How plans issue charges

Explains the rules behind plans so you know who gets a charge when, and why, when a plan is created, when someone joins the group, and every period.

A plan can be for one or several groups, and a plan that people pick themselves can also be for the whole school. A person who is in several of the plan's groups is billed once. Who is on the plan depends on your choice when creating it: everyone in the chosen groups, only hand-picked people, or nobody to begin with (when people pick the plan themselves), and whether people who join later are added automatically. Each person pays the base price or their standing discount. A person's charge is tied to the first of the plan's groups that they attend.

One-off plans. On creation everyone already on the plan gets a charge named after the plan with the chosen due date. Anyone who joins the plan later (added by you, through the group, or because they picked it themselves) gets a charge straight away, due on the plan's date if it hasn't passed, otherwise today. If the plan started with nobody and has no charges yet, the charge is due on the day they join. A person who already has an unpaid charge from the plan doesn't get a second one.

Recurring and pack plans. A pack is billed by period exactly like a recurring plan: the same interval, due day and end. The difference is that a paid period's charge grants credits that last until the next period is due (see the packs article). Periods follow the interval, every N days, weeks or months. On a monthly plan the due date is the chosen day of the period (for example the 5th). A monthly plan starts on the first of the current month, or on the first of next month if this month's due day has passed. With a day or week interval the charge is due on the period's first day. A period's charge is issued automatically once its due date is 10 days away or less; its description is "plan name, period". If Ends (optional) is set, periods after that date aren't billed.

No proration. A member who joins mid-period owes the whole period. Periods that ended before they joined aren't billed. A new member gets the current period's charge straight away, due on the period's due date, or today if that has passed.

Disabled and archived plans issue no new charges in any of these ways.

Price changes. When you change the base price or a member's discount, every still-unpaid charge from the plan is recalculated at the new price. Paid charges don't change.