Billing data interface for conferencing customers
View Patent ↗A billing data interface provides billing data to customers in an accurate and efficient manner. Billing data is processed to preserve client billing information and to meet a customer's individual data requirements. The billing data may be presented in such a way that the customer may input the billing data directly into its client billing system. The billing data may be processed according to client billing specifications corresponding to a client billing system used by the customer. The processed data may preserve leading zeros, separate client code and matter code into two fields, etc. The resulting data file may be delivered to the customer for entry into the customer's client billing system.
1. A method for providing billing data to customers using conferencing services, comprising:
establishing client billing specifications, based on a client billing system format, that specify how client billing information is to be separated, sorted, and converted;
receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and the client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
processing the cost data and the client billing information according to the client billing specifications to create a data file compatible with the client billing system format; and
delivering the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
storing the data file in a secure location; and
granting the customer access to the secure location to obtain the data file.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
enabling the customer to download the data file via a network.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
storing the data file to a memory medium; and
sending the memory medium to the customer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
sending the data file to the customer via e-mail.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client billing specifications correspond to the client billing system.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conference is a video conference.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conference is an audio conference.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost data includes a call data record (CDR).
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conference is a Web conference.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client billing information includes at least one of: a client code, a matter code, a project code, an office code, and a biller code.
12. A method for processing billing data for customers using conferencing services, comprising:
receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
processing the cost data to remove extraneous fields from a call data record in the cost data;
batching the processed data with the client billing information to create billable event data corresponding to the conference;
separating data fields in the billable event data according to client billing specifications of the customer;
sorting the billable event data according to the client billing specifications;
converting the sorted billable event data into a data file according to the client billing specifications; and
delivering the data file to the customer.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the data file is a delimited text file.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
delivering the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input directly into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the separating further includes:
creating a first data field for a client code and a second data field for a matter code.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
storing the data file in a secure location; and
granting the customer access to the secure location to obtain the data file.
17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
enabling the customer to download the data file via a network.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
storing the data file to a memory medium; and
sending the memory medium to the customer.
19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the delivering further comprises:
sending the data file to the customer via e-mail.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the client billing specifications correspond to a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs related to the conference.
21. The method of claim 12 , wherein the conference is a video conference.
22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the conference is an audio conference.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the cost data includes a call data record (CDR).
24. The method of claim 12 , wherein the conference is a Web conference.
25. The method of claim 12 , wherein the client billing information includes at least one of: a client code, a matter code, a project code, an office code, and a biller code.
26. A system for providing billing data to customers using conferencing services, comprising:
a receiving component configured to receive, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
a processing component configured to process the cost data and the client billing information according to client billing specifications to create a data file; and
a delivering component configured to deliver the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
27. The system of claim 26 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a storing component configured to store the data file in a secure location; and
a granting component configured to grant the customer access to the secure location to obtain the data file.
28. The system of claim 26 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
an enabling component configured to enable the customer to download the data file via a network.
29. The system of claim 26 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a storing component configured to store the data file to a memory medium; and
a sending component configured to send the memory medium to the customer.
30. The system of claim 26 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a sending component configured to send the data file to the customer via e-mail.
31. The system of claim 26 , wherein the client billing specifications correspond to the client billing system.
32. The system of claim 26 , wherein the conference is a video conference.
33. The system of claim 26 , wherein the conference is an audio conference.
34. The system of claim 33 , wherein the cost data includes a call data record (CDR).
35. The system of claim 26 , wherein the conference is a Web conference.
36. The system of claim 26 , wherein the client billing information includes at least one of: a client code, a matter code, a project code, an office code, and a biller code.
37. A system for processing billing data for customers using conferencing services, comprising:
a receiving component configured to receive, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
a processing component configured to process the cost data to remove extraneous fields from a call data record in the cost data;
a batching component configured to batch the processed data with the client billing information to create billable event data corresponding to the conference;
a separating component configured to separate data fields in the billable event data according to client billing specifications of the customer;
a sorting component configured to sort the billable event data according to the client billing specifications;
a converting component configured to convert the sorted billable event data into a data file according to the client billing specifications; and
a delivering component configured to deliver the data file to the customer.
38. The system of claim 37 , wherein the data file is a delimited text file.
39. The system of claim 37 , further comprising:
a delivering component configured to deliver the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input directly into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
40. The system of claim 37 , wherein the separating component further includes:
a creating component configured to create a first data field for a client code and a second data field for a matter code.
41. The system of claim 37 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a storing component configured to store the data file in a secure location; and
a granting component configured to grant the customer access to the secure location to obtain the data file.
42. The system of claim 37 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
an enabling component configured to enable the customer to download the data file via a network.
43. The system of claim 37 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a storing component configured to store the data file to a memory medium; and
a sending component configured to send the memory medium to the customer.
44. The system of claim 37 , wherein the delivering component further comprises:
a sending component configured to send the data file to the customer via e-mail.
45. The system of claim 37 , wherein the client billing specifications correspond to a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs related to the conference.
46. The system of claim 37 , wherein the conference is a video conference.
47. The system of claim 37 , wherein the conference is an audio conference.
48. The system of claim 47 , wherein the cost data includes a call data record (CDR).
49. The system of claim 37 , wherein the conference is a Web conference.
50. The system of claim 37 , wherein the client billing information includes at least one of: a client code, a matter code, a project code, an office code, and a biller code.
51. A system for providing billing data to customers using conferencing services, comprising:
means, for receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
means for processing the cost data and the client billing information according to client billing specifications to create a data file; and
means for delivering the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
52. A system for processing billing data for customers using conferencing services, comprising:
means for receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
means for processing the cost data to remove extraneous fields from a call data record in the cost data;
means for batching the processed data with the client billing information to create billable event data corresponding to the conference;
means for separating data fields in the billable event data according to client billing specifications of the customer;
means for sorting the billable event data according to the client billing specifications;
means for converting the sorted billable event data into a data file according to the client billing specifications; and
means for delivering the data file to the customer.
53. A computer-readable medium with code embodied therein for performing a method for providing billing data to customers using conferencing services, the method comprising:
receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
processing the cost data and the client billing information according to client billing specifications to create a data file; and
delivering the data file to the customer such that the data file may be input into a client billing system used by the customer to allocate costs from the conference.
54. A computer-readable medium with code embodied therein for performing a method for processing billing data for customers using conferencing services, the method comprising:
receiving, from a conference facility, cost data and client billing information for a conference conducted by participants related to a customer;
processing the cost data to remove extraneous fields from a call data record in the cost data;
batching the processed data with the client billing information to create billable event data corresponding to the conference;
separating data fields in the billable event data according to client billing specifications of the customer;
sorting the billable event data according to the client billing specifications;
converting the sorted billable event data into a data file according to the client billing specifications; and
delivering the data file to the customer.