Account Contracts

Overview

Account contracts allow you to set commitments on usage, services, packages and/or an invoiced amount per account for a specified term. Account contracts can auto-renew, auto-terminate or renew to a different account contract if desired. Contract termination penalties can also be setup to apply charges for early termination at a flat rate fee or a percentage of the contract commitments.

Account contracts do not place specific account-packages under a contract, they simply set commitments that need to be met for the specified account. If you want to place individual account-packages under contracts you can do so on the Account / Profile / Packages screen. Account contracts are fully compatible with package contracts and both types can be used on an account simultaneously if desired.

Account contract commitments are evaluated when billing an account. The bill run that is executed when billing the account must have the 'Run Contract Commitments' setting enabled in order to evaluate contract commitments.

Account Contracts Panel

The Account Contracts panel towards the left of this screen allows you to select existing account contracts to view and edit on the Edit Account Contract panel. Actions are also available in this panel which are shown as icons above the Filter text box. The available actions are described below.

Actions

Icon	Description
	Terminates the selected account contract as of a specific date
	Creates a copy of the selected account contract
	Deletes the selected account contract if not in use
	Adds a new account contract

Edit Account Contract Panel

The information in this panel reflects the currently selected account contract. From here you can change contract details (fields will display a red left border if a value is required and purple text if the field is read-only and cannot be modified).

Account Contract Fields and Options:

• Name: a descriptive name for the contract

• Status: the contract status. This field will show statuses you have setup that are configured as 'Active' (e.g. Pre-Active/Pending, Active)

Terms Tab

• Term & Unit: allows you to set the contract term length, e.g. 1 year

• Extend End Date on Activations: if this option is selected the end date of the contract will be extended when a package or service under commitment is added to the account. The time extended will be equal to the full contract length. For instance if a service under commitment is added to an account which is under an annual account contract then the contract term will be extended a full year from the point of the new service's activation. E.g. a service activated on July 5th will extend the annual term contract to July 5th the following year. If a service/package is added to the account and that service/package is not specified on the Commitments tab then the contract end date will not be extended

• Start Date: when the contract term begins. This can be a past, present or future date. Past dates cannot go further back in time than the last invoiced period

• End Date: a read-only value that is automatically calculated. This value will equal the contract start date plus the contract term length

• Renew Type: specifies how the contract should renew or terminate at the end of its term

  • Expires at End of Term: if set the account contract will expire at the end of the contract term

  • New Contract: if set a different contract of your choosing will take effect when the account contract term expires. The new contract can have entirely different terms and commitments. E.g. if you want to switch to a monthly contract term after the initial contract expires you would use this setting. When New Contract is selected a 'Renewal Contract' field will appear allowing you to specify the contract that will take effect once the current contract expires. If the required terms and configuration of the renewal contract remain constant you can configure the new contract to Auto Renew, eliminating the need to specify further renewal contracts to use. Before you can specify the renewal contract you will need to create it, see the adding account contracts guide for contract creation instructions

  • Auto Renew: sets the contract to renew with the same term length and configuration. For instance if the contract has a commitment of a minimum invoice charge of $2000 per invoice then this commitment will also apply with the new contract. If your initial contract has ramp up commitments (e.g. minimum count of 50 of Package X's for the first 6 months, then a minimum count of 75 Package X's for the next 6 months) you will want to use the 'New Contract' setting above to ensure that when the contract is renewed the commitments don't reset back to a lower commitment level. When Auto Renew is selected a 'Renewal Status' field will appear, this field allows you to set the status the renewed contract will start in (active, pre-active, etc.)

• Termination Status: sets the contract termination status. E.g. if you have a termination status called 'Renewed' you could set that status when the contract is configured to auto renew. This field is used to indicate how the account contract ended (did it expire and not renew, did it renew, etc.). The termination statuses you see here are custom and dependent on how the system has been configured to suit your tracking and reporting needs

Commitments Tab

This tab will show any contract commitments that are configured. Commitments can be setup for usage charges, service charges, package charges and on the total amount invoiced. Commitments can be defined at a broad or a granular level, for instance, a commitment could apply to all active services on an account or, alternatively, a commitment could be specific to a particular service in a particular package with a particular price frequency.

The minimum commitment can be setup based on a count condition (e.g. you must have at least five units of service X active on the account), a charge condition (e.g. you must purchase at least $300 worth of charges a month for service Y) or a usage condition (e.g. all active data services on the account must consume 2 GB of usage per month). How to configure commitments is described in the guides under this page.

Termination Tab

On this tab you can define termination penalties that will apply should the account contract be terminated early. Multiple termination penalties can be setup to apply different penalties based on when the contract is canceled. For example, a termination penalty can be setup to charge for 75% of commitments owed if the contract is canceled in the first three months of the contract term, another penalty can be setup which will charge 50% if the contract is canceled between the fourth and sixth month of the term and a final penalty can be setup that charges only 25% of the commitments owed if cancelation occurs after seven months into the term.

The fields present on the Termination tab are shown below, additional details on how to add termination penalties are explained in the adding account contracts guide.

• Transaction Service (for Flat Fees): allows you to type in the service that will be associated with the transaction when flat fee termination charges are applied. Typically you would have a 'Contract Termination Fee' or similar service in your product catalog to enter here

• Transaction Description: a brief summary of what the transaction charge is. This will be shown when reviewing transactions on the Account / Billing / Transactions tab

Adding Account Contracts

1. Under the Account Contracts heading on the left click the  icon

2. Under the Add Account Contract heading on the right enter the account contract details and terms.

3. Adding Commitments (optional)

   1. Load the Commitments tab

   2. Select the Commitment Type at the bottom left of the tab. The commitment options are:

      • Usage: a commitment based on the usage class (data, voice, etc.)

      • Service: commitment on all account-services or relating to a particular account-service across all account-packages

      • Package: a commitment on a particular account-package (e.g. a requirement to have ten of 'Package X' active on the account)

      • Invoice Amount: a commitment (minimum charge) on the invoice amount

   3. After you have specified the type click the + Add button and a Add Commitment pop-up will appear

   4. Specify the Transaction Service that will be used when charges are applied for failing to achieve the commitment set (optional)

   5. Enter a Transaction Description which describes the charge applied

   6. Specify the Commitment Period Charge where charges for failing to meet the commitment will apply. You can select Full Term or uncheck that option to specify a portion of the contract term (e.g. a commit frequency of 2 months over 3 commitment occurrences would cover 6 months and require the commitment to be met every two months). The commitment period will be reflected below these settings (e.g. [ From 3/15/2019 To 5/15/2019 ]). Commitment periods dates are not impacted by the contract start and end dates being modified

   7. Specify the Commitment Unit (note: this option will not be present if you selected a Commitment Type of 'Invoice Amount'). The commitment unit options shown will vary depending on the Commitment Type you selected, the options are:

      • Data: sets the commitment to be data usage specific (e.g. a 2 GB data usage commitment per commitment period). The Usage Services section below allows you to limit the data usage commitment to particular account-services if desired (e.g. if three account-services consume 3 GB, 4 GB and 10 GB of data in the commitment period then the in period data usage is 17 GB. If 17 GB is less than the 'Minimum Commit' value then the 'Under Commit Charge' will apply)

      • Average Data: sets the commitment to apply to the average data usage instead of a total. The total number of account-services applicable (determined by the usage class and the usage services specified when adding the commitment) is divided against the total amount of usage in the commitment period (e.g. 100 GB usage across ten account-services averages 10 GB usage per service). The value you set in the 'Minimum Commit' field is compared against the average data usage to determine if the under commit charge should be applied (e.g. if you set the minimum commit to 12 GB over the commitment period and the average data usage is 10 GB then the under commit charge will apply)

      • Time: sets the commitment to be time specific (e.g. a 100 minute airtime usage commitment per commitment period). The Usage Services section allows you to limit the time usage commitment to particular time based account-services if desired

      • Average Time: sums the time usage of the account-services that the commitment applies to and compares the average time against the minimum commitment value set on the commitment. If the average time does not exceed the minimum comment set then the under commit charge is applicable

      • Charge: sets the commitment to a minimum charge. If the charge for the account-services/account-packages is below the minimum commitment value entered then a charge will be applied to reach the minimum commitment value

      • Count: sets a minimum account-service/account-package total to be met. If the count is not met the minimum commit charge for the commitment period will be applied for each unit below the count value (e.g. if you set a minimum commit count of 1,000 units of Service X, with 900 Service X services active at the time billing the account, the under commit charge would be multiplied by 100)

   8. If desired add additional tiers on the commitment by clicking the  icon next to the Under Commit Charge field (note: tiers are not applicable to 'Charge' based commitments). Tiers allow you to apply multiple minimum commitments on particular commitment type. For instance, a commitment for 1 GB of data usage could be set up with a $100 under commit charge and a second tier commitment for 2 GB of data usage could be setup with a $50 charge. There is no limit to the number of tiers that can be set up

   9. When you have finished configuring the commitment click the Add button

   10. At this point you can add additional commitments for other commitment types if desired. You can also add ramp up/multiple commitment periods on an existing commitment shown on the Commitments tab. To add additional commitment periods to an existing commitment click the  icon shown on the existing commitment in the list (note: the plus will be greyed out if the commitments configured already cover the entire contract period). Configure the new commitment that will come into effect when the first commitment period is finished. Repeat the process to create multiple commitment periods for a portion or full length of the contract. E.g. an annual contract could have a 0-3 month commitment with no obligations, a 3-6 month commitment with a 10 GB data obligation, a 7-9 month commitment with a 20 GB obligation and the final 10-12 months with a 30 GB obligation

4. Adding Termination Penalties (optional)

   1. Specify the Transaction Service (for Flat Fees) if you plan to charge flat rate termination fees (vs. a percentage of remaining commitments). If you are not applying flat fees this field can be left empty

   2. If desired specify a transaction description for the fee

   3. Click the  icon to add a new termination penalty

   4. On the pop-up that appears specify the penalty configuration

      • Remainder of Term: select this option if the penalty fee is applicable for the entire remainder of the contract term. Once you add a termination penalty with this option set you will be unable to add additional termination penalties

      • Frequency & Period: specifies the time period where the penalty fees configured are applicable. E.g. if you setup one penalty with a setting of 'Frequency: 6, Period: Month' then cancelation of the contract in the first six months of its term would result in the fees that are setup on the penalty being applied. Continuing with this example, if you setup no other termination penalties then no contract termination fees would apply should the contract be canceled after six months into its term. Alternatively you can also setup multiple penalties to apply different fees depending on when the contract is canceled (for instance lowering termination fees the further the contract goes into its term). Each penalty configured covers a specific period of the contract term, penalty periods cannot overlap. For example, if you setup a two year contract that requires different termination fees for cancelation in the first twelve months, following six months and final six months then you would need to create three termination penalties. The first penalty would be for 'Frequency: 1, Period: Year', the second 'Frequency: 6, Period: Month' and the final penalty 'Frequency: 6, Period: Month' or 'Remainder of Term' (both settings would have the same result in this scenario, as they cover a period that reaches the end of the contract term)

      • Flat Fee: specifies the flat fee charge that will apply if penalty comes into effect due to early contract termination

      • % of Remaining Commitments: allows you to charge a percentage of all the commitments configured on the contract should the contract be terminated early. E.g. if a commitment is configured on the contract to purchase $200 worth of Service A on the account per month then a 50% value in this field would result in a $100 penalty multiplied by the number months left on the contract term. Additional penalty fees would also apply depending on how many other commitments are configured on the contract. You can also configure this value above 100% if you wish to impose a penalty fee that exceeds the standard commitment charges configured on the contract

   5. Click Add on the penalty configuration pop-up when you have finished

   6. Add additional termination penalties if desired

5. Click Save to add the account contract to the account when finished

Cloning Account Contracts

Cloning allows you to quickly create an account contract if you already have one setup on the account with similar settings to what you require. This is particular useful if an existing contract's commitments and other settings are identical to what you want but the contract term length or termination penalties need to be adjusted. An example where cloning may be useful is when a multi-year contract needs to be renewed as a monthly term auto-renewing contract. In that instance you would clone the multi-year contract, adjust its term, renewal configuration and termination penalties (if any) and then set it as the 'Renewal Contract' in the multi-year account contracts configuration.

To clone an account contract do the following:

1. Under the Account Contracts heading on the left select the account contract you wish to clone

2. Under the same Account Contracts heading click the  icon

3. On the pop-up that appears provide a Name, Status and Start Date for the new contract

4. Click Clone

5. Modify the cloned contract details as required

6. Click Save when you have completed configuration of the cloned contract

Editing Account Contracts

1. Under the Account Contracts heading on the left click the contract you wish to edit

2. Under the Edit Account Contract heading on the right modify the contract details

3. Click Save when finished making changes

Terminating Account Contracts

To terminate an account contract do the following:

1. Select the contract you wish to terminate in the list on the left under the Account Contracts heading

2. Under the same Account Contracts heading click the  icon

3. On the Terminate Contract pop-up specify the Termination Date that the contract should end on and the Termination Status

4. Optional: Enter a Comment indicating why the account contract was terminated

5. Click Add

Deleting Account Contracts

1. Select the contract you wish to delete in the list on the left under the Account Contracts heading

2. Under the Account Contracts heading click the  icon

3. On the confirmation dialog click Yes to confirm that the selected contract should be deleted