Setting Up Installment Plan Profiles

Installment Plan Profiles are set up via Product Management independent of retail products. This facilitates configuration and maintenance. Users can associate a profile with multiple retail product types as needed. When a change is needed, users only need to edit the profile rather than having to edit multiple retail products.

The menu item below displays the Installment Plan Profile grid.

Installment Plan Profiles

The Default Include Installment Plans on Move Service setting sets the default for Include Installment Plans in the Move Service Wizard. When moving a service:

When enabled (checked), Include Installment Plans defaults to checked.

When disabled (unchecked), Include Installment Plans defaults to unchecked (existing functionality).

Regardless of the new setting, users can still toggle the Include Installment Plans check box in the Move Services wizard as needed.

From this grid users can view, add, edit, and delete Installment Plan Profiles. Choosing to add or edit a profile displays the Add/Edit Installment Plan Profile form.

The upper portion provides fields for specify these profile-level parameters.

Parameter	Description
Name	Profile name listed in the drop down menu on the Retail Product.
Start & End Date	These are standard date controls. Start Date defaults to today. End Date can be enabled (checked) or disabled (ignored) as needed.
Billing Product	The drop down contains all products configured to allow installments and whose Charge Tax Class = No Tax Class Assigned.
Installment Agreement	The drop down lists Installment Agreements installed by the IDI and custom kits IDI installs a default agreement The custom kit can install one or more custom agreements

The Profile Rules section is an in-line editable grid for adding, editing, ranking, and deleting profile rules based on Credit Class and Account Type. This grid lets you define these parameters.

Parameter	Description
Rank	Order of Precedence. More You can rank the rules within an Installment Plan Profile to set the order of precedence in the event that more than one rule applies to a customer. Rank can be adjusted by dragging and dropping a row up or down in the order. The rank number changes accordingly. Note The rules grid does not support filtering or sorting so as not to impact ranking.
Account Type	See . Selecting Credit Class and Account Type The Credit Class and Account Type columns convert to drop-down menus when you click on a cell. The Credit Class menu lists all defined Credit Classes except those marked in Data Management to not allow installment plans. The menu also lets you choose no Credit Class. The Account Type menu lists all defined Account Types. The menu also lets you choose no Account Type. Notes: If a subscriber does not match one of the rules (Credit Class/Account Type combination), the subscriber will not be permitted to make a purchase with an installment plan. You can avoid this by setting up a catch all rule with no Credit Class or Account Type and ranking it at the bottom of the order. The system will not allow more than one rule to be defined for a Credit Class/Account Type combination.
Credit Class	See . Selecting Credit Class and Account Type The Credit Class and Account Type columns convert to drop-down menus when you click on a cell. The Credit Class menu lists all defined Credit Classes except those marked in Data Management to not allow installment plans. The menu also lets you choose no Credit Class. The Account Type menu lists all defined Account Types. The menu also lets you choose no Account Type. Notes: If a subscriber does not match one of the rules (Credit Class/Account Type combination), the subscriber will not be permitted to make a purchase with an installment plan. You can avoid this by setting up a catch all rule with no Credit Class or Account Type and ranking it at the bottom of the order. The system will not allow more than one rule to be defined for a Credit Class/Account Type combination.
Do Not Allow Installment Plan	Whether or not to allow installment plans for this Account Type/Credit Class combination. () More When a rule is based on Credit Class, the Do Not Allow Installment Plan check box on the grid only applies if the Do Not Allow Installment Plan check box on the Credit Class form in Data Management is not checked (meaning installment plans are allowed for the Credit Class). The setting in Data Management should only be used to always disallow Installment Plans for a particular Credit Class (for all Installment Plan Profiles). This saves you from having to set up a do not allow installment plan rule for the Credit Class in every profile. Not checking the check box in Data Management lets you have a do not allow installment plan rule for the Credit Class for some profiles and not for others.
Is Installment Plan Required	Checked - product must be sold on installments. Unchecked – allow authorized users to choose whether or not to sell product on installments at time of sale.
Min. & Max. Number of Installments	Min/Max range enter as non-zero integer values up to 240. Setting Min and Max to the same value establishes a fixed number of installments that cannot be edited during the sale. Open-ended range (just a Min or just a Max) is allowed. To not restrict at time of sale (any amount up to 240), leave Min & Max blank.
Min. & Max. Down Payment	Setting Min and Max to the same value establishes a fixed down payment amount that cannot be edited during the sale. Open-ended range (just a Min or just a Max) is allowed. To not restrict at time of sale, leave Min & Max blank.
Down Payment As Percentage	In currency (default) or as a percentage (check As Percentage)
Is Down Payment Required	Checked – down payment required at time of sale. Unchecked – users may choose at time of sale.
Is First Payment Required	Checked – first payment required at time of sale Unchecked – users may choose at time of sale. Note: If this option is selected, the first invoiced installment will, in effect, be the second installment and be dated accordingly.

Adding New Rules

There is always a blank row marked with an asterisk at the bottom of the grid for entering new rules.

As an alternative you can select an existing row and choose to duplicate it. This is handy if you want to create a new rule but you only need to change one or two parameters (for example if you only need to establish a different down payment range for another Credit Class).

Note:
If you use this feature you must change either the Credit Class or Account Type or both since each Credit Class/Account Type combination can only have one rule.

Deleting Rules

Existing rules can be deleted as needed.

Testing Rules

From the Add/Edit Profiles form you can test your rules by clicking the Test Profile Rules button.

This displays the Test Installment Plan Profile Rules form. To use this form, simply select the Account Type and Credit Class (none is a valid selection for Credit Class). The form will then highlight the applicable rule.

Note:
If the form cannot find a rule that matches the selected Account Type/Credit Class combination, the following warning will be displayed. This means that if a catch-all rule (any Account Type/Credit Class) is not added, any subscriber whose Account Type and Credit Class does not have a matching rule will not be permitted to make a purchase with an installment plan.