Create Contract

Owned by Member Solutions
Last updated: Oct 10, 2023 by Cathy Beckstead
4 min read

Create Contract

A contract allows you to group session items to invoice on a recurring basis.  Member Manager will create monthly invoices based on the contract settings you setup.  The monthly payments can be automatically charged through your merchant processor or billed directly through Member Solutions.

There are 4 types of contracts:

  1. Term - Fixed number of payments

  2. Ongoing - The contract continues until it is stopped by the facility

  3. Paid In Full - A single payment for the entire contract

  4. Complimentary - A contract for 0.00.  Similar to a Paid In Full in that there is no recurring element.  Typically used for staff memberships, scholarships or barter situations.

To create a new contract go to Setup>Inventory>Packages>Add Contract.

Add Contract - Fill in the contract information at the top of the page. The mandatory fields are Name, Category and Update Members Rates.

Current Items - Select the service or product from the Item drop down menu

You have two options for setting the Quantity:

  • Check Unlimited and enter the total price in the Item Total area, or

  • Enter a Quantity and use the Item Price area to calculate the Item Total.

Set your expiration time for your session items.  Note:  Typically the "expires in" time should match the billing frequency set in the renewal details.  For example, if you are billing this contract monthly, the billing frequency will be "1 month" and the expires in will be "1 month".

You can also select "specific date" if all sessions for this contract sold should expire on the same date.  This is useful if you are selling a contract for a specific course that has the same start/end time for everyone.

 Once this is complete, select Add Item. So far, your contract should resemble this:

Renewal Details:

Select the Type of Contract

  • Term: Fixed number of payments

  • Ongoing: Unlimited number of payments

  • Paid in Full: A single payment for the entire contract

  • Complimentary: No payments

Choose the type of renewal:

  • Monthly on Account: This will add to the members On Account area and the invoice will not get created till you run the Create Invoices Due Process on or after the members account due date (defaulted to the 1st of the month - this is located in their Admin tab).  This option is only recommended for self service billing and only if you post bill your invoices.

  • Auto Renewal: This will create an autorenewal associated with the contract and the invoice will be automatically generated at the appropriate time.  This is the more typical option.  Choose this option if you are using Member Solutions billing.

  • Number of Times to Autorenew: Enter in how many times you want the contract to renew (term).  Unlimited will be checked for Ongoing contracts.

  • Rules: Either set the contract to renew within a certain timeframe or when there are a certain number of items remaining.

NOTE: Remaining Items Less Than... can only be used if there is one item line in the contract.

Contract Details:

  • The Initiation Fee adds to the total contract value. This fee will be applied at the time of signing.  This can be adjusted on contract sale.

  • For the Down Payment, you have two options (this also can be adjusted on the contract sale):

  • Apply to All: For term contracts, the down payment will subtract the down payment amount from the total contract value and divide the remaining contract value by the number of payments.

  • Pre-pay: This takes the amount of the down payment and will apply it to subsequent payments until it is all used up.

  • Number of free payments: Select how many payments you`d like to offer for free.

  • Last Payment Free: Tick this box if you`d like to offer the last payment for free.

  • Apply Tiered Pricing: Check to setup family contracts with pricing for additional members on the same contract. You can add up to 5 additional members and set pricing for each addition. See here for more details: https://membersolutions.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MSIKB/pages/2129231873

  • Cancellation Notice: This is your policy on what type of notice is required for a cancellation.

  • Renew at End of Contract:

  • No Renewal: The contract will end and the end of the Term.

  • Additional Term: The contract will go into an additional term. You can set a new payment amount.

  • Convert to Ongoing: The contract will go month-to-month. You can set a new payment amount.

  • Conditions: These are the terms that you see on the contract. You can either choose the Default Terms which are located in Setup - Personalize - Contracts or you can set up Custom Terms for a specific contract.  For contracts billing through Member Solutions you must select MSI Terms.

Select Save and Exit.

When searching your contracts, contracts icons in blue or red have monthly payments, and contract icons in gray are either Paid in Full or Complimentary.

 Contract Status

 After a contract has been sold to a member, they will have a status. Here are the status definitions:

  • Active: Active and paying account

  • Frozen: Active but payments are frozen

  • Inactive: Paid and service expiration date is in the past

  • Paid: Balance is paid in full and service expiration date is in the future

  • Stopped: Contract has been terminated