Overview

In CRM.COM you can set up prices and discounts which will be used when invoicing products, through Price Plans and Additive Discounts respectively. Using the Pricing Strategy you can define targeted groups to which specific prices and discounts will be applicable. You can easily create from the simplest pricing models with a single price plan to pricing models which different pricing applied to different groups or pricing models that require different pricing applied per customer. In greater detail, you have the following options

Account specific based pricing (customer specific)
Package specific based pricing (subscription plan specific)
Target Profile specific based pricing (group pricing)
Global Pricing (common pricing for all)

Setting Up Pricing and Core Processes

Before you start using Pricing set up the system to reflect your own business needs. Below you can see the steps to be followed. Check the 'Turquoise16pxfa-question-circle' to find out which are mandatory to set up

Provide the rates of products in the Price Plan(s) Turquoise16pxfa-question-circle
Create Additive DiscountsTurquoise16pxfa-question-circle
Create Promo CodesTurquoise16pxfa-question-circle
Set up Pricing StrategyTurquoise16pxfa-question-circle

If you would like to see how pricing logic works before you set it up check Applying Pricing

priceplanPrice PlansTurquoise16pxfa-question-circle

Finance / Product & Pricing / Manage Price Plans

Price plans include the set of rates at which a company offers goods and services. The plans are used by the billing engine to charge customer accounts receivables for purchases. Every product which is sold to either customers or partners must belong to at least one price plan.

You can set up one or multiple price plans. If you are using only one price plan then you can use the Global Price Plan which is already available in the system. (When you create a new product from the Product page you can provide a global rate for the product which will be automatically added to the Global Price plan.)

However, if you would like to differentiate pricing either for specific customers or groups of customers then you must create the price plans and assign them at a later stage.

Each price plan has a classification. The classification of the price plan provides information with regard to what the price plan is used for.

Global Price Plan: Only one price plan can have this classification, and this is the price plan where rates of new products are saved in.
Package Price Plans: These are price plans automatically created when creating a 'Package' Subscription Type. The price plan can only be used for one subscription type and you can identify the package it is used for as they will share the same name
Account Price Plans: These are price plans which are customer specific. For example, a price plan which includes rates agreed between you and another company or a specific customer. Each price plan can only be used for a single account and you can identify the account it is used for as they will share the same name
Target Profile Price Plans: These are price plans which are used to rate products for groups of customers. The same price plan can be used in multiple target profiles. Once you create the price plan you can assign it to a target profile through the pricing strategy
Unassigned Price Plans: Unassigned price plans are the ones available to be used by specific customers (added through their account) or for groups of customers (added to target profiles).

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Rating according to event

As explained in the Products manual, there are different types of products. Termed services, usage services, one time services, expenses and physical goods. Depending on the type of the product there are different rate models that you should/could use. Once you add a product to the price plan the available rate models for the product will be made available and you can select the one applicable to your need.

Rating based on usage of a service - Usage Based Model

Usage service type products can be rated based on their usage. You can provide a base rate which will be used to rate each usage service. The rate provided is applicable per unit of measurement of the specific service. For example, if the usage service is petrol with a defined UOM set to liters, then the rate provided will be per liter. If on the other hand the usage service product is a film then the rate provided will be per film.

Rates of usage services can be differentiated using tiered rates.

You can provide multiple tiered rates and each rate can provide a different rate which is conditionally applied based on the conditions defined. You can differentiate rate on specific days, dates, times or period of times by using Date/Time model condition. For more information on Date/Time model refer to Platform

A much more powerful tool to differentiate rates is by using the Usage Zone condition. Usage zone is a configurable entity using metadata attributes. Metadata attributes allow you to set up your own fields in the system and thus use those fields as conditions to specific rates.
For example, you can create a metadata attribute which will log the location of the user ordering a film. You can then use the 'location' metadata attribute to create multiple Usage Zones (one for each different location) and add the Usage zones in the tiered rates of the usage rate.

When a UDR is billed in CRM.COM which meets one of the Usage Zone conditions then the specific tiered rate will be applied.

Rating based on duration of a service - Duration Based Model

One time service products are used to capture duration of a service which is being billed. For example, a training session, or an installation service. When providing rates for such products you can provide a base rate and the Unit of Time for which the rate applies to, which can be from seconds to years. i.e. $20 per hour.

If you would like to provide reduced rates as duration is increased you can use Tiered Rates. In the tiered rates you can provide increased or decreased rates which will apply if the duration rated falls within that range.

By enabling Aggregate Tiered Rates option, the total rate amount will be calculated by summing up the sum of the rates of all tiered levels within which, duration falls in.

For example, in a set up where the 1st tiered rate is €10 for duration 0 - 1 and 2nd tiered rate is €8 for 2 and more hours

Aggregate Tiered Rates Disabled
- An installation that takes one hour is billed €10
- An installation that takes two hours is billed €16 (2*8)
Aggregate Tiered Rates Enabled
- An installation that takes one hour is billed €10
- An installation that takes two hours is billed €18 (10+8)

Rating based on quantity sold - Quantity Based Model

Physical Goods are of course rated based on their quantity. You can provide a base rate which will be applied for 1 unit. If you would like to provide reduced rates as quantity is increased you can use Tiered Rates. In the tiered rates you can provide increased or decreased rates which will apply if the quantity rated falls within that range. For example, in a set up where an antenna is rated €100 for the first hour and €8 for more than 1 hour.

By enabling Aggregate Tiered Rates option, the total rate amount will be calculated by summing up the sum of the rates of all tiered levels within which, quantity falls in.

For example, in a set up where the 1st tiered rate is €100 for up to 1 antenna and 2nd tiered rate is €80 for 2 and more antennas

Aggregate Tiered Rates Disabled
- One antenna is billed €100
- Two antennas are billed for €160 (2*80)
Aggregate Tiered Rates Enabled
- One antenna is billed €100
- Two antennas are billed for €180 (100+80)

Rating expenses - Flat Fee Based Model

Expenses which are used to bill a customer with a simple flat fee only require a base rate.

Rating subscription recurring periods - Maturity & Quantity Based Model

Termed services are services which are billed on a recurring period and are usually billed through subscriptions. For example, a subscription channel billed every month. You can provide a base rate and the Unit of Time for which the base rate covers. For example, €100 per month, or €1 per day.

If you would like to provide reduced or increased rates as quantity or maturity increases you can use Tiered Rates. In the tiered rates you can provide increased or decreased rates which will apply if the maturity (service) or the quantity (the number of viewing points) the service is available from rated falls within that range.

In this model maturity represents the time passed since the service was set as effective which is its 'Billing Effective Date'. For example, when a tiered rate is defined, with a base rate UOT set to month, and tiered rate maturity set from 1 to 3 then it refers to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd month since a service was activated. You can use this to provide the service for free for 1 month and then provide a rate for the follow up months.

Quantity on the other hand represents the number of viewing points through which the service is accessed. If you would like to provide different pricing according to the number of viewing points then you can use the From Quantity To Quantity range. To use the From-To Quantity make sure that the Base Rate Applied Per is set to Period&Item. If you set this to be per period then no matter how many viewing points are available the rate will be the same. However, if you define it to be Per Period & Item the rate will be rate * viewing points.

By enabling Aggregate Tiered Rates option, the total rate amount will be calculated by summing up the sum of the rates of all tiered levels within which, quantity falls in.

For example, in a set up where the 1st tiered rate is €5 for up to 1 viewing point and 2nd tiered rate is €4 for 2 and more viewing points:

Aggregate Tiered Rates Disabled
- One viewing point is billed €5
- Two viewing points are billed for €8 (2*4)
Aggregate Tiered Rates Enabled
- One viewing point is billed €5
- Two viewing points are billed for €8 €9 (5+4)

Aggregate Tiered Rates is applicable on tiered rates set on quantity and not maturity

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\Rating based on billable period - Billable Based

Termed services can also be billed based on the (volume of) period being billed. The period to bill is defined either by the billing frequency (for normal subscriptions) or pre-rated period for Prepaid subscriptions.

For example, if a service is rated for 1 month it will cost €10 per month, but if its rated for 2 months it will cost €8 per month. The system will check both base rate and tiered rates and the one that has a defined period closer to the period being billed will be taken.

This model gives you the option to define volume discounts where volume is a specific period.

Use tiered rates to provide different price for different periods being rated. The UOT of each period is the same as the one defined for the base rate.

Rating based on concurrent usage with a fixed amount - Concurrent Usage Based

You can set up rate models where the system will provide a fixed price which will be applied per volume of usage. For example, if you are selling licences to a software, you can provide a fixed price for up to 50 licence, another fixed price from 51-100 and a third one from 101 -200. Use the tiered rates to define the range and the tiered rate for each range. Upon rating, the amount in the tiered rates will be taken (it will not multiply by the number of units it's rating). For example, if its rating 40 units and there is a tiered rate for 1 to 50 units then that amount will be taken. Whether its rating 1 or 50 units the rated amount is the same.

The amount you set in the base rate will be taken in case that the volume being rated does not fall in any of the tiered rates.

Rating Bundle Services

Bundle services are simply services which are offered as part of a bundle. Flexible Product Bundles offer different pricing models:

Price defined on bundle level
Price defined per bundle product
price defined on bundle level and per bundle product

To define a price at the product bundle then just select the product and define its price. If you would also like to provide a price for each of the services applied through the bundle then add a new rate for the product and in the Product Bundle select the bundle through which the rate provided will be applied.

Applying Period Pricing

Price plans can have one or more periods. Price plan periods are specific periods in time within a price plan for which the product rates are refined. A price plan can have multiple periods but dates of each period cannot overlap between them. Every time a sale is rated, the product rate of the respective period is being used, allowing you to change product rates (increase or decrease prices) for specific periods without creating new price plans.

You can add periods to your price plan to create new periods easily through the Add Period button. When adding a period you have 3 options

Copy the products
Simply copy all the products of the latest period and provide new rates for all of them
Copy products and prices
Copy all the products of the latest period including their rates, in case that you are only planning to change the rates of a few products
Copy Products and adjust prices by x%
This option is helpful when you would like to increase all prices by a certain percentage (%). It can be used in cases where a general price increase is applied due to company changes or in case a tax rise is expected and you are working with a tax inclusive model.

The current period is always available in the price plan, whereas if you would like to view previous periods you can access them through the View Expired Periods button.

Creating price plans by copying existing

Price plans can be duplicated, saving you the hustle of creating a new price plan and adding all products from the beginning. It is particularly helpful when you work on a customer based rating where each customer has its one price plan with special rates. You can copy an existing price plan and update the product rates as required. You can select any price plan to copy, regardless of the classification. Once copied you can define whether the price plan will be assigned to an account or a target profile.

To copy the price plan, once in the page of the plan you would like to duplicate click on Actions > Copy.

Adjusting multiple price plan rates

Adjustment of defined rates is allowed to cover cases such as price increase due to inflation. If the price plan rates are for a period that is already defined in the price plan, then those rates are adjusted according to the change. If the rates are for a period which has not yet been defined then a new period is created and the new rates are set accordingly. Rate adjustment can automatically update multiple price plans.

If you would like to update rates of multiple price plans then you can access the utility through Actions > Price Plan Adjustment Runs through price plans summary page.

You can adjust the price plans by providing the Percentage increase as well as the As of Date from which the change will be applied. You can choose one or more price plans and at the same time you can either select specific products of these price plans whose price will be changed or products which you don't wish to change the price of.

Once you save and submit the run the price plans or products selected will be updated with the new prices.

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discountAdditive Discounts

Finance / Product & Pricing / Additive Discounts

Additive discount definitions are used to define discounts that can be applied on billable entities (subscriptions, jobs) either automatically or by selection. Discounts are applied to specific or all products of the billable entity given that the set of conditions defined in the definition or the conditions defined on the target profile through which the discount is provided are met. The discount with the highest amount is applied on the final bill for each discounted product unless there are other applicable discounts which are defined as always applicable.

Manually or automatically applied discounts

Discounts selected by agents to be given are the ones which are created as Ad Hoc Additive Discounts. Even if selected by an agent they are applied only if conditions established in the additive discounts are met. Auto apply discounts do not require an agent. They are applied during billing, subject to conditions either defined on the discount (if they are global discounts) or conditions defined both on the discount and the target profile (if they are applied through a target profile).

You can define how the discount you are creating will be applied through the discount definition Type .

Always applying a specific discount

There may be multiple additive discounts configured in the system, therefore multiple discounts may be applicable for a product. Depending on your business you can select whether all discounts will be provided or just the discount with the highest amount. By default, the system, will always apply the discount with the highest amount, however if there are discounts that you wish to provide on top of the best one then you can enable this through Provide discount regardless if it is the best discount.

If multiple discounts are to be applied, especially if it involves percentage discounts, the order by which the discount is applied, matters.You can set a Discount Level to a discount selecting from 1 to 3. The level will determine when the discount will be applied in relation to other additive discounts that might also be applicable. The additive discounts are grouped by level and the discount is applied in order, starting from the lowest level to the highest level. The discounts (amount or percentage) having the same level is added and the total discount (amount or percentage) is applied. Discounts (amount or percentage) having different level are applied in order, starting from the lowest level to highest level.

If the best discount is either 100% discount or free usage then any additional discounts are not applied.

Creating additive discounts for specific target profiles or used for global purpose

Like price plans, discounts can be available to all customers, 'Global' or specific customers identified through Target Profiles. Depending on your business rules, you can define on whom the discount is for through the Available On option. In case that you select to be available through a target profile then you should also define the target profile(s) it will be available from

Creating additive discounts for jobs, subscriptions or both

Additive discounts are used to provide discounts on subscriptions and jobs during billing. You can create discounts which can be applicable to both or just one of the two, depending on the products you select to include in the discount. For example, if you select to create a discount to be applied on termed services then it means that the discount can only be applicable on subscriptions, as termed services cannot be sold through jobs. On the other hand if you are creating a discount for expenses which are available from both jobs and subscriptions then the discount will be applicable for both. In order to identify where the discount can be applied check the Classification of the additive discount. If the classification is set to General then it means it can be applied on both.

The classification is not set by the user but it is set by the system depending on the product classification selected at Applicable For Product Classifications

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Defining discount amount and products

The juice of discounts is the discount rules through which you will provide the products to be discounted, the actual discount amount or percentage, the period through which the discount is valid and related settings. The discount to be given can be expressed in different ways, which again depends on the product classification the discount is meant for. Select the Discount you would like to set up through Discounts available under Discount Rules.

Let's see what the options are and where can each one be used.

Discounting specific or all products

Discounts can be given to all products however you can create discounts which will be applicable only to specific products. Through the Discount Products you can define specific products or product types and families which will be subject to the specific discount. If you would like to use the discount for all products then you do not need to provide any information.

It is also possible to provide discounts to products provided that they are part of a product bundle. For this, you would have to add the product in the discounted product and also define the bundle it should belong to in the Belongs in Bundle

Discounting by a specific amount

This is the simplest way of providing a discount where you can define a specific amount which will be deducted from the normal price of the product being rated. In case you are creating an ad hoc discount then you can provide a discount amount range where the user will be able to provide a discount amount within the range provided during selection of the discount.

This discount option is available for all product classifications except termed services.

Discounting by a percentage

A discount percentage will simply discount the percentage amount provided from the normal price of the product being rated. In case you are creating an ad hoc discount then you can provide a discount percentage range where the user will be able to provide a discount percentage within the range provided during selection of the discount.

This discount option is always available regardless of the product classification selected.

Discounting by providing free usage

In case you are creating a discount which is related to discounting usage of a service (applicable on usage services only) you can select to provide free usage. You can define the amount (in units) of the usage you would like to give away as free which will be based on the Unit of Measurement of the usage services. For example, if you define 10 UOM and you are using the discount for a petrol station then it could mean that you will provide 10 liters, however if the discount will be used for OTT, it could mean that through the discount 10 film will be provided for free.

This discount option is only available for Usage Service product classification

The UOM of the service can be identified by checking the UOM set to the UDR type associated to the product type of the service. Refer to Products for more information.

Discounting a specific amount or percentage for a given period

If you would like to create a discount for subscription termed services, you have the option to create a discount where a fixed amount or percentage will be deducted from the total billed for a period which you can define. This type of discount allows you to create discounts which will be applied repeatedly or just once and its up to you for how long and when they will be provided.

You can provide the discount Amount or Percentage
For: The period for which the discount is applied for.
- x UOT (UOT represents days weeks months years)
  i.e. 1 month discount, 2 months discount, 1 year discount
- 1 Billing Period:
- - For Normal Subscribers this is equal to the period being billed. i.e if prorated then the whole prorated period will be discounted
  - for Prepaid Subscribers this is equal to the:
  - - post -rated period
    - pre-rated period
    - daily
Renewed: How often should the discount be provided after the initial time
- - - Never: The discount is provided once for the period defined in 'FOR' and never again
    - Every x UOT: The discount is renewed every x UOT and is reapplied. For example: Provide €10 discount for 1 month renewed every 2 months, it means that for a year the discount will be applied 6 times. (6 months free)
    - Every Billing Cycle: The discount is renewed every time the subscription is billed.

In discounts associated to termed services the time which the discount can be applied matters. The date that the discount can start being applied is defined by 'Starting From' .

Subscription 1st Billable Period: The discount is applied from the first time the subscription is billed. If a service is added a year later and the discount was applied for just a year then the new service will not receive a discount
Subscription Service 1st Billable Period: The discount is applied from the first time every service of a subscription is billed. If a service is added a year later and the discount was applied for the first time for just a year the new service will receive a discount for another year

Making a discount available for specific period

Discount definitions can always be available or can be available for specific periods. It is up to you when you will make the discount available, by setting up the Discount Validity under Discount Rules.

Creating conditional discounts

The power of discounts lies in the fact that discounts are applied given certain conditions set are met.

As explained above discounts can either be available to all customers (global) or to specific customers (available through target profiles)

In order for target profile discounts to be applied, they will have to meet both the conditions set in the additive discount and the ones on the target profile.
Discounts available to all customers will have to meet the conditions set on the discount. There are two sets of conditions. The normal conditions available for all discounts and another set which is applicable to discounts used as global.

You have the option to provide multiple conditions, and they will all have to be met in order for the discount to be applied. If you provide multiple values for the same condition, then if at least one is met then it is considered successful.

Another set of conditions is also available in case of discounting usage services. In usage services you have the option to provide conditions on every discounted product you have defined and you can provide different conditions for each product. For example if you have defined 2 products to be discounted, you can then provide conditions for each product and the discount will be applied on each product if its conditions are met. Of course, you can provide a broader set of conditions which can be applied to all usage services or based on their usage service type or UDR type.

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How to decide how to set up your discount

If you are not sure how to set up your discounts, we have set up for you a quick list to help you decide.

How do I want the discount to be applied
1. System (Type = Auto Apply)
2. Agent will select it (Type = Ad-hoc)
Who should the discount be applicable to ?
1. All customers (Available on = Global Set)
2. Specific Customer groups that I will define (Available on = Target profile)
Which products should receive this discount?
1. All products (Applicable for Product Classification = ALL)
2. Services measured by usage (Applicable for Product Classification = Usage Services)
3. Recurring subscription services (Applicable for Product Classification = Termed Services)
4. One off charges (Applicable for Product Classification = Expenses)
5. Services that count duration (Applicable for Product Classification = One Time Services)
6. Physical Goods (Applicable for Product Classification = Physical Goods)
What kind of discount do I want to give?
1. Amount (Discounts = Amount or Amount per period)
2. Percentage (Discounts = Percentage or Percentage per period)
3. Free Usage (Discounts = Free Usage)
Do I want the discount to always be applied or only if it's the best discount?
1. Only if its the best discount (no need to do anything)
2. Always provided ( Enable Provide discount regardless if it is the best discount)
Is this a promotion discount
1. Yes (Discount Validity = Define Period)
2. No (Discount Validity = Always Valid)
Do I want the discount to be applied on all products or just specific ones
1. All products (No need to do anything)
2. Specific products (Define the products in the Discounted Products)

Using Discounts

Once additive discount definitions are set up and made available either through the global set of discounts or a target profile they are ready to be provided to customers.

If they are ad-hoc discounts then an agent will need to select it and apply it on a subscription or a job. The discount will then be used by billing to deduct the respective amount. During billing the system will recheck the conditions that should be met to ensure that they are still met

You can view all ad-hoc discounts with the option to Cancel ones that they have not yet been applied through the Manage Ad Hoc discounts page available thought Action > View Ad-hoc discounts available in the Additive Discounts summary page.

If the discount is auto-apply then there is no need for further actions. If the subscription or job meets the conditions set by the discount and either global or target profile conditions then upon billing the discount will be applied.

For more information on how the system decides which discounts will be applied during billing refer to Applying Pricing

Remember that for every product only the discount with the highest discount amount will be provided, unless there are configured discounts which must be provided regardless.

Controlling ad-hoc discounts to be provided

Since ad-hoc discounts are manually selected and provided by users you can safeguard against arbitrary discounting by requiring approval by management personnel. This is possible by setting up approvals in workflow rules. In this way discounts are not processed by billing unless they are approved.

For additional control you can also set up alerts which means that every time that an ad-hoc discount is given certain people can be alerted.

For more information on how to set up and use, visit Workflows.

promoPromotion Campaigns

Finance / Product & Pricing / Manage Promotion Campaigns

Promo Codes can be given to customers to be redeemed /exchanged with a discount. For example, you can set up a campaign to boost the sales of a new product and email promo codes to customers to be used on subscribing on a new product to receive a discount. Promo codes are created through promotion campaigns.

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Creating Promotion Campaigns

Create a promotion campaign and provide the information associated to the creation and distribution of the promo codes. Note that promotion campaigns must always be associated to an Ad Hoc discount through which the discount will be received. (i.e. its the ad hoc discount which will dictate the amount to be discounted, the promotion campaign is only responsible for generating and distributing the codes.)

Managing Promo Codes

Generation of codes

You have the option to use the same code for a promotion campaign for all customers or you can create a unique promo code for every customer. This is possible through the Promo Code Type. In either case the number of codes allowed to be distributed by each campaign can be controlled. If the promo code should be unique 'Bulk of Unique Codes' and not 'Mass Distributed Code' then you can define whether the code should be alphanumeric, numeric or alphabetic as well as a suffix and prefix, in the Code Settings. Once the codes are generated they are made available in the respective section of the definition.

Distribution of codes

When generating unique codes you also have the option to instantly distribute the codes, 'Instant Distribution' to customers upon the submission of the promotion campaign or 'Upon Request Distribution' where the promo codes will be distributed to customers upon request. (through a dedicated WEB API)

Distribution of codes can optionally be distributed only to customers which are eligible to the defined Additive Discount (i.e. meet the conditions defined on the Additive Discount) if enabled through Distribute only to eligible customers or to all customers identified through the promo campaign segment

You can enable Communicate Promo Codes to distribute codes to customers as soon as they are created. You can select the Communication Template to be used when sending emails to the customers. In the communication template you should include the Promo Code tag which will be replaced by the actual promo codes.

Limit Promo Codes to new or existing subscribers

You can optionally limit the usage of the promo codes to new or existing subscribers or just make available to both.

Cancelling Promo Codes through Campaigns

Generated promo codes can be cancelled through a Promotion Campaign whether the Promotion Campaign is Draft or Posted.

Using Promo Codes

Upon receiving the promo codes, customers can use them in order to redeem the discount. Depending on whether the codes can be used for new or existing subscribers or both the agent should apply an ad hoc discount upon the event (new subscription, new service etc.)

Checking success of a campaign

Through each Promotion Campaign it 's possible to view how well it performs through the statistics section which provide information

How many customers have used it and how many have not
An average of the number of uses per customer
And a % usage per campaign

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strategyPricing Strategy

Finance / Product & Pricing / Pricing Strategy

Pricing Strategy is the area where you can set up your pricing business model. It includes price plans discounts and where each one should be applied.

Through target profiles which can be set up by the user you can define the price plan and additive discounts which will be applicable to customers which meet the conditions of the target profile. Conditions available in target profiles allow you to place customers or billable entities (subscriptions and jobs) in groups.

Setting up Pricing Strategy

Once your price plans and additive discounts are set up in the system you can then configure pricing strategy.

Identifying Global Price Plan

Global Price Plan is the price plan which is automatically created by the system and rates defined in it will be used in case no other price plan is available in the system, or rates for a specific product cannot be found in any other price plan which is applicable to a customer. The global price plan cannot be deleted or replaced by another price plan but it can be edited. In the Pricing Strategy you can see which price plan is set as the global price plan

Setting up Global Set of Additive Discounts

As explained in the additive discounts section above, additive discounts can be made available either for all customers or specific target profiles. If you would like to make your discount available to all customers then create your discount as Global at the time you are creating the discount. Global discounts are available at the top of the pricing strategy under Global Additive Discounts. You could add discounts to the global set through the strategy as well and define the global conditions here. Any conditions defined here will be mirrored in the global conditions of the additive discount.

Setting up target profiles

Create new target profiles in the respective section of the pricing strategy. Define conditions which subscriptions, jobs or customers should meet in order to belong in the target profile. Set the target profile Price Plan and the Additive Discounts which apply to the profile. You will then need to provide a precedence. The precedence is needed in case that a billable entity falls in one or more target profiles and the system will need to select only one. The target profile with the lower number ( the highest precedence) will be selected

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applyApplying Pricing

Pricing or rating as we often refer to, is the process of deciding the final price to be applied on a product which will be included in an invoice or a bill. Pricing is ad-hoc meaning that it is not decided upon the creation of a subscription for example, but calculated and applied at the time of invoicing. Another important thing to understand is that pricing is applied per product; so where one product of a customer's invoice may take its price through the package price plan another product may get its price from a global price plan.

Pricing follows a hierarchy logic (as shown in the image below) to deduce the product price starting from the accounts receivable and going down to the global price plan. Discounts are applied once the price plan rate is decided. Discounts can either be subject to all customers (Global discounts) or to specific groups of customers (Target Profile Discounts).

Deciding the price plan rate to be used

For every product being used the system will take the following steps

Check if accounts receivable has a price plan. If for the period being invoiced there exists a rate for the product then the rate is taken else it goes to the next step
If the billable entity is a subscription then it will check if the product is a subscription package and find the price plan. If for the period being invoiced there exists a rate for the product then the rate is taken else it goes to the next step.
Check whether the billable entity meets the conditions of one or more target profiles.If it meets the conditions of more than one profiles then, the profile with the lowest number (highest precedence) is retrieved. If for the period being invoiced there exists a rate for the product then the rate is taken else it goes to the next step.
Check the Global Price Plan if for the period being invoiced there exists a rate for the product then the rate is taken else it goes to the next step.
Product is not rated at all

Deciding the additive discount(s) to be applied

Once the price with which the product will be invoiced is decided then the system will proceed to find out the discount(s) to be applied. Note that if the customer meets the conditions of a target profile then he is eligible to the set of all discounts, Global and Target Profile Discounts.

Check if the customer/billable entity meets the conditions of a target profile. If it meets the conditions of more than one profiles then, the profile with the lowest number (highest precedence) is retrieved along with the specific discounts
Check the global discounts section and retrieve the discounts
From the set of discounts (target profile and global or just global) checks that additive discount conditions are met. If met the discount with the highest discount is applied along with any discounts which must always be applied. If more than one discount are to be applied, the system will check the level of the discount to decide which one should be first applied.

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Applying Business Flows and Additional Processes

taxPrice plan rates and taxation

Rates included in price plans can either be tax inclusive or exclude tax. Depending on your line of business you must define the tax model you wish to use in the Tax Definition available at Foundation / Platform / Manage Admin Settings / Set up Tax Definition. For more information on tax refer to Platform manual.

Setting up a simple pricing model

In case that you are only using a simple pricing model with a single price plan and multiple discounts which are applicable to all customers, there is no need to do any configuration to the pricing strategy. Just provide the rates to be included in the Global Price Plan while setting up your products and set all your additive discounts as Global Discounts.

Pricing for Customers in Binding

Depending on the business needs and requirements, companies may have to honour customer contracts and won't impose price increases to existing customers with contracts. I.e. Customers will keep paying the agreed price till their contract ends in which case they will switch to the new prices. This is handled through the use of target profiles and price plans. Different target profiles and different price plans will be created all along for customers in binding , using the binding condition. In case that the increase should also affect customers in binding then the rates of the respective price plan will be updated. Otherwise, the rates won't be updated and the target profile will be further updated with additional conditions to only be applied to customers with contracts starting before the change. A new target profile will be created for new customers with contracts starting after the price increase.

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Business Flows

Pricing setup including price plans additive discounts and pricing strategy

Scenario

Aluxsat Co. has the following pricing policy.

All customers have a standard pricing apart from the following cases
1. High rank employees enjoy 50% lower prices on all products they are subscribed to. Additional discounts may be provided if available and customers are eligible.
2. Special agreements are made with companies providing them lower rates. Each company has its own rates according to their contract
3. Gold subscription packages are offered for a standard price
Customers which agree to a 2-year contract are eligible to a 20% discount till they are out of binding

Configuration

Proceed with the following configurations iin order to satisfy the above pricing policies.

All customers have a standard pricing	Price plan The global price plan will be used in order to bill customers that do not fall in any of the other categories. The global price plan is automatically created and rates are added along as new products are created in the system. It is applied to all customers that do not fall in any other group. Note that you can add new rates to the global price plan with no restrictions.
High rank employees enjoy 50% lower prices on all products they are subscribed to. Additional discounts may be applied	Price plan Create a price plan by copying the global price plan (to ensure that all the products will be available in the new price plan). Update all rates with a 50% discount. You can create a new period which will be applicable from the current date and select to copy all rates with 50% decrease, so you don't need to manually change all rates. Additive Discount Create an additive discount which gives 50% discount (forever). Do not provide any discounted products in order to be applicable to all the products. Set the discount to be always provided regardless if its the best discount and set the Level to 1 In the conditions of the discount add the Gold subscription package. Pricing Strategy Go to pricing strategy and create a new target profile. Add the price plan you just created Add the 50% discount Add a condition using the Accounts Receivable Classification and select value VIP Employees. Make sure that accounts of all high rank employees are created with this classification 'VIP Employees)
Special agreements are made with companies providing them lower rates. Each company has its own rates according to their contract	Price plan Create a price plan by copying the global price plan (to ensure that all the products will be available in the new price plan) for each company you have a special agreement. Update the rates with the one agreed with the company. Go to the accounts receivable of the company and add the price plan
Gold subscription packages are offered for a standard price	Subscription Type Go to subscription types and create a new type with classification Package. For each product added in the package provide a rate. On saving the subscription type you can see that a price plan will be automatically created.
Customers which agree to a 2-year contract are eligible to a 20% discount till they are out of binding	Additive Discount Create an additive discount with the following configuration Type: Auto Apply Available on : Global Set Applicable for Product Classifications: Termed Services Discount Rules Discounts: Percentage Per Period : 20% For 1 Billing Period, Renew: Every Billing Cycle Discount Level: 1 Starting from: Subscription 1st Billable Period Discount Validity: Always Valid Provide Discount regardless if best discount: Enable Discounted Products: leave empty so it is applied on all products or select specific products according to the business requirement Global Additive Discount Set Conditions: Subscription's binding period should be one of the following = 2 years Pricing Strategy There is no need to provide further configuration as the discount will be available from the global additive discount and it will be applicable to all customers. If you would like to limit it to only specific customers you can create a target profile and provide specific conditions.

Glossary

CRM.COM Term	Description
Billable Entity	An entity that can be billed through the billing engine (job or subscription).
Rating	The process of deciding the rate/price a product will be invoiced by
Billing Effective Date	The date from which a service should start being billed. By default, it is equal to the subscription service Effective Date.
Product Bundle	A combination of component products offered for sale as one product. Flexible product bundles have a variable selection of constituent products as components. Fixed product bundles have a fixed selection.
Metadata	Data used to describes other data. In CRM.COM create your own metadata attributes used to provide additional information for CRM.COM entities, i.e. colour, size of a product

FAQ

Can I create a Global price plan?

No! Global price plan is automatically created by the system. If you have logged in the system for the first time and you can't see the global price plan is most probably because you have not yet created any products. Once you create your first product and provide a global base rate, the global price plan will be automatically created. Even though you cannot create it, you can make all the amendments necessary to keep your price plan up to date.

While rates of new products will be added automatically, you have the option to also manually add new rates, update existing rates or create new periods.

Can I manually create a package price plan?

No. Like Global price plan package price plans are created automatically by the system once you set up a new subscription package. Even though you cannot create it, you can make all the amendments necessary to keep your price plan up to date.

While rates of new products will be added automatically, you have the option to also manually add new rates, update existing rates or create new periods.

Can I reuse account price plans?

Account price plans must be unique. That is, you cannot use the same price plan on multiple accounts. If you are looking for a solution where you will apply the same price plan to multiple customers then just create a target profile and use the conditions to identify the accounts which will be using the specific profile. You could for example create a segment and add all the customers in the segment or use any other distinct characteristic available in the conditions such as the account classification.

However you do have the option to reuse a price plan that used to be an accounts price plan, after it has been removed. The price plan should now have an 'Unassigned;' classification which gives you the option to assign it to any other account.

Additionally you have the option to copy price plans. You can for example, copy the price plan already used on an account make any required changes if needed and then assign the new price plan to another account.

Can I apply multiple discounts to a product?

Yes. By default, the system will only apply one discount and this is the one which provides the discount with the highest discount amount. However, if you would like to apply more discounts, then when setting up the discount definition you can enable a discount to always be provided(given that the conditions are met|) by enabling Provide discount regardless if it is the best discount. Upon billing the system will apply the best discount as well as any other discount which is set to always be provided, given that the conditions set at the discount are met.

Can I provide customers in binding the contracted price while increasing the prices of the products?

Yes. You can achieve this by setting up different price plans and target profiles.

Different target profiles and different price plans will be created all along for customers in binding , using the binding condition. If upon price increase you also want customers in binding to be affected then you can just amend the price plan.

Otherwise if customers in binding should remain as is, target profile will be further updated with additional conditions to only be applied to customers with contracts starting before the change. You can then create a new profile and add a new price plan for contracted customers with contracts starting after the price increase.

I have created a promotion campaign but the promo codes will be sent to customers once requested? how can this be done?

When creating campaigns if the promo codes are not to be sent instantly to the customers you can send it to them upon request. To achieve this you must set it up accordingly on the campaign by selecting 'Upon Request Distribution' in the Distribution Method. This is a scenario where customers are managing their subscriptions through a portal or a mobile app. To send the code to a customer's mobile or the portal implementation is required by using the respective WEB API.

Note that this is possible if unique codes are created for each customer and not in the case where there is a global code.

Useful Links

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