Business Objects Page

In order to sell items and services (computer time, printer usage, Blank CDs, snacks, etc.) through the NetSpy system, they have to be listed in the database of Business Objects. This is one of two screens (see also User Types screen) you must visit and set up properly after the installation. 

NetSpy system internally recognizes two types of Business Objects: Computer and Printer. Administrator can add as many other Business Object types as needed and sell items of those types separately from your Workstations page using Additional Charge button (again, for example CDs, drinks and snacks). 

Business Objects of type Computer and Printer are treated in a special manner. They are constantly monitored for activity and register logon and logout events and page printouts. 

To add a new Business Object (Computer for example) you can simply type its name in the "Object Name" field, then set its type to "Computer" in the "Type" combo box ("Unit Description" will automatically change to "minutes" as shown on this screenshot) then specify how much you want to charge per minute. Then press and name will appear in the left panel.

There is one other special Business Object of type Money called CASH. It is generated by the system first time you put a deposit into User's account. Its price is obviously 1.0 with Initial and Minimal charges and Charge Increments set to 0.0. You should not change those values.

Looking up for Business Objects

An easy way to add multiple computers or printers at once would be using button. It opens "Find Computer and Printers" window that can be used to look up computers and printers on the LAN. Note: computers recently added to the network, or turned on after extended downtime, may not be visible right away, as Windows may need up to 15 minutes to include them in the browse list. In this case names for computers can be added manually.

Click  to browse the network for networks hosts and network printers.  If found, names of computers and printers will appear the list and you will be able to add them by selecting the item from the list as shown and pressing button.

Business Object Pricing 

In order to bill Users, pricing for Business Objects must be specified

"Price of one Unit" is how much you want to charge for one unit of the object (one minute, one page, one can of soda, etc) "Initial charge" is an optional field. It specifies initial amount charged for the Business Object every time it is used, regardless of how many units of that BO have been purchased. Read more about how you can use Initial Charge. "Minimum charge" is an optional field. If specified, it ensures each usage of this BO (each computer logon or each printed document, etc.) will cost at least a pre-set amount. Read more about how you can use this option. "Charge Increment" is an optional field. It can be used to enable "block pricing".

"Initial Charge" will be added to the final amount before applying Minimum Charge and Payment Multiplier. It can be used in combination with "Price of one Unit" to fine tune the amount you want to charge for a particular Business Object.  For example if "Initial Charge" for the computer is $0.20 and price per unit is $0.15 and user that logged in for 2 minutes the price will be 

2 * 0.15 + 0.20 = 0.50 (Formula A)

There is an interesting use for setting Initial charge to a negative number. It acts as an initial discount (for example, when cashier remotely unlocks the workstation, a few seconds pass before customer can actually start using the machine, due to the time it takes to logon to Windows)

"Minimum Charge" ensures that the price calculated for a Business Object will be no less than specified here, no matter how briefly they have been logged on, or how small a document they have printed out. If the result of Formula  A is smaller than what’s indicated as "Minimum Charge", it will be  overridden.

"Charge Increment" is a quite versatile option. It can be used to simply produce round amounts on the receipt to make them look nicer and simplify cash payments. For example if the calculated amount is $2.71 and Charge Increment is set to $0.10, the resulting amount will be $2.80. This option can also be used to enable "block pricing". 

"Block pricing". If pricing model is organized so that price must be recalculated once per time interval (say $1.00 for every 20 min), all you have to do is set the price per minute to $3 / 60 = $0.05 and set  Charge Increment to $1.00.

The ultimate price calculation formula that takes all parameters affecting the price into account is:

Temporary Amount = (Number of Units *  Price Per Unit + Init Charge) * Payment Coefficient

Final Amount = Round (Temporary Amount) according to Charge Increment settings.

IF 

Final Amount < Minimum Charge 

THEN

Final Amount = Minimum Charge

Entering Unit Description is not required, but is very useful for consistent user interface experience and report readability. It will be used when printing user receipts.

Description field is another optional entry. Its acts as a comment to your Business Object and is only visible here. You can leave it empty.

Pricing Schedule

It may be needed to have unique pricing model for particular Business Objects depending on time-of-day or Business Object usage. For example, there may be a special peak hour rate, or a late-hour discount. Use button to open "Pricing Schedule" dialog.

This screenshot means that the pricing for a Business Object (it is a computer in this case) is:

- $0.15 a minute, the minimum of $0.50 charged between 9:00AM and 2:00PM 

- $0.15 a minute, simple rate from 2:00PM to 8:00PM

- a flat fee of $1.00 after 8:00PM and till the 9:00AM next morning.

Also, as soon as user session duration reaches one hour, a 30% discount is applied with block pricing of $6.00 (in this particular case its equivalent to saying "after one hour, price for computer usage becomes $6.00 an hour and that amount is charged once every hour" ). 

New entry in pricing schedule completely replaces the old one, that is all pricing fields except Charge Increment (that is Price Per Units, Initial Charge and Minimal charge) are replaced.

If user logs in Computer that has pricing schedule enabled, final price calculation formula may get quite hairy especially if user stays on long enough to cross one or more price zones. In any case the final price calculation formula will still hold valid, but instead of applying it once, NetSpy will apply it as many times as it takes to cover user's entire logon timeframe. Also keep in mind that if logged on user is moving from one price zone to another, new zone's "Initial Charge" value is treated as a "Minimum Charge". For example on an above screenshot if user logged in at 19:50, by the time he or she reaches 20:00 there will already be 10*0.15 = $1.50 due and user will not be charged additional $1 as indicated for the time interval beginning at 20:00. But if user had logged on at 19:55, he/she would only be due $0.75 and that amount will be reset to $1.00 and remain at that. 

Click to add a new entry in pricing schedule.

Keep in mind that the time is in 24 hour format You can have up to 16 pricing intervals. That should be far more than enough. If its not, there is probably something wrong with the pricing model you’re using J. Consider  revisiting it or contact us at support@cybreagesystems.com and we will help to work out solution for you.

Clicking or double-clicking an entry will invoke the above dialog, where you can make changes to an entry.

When pricing schedule list is empty, values from the main Business Objects page take effect. Otherwise, the entries on the main Business Objects page are overridden and pricing schedule kicks in.

There is a wealth of payment options you can set up to serve your needs, but remember: having an overcomplicated payment schedule could hurt your business by turning people away.

will take settings up for currently selected Business Object and copy them into all objects of the same type in a database.

If selected object is of type "printer" you will see this group of buttons appear on the right side of the page. Pressing "Start" will initiate printer monitoring process, pressing "Stop" will stop monitoring.

Shows how many times the selected Business Object was used and what's the total number of units that were actually charged to the customers.

 

Auto Logoff setup 

button appears, if the selected object has type "Computer". It leads to "Auto Logoff Setup" form which will allow you to specify rules according to which NetSpy will force (or attempt to force) user logoffs. It can be useful in many different cases, for example if users forget to log out, or if there is a need to limit the amount of time users can spends at the computer (busy places, hotels, libraries). This option also appears on the main "Workstations" screen, it is duplicated so that there is a quick way to activate/disable auto logout option without having to leave the main monitoring screen.

To enable an option click the check box button and specify logoff initiation parameters. Option can be configured to apply only to the specified user type(s), for example you might want to disable money limit logoffs for ADMINISTRATOR and/or STAFF user types.

Click OK to save and activate logout, or Cancel to leave without saving

Caution is advised when using any of these options, especially "Limit by Duration" and "Limit by spending" (because in those cases there is little the user can do from his/her side to prevent logoff from happening where as with "Idle User Logout", nothing will happen if the user responds to the prompt). The main danger behind software-initiated logoffs is that if user has unsaved data and he/she is forced out the data will most probably be lost.