Overview
When a coupon is assigned to an account, it takes affect immediately. Coupons cannot be assigned to an account to take affect on a future date. Alternatively, per your business case, you can apply a service credit to an account where you can define when it starts, the number of applications, etc.
Note: As coupons are assigned to accounts or to master plan instances and consumed during invoicing, by default, they are applied on a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) coupon assignment basis. To change this coupon order to First-In-First-Out (FIFO), you need to use the Coupon Application Order invoice setting.
You can apply a coupon to an account at any time during the account’s active lifecycle by following the steps in this article.
Assigning a Coupon
Getting Here: Click Accounts > search for an account > Payments & Credits > Coupons.
- Click Assign Coupon.
(Optional) If you want to check the details of any coupon assignments prior to making an assignment, in the Assign Coupon screen, click on the desired Coupon Code hyperlink.
Coupon details will appear for each discount rule which will also include a table at the bottom as shown below:
- Enter a valid coupon code name in the Coupon Code field and click Validate to ensure it is correct. When you click in the field, system "remembered" items will appear for selection in a drop-down format.
Note: If you are not certain what the coupon code is or what coupons are available, you can find valid coupons for assignment selection listed in Marketing > Coupons. Highlight them in the Coupons screen and copy and paste them in the Coupon Code field in the Assign Coupon screen.
- In the Coupon Details options, select the Reason Code, add CSR Comments or change the default Effective Date as desired. The coupon details such as Coupon Code, Status, and Start Date will appear as non-editable values as shown below. Any previous entries for coupon assignment are listed in the table at the bottom of the screen. To view coupon assignment details, click on the Coupon Code.
Note: For a reason code to be selectable in this screen, it must first be created via Finance > Reason Codes by personnel with privileges in Finance to create them. See Create a Reason Code.
Important Notes about Effective Dates:
- The Effective Date calendar field defaults to the current date (or client virtual date); however, you can set the effective date to be in the future.
- Effective Date field does not support a past date setting, but it will work with the plan retroactive date.
For example: You assign coupon with an effective date of 5/11. After coupon assignment, it is assigned to a plan with a retroactive date of 5/1. The coupon will be applied to the plan, and it will follow the retroactive date of the plan.
- If you wish to override a discount rule, click the Override Discount Rule Scope check box under Effective Date. The Rule Name and Scope drop-downs will appear.
Note: By default, this feature is only available for a Power CSR and above; however, an administrator can configure privileges to grant user access via Configuration > Security > Account Access > Coupons | Coupon Discount Rule Override.
In the Rule Name drop-down to choose from available discount rules. This selection will replace the current setting.
Note: For a discount rule to be available to select in the Rule Name drop-down, ensure that it has been added to the system. See Create a Discount Rule for details.
The Scope drop-down allows you to change the present scope of eligible charges to which the currently configured discount rule on an account or plan can be applied. Options include "All Charges"; "All Plan Charges, All Plans"; “All Plan Charges, Specified Plans”; “All Plans, Specified Service Charges”; “Specified Plans/Specified Charges”; "All Recurring Service Charges"; "All Usage Service Charges"; "All Activation Service Charges"; "All Item Charges"; and “Specified Item Charges”. Notice that you can add more Discount Rule overrides using the Add Discount Rule button.
If you select a Scope drop-down option that requires you to specify a plan or charges, a Browse hyperlink will appear to the right of the drop-down. For example, click it to choose from available plans in the Select Plan Catalog or Select Plan Instances dialog depending on the Scope option chosen.
Example Selections with Browse Hyperlink
If you choose the option for Select Catalog Plan dialog, for example, click on the check box next to the plans you wish to include and click Next: Services. In the Select Services dialog, ensure you choose at least one service from all of the selected plans and click Select. You must select at least one service in this example or the All Services check box to continue.
After selecting Scope options in these dialogs, plans will appear in a paginated data table at the bottom of the Coupon Assignment screen with View Services hyperlinks.
- Click Assign. The All Plans Coupon listing screen appears showing at the top left that the "coupon was successfully assigned to the Account". In this with tabular coupon entries, you can click on a coupon name hyperlink to access the Coupon Details screen.
The customer will receive the applicable credits on future invoices.
