updates

• The Ingest Failure Events feature is now generally available for all customers. This allows you to review and troubleshoot validation failure Events generated when usage data measurements you submit to the platform fail to ingest properly. For more details, see Reviewing and Resolving Ingest Events.
• External Mappings for 3rd-party integrations can now be created in bulk for a given mapping type. See Creating Bulk External Mappings for more details.

Console Updates

• When reviewing Bills in the Bill Management page, you can now filter the Bills listed:
  • By Status to show only the Approved/Pending or Locked.
  • By Bill frequency to show only the Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Annually.
  • See Filtering Bills for more details.
• A breakdown of Overage Usage line item is now shown on Bills.
• Usability improvements:
  • Drop-down selection lists for entities across the Console now show entity Codes as well as Names.
  • Reordering columns for the Bill Management listing and the Data Explorer loaded query Data Tables is now made easier with drag-and-drop functionality.
  • On the Alerts and Users pages, a non-intuitive row click selection is replaced with either an Alert Details button or single User name selection.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: The Compound Aggregation create form now shows a default value of None for the Rounding attribute.
• Fix: The Bill Details page Approve button now properly shows as disabled when the Bill has been Approved.
• Fix: The Global Lock Date modal now correctly locks all Approved Bills whose service period end date falls on or before the specified date.
• Fix: The billId query parameter now shows for the List Statement Job API call in the API Reference.

October 2023

Product Updates

• Organization Admin users can now promptly resend a temporary password to users who failed to log into the platform before their original temporary password expired.
• In the Console, you can now select a Meter set up to collect usage data and perform a File Upload using a CSV formatted file you’ve prepared for usage data measurements ingest into the platform. Prior to ingest, the uploaded file is parsed and loaded into a table for review and validation, with any errors in formatting requirements, required code, or required Meter data fields values clearly shown to ensure data measurements ingest failure is avoided.

Console Updates

• A User’s profile can now be quickly edited for name changes.
• Entity IDs are now shown on entity Details cards. IDs can be copied directly to a user’s clipboard, providing quick access to entity IDs for those working with API calls to the platform.
• When reviewing and investigating Integration Error and Ingest Failure Events, Events are now clearly labelled as either actioned or not actioned, and users can now toggle to show or hide actioned Events.
• Warnings are now clearly shown to alert users to the risk of duplicate billing when switching between consolidated billing and non-consolidated billing across their end-customers Accounts, and after billing has already been run in one of these modes.

API Updates

• New API endpoints are available for Search Accounts, Search Bills, and Search Commitments calls. The searchQuery parameter for each call allows you to build a complex query using a variety of fields available on the queried entity.
• API endpoints are now available for setting up Scheduled Event Configurations. These API calls allow you to create, configure, and manage Scheduled Events as custom Events for your Organization that reference Date/Time fields belonging to configuration and billing entities. Scheduled Events therefore provide you with an extra degree of flexibility over and above system-generated Events when setting up Notifications based on Events.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: The Timestamp field on the Console Submit Usage form is no longer updated automatically for successive usage data ingest measurement submissions.
• Fix: Access to the Account Actions menu from Account pages has been updated to avoid styling overlap issues and to conform to the Console menu access paradigm.
• Fix: The Organization selection screen at Console login now scrolls elegantly without losing the search field for users belonging to many Organizations when they scroll their list.
• Fix: The end date for Contracts associated with an Account can now be set at the Account level as well as at the Contract level.

September 2023

Console Updates

• When logging in to the Console, users with access to more than one Organization now see a Select Organization screen. This helps users to quickly open the Organization they want to work in and avoids having to first open a default Organization. The last accessed Organization is clearly shown for selection and a search is available.

API Updates

• The Approve Bills API call now offers a billIds request parameter, which can be used to perform batch approval of Bills.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: The presentation of the time taken for Integration run tasks has been simplified.

August 2023

Product Updates

• End-dating of the Billing entities associated with an Account - Contracts, Account Plans, Pricings, or Prepayments - can now be done directly from an Account page in the Console. This capability proves very useful for cases where you need to create new agreements with end-customers - such as for renewals or mid-service term amendments - and for service cancellations.

Console Updates

• The Dashboard page has been re-modeled to now show a Recent Accounts listing, allowing you to quickly return to those Accounts you have worked on recently.
• Days before Bills are due after the initial Bill generation date can now be defined at the individual Account level and to override the setting defined at Organizational level. This allows Bill due dates to be set differently across different end-customer Accounts.
• Where an integration with an external system has been set up for sending Bills outbound, the Bill Details cards now include a status for the Last Completed Integration Run Date.
• Inviting users to join your Organization and managing your invitations can now be done more easily using a separate tab on the Access page.
• The Meter Details card now lists the Data Fields and Derived Fields set up for a Meter.
• When setting up External Mappings, if the possible values for the External entity ID field can be fetched for the External system and m3ter entity selections, then you can use a drop-down list to select the value for this field from the list of possible values returned.
• The layout for Bills has been restyled to improve readability and help differentiate main running totals from individual line item breakdown amounts when reviewing Bills.

API Updates

• A Search Account API call is now available, which you can use to build a query to return a selection of Accounts using a wide variety of search criteria. We expect the Accounts search functionality to be available in the Console soon.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: The option to select a Parent Account when editing an Account that is itself a Parent Account is now disabled on the edit Account form.
• Fix: The edit linked Plans button is now appropriately disabled on the Plan Group Attachment Details page when the Plan Group is empty.
• Fix: long-text entity Name and Code fields are now accommodated elegantly within UI details cards and forms.
• Fix: Error handling has been improved for Notification Rule calculation testing.
• Fix: Breadcrumb links have been removed where no destination page exists.
• Fix: Notification Rule can now be saved without testing calculation.
• Fix: When duplicating Plans or Plan Templates, the Name and Code field are no longer pre-populated with the existing Plan’s or Plan Template’s Name and Code values.

July 2023

Console Updates

• Bill details page improved for ease of use and Bill review. When a Bill is opened the Bill entity details are now shown on a separate card from the breakdown of charges that make up the Bill total.
• General usability improvements:
  • Details cards now clearly indicate Custom Plans/Plan Groups and identify the Accounts they are Custom Plans/Plan Groups for.
  • Create/Edit/Add buttons labeled specifically for the entities being created or edited or added.
  • The selection click area for radio button and checkbox options now tightly restricted to area of text label footprint to prevent unintended selections by stray clicks.
  • The Pricing Schedule page now shows audit data for the Product Plan and Aggregation used to price it.
• A specific expiry date can now be set when inviting other Users to join your Organization and to override the default expiry date of 30 days from when the invite was sent out.
• The Pricing Editor now shows a pricing readiness guide when opened for a Product where not all of the required configuration for starting to price Product Plans has been completed. As the required pricing readiness configuration work is carried out, the guide show a percentage progression to completion.

API Updates

• API calls are now available which allow you to end-date the Billing entities - Contracts, Account Plans, or Prepayments - associated with an end-customer Account or with an Account a Contract has been attached to.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: Bill breakdown - usage per price band unit price didn’t align with line item subtotals.
• Fix: Add missing account external mappings table translations.
• Fix: Data Explorer dimensions for usage data queries now loaded sequentially to ensure smooth loading.

June 2023

Product Updates

• Audit data is now automatically generated for all main m3ter entity details pages. This logs which users created and which last modified the entity and when.
• Billing:
  • The order or selection for billing draw-down against Prepayment or Billing credit amounts on Accounts can now be defined. Options are: Prepayments first, Balances first, Prepayment only, or Balances only. This gives much greater flexibility for meeting specific use cases for handling the consumption of credits on end-customer Accounts.
  • You no longer need to attach a Product Plan or Plan Group to an Account in order to add a Prepayment to the Account and set up billing for fees on outstanding Prepayment amount.
  • Check if a Bill Statement needs refreshing by comparing the Bill calculation timestamp against the Statement last modified date, which is available in the response to a get Statement API call.
• Integrations:
  • Five new system Events are now generated for integration errors and are available for Notifications. When any of these Events occur, they are surfaced on a Console page with an explanatory message. Operational support for managing these integrations error Events is provided with a button linking you out directly to start the appropriate follow up workflow to troubleshoot and resolve. When resolved, error Events can be marked as actioned and removed from the Events page.
  • New options added for setting up a Chargebee Integration:
    • Multi-decimal values. If multi-decimal support is enabled in your Chargebee site, you can now set precise decimal places for sending price and unit values out from m3ter to match your Chargebee settings and achieve greater precision when integrating data.
    • Synchronize credits. For an outbound billing flow, negative bill line items can now be synchronized with credits in Chargebee.

Console Updates

• Permission Policy Statements can now be quickly compiled using an advanced editor to choose Effect, Actions, and Resources.
• The Pricing Editor grid labeling has been improved making clear where a Plan has been priced directly instead of inheriting it’s pricing from a Plan Template .
• General usability improvements:
  • Details pages standardized across main configuration entities and now show audit data and custom fields.
  • Radio button sets used where few available options for ease of option selection.
  • Simple on/off toggle for bill in advance/in arrears selections to avoid possible confusion.
• The submit test usage data measurements modal is improved to regenerate submit measurement UIDs for successive submissions. A submissions log is also now built as you make submissions, which is helpful when querying for ingested data at a later time.
• Billing:
  • Purchase Order Number now shows on Bill details.
  • Bill line items now ordered by Aggregation or Compound Aggregation.
• An AI-powered Help Assistant is now available directly in the Console through the Help Center. The Assistant is fully-trained on our entire documentation knowledge base and can quickly provide answers to your questions as you work on the platform, giving direct links into relevant documentation topics.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: Prepayment fee billing setting on Organization Configuration card.
• Fix: Advanced usage data submission UID reset.

April / May 2023

Product Updates

• You can now invite new Users to your Organization:
  • Assign Permission Policies to control their access level when they accept the invite.
  • Deactivate and reactivate invited User’s access.
  • Set an expiry date for accepting the invite.
• When creating a Notification Rule, you can configure the Notification to always be triggered when an Event occurs, and without any further conditions for sending the Notification being defined.
• System Events available for Integration errors. Review and troubleshoot to resolve errors from the Integrations > Events page in the Console.
• Events on Statement Jobs - receive notifications when a statement job changes status so you can take action. For example:
  • Send statements to customers
  • Refresh your customer billing dashboard
• Integration run details can be reviewed in the Console for Bill and Notification integrations.

Console Updates

• Billing:
  • Add enable checkbox for bill numbering.
  • Update approve Bills modal to allow approval by date range.
  • Add Bill export button.
  • Listing Bills from Bill Management can now be filtered by date range and Locked or Approved/Pending status.
  • Extended line item details shown on Bills.
  • Target Currency selection available on Run Billing modal.
  • Billing data query results in Data Explorer show line item descriptions.
  • Pre-defined “Current Month” and “Last Month” ranges added to date range picker for Bills listing.
• Codes for Meter Data Fields and Derived Fields auto-generated from entered name string.
• Product details page added.
• Native Integration 3rd-party authentication set up separated from main integration configuration workflow.
• Plan creation workflow now requires existing Plan Template selection.
• Bulk delete available on External Mappings page.
• Account Actions menu added to Account details page.
• Accounting Product selection required when creating a Prepayment/Commitment.
• Line Item charge types for draw-down against a Prepayment/Commitment can now be selected.
• Details pages for main configuration entities show audit data on User activity for “Created by” and “Last modified by”.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: Filtering of plans on custom plan group page.
• Fix: Order pricing grid columns and rows by name.
• Fix: Incorrect Bill prefix and sequence number on account overview.
• Fix: Bill line item reference numbers displaying undefined.
• Fix: Remove hard-coded page size from Bills lists.
• Fix: Allow adding custom plan to custom plan group.
• Fix: Duplicating prepayments that use a Bill schedule.
• Fix: Missing translations for External Mappings.
• Fix: Date picker pop-up positioning bug.
• Fix: Save issue when creating Pricing using wizard.
• Fix: Date selection for Epoch dates.
• Fix: Prepayment Consumption chart only shows trending data up to the Prepayment’s end date.

March 2023

Product Updates

• Chargebee and Quickbooks now available as native integrations.
• Billing:
  • Bill Statements can now be defined and generated as backing sheets for end customer Bills. Once generated, you can then download Statements in either JSON or CSV format to transpose and compile them into the required format.
  • Download Bills in CSV format.
  • Approve Bills for selected date range.
  • Using the List Bills API call, you can now filter Bills returned by Locked status or Start/End dates.
  • Switch available on Bill details to hide zero quantity line items and reduce Bill clutter.
  • Set Global lock date for Bills.
  • Bill currency conversion summary added to Bill details.
• Notification Rules can now be created and configured in the Console for system Events. You can then link Notification Rules to integration Destination webhooks to complete alerting and notification set up and have your Notifications sent through to your external systems.
• You can now use an option to show Prepayment fee overage usage charges as separate line items on Bills.

Console Updates

• Prepayment/Commitment details page now contains a consumption chart showing minimum expected consumption, actual consumption, and consumption trend for the service period.
• Balance Create form now has options to select the products consumed and charge types that can drawn-down against the Balance amount.
• Overage Percentage setting now available for Balances.
• Bill line item groupings now show clear labels for Product/Prepayment charges.
• Bill details page now shows total at top of page.
• Custom Bill reference prefix and numbering sequence start can now be set at Organization level.
• Service User creation now supported with wizard.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: Handle error when cancelling bill jobs.
• Fix: Fix default for last day month changes.
• Fix: Prevent usage explorer error if we can’t load dimensions.
• Fix: Disable close on overlay click for run billing modal.
• Fix: Increase Bill list page size to 50.

February 2023

Product Updates

• Added Balance amount events. Users can now trigger notifications when a Balance amount is updated and reaches a certain threshold.
• New overage pricing and overage surcharge settings for Balances. When a Balance is fully consumed, merchants can configure 3 different actions:
  • Specify a rollover amount and expiry date. This is the existing behavior.
  • Specify an overage percentage, either positive or negative, which will increase or decrease the standard billed rate at which any further usage is charged against an Account once any Balance on the Account is fully consumed. This can be used to incentivize end customers to top up their Balance, or to move onto a different billing arrangement with you.
  • Specify overage pricing. When creating pricing using a tiered pricing structure for Plans, overage pricing can also be defined. Overage pricing cuts in when the Balance is fully consumed. This is another way to increase or decrease the standard billed rate charged against an Account once a Balance on the Account has been consumed.
• Service Period dates.
  • Balance consumption shown on m3ter Bills now includes the service period that the Balance covered.
• Bill Statements.
  • Bill Statements can be used as informative backing sheets to invoices. They provide a breakdown of the usage charges that appear on the Bill, and help your end customers understand better those charges and gain a better picture of their usage over the billing period.
  • Bill Statements can be defined for Meter usage data measures that form the basis of pricing rates used to calculate billing charges together with other Meter usage data dimensions. These other usage data dimensions are used as the basis for a breakdown of the billed usage to produce backing sheets for invoices. Usage data can be de-aggregated and grouped for use on the end customer Statement. It is downloadable in .csv or JSON format for rendering via 3rd party tools.

The Bill Statements feature is available on request.

• Access
  • m3ter Support. Console users can now submit a request to grant m3ter Support access to their m3ter Organization for troubleshooting purposes, and when they have submitted a Support ticket.
  • Permission Policies.
    • In the Console, Administrator users can create custom Permission Policies to assign to other users and service users, and then apply these Policies to control precisely users’ access to Organization resources. Permission Policies can be defined to assist with the separation of duties for users within the Console, in addition to restricting access to specific areas. For example, an ingest only user will not have access to any other m3ter functions.
    • User groups are now available in the m3ter Console. Permission Policies can be applied to User Groups. Users can then be added to a User Group and any Permission Policies applied to the Group are applied to the member Users. User Groups:
      • Allow logical grouping of resources for different roles within your Organization. For example, a Billing Operations User Group can have a Permission Policy applied to the Group to restrict access to only those resources needed to perform their routine billing tasks - such as Bills, Accounts, and so on. All Billing Operations team members can then be assigned to the Group.
      • Help solve common issues when trying to apply very fine-grained permissions.

Console Updates

• Added capability to create and manage Permission Policies.
• Line item currency now used for Bill unit prices.
• New search field in External Mappings list.
• Added maximum decimal places column to currencies list.
• Improved labels for Product and Bill hotlinks in External Mappings list.
• Added Bill in Advance / Arrears to Plan and Plan Template details.
• Obligations panel in the Data Explorer > Prepayments tab.

Resolved Issues

• Fix: Date range picker bug.
• Fix: Handles single zero-priced band on Pricing edit.
• Fix: Pick list currencies now use the number of decimal places specified.
• Fix: Page titles now always show and update correctly.
• Fix: Global lock date setting now works as expected.