Recurring Scheduling and Autopay Functionality

Overview

Recurring Scheduling functionality is currently in Beta testing! It is available for use, but in final stages of testing before making a public release announcement. Please inform us if you run into any issues.

 

You have the ability to set daily, weekly, monthly, or custom recurring orders. The first order will create a series of "projected orders" that deduct inventory for the length of the recurring series. These orders do NOT appear on your work calendar unless activated.  

 

Note: Recurring Scheduling functionality can be customized to meet your customer's needs, however, the "Autopay" functionality cannot be modified. We are working on adding this in a future release for customizable Recurring Billing with/without a scheduling component.

 

In this article: 

1. Projected and Activated Orders
2. Enabling Recurring Scheduling
3. Configuration: Recurring Schedule Profiles
4. Autopay Functionality
5. FAQ Scenarios

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Projected and Activated Orders

Projected orders must be activated in order to make changes, delivery/route, process payment, etc. A "Projected Order" is essentially a placeholder to inform you of upcoming recurring orders. Inventory IS deducted for any projected orders to give you a better idea of future availability on any given day. Cancelling these orders will return the inventory back into stock.

• Projected orders WILL deduct inventory to give you an accurate inventory count for the future.
• Orders must be activated to edit, pay, or route the order. Editing a single order will not affect any other projected orders.
• You can tell an order is recurring from the page icon in the bottom right.
• There is a slight color difference on both the Delivery and Pickup between activated and projected order. 
• Once activated, the order will be assigned a new Order ID / Invoice Number. 
• On the projected order "1422-221214", the "1422" is the original/first order in the recurring series followed by the date of the projected order (Original Order ID - YYMMDD). 
• Invoices are NOT sent automatically. They should be manually billed, as needed. If auto-paid, a receipt will automatically be sent.
• If a recurring item and a non-recurring item are on the same order, only the recurring item will be on projected orders. This allows for tonnage, and other items, to be billed independently on each order.
• A projected series CANNOT be modified. It must be canceled and remade if there are any mistakes on the original order. Once an order is activated, it can be modified freely (like any other order), but it will not affect any projected orders in the future. 

 

Here is an example of an Active Order and a Projected Order:

 

When clicking "Activate Now", there will be a prompt to confirm the activation:

 

If there is a credit/debit card on file for your customer, you will be prompted to take a payment during the activation: 

 

 

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Enabling Recurring Scheduling

First, ensure that the setting in enabled on your account under Admin > Order Config > Misc Order Settings. Click the box next to "Recurring Scheduling Enabled" to activate this feature. 

 

Note: Additionally, there's a setting for "Autopay for Recurring Scheduling". If selected, payment will be processed automatically on the same day of the order. When "activating" a projected recurring order, you will be also prompted to pay it at the time of activation. The time/date of the automatic payment cannot be modified, and it either applies to ALL orders (if enabled) or NONE (if disabled). Regardless of this setting, you will be prompted to pay each time when activating a projected order. 

 

 

 

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Configuration: Recurring Schedule Profiles

All items in the system use a "Schedule Profile" that determines how the item is rented, what pricing applies, and if there are any special availability rules. It is NOT recommended to change any of the existing schedule profiles in the system unless you are familiar with software and settings. We recommend using Alternate Schedule Profiles to add-on to existing system inventory configuration.

 

Click here more information about Schedule Profiles.

 

Recurring functionality is determined within a Schedule Profile under Admin > Products > Schedule Profiles by the Billing Schedule and Duration fields:

 

The options for "Billing Schedule" are:

1. Monthly
2. Weekly
3. Yearly
4. Multi-day (Example below) - Allows individual or multiple day selection

 

The "Duration" field sets the number of occurrences, or number or orders, to project into the future. Examples:

• A Duration of "12" with a "Monthly" Schedule will project orders a year into the future from the start date.
  • The first order is the series is counted as number "1".  
  • A monthly profile started on 2/15/22, with a duration of 12, would have the final order on 1/15/22.
• Complex Example: If I wanted to bill every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, every week, for a year; that would be 3 Days X 52 Weeks = 156 occurrences (Duration).

 

 

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Autopay Functionality

The "Autopay Functionality" with Recurring Scheduling is ALL or NOTHING. If enabled, all projected orders will activate and are paid on the date of the order.

 

Important Notes:

• The payment date and time cannot be changed, however, you can manually activate the order, which will prompt you for payment. 
• If you activate a projected order, and do not pay it at the time of activation, then the order will remain unpaid and the autopay is disabled.
• Only the original balance of the first order in the projected series will be charged, even if the balance of future orders change.
• Autopayment occurs in the early morning of the order. 
• If an order is automatically paid, it will automatically send a receipt to the customer.

 

 

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FAQ Scenarios

1. What happens if I place a monthly order on January 31st when certain months do not have 31 days. 

A. The order will continue to recur on the last day of the month and retain the original order length. 

 

2. What happens if I place a monthly order on February 28th when other months have 30 or 31 days. 

A. The order will recur on the 28th of every month and retain the original order length. If this was a 4-day order, the first order in the series would be 2/28 - 3/3. The following month would be 3/28 - 3/31. The next month would be 4/28 - 5/1. On a leap year, the order will schedule from 2/28 - 3/2.

 

3. If I place a weekly order for more than a week, what happens? 

The order will schedule like normal but it will never overlap. The original order must end and the projected order will occur on the next available date of scheduling (based on the recurring profile).