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Working with Plan Groups
You can create Plan Groups for cases where you want to apply a minimum spend amount at billing across several of your products or features that are each priced separately. When you create the Plan Group, you can define an overall minimum spend and then add the priced Plans you want to include in the Group. You can then attach the Plan Group to an end customer Account that consumes the separate products or features which are priced using the included Plans. At billing, the minimum spend you've defined for the Plan Group is applied.
This topic provides an example use case where Plan Groups can be used, and explains how to create Plan Groups and how to add Plans to a Group:
Tip: Attaching a Plan Group to an Account? For details on how to do this, see Attaching Plan Groups to an Account.
Example Use Case for Plan Groups
Suppose you offer a cloud service for game developers, which they can use to build and host their games. You offer several features as key capabilities for game development, such as Team Login, Player Matchmaking, and Real Time Player Messaging. With respect to the inclusion of these different features, you want to offer three levels of contract to your end customers and impose different minimum spends amounts at the three levels:
| Minimum Spend and Features | Independent | Professional | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Spend | $0 | $250 | $1000 |
| Team Login | Included | Included | Included |
| Player Matchmaking | Not Included | Included | Included |
| Real Time Player Messaging | Not Included | Not Included | Included |
More features are included for higher-level contracts, as well as a higher minimum spend amount.
For this example, you can create a Product - such as Game Dev Product - and then create and set-up a pricing Plan for each of the three features - such as Team Login Plan, Player Matchmaking Plan, and Real Time Player Messaging Plan. Using these feature Plans, you can then create different Plan Groups to use for charging customer Accounts that are placed on different contract levels:
Independent Plan Group, which contains a single Team Login Plan.
Professional Plan Group, which contains the Team Login Plan and Player Matchmaking Plan.
Enterprise Plan Group, which contains the Team Login Plan, Player Matchmaking Plan, and Real Time Player Messaging Plan.
For each Plan Group you can define a minimum spend for customer Accounts placed on the different contract levels.
Note: You can create the Plans you need for pricing different features under different Products. A Plan Group can include Plans from different Products.
Creating Plan Groups
To create a Plan Group:
1. Select Pricing>Plan Groups. The Plan Groups page opens and any existing Plan Groups are listed.
2. Select Create Plan Group. The Create page opens.
3. Enter the details of the new Plan Group:
Name. Descriptive name for Plan Group
Code. Unique identifier for Plan Group.
4. Currency. Use the drop-down list to select the Currency. For example, select US Dollar.
Note that you must first create the currencies you want use at the Organization level. See Creating and Managing Currencies.
5. Click the arrow to open the Advanced Configuration panel and configure Standing charge and Product minimum spend amounts.
6. Enter the Standing charge settings for the Plan Group:
Standing charge. Optional field to set standing charge to be applied for Plan Group.
Standing charge billing. If you want to override the Organization setting for billing either in arrears or in advance, uncheck Use organization-wise config and select the setting you want for the Plan Group.
Standing charge account product. Optional setting allowing you to select a Product the Plan Group's standing charge should be attributed to for accounting purposes.
Standing charge description. You can enter a custom description for any Standing charge amounts, which will appear in the bill line item.
Tip: Default Standing Charge Description? If you omit a custom description, then a default Standing Charge description will be shown for Bill line items- see Bill Line Items - Default Descriptions for details.
7. Enter the Minimum spend settings for the Plan Group:
Minimum spend. Optional field to define minimum spend across all Plans included in the Plan Group.
Minimum spend billing. If you want to override the Organization setting for billing either in arrears or in advance, uncheck Use organization-wide config check box and select the setting you want for the Plan Group.
Minimum spend accounting product. Optional setting allowing you to select a Product the Plan Group's standing charge should be attributed to for accounting purposes.
Minimum spend description. You can enter a custom description for any minimum spend amounts, which will appear in the bill line item.
Tip: Default Minimum Spend Description? If you omit a custom description, then a default Minimum Spend description will be shown for Bill line items- see Bill Line Items - Default Descriptions for details.
8. Select Create Plan Group. The Plan Group Details page opens:
9. If you want to edit the Plan's details, select the Edit button, make your changes, and click Update.
10. If you want to remove a Plan, return to the Plans page and select the Delete button for the Plan:
A confirmation popup opens. Select Yes to confirm the delete action.
Adding Plans to Plan Groups
To add Plans to a Plan Group:
1. Select Pricing>Plan Groups. The Plan Groups page opens and any existing Plan Groups are listed.
2. Select Name text of the Plan Group you want to add Plans to. The Plan Group Details page for the selected Plan Group opens.
3. Check the Included Plans panel - any Plans already added to the Plan Group will be listed.
4. Select Add Plan. A Select Plans popup appears.
5. Use the checkboxes on the Select Plans popup to select the Plans you want to add to the Plan Group.
6. Select Confirm. The popup closes and you are returned to the Plan Group Overview page and the selected Plans are listed on the Included Plans panel:
In this example, we've added a single Team Login Plan to the Independent Plan Group 2 Plan Group.
Warning: Constraints on Adding Plans to Plan Groups!
Only one Plan per Product: If you try to add more than one Plan for the same Product to the Plan Group, you'll receive an error message.
Custom Plans can't be added to a Global Plan Group: If you try to add a custom Plan (a Plan that has been created exclusively for a specific Account) to a Global Plan Group (a Plan Group that can be attached to multiple Accounts) you'll receive an error message. For more details, see Creating Custom Plan Groups for Accounts.
Tip: Attaching Plan Groups to Accounts? You can attach a Plan Group to an Account to create an Account Plan Group. When you do this, you can open a Plan Group Attachment Details page and add Plans to the Plan Group directly from there - see the Adding Plans to Plan Groups and Reviewing Pricing section for more details.
Removing Plans from Plan Groups
To remove Plans from a Plan Group:
1. Select Pricing>Plan Groups. The Plan Groups page opens and any existing Plan Groups are listed.
2. Select Name text of the Plan Group you want to remove Plans from. The Plan Group Details page for the selected Plan Group opens.
3. Check the Included Plans panel - any Plans already added to the Plan Group will be listed.
4. Select the trash icon for the Plan you want to remove from the Plan Group:
A confirmation dialog appears.
5. Select Yes to confirm removal of the Plan from the Plan Group.
Plan Group Minimum Spend vs. Plans Minimum Spends
When you define a minimum spend amount for a Plan Group, it does not override any Product minimum spend amounts you've defined for the Plans included in the Plan Group. Both remain valid settings and any minimum spends defined for included Plans is evaluated first. The Plan Group minimum spend is then evaluated. So, for example:
Plan Group X contains two Plans: Plan A and Plan B. The minimum spends defined for both Plan Group and Plans are:
Plan Group X = $500
Plan A = $100
Plan B = $200
Suppose for the first billing period your customer whose Account is being charged using Plan Group X spends $50 on Plan A and $100 on Plan B:
Plan A minimum spend is applied and bumps up the charge to $100.
Plan B minimum spend is applied and bumps up the charge to $200.
This comes to a charge of $300 due.
Plan Group X minimum spend is now applied and bumps up the charge to $500.
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