Using Integrated Customer and Business Manager

Customer and Business Manager (hereinafter referred to as Business Manager) is a billing solution bundled with your Parallels Plesk Panel package. You can install it as an additional component during or after installation of Parallels Plesk Panel.

Business Manager simplifies the process of signing up, provisioning, and billing new customers according to the following scheme:

1. In Business Manager, you set up service plans corresponding to your service offerings, add the plans to an online store that can be configured to accept all types of payments, and integrate the store into your website.
2. A user visiting your site selects one of your hosting plans and subscribes to the services.
3. Business Manager processes the order. After the payment is received, it sets up a user account and subscription in Parallels Plesk Panel, and notifies the new customer by e-mail.
4. The customer logs in to Parallels Plesk Panel and starts using the web hosting, e-mail, and other services provided by subscription.
5. Several days before the end of the billing period, Business Manager sends an invoice to the customer stating the account balance and due payment date. On the due date, Business Manager charges the due amount on the customer's card or bank account, or uses another payment collection scheme that you select.

In addition to automated provisioning and billing, Business Manager offers the following advantages:

• Support for integration with payment systems, domain name registrars, and certification authorities issuing SSL certificates.
• Customizable online store.
• Compliance with requirements for stores operating in the European Union countries.

When Business Manager is installed, the following links to the administrative areas of Business Manager are added to Parallels Plesk Panel:

In the left navigation pane of the Server Administration Panel:

• Business Operations. Manage customer accounts and service subscriptions.
  • Customers. Add, suspend, and remove customer accounts, change customer's billing and contact information. Prepare invoices and collect payments.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Administering Customers.

  • Subscriptions. View and change properties of service subscriptions. Move subscriptions to other service plans by upgrading and downgrading them. For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Subscriptions.
  • Domains. View and change properties of service subscriptions to plans that provide domain name registration services.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Subscriptions.

  • SSL Certificates. View and change properties of service subscriptions to plans that provide SSL certificates.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Subscriptions.

• Business Monitoring. View accounting reports and work with invoices and payments.
  • Reports. View reports on orders, subscriptions, payments, transactions, and invoices.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Viewing Accounting Information.

  • Accounting. View accounting reports.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Generating Accounting Reports.

  • Invoices. View invoices for customer accounts.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Invoices.

  • Payment transactions. View report on payment operations.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Viewing Transactions List.

  • Events. View and manage system tasks scheduled for execution.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Understanding Events.

• Business Setup. Set up Customer and Business Manager for serving your customers.
  • Service Plans. Set up and manage service plans for provisioning services to your customers.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, chapter Creating Plans.

  • Discounts & Promotions. Set up coupons for allowing customers to receive discounts.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Creating Coupons.

  • Pricing options. Set prices for variations of service offerings.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Setting Pricing for Plan Variations.

  • All Settings. Set up all aspects of Customer and Business Manager and prepare it for serving customers.

    For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, chapter Getting Started with Business Manager.

In the list of customer accounts that opens when you click the link Customers in the Hosting Services group of the navigation pane, there are Business Manager links corresponding to each customer record. Click these links if you want to manage customer accounts, change billing and contact information, prepare invoices or collect payments. For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Administering Customers.

In the customer account management page that opens when you click the link Customers in the Hosting Services group of the navigation pane, and then click customer's name, there are the following links:

• Billing Details. This is where you can view the summary information about the customer's payments, invoices, and purchased services. There you can also suspend or cancel a customer account.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Administering Customers.

• Invoices. This is where you can view invoices for the customer account.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Invoices.

• Payment History. This is where you can view the history of customer's payments.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Viewing Accounting Totals.

• Generate Outstanding Invoices (in the More Business Operations menu). This is where you can create outstanding invoices on demand.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Generating Invoices Manually.

• Create Invoice (in the More Business Operations menu). This is where you can create custom invoices for one-time charges.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Adding One-Time Custom Invoice.

• Credits (in the More Business Operations menu). This is where you can deposit funds (add credits) into a customer account.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Adding Credits to Customer Account.

• Billing Accounts (in the More Business Operations menu). This is where you can view, add and remove billing accounts used for charging the customer for the services.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Billing Accounts and Details.

In the list of subscriptions that opens when you click the link Subscriptions in the Hosting Services group of the navigation pane, there are Business Manager links corresponding to each subscription. Click these links if you want to view and change properties of service subscriptions, or assign other service plans to subscriptions by upgrading and downgrading them. For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Managing Subscriptions.

In the subscription management page that opens when you click the link Subscriptions in the Hosting Services group of the navigation pane, and then click the domain name associated with a subscription, there are the following links:

• Billing Details. This is where you can view and change subscription properties, upgrade or downgrade a subscription, manage add-ons, transfer the subscription to another customer, suspend or delete it.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Subscription Details.

• Upgrade. This is where you can allocate more resources to the subscription by upgrading it to another service plan.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Upgrading Subscriptions.

• Downgrade. This is where you can reduce the amounts of allocated resources by downgrading the subscription to another service plan.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Downgrading Subscriptions.

• Add-ons. Change plan add-ons associated with the subscription.

  For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, section Viewing Add-ons with Their Properties.

In the list of hosting plans that opens when you click the link Service Plans in the Hosting Services group of the navigation pane, there are Business Manager links corresponding to each plan. Click these links if you want to view and change settings of hosting plans. For more information, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, chapter Managing Plan Settings.

Important: When using Business Manager with Parallels Plesk Panel, you should create and manage hosting plans only through the Business Manager. Otherwise, your customers will not be billed.

For information about setting up new hosting plans in Business Manager, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide, chapter Creating Plans. Operations on reseller plans and reseller accounts are not currently supported by Business Manager.

To help you get started with configuring Business Manager, refer to Parallels Plesk Panel 10.2 Quick Start Guide to Customer and Business Manager.

For the comprehensive operating instructions for Business Manager, refer to the Parallels Customer and Business Manager Administrator's Guide.

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