PackagePlans/Contract
Contents
Introduction
A Contract is a way of creating a minimum term of service (eg 12 months, 2 years). This is done, either by penalising the customer for cancelling/upgrading/downgrading and/or rewarding the customer by offering per period Credits. Typically, as in real life, a contract is entered into at the time the service is sold, however in Cumulus, it is also possible to create contracts against a Package Subscription even after the package subscription is active.
In Cumulus Terms, a Contract is bound to a Package Subscription and will remain active against the customer - even in the event of a Migration.
The contract determines what behaviour the system should take in the event of a plan migration or cancellation. A contract can also be used to provide per period credits that are issued over the life of the contract. Please note that this is separate to Package Chains - where discounts can also be offered. It is possible to create both a contract with a Per Period Credit as well as a Package Chain against a Package Subscription - which would also issue a 2 credits concurrently against a package subscription.
Up until release 3.20, contracts existed, but users were only able to define a default contract for a given Package Plan. A user could not arbitrarily add a package to a contract. As of this release, it is now possible to apply and cancel contracts against package subscriptions at will, even if the package is already active.
Contract Management
Prior to being able to apply a contract to a Package Subscription, you must first create the Contract and add the relevant Package Plans to the Package Pool (see Package Pools for further information).
You can access the Contract Management page via: Packages & Plans > Management > Contracts
Basic Elements
This page has a number of basic Elements.
- Contract Type Name
- The internal name for the Contract.
- External Name
- This is the External Name for the contract. This is what is printed on customer's invoices if ledger cardlines, related to this contract, are created.
- Description
- An optional description for the Contract. Internal use only
- Length and Length Unit
- A value determine the length of the contract. This can either be in Years or Months
- Tax
- What kind of tax is charged. Currently, only Australian GST is available
- Contract End Method
- This determines what Cumulus should do once the contract has reached its end date. Note that this is not applicable if the contract is cancelled.
- No Contract - the contract will simply be cancelled. The Package Subscription will not be affected. No further 'Per Period Credits' will be created if these are part of the contract
- Cancel Service - at the end of the contract, the package subscription will be cancelled.
- Renew Contract - a contract will be renewed. Please note that a Tier must be created. Tiers will be explained later.
- Forced Migrate - a package will be migrated to the selected Package Plan (Package Plan selection will appear once Force Migrate is selected. The contract is not renewed.
Package Pools
A Package Pool (otherwise known as a Contract Pool) is a list of Package Plans for which a given contract is active. Each Package in the Pool must have a weighting against it. The weighting is an arbitrary figure between 1 and 100 that helps the system determine if, when a migration is occurring, the package being chosen is an 'upgrade' (ie the plan being moved to has a higher weighted value), a 'downgrade' (where the weighted value is lower than the current package plan) or a 'crossgrade' (where the weighted value of the new Package matches that of the current package).
As an example, consider a contract with the following 5 ADSL Broadband Services Plans:
| Plan | Weighted Value |
|---|---|
| ADSL1 - 256/64 - 2GB | --------- 20 --------- |
| ADSL1 - 512/128 - 5GB | --------- 40 --------- |
| ADSL1 - 512/128 - 10GB | --------- 60 --------- |
| ADSL1 - 1536/256 - 5GB | --------- 60 --------- |
| ADSL1 - 1536/256 - 10GB | --------- 80 --------- |
Example 1 - Upgrade
As you can see, the ADSL1 - 256/64 - 2GB plan has the lowest weighted value. If there is a package subscription for this plan that is migrated to any of the other plans in this package pool, the plan has been Upgraded.
Example 2 - Downgrade
If there was a Package Subscription for the ADSL1 - 1536/256 - 10GB plan, and this was migrated to the ADSL1 - 512/128 - 10GB plan, this would be considered a Downgrade - as the ADSL1 - 512/128 - 10GB plan has a lower weighted value (60) than the ADSL1 - 1536/256 - 10GB plan (80).
Example 3 - Crossgrade
If there was a Package Subscription for the ADSL1 - 512/128 - 10GB plan, and this was migrated to the ADSL1 - 1536/256 - 5GB plan, this would be considered a Crossgrade - as the weighted value of these plans are the same (60).
Contract Methods
As part of configuring a contract, it's possible to define what method Cumulus should follow if the contract is broken or a package subscription, subscribed to a plan within the Package Pool, is migrated.
A method is simply an action that Cumulus will perform against the contract/customer.
The methods available are as follows:
| Contract Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Fee | is simply a flat fee that is generated for the selected event. |
| Prorated Fee | A fee is generated, however this fee is prorated across the length of the contract. That is - like Package Plan Access Fees, this fee will be calculated based on the initial value, and how far along the contract has progressed at the time the event has occurred. For example, if there is a 1 year contract which as a Pro-rated cancellation fee of $100, and this contract is cancelled 6 months into the term of the contract, a $50 fee will be charged. |
| Tiered | In Cumulus it is possible to configure Tiers - whereby set fees can be produced if an Event occurs at certain stages of the contract's life. This is entirely up to the user as to how these tiers are defined. It is possible to have separate groups of Tiers for a given contract. |
| Remaining Value (Current) | A fee is generated based on the value of the Package Plan Access fee of the Current Package Subscription |
| Remaining Value (Initial) | A fee is generated based on the value of the Package Plan Access fee of the Initial Package Subscription - that is, the Package Subscription to which this contract was first applied. |
You can define methods for the following events:
- Break out
- Where the contract is broken. This is either the result of the Package Subscription or the contract being cancelled.
- Upgrade
- Plan is upgraded. See Package Pools.
- Cross (Crossgrade)
- Plan is crossgraded. See Package Pools.
- Downgrade
- Plan is downgraded. See Package Pools.
- Maximum
- Sets the Maximum value that will be charged for a fee generated for any of the above events. This can be used as a safeguard to stop the system charging exorbitant fees for Plan Migrations and breaking out.
Tiered Rates
A Tiered fee structure means that you can define fees that are charged for a given event at set stages in the life of the contract.
As an example how this might be used; if the break out method chosen was tiered, the charges would be applied in the following way:
- If contract was cancelled within three months of starting the charge would be $100.00 ex GST
- If cancelled after three months but before six months a $75.00 ex GST would be applied
- Between six and 9 months a $50.00 ex GST fee would apply and after that no additional charges would apply for the last three months.
To add a Tier, the user must first select Tiered as a break out method for the Event (eg Break Out) or set Renew Contract as the End of Contract Behaviour. The Tiered Rates section will become available. From here, simply click 'New Tiered Rate'
The user must then Name your Tiered Rate and enter a value in the With in ___ Months and Fee fields. To add more than 1 rate for this Tiered Rate, click 'Add Another Tier'.
Multiple groups of Tiers can be added if different Tiered rates for different Events are desired.
To use a set Tiered Rate, under 'Break out Method' (or whatever method you have selected for Tiered Rates), choose the Tiered Rate required.
Tiered Rate - Example Here is an example of tiered contract setup. In this example, I have created a Contract tier with twoframes and rates. In the the first time frame the breakout fee will be 500 if the contract is broken within 5 months. In the second time frame the breakout fee will be 250 if the contract is broken out up to 11 months into the contract, but greater than 5 months into the contract (5 - 11 months).
Once you've setup a tier, with all the desired time frames, in the Breakout Method make sure you choose the tier you just built.
When you breakout of the contract depending on the time frame in which you do this action, breakout cardlines such as those pictured will be generated.
Default Contract Selection
A Default Contract is an attribute of the Package Plan. It means that if a Subscription is created for a specific Package for which a Default Contract is set, this package will automatically created with the 'Default Contract' enabled.
A Default Contract is configured through Packages & Plans > Management > Package Plans > Choose a Package > Default Contract Type.
