Settlement Management

Overview

The Settlement Management module helps you manage financial settlements between consumers (who pay for subscriptions) and publishers (who receive payments for their content). Think of it as a sophisticated payment tracking and distribution system that ensures everyone gets paid correctly and on time.

How Settlements Work

Monthly Billing Cycle

Every month follows this pattern:

• Starts: 26th of previous month at midnight (UTC)
• Ends: 25th of current month at midnight (UTC)

Settlement Timeline

1. Day 25 - Statement Generation

   • System creates billing statements for all consumers
   • Publishers can see their expected earnings
   • Everyone gets notified about their statements

2. Days 26-30 - Payment Collection

   • Day 26: First attempt to collect payments from consumers
   • System automatically retries failed payments
   • Up to 5 attempts are made to collect payment
   • 24 hours between each retry attempt

3. Day 1 - Wrap Up

   • Final payment collection attempts
   • Reports generated
   • Any unpaid amounts are flagged for follow-up

Managing Consumer Settlements

This section shows you how to handle payments from your consumers (subscribers) through billing cycles.

What You Can Do

• View all billing cycles (periods)
• Track payment status
• Create new billing cycles
• Search for specific cycles
• Perform actions such as View details, View Publishers, User Charges, and Missing Transactions
• Monitor overall financial metrics like consumption, collected amounts, fees, and taxes

Table Columns in Billing Cycles Overview

• ID: Unique identifier for the cycle
• Code: Billing code (e.g., 20251101)
• Name: Name of the billing cycle
• Billing From: Start date of the billing period
• Billing To: End date of the billing period
• Init Time: When the cycle was initialized
• Consumption: Total amount consumed
• Compensating: Compensation amounts
• Collected: Amount collected from consumers
• Collected Fee: Fees already collected
• Total Fee: Total fees for the cycle
• Collected Tax: Taxes collected
• Total Tax: Total taxes for the cycle
• Status: Current status of the cycle (e.g., Pending)
• Actions: Dropdown with options like View, Publishers, User Charges, Missing Transactions

Detailed View of Consumer Settlements

When you click on a specific settlement cycle (via View action), you'll see detailed information about that billing period.

What You'll See:

• Complete billing information including status (Pending)
• Billing Cycle Details: Name, Code, Description, Billing From, Billing To, Init Time
• Key Metrics:
  • Financial Overview: Total Consumption, Total Compensating, Total Collected, Total Unpaid
  • Fees & Taxes: Total Fees, Collected Fees, Total Taxes, Collected Taxes
  • User Charges: Total Charges, Finalized, Pending, Permanent Rejected, Temporary Rejected
• Timeline of all activities (e.g., Billing cycle initialized, created)
• Actions: Start Collect Charge, Update Chart

Managing Publisher Settlements

This section helps you manage payments to your content publishers, with both summary views across time frames and per-cycle details.

What You Can Do

• See total amounts across publishers for a selected time frame
• Track fees, taxes, and billing cycle counts
• Search by Publisher ID or Name
• Select time frame (Duration-based or Date Range)
• View summary metrics per publisher

Table Columns in Publisher Summary

• Publisher ID: Unique ID (truncated, click to copy)
• Publisher Name: Name of the publisher
• Consumption: Total consumption by the publisher
• Compensating: Compensation amounts
• Collected: Amount collected for the publisher
• Total Fee: Total platform fees
• Collected Fee: Fees collected
• Total Tax: Total taxes
• Collected Tax: Taxes collected
• Billing Cycle Count: Number of cycles involving this publisher

Detailed Publisher View

For per-cycle details, navigate to a billing cycle and select Actions > Publishers. This shows publishers specific to that cycle.

What You'll See:

• Full billing period details for the cycle
• Breakdown per publisher:
  • ID, Name, Consumption, Compensating, Collected, Total Fee, Collected Fee, Total Tax, Collected Tax
  • Status (e.g., Moneta received)
  • Actions (View, Download)
• Search functionality for publishers in the cycle

Understanding Settlement Status

For Consumer Payments (Billing Cycles)

• Pending: Billing cycle initialized but collection not started
• In Progress: Collection attempts ongoing
• Completed: All payments processed and finalized
• Confirmed: Payments successfully received and reconciled

For Publisher Payments

• Pending: Earnings calculated but payment file not generated
• Moneta received: Moneta has received funds from consumers
• Payment File Generated: Payment instructions created
• Sent to Bank: Payments initiated
• Confirmed: Money transferred to publishers

Available Actions

For Consumer Settlements (Billing Cycles)

1. Create Billing Cycle

   • Initiate a new monthly settlement period
   • Set billing from/to dates

2. Start Collect Charge

   • Trigger payment collection from consumers
   • System automatically retries failed payments (up to 5 attempts)

3. View Details

   • Access comprehensive cycle information
   • Monitor metrics and timeline

4. User Charges

   • View detailed charges per user in the cycle
   • Track individual payment statuses

5. Missing Transactions

   • Identify and resolve discrepancies

For Publisher Settlements

1. View Summary

   • Access publisher earnings summary across time frames
   • Filter by duration or date range

2. Per-Cycle Publishers

   • From billing cycle, view publishers involved
   • Generate/download statements per publisher

3. Download Statement

   • Export payment details for publishers
   • Include earnings, fees, taxes

4. Track Status

   • Monitor from Moneta received to confirmed transfer
   • View action history