Rate Groups

Rates identify the actual amount that is tied to each type of charge. For example, you determine how much you are going to charge per unit (based on the rate unit of measure) for the receiving, handling, and storage of product.

Required?

Yes. You must configure rate information in order for the system to calculate charge amounts for invoices.

Prerequisites

• Charge Codes. You assign rates to individual charge codes. If you are using any custom charge codes, make sure to create those records before you attempt to define rates.
• Units of Measure. When you define your rates, you identify the unit of measure level at which the charge should be calculated. If you need to use custom units of measure, make sure you create those records before you attempt to define rates.

Additional Information

When you set up your contracts, you’ll associate a rate group with a specific billing event group; each event is associated with a charge code. Whenever an activity (or time period, for period-based charges) in the billing event group occurs, the system will calculate charges using the corresponding charge codes in the rate group.

Rate groups consist of a single header record, which identifies the rate group code and the effective date ranges for the rates, and a set of detail records which identify the charge codes included in the rate group and the associated rate information.

A rate group could consist of a single record or multiple detail records, as follows:

• Multiple charge types. Depending on how you configure your event groups and your rate groups, you may have multiple charge types on a single rate group. For example, you may create event groups that include all events appropriate for a single customer. In that case, your rate groups will include all charge types for a single customer as well.
• Quantity breaks. If you provide cost breaks for larger quantities of material, you can define different rates for the same charge code. For example, if you want to provide a rate break after you process the first 100,000 units of inventory, you can create multiple records for the same charge code, with different Break From and Break To values. This allows you to provide discounted rates for processing a higher volume of inventory. In this case, you will have multiple records for the same charge code.
• Separate charges by break. Separate charges will be created for each rate break. For example, you can provide a rate break after the first 5000 units, another rate break after 10,000 units, and another rate break after 50,000 units. Each break will have a different rate. When charges are calculated, the first 5000 units will be billed at the first rate, the next 5000 units will be billed at the rate between 5001 and 10,000 units, the next 40,000 units will be billed at the rate between 10,001 and 50,000, any remaining units will be billed at the rate over 50,000 units. Separate charge code records will be created, one for each rate break.
• The approach you use to configure your rate groups will depend on how much your customer contracts and rates differ from each other. For example, if services and rates are very similar between customers, you could create a single rate group for all the common charges and use it for each customer’s contract. Similarly, the billing event groups would include the common services that are shared. The contract configuration for each customer would have the same event group and rate group added to the detail.
• If, however, your services vary from customer to customer, your rate groups may consist of just single events, with multiple rate groups to account for different rating structures. Your event groups would also consist of single event details event groups. Whichever configuration approach you use, make sure that you use the same methodology when you configure your event group records.

Rates identify the actual amount that is tied to each type of charge. For example, you determine how much you are going to charge per unit (based on the rate unit of measure) for the receiving, handling, and storage of product.

Required?

Yes. You must configure rate information in order for the system to calculate charge amounts for invoices.

Prerequisites

• Charge Codes. You assign rates to individual charge codes. If you are using any custom charge codes, make sure to create those records before you attempt to define rates.
• Units of Measure. When you define your rates, you identify the unit of measure level at which the charge should be calculated. If you need to use custom units of measure, make sure you create those records before you attempt to define rates.

Additional Information

When you set up your contracts, you’ll associate a rate group with a specific billing event group; each event is associated with a charge code. Whenever an activity (or time period, for period-based charges) in the billing event group occurs, the system will calculate charges using the corresponding charge codes in the rate group.

Rate groups consist of a single header record, which identifies the rate group code and the effective date ranges for the rates, and a set of detail records which identify the charge codes included in the rate group and the associated rate information.

A rate group could consist of a single record or multiple detail records, as follows:

• Multiple charge types. Depending on how you configure your event groups and your rate groups, you may have multiple charge types on a single rate group. For example, you may create event groups that include all events appropriate for a single customer. In that case, your rate groups will include all charge types for a single customer as well.
• Quantity breaks. If you provide cost breaks for larger quantities of material, you can define different rates for the same charge code. For example, if you want to provide a rate break after you process the first 100,000 units of inventory, you can create multiple records for the same charge code, with different Break From and Break To values. This allows you to provide discounted rates for processing a higher volume of inventory. In this case, you will have multiple records for the same charge code.
• Separate charges by break. Separate charges will be created for each rate break. For example, you can provide a rate break after the first 5000 units, another rate break after 10,000 units, and another rate break after 50,000 units. Each break will have a different rate. When charges are calculated, the first 5000 units will be billed at the first rate, the next 5000 units will be billed at the rate between 5001 and 10,000 units, the next 40,000 units will be billed at the rate between 10,001 and 50,000, any remaining units will be billed at the rate over 50,000 units. Separate charge code records will be created, one for each rate break.
• The approach you use to configure your rate groups will depend on how much your customer contracts and rates differ from each other. For example, if services and rates are very similar between customers, you could create a single rate group for all the common charges and use it for each customer’s contract. Similarly, the billing event groups would include the common services that are shared. The contract configuration for each customer would have the same event group and rate group added to the detail.
• If, however, your services vary from customer to customer, your rate groups may consist of just single events, with multiple rate groups to account for different rating structures. Your event groups would also consist of single event details event groups. Whichever configuration approach you use, make sure that you use the same methodology when you configure your event group records.