Within Zero Friction we work with Products that group specific invoice items. A product can be applied to one contract or used for multiple contracts with the same billing plan.

Each product consists of different invoice items. These can be fixed costs with a fixed price and variable costs that depend on consumption (e.g. gas, heating, water...). The sum of all invoice items is the total amount on the invoice. Grouping invoice items into a product for a certain type of contract makes the work easier, because a product can be used for multiple contracts that follow a certain billing plan.

Within your products you can easily update prices and rates, per year or for a specific period within a year. When you adjust a product, all contracts in which it is used are automatically updated and the new prices are automatically applied to them. There is no need to update each contract separately.

When creating an invoice item you can choose from 4 invoice calculation types:

The invoice item is calculated based on a certain consumption of a service (measurements) delivered during the billing period.

It is possible to create custom properties for the following entities:

The property types are defined in Configuration > Custom entity properties. They are added to an entity on the detail page of that entity.

Possible data types that can be selected are text, number, decimal number, yes/no and date.

Two use cases are described below:

When exporting data from the list pages of these entities (customer, service location, meter, property group, contract), any custom properties are exported to the Excel file. Each property appears in a separate column.

The invoice item is a fixed price and does not depend on consumption or parameters. For example a rental price or a fixed subscription fee.

When adding rates for an invoice item, you can choose different calculation types that determine how the rate is applied for the billing period of a product.

Note on tariff period versus invoice period: The tariff period is the full period over which the rate is set (e.g. one year). The invoice period is the interval between two consecutive invoices (e.g. quarterly). For the tier calculations in Volume and Tiered, the cumulative consumption over the entire tariff period is taken into account — not per invoice period separately.

In Zero Friction it is possible to use a self-defined formula to calculate the invoice item.

The user can use a fixed value (a number) in combination with arithmetic operators (/,+,-) and parentheses to create a formula. It is also possible to work with input variables* that you have defined in the configuration settings under Products.

These input variables can be used as cost components that are defined annually. This way you only need to update the input variables and not every formula that uses them individually.

A fixed price is used for the invoice item. This is a defined unit price for a specific period.

The price of the invoice item depends on the quantity. The higher the quantity, the lower the price will be, for example. You will define tiers (price brackets) for each quantity level. Zero Friction determines the applicable tier based on the cumulative consumption over the full tariff period, and applies the unit price of that tier to the total quantity.

Important: the tier is determined based on the total consumption over the entire tariff period — not per invoice period separately. If a customer is invoiced quarterly within an annual tariff period, for example, the consumption from all quarters is added together to determine the applicable tier.

For example:

Tier 1: 0-10 - Unit price: 50

Tier 2: 10-20 - Unit price: 40

When the cumulative consumption over the tariff period is 15, tier 2 is applied and the amount is calculated as 15 x 40 = 600.

The price of the invoice item depends on the quantity. The difference with Tiered is that a price is chosen that matches the quantity used. No multiplication takes place.

For example:

Tier 1: Quantity 10 - Unit price: 50

Tier 2: Quantity 20 - Unit price: 60

When the volume is 20, tier 2 is applied and the amount is 60. No multiplication.

The price of the billing item depends on the quantity, but different prices are used for each quantity reached for that defined price bracket.

Important: just like Volume, the tier is determined based on the cumulative consumption over the full tariff period, not per invoice period separately.

For example:

Tier 1: 0-10 - Unit price: 50

Tier 2: 10-20 - Unit price: 40

If the quantity consumed is 15, tier 1 is applied to the first 10 units. For the remaining units, tier 2 applies. The price of the billing item is (10 x 50) + (5 x 40) = 700

Zero Friction makes it possible to specify the periodicity of an invoice item on invoices. There are 5 options which are explained below:

Normal behaviour

The invoice item appears on every invoice and on the final note. It follows the regular billing cycle as defined in the contract.

Only upon move-in

The invoice item only appears on the first invoice that is drawn up after the move-in. After this, it will no longer appear on future invoices.

Only upon move-out

Only when the contract is terminated does the invoice item appear on the final note. On earlier invoices it is not shown as a billed item.

Fixed number of times

The invoice item only appears on a fixed number of invoices for a contract. This number is defined by the user. After this is reached, the item will no longer appear on an invoice thereafter.

Fixed duration

The invoice item is defined by a periodicity (day, month or year) and a number. If, for example, you define the periodicity as monthly and the number as 5, the billing item is only displayed on the first annual invoice for a period of 5 months. If the rate is an annual rate, it is recalculated to the equivalent of 5 months.

During product creation it is possible to override the default rate of invoice items by adjusting the rate at product level. Product-specific rates allow the user to use an existing invoice item and only change the price for that specific product, saving time. Rates specified at product level always take precedence over the default rates on the invoice item.

It is possible to set a start and end date for which an invoice item is active on a product. This way a period restriction of billing items is possible. For example: you want to add a certain invoice item to the invoices of that product for only three months. After these three months, this invoice item will no longer be billed on subsequent invoices.