Billing Guide

Premium Feature

Billing features require a Premium plan.

Executive Summary (For Finance & Admins)

Colabmacs billing converts usage (time, materials, and resources) into charges, then groups those charges into invoices.

Pricing is controlled through Rate Groups, which act as pricing models. Each project selects one rate group, and only rates from that group are eligible for billing.

If no matching rate exists, nothing is billed — by design. This prevents accidental or unintended charges and ensures a clean audit trail.

How Billing Works (High-Level Flow)

Usage Records
     ↓
Rate Matching (via Rate Groups)
     ↓
Charges (Pending)
     ↓
Invoices (Billing)

1. Users generate usage records
2. The system attempts to match a rate
3. A charge is generated (or skipped)
4. Charges are collected into invoices

Core Concepts

Rate Groups (Pricing Models)

A Rate Group defines which pricing model applies to a project.

Examples:

• Standard
• Academic
• Discounted
• Industrial
• Internal / Non-Billable

Rate groups organize rates but do not define prices themselves.

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Rates (Prices)

A Rate defines the actual price for a billable item within a specific rate group.

Rules:

• A billable item may have rates in multiple rate groups
• A billable item may not have more than one rate in the same rate group

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After Hours Rates

Rates can have different pricing outside business hours.

How It Works:

• System checks resource business hours
• Calculates time during vs after hours
• Applies weighted average rate

Blended Rate Formula

$$\text{R}_\text{ effective} = \left( \frac{\text{T}_\text{ day}}{\text{T}_\text{ total}} \times \text{R}_\text{ day} \right) + \left( \frac{\text{T}_\text{ after\_hr}}{\text{T}_\text{ total}} \times \text{R}_\text{ after\_hr} \right)$$

Variable	Description
Reffective	Effective Rate
Rday	Rate During Business Hours
Rafter_hr	After Hours Rate
Tday	Time During Business Hours
Tafter_hr	Time After Business Hours
Ttotal	Total Time

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Project Types & Projects

• Project Types define default rate groups
• Projects inherit the default rate group
• Projects may optionally override the rate group

Charges

Charges represent billable amounts derived from usage records.

How Charges Are Generated

A charge is created only when all conditions are met:

• A usage record exists
• The billable item has a rate
• The rate belongs to the project’s rate group

No Automatic Fallback

If no matching rate is found, no charge is generated.

Charge Calculation

Charge = Quantity × Rate

Example:

Usage: 0.26 hours
Rate: $50 / hour
Charge: $13.00

Unit Conversion

Usage units are automatically converted to match the rate unit.

Supported:

• Minutes ↔ Hours ↔ Days

Invalid unit combinations prevent charge generation.

Charge States

State	Description
PENDING	Editable, not yet invoiced
BILLED	Locked, attached to an invoice

Quotes (Estimates)

Alpha Feature

The quoting system is currently in alpha. Features and workflows may change. Use with caution in production environments.

Quotes provide cost estimates before work begins.

• Can be attached to requests or standalone
• Support discounts
• Lock when accepted or rejected

Invoices (Billing Outputs)

Invoices collect pending charges into billable documents.

Invoice Generation Process

1. Select project and date range
2. Collect all pending charges
3. Apply invoice rules
4. Generate invoice
5. Mark charges as BILLED

Why This Design Exists

This billing system enables:

• Multiple pricing models without duplication
• Clear separation between usage, charges, and billing
• Strong audit trails
• Intentional prevention of accidental billing
• Advanced pricing logic via rules

What's Next?

See the Billing Rules for advanced charge customization.