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Charge Period Dates

Initial Charge Period End Date

This field allows you to manipulate the end date of your first charge. By default, the Initial Charge Period End Date and Initial Bill Date will be blank. This means the Initial Charge Period End Date will be determined by the Subscription Item Start Date + Charge Interval.

  • The options from the Initial Charge Period End Date drop down menu are calendar based, which allows you to re-align charges back to a calendar cadence.

For example, if the subscription Start Date was February 12, 2020 and charges occurred once every four months (2/12/2020-6/11/2020), but a customer wanted to re-align charges with the upcoming quarter, (4/1/2020) that can be achieved by using the Initial Charge Period End Date.

By selecting “first day of quarter” from the Initial Charge Period End Date the Service End Date is truncated. The first charge period ends sooner to re-align with the quarter and moving forward, the start and end dates follow a calendar cadence (charges no longer following the pattern 2/12-6/11, 6/12-10/11, etc). See snapshot below.

Start Date 2/12/2020 charges every 4 months
initial_charge_period_end_date_1st_day_qrtr.png
 

Start Date 2/12/2020 with an Initial charge Period End Date of First Day of Quarter
initial_charge_period_end_date_4_months.png

 

There are currently 8 Charge Period End Dates to choose from:

  • First Day of Month
  • Last Day of Month
  • First Day of Quarter
  • Last Day of Quarter
  • Specific Day of Month
  • Specific Month & Day
  • First Day of Month (In Advance)
  • First Day of Quarter (In Advance)

 

Charge Frequency

Charge Frequency and Charge Interval work together to determine how often you want to generate a charge. Charge Frequency is a numeric value that is paired against the Charge Interval.

For example, if Charge Frequency is set to “1” and Charge Interval is set to “Months”, this tells the system to generate a charge once a month. If that Charge Frequency is changed to “3”, the system will generate a charge every 3 months.

 

Charge Interval

In conjunction with the Charge Interval, the Charge Frequency is a period of time that sets the charge cadence. There are 4 options to choose from:

  • Days
  • Months
  • Weeks
  • Years

For example, If the Charge Frequency is set to “4” and the Charge Interval is set to “Months”, a charge is only generated every 4 months.

 

How Charge Interval and Frequency influence the Term Multiplier

The Per Term on the Subscription Item works in tangent with the Charge Schedule. The Charge Schedule also influences the way the Per Term displays on the charge table under Term Multiplier. To learn how these work together, review the example below:

  1. Here's a snapshot of a Charge Schedule with a Charge Frequency of 3 and a Charge Interval of Months
    charge_schedule_term_multiplier_1.png
     
  2. Let's apply that Charge Schedule to a Fixed Recurring Subscription Item. In this example, the subscription is $200 per Month
    charge_schedule_term_multiplier_2.png
     
  3. When we apply our Charge Schedule to this subscription, we get the following outcome
    charge_schedule_term_multiplier_3.png
     

What we have essentially configured is a subscription that is $200 a month, but you’ll only see those charges every three months. So every 3 months a charge for $600 is generated.

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