1.3.1 Resellers

Reseller accounts of each level can be created from the VSM, Partners and Agents/Resellers menu. The main screen contains a table showing the list of all reseller accounts.

The results in the table can be filtered by the reseller name.

Adding resellers

For you as for the owner of the business, should suffice to add only the reseller account of level 2 or 3.

If you add an account level 3 then the reseller will be able to add subresellers level 2 by himself and through them subresellers of level 1.

You can also add a reseller account of level 2, in this case he will be able to create accounts for resellers level 1 himself.

And finally you can create an account for reseller level 1.

When you create reseller accounts they will have no parent resellers above them. Unless you do it on behalf of a reseller of higher level, e.g. you create reseller level 2 with a parent account of reseller level 3.

Resellers of level 3 and 2 can add the child reseller accounts directly from the VSM after logging in to its Reseller’s panel (explained below).

When a new reseller account is created the following data has to be provided:

Login – used for signing in to the VSM reseller’s panel
Password – for signing in
Identifier - must be unique for all three reseller levels. The identifier is used to distinguish tariffs added by different resellers. The identifier is being added in front of each name of a tariff created by a reseller. For example, if the tariff name is "mytariff" and the identifier is "joe_3" the tariff name will be saved as "res_3:Res3_tariff. It is to make the tariff management easier for the voipswitch administrator;
Level – the reseller’s level of the new account
Parent – can be set to none or you can choose a reseller which will be above the new account, the resellers shown in the drop down list are of the level higher than the level chosen in the previous field
Currency – a currency from the list of the currencies defined in the system
Tariff – the base tariff, used for charging all traffic from the reseller’s clients and subresellers. The list contain all the tariffs in the chosen currency

The other properties are set by default and can be changed in the edit view. The main pane is divided on five tabs.

General
Personal Data
SMTP Settings
Permissions
Payments

General tab

The main tab groups the mandatory properties which include the ones set during the account creation plus the Balance and the Clients limit fields.

Balance – from this amount the charges are deducted for all traffic and other paid services purchased by all the resellers and clients belonging to that reseller. The balance can be credited by the parent reseller or by the voipswitch owner (if there is no parent).

Clients limit – the maximum allowed number of client accounts that can be created by the reseller

Personal data

The profile tab groups the personal or company details that will be used on invoices. In addition there is language settings.

Permissions and account types

The next tab allows to limit the client types available for a reseller and to set permissions to access certain screens and functions of the VSM reseller’s panel. The settings are configurable per reseller.

Client types

The Client types section let you choose which of the account types will be available to the reseller and all his subresellers. For example, if we limit a reseller level 3 to access the retail type of clients only then his children resellers, both level 2 and level 1 will inherit the limit. The scope of the limit can be narrowed but never extended by a reseller of the lower level. For example if a reseller level 3 has access to wholesale and retail types then a reseller level 2 (whose parent is the level 3 reseller) can change the scope of the limit for his children resellers level 1 and allow them only to access retail type clients. The screens and functions related to other, restricted types of clients or resellers will not be shown in the VSM reseller’s panel. The reseller will be able to create and manage accounts of the Retail client type only.

Permissions

The permissions section allows for enabling or disabling access to certain screens (menus) and to certain functions in them.

The permission settings will differ depending on the reseller level and allowed client types.

Resellers – tick this option to enable access to the Resellers menu. When extended you can see the following options – add, delete, edit, add payment. The access for each of them can be set separately.

Clients – enable access to Clients menus. Disable/enable the main functions. Available only for the reseller level 1.

Similarly, the actions for the other menus can be configured. Thus you can customize the functionality of the VSM panel for each reseller.

SMTP settings

In this tab you can configure the SMTP settings for the reseller. The configuration will be used every time when the system sends an email to the client that belong to that reseller. If left blank the default voipswitch SMTP settings will be used.

Charging flow

The reseller’s charging model is based on base tariffs which are assigned to a reseller account by its parent reseller or by voipswitch’s owner. The base tariff is a default rate sheet which cannot be modified by reseller to whom the tariff is assigned. It can be modified at any moment by the tariff owner, i.e. the parent reseller or by voipswitch owner. The base tariff is in fact a cost tariff which is used to charge calls from client accounts which directly or indirectly belong to him.

A reseller can create new tariffs which then can be assigned to his subresellers, i.e. the reseller of lower level created by him. The assigned tariff is the base tariff for his subreseller. The tariff contains the sales rates which are used for charging the subreseller for calls made by his client accounts (i.e. belonging to him directly or indirectly). The sales rates usually are higher than the rates in the base tariff by a margin however it is not a requirement. A rate can be lower than the one in the base tariff. Also the prefixes in the tariffs can be different as the charging process works independently for both cost and sales tariffs.

Resellers of level 1 can create new tariffs and assign them to client accounts.

Let’s analyze the charging process for multireseller’s scenario starting with the reseller of the highest level. Let’s call it reseller A.

The A is of level 3^rd and therefore his base tariff is assigned by the voipswitch owner. The reseller was created from the VSM Resellers menu. His base tariff is named base_tariff_A.

The A then logs in to the VSM as a reseller and creates new tariffs for his resellers. He is not limited as to number of tariffs. Also he can assign different tariffs to different resellers.

Next, A creates a reseller account of level 2 with the login B and assigns him a tariff base_tariff_B. It is B’s base tariff. The rates in the base_tariff_B are higher than the rates in the base_tariff_A as B marked them up a little.

Now B logs in to the VSM as a reseller and repeats the above steps. First creates tariffs, then create a reseller account of level 1 with login C and assign a tariff base_tariff_C. The rates in it are higher than in its base tariff i.e. base_tariff_B.

The VSM reseller panel allows for creating client accounts for resellers of level 1. When C logs in to the VSM he will need to create his sales tariffs and assign them to client accounts. For example C creates a client account with login D and assign him a tariff named tariff_D. To make profit C had to use higher rates in his sales tariff then ones in his base tariff.

When the client D makes a call or sends SMS the event will be charged according to the client’s tariff. The amount (call cost) is deducted from the client balance. At the same time a sequence of events occurs on all levels. The cost is calculated for the reseller C, B and A according to their base tariffs. The cost is then deducted from the balance of C, B and A respectively.

To make sure that all of the resellers in the charging chain have sufficient balances the system’s credit control function checks the maximum duration for the call before it is processed by the routing. The system calculates this value for client D and then resellers C, B, A according to their base tariffs. If there is not enough balance on any of the levels the call is rejected. So if the A will run out of money all the clients from all his resellers will be blocked.

Similarly the system will cut the call when the shortest max call duration elapses, regardless on which level.

Reseller’s panel

A reseller can log into the VSM reseller’s panel at the VSM’s address with the ResellerLogin extension, instead of the default OwnerLogin. For example:

https://mydomain /vsm4/reseller/login

In order to sign in the reseller has to authenticate with his login and password.

The layout of the VSM is the same as for the owner with the difference in number of available menus. The menus also differ depending on the reseller’s level. The common element in all levels is the My Profile menu.

To open the My Profile click on the link with the reseller’s login which is located on the right side of the top bar. The menu includes:

Personal data – used for example for invoicing
Settings – Language of the reseller
Change password

In the profile panel there are information on the current balance and the client limit.

Level 1

A reseller of level 1 will have the following screens:

Dashboard – showing real time calls, limited to the client accounts that belong to the reseller

Clients menu – allows to manage and create client accounts of various types except the UC/PBX clients which are available for resellers level 2 only

Bulk generator – a tool for automatic creation of accounts grouped in lots

Templates – a feature allowing for using predefined configuration when creating a new account

Billing – which further divides on:
- Tariffs, which includes:
  - Bundles
  - Tariff to DNIS mapping
- Invoices
Reports
- CDRs – details for calls made by the reseller’s clients
- Sales – reports on balances and payments of the clients
Settings
- Notifications

Level 2

Resellers of the level 2 have access to the following menus:

Clients:
- UC/PBX clients and UC/PBX subaccounts
Billing:
- Tariffs
- Bundles
- Tariff to DNIS
- Invoices – for the UC/PBX clients
Resellers – creating and managing reseller accounts of the immediate lower level, in this case level 1
Reports
- CDR – call details of UC/PBX clients
- Sales – transactions made by the UC/PBX clients and Resellers level 1

Level 3

The highest level provides only the following menus:

Billing:
- Tariffs
- Bundles
- Tariff to DNIS
Resellers
Reports:
- Sales – transactions made by the children resellers of the lower level

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