Govern usage-based billing with versioned pricing validated usage and an audit trail from meters to invoices.
Usage-based revenue breaks when the usage source is unclear, pricing changes mid-cycle without versioning, and finance cannot explain how an invoice line was calculated. Sanka is designed to make meter-based billing a governed workflow: define what is measured, validate events, rate them against approved pricing, and keep an audit trail that ties back to CRM and accounting.
Treat rate plans as controlled records with effective dates, approvals, and history so re-rating and audits are explainable.
Validate and de-duplicate events, preserve raw usage, and make corrections explicit instead of silently overwriting data.
Surface gaps between contract terms, meters, and invoices early with exceptions, alerts, and review steps.
Meter-based billing is not only a calculation problem. It is a data contract between product usage, sales terms, and finance rules.
| Where usage billing fails | Typical root cause | What to standardize |
|---|---|---|
| Underbilling | Missing or dropped events | Ingestion validation + completeness checks |
| Disputes | No explanation of rating | Versioned rate plans + audit-ready calculation trail |
| Manual rework | Ad-hoc credits and adjustments | Explicit adjustment objects and approvals |
| Forecast drift | CRM and billing terms mismatch | Single source of terms and effective dates |
Automation should remove manual work, not remove accountability. Treat rating and invoicing as repeatable steps with clear states.
Most teams end up combining recurring terms with usage, exceptions, and contract constraints. Make the patterns explicit so finance can close without detective work.
Combine subscription line items with usage and one-time charges without breaking reporting or customer statements.
Encode included usage, minimum commits, and tier breakpoints as readable rules with effective dates.
Late events and corrections happen. Preserve raw history and track adjustments explicitly for auditability.
Usage billing is measurable, but only if definitions and changes are controlled. Make approvals and traceability first-class.
Route rate plan edits and exception discounts through reviewers with thresholds and history.
Track source usage, applied pricing version, adjustments, and invoice generation steps with timestamps and owners.
Control who can change meters, override pricing, approve credits, and finalize invoices.