Patent ID: 7831027

Claim:
A system extension for a billing system adapted to generate customer bills associated with the delivery of telecommunications products and services, wherein the billing system includes software instructions adapted to be executed on a computer server platform, a database for storing product configuration data for a plurality of product offerings and billing tariffs attached to the product offerings, and a user interface allowing a user to interact with and configure portions of the system, the system extension comprising: a composite index key for accessing a particular unit charge rate for a particular tariff of the plurality of billing tariffs attached to a particular product offering of the plurality of product offerings, wherein the composite index key includes key parameters for uniquely identifying the particular tariff; an editable derived attributes table that identifies the particular unit charge rate for the particular tariff attached to the particular product offering and that associates the unit charge rate with the composite index key; and a charge calculation function operable to: assemble the composite index key from the key parameters; index the editable derived attributes table with the composite index key to obtain a determined particular unit charge rate; and calculate a charge amount for the particular tariff attached to the particular product offering based on the particular unit charge rate determined in the editable derived attributes table with the composite index key.