DialogWeb Help:  Subaccount Billing

Subaccount billing lets you keep track of your online costs by specifying account names or numbers so that costs can be billed back to departments, projects, or individuals. When you logon to Dialog Web, you can enter a subaccount name or number in the Subaccount text box or, you can enter the SET SUBACCT command, in the Dialog Command text box, at any time during your search session. The subaccount stays in effect until new subaccount information is entered or until you logoff of the system. It does not remain in effect after a LOGOFF HOLD or RECONNECT.

A subaccount is an alphanumeric designation of up to 32 characters. It can include blanks, leading zeros, and any punctuation except semicolons (;) and question marks (?), for example,  set subacct michael 031193. The subaccount name should be meaningful to you -- a department name or number, the name of an individual, a charge code, or an organization job number.

When you specify a subaccount, the system displays a cost estimate of your search up to that point and a confirmation of the subaccount name. The cost estimator for the file you are searching is restarted at zero when you enter a SET SUBACCT command, however, the total session cost continues to increment.

Subaccounts are not validated for accuracy or content. If you enter an incorrect subaccount, you can enter a SET SUBACCT BACK command and re-enter the account information. The SET SUBACCT BACK command sets the subaccount for all costs incurred since your last BEGIN command unless you have entered an intervening SET SUBACCOUNT command, in which case, the subaccount session is reset to the time when the last subaccount was entered.

Note:
If you have stored a prompt for subaccount information, SET SUBACCT ? or SET SUBACCT BACK ? commands, in your Dialog Profile, you must enter a subaccount on the logon page of Dialog Web. If you do not enter a subaccount name at the logon prompt, after three prompts you will be automatically logged off the system.

If you store a SET SUBACCT BACK ? command in your Profile, all charges incurred from LOGON are assigned to the subaccount specified at the subaccount prompt.