Creating a Plan Template

Plan templates define a framework that can be applied to create a custom plan for one or more CPQ line items, OLIs, and plan line items. You can define the number of installments, the percentage of the Total Amount to be billed (or the amount itself) for an installment, and indicate the Ready for Invoice Date depending upon the plan type. If needed, you can apply the same plan template to multiple orders.

The following table lists the billing plan template fields and their descriptions.

Field Name	Description
Name	Enter a unique name for the Template.
Description	The description of this template.
Plan Type	Select from the following options: Milestone: If your plan is milestone-specific. For milestone-specific plans, the Ready For Invoice dates are calculated based on Offset Type and Offset number and are equal to Milestone Expected Dates. Term Based: If the plan line items must have finite "billing periods". The default selection is Term Based.
Periods needed	This field is required when your Plan Type is "Term Based". If you set this field to `True`, then billing is “Period" specific, and hence the plan line items must have non-overlapping period start dates and period end dates. If you set this field to `False`, billing is "full term" for all line items. Only the "Ready for Invoice Date" matters to the line items so the offset settings are used to determine the invoice date.
Number of Installments	This field indicates the number of installments i.e., the number of milestones or the intended billing events.
Based on	Indicates whether you want to enter the fee directly (Amount) or as a percentage of the total price. Amount: To bill customers a specific amount for each installment. (This feature is not currently supported). Percentage: To bill customers a percentage of the total amount due at each installment.
Computation Method	Indicates whether you want to define the custom or even distribution of the percentages or amounts across the installments. Custom: if you opt for this option you must supply a valid value in the Percent or Amount field on the plan lines. Even Distribution: If you opt for this option, the engine will automatically distribute the percentage or amount evenly across the installments.
Start Date Based On	Indicates the source from where the Start Date must be picked from. It can be either: Start Date from the Line Item - the start date is picked from the OLI. Custom date - you must provide the date of your choice.
Active	Indicates whether the template is active or not. The plan template is not Active status at the time of creation. After validating all the information, the plan template is auto-activated by the engine.

The following table lists the fields and their descriptions for the plan template line items.

Field Name	Description
ID	The ID of the plan template.
Plan Template	The name of the custom plan template this line belongs to.
Offset Type	Indicates the value based on which the offset is to be calculated. Choose from the following: Year Month Week Day
Offset Number	It indicates the time to be elapsed between the billing periods. The value must be a whole number. If you want the first schedule after three months from the start date, select Offset Type as Month and set Offset Number as 3.
Percent	The percentage of the total price to be computed for the installment. The total sum of percentages for all line items must be equal to 100.
Payment Term	The payment term for this installment.

Suppose you want to create a plan template that can be applied to any custom plan. The requirement is to bill the customer in two installments, 30% of the contract amount on the 1st of the second month and the remaining 70% on the 1st of the sixth month. You have supplied the following details in the plan template:

Name	Plan Type	Periods Needed	Number of Installments	Based On	Computation Method	Start Date Based On	Active
PT-1	Milestone	False	4	Percentage	Custom	Start Date from the Line Item	False

Details of the four lines (because the number of installments is four, hence four line items) are as follows:

ID	Offset Type	Offset Number	Percent	Payment Term
PTL-1	Month	1	30	Term 1
PTL-2	Month	4	40	Term 1
PTL-3	Week	2	20	Term 1
PTL-4	Day	10	10	Term 1

After the plan template is activated, you create a custom plan using this template. The start date is 01 Jan 2024 (start date on OLI).

The custom plan shows the following values:

Order ID	Plan Template	Custom Plan ID	Name	Plan Type	Based On	Computation Method
O-1	PT-1	CP-1	My Custom Plan 1	Milestone	Percentage	Custom

along with the plan line items showing the following fields:

Custom Plan ID	Plan line item ID	Percent	Milestone Expected Date	Payment Term
CP-1	PLI-1	30	01 Feb 2024	Term 1
CP-1	PLI-2	40	01 Jun 2024	Term 1
CP-1	PLI-3	20	15 Jun 2024	Term 1
CP-1	PLI-4	10	25 Jun 2024	Term 1

The first milestone expected date is calculated based on the first offset added to the start date. Here the start date is 01 Jan 2024. Adding one month to this date results in 01 Feb 2024.

The second offset is four months, so adding four months to 01 Feb 2024 results in 01 Jun 2024.

The third offset is two weeks, so the milestone expected date is 15 Jun 2024.

The fourth offset is 10 days, hence the milestone expected date is 25 Jun 2024.

When you initiate billing, four records are generated containing 30%, 40%, 20%, and 10% of the amount of the total contract value (TCV).