Setting Up Contract Billing
When you create a Contract for an Account, you can use it to bill the Account on a Contract basis:
For billing Product usage - you must add Account Plans or Account Plan Groups attached to the Account to the Contract.
For billing one-off Charges you've created for the Account - you must add those Charges to the Contract.
The capability to bill your end-customer Accounts on a Contract basis gives you wide flexibility to fulfill invoicing requirements for cases where you offer customers a specific product package agreement to consume several of your core products. You can bill Accounts wholly and exclusively according to the scope of a specific contractual agreement.
This topic explains how to set up Contracts for billing and how to use the available options to ensure any Contract billing you implement meets your specific billing use case:
Some Contract billing worked examples are also provided, which show how you can enable Contract billing and to illustrate the various configuration options m3ter offers for controlling how Contract Bills are generated to meet different invoicing requirements:
Setting Up Contracts for Billing - Configuration Options
When you want to use Contract billing, several options are available to ensure your billing use case is fulfilled:
Independent vs. Collective Billing
Apply Contract Period
Define Usage Filters
Independent vs. Collective Billing
You can determine how charges due on the Account and linked to Contracts will be billed:
Bill Independently. A separate Bill will be created for any charge amounts linked to the Contract. This is useful if you have multiple Contracts associated with an Account, but you want separate Bills generated for each of the different Contracts.
Bill Collectively. Charges linked to the Contract can be billed collectively on a shared Bill and together with charges linked to other Contracts and any other charges due.
To control how the Bills for Contracts will be generated you assign them Bill grouping keys. There are two types:
Exclusive grouping keys are used for independent Contract billing.
Non-exclusive grouping keys are used for collective Contract billing.
This allows for mixed Contract bill grouping. Suppose you have three Contracts associated with a single Account and you want to bill the charges under one Contract separately and charges due under the other two Contracts collectively. You can assign an exclusive grouping key to one Contract and assign the same non-exclusive key to the other two Contracts.
Configuring Independent Billing
When you create or edit a Contract, you can quickly enable it for independent billing.
To enable a Contract for independent billing:
1. Open the Account the Contract belongs to and select the Contracts tab.
2. Either select Create contract or select to Edit an existing Contract. The Create or Edit page opens.
3. On the Contract billing details card, enable the Bill contract independently switch:
4. Select Create contract or Update contract. You are returned to the Contracts tab.
5. Select the name hotlink text of the Contract. The Contract details page opens:
A Bill grouping key has been automatically created using the Contract's name, assigned to the Contract, and marked as EXCLUSIVE.
When Bills are generated for the Account the Contract belongs to, any charges due and linked to this Contract will be on a separate Bill.
6. If you later decide that you no longer want to use the Contract for billing, edit it and disable the Bill contract independently switch. The Bill grouping key is removed:
Note that the Bill grouping key created automatically and assigned to the Contract is not deleted and can be re-assigned to the Contract if at a later date you want to re-enable the Contract for independent billing.
Configuring Collective Billing
If your Contract billing use case requires that charges due on the Account linked to multiple Contracts are collectively billed, then you can assign a common Bill grouping key to each of the Contracts.
To enable a Contract for collective billing:
1. Open the Account the Contract belongs to and select the Contracts tab.
2. Either select Create contract or select to Edit an existing Contract. The Create or Edit page opens.
3. On the Contract billing details card, select Advanced. The card adjusts to show a Bill grouping key selection/add drop-down:
Any existing Bill grouping keys - both exclusive and non-exclusive - are shown in the drop-down selection list.
For this example, we'll Add a new grouping key called Premium Key. An information text appears when we add the key:
4. Select Create contract or Update contract. You are returned to the Contracts tab.
5. Select the name hotlink text of the Contract. The Contract details page opens:
The Bill grouping key we added has been created, assigned to the Contract, and is marked as NON-EXCLUSIVE.
6. If we now open a second Contract on the Account and edit it, we can assign the same non-exclusive Premium Key by selecting it from the Bill grouping key drop-down list:
7. Select Create contract or Update contract. You are returned to the Contracts tab.
8. Select the name hotlink text of the second Contract. The Contract details page opens:
Any charges due on the Account and linked to either Premium Contract 1 or Premium Support Contract will appear together on single collective Bill.
Apply Contract Period
When you create or edit a Contract that you've enabled for billing, you can restrict the charges billed to the period you've defined for the Contract using the Apply contract period limits switch on the Contract billing details card:
Enabled. Contract billing for the Account will be restricted to charge amounts that fall within the defined Contract period.
Disabled. The period for amounts billed under the Contract will be determined by the Account Plan attached to the Account and linked to the Contract.
Define Usage Filters
As a further option for controlling Contract billing and giving added flexibility, when you enable a Contract for billing you can configure usage filters for the metered usage and charge at billing only for usage where Product Meter dimensions equal specific defined values.
When you create or edit a Contract you've enabled for billing, you can define Usage filters to either include or exclude charges for usage associated with specific Meter dimensions:
In this example, customers placed on the Contract will be charged for usage data measurements collected by Meters when:
The Country dimension has a value of UK.
The FileFormat dimension has a value of RAW.
Example 1 - Multiple Product Contract Billing
Suppose you offer several core Products and your end-customers typically enter into a contractual agreement to take one or more of these Products. You want to invoice each customer for the specific product package they sign-up for. This example shows how to set things up in m3ter for billing multiple products under a single contract and review generated Bills.
Setting Up Multiple Product Contract Billing
To set up multiple product Contract billing:
1. Select Accounts. The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Name text of the Account you want to set up multiple product Contract billing for. The Account page opens with the Overview tab selected.
3. Select the Attached plans tab and attach priced Product Plans to the Account:
In this example, we've attached two priced Plans for billing the Account for consumption of two different Products.
4. Select the Contracts tab and create the Contract you want to use to bill the Account for multiple Products. For the current example, under Contract billing details:
Leave the Bill contract independently switch disabled. In this example, only one Contract will be associated with the Account and we don't need to use Bill grouping keys.
Apply contract period limits. Leave this switch in the default disabled position.
5. Usage filters. Do not attempt to set any usage filters:
6. Select Create contact and then from the Contracts tab select the name hotlink text of the Contract to open the Contract details page:
We can see that no Bill grouping key is assigned to the Contract.
7. Scroll down to the Contract plans panel and add the two Product Plans attached to the Account to the Contract:
8. Return to the Account>Attached plans tab:
The Plans attached to the Account for different Products are now linked to the same Contract.
Next, we can submit some test data and generate a Bill for the Account and view Contract billing.
Running and Viewing Contract Billing for Multiple Products
To run and view multiple product Contract billing:
1. Open the Meter details page for each of the Meters used to collect usage data for Products the example Account consumes:
Under Submit measurements>Submit usage data, enter some test data for the Meter Data Fields targeted by the Aggregations you've used to price the Product Plans attached to the Account.
2. Open the example Account page and select the Bills tab.
3. Select Run billing and use the Run billing modal to generate a Bill for the Account for the next Invoice date covering the period in which you submitted the test data for the Product Meters:
Because we used the No grouping key setting for the Contract, a single Bill is generated and appears on the Bills tab.
4. Select the Reference hotlink text to open the Bill in Bill Management. For example:
The Bill opens and by default groups line items by Product.
5. Open the Display options menu and enable Group by contract. The Bill adjusts to show line items for multiple Products billed under the same Contract. For the current example:
Example 2 - Mixed Grouping Contract Billing
This worked example develops the multiple Product Contract billing given in Example 1, and supposes that you want to invoice customers by Contract for multiple Products they have agreed to consume but to create separate invoices by Contract for those Products. In this example we'll use the Bill grouping key setting to ensure that:
Charges for two Products consumed by an Account are grouped together and appear on a single Contract Bill.
Charges for a third Product consumed by the same Account appear on a separate Contract Bill.
Setting Up Mixed Grouping Contract Billing
To set up grouped Contract billing:
1. Select Accounts. The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Name text of the Account you want to set up grouped Contract billing for. The Account page opens with the Overview tab selected.
3. Select the Contracts tab and ensure two ACTIVE Contracts have been created for the Account. For example:
For this example, we want charges due under Training Contract 1 to appear on a separate Bill and independently of any billing of charges due under Standard Contract 1.
4. Edit the Contract you want to be billed separately and under Contract billing details, enable the Bill contract independently switch.
5. Select Update contract and on the Contracts tab select the name hotlink text of the Contract to open the Contract details page:
For the example, we can now see that a Bill grouping key using the Contract's name has been created, assigned to Training Contract 1, and is marked as EXCLUSIVE.
Note that for Standard Contract 1 we can leave this without a grouping key for the example because this is the only other Contract associated with the Account.
6. Return to the Account page, select the Attached plans tab, and attach priced Product Plans to the Account:
Note that two of the attached Plans are added to Standard Contract 1 and one attached Plan is added to Training Contract 1.
Next, we can submit some test data and generate Bills for the Account and view the resultant mixed grouping Contract billing.
Running and Viewing Contract Billing for Mixed Grouping Contract Bills
To run and view grouped Contract Bills:
1. Open the Meter details page for each of the Meters used to collect usage data for Products the example Account consumes:
Under Submit measurements>Submit usage data, enter some test data for the Meter Data Fields targeted by the Aggregations you've used to price the Product Plans attached to the Account.
2. Open the example Account page and select the Bills tab.
3. Select Run billing and use the Run billing modal to generate Bills for the Account for the next Invoice date covering the period in which you submitted the test data for the Product Meters:
Because we selected Bill contract independently for Training Contract 1 and assigned an exclusive Bill grouping key to it, two separate Bills are generated and appear on the Bills tab.
4. Select the Reference hotlink text of the Standard Contract 1 Bill to open it in Bill Management:
The Standard Contract 1 Bill opens with line items grouped by the two Products for the attached Plans added to the Contract and we can then use the Group by contract switch on Display options:
5. Select the Reference hotlink text of the Training Contract 1 Bill to open it in Bill Management:
The Training Contract 1 Bill opens with line items grouped by the single Product for the attached Plan added to the Contract and we can then use the Group by contract switch on Display options:
Example 3 - Usage Filtering for Contract Billing
This worked example develops the multiple Product Contract billing given in Example 1, and supposes that you want to implement Contract billing for Products but filter the metered usage and charge at billing only for usage where Product Meter dimensions equal specific defined values. You can do this by adding usage filters for the Contract you will use to bill the Account.
Running and Viewing Contract Billing without Usage Filters
First, we'll review the setup for the example and run billing without Contract usage filters applied to check that all usage is charged for.
To run and view Contract billing without Usage Filters:
1. Select Accounts. The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Attached plans tab:
Two Product Plans are attached to the Account and both have been added to Standard Contract 1:
Revive Graph Standard Plan 1X1 is attached for charging the Account for consuming the Revive Graph Standard Product.
Revive Graph Support Plan 2X2 is attached for charging the Account for charging the Revive Graph Support Product.
Revive Graph Standard Product - Meter and Pricing:
The Meter that collects usage for this Product has two Data Fields:
A MEASURE field called GIGABs to collect the size in GBs of files uploaded for storage.
A WHAT dimension field called FileFormat to collect the type of files uploaded - permitted types are RAW or JPEG format.
The Aggregation used to price the attached Product Plan targets the GIGABs Meter field and applies a SUM method to give the billing metric.
The Revive Graph Standard Plan 1X1 is priced at the flat rate of $0.75 per GB stored.
Revive Graph Support Product - Meter and Pricing:
The Meter that collects usage for this Product has two Data Fields:
A MEASURE field called Support Calls to collect the number of support calls by customers.
A WHERE dimension field called Country to log which country the support call originates from - customers are located in either the UK or the US.
The Aggregation used to price the attached Product Plan targets the Support Calls Meter field and applies a SUM method to give the billing metric.
The Revive Graph Support Plan 2X2 is priced at the flat rate of $1.25 per call.
3. Submit some test data to the Account using the Meters set up for the example. For the current example:
Revive Graph Standard Meter - three usage data measurements submitted for the example Account:
GIGABs = 300, FileFormat = RAW
GIGABs = 400, FileFormat = JPEG
GIGABs = 500, FileFormat = RAW
Total charge is 1200 x $0.75 = $900
Revive Graph Support Meter - three usage data measurements submitted for the example Account:
Support Calls = 26, Where = UK
Support Calls = 36, Where = US
Support Calls = 46, Where = UK
Total charge is 108 x $1.25 = $135
4. Open the example Account page and select the Bills tab.
5. Select Run billing and use the Run billing modal to generate a Bill for the Account for the next Invoice date covering the period in which you submitted the test data for the Product Meters:
6. Select the Reference hotlink text to open the Bill in Bill Management:
We can see the Bill has been correctly calculated for the usage submitted for each of the Products and we can then use the Group by contract switch on Display options:
Setting Up Contract Billing with Usage Filters
Suppose that for the current example, you want to maintain Contract billing for the two Products but accommodate variation in the contractual agreement made with different customers. For example, some customers will be charged only for storage of RAW files and for support calls made from the UK.
To set up Contract billing with Usage Filters:
1. Select Accounts. The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Contracts tab and select to edit Standard Contract 1.
3. On the Contract details panel under Usage filters, add two filters to the Contract:
Select Add. The panel adjust to show a Dimension drop-down list, which you can use to to select a Meter dimension you want to filter usage by. Then enter the Value of the selected Meter Dimension you want to filter by and include or exclude under Usage filter mode.
Select Add again to add a second usage filter for the example:
4. Select Update contract.
Running and Viewing Contract Billing with Usage Filters
Now that we've applied usage filters to Contract 1, we can recalculate the Contract Bill to check that the charges are calculated correctly according to the filtered Product usage:
Revive Graph Standard Meter - two usage data measurements were submitted for the example Account and that the Contract usage filtering we've configured should include:
GIGABs = 300, FileFormat = RAW
GIGABs = 500, FileFormat = RAW
Total charge is 800 x $0.75 = $600
Revive Graph Support Meter - two usage data measurements were submitted for the example Account and that the Contract usage filtering we've configured should include:
Support Calls = 26, Where = UK
Support Calls = 46, Where = UK
Total charge is 72 x $1.25 = $90
To run and view Contract billing with Usage Filters:
1. Open the example Account page and select the Bills tab.
2. Select the Bill that was generated without usage filters applied to the Contract and select Recalculate selected.
3. Select the Reference hotlink text to open the Bill in Bill Management:
The Bill has been correctly recalculated for the filtered usage submitted for each of the Products. We can then use the Group by contract switch on Display options:
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