Before You Begin:
- You need permission to manage membership types and billing settings.
- Decide which data points drive your formula (e.g. full-time employees, part-time employees, number of beds) and create the matching custom fields. Custom fields must be the decimal or integer type to be available in your calculations. See Setup Membership Application Form Fields/Questions for instructions.
- Create your membership type(s). See Add a New Membership Type for instructions.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Go to Memberships, Settings section, click Membership Types.
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For the desired membership type, click the <No Pricing> link in the Pricing column.
- Click the Formula Based Pricing check-box. See Add Pricing to a Membership for information on additional fields.
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In the Recurring Fees section, click the
to add the fee item(s) for the membership type:
- Select the fee item from the Item list. The Description, Price, and Frequency fields will be populated based on the defaults configured when the fee item was set up. The price you select would be the base price for the membership. NOTE: A base price is NOT required, and pricing could simply be based on your formula calculations.
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Click the
next to the Price text box to add the variables required by your formula. For example, this is where you would choose full-time employees as the variable needed in your calculation, as well as enter the amount to be charged for those employees.
- If you would like to set a maximum price for this membership, enter it in the Maximum Price (optional) field. This will set a “cap” on the total fees that a member will incur.
- Click the
to add your variables (custom fields) and set up the formula calculations.
- Select the field to be used in your calculation from the Unit Field list. Custom fields that are integers or decimal will be listed.
- Enter a Unit Price. This is the dollar value that will be used to calculate the dues. For example, if you will charge one dollar for each full-time employee, enter 1.
- Enter the Base Units Included in Price. Entering a “base unit included in price” will subtract this number from the amount entered in the field and the calculation will occur on a value greater than 1. For example, if there are 100 full-time employees and 55 are included in the base, the calculation will occur on the remaining 45.
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Repeat steps 8 – 11 above to add additional calculations. In the example shown below, for each full-time employee over 50, the system will multiply by $1.00 and add the result to the base price (if applicable). For each part-time employee over 25, the system will multiply by $.50 and add the result to the base price (if applicable).
- Click Done.
| NOTE: Custom Calculations: If a calculation is more complex than what is allowed here, GrowthZone can write a custom calculation script for it. These calculations must be reviewed in advance by our product/development team before any commitment that it can be scripted. GrowthZone may assess fees for custom calculations. |
Variable Dues - Auto-assign Levels
With your variable dues, you have the ability to “auto-assign” levels to your members. Assignment is based on one of the factors included in your formula. For example, include full-time employees in your formula, then create levels (such as 1 – 50 employees, 51 – 100 employees, etc.). When the number of full-time employees is entered by the applicant on your application form, or by your staff through the back-office, the system will automatically assign the member to the correct level.
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On the Membership Type tab, click the <No Levels> link in the Levels column, for the membership to which you wish to add levels. NOTE: If you have already added levels, click the numbered link.
- Select the field to be used for assigning levels from the Field Used to Determine Level (Min and Max are set with each level) list. Fields displayed are those you have selected for your variable dues formula.
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In the Levels section, click the
icon to add levels.
- Enter a Name for the level.
- Enter the Minimum Units (>=) and Maximum Units (<=) values to be used in determining if the member should be assigned to this level. For example, if you have a level for 1 – 50 employees, enter a Minimum of 1 and a Maximum of 50. A member who enters 1 to 50 full-time employees (inclusive) would be assigned to this level.
- Add Fees if applicable; however, with variable dues, fees are configured under the Pricing functions. If fees are added, these fees would be in addition to the fees assigned underpricing.
- Click Done.
- Repeat steps 4 – 7 above to add additional levels.
- Click Done.
Gather Variable Dues Information on the Membership Application Form
When an applicant selects a membership type that includes variable dues, on the second page of the Membership Application form a section called Information for Dues Calculations will be displayed. These are the custom fields you created as numeric input to the dues formula. Based on the input into these fields, the system will calculate the appropriate dues.
Add a Variable Dues Membership Type to a Contact from the Back Office
When adding a membership for which pricing is set up on a formula, an Information for Dues Calculation section will be displayed on the Add a Membership screen. Your staff will enter the appropriate values, and the system will calculate the additional fees based on the formula set up for the membership type.
See Add a Membership to a Contact for further information on adding memberships. Changes to the variables may be made when upgrading and downgrading the membership.
Common Pitfalls
- Using a non-numeric custom field: Only custom fields created as the decimal or integer type appear in the Unit Field list. If your driver field (e.g. number of employees) isn’t available, confirm it was created as a numeric field before building the formula.
- Forgetting the base units offset: The Base Units Included in Price value is subtracted before the calculation runs. Leaving it blank charges from the first unit; set it deliberately so members aren’t over- or under-billed.