Onit’s new Tiered Volume Discounts (TVD 2.0) feature includes significant updates to the TVD system to enhance the user experience based on several client requests. These include:
- The ability to support any number of active TVD agreements per vendor at any given time and the ability to set up the hierarchy order for the system to determine which discount structure should apply to an invoice
- The option to apply TVD to invoices based on the bill-to matter’s Areas of Law, Matter Type, Fee Arrangement, and Vendor Office Location
- A setting to determine how TVD Total Spend is calculated. Total spend includes all invoices the vendor submits, regardless of if TVD is applicable on the invoice or not. Spend where discount applies only counts spend on invoices where the specific TVD structure is applicable.
- A setting to determine what is counted toward the TVD Total Spend. Invoice fees only (expenses, taxes, and discounts are not considered) or Invoice Total (all parts of the invoice are considered).
- A setting to determine which invoice states are included/excluded in the calculation of Total Spend for applying TVD
- A setting to determine which date the TVD application uses; options to utilize Billing Period End Date, Billing Period Start Date, and Invoice Date
- Applied TVD tier information is added to the Invoice New View header
Here, we’ll take a step-by-step look at how to use the new Tiered Volume Discounts option.
Note: Feature must be enabled in BillingPoint settings and Billing Rules MUST be set up before setting up Tiered Volume Discounts and utilizing this feature.
Setup Notes
Note that an Onit specialist will need to enable TVD 2.0 in the BillingPoint system. From there, Onit specialists will work with the client to set up the different Hierarchy Levels for their Tiered Volume Discounts (so the system can determine which structure should be applied to an invoice) along with some other initial settings.
For the hierarchy, the process is structured so that each level is checked in order, beginning with TVD Level 1, and when a match is found, that TVD is applied. If no match is found at a particular level, the system proceeds to check the next level.
The screen (on the BillingPoint side) will look like this:
Using Tiered Volume Discounts 2.0
- Click into the Vendors application and select the specific vendor youd like to set up the discount for.
2. Click on the Tiered Volume Discounts tab in the Vendor details screen.
3. Click on Add New Discount to set up the new discount. Note that on this page, youll also be able to see (and modify) any active discounts and access any archived discounts through the Archive button.
4. In the New Vendor Discount page, first, select whether the discount is valid for all vendor offices or only for certain offices. If the discount applies to EVERY vendor office, click Yes. If you'd like the discount to apply only to certain offices, click No and select the specific offices the TVD should apply to.
5. Give this discount a name (note: this is required) and, if you'd like, a description (not required).
6. Fill in the Effective (Start) Date and the Expiration (End) Date for the discount. Effective and Expiration Dates are required.
7. Check the Perpetual box if you want the TVD to recur on the Effective Date every year. Note that if this box is checked, you dont need to select an Expiration Date.
8. Specify if this Discount should apply to all areas of the law or just specific areas. If it should apply to all areas of law, click Yes. If not, click No and specify the areas it should apply to in the drop-down menu.
9. Specify if this Discount should apply to all matter types or just specific matters. If it should apply to all matters, click Yes. If not, click No and fill in the matters to which it should apply.
10. Specify if this Discount should apply to all fee arrangements or just specific arrangements. If it should apply to all fee arrangements, click Yes. If not, click No and fill in the arrangements it should apply to.
11. Choose if you want Onit to adjust the invoice with the calculated discount amount. If you choose “Yes,” Onit will apply the discount to the invoice per the specific rules defined for the discount.
If “No,” Onit will only track the discount for informational purposes, warnings, and reporting, and will NOT adjust the discount; discounts must be applied by the firm.
NOTE: If this is a VAT (Value-Added Tax) invoice, the discount(s) MUST be applied by the law firm.
12. Click on Active to make the Discount active. By un-clicking Active, you can pause the discount without completely deleting the information.
13. Finally, click on Create Vendor Discount to save the new discount.
Once you have created these discounts, you can edit, manage tiers, or clone these discounts from the Vendor Discounts page.
14. To manage tiers, click into Manage Tiers under the Actions tab of the Discount you want to edit. From there, click Add New Tier to set up your tiers.
15. In the Add New Tier screen, you'll see some of the basic information about the Tiered Volume Discount (Vendor Name, Discount Name, Previous Tier Name, Start Amount, End Amount, and Tier Discount %, and Tier Name).
16. Fill in the End Amount for the first discount tier (for the first tier, the Start Amount will automatically begin at 0.00).
17. When entering the highest tier, click Last Tier. The End Amount is not required for the last tier.
18. Fill in the desired Tier Discount percentage for this tier.
19. Click on Create Discount Tier if you're done creating tiers, Save And Add More Tier if you'd like to add another tier, or Cancel to delete the work altogether.
Note that if you choose to add another tier, the Start Amount for the next tier will automatically begin with .01 more than the prior tiers End Amount.
Additionally, fields at the top of the screen will fill in with information about the previous tiers for review and comparison.
Fill in the fields for all of your needed tiers until finished. Be sure to check on Last Tier when you're finalizing work on the last tier.
As soon as you're finished creating tiers, you can review and edit the tiers from the Manage Tiers screen.
To clone discounts, go to the main Tiered Volume Discounts page and click on Clone next to the TVD you’d like to copy.
Once you hit Clone, the Clone Vendor Discount page will replicate the TVD. Make any changes needed and click on Save.
