Create New Contract: Retainer/Flat Fee

This article explains how to create a standard Retainer/Flat Fee contract. This is the most popular contract type, and is used to charge customers a flat periodic rate that includes a predefined set of support services. The customer will pay in advance, or on an agreed-upon billing schedule.

To create a Retainer/Flat Fee contract:

1. From Admin, on the left-hand panel, click Contracts.

The Contracts page appears. 

2. Click New contract.

The New Contract page appears. 

3. Fill in the contract header details:

• Add the customer.
• Give your contract a name.
• Select the start and end dates.
  Note: Atera will automatically calculate today's date + three years ahead.
• Set the contract as Active if you'd like to enable the contract (optional). 
• Set the contract as Default if you'd like this contract to be your default for this customer (optional).
• Set the contract as Taxable if you'd like tax to automatically be added to the contract (optional). Select the tax from the dropdown menu (or create a new one).

4. Under Contract Type, choose Retainer/Flat Fee.

5. Enter the Quantity.

• For a retainer, the quantity should be typically left at 1.
• For a flat fee (e.g., Office 365), the quantity should represent the number of mailboxes.

6. Select the Billing Period.

7. Select the Rate.

• For a retainer, the rate will typically be the monthly recurring retainer.
• For a flat fee (e.g., Office 365), the rate can be the price per mailbox.

8. Select the Service Level Agreement (SLA) Plan.

9. Enter any Notes as required.

10. Click Save.

Nice! New Retainer/Flat Fee contract created.

Here's an example using Office365 email:

• A customer purchased 10 x Office 365 mailboxes for $15 each per month.
• We need to charge the customer a flat monthly fee for 10 mailboxes (10 x $15 = $150). 

Option number 1

• Use a quantity of 10 with a rate of $15

Option number 2

• Use a quantity of 1 with the rate of $150

(option 1 is recommended, use this rate as a generic rate.)