Sometimes in the /Start/SMS or Voice/Analytics interface you may see that the Margin value becomes negative. There are some reasons why this happens:
1) The simplest reason is that Condition in /Start/SMSorVoice/Routing/Routing rules allows Margin to go negative. Condition in this case is set like MRG > -1, the number can go negative by as much as you wish.
2) Check the number of messages in Billable (C) and Billable (V) columns. If in /Start/Carriers/Products the billing for a client is set by delivered messages, and for a vendor - by submitted, the margin will naturally be negative. A client pays you only for delivered messages, there may be a couple of them, and you pay vendors for each message sent to them, there may be dozens or more of them.
3) Initially, the traffic may have gone under one rate and as a result, a positive Margin was recorded in Analytics. But a user can change rates in the past, and these rates can potentially cause negative Margin. For example, a client's rate became lower than it was originally. After recalculating analytical cubes and applying a new rate for the past traffic, the system recalculates Margin. Even if negative Margin is not allowed in Routing Rules, the system cannot take back messages processed and sent to vendors. Therefore, Margin becomes negative in the interface. You can check the rate change history in the Rate change log (Administration) report and in similar ones.
4) In voice traffic, you should pay attention to the volume for a client and for a vendor. You can analyze CDRs for volume differences and export them directly from the Analytics interface or via /Start/Voice/CDR management/CDR export tool. Billing increments are a common reason for volume discrepancies. If they are different for the client and for the vendor, the volume will be calculated unequally. For example, a customer has a billing increment set as 1\1\0. According to it, calls with duration longer than a minute will have zero volume. If a vendor has an increment of 0\1\1, the client's and vendor's volume will not match. Billing increments can be checked in Start/Voice/Rates/Rate editor for each rate.
If you still can't figure out the reason for the negative margin, please submit a ticket and provide a screenshot from Analytics with the negative margin, client and vendor product IDs, and a routing rule ID.
AKBSMS - Alaris Knowledge Base
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Link to this article: https://helpdesk.alarislabs.com/en/knowledge_base/article/298/category/139/