Monthly Long-term. Charges generation

In this article:

General rules for the Monthly Long-term billing type

• The Monthly Long-term billing type supposes that the total price of the ordered subscription and its resources for the full period (usually 1 year) is paid before the subscription provisioning.
• All charges are generated at the moment of the order creation with the New status and get the Blocked status when the order is paid.
• Charges are generated for the full subscription period at once.
• Usually, all charges for subscriptions with the Monthly Long-term billing type are closed right away — manually (see Closing subscription charges manually) or automatically with a script (see Charges closing with Charge Closer). The generation and changing of the charges in that case are described in Manual closing of the subscription charges.

Recurring fee charges

Recurring fee charges are generated when an order is created and have the following default attributes:

• Status: New.
• Created at: order creation date.
• Close date: order creation date.
• Period: one of the subscription billing periods.

For a one-year subscription with the Monthly Long-term billing type, 13 Recurring fee charges for each resource type usage are generated. The charges are generated at the start of the subscription paid period. The amounts of the charges No. 2-12 are fixed and are equal to the monthly price of the subscription. Charges No. 1 and 13 are generated as it is described in Charges default attributes.

When the order is paid, charges No. 1-13 get the Blocked status and block the funds at the account balance. On the nearest billing day, the charge No. 1 get the Closed status, and its amount is withdrawn from the account balance. On the next billing day, the charge No. 2 get the Closed status, and its amount is withdrawn from the account balance, etc.

Setup fee, Renewal fee, and Transfer fee charges

There are no Setup fee, Renewal fee, and Transfer fee charges because the corresponding fees should not be applied.

Subscription ordering

When a subscription is ordered, Recurring fee charges for the additional quantity of resources are generated.

An example of a subscription with the Monthly Long-term billing type is given below:

1. An annual subscription is ordered and paid on 10.11.2017. At that moment, the following occurs:

   The case when an order was paid after the date of its creation is described in the Charges attributes changing article.

   1. Charges No. 1-13 for each billing period during the full period of the subscription are generated.

   2. Charges amounts are calculated using a standard formula (see Charges default attributes).
   3. Charges No. 1-13 get the Blocked status.
   4. The sum of the charges No. 1 — 13 amounts is blocked at the account balance.
2. On the nearest billing day (in this example, it is 01.12.2017), the following occurs:
   1. Charge No. 1 gets the Closed status.
   2. The amount of the charge No. 1 is withdrawn from the account balance.
3. On each next billing day up to the 12th inclusive, the next charge gets the Closed status, and the corresponding amount is withdrawn from the account balance.
4. On the end date of the subscription period, which is equal to the date of the subscription purchase + one year — one day (09.11.2018 in the example):
   1. Charge No. 13 gets the Closed status.
   2. The amount of the charge No. 13 is withdrawn from the account balance.

Change order. Upgrading resources

When additional resources are ordered, Recurring fee charges are generated for each resource type. Generation and changing of attributes of these charges are similar to the generation and changing of attributes of charges for subscription purchasing (see the Subscription ordering section).

Change order. Downgrading resources

For downgrading resources, the charge behavior depends on whether the subscription charges are already closed.

If the subscription charges are not yet closed, the Recurring fee charges are split (see Splitting of charges when the resource quantity is reduced).

If the subscription charges are already closed:

1. When a change order for downgrading resources is created:
   1. The closed charge does not split.
   2. Charges in the New status are created for a period from the order creation date split by billing periods and a negative amount for a refund for the reduced resource quantity (the order creation date is refunded).
2. When a change order for downgrading resources is completed:
   1. The closed charge does not split.
   2. All charges in the New (and Waiting for refund) status are deleted.
   3. Instead of them, one charge in the Closed status is created for the rest of the subscription period starting from the order completion date and a negative amount for a refund for the reduced resource quantity.

Subscription stopping (Prepay)

The stopping of the subscription causes the following:

1. The charge for the current billing period is deleted. The account balance is increased by the charge amount.
2. A new charge for the actual period of the subscription usage in the current billing period is generated with the following attributes:
   1. Status: Closed.
   2. Created at: the date of the subscription stopping.
   3. Close date: the date of the subscription stopping.
   4. Amount: is proportional to the actual subscription usage period in the current billing period taking into account the actual number of days in a month (see Charges default attributes).
   5. Discount: is proportional to the charge amount.
   6. Period: from the start of the current billing period to the date of the subscription stopping.
   The account balance is decreased by the charge amount.
3. A new charge for the remaining part of the current billing period is generated with the following attributes:
   1. Status: Blocked.
   2. Created at: the date of the subscription stopping.
   3. Close date: the nearest billing day.
   4. Amount: is proportional to the remaining part of the current billing period taking into account the actual number of days in a month (see Charges default attributes).
   5. Discount: is proportional to the charge amount.
   6. Period: from the date of the subscription stopping to the nearest billing day or to the subscription expiration date.
   The amount of the charge is locked on the account balance.
4. The charges for the future billing periods are not changed until the subscription is activated, or is deleted, or its expiration date occurs.

Subscription stopping (Postpay)

The only difference from the Prepay model is that a new charge for the actual period of the subscription usage in the current billing period is generated in the Blocked status. The current debt is calculated as the total amount of all blocked charges.

Subscription activating

The activation of a subscription causes the following:

1. The charges in the Blocked statuses for the previous billing periods get the Deleted statuses. The account balance is increased by the sum of amounts of the charges.
2. The attributes of the charge for the current billing period are changed as follows:
   1. Status: Blocked.
   2. Created at: the date of the subscription activation.
   3. Close date: the nearest billing day.
   4. Amount: is proportional to the remaining part of the current billing period taking into account the actual number of days in a month (see Charges default attributes).
   5. Discount: is proportional to the charge amount.
   6. Period: from the date of the subscription activation to the nearest billing day or to the subscription expiration date.
   The account balance is increased by the difference between the initial and the changed amounts of the charge.
3. After that, the charges changing of attributes is carried out in a standard way, which is described in the Subscription ordering section.

Subscription renewing

To extend a subscription to another period, delayed renewing is used with the ability to increase or reduce the quantity of resources (see Delayed renewing of a subscription).

When the subscription renewal order is submitted, Recurring fee charges for the additional resources renewal are generated. Separate charges are generated for each resource type. The generation and attributes changing of the charges of this type are similar to the generation and attributes changing of the Recurring fee charges for the subscription purchase.

Subscriptions are automatically renewed as follows:

1. Before the specified number of days to the expiration date of a subscription ordered for 1 year, a renewal order is created.
2. Recurring fee charges are generated for the next period of 1 year.
3. Charges are generated in the New status.
4. The first charge is generated for a period starting from the next day after the subscription expiration date.
5. If there are enough funds on the account balance, the subscription is renewed:
   1. All the charges get the Blocked status.
   2. The expiration date of the subscription is set as its current expiration date + 1 year.
6. If there are not enough funds on the account balance, the subscription is stopped. To activate the subscription, a customer need to pay for the renewal order.
7. If a customer pays for the renewal order after the subscription expiration date:
   1. The period and expiration date of the subscription are calculated considering the Expired subscription is renewed settings in a service term (see Creating a service term).
   2. For the first charge generated for the period till the next billing day, the start date is set to the renewal order payment date, and the charge amount is recalculated, respectively.
   3. For the last charge generated, the period and amount are changed if the new subscription expiration date is moved, considering the renewal order payment date.

Plan switching

The immediate switching of the plan (see Switching a plan) is performed with the standard splitting of blocked charges (see Splitting of charges when a subscription plan was switched). In contrast, for a charge in the Closed status, a new charge in the Closed status is created with a negative amount that covers the unused part of the subscription period.

The delayed switching of the plan is available if the Paid to date is equal to the subscription expiration date. Switching the plan, in this case, is performed together with renewing a subscription. A switch plan order is created as delayed (Delayed = Yes and Provisioning date = the subscription expiration day, see Delayed switch plan order in Switching a plan):

1. For a switch plan order, charges are generated in the New status from the subscription expiration date for a period depending on the billing type and period of the new plan.
2. For a switch plan order in the Waiting for provisioning status:
   
   1. The charges remain the New status.
   2. For the Prepay model, the amount of the charges is blocked on the account balance.
3. After completing a switch plan order:
   1. The charges get the Blocked status.
   2. The subscription expiration date is changed.
   3. The Paid to date is changed.

Subscription deleting

When an active subscription is deleted, the standard charges splitting occurs (see Splitting of charges when a subscription is deleted).

When a stopped subscription is deleted, all charges in the Blocked status are deleted, and the account balance is increased by the sum of their amounts.