Patent ID: 7346565

Claim:
A method for performing usage-based billing for a business entity using a local computer system coupled to a database and a remote computer system, the business entity having customers subscribing to a usage-based billing program, said method comprising the steps of: inputting into the remote computer system meter data relating to equipment usage by one of the customers, the meter data including at least one of an amount of usage of a piece of equipment, equipment serial number, model number, meter reading date, and customer name; generating an export file by processing the meter data at the remote computer system, the export file including a plurality of data records; transmitting the export file from the remote computer system to the local computer system for storing within the database; applying validation rules to the export file at the local computer system to determine the data records included within the export file that satisfy the validation rules, wherein one of the applied validation rules determines whether data representing an amount of usage of a piece of equipment included within the corresponding export file is invalid; generating an error report identifying the data records included within the export file that violate at least one of the validation rules including identifying data records that violate at least one of the validation rules due to at least one of a processing error at the local computer system and an inputting error at the remote computer system; generating at the local computer a correction report including a list of all the data records listed on the error report, a corresponding reason for the data record to be listed on the error report, and a list of possible corrective actions to correct the data record for satisfying the validation rules; correcting each data record listed on the error report such that each data record listed on the error report satisfies the validation rules; generating a corrected export file including the corrected data records; and transmitting an invoice for payment by the customer for usage of the piece of equipment based on the corrected export file.