Common FAQs
Please ask all your questions related to 3PL Billing. It’s an amazing tool that can be really complex (and sometimes, confusing).
The most frequently asked question I have run across with 3PL billing has been around Price Level Mode. There are two different options: Max and Layered.
"Max means that all activity for this Line Item will appear on the invoice at the charge indicated on the maximum quantity break that applied. For example, with Price Levels of 1 @ $1.00, 100 @ $0.95, 500 @ $0.90, if the quantity on the invoice is 300, the charge / unit price for the line would be $0.95.
Layered means that this Template Line Item may produce multiple lines on an Invoice Worksheet, with a different charge/unit price for each line. For example, with Price Levels of 1 @ $1.00, 100 @ $0.95, 500 @ $0.90, if the quantity on the invoice is 300, there would be 2 lines, the first for 100 @ $1.00, the second for 200 @ $0.95."
This can get very confusing when you are checking your invoice worksheets and you have additional details like Cubic Ft being calculated or Max Over Period. For example, I have a box and the sum of the cubic ft is 1.42 over the majority of my billing days. It is better to pick the Date Field for “Greater of EoP or Avg. Daily” or Max Over Period? What is the advantage or disadvantage of those two options? There are many layer to billing rules 
So, this is a great topic. What I’ve learned is that this billing module requires a lot of thought and strategy upfront. Start with the easy stuff and then move to the heavy lifting.
I started with the basics. There is an “Order” so there is a $1.00 charge for that order.
That “Order” has “Line Items” and there is a charge for each of those line items based on the quantity. So, basically if there are 2 line items and line item 1 has 2 widgets and line item 2 has 1 small widget, a total quantity of 3 at $0.25 ea would be $0.75. My total charge for that order is $1.75.
But what if line item 2 is actually a $1.50 charge for that item and not $0.25? How is that done in Activity to Consider?
Hey Konrad,
So the first thing that I always like preface, is that our billing module is not always “turn key” as you somewhat alluded to. This is actually by design so that we can make most things possible to all of our customers. With the 3PL space being so competitive and companies doing everything they can to provide value, we see some very creative approaches to billing. With that being said, Invoice Worksheet Scripts are the answer to most of the complex billing needs. Since 3PL billing module has a monthly usage fee associated, our professional services team is happy to assist in helping you get it setup and configured the way you need at no cost.
To answer your question, you would either use the pricing tiers within each invoice worksheet line if there’s no other logic involved other than quantities… or you would need to implement a invoice worksheet script so that we can build the exact logic you need.
We often encounter scenarios where customers charge for the order and then give the first line item for free, and a cost associated with each additional line. You would think you could just set the pricing tier to include the first item free of charge; however, the billing module does not look at each order individually. Instead, it’s taking an aggregate of all the orders (or whatever your activity type is) within the invoice worksheet date range and computing them together. If you were to have “count of orders” as your billing rule charge by value, then it would give you the sum of the count of orders in that date range. Likewise, if you’re billing off “count of line items” or “sum of quantity” etc. it would again be the aggregate of all the data within that date range.
With an Invoice worksheet script; however, we have the ability to look at each order within that date range and compute the values as we loop through each order. As you can imagine, this gives our users complete freedom to work with the data any way they would like, and implement custom billing logic so that it’s giving you the results you’re after. The script also updates the invoice worksheet details so that all of the “backup data” reflects correctly.
I know that was long winded but hopefully sheds some light! Feel free to enter a professional services ticket at this link:
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@Infoplus_Nerd_No1 Thanks for this info! I knew you would have an answer.
I couldn’t agree more. With the complexity within our own organization writing a script to help do the heavy lifting is the way to go. I have been working more and more with your Pro Services Team and they have been great to work.