This article explains how Round Nearest Neighbor, Minimum Duration, and Bill Actuals affect billing for your customers or paying interpreters.
📌 Overview
Round to Nearest Neighbor adjusts how billing increments are applied when a session does not end exactly on an increment boundary. Instead of always rounding up to the next increment, the system rounds up or down to the closest one.
This creates more precise billing while still allowing you to maintain structural increments such as 15-minute units.
NOTE Please contact the II Support Team and ask them to confirm that Round to Nearest Neighbor is enabled on the back-end of the system for your agency prior to enabling this setting on any given rate plan.
🔢 How Rounding Works
Rounding is determined by the halfway mark of your billing increment.
Example: 15-Minute Billing Increment
- Halfway point: 7.5 minutes
- Job ends 0–7 minutes into increment → Rounds down
- Job ends 8+ minutes into increment → Rounds up
Examples
| Actual End Time | Increment Boundary | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 10:07 | Nearest boundary = 10:00 | Rounds down → billed to 10:00 |
| 10:08 | Nearest boundary = 10:15 | Rounds up → billed to 10:15 |
This logic applies across any billing increment you set.
⏳ How Minimum Duration Interacts with Rounding
How the Minimum Duration setting factors in. Rounding does not begin until the minimum duration is met.
Example
- Minimum Duration: 30 minutes
- Billing Increment: 15 minutes
- Actual session length: 18 minutes
Result:
The session bills 30 minutes, and rounding begins only after that minimum is fulfilled.
🧮 Bill Actuals: Additional Behavior to Consider
The Bill Actuals setting influences whether billing is based on the scheduled duration or the actual duration.
If Bill Actuals is OFF
The job bills the full scheduled time.
Scenario
- Scheduled duration: 1 hour
- Minimum Duration: 30 minutes
- Interpreter works: 20 minutes
Result:
The system bills 1 hour, since Bill Actuals is not in use. If the job runs over the scheduled duration, billing increments and rounding are applied.
If Bill Actuals is ON
Billing reflects actual time worked, after the Minimum Duration is met. If Rounding is enabled, the increments are rounded up or down at the end of the job time.
🔍 Best Way to Test Behavior
To see exactly how these settings will function in your account:
- Create a test job
- Use a Sample Rate Plan with the above-noted combination of settings
- End the session at different times (ex: 7 min, 8 min, 22 min, etc.)
- Review the billed duration in job logs
This allows you to observe rounding, increments, and minimum duration behavior in a safe testing environment.
❓ Need More Help?
If you have questions about how these settings impact your billing or need help testing a rate plan, our team is here to assist! Please contact support@interpreterintelligence.com with your questions.