Skip to main content

Rate Structures and Rate Codes Overview

Paige Freeman
  • Updated

To access rate structures and codes, you must have access to the Order.RateStructures application security.

Rate Structures

Rate structures are used at the highest level of pricing logic to determine pricing for the customer based on who the customer is.  Example rate structures include member, non-member, associate, institution, library, etc. Pricing for individual products is defined by combining rate structure, rate code, and currency (as well as effective date).  

Generally, there is a small set of customer attributes used to determine the rate structure for which a customer qualifies based either on the customer, the customer’s employer, or parent company. Organizations can also choose whether pricing rules should be determined based on the bill-to customer or the ship-to customer of the order. Customer attributes considered in rate-structure qualification include:

  • Customer Class and Status
    • The customer class and/or status of the customer
    • The customer class and/or status of the customer’s parent company
  • Membership
    • The membership of the customer
    • The membership of a customer’s employer
    • The membership of the customer’s parent company with the optional ability to provide “member benefits” to all employees of all subsidiaries
    • Registered associates of a member (so that benefits are only given to associates, rather than to all members)
  • Whether the customer belongs to a purchasing group
  • Whether the customer is a donor
  • Whether the customer is an exhibitor
  • Whether the customer is an advertiser

A rate structure can be defined for a single customer, as well, to handle specific situations where the organization has a special business relationship with a partner or affiliated organization.

Customer-specific rate structures override all other rules. If specific rate structure been assigned to a customer, then that is the rate structure that will be assigned, regardless of the priority sort order of other rate structures. If specific rate structure been assigned to the customer’s parent and if no specific rate structure has been assigned for the customer, then that is the rate structure that will be assigned, regardless of the priority sort order of other rate structures. Thereafter, rate structures are assigned based on the priority sort order of the rate structure.

Rate structure definitions also control whether a member-only product can be purchased by the customer. When a product is marked as member-only, only customers who qualify for a rate structure that has been defined for the product being purchased and is marked as Can Purchase Member Products can buy the product. Therefore, if the customer only qualifies for rate structures that aren't marked as Can Purchase Member Products, then that customer will not able to buy the member-only product. Additionally, if the customer qualifies for a rate structure that IS marked as Can Purchase Member Products, but that rate structure is NOT ALSO defined on the members-only product, then that customer will not be able to buy the members-only product.

For example, say you have the following rate structures set up and they are all marked as Can Purchase Member Products:

  • Student
  • Member
  • Associate
  • VIP
  • List

Additionally, you have a member-only product (XYZ Book) that has ONLY the following rate structures defined:

  • List
  • Member

In this case, customers who qualify for the VIP rate structure only will NOT be able to purchase the XYZ Book product because the VIP rate structure was NOT defined on the product. Also, customers who qualify for the Student rate structure would not be able to purchase XYZ Book unless they also qualified for the Member rate structure.

When the Order Entry system determines the rate structure to be assigned to the order, the system looks for all rate structure default records for which the bill-to or ship-to customer qualifies and then sorts them by the display sort order defined on the rate structure.

Rate structure definitions can reference memberships (by way of membership products) across organizational units as long as they are within the same organization. In this way, membership-based rate structures can be defined in any organizational unit with the organization, even when the membership is owned by another organization unit.

The Rate Structures page lets you enter and maintain rate structures for orders.

To access Rate Structures:

  1. From the left navigation, under the Orders menu, select Order Settings.
  2. The Order Settings page displays, as shown below.
  3. Select Rate Structures from the Order Settings page.
    The Rate Structures page displays, as shown below.
  4. From this page, you can define a new rate structure, as well as change the sort order of the rate structures.
    You can select either the Up or Down arrows on the Rate Structures page to change the sort order. The sort order of rate structures is important in that the system will search through these sequentially to determine which is the “best” structure to assign a customer when orders are created.
  5. Additionally, from the contextual menu, you can:
    1. View and edit structure mapping for a rate structure
    2. View and edit default rate codes for a rate structure
    3. Delete a rate structure

Rate Codes

The Default Rate Codes page lets you define the rate codes associated with the selected rate structure. Rate codes determine the length that the customer qualifies for the product. For example, for the Membership subsystem, the rate code determines the length of membership. Similarly, for the Advertising subsystem, the rate codes determine how long the advertisement will run. When new products are created, default rate codes can be automatically assigned if set up.

Sample Setup for Company-to-Employee Special Pricing

Trade Associations

If you would like to convey member pricing from a company to all employees, two structures must be created:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants member pricing to the company when an order is placed.
    If all products within a group grant the same member pricing, you do not need to specify a product – just the group.
  • Customer’s Parent Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants the company’s pricing to the employee or other individual.
    • From the Rate Structure detail page, set the Assign to Employees toggle to YES. Individuals with a primary employment relationship with a member company will receive this rate.
      Do not set the Limit to Associate Members toggle to YES. This will require employees to be specified on the company’s current membership order, in the associates list.

Either/or conditions must be set up in two separate structures, or neither the parent company nor the employee will receive the price for this rate structure. When multiple conditions are set up within a single structure, they must both be true. For example, if ‘National Membership’ is set up as the structure for both Customer and Customer’s Parent in a single structure, then this rate structure would only be granted for a customer that is its own parent – which is not possible.

If you would like to convey member pricing from a company to only specific individuals, two rules must be created from the Membership section of the rate structure:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants member pricing to the company when an order is placed.
  • Customer’s Parent Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants the company’s pricing to the employee or other individual.
    • From the Rate Structure detail page, set the Limit to Associate Members toggle to YES. Only individuals that are specified on a company’s current membership order will be granted the company’s pricing.
      If you would also like to limit the associate list to employees, then set the Assign to Employees toggle to YES. This will require that all individuals in the associates list also have a primary employment relationship with the member company to get its pricing.

If you would like to convey special pricing based on Customer Class, Status, or Purchasing Group to all employees or subsidiaries, two rules must be created from the Demographics section of the rate structure:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which Class, Status, and/or Purchasing Group the company should have. This is the structure that grants member pricing to the company when an order is placed.
    When more than one condition is defined within a single structure, both must be true for pricing to be granted. For instance, if Customer Class = Manufacturing and Purchasing Group = VIP, then a customer must be a Manufacturing company and a VIP to qualify. If you want to grant the price to either Manufacturing companies or VIPs, then create one structure for each.
  • Customer’s Parent Structure
    Specifies which Class, Status, and/or Purchasing Group the company should have. This is the structure that grants the company’s pricing to the employee or subsidiary.
    • Individuals with a primary employment relationship with a company that qualifies for this rate structure will automatically receive this rate.
    • If you would like to convey this rate to subsidiaries, set the Include Subsidiaries toggle to YES.

If you would like to convey special pricing from a specific customer to all employees or subsidiaries, two rules must be created from the Specific Customer section of the rate structure:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which company qualifies for this rate structure. This is the structure that grants member pricing to the company when an order is placed.
    Do not define a Customer and Customer’s Parent within a single structure, for both must be true for this rate structure to be granted. For instance, if Customer = ABC Corporation and Customer’s Parent = ABC Corporation, then the customer must be its own parent – which is not possible. If you wish to grant the price to several companies, then create a different structure for each.
  • Customer’s Parent Structure
    Specifies which Class, Status, and/or Purchasing Group the company should have. This is the structure that grants the company’s pricing to the employee or subsidiary.
    • Individuals with a primary employment relationship with a company that qualifies for this rate structure will automatically receive this rate.
    • If you would like to convey this rate to subsidiaries, set the Include Subsidiaries toggle to YES.  

If you would like to convey member pricing from a company to its subsidiaries, then two rules are necessary:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants member pricing to the parent company when an order is placed.
    Do not set the Include Subsidiaries toggle to YES. This only works in conjunction with a ‘Customer’s Parent’ structure.
  • Customer’s Parent Structure
    Specifies which membership the company should have. This is the structure that grants the company’s pricing to any subsidiary (child) company.
    • Set the Include Subsidiaries toggle to YES. Companies with a corporate subsidiary relationship with the qualifying company will receive that company’s rate.
      If you would like to grant member pricing to employees of a subsidiary, then you must also set the Assign to Employees and/or Limit to Associate Members toggles to YES. For more information on those flags, see other rules pertaining to employees.

If you do not want to convey a company’s pricing to any individual or subsidiary, only one rule is necessary:

  • Customer Structure
    Specifies which membership, demographics or customer ID the company should have.

Professional Societies

If you wish to extend special pricing from a company to its employees or subsidiaries, based on Customer Class, Status, Purchasing Group, or a specific customer ID, then follow the rules described for Trade Associations.

The ‘Customer’s Parent’ structure only pertains to organizations that sell corporate membership and wish to extend special pricing to employees and subsidiaries. This is typically only used by Trade Associations.