Rate Plans are used to define the actual pricing structure you will use to charge your Customers, i.e. to automatically calculate customer Invoices based on Job details. Rate Plans can include incremental rates for various Languages, Service Types, Qualifications, as well as Rush fees, Cancellation fees etc. You can have multiple Rate Plans to cater for different pricing agreements with different Customers.
Creating a Customer Rate Plan
- Navigate to the ‘Admin’ menu and select ‘Rate Plans’, this will automatically open a New Rate Plan on the General tab
General Tab
- Enter a Name and a Description and select the Rate Plan Type - in this case it will be Customer. Quick Tip: enter a summary of the Rate Plan in the Description which will provide an at-a-glance record of the Rate Plan, this will be very helpful in the future, especially if you have a lot of Rate Plans.
- Check the Default box (see below for further information)
- Ensure that the Active box is checked - in the future if the Rate Plan is no longer in use, this box can be unchecked
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Mileage:
- Finance Mileage Automatically - checking this will mean that mileage will be billed for Face to Face Jobs automatically based on the calculated journey from the Interpreter’s home address to the Job and back to home. Mileage will not be applied to Jobs where the Service type is Remote (e.g. OPI, VRI etc.). If this option is not checked, the Interpreter or Finance agent will need to add Mileage as an Incidental to each Job where it applies.
- Mileage - enter the amount that will be paid per unit of mileage (regardless of whether this is automatically financed)
- Mileage Threshold - enter the number of miles that will be travelled before mileage is paid, for e.g. you may only pay for journeys exceeding 10 miles ROUND TRIP
- Pay in full - will pay all mileage excluding the threshold
- Min Mileage - the minimum amount of mileage paid in monetary value regardless of the journey
- Max Mileage - the maximum amount of mileage paid in monetary value regardless of the journey
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Point to Point Enabled - as above, when using Finance Mileage Automatically, mileage will be billed automatically based on the calculated journey from the Interpreter’s home address to the Job and back home.
Using this Point to Point setting will allow the calculation of mileage from one Job to the next, i.e. at the beginning of the day mileage will be calculated based on the Interpreter’s home address to Job 1 and then from Job 1 to Job 2, Job 2 to Job 3 etc. After the last Job of the day, mileage will automatically be added for the return journey to the Interpreter’s home address. - Point to Point threshold (Minutes) - this allows you to add a threshold in minutes, which if exceeded, will allow for mileage back to the Interpreter’s home address before receiving mileage to the subsequent Job. For example, if this is set to 60 (minutes) and 60 minutes elapses between the end of Job 1 and start of Job 2, mileage will be billed for Job 1 to the Interpreter’s home address and the subsequent journey from the Interpreter’s home address to Job 2. In other words, Point to Point mileage is not applied when the threshold has been reached.
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Rate Plan Options:
- Split Charges - this relates to a job spanning different Rate Zones and applying the charges accordingly, if this option is not checked, all hours of the job will be charged at the rate zone in which the job began
- Enable Cliffs - this allows different charges to be applied after a specific duration - you must Save the Rate Plan after enabling this to show the Cliff fields
- Bill Actuals - this indicates whether or not you will bill for the scheduled duration of the job or the actual duration
- Bill from Arrival Time - billing the job from Interpreter arrival time rather than Scheduled Start Time
- Bill Minimum Cancellation - billing a minimum cancellation time rather than the scheduled time via Cancellation fees (there is also a setting under ‘Admin’ > ‘Company’ that must be used in conjunction with this)
- Use Interpreter Rates - flagging this will indicate that the customer will be charged the rates paid to the assigned interpreter on the job
- Use Customer Account Classifications - checking this will use the Customer Accounts Classification for the Payable item to the Interpreter
- Enable Volume Pricing - use Volume Pricing for this Rate PLan which is further configured under the Volume Pricing tab
- Round Nearest Neighbour - this will round billing increments up or down to the nearest neighbour rather than automatically charging the full increment every time
- Pass Through Rates Enabled - this flag indicates that the rates specified on this Customer Rate Plan would pass through to any Interpreter assigned to the relevant jobs
- Use Pass Through Rate Zone - an additional option to pass through the Customer Rate Zone to the Interpreter
- Pass Through Incidentals Enabled - pass through Customer Incidentals to the Interpreter
- Pass Through Minimum Durations Enabled - pass through Customer Minimum Durations to the Interpreter
- Pass Through Billing Increments Enabled - pass through Customer Billing Increments to the Interpreter
- Pass Through Cliff Minutes Enabled - pass through Customer Cliff Minutes to the Interpreter
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Billing Increments:
- In Person Billing Units (minutes) - these are the units of Billing for In Person/Face to Face Jobs, for example, a billing Increment of 15 minutes means that the Customer will be charged the appropriate rate for every 15 minutes, or part thereof, of the job duration
- Phone Billing Units (minutes) - these must be entered at the Service level, see below
- Video Billing Units (minutes) - these must be entered at the Service level, see below
- Prorate Billing Increments - when billing increments cross different Rate Zones they will be prorated when using this setting, otherwise the increment will be billed at the rate for the starting Rate Zone
- Note that all Billing Increments only apply after the Minimum Duration has been met (see below)
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Billing Hours:
- Bill Hours Using - select the rule for billing hours when Invoicing/Paying Travel Time (Hours), if no selection is made the default is ‘Use Average’, if you choose ‘Use Travel Rate’ Travel Rate boxes will appear on Rate Plans under Service and Qualification Rates etc. If you choose ‘Use Flat’, enter the flat rate in Bill Hours Flat Rate field as per below. Note that there is a master switch under ‘Admin’ > ‘Company’ > Configuration tab, if no selection is made at the Rate Plan level, the system will use this value.
- Bill Hours Flat Rate - when selecting a Flat Rate for Bill Hours Using, specify the Flat Rate here
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Fees: Note that Fees set on the General tab will apply to Face to Face, Video Scheduled and Phone Scheduled services, as well as all Languages and Qualifications unless Fees are also applied on those Tiers in which case the Tier will then take precedence allowing flexibility for different Fees at various Tiers. Fees required on any other service types must be set at the Service Tier.
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Cancellation Fees - click on the Add Cancellation Fee link
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Fee Type:
- Flat Fee - a fixed amount to be added to the Invoice
- % Total - the percentage of the total to apply, enter a figure between 0 and 1 (where 1 = 100%)
- Per hour - the hourly rate to apply for the fee
- Flat Hour(s) - the number of hours to apply where the hourly rate will be picked up from the relevant rate
- Use rate - the hourly rate to apply for this fee which will replace the relevant rate
- Minimum Dur. - apply the minimum duration charges as the fee
- Fee Rate - enter the fee that relates to the Fee Type chosen, for example, if you have chosen Flat Fee, enter the flat fee amount that will be applied, 100 = a charge of $100 for e.g.
- Period - (in conjunction with Period Rule) enter the period after which the fee will apply, for e.g. 24 would indicate that the cancellation fee will kick-in if the job is Cancelled 24 hours prior to scheduled start time
- Period Rule - choose Business Days, Calendar Days or Business Hours depending on how you would like the Period to apply
- Precedence - if you are applying multiple fees for various periods for example (24, 48, 72) use a value to specify the order in which the rules will apply, 1 will indicate that this rule will be applied first
- Edit/Pencil icon - you can then click the pencil icon to access additional configuration options, such as what service types the fee will apply to, and finally click the blue Save & Close button
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Fee Type:
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Deductions - click on the Add Deduction Fee link
- Name - enter a name for the deduction
- Deduction Type - as per the types outlined in Cancellation Fees
- Deduction Rate - as outlined in Cancellation Fees
- Service Type options - as above, you can select the service types that the fee will apply to
- Apply Once - the deduction will be applied as a one-time charge
- Apply Once Annually - the deduction will be applied as a one-time charge annually
- Miscellaneous Fees - this is an additional fee that can be applied for any reason and follows similar options as outlined in Cancellation Fees
- Custom Fees - this is another layer of fees that can be applied on top of normal Rate Plan charges (or, instead of, based on Rate Plan Configuration) which allow you to specify a Distance Fee or a Duration Fee which may be more specific than all other Rate Plan Configurations provide for
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Cancellation Fees - click on the Add Cancellation Fee link
- When you are satisfied with the information entered on the General tab of the Rate Plan, and you can come back to this at any time, click on the blue Save button before proceeding to the next tab
Base Rates tab
- The Base Rates tab is where you will specify the actual rates/charges that apply for various Service types and Qualifications if relevant
- To begin with there are some settings at the top of this page that allow you to set certain preferences/overrides for Base Rates:
- Mileage Override - checking this will allow you to override Mileage preferences set on the General tab for all items defined on the Base Rates tab - checking the box will invoke the fields where alternative values can be entered, note that you can also use this override within individual Service Rates sections (see below)
- Split Minimum Duration - checking this option will allow you to define a tiered system of Minimum Duration, for example Min Duration (minutes) could be set to 60 and Tier Min Dur (minutes) could be set to 90, this means that a Job that has a 40 minute Duration would be billed at 60 mins, whereas a Job with a 70 minute Duration would be billed at 90 mins - checking this box will invoke Tier Min Dur (minutes) fields within all Service Rates, alternatively you can use this setting within individual Service Rates sections (see below)
- Billing Increments Override - checking this will allow you to override Billing Increments preferences set on the General tab for all items defined on the Base Rates tab - checking the box will invoke the fields where alternative values can be entered, , note that you can also use this override within individual Service Rates sections (see below)
- You will notice there is a Services Section and this is where you will add the rates for each of your Service Types such as Face to Face, Video (Scheduled) etc.
- Click on Add Service Rates
- Choose a Service e.g. Face to Face
- The Mileage Override and BIlling Increments Override allow you to Override the values set on the General tab or the Base Rates tab (see above) specifically for this Service
- Important Note: For all Services (aside from Face to Face), the Billing Increments Override must be used to set the correct Billing Increment for the selected Service
- The Split Minimum Duration setting can also be used here specifically for this Service only to apply a tiered Minimum Duration (see above)
- Bill Actuals Override & Bill Actuals - flagging both of these values will allow you to apply Bill Actuals specifically at the Service tier (or Qualifications and Languages tier, see below) rather than across the entire Rate Plan, this will be particularly useful for On Demand services for example
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Rates:
- Enter the Min Durations (Mins) for each of your Rate Zones - Standard, Premium & Platinum, for example 120 will be a minimum duration of 2 hours, i.e. all jobs of this Service Type would be charged 2 hours regardless of the actual duration, if you have used the Split Minimum Duration setting you will also need to enter the Tier Min Dur (minutes) for each of your Rate Zones
- Enter the Rate (per hour) for each of your Rate Zones
- Fees - you can also add Cancellation, Rush, Miscellaneous & Custom Fees at the Service level - this would override any Fees on the General tab specifically for this Service. Note: fees for Remote Services should be added to the relevant Service Tier.
- Click on Add Service Rates again and Choose a Service e.g. Video (Scheduled) - repeat this process for as many Service Types that will apply to this Rate Plan - as per above, for all Services (aside from Face to Face), the Billing Increments Override must be used to set the correct Billing Increment for the selected Service
- Moving on you can see that there is also a Qualification Rates section - this allows you to add specific rates for Qualifications that will be added as a Requirement on a job - note that you must first setup Qualifications under ‘Admin’ > ‘Company’ > Qualifications (see the topic under Admin & Configuration - ‘Qualifications’)
- Click on Add Qualification Rates
- Choose a Criteria - this will present the list of Qualifications that you have already setup as outlined above
- You will then see some Overrides as above and Click on Add Service Rates again to add Rates that apply to the Qualification - as per above, for all Services (aside from Face to Face), the Billing Increments Override must be used to set the correct Billing Increment for the selected Service
- Repeat this process for as many Service Types that will apply to the Qualification
- Once again, click on the blue Save button before proceeding to the next tab
Language Tiers tab
- On the Language Tiers tab you can specify different rates for a certain set of languages - if this tab is not used, all languages will be charged according to the rates set on the Base Rates tab, similarly, if languages are specified on the Language Tiers tab, all languages not specified will be charged according to the rates set on the Base Rates tab
- Click on Add Language Tier
- Name - Enter a name for this set of languages
- Click on Add Language to specify the language that will be part of this tier, repeat this to add as many languages as required to this tier
- The rest of the information is exactly as per above where you can Add Service Rates and Add Qualification Rates as relevant for these languages - as per above, for all Services (aside from Face to Face), the Billing Increments Override must be used to set the correct Billing Increment for the selected Service
- You can click on Add Language Tier again if required for another Language Tier and repeat the process above
- Once again, click on the blue Save button before proceeding to the next tab
Incidentals tab
The Incidentals tab can be used to specify Incidentals for this Rate Plan. Note that Incidentals can be setup at the Company level under ‘Admin’ > ‘Services’ and these will apply to all Rate Plans and Invoices/Payments. You will only need to use the Incidentals on the Rate Plan itself if you wish to explicitly configure the incidentals for this rate plan. Any incidental not configured here will be picked up from the company wide configuration.
- Click Add Configuration
- Select the Incidental Type from the drop down menu and populate all other fields as required
- Repeat the above process for any other Incidentals you wish to apply to this Rate Plan
- Click the blue Save button before proceeding to the next tab
Volume pricing tab
Volume pricing can be used to specify discounts for Customers who reach a certain volume of transactions in Minutes. Please contact Interpreter Intelligence at support@interpreterintelligence.com if you wish to enable this feature.
Default Rate Plans
The system requires one Default Customer Rate Plan and one Default Interpreter (Contact) Rate Plan.
If a Customer or Contact does not have a Rate Plan Association they will automatically pick up the Rate Plan that has been marked as Default. If a Customer does not have a Rate Plan Association and there is no Default Customer Rate Plan, you will be unable to Finance Jobs.
Associating Rate Plans with Customers
As per above, If a Customer or Contact does not have a Rate Plan Association they will automatically pick up the Rate Plan that has been marked as Default, therefore your Default Rate Plan should cover the rates that are common to the majority of your Customers and you will then only need to associate a lesser number of outliers to specific Rate Plans.
To Associate a Customer with a Rate Plan:
- Navigate to the ‘Admin’ menu hover over ‘Rate Plans’ and select the sidebar menu item Customer (Plans)
- On the right hand side you will see a list of Customers and on the left hand side a list of Rate Plans; if you have an exhaustive list on either side you can type to search for the appropriate value
- Clicking on either a Customer or a Rate Plan will display the relevant associations in the middle of the page; if you click on a Customer this will show you the association if any, if no association is listed, this means that the Default will be applied. Similarly, If you click on a Rate Plan this will display any associated Customers except if it is a Default in which cases Customers are just automatically assigned and not listed.
- To make/change an association simply select a Rate Plan on the left and drag a Customer from the right over to the middle on top of the Rate Plan or
- Select a Customer on the right and drag a Rate Plan from the left over to the middle on top of the Customer
Note: If a Customer has an existing Rate Plan Association and you wish to change this, you must first end the existing Rate Plan Association; the end date for the previous association and the start date for the new association should be concurrent to avoid any financing issues, example Rate Plan 1 association ends on July 31st and Rate Plan 1 association begins on August 1st.
Associating Rate Plans with Jobs
Aside from Associating Customers with a Rate Plan, you can also override a Rate Plan Association on the Job.
When you have created a Job, simply select the Finance tab, note that the current Rate Plan Association will be listed, start typing the name of the Rate Plan that you wish to associate with this job and select it from the look-up. Finally use the blue Save button to save the job.
Using Overnight/Night settings on a Rate Plan
A more advanced option on Rate Plans is to use the ‘Overnight/Night Enabled’ setting and corresponding rates.
By doing this you can then define separate rates for Night and Overnight hours which are defined as follows:
- Night - these are the hours after the End time defined on the days within the applicable Zone (Standard, Premium or Platinum) up until Midnight
- Overnight - these are the hours from midnight up to the Start Time defined on the days within the applicable Zone (Standard, Premium or Platinum) up until Midnight
For example, the day hours within a Zone are defined as 8am to 5pm.
Night hours will be 5.01pm until midnight
Overnight hours will be 12.01am until 7.59am
These settings are not customisable, in other words, Night rates will always be defined as end of day zone to midnight and Overnight will always be midnight to start of day zone.
Overnight/Night settings must firstly be enabled on the corresponding Rate Zone, see the Rate Zone document. If Overnight/Night settings are not enabled on the Rate Zone, the corresponding setting will not appear on a Rate Plan.
Once Overnight/Night settings have been enabled on a Rate Zone, you will then see a new field ‘Overnight/Night Enabled’ under the Rate Plan Options section on the General tab of a Rate Plan. Using this switch will then provide additional Rates fields for Night and Overnight rates anywhere that the Rates fields appear, i.e. when adding Service Rates at the Base Tier, Language Tier, Qualifications Tiers etc.