How do I create a contract?
In billwerk, you have three different options for creating a contract:
Customers can signup via the hosted checkout page or your implemented checkout page. Instructions on how to use the hosted pages can be found here
You can create the contract using the REST API. Instructions can be found here
You can create the contract in the Web UI. This article contrains instructions on how to do this.
A contract requires an existing customer. A guide on how to create a new customer can be found here.
Navigate to the customer you want to add a contract to by going to the customers tab and clicking the desired customer's name.
Click "Add contract" in the customer details.
Now select all desired options in the "New contract" menu, all fields that are marked in red are mandatory.
Note
Note: Contract start options
(1) Start date in the past
You can also start the contract in the past via the start date. This can be useful, for example, if you have just started with billwerk and want to correctly map existing customers with their contracts. The "Billed Until" date can also be very helpful here. Here you can define until when a contract has already been billed and thus avoid that a claim is created again for this performance period.
Example: Today (03/06/2022) you retroactively create a contract for the customer with a start date of 03/15/2021 with an annual contract and annual billing. Since the customer has already been billed in an old system for the service period 03/15/2021 - 03/14/2022, you do not want the customer to be billed again for this period. Here it makes sense to set the "Billed to" date to 03/15/2022. Only on this date the next billing and thus the next period will take place.
(2) Start date in the future
You can set a start date that lies in the future. In this case, you will get notified, that the contract's start date also determines the shift within a period.
Example: If a monthly contract starts on Jan 8th, billing periods always start and end on the 8th of a month.
The checkbox Bill on contract start date will appear. Activate it, to send out the invoice on the same day as the start date of the contract.
The payment methods available here are "On Account", "ELV" and "Without Payment Data". All other payment types can only be entered by the customer. This can be done after the contract has been concluded via the hosted customer portal.
In addition, you can immediately book components, consumption components, discounts and additional invoice items into the contract, as well as fill in contract-related additional fields. Finally, click "Save" and the contract is successfully created.
You will now be forwarded to the customer's contract details and can view the newly created contract.
