This article provides a quick overview of discount functionality in the IDI solution. It’s one in a series of articles that provide complete instructions for creating and managing discounts. You’ll find links to the other articles in Where to Go From Here at the end of this overview.
Discounts are added and configured as catalog items in the IDI Desktop Client Product Catalog, and then applied to customer accounts or services via any of the following applications:
Orders and Customer Care web modules
Client-based Customer Management and POS Front Office
Discount activity on a customer’s account can be monitored via the various usage views in Customer Care or Client Customer Management.
The IDI solution system supports two basic discount types:
A Grant discount grants customers an award, for example free minutes, usually as part of a calling plan or promotion. Grant discounts are calculated when usage is rated.
A Volume discount must be earned through a specified purchase. For example, a 10% discount may be applied to the bill after the customer uses 100 minutes of long distance service. Volume discounts are calculated at billing.
Both volume and grant discounts may be applied associatively where discounts apply within a specific calling network (for example, within a geographic region, area code or specific group such as family and friends).
Volume discounts can be set up as these specific types:
Loyalty discounts reward subscribers based on how long ago the account was established or how long ago the discount was assigned. The option to configure a loyalty discount is available in the volume discount wizard.
Reward points discounts let subscribers accumulate points based on loyalty or purchasing certain products. Rather than giving customers a credit, customers can use accumulated reward points toward the purchase of an item or to pay a bill. The option to configure a reward points discount is available in the volume discount wizard.
Tiered group discounts apply across grouped accounts. The group is defined by assigning the discount to a specific group of accounts or services. This may be used to give discounts to individual subscribers who are part of a common entity, such as a business or association. The discount is calculated using the number of active services within that group and the discount tier that corresponds to the number of services. The Add/Edit Volume Discount form has a setting to make a volume discount a tiered group discount. Tiers are set up in the volume discount wizard. Tiered group and loyalty discounts are mutually exclusive so when Tiered Group is selected, the volume discount wizard will not let you choose the Loyalty discount option.
The IDI platform also supports Refillable discounts that offer your customers a way to avoid high overage charges. When a customer’s Base product has been depleted, the Refill product is automatically added to cover a new increment of usage (voice, data, text, or currency). You can also create Refillable products for different types of usage, such as one amount for domestic airtime and a different one for international airtime. Most setup for refillable packages is done outside the Product Catalog; however, a separate grant discount catalog item is required for each refillable discount offering, and there are parameters in the grant discount wizard related to refillable discounts.
These items that support discount configuration and operation are also configured in the IDI Desktop Client Product Catalog:
Discount Categories help you monitor usage across the various discounts you offer. For example, if a monthly plan grants set amounts of voice, data and texting, each of those would be tied to a different grant discount, and each grant discount would be tied to a different discount category. When viewing usage and free units on a customer account, you can see the amount used in each bucket based on their respective discount categories.
Although not strictly required, it is good practice to assign all discounts to a discount category. Discount categories are created and assigned to discounts AFTER all discounts have been built, and your discount strategy is fully formulated. You can make discount category assignments directly via the Edit Discount form, or via the Discount Categories form via the Client Applications menu > ProductManagement > DiscountCategories. The Discount Categories form facilitates setting discount categories across all discounts.
Processing Order lets you establish the order in which a discount is processed in relation to other discounts. The system processes the discount with the highest processing order first (1 = highest), recalculates the balance and then processes the next discount in the sequence against the new balance.
Usually, larger (more impactful) discounts should be processed later so they take the biggest percentage off the smallest version of the amount, after all other discounts of a higher order (i.e. 1 or 2) have already reduced the total. Processing order can be set via the Add/Edit Discount form, or via the Processing Order form which is available by clicking the applicable icon in the Product Catalog window icon tray.
Discount Sorting Rule is required for grant discounts. This rule considers factors in addition to processing order to determine the order in which grant discounts are processed. The rule must include Discount Processing Order; however, the actual order is set on an individual discount basis. The other factors serve as tie breakers and may be included or excluded as needed. One rule applies to all grant discounts. The Discount Sorting Rule form is available by clicking the applicable icon in the Product Catalog window icon tray.
Global Dialed Digit Numbers is an associative option for grant discounts that establishes a list of service numbers that subscribers can call without a charge. You can manage these numbers via the Global Dialed Digit Numbers form available by clicking the applicable icon in the Product Catalog window icon tray.
Reward Points Conversion Factor specifies how many points equal $0.01 in redeemed value for all reward points discounts. This rate is set up once and should not be modified once reward points are issued. The Conversion Factor form is available by clicking the applicable icon in the Product Catalog window icon tray.
Adding a New Discount – Overview
Implementing discounts is an iterative process that involves adding discounts to the Product Catalog, running them through the discount configuration wizard and then completing the ancillary steps needed to finish discount configuration.
Start by adding new discount catalog items in the Product Catalog. This process is similar to adding other catalog items.
When you create a new discount, there are aspects specific to the various kinds of discounts as described later. The New Discount form has several tabs similar to other catalog items. Only the Main tab is specific to discounts. The other tabs let you configure parameters common to any catalog item.
At this point you typically don’t have all the information you need to complete the catalog item configuration so you’ll add the discounts as shells. Shells are partial discount definitions. The Discount Category field (which defaults to Unassigned) cannot be edited until the discount is saved and run through the configuration wizard. Also, you may not be ready to set other parameters, especially the Processing Order, until all discounts have been created. When you create these shells, at a minimum you must set the required SKU and Description parameters, and you should also set the Registry Description to establish whether this will be a Grant or Volume discount.
Then run each shell through the discount configuration wizard by right-clicking on the catalog item and choosing Configure.
Note:
The Configure menu option changes to Edit Configuration after the discount has been assigned to one or more accounts. In this case, certain discount wizard options can be changed and will apply to all assigned instances of the discount on saving the changes.
The wizard presents different options for grant and volume discounts. Wizard options are also driven by the choices you make along the way (for example, whether or not a volume discount is based on Loyalty).
After all discounts are configured:
Create discount categories and assign discounts to them (Applications > Product Management > DiscountCategories).
Set discount processing order. You can do this via the Discount Processing Order form available via the icon tray in the Product Catalog window. This form lists all existing discounts. It lets you select each discount to set the processing order.
Set up the discount sorting rule. This rule applies to grant discounts. It works in conjunction with processing order to specify the order in which grant discounts are processed. The Discount Sorting Rule form is available via the icon tray in the Product Catalog window.
Set up other supporting items (global dialed digit numbers and reward points conversion factor) as needed. These are also available via the icon tray in the Product Catalog window.
Finish configuring the discount shells:
Assign a discount category if not already done via the Discount Category form.
Set discount processing order if not already done via the Discount Processing Order form.
Determine general ledger accounts via the Edit Discount form and tweak other discount parameters as needed.
Assign discounts and test via billing.
General Considerations
The following are general guidelines to consider when creating and configuring discounts:
Discounts can be assigned at the service or customer level.
After adding discounts to the Product Catalog, their setup must be completed through the configuration wizard BEFORE they can be assigned to an account or service.
Once a discount has been assigned to a customer, many wizard options can be edited on the account. Some can only be changed by submitting a service request. This is covered in the Grant and Volume Discount articles.
Discounts that have Include Children selected may only be assigned to Corporate Accounts.
A new discount must be saved and configured before you can assign it to a Discount Category.
Where to Go From Here
To learn more about setting up and managing discounts, refer to these articles:
For basic setup these articles take you through the steps for adding a new discount in the Product Catalog and running the discount through the applicable discount configuration wizard:
Volume Discounts - For volume discounts, quick guidelines are also provided for:
Reward Points Based on Loyalty
Reward Points Based on Products
Tiered Group Discounts
Finishing Discount Configuration - This covers these post configuration wizard steps:
Creating and assigning Discount Categories
Setting Processing Order
Setting up a Discount Sorting Rule (applies only to grant discounts)
Setting up Global Dialed Digit Numbers
Managing Assigned Discounts - This describes how to:
monitor consumed and available units remaining for on an account by discount category.
change certain discount wizard options by editing the discount configuration in the Product Catalog.
monitor and manage reward points when applicable.
For complete instructions on Refillable Packages, refer to the article on Setting Up Refillable Discount Usage Functionality.