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• Pricing and Managing Plans and Plan Templates

Pricing Plans and Plan Templates

The Pricing Editor is designed to help you quickly add Plans or Plan Templates, link them to Aggregations, and configure the exact pricing structure you want to apply for charging end customer Accounts that are placed on your Product Plans - a Pricing is applied to a Plan for a defined period and any Accounts you put on that priced Plan are charged according to the Pricing for any usage they consume during that period. You can use a Pricing Wizard to quickly set up common types of usage-based pricing models.

The decision to price Plan Templates rather than individual Plans or, in contrast, always to price at the level of individual plans will depend on your overall usage-based charging policies:

• Pricing Plan Templates or Pricing Plans

Before you can start to price Plans for one of your Products, you must complete some prerequisite configuration:

• Usage-based pricing: Create a Meter for the Product and use the Meter to create an Aggregation.

• Unit-based pricing: Create a Counter for the Product.

• Create a Plan Template for the Product and create at least one Plan based on the Template.

If you open the Pricing Editor for a Product and these prerequisites are not completed, you will not be able to proceed:

• Pricing Readiness - Completing Prerequisites

When all prerequisites for pricing Product Plans are in place, creating a Pricing for a Plan using the Pricing Editor falls into two stages - setting up and then configuring the pricing:

• Setting Up to Price Plans in the Pricing Editor

• Setting Up in the Pricing Editor - Notes and Tips

• Creating a Pricing for a Plan

To meet some billing use cases, negative pricing can be used:

• Using Negative Pricing for Plans

Pricing Plan Templates or Pricing Plans

You can create a pricing for a Plan Template or for any Plans that are based on the template. How you decide to apply pricing for your Products - by creating a pricing at Plan Template level, or at individual Plan level, or both, will depend on your requirements for charging customers for product consumption. The ability to create pricing at the level of both Plan Templates and individual Plans is designed to give you maximum flexibility to best serve those charging needs across a range of products and services. Here are some key points and an example:

• Key Points:

  • If you create a pricing for a Plan Template, any unpriced Plans based on the template will inherit that pricing.

  • All Plans must be based on a Plan Template. If you create a pricing for an individual Plan, then the Plan pricing will always override any pricing created for the Plan Template on which the Plan is based.

• Example:

  • Suppose you offer a product at three grades of license - Standard, Premium, and Enterprise - depending on the size of your customer's Organization. Across these three grades of license, you want to charge customers the same rates on usage but vary the standing charge per billed period. To meet this use case, you can price a Plan Template to define usage rates and then create three separate Plans - Standard Plan, Premium Plan, and Enterprise Plan based on the template. Each Plan will inherit the Plan Template pricing that sets charge rates for product usage but you can then apply appropriate standing charge amounts to each of the Plans, which will then override any standing charge applied at Plan Template Level.

Pricing Readiness - Completing Prerequisites

Before you can start to price Plans for one of your Products, you must complete some prerequisite configuration:

• First, create a Product. If you open the Pricing editor with no Products created, then you'll see a warning with a create a product hotlink text which you can use to go directly to the Products>Create page. When you create the first Product for your Organization, you are returned to the Pricing editor. If you've not yet created any of the other entities needed to create a pricing for a Plan, then an advisory text will show:

• If you want to create usage-based pricing for a Plan, you must first create a Meter and then an Aggregation:

  • Create a Meter whose Data Fields collect usage data on consumption of a Product.

  • Create an Aggregation that targets a Meter Data Field and transforms the usage data collected into a pricing metric suitable for pricing the Product.

• If you want to create unit-based pricing for a Plan, you must first create a Counter.

• You must create at least one Plan Template for the Product and create at least one Plan based on a Plan Template.

• When you have completed the pricing prerequisites, the advisory text is removed from the Pricing editor and you can Add plans or Add plan templates and start to create pricings for them. See next steps in the Setting Up to Price Plans section below.

Pricing Readiness - Notes and Tips

There are a few things worth noting as you perform the required configuration for starting to Price your Product Plans:

• Configuration Order:

  • You must create a Meter before you can create an Aggregation.

  • You must create a Plan Template before you can create a Plan.

  • You can create the Meter/Aggregation or Counter first or you can create the Plan Template/Plan first - there's no precedence imposed.

• Global Meters/Aggregations. You can create Global Meters and Aggregations and use them to apply usage-based pricing to Plans belonging to any Product.

• Global Counters. You can create Global Counters and use them to apply unit-based pricing to Plans belonging to any Product.

• Pricing of Plan Templates and Plans. You can add a Plan Template and price it in the Pricing Editor - any Plans based on the Plan Template will inherit the pricing. However, if you add a Plan to the Pricing Editor that is based on a Plan Template that has already been priced, you can choose to override the inherited Plan Template pricing.

Setting Up to Price Plans/Plan Templates in the Pricing Editor

Before creating a Pricing for Plans/Plan Templates, you must link them with the Aggregations you'll use to apply usage-based pricing to them in the Pricing Editor.

To set up the Pricing Editor for pricing Plans/Plan Templates:

1. Select Pricing:

The Pricing editor page opens.

2. In the Product drop-down, select the Product for the Plans you want to price up.

3. Select Add plans. A Select plans popup appears and lists the Plans created for the Product.

4. Select the Plan or Plans you want to price using the popup and select Confirm. You are returned to the Pricing editor page where the selected Plan is shown. A warning will show stating that no Pricing has yet been configured for the Plan.

5. Alternatively, if you want to price Plan templates, select Add plan templates. A Select plan templates popup appears, which you can use to select Plan templates you want to price - the remaining configuration steps are the same as for a selected Plan.

6. If you want to create a new Plan to price, you can do this directly from the Pricing editor:

• Select the three-dot button adjacent to Add plans and select Create plan.

• The Plans>Create page opens and you can enter the details of the new Plan. See Creating Plans for more details. When you select to Create plan, you are returned to the Pricing editor where the newly-created Plan has been added.

7. Select Add aggregations. A Select aggregations popup appears listing the Aggregations created for the Product.

8. Select the Aggregations you want to use to price the selected Plans. You are returned to the Pricing editor page, where the selected Aggregations are shown linked to the Plan.

9. If you want to price the Plan using a Compound Aggregation, then select Add compound aggregations at Step 7. The remaining configuration steps are the same as when using a simple Aggregation to set up a Pricing for a Plan.

Setting Up in the Pricing Editor - Notes and Tips

When setting up in the Pricing editor and before you proceed to configure a pricing for your Plans/Plan templates, here are a few useful notes and tips to bear in mind:

• Plans already show in Pricing editor? If you have added Plans to the Pricing editor in an earlier work session, the page will automatically restore to show these Plans. This allows you to continue your work without having to re-add Plans. Restoration of a previous work session occurs across a Console logout/login and across closing/re-opening of your browser. Only if you clear your browser cache will the page not be restored to its earlier state.

• Pricing shows for added Plan? If an Aggregation has already been linked to the selected Plan, you can edit the Pricing that was previously configured. See Managing and Editing Priced Plans and Plan Templates.

• Pricing from Plan template inherited by added Plan? If the Plan you've added to the Pricing Editor is based on a Plan template which you've already priced, when you add the Plan the pricing will be inherited and shows as a pricing derived from the template. You can then choose to Override template pricing. For example:

• In this example, we've added two Plans to the Pricing Editor and a single Aggregation to price them:

  • Clean Graph Plan 1, which is based on a priced Plan Template and inherits it's Pricing from the Template.

  • Clean Graph Plan 2, which is based a Plan Template that has not been priced and we'll have to create a Pricing from scratch for the Plan. Alternatively, you can select the plus icon next to the Plan Template to add it into the Pricing grid and you can then proceed to price the Plan Template the Plan uses:

• Create new Plan Template? You can also create a new Plan Template directly from the Pricing Editor in a similar way to creating a new Plan - see Step 6 above - and you are returned to the Pricing Editor with the newly-created Plan Template added and ready for you to price up. See Creating Plan Templates.

• Using Compound Aggregations for Pricing Plans? If you've selected a Compound Aggregation to price a Plan, then this will be labelled as COMPOUND in the Pricing Editor. For more details on Compound Aggregations, see Creating and Using Compound Aggregations.

• Using Segmented Aggregation to Price a Plan? If you want to use a Segmented Aggregation to price a Plan, see Pricing Plans Using Segmented Aggregations for details.

• Removing Aggregations? You can remove an Aggregation from the Pricing Editor only if no active Pricing has been configured for a Plan to which the Aggregation has been linked. See Removing Aggregations from the Pricing Editor.

Creating a Pricing for a Plan

When you have added a Plan to the Pricing Editor and linked it to the Aggregations you'll use for pricing, you can create the exact pricing structure you need for the Plan.

To create a pricing for a Plan:

1. To configure the precise Pricing you want to apply to a Plan using an Aggregation, select Create Pricing. The Pricing page opens:

• Review Aggregation for Pricing: Shows the details of the Aggregation at the top of the page for your reference as you price up a Plan.

• Advanced and Wizard Pricing formats: The default format when you open the Pricing page is to use the Advanced Pricing format. From there, you have the option of using a Pricing Wizard format.

Create Pricing using Wizard - Steps 2 to 7:

2. If you want to use the Wizard, select Wizard. The page adjusts to show the Wizard options:

• The Wizard offers four common pricing models, designed to let you quickly set up the core pricing structure you want for a Plan. You can then edit the pricing for other settings, as required.

• Note that you can switch back to the Advanced Pricing Editor format at any time using the Advanced button. See Step 8. below.

3. Select the Pricing type you want to use to price the Plan:

• Single price per unit. This is the default option.

• Price per unit, with free tier.

• Tiered pricing.

• Volume pricing.

For example, select Tiered pricing.

4. Select Next. The page adjusts to allow you to configure a tiered pricing structure.

5. On the Pricing Details panel, enter:

• Start date (inclusive) and End date (exclusive) for the Pricing using the calendar pop-ups.

• Description. Enter a custom description for usage line items on Bills. (Optional)

6. On the Pricing Settings panel:

• Use the Start (>), End (<=), and Price per unit fields to configure pricing bands.

7. Select Create Pricing. You are returned to the Pricing Editor where your priced Plan using the selected Aggregation is shown. If you want to apply any other available settings to complete the Pricing configuration, such as Minimum Spend settings, select Edit - see Step 8.

Creating Pricing using Advanced - Steps 8 to 13:

8. If you don't want to use the Pricing Wizard, select Advanced. You can now enter the details of the Pricing you want for the Plan using the selected Aggregation.

9. On the Pricing Details panel , enter:

• Start date (inclusive) and End date (exclusive) for the Pricing using the calendar pop-ups. This defines the period the Pricing will apply to the Plan.

• Description. Enter a custom description for usage line items on Bills. (Optional)

10. On the Minimum Spend Settings panel, enter:

• Minimum spend. Enter a value for a minimum spend for this pricing.

  • At billing, this minimum amount then applies to charges due under that specific pricing on an Account to which you've attached the Plan. For example, if you've attached a Plan to an Account and set a Minimum Spend for the pricing on the Plan of 140, but the charges due at billing amount only to 120, then a Minimum Spend Adjustment line item will be added to the Bill in the amount of 20.

  • Note that this adjustment of minimum spend for the pricing on the Plan is independent of any Product Minimum Spend defined for the Plan itself - if that is set at 150, then a line item for Product Minimum Spend will also appear in the amount of 10 to bring the spend for Product up to the minimum after the minimum for the pricing has been adjusted. See Understanding Billing Options for Plan Templates/Plans for more details.

• Minimum spend billing. Allows you to control whether minimum spends are applied to Bills in advance or in arrears for the Pricing:

  • Use organization-wide configuration. Default selection. If enabled, the setting selected at Organization level for Minimum spend billing will be used - it will be shown in brackets. If you select either of the other two options, the Organization level setting will be overridden. See Viewing and Editing Organization Configuration.

  • Bill in arrears (end of each billing period)

  • Bill in advance (start of each billing period)

• Minimum spend description. Enter a custom description for minimum spend line items on Bills.

11. On the Pricing Settings panel, enter:

• Usage accumulates for the entire plan contract period. Enable this if you want usage accumulation for the Pricing - see Reviewing Pricing Options for Plans and Plan Templates.

• Apply as. Select for how you want this Pricing to apply to customer Accounts that you place on this priced Plan. Three options:

  • Debit. The amount calculated using the Pricing is added to the bill as a debit. This is the default setting.

  • Product Credit. The amount calculated using the Pricing is added to the bill as a credit (negative amount), which reduces the bill total. To prevent negative billing, the bill will be capped at the total of other line items for the same Product.

  • Global Credit. The amount calculated using the Pricing is added to the bill as a credit (negative amount), which reduces the bill total. To prevent negative billing, the bill will be capped at the total of other line items for the entire bill, which might include charges on the Account for other Products.

• Pricing type. Select the type of pricing structure you want to apply for this Plan - five options:

  • Tiered

  • Volume

  • Stairstep

  • Custom Tiered

  • Custom Volume

When you select a Pricing type, a help text is shown that explains how the pricing will be applied. For more details, see Reviewing Pricing Options for Plans and Plan Templates.

• Pricing Bands. Define the pricing bands for the Pricing:

  • The settings required to complete a Pricing type configuration vary. For example for Tiered Pricing Bands, use the Start (>), End (<=), and Price per unit fields to configure pricing bands for the Pricing.

  • Negative Values? You can enter negative values for Price per unit, but please review the implications of doing so in the Using Negative Pricing for Plans section below.

  • Decimal Places? For Price per unit, you can enter a value with up to 16 decimal places and preserve precision.

  • Note that the Start (>) value for a pricing band is treated exclusively and the End (<=) value is treated inclusively. In the following example, the bottom tier band means any unit measures greater than 0 up to and including 100 are priced at $2 per unit; the second tier band means any unit measures greater than 100 up to and including 200 are priced at $3 per unit; the third tier band means that any unit measures greater than 200 are priced at $4 per unit:

12. If required, you can use the Prepayment / Balance Overage Pricing Settings panel:

• For example, if you are setting up a Tiered pricing structure, you can set up pricing for overages on pricing bands. This overage Pricing you configure will then be used to charge for usage if the priced Plan is attached to an Account, the Account has a Prepayment or Balance applied to it, and the entire Prepayment/Balance amount has been consumed:

• Use the down arrow to expand the panel and select Add. The panel adjusts, and you can use the Start (>), End (<=), and Price per unit fields to configure overage pricing bands.

13. Select Create Pricing. You are returned to the Pricing editor and the pricing structure you’ve configured using each of the Aggregations is shown under the Plan:

• Note that in this example, the period the Pricing is active for the Plan spans the current date and therefore is shown in the pricing grid as Active Pricing. For details on how to view historic and future pricing for a Plan, see the following section.

Viewing Historic and Future Pricing on a Plan

If you are working in the Pricing Editor, you can quickly view any historic or future Pricing for a Plan.

To view historic and future Pricing for a Plan:

1. Open the Pricing Editor and add a Plan. If the Start date and End date you've configured for a Pricing does not include the current date and the period the Pricing would be active for the Plan is in the past, then nothing will show under Active Pricing.

2. If any Historic Pricing has been configured, the left-hand arrow next to the Pricing Schedule calendar icon will be active and you can select this:

The Pricing Grid adjusts to show the Historic Pricing:

3. If any Future Pricing has been configured, the right-hand arrow next to the Pricing Schedule calendar icon will be active and you can select this:

The Pricing Grid adjusts to show the future pricing:

If you select the calendar icon, the Pricing Schedule page opens:

For more details on working with the Pricing Schedule, see Viewing Pricing Schedule.

Using Negative Pricing for Plans

When you price a Plan, you can enter negative pricing amounts for Price per unit. Negative pricing is useful if you want to credit your end customers for unused service and issue a bill with negative line items. If you use negative pricing, there are several consequences depending on the other settings for pricing you've used:

• Combined with Product/Global Credit. If you use negative Price per unit values combined with an Apply as setting of either Product or Global Credit, then a double-negative effect occurs when the bill is calculated and results in a positive bill - just the same as if you had configured the same unit charge rates as positive price per unit values with the Apply as Debit setting.

• Combined with Prepayments/Commitments Fees. If the Account you attach a negatively-priced Plan to has a Prepayment created and fees are due, then bills will reconcile either way accordingly:

  • If the Prepayment fees due are greater than the negative charges. then a positive bill amount results.

  • If the Prepayment fees due are less than the negative charges. then a negative bill amount results

Next: Pricing Plans Using Segmented Aggregations

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