Group Admin FAQ

This FAQ covers the most common questions for Group Admin users — the top-level ISP operator role in ISPBills. As a Group Admin, you manage your entire ISP tenant: operators, resellers, routers, packages, billing, payments, monitoring, and settings. Use the table of contents on the right to jump to a specific topic.

Getting Started

What is the Group Admin role and what can I do with it?

The Group Admin is the highest-level operator role within an ISP tenant. You have full control over your entire ISP operation — including creating operators and sub-operators, managing routers and network infrastructure, defining packages and billing profiles, handling customer accounts, configuring payment gateways, setting up SMS and WhatsApp notifications, and accessing all reports and accounting features. Think of it as owning the ISP within the ISPBills platform.

What should I do first after logging in as a Group Admin?

Start with these essential steps:

1. Go to Settings → Company Settings and fill in your ISP name, logo, address, and contact details.
2. Add your first router under Routers & Packages → Routers.
3. Create IP pools and PPPoE profiles under IP & PPPoE Management.
4. Define at least one Master Package and one Billing Profile.
5. Add an operator or start adding customers directly.

How do I access the Group Admin dashboard?

After logging in, you are taken to the Dashboard automatically. The dashboard displays business metrics such as total customers, active vs. suspended counts, revenue summaries, and recent activity. You also have access to the Business Dashboard for revenue and growth analytics, and the NOC Dashboard for real-time network monitoring.

Can I switch to an operator's view to see what they see?

Yes. Go to Operators → Operator List, find the operator, and click Get Access. This lets you switch into the operator's panel to see exactly what they see, without needing their login credentials. Click Back to Group Admin in the top bar to return to your own panel.

How do I update my ISP company profile and branding?

Go to Settings → Company Settings (requires the editCompany permission, which Group Admins have by default). Here you can update your ISP name, logo, address, phone number, and other business details. These details appear on invoices, the customer portal, and SMS notifications.

Operators & Resellers

How do I add a new operator (reseller)?

Go to Operators → Create Operator. Fill in the operator's name, mobile number, email, and login credentials. After creation, assign them Master Packages and Billing Profiles so they can start adding customers. You can also set a credit limit to control how much they can bill before settling.

What is the difference between an operator, sub-operator, and manager?

Role	Created by	Purpose
Operator	Group Admin	Regional reseller who manages their own customers, sub-operators, and managers
Sub-Operator	Group Admin or Operator	Assistant operator with limited customer management capabilities
Manager	Group Admin or Operator	Staff member with permission-gated access to specific functions like receiving payments or creating customers
NOC User	Group Admin	Network operations technician with permission-gated access to infrastructure monitoring and device management — no financial data access

How do I control what an operator can access?

Use Special Permissions and Master Package assignment together. Go to Operators → Operator List, select the operator, and click Special Permissions to enable or disable specific panel sections. Under Master Packages, choose which packages the operator is allowed to sell. You can also assign specific Billing Profiles to restrict billing options.

How do I set a credit limit for an operator?

Go to Operators → Operator List, click on the operator, and select Credit Limit. Set the maximum amount the operator can accumulate in unpaid customer bills. Once the limit is reached, the operator cannot create new customers or process new bills until they settle their balance.

How do I add balance to an operator's account?

Go to Operators → Operator List, select the operator, and click Account Balance → Add Balance. Enter the amount and a reference note. This balance is used when the operator's customers make payments that are processed through the operator's account.

What is a Sales Manager and how do I use them?

A Sales Manager is a lightweight role designed for sales staff. They can view the list of group admins (read-only), add sales comments and notes on operators, and send SMS messages. They do not have access to customer data, billing, or network settings. Create them from Settings → Sales Managers.

What is a NOC user and how do I create one?

A NOC user (Network Operations Center) is a network operations technician who can monitor infrastructure, manage routers/OLTs/IP pools, search and troubleshoot customer connections, and use the Ready Terminal for SSH/Telnet access — all without any access to billing, payments, or financial data.

To create a NOC user:

1. Go to Operators & Managers → NOC Users in your sidebar.
2. Click New NOC User.
3. Fill in the name, mobile, email, and password.
4. Select the desired permissions from the available options.
5. Click Submit.

See NOC Role and NOC Panel for full details.

What is the difference between a Manager and a NOC user?

Aspect	Manager	NOC User
Primary focus	Customer operations and billing	Network infrastructure and monitoring
Financial data	Has access (permission-based)	No access at all — strict financial isolation
Network devices	No access	Routers, OLTs, IP pools, switches (permission-based)
Customer operations	Create, edit, activate, suspend	Search and disconnect only
Panel	Uses main admin panel	Has its own dedicated NOC Panel at /admin/noc/
Ready Terminal	No access	SSH/Telnet access to network devices

Routers & Network

How do I add a MikroTik router to ISPBills?

1. Go to Routers & Packages → Routers and click Add Router.
2. Enter the router's IP address (public or VPN IP), API port (default 8728), API username, and API password.
3. Click Test Connection to verify ISPBills can communicate with the router via the MikroTik API.
4. Click Save. The router will now appear in your router list with its connection status.

My router is behind NAT — how do I connect it?

If your router does not have a public IP, you need a VPN account. Go to Routers & Packages → VPN Accounts and create a VPN tunnel. ISPBills will provision a secure connection between the platform and your router. Once the VPN is active, use the VPN-assigned IP address as the router's IP in ISPBills.

How do I create and manage PPPoE profiles?

Go to IP & PPPoE Management → PPPoE Profiles and click Create. Each profile defines the bandwidth limits and IP allocation settings for a group of customers. Link the profile to an IPv4 Pool (and optionally an IPv6 Pool), then associate it with one or more packages. You can also bulk upload profiles using the Upload PPP Profiles option.

How do I set up IPv4 and IPv6 address pools?

Go to IP & PPPoE Management → IPv4 Pools (or IPv6 Pools) and click Create. Enter the pool name and subnet range. Assign each pool to a PPPoE profile so that customers connecting through that profile receive IPs from the correct pool. Note that protected pools (such as the suspended users pool) cannot be deleted or renamed.

Can I monitor my MikroTik routers in real time?

Yes. Go to Monitoring → MikroTik Monitor, select a router, and click Live Status. This shows real-time CPU usage, RAM consumption, uptime, active PPP sessions, interface traffic, and IP pool utilisation. You can also view Router Logs and configure Netwatch alerts for each router from the router's settings page.

Packages & Billing Profiles

How do I create a master package?

Go to Routers & Packages → Master Packages and click Create. Set the package name, bandwidth speed (upload/download), price, and validity period. Master packages are templates that you assign to operators — each operator can then sell the package to their customers. Only the Group Admin can create, edit, or delete master packages.

What is the difference between a master package and an operator package?

A Master Package is created by the Group Admin and defines the speed, price, and terms. When you assign a master package to an operator, it becomes an Operator Package — the operator can sell it to customers but cannot change the speed or core settings. The Group Admin can set different operator prices to control the reseller margin.

How do I create a billing profile?

Go to Routers & Packages → Billing Profiles and click Create. Configure the billing due date (day of the month), grace period (days before auto-suspension), and enable or disable auto-billing. You can create multiple billing profiles for different billing cycles (e.g., 1st of month, 15th of month). Assign profiles to operators and customers as needed.

What is a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) and how do I configure it?

A Fair Usage Policy limits the amount of data a customer can use within a billing cycle. Go to Routers & Packages → Master Packages, select a package, and click Fair Usage Policy. Set the data limit (in GB). When a customer exceeds the limit, their status changes to FUP, their speed is reduced to the FUP tier, and they may be moved to a different IP pool. Speed resets at the start of the next billing cycle.

Can I set custom pricing for individual customers?

Yes. Go to the customer's profile and click Custom Pricing. This overrides the standard package price for that specific customer. Custom pricing is useful for special deals, corporate customers, or promotional offers. The custom price is used in all subsequent bill calculations for that customer.

Customer Management

How do I add a new customer?

Go to Customers → Create Customer. Fill in the customer's name, mobile number, address, and connection details. Select a connection type (PPPoE, Hotspot, Static IP, or Other), assign a package and billing profile, and set login credentials. Upon saving, ISPBills automatically creates the necessary RADIUS entries and generates the first bill (if billing is enabled).

How do I bulk import customers from a spreadsheet?

ISPBills supports two import methods:

• Excel Import: Go to Customers → Import from Excel. Download the template, fill in your customer data, upload the file, and follow the 4-step wizard (upload → map fields → review → import).
• MikroTik Import: Go to Customers → Import from MikroTik. ISPBills connects to your router, pulls existing PPP secrets, and creates RADIUS records for each imported customer.

What are customer zones and how do I use them?

Customer Zones let you group customers by geographic area or logical region. Go to Customers → Customer Zones and create zones (e.g., "North District", "Tower-5 Area"). Assign customers to zones during creation or editing. Zones are useful for filtering reports, targeting SMS broadcasts, and organising your customer base.

How do I define custom fields for customer profiles?

Go to Customers → Custom Fields and click Create. Define the field name, type (text, number, dropdown, etc.), and whether it is mandatory. Custom fields appear on the customer creation and edit forms. You can also set Mandatory Customer Attributes under Customers → Mandatory Attributes to enforce required fields during customer registration.

What are the customer statuses and what do they mean?

Status	Meaning
Active	Customer has internet access and is in good standing
Suspended	Service is temporarily paused, usually due to unpaid bills or manual action
Disabled	Service is permanently turned off until manually restored
FUP	Customer exceeded their Fair Usage Policy data limit; speed is reduced

You can change a customer's status manually from their profile, or let auto-suspension handle overdue accounts automatically.

How do I perform bulk operations on multiple customers?

Go to Customers → Multiple Customer Update. Select customers using filters (zone, package, status, operator) and apply bulk changes such as package change, status update, or billing profile reassignment. You can also use Bulk Update Users to upload an Excel file with updated customer data to modify many records at once.

Billing & Invoicing

How does automatic bill generation work?

ISPBills generates bills automatically based on each customer's billing profile. When auto-billing is enabled, the system creates a bill on the configured billing due date each month. The bill amount is calculated from the customer's package price, any applicable VAT, and discounts. Customers whose payment status becomes billed are subject to auto-suspension after the grace period expires.

What billing types are available?

Type	Description
Monthly	Standard monthly billing — bills generated on the billing due date each month
Daily	Per-day billing — balance is deducted daily from the customer's prepaid balance
Free	No billing — customer has free service with no bill generation

Set the billing type when creating the customer or through their billing profile.

How do I handle advance payments from customers?

Go to the customer's profile and click Advance Payment. Record the advance amount — it is stored as a credit balance on the customer's account. When the next bill is generated, the system automatically deducts from the advance balance first. If the advance covers the full bill, the customer's payment is marked as paid without any manual action.

How do I configure VAT on customer bills?

Go to Settings → VAT Profiles and create a VAT profile with the applicable tax rate. Once enabled, VAT is automatically calculated and added to each customer's bill amount. You can track all VAT collections under Settings → VAT Collections for regulatory reporting purposes.

How do I manage bills in bulk?

Go to Bills & Payments → Manage Bulk Bills. Filter by operator, zone, or billing profile, then select the bills you want to process. You can mark multiple bills as paid in one action using the Bulk Bill Paid feature, which is useful when reconciling offline payments at the end of the day.

Payments

How do I set up online payment gateways for my customers?

Go to Settings → Payment Gateways, select a supported gateway (bKash, Nagad, SSLCommerz, Razorpay, ShurjoPay, Aamarpay, EasyPayWay, or WalletMix), enter your API credentials from the gateway provider, and toggle it Active. Once enabled, customers can pay their bills through the gateway on the Customer Portal.

How do I verify pending online payments?

Go to Bills & Payments → Verify Payments. This page shows all pending transactions from online payment gateways. The system automatically rechecks pending payments every 30 minutes. You can also manually verify a payment by clicking Verify next to the transaction — ISPBills will query the gateway API to confirm the payment status.

How do I send payment links to customers?

You have two options:

• Individual: Go to the customer's profile and click Send Payment Link to send a unique payment link via SMS or WhatsApp.
• Broadcast: Go to Bills & Payments → Payment Link Broadcast to send payment links to multiple customers at once. Filter by zone, operator, or payment status to target the right customers.

What payment methods can operators use to collect payments?

Operators can collect payments through Cash (manually recorded in the panel), Online Gateways (customer self-service via the portal), Recharge Cards (PIN-based prepaid cards), and Advance Payments (credit balance applied to future bills). All payment records are tracked under Bills & Payments → Customer Payments with full audit history.

SMS & Notifications

How do I configure SMS notifications?

Go to Settings → SMS Gateway and enter your SMS provider credentials. Then go to SMS & Notifications → Event SMS to enable automatic SMS for billing events such as bill generation, payment received, account suspended, and account expired. Customise each message template using placeholders like customer name, amount, and due date.

Can I send bulk SMS to customers?

Yes. Go to SMS & Notifications → SMS Broadcast and click Create Broadcast. Filter recipients by zone, package, operator, or customer status. Compose your message, preview the recipient count, and send. ISPBills processes the broadcast as a background job so you can continue working while messages are delivered.

How do I set up WhatsApp notifications?

Go to Settings → WhatsApp Gateways and configure your WhatsApp API provider (Meta Cloud API, Twilio, or 360dialog). Then go to WhatsApp → WhatsApp Events to enable automated WhatsApp messages for billing events. You can also use WhatsApp Broadcast to send bulk messages to filtered customer groups.

How do I configure due date reminders and expiration alerts?

Go to SMS & Notifications → Due Date Reminders to create reminder rules that automatically notify customers before their bill is due. Set how many days before the due date to send the reminder. For prepaid customers, go to SMS & Notifications → Expiration Notifiers to alert customers before their package validity expires. Both features work via SMS and WhatsApp.

Monitoring

How do I set up Zabbix monitoring in ISPBills?

Go to Monitoring → Zabbix Servers and click Add Server. Enter your Zabbix server's URL and API credentials. Once connected, ISPBills pulls host data, problems, and alerts from Zabbix. Go to Monitoring → Zabbix Monitor to view real-time monitoring data for all devices registered in your Zabbix server.

How do I monitor OLT and ONU devices?

Go to Network → OLT Management to add your Optical Line Terminals. Once added, you can view Live Status, Running Config, and open Telnet Sessions directly from the panel. Go to Network → ONU Management to view, map, and unmap Optical Network Units. Use ONU Sync to pull the latest ONU data from your OLT automatically.

What is the Network Topology Map?

The Topology Map (under Monitoring → Topology) provides a visual diagram of your entire network infrastructure. It displays routers, OLTs, switches, and their interconnections as nodes and links. This helps your NOC team quickly identify the physical and logical layout of the network when troubleshooting issues.

How do I use NetFlow traffic analysis?

Go to Monitoring → NetFlow to access traffic analysis tools. NetFlow provides detailed insights including top talkers (highest bandwidth consumers), DDoS detection alerts, and per-interface traffic breakdowns. You can configure NetFlow Alerts to receive automatic notifications when traffic exceeds defined thresholds. NetFlow requires a separate subscription to be enabled.

Accounting & Reports

How does the accounting system work in ISPBills?

ISPBills includes a full double-entry accounting module. Go to Accounting → Accounts to view your chart of accounts including Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Every customer payment, expense, and operator transaction is recorded automatically. Use the Journal and Ledger for detailed financial records, and generate Account Statements for any account.

How do I track income vs. expenses?

Go to Accounting → Income vs. Expense for a visual overview of your ISP's financial health. This report compares total income (customer payments, operator settlements) against total expenses. For more detail, use Accounting → Daily Report or Monthly Report to see financial breakdowns by date range. You can also manage expenses under Accounting → Expenses with categories and subcategories.

How do I generate regulatory reports (e.g., BTRC)?

Go to Reports → BTRC Report to generate reports required by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. The report pulls customer data, connection statistics, and financial summaries in the format required for regulatory submission. Export the report as needed for your compliance filings.

Settings & Security

How do I enable two-factor authentication for my account?

Go to Settings → Two-Factor Authentication. Scan the QR code with an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator or Authy) and enter the verification code to confirm. Once enabled, you will need to enter a code from your authenticator app each time you log in. You can also set up WebAuthn/Biometric Login under Settings → Secure Login for passwordless authentication.

How do I manage API access and webhooks?

Go to Settings → API Clients to create API client credentials for external integrations. Each client receives an API key and secret for authenticating requests. Go to Settings → Webhook Endpoints to configure URLs that receive real-time event notifications (e.g., payment received, customer created). API clients and webhooks are ownership-scoped, meaning you can only manage your own.

How do I configure automated backups and notification preferences?

Go to Settings → Backup Settings to configure automated database backups with your preferred schedule and storage location. For notification preferences, go to Settings → Notification Settings to control which events trigger email, SMS, or in-app alerts. You can also customise the Suspension Portal under Settings → Suspension Portal Settings to control what suspended customers see when they try to browse.