FAQs: Recharge In TelCat

What is the Pinnacle Recharge Billing Application?

This is the billing system through which almost all bIT Service Provider's services are recharged.  No campus customers log into Pinnacle, and just a few bIT staff log into Pinnacle.

The Services information in Pinnacle is sent nightly to the ServiceNow Telecom Catalog system, where the campus customers and bIT staff can view the services to which they have authorization.

 

Why is the Pinnacle recharge billing app being replaced?

The bIT Recharge Billing Team has decided to replace the application with a more robust alternative which is tightly integrated with our ServiceNow Telecom Catalog (TelCat), thus future-proofing an application that provides an important service to you, our Campus stakeholders.

 

What stays the same?

As a campus customer, there will be no changes to the way you:

• Request services
• Amounts you are recharged
• Log in to see your billing statements in Cal Answers
• See your recurring and one-time charges in Cal Answers
• Review the information you see in BFS General Ledger, BFS-AR, and Intercampus charges

 

What is changing?

As a campus customer, there are a few changes of which you should be aware:

• When you log into TelCat to see your department’s services, the view will look slightly different.  In addition to seeing every recurring charge, you’ll be able to see your unique services too.
• Soon you will be able to see charges that you will be charged in the current month.
• You will stop seeing charges for zero-dollar call usage.
• Currently, we provide CDR information for all outbound calls, both zero-dollar and recharged. Once the new application is in place, we will no longer show zero-dollar CDRs in Cal Answers. We will continue to provide details on all recharged calls. 
• Call usage charges will be seen as one-time charges instead of call usage.  Telecom vendors are providing us fewer details, and for some calls you may no longer see the duration, destination, or other details.
• If you export a list of your department’s services from the ServiceNow Telecom Catalog, the format will change slightly, as will the table names.  Please send an email to bitbill@berkeley.edu to initiate additional transition conversations.

 

Can I still get access to my zero-dollar call details?

Fewer than five campus customers looked at zero-dollar call usage records in Cal Answers in the last fiscal year, so we will discontinue the provision of zero-dollar CDRs, to free up time and resources to focus on other areas of service.  
Should the need arise to review non-billable call records for a specific phone number, we may be able to provide this information upon request, depending on what information the vendor provides to us. Please send an email to bitbill@berkeley.edu if you need non-billed call records.

 

What do we, recharge billing customers, need to do?

At present, nothing needs to be done by our campus customers. The bIT Recharge Billing Team is working with software vendors to configure and customize the new recharge billing application, and to integrate it with ServiceNow. 
Once this phase is completed, we will start running parallel billing cycles in our current and in our new application, to ensure stability and accuracy before transitioning to the new application. As we get closer to this transition, we will be back in touch with all our Campus stakeholders.

 

When is the actual transition to the new application happening?

The Go-Live date for the application will depend on the results of several parallel billing cycles; we are aiming for accuracy and minimal disruption, rather than expediency.   We are implementing the new application in phases, starting in March 2024 through October 2024.

 

Questions?  Send email to bitbill@berkeley.edu