Attaching Plans to an Account
When you attach a Plan to an Account, this creates a link between them to create an Account Plan. Attaching priced Plans to an Account determines the charges incurred by end customers who consume your Products:
Active Account Plan. You can set the start and end dates to define the period for which the Account Plan will be active for the Account.
Plan per Product. If the end customer Account consumes more than one of your Products, you can attach a Plan to the Account for each of the Products.
Attaching Multiple Plans. You can attach more than one Plan to an Account, but only one attached Plan per Product can be active at any one time. For example, you can attach a Plan to an Account to create an Account Plan that will active for the first six months, and attach another Plan to create a second Account Plan that becomes active for the following twelve months - for the first six months the second will show as pending. If you try to attach a Plan to an Account with start and end dates that overlap with an existing Account Plan that is already active, you'll receive a notification with an option to end the currently active Account Plan on the start date you've set for the new Account Plan.
Custom Plans and Custom Plan Groups. You can create a custom Plan or a custom Plan Group for an Account, which means the Plan or Plan Group can only be attached to that Account. See Creating Custom Plans for Accounts and Creating Custom Plan Groups for Accounts.
This topic explains how to attach a Plan to an Account:
If you want to delete an Account Plan from the Account, you can do this from the Attached Plans tab:
Tip: Attach Plan before Pricing? You can attach a Plan to an Account before you have configured Pricing for the Plan, and price the Plan at some later date.
Attaching a Plan to Create an Account Plan
You can attach a Plan to an Account to create an Account Plan. An Account Plan determines the charges incurred by end customers who consume the Product the Plan is for.
To attach a Plan to an Account and create an Account Plan:
1. Select Accounts. The Accounts page opens.
2. Select the Name text of the Account to which you want to attach a Plan. The Account page opens with the Overview tab selected.
3. On the Account actions menu, select Plans>Attach Plan:
Alternatively:
Select the Attached Plans tab.
On the Active and pending attached plans panel, select Attach Plan.
The Create page opens with the Plan radio button selected.
4. Enter the details of the Plan you want to attach to the Account:
First, select a Product from the drop-down list. The Plan drop-down list is populated with the Plans belonging to the selected Product:
Note that the Plan drop-down list will include any custom Plans you've created for the Account.
Second, select the Plan you want to attach to the Account from the drop-down list.
Now, select the Start date and End date to define the period you want the Plan to apply to the Account for billing purposes:
If you omit an End date, the Account Plan will be applied to the Account perpetually or until such time as you delete the Account Plan.
End dates are exclusive. For example, if you set the End date of June 1st 2022, then the Account Plan ceases to be active for the Account at midnight on May 31st 2022, and any billing is calculated up to that point in time, NOT up to midnight on June 1st. If you want to include end customer Account usage occurring on June 1st for billing, you must set the End date to June 2nd.
Warning: Overlapping Plans! An Account can only have one active Account Plan per Product - if you enter a Start date which would mean the new Account Plan overlaps with an Account Plan that is already active for the Account, then a warning will show and you'll be given the option to end the existing Account Plan on the Start date of the new Account Plan.
5. If you want to set the date the first Bill is due for the selected Account using the Plan, you can use the First bill date option. This is optional and allows you to set the date of first billing against the end customer Account using the Plan. Subsequent billing will be determined from this first date. For example, if the Plan is configured for monthly billing frequency and you set a First bill date of February 14th 2022, then m3ter will create a first bill for the Account on that date and every month from that date. If you leave this blank, then the start of billing defaults to the first bill date configured for the Account.
6. If you want to add the Account Plan to a Contract you've created for the Account, use the Contract drop down to select it. For more details on Contracts, see Creating Contracts for Accounts.
7. If the Account is either a Parent or a Child Account, you can select for Account hierarchy billing mode, which determines how billing will be handled and shown on bills for charges due for the Parent Account and charges due for Child Accounts:
Bill parent account - bill line item per account. Default setting.
Bill parent account - single bill line item for all accounts.
Bill child account.
Note that these options are only operative if the Account is a Parent or Child Account. For a full explanation of what each means when attaching Plans to create Account Plans for Parent or Child Accounts, see Billing Hierarchy Modes for Parent/Child Accounts.
8. Add any required Custom Fields to the Account Plan. For more on Custom Fields, see Working with Custom Fields.
9. Select Create Plan. You are returned to the Account page with the Attached Plans tab selected. The Plan is listed in the Active and pending attached plans panel:
Note that if the End date selected when attaching the Plan is in the past, then the Plan is listed on the Previously attached plans panel.
Attaching a Plan to an Account creates an Account Plan. The Account Plan will show as ACTIVE or INACTIVE or PENDING, and the Start and End dates are also shown:
Tip: Account Consumes Multiple Products? In this example, the Account Plan is attached to a Product called Premium Data Storage. If the Account consumes more than one of your Products and you've attached Account Plans for each Product, these will be grouped accordingly under respective Products.
10. If you want to edit the Account Plan, select Edit, make your changes on the Edit page, and select Update Account Plan. For example, you might want to add the Account Plan you've attached to a Contract you've created for the Account. The Contract is then shown against the Account Plan in the Active and pending attached plans panel:
11. If the end customer Account consumes another of your Products, you can repeat steps 4 to 8 to attach a second Plan to the Account for the overall billing setup for the Account - Bills will be calculated for the Account in accordance with the Account Plans on the Account for each of your Products the Account consumes.
Tip: Adding Custom Fields when attaching a Plan? You can define Custom Fields when attaching a Plan to an Account to create an Account Plan. Note that these Custom Fields will be specific to the Account Plan - they are separate from any Custom Fields you might have already added either to the Account itself or to the Plan that you're attaching and using to create the Account Plan. Secondly, any Custom Fields you create for an individual Account Plan override those you've created for Account Plans at the Organizational level. See Adding and Editing Custom Fields.
Deleting an Account Plan
If you want to delete an Account Plan from an Account, you can do this from the Attached Plans tab.
1. On the Active and pending attached plans panel, select Delete:
A confirmation popup appears.
2. Select Yes to confirm the Account Plan deletion.
Important! Deleting the Account Plan does not mean the Plan is deleted - the Account Plan is created only when you attach a Plan to an Account and remains distinct from the Plan you attached. If you want to delete a Plan, you must go to Pricing>Plans, select the Product you created the Plan for, and then delete it from there.
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