Calculating Expenses
Do your own traffic accounting!
Now, with the help of the tariffs that we configured in the previous chapters, you have a detailed picture of your Internet expenses over any period of time. And the best thing about it is that you don't depend on anyone in doing this.
Click New on the Reports => Expenses page in the View pane. This will bring up the wizard that will guide you through the set up process. The first step is to enter the expense name and its description:
The next page will allow you to specify a time period for which expenses should be calculated. There are a number of ways to do this:
The quickest way is to select a predefined time period (Today, Yesterday, This Month, etc.) from the Predefined drop-down list. If you select One day from, One week from, etc., you can specify the starting point from which the expenses should be counted, or select Custom to specify an arbitrary time period.
Also, consider checking Reset the expense automatically upon expiration box at the bottom of the window. If you check it, CommTraffic will automatically adjust the time period as soon as the previous one expires. For instance, if you select Yesterday as the time period and check Reset the expense automatically upon expiration, CommTraffic will always display expenses for the previous day. This is very convenient, as you will not have to set your expenses every day.
On the next page, select the tariff that will be used to calculate this expense:
Click Done, and a new expense will appear on the list. You can create as many expenses as you wish, using different time periods and tariffs.
To view the current expenses, you don't have to go too far. Yes, you can view them on the Reports => Expenses page, but that's not all. They can also be displayed on the Monitor page, on the Floating Monitor, or on the Tray Tool Tip window. And it's not difficult to set this up:
Click on the word showing the current display type (Volume, Time, Expenses, or Alarms, right under Total, enclosed in rounded brackets) until Expenses appears. Then, double-click on the central part of the pane, as the screen shot suggests, and use the Add button in the new dialog window to add an expense to be displayed:
If you want your expenses to be displayed in the Tray Tool Tip window, right-click on the CommTraffic tray icon, select the Icon menu item, and click Customize in the settings window. Then, select Expenses from the drop-down list and add the ones you're interested in.
