Overview

In CRM.COM you can set up prices and offers (discounts) which will be used when invoicing products, through Price Plans and Pricing Strategies respectively. Using Pricing Strategies you can define target groups to which specific prices and discounts will be applicable. You can create anything from the simplest pricing models with a single price plan, to pricing models with different pricing applied to different groups, or pricing models that require different pricing applied per customer. The following options are available:

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

Before you start using Pricing you must set up the system to reflect your own business needs. These are the steps to be followed, check the Turquoise16pxfa-question-circle to find out which are mandatory to be set up and which are optional.

Provide the pricing rates of products using Price Plans Turquoise16pxfa-question-circle
Set up Pricing StrategyTurquoise16pxfa-question-circle
Create Promotion Campaigns Turquoise16pxfa-question-circle

Refer to Applying Pricing in order to understand how the pricing logic works before you set it up.

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 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 more 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 screen you can provide a global rate for the product which will automatically be 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 necessary 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. The following classifications exist:

Global: Only one price plan can have this classification, and this is the price plan where rates of new products are saved.
Package: 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 easily identify the package it's used for as the price plan is assigned the same name.
Account: These are price plans which are customer specific. For example, a price plan which includes rates agreed between your business and another company, or a specific customer. Each price plan can only be used for a single account and you can easily identify the account it is used for as the price plan has the same name.
Target Profile: 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 option.
Unassigned: 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. Depending on the type of the product there are different rate models that you can 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 for your needs. The available options are:

Duration Based Model
Period & Quantity Based Model
Billable Period Based Model
Quantity Based Model
Flat Rate Model
Usage Based Model

Duration Based Model (rating based on duration of a service)

One time service products are used to capture the 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. e.g. €20 per hour.

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

By enabling the 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 the duration falls.

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

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)

Period and Quantity Based Model (rating subscription recurring periods)

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. For 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 for 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 and 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 the 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 on the period.

Billable Period Based Model (rating based on a billable period)

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 used. This model gives you the option to define volume discounts where volume is a specific period. Use tiered rates to provide a different price for different periods being rated. The UOT (unit of time) of each period is the same as the one defined for the base rate.

Quantity Based Model (rating based on quantity sold)

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 then you can use Tiered Rates. In tiered rates you can provide increased or decreased rates which will apply if the quantity 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, 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)

Flat Fee Based Model (rating expenses)

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

Usage Based Model (rating based on usage of a service)

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 litres, then the rate provided will be per litre. 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 tier can provide a different rate which is conditionally applied based on the conditions defined. You can differentiate the rate on specific days, dates, times or period of times by using the Date/Time model condition. For more information on the Date/Time model refer to the Platform manual.

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 for 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 location) and add the Usage Zones in the tiered rates of the usage rate. When a UDR (Usage Detail Record) is billed in CRM.COM which meets one of the Usage Zone conditions then the specific tiered rate will be applied.

Concurrent Usage Based (rating based on concurrent usage with a fixed amount)

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 for a software, you can provide a fixed price for up to 50 licences, 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 used (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 this amount will be used, the rated amount is the same whether its rating 1 or 50 units.

The amount you set in the base rate will be used in cases where the volume being rated does not fall in any of the tiered rates.

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Rating Bundled Services

Bundled 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 for the product bundle then just select the product and define its price. If you would 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 specify the bundle that the product must be included in for the rate to 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 used, allowing you to change product rates (increase or decrease prices) for specific periods without creating new price plans.

You can add new periods to your price plan easily through the Add Period button. When adding a new period you have 2 options:

Copy products and prices
Copy all the products of the latest period including their rates, in cases where 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 cases where 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 a price plan by copying an existing one

Price plans can be duplicated, saving you the hustle of creating a new price plan and adding all the products from scratch. It is particularly helpful when you work on a customer based rating where each customer has their own 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, select the price plan you would like to duplicate, click on Actions > Copy.

Adjusting multiple price plan rates

Adjustment of defined rates is permitted to cover cases such as price increases 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 do this via Actions > Price Plan Adjustment Run from the 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 alternatively select products whose price should remain unchanged.

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

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strategyPricing Strategy

Finance > Product & Pricing > Pricing Strategy

The pricing strategy is made up of a global price plan which is used for customers/products that do not fit any target profiles; a global set of additive discounts which is applicable to all customers regardless of their target profile and where additional conditions can be set up, and a set of target profiles which are used to group customers with common characteristics into single groups so that the same pricing is applied to them; i.e. a price plan and the applicable discounts. Each target profile has a precedence which is a unique number, in cases where a customer fits more than one target profile, the target profile with the lower number (highest precedence) will be used.

Whenever a billing process takes place (e.g. manual invoicing, billing run, manual billing etc.) then the pricing strategy is used to identify the price plan rates through which a customer will be billed, and the discounts which are applicable in order to calculate the final price. 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

Ad Hoc offers are discounts that can be manually selected and applied by agents. Even if selected by an agent, they are applied only if conditions established for the offer are met. Auto apply offers do not need to be selected by 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 Offer Type.

Always applying a specific discount

There may be multiple offers configured in the system, therefore multiple discounts may be applicable for a product. Depending on your business you can select whether all offers will be provided or just the offer 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 Always provide this discount in the Offer Rules tab.

If multiple discounts are to be applied, especially if it involves percentage discounts, then the order in which the discounts are applied is significant. You can set a Discount Level (1-3) for a discount, the level will determine the order that the discount will be applied in relation to other 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 are added and the total discount (amount or percentage) is applied. Discounts (amount or percentage) having different levels are applied in order, starting from the lowest level to the highest level.

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

Creating Global Offers and offers for target profiles

Like price plans, discounts can be applicable to all customers as Global Offers, or to specific customers identified through Target Profiles. Depending on your business rules, you can define whom the discount is for through the Available On option. In cases where you select the offer to be applicable for a target profile, then you should also define the specific target profile(s).

Making a discount available for a specific period

Offer definitions can always be available or can be available for specific periods. Specify when the discount will be available by setting the Offer Validity.

Creating additive discounts subscriptions

Offers can be used to provide discounts on subscriptions or partner sales and customer sales 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. On the other hand, if you are creating a discount for expenses which are available from both subscriptions and partner/customer sales then the discount will be applicable for both. The Classification of the discount identifies where the discount can be applied. If the classification is set to General then it means it can be applied to both cases.

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

Defining discount amount and products

The power of Offers are the Offer 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 other related settings. The discount can be expressed in various ways depending on the product classification that the discount is being created for. Define the discount you would like to set up using the Offer Rules.

Below are some examples and explanations on how they can be used.

Discounting specific or all products

Discounts can be applicable to all products, however you can also create discounts which will be applicable only to specific products. Use Offering Products to define specific products, or product types and families which will be subject to the particular 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 as part of a product bundle. To set this up you would have to add the product in Offering Products 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 cases where you are creating an ad hoc discount then you can provide a discount Amount per Period - 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. If 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 cases where you are creating a discount which is related to discounting usage of a service 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 means that you will provide 10 litres free, however if the discount is being used for OTT, it means that 10 free films will be provided through the discount.

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 and you can specify for how long and when they will be provided.

You can provide the discount as an Amount or Percentage.
For period: The period for which the discount is applicable for.
- X UOT (UOT - unit of time represents days, weeks, months, years), e.g. 1 week discount, 2 months discount, 1 year discount.
- 1 Billing Period:
  - For Normal Subscribers this is equal to the period being billed. e.g. if prorated then the whole prorated period will be discounted.
  - For Prepaid Subscribers this is equal to:
    - the post-rated period
    - the 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 period and never again.
    - Every X UOT: The discount is renewed every X UOT and is reapplied. For example: Provide €10 discount For period 1 month Renewed every 2 months, meaning that the discount will be applied 6 times (6 months free) throughout the year.
    - Every Billing Cycle: The discount is renewed every time the subscription is billed.

For discounts associated to termed services, the instance which the discount can be applied is significant. The date that the discount can start being applied is defined by 'Offer 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.

Creating conditional discounts

The power of offers lies in the fact that discounts are applied given certain conditions 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 offer and match the target profile.

Discounts available to all customers will have to meet the conditions set on the offer. 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 of providing 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 at least one must be met in order for the offer to be applied.

Another set of conditions is also available in cases of discounting usage services. In usage services you have the option to provide different conditions on every discounted product you have defined. 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 only if the 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 set up your offers to provide discounts

If you are not sure how to set up your discounts, we have created a list of quick questions in order to help you.

How do I want the discount to be applied
1. By the system (Type = Auto Apply)
2. The 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 profiles)
Which products is this discount applicable to?
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 (Offer provides discount = Amount or Amount per period)
2. Percentage (Offer provides discount = Percentage or Percentage per period)
3. Free Usage (Offer provides discount = Free Usage)
Should the discount 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 'Always provide this discount')
Is this a promotion discount?
1. Yes (Offer Validity = Valid for a specific period/Valid during a recurring period)
2. No (Offer 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 'Offering Products')

Using Discounts

Once offer definitions have been 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 manually. The discount will then be applied by the billing process and the respective amount will be deducted. During billing the system will re-check the conditions that should be met to ensure that they are still valid.

You can view all ad-hoc discounts from the Pricing Strategy screen by selecting Actions > Manage Ad Hoc Discounts. There is also an option to cancel discounts that have not yet been applied by selecting to view the specific discount then selecting Actions > Cancel.

If the discount is auto-apply then there is no need for further actions, the discount will be applied upon billing as long as either the global or target profile conditions are met, as well as any other set conditions for the discount.

Refer to Applying Pricing for more information on how the system decides which discounts will be applied during billing.

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 certain people will be alerted every time that an ad-hoc discount is given.

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

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promoPromotion Campaigns

Finance > Product & Pricing > Manage Promotion Campaigns

You can set up a promotion campaign to boost sales of a new product. Promo codes can be emailed to customers who can use them to get a discount when subscribing to a new product. Promo codes are created through promotion campaigns.

Creating Promotion Campaigns

Create a promotion campaign and provide the information associated with the creation and distribution of the promo codes. Note that promotion campaigns must always be associated to an ad hoc discount (set in Adhoc Discount Definition) 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 of using 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 will be a Bulk of Unique Codes and not a Mass Distributed Code then you can use the Code Settings section to define whether the code should be alphanumeric, numeric or alphabetic as well as a the suffix and prefix to be used. Once the unique codes have been generated they are made available in the respective section (Generated Codes) of the definition at the bottom of the screen.

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 for the defined offer (i.e. meet the Conditions defined on the Offer via Pricing strategy) 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 create the communication email/SMS/device to be used when sending the respective message to the customers. In the message content 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 subscribers (Applicable on new subscribers), or existing subscribers (Applicable on existing subscribers), or both.

Cancelling Promo Codes through Campaigns

Unique generated promo codes can be cancelled through the Promotion Campaign screen when the Promotion Campaign is in 'Draft' or 'Posted' life cycle state.

Using Promo Codes

Upon receiving the promo codes, customers can use them in order to redeem their 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 the success of a campaign

Through each Promotion Campaign it's possible to see how well it performed through the statistics section at the bottom of the screen which provides information.

How many customers used the promo code
The average number of uses per customer

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applyApplying Pricing

Pricing (or rating) is the process of deciding the final price to be applied to a product that will be included in an invoice or a bill. Pricing is done in an 'ad-hoc' manner 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 get 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 account 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 on the price plan rate to be used

For every product being used the system will apply the following steps in order to identify the price plan to be used:

Check if the account has been assigned a price plan. If a rate for the product exists for the period being invoiced then this rate is used, otherwise proceed 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 a rate for the product exists for the period being invoiced then this rate is used, otherwise proceed 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 profile then the profile with the lowest number (highest precedence) is retrieved. If a rate for the product exists for the period being invoiced then this rate is used, otherwise proceed to the next step.
Check the Global Price Plan to see if there is a rate for the product and the period being invoiced, if so then use this rate otherwise go to the next step.
Product is not rated at all, price is set to zero.

Deciding on the offers to be applied

Once the price with which the product will be invoiced has been 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 profile, 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') check that the offer discount conditions are met. If they are, then the discount with the highest amount is applied along with any discounts which must always be applied. If more than one discounts are to be applied, then the system will check the discount level of each one so as to determine the order that they should be 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 via Configuration > Finance > Set up Financial Transaction Settings > Taxation Settings, Tax Codes, Tax Rates. For more information on tax refer to the Financial manual.

Setting up a simple pricing model

In cases where 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 for any configuration in the Pricing Strategy. Just provide the rates to be included in the Global Price Plan while setting up your Products and set all your discounts/offers as Global Discounts.

Pricing for Customers in Binding

Depending on the business needs and requirements, companies may have to honour customer contracts and will not impose price increases to existing customers with contracts. I.E. Customers will keep paying the agreed price until 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 can be created for customers in binding, using the binding condition. In cases where the increase should also affect customers in binding, then the rates of the respective price plan will be updated. If not, then the rates won't be updated, but the target profile will be updated with additional conditions to be applied only to customers with contracts starting before the change date. A new target profile will be created for new customers with contracts starting after the price increase.

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