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Home > Administrator Guide > Setup > Billing > Contracts

Contracts

A Contract is made up of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and a Service Delivery Period (start and end time). They can be used to manage an entitlement to service from a start date, through to an end date.

 

Contracts and Invoices are used together when the Service Desk needs to charge its Customers for any support provided. Billing within the system is on a per Contract basis, and is enabled automatically when Invoices are activated.

 

Contracts can be created for different elements to suit organizational needs. Contracts can cover the individual elements:

Pending Contracts are contracts that have a start date set in the future. They automatically become active on the contract start date or can be enabled manually.

 

Enabling Contracts

To enable a Contract:

  1. Select Setup>Billing

  2. Click Yes to enable Contracts
    A Contracts tab will be visible.

    enable_billing.png

  3. Define the Email Notifications option for Finance Users
     When enabled, automated emails are sent to Finance Users regarding matters relating to POs, Invoices and/or Contracts.

  4. Set the Currency for all financial transactions managed by the system

  5. Move to the Contracts tab to define parameters for Contracts

    contracts_on_tab.png

    Options

    Description

    Subscription

     

    Contract Renewal Time

    The system can automatically send a Contract Renewal Invoice before a contract expires. Enter the number of days prior to the contract expiration date for the system  to send the renewal invoice.

     

    For Contracts not to be automatically created, leave this field blank.

     

    (The information for the invoice can be configured in the InvoiceSummary link within the Setup>Email>Templates>Email Summary Templates filter screen. This template is sent  with the InvoicePrefix email that can be edited in Setup>Email>Templates>Full Email Templates list. )

    Default Contract Duration

    The system sets the default contract renewal period to 12 months, adjust or delete the entry as required.

    Time

     

    Low Time Alert

    The system can automatically create an alert within the Customer Portal for customers that have Time-based contracts (i.e., purchased a quantity of support hours.) The Alert can be sent based on the percentage of hours that have been used.

    Low Time Email

    The system can automatically send an email to a Customer that is getting close to using all their support hours in their Time-based contracts. The Email can be sent based on the percentage of hours that have been used.

    The Email content  is set in the ContractTimeLow option of Setup>Email>Templates.

    Expiration

     

    Time Expired

    When a Customer's contract is expired when a User is working on a request, this option specifies if the User can Complete the request although the Contract has expired and if the system will lock out the User until the Customer has purchased additional time.

     

    When Complete Request is selected, the following options are displayed:

    • Rollover - means the time used to resolve the issue will be subtracted from the Customer's renewed contract.

    • Ignore - means the time used to resolve the issue, although the Customer contract has expired, is not allocated to a future contract.

    (The subject line and content for the automated emails sent on contract expiration is configured in the ContractTimeElapsed and ContractTimeElapsed of Setup>Email>Templates.)

  1. Enter the Contract Renewal Time, if required
    For contracts not to be automatically created, leave this field blank.

  1. Set Notifications and Thresholds

  2. Set Time Expired option

    contract_expiry_action.png

  3. Click Save.