In this lesson we will cover:
– Adding a Pro-Rata line to an invoice
– Pro-Rata for Manually Updated Recurring Invoice Lines
– Pro-Rata for Automatically Updated Recurring Invoice Lines
Associated Admin Guide:
Adding a Pro-Rata line to an invoice
Pro Rata lines can be added by editing the line items on recurring invoices and scrolling to the bottom. These are used to ensure that an invoice accounts for parts of a period. They appear as a separate line on an invoice that is created for after the "Date to be Added". Pro rata can be used on automatically calculated lines such as "license count on creation" this will account for licenses added mid way through the current period, and only invoice for the period it is in use, allowing you to have a recurring invoice automatically update based on the license count of the customer at that moment in time.
Fig 1. Pro Rata example
Pro Rata for Manually Updated Recurring Invoice Lines
When adding Pro Rata lines to a Recurring Invoice line that has the quantity set/update manually the Quantity in the Pro Rata line will be added to the line quantity after it is used to create an invoice. In the example below (Fig 2) we have a recurring invoice with a line for 10 Microsoft 365 Business Basic licenses and we want to add 2 licenses to this count from 16th March. In Fig 3 below you can see how we have added this using the Pro Rata function. Once we create the Invoice, from this Recurring Invoice, at the end of March the Recurring Invoice quantity will be updated to 12 (Fig 4) and the Pro Rata line will be removed.
Fig 2. Example Recurring Invoice
Figure 3. Pro Rata lines for a Recurring Invoice
Figure 4. An updated Recurring Invoice
Pro Rata for Automatically Updated Recurring Invoice Lines
When the Recurring Invoice line is linked to a quantity of License/User/Device (Fig 5) the pro rata lines are automatically added and removed in the same way as the above example so you don't need to make any changes here. If pro rata lines are added to a recurring invoice line that is automatically counted then they will still appear on an invoice BUT they will not affect the quantity of the recurring invoice line. Pro rata duration for automatically calculated lines is defined as: ('the time difference between date added/changed' and NEXT PERIOD END DATE)/(time difference between last created and next period end date) – the proportion of time throughout the invoice period that the change would be effective for.
Figure 5. Recurring Invoice with automatically updating quantities
We can use $-Variables that will populate on Pro Rata Lines only:
Fig 6. Specifying $-Variables on Different Types of Pro Rata Lines
- Pro Rata for Users Invoice description: This is used when Pro-rata lines are automatically generated for changes made to Users. The following variables can be used $USERNAME, $ITEMDESC, $STARTDATE, $ENDDATE
- Pro Rata for Assets Invoice description: This is used when Pro-rata lines are automatically generated for changes made to Devices. The following variables can be used $DEVICETYPE, $ITEMDESC, $STARTDATE, $ENDDATE
- Pro Rata for Licences Invoice description: This is used when Pro-rata lines are automatically generated for changes made to Licences. The following variables can be used $LICENCE, $ITEMDESC, $STARTDATE, $ENDDATE
There are many configurable options for Pro Rata in the Recurring Invoices config area(Configuration > Billing > Recurring Invoices):
- Allow negative pro-rata quantities: Allows for deductions on invoices if the item was only purchased for use of i.e. 7 days of that creation period.
- Create Pro-rata lines automatically when adding new lines to Recurring Invoices: This setting will automatically add a pro rata line to a recurring invoice when new lines are added. The current date is used for the pro rata calculation. It can be overridden when adding the line.
- (Calculated quantities) Default the Pro Rata behaviour to 'Immediately Invoice for Changes' for selected period types: When adding new lines to recurring invoices the default for the Pro Rata behaviour will be set to 'Immediately Invoice for Changes' for the periods set on the dropdown.
- (Manual quantities) Default 'Immediately Invoice this Pro-Rata' to true for the selected period types: When manually adding Pro-Rata lines 'Immediately Invoice this Pro-Rata' will be set to true for the periods set on the dropdown.
Pro Rata for recurring invoices can be added globally via this setting found in Configuration > Billing > Recurring Invoices:
Fig 7. 'Create Pro-rata lines automatically when adding new lines to Recurring Invoices' setting
