Rate Plans – ZoneBilling Knowledge Base

What is a Rate Plan?

A Rate Plan determines how Variable (Usage) records will be evaluated to produce Charges. The Rate Plan references one or two Rate Plan Search Maps (which supply quantity values) and determines how Search results are grouped or handled in order to produce rated Charges. Rate Plans can be (and usually are) shared across Customers and Subscriptions.

Key Characteristics

A Rate Plan is required for any Subscription Item containing a Usage (Variable) component
Any Saved Search in NetSuite can be used to supply data to a Rate Plan
A Rate Plan must, at a minimum, tell the system which Quantity Search (via the Rate Plan Search Map), Pricing Type Calculation, and Rating Priority to use
A Rate Plan can be shared across Subscriptions and Customers
A default Rate Plan can be set on the Item record. This default can always be overridden on individual Subscription Items.

Before you Begin

Rate Plans must be assigned to Subscription Items leveraging one of the following Rate Types:
- Usage (Variable)
- Fixed (Recurring) and Usage (Variable)
- Prepaid Item Quantity
A Rate Plan Search Map and Saved Search must be configured first before setting up a Rate Plan

Quantity Search

The Quantity Search points to the Rate Search Map, which should be used to drive the Quantity field on the Charge record used for any pricing calculations based on Quantity. The Select Rate Plan Search Map must have “Quantity Search” selected in the “Available for Search Type” field.

Tier Achievement Search

The optional Tier Achievement Search points to a second Rate Plan Search Map. This is used in conjunction with a Quantity Search when a different Quantity or Rate than what is returned in the Quantity Search is needed to calculate pricing.

The additional Rate Plan Search Map must have “Tier Achievement Search” selected in the “Available for Search Type” field.

Description Override

Allows you to set a Description which will be mapped to all Charges during the rating process. This can override a default description that has been set on the Item.

Note : This will also override a Overage/Usage Description that has been set in the Charge Item Map on a Subscription Item - it will not override other Charge Item Map Description fields (i.e. Maximum Charge Description, Included Units Description, etc.).

Use Usage Data Description

Check this box to use the Subscription Usage Data Description field value on the Customer-facing transaction (as opposed to the default Item description or the Description Override value). This is helpful if you want the Customer-facing transaction to include additional data that is dynamically generated each month.

Note: If selecting the ‘Use Usage Data Description’ checkbox, you must also map the column containing the Description information in the Rate Plan Search Map. If you only select this checkbox but do not create a column mapping, the Description will not be mapped to the Charges.

Do Not Create Charges

Select if you do not want Charges to be created for Zero Amount or Zero Quantity usage records.

For example, if a customer is pulling in usage data from another system, and there are Count Usage records with zero quantities, you may decide to set this to “Do Not Create Charges” for Zero Quantity so that there are not $0 lines on the resulting invoice.

Show Charges by Tier

This checkbox is relevant if also using Marginal Price Book calculations on the Subscription Item. If checked, the system will evaluate the quantity of units that fall within each Pricing Tier. One charge will be created for each Tier representing the quantity that falls within that “band” and displaying the rate for that band (as opposed to a single charge with a blended rate).

Pricing Type Calculation

The Pricing Type Calculation dictates how the rates will be attributed to individual Charges in a Multi-Charge Stream. Pricing Type Calculation is relevant when using Price Books.

Note: To learn more about how Pricing Type Calculations work with each Price Book, see the Price Books article here.

Individual: Each Charge is assessed independently and evaluated against the relevant Price Book.
Sorted: Each Charge is evaluated in order based on the ‘Sort By’ order defined on the Results tab of the Saved Search referenced in the Rate Plan Search Map. The Charges are then rated consecutively through the Price Book Tiers, such that the first-sorted usage record will fall into the lowest Pricing Tier and the last-sorted usage record will fall into the highest Pricing Tier that it reaches.
Shared: All usage records for a given charge period are combined and the total quantity is evaluated against the Price Book to determine what tier was achieved. The shared rate is then applied against each of the Charges.
Group: This Pricing Type Calculation only applies to "Fixed Rate Per Tier". All usage records for a given charge period are combined and the total quantity is evaluated against the Price Book to find the fixed amount for the Tier achieved. That amount is then prorated across all the Charges based on their quantity.

Rating Priority

The Rating Priority determines in which order should the Rating process run in relation to other Usage-based Subscription Items under the same Subscription. The field can be set to any number (positive or negative), with the lower number being given earlier priority.

A primary use case of this functionality is if the pricing for one usage-based Subscription Item is related to the Charges generated from another usage-based Subscription Item. During the Execute Rating process, the Rating Priority value is used to determine which Charges to rate first.

For example, if you have two Subscription Items under the same Subscription and they are using two different Rate Plans, the Rate Plan with the lower number will execute its rating first, then the other Rate Plan.

If a new Usage-based Subscription Item is created and a Rate Plan selected, the Rating Priority from the Rate Plan will automatically be set on the Subscription Item (under the Preferences tab). This default can be overridden on the individual Subscription Item if needed.

Note: Prepaid Subscription Items have a “built-in” Rating Priority; they will always be Rated after all other Usage (Variable) Charges.

Creating Rate Plans

Create a Quantity Search and Rate Plan Search Map before creating a Rate Plan. Below lists different ways to create a new Rate Plan:.

Add a new Rate Plan:

Go to Setup > Zone Advanced Billing Setup
Select Rate Plan > New
Name the Rate Plan and select the Quantity Search it should reference
1. If using a Tier Achievement Rate Plan, also select the relevant Tier Achievement Search
Select the Pricing Type Calculation that should be used
1. Note this is only relevant if using a Price Book
The Rating Priority will default to 0. If this Rate Plan is dependent on another Rating process running first, set the Priority accordingly
Optional fields include: Quantity Proration Type, Description Override, Use Usage Data Description, Do Not Create Charges, and Show Charges by Tier

To add a new Rate Plan through an existing ZAB Subscription Item:

Select your Subscription Item > Edit
Under Rate Plan > hover over dropdown > Click + New

To add/change an Existing Rate Plan on a Subscription Item

Select your Subscription Item > Edit
Under Rate Plan > hover over dropdown > select the desired Rate Plan
If changing the selected Rate Plan, click “Regenerate Forecast Charges” and re-run Rating on your Subscription Item to update Charges

Use Cases

Rating Priority

Example Scenario: A customer charges a per user signup based on a volume pricing model (Marginal Price Book). For each user that signs up, an additional Support fee is charged and is a sliding percentage of the calculated per user cost. The Support percentage changes based on the total number of users that signed up that month.

In this example, two Usage Subscription Items would be created. The first would be Count-based, to count the number of user signups. That Subscription Item’s Rate Plan should have a Rating Priority of 0 to be rated first.
The second Subscription Item would be Consumption-based, to assess the additional Support fee, and the Rate Plan should have a Rating Priority of 1 because it needs to be calculated after the Count-based usage is rated.