Introduction
This guide is designed to give you the required settings for a membership that is a weekly or fortnightly debit with a fixed billing date.
The settings are to have the following:
- Pro-rata charges, joining fee, and admin fee due on sign up date of the contract (note. global system settings may override this).
- No deposit taken.
- Credit Card or Direct Debit recurring fees.
- Unlimited club entry (for example selected settings can force a club member to only allow 3 visits per week).
- Charges have a due date on a fixed billing schedule. For example a weekly contract with a due date of Thursday for all membership fees, and if a member signs up/cancels the contract on a day other than their fixed billing date, it will generate a pro-rata charge.
Before you start
You will need to have access to the payment plan module, more information about this is in the overview guide here.
Feature description
To access payment plans, go to PGM->Sale->Payment plans.
This will bring up a list of all previous payment plans.
Adding - To add a new payment plan, press Add new payment plan on the top right hand corner of the screen.
Payment Plan details
When clicking Add new payment plan this will bring up the following screen with all of the payment plan settings. Editing the payment plan will produce a very similar screen.
Header
Name - Name of the payment plan.
Payment plans must have a unique name, this does not mean that the client portal has to have unique names, use displayed names to change the name.
Start date / End date - Set a start and end date for the payment plan for when it can be sold. This is useful for certain situations such as promotional payment plans or pre-sale plans for new clubs.
This will not modify the start date/end date of the contract
Minimum age - Set a minimum age to sign up for a new contract, if 0 then any age can register for this payment plan.
Max age - Set a maximum age to sign up for a new contract. if this is blank then any age can register for this payment plan.
A blocking note can be applied to the club member when they reach maximum age. Please contact support for more information.
Active - Set the payment plan to be active. If the payment plan is inactive then it cannot be sold.
If a member is connected to an inactive payment plan, they will still get debited, this only refers to selling this payment plan.
Plan type - Payment plan type settings. This setting controls both financial data processing through electronic payments, contract related reports, trials and other types of contract.
If you are unsure what plan type to use, have a look at a similar payment plan that has been set up and use that plan type.
Additional payment plan - As this is a main payment plan, leave this field unticked.
Fees
Payment plans will require fees to be added on. This area will describe how they are all used.
Do not edit prices after the contract has been sold, as this may affect contracts using this payment plan when they recalculate. To do a price increase on membership fees, please see the information below on how to do it.
Gross / Net - Depending on regulations set by country, this will be automatically set as gross (price including tax) or net (price excluding tax).
For all Australian and New Zealand Clients. This must be set as Gross.
Membership fee - Fee charged to the club member for their membership, this is charged per payment interval (set in periods).
Membership fee price calendar - Using this calendar will allow you to set future price changes for the membership fee. More information can be found here.
Joining fee - Set a joining fee for the club member to pay. The standard setting for due dates is on sign up date of the contract.
Administration fee - Set an administration fee for the club member to pay. The standard setting for due dates is on sign up date of the contract.
Please contact support if the due dates need to be changed to a different interval.
Freeze available - The tick box here allows the payment plan to be frozen.
The price is used when using a freeze type where setting "Fee from payment plan" is used. Alternate price will be set in PGM->Sale->Freeze Types.
Allowable debit - This is the maximum amount the club member will be in debt for when purchasing a product via cashless debit. The value must be negative.
Cashless debit is used when a club member is purchasing a product through the client portal, this includes booking a class / facility booking / personal training where a product is sold during the booking phase
Other values listed here, not commonly used in this payment plan:
- Deposit value - Leave this as 0.00.
- Penalty for unpaid installment - Leave at 0.00.
- Penalty charged after (days) - Leave as blank.
Payment methods
Select the payment methods allowed with this payment plan. This determines how the club member can pay for their contract.
Credit card - The club member will have their credit card added to PerfectGym and stored on the payment provider. This will allow regular debiting of the payment plan using the stored credit card.
If the payment plan is an upfront payment plan and requires payment before the contract start date, please use the setting Paid at the reception only.
Direct debit - The club member will have their direct debit/bank details added to PerfectGym. This will allow regular debiting of the payment plan using the stored direct debit details.
Other payment methods are not used in recurring direct debits.
- Paid at the reception - This will allow the club member to pay in the club, or online using a payment gate. This is recommended for upfront contracts.
- Invoice - Payment done via invoice, this is used in conjunction with the corporate payment plans and hybrid payment plans.
- Money transfer - Used in conjunction with the manual transfer module.
Periods
Set the period of the payment interval and commitment period of the contract, and when the club member can cancel their contract.
Payment interval - Select when the membership fee charge occurs on.
This needs to be set as Fortnight or Weekly, depending on the payment interval.
Commitment period - This is the total period of time the Contract has been signed for. This is determined by the start date and end date of the contract. A club member can have their commitment period overridden manually on their contract, or use contract discounts to override the interval.
To add additional values to Payment interval and commitment period, please follow the guide here.
Minimum cancellation period - Set a period (in months or days) for the earliest end date to be set when a club member cancels their contract.
Maximum cancellation period - Set a period (in months or days) for the latest end date to be set when a club member cancels their contract.
Minimum cancellation period after commitment date - Set a period (in months or days) for the earliest end date to be set when a club member cancels their contract, however when the contract is outside of the commitment period.
Do not use both months and days, only one or the other.
Settings
The settings area will control how the payment plan works.
Depending on the configuration, selected settings may not be visible on your site.
First payment on sign up date - This will force the first full membership fee to be included with the initial fees (administration fee, joining fee, and pro-rata fees). This is an optional setting to tick.
Automatically end contract after commitment period reached (payment interval name) - This will automatically add an end date to the contract when the club member signs up to a contract. This setting is designed for upfront payment contracts. This is an optional setting to tick.
Limit number of visits in a period - Leave this setting blank.
Limit the ability to choose a contract for the Club Member - Leave this setting blank.
The period after which you can renew contract - Leave this setting blank.
Payment interval occurs on contract start day (no pro rata) - This setting cannot be ticked. It will result in the membership fee recurring weekly or fortnightly from the start date of the contract.
Payment interval occurs on contract selected day - The payment interval uses a fixed start date set on the system which is set up in the payment plan type, this cannot be modified once a contract has started.
- For direct debit style contracts, this is known as 'fixed billing' in selected markets. A pro-rata charge will be applied where the contract start date does not fall on the payment interval date. All contracts created with this setting using the same payment plan type and payment interval will have their billing dates fall on the same days.
- For upfront style contracts, this setting is not recommended.
Contract end prorata - This will apply a pro-rata charge where the end date of the contract does not fall on the payment interval date.
This setting also controls the minimum commitment time period, if left unticked the minimum commitment period will be set to the end of the month the end date is located in, while having this ticked will calculate how many days/months between start date and end of commitment period.
Stop charging after min period - Leave this setting blank. It will prevent future charges from generating after the commitment period has passed.
Automatic renew - Leave this setting blank - Used in conjunction with setting Automatically end contract after commitment period reached. This will automatically create a new contract when the contract ends. In selected markets, this feature cannot be used due to regulations.
Can be renewed - Leave this setting blank - This will allow the club member to sign up to a new contract after ending this contract on the client portal. Only useful for upfront style contracts.
Paid all freeze - Leave this setting blank - This setting will prevent all freeze charges from being applied to the club members' contracts. It is recommended to control the pricing of freezes through PGM->Sale->Freeze Types.
Can pay for classes using contract - Leave this setting blank - This will add a transaction to the club members profile when they book a class. This is set up in PGM->Classes->Class categories (Contract payment) and PGM->Classes->Timetable (Cost). More information can be found here.
Prorata type - Select the type of pro-rata used when charging the club member. It is recommended to leave this as 'Default' (which is set as daily).
- Daily - This will charge the number of days between the contract start date and the following payment interval.
- Weekly - This will charge the pro-rata as weeks (rounded up) between the contract start date and the following payment interval.
- 100% membership fee - This will charge the total membership fee as pro-rata.
- Free - This will remove all pro-rata fees and not charge anything.
- Deposit - This will use the deposit as the pro-rata fees.
Default payment plan for employee - Leave this blank.
Agreement template - The agreement template is the membership agreement (contract) that is sent.
Template of rules - The template of rules is an additional non-editable pdf document which is sent with the agreement template (above).
Category - In selected reports, you can filter using payment plan category. This is set up in dictionaries, more information can be found here.
Transfer to club on contract start date - Leave this blank.
Visibility
During the set up of the payment plan, you can restrict which employee profile can sell this payment plan.
If Only for chosen roles is unticked, this will display the payment plan in all applications.
If Only for chosen roles is ticked, only the employee roles ticked will have this payment plan visible during the contract selection screen. This includes client portal when logging in as an employee.
Early termination fee
If you plan to charge your club members an early termination fee when they end their contract during the commitment period, then tick Is early termination fee charged.
Dynamic fee part - You can select how the charge is calculated when the cancellation happens.
- None – Fixed amount is charged on the club member, regardless of how much time is left on the contract.
- Remaining – Charge a percentage or fixed value of the remaining intervals in the commitment period.
- Past – Charge a percentage or fixed value of the intervals which were done in the commitment period.
- Lower of two – Charge a percentage or fixed value based on the lowest value of the remaining or past calculations (as above).
Value – Value of the calculation needed for Remaining/Past/Lower of two.
Fixed fee part – Fixed amount value, this will not get modified in the payment plan.
System permissions can be used to override an early termination fee when a club member is cancelling their contract.
Initial payment for online registration requirement
Initial payment is required during online registration - Payment is required at the time of contract generation for Client portal registrations only.
Selected payment providers may work differently here, please contact support if you do not know what your payment provider does with this setting.
- Credit card - Will automatically charge the credit card at the time of payment source creation.
- Direct debit - Will open a payment gate screen from your payment provider to request payment.
- Paid at reception - Will open a payment gate screen from your payment provider to request payment.
- Invoice - Function will not work with invoice.
- Money transfer - Function will not work with invoice.
Payment in advance summary (client portal) - - Leave this setting blank.
Contract payments due date settings
Payment in advance for contract - Leave this setting blank - This will set all payment's due dates within the commitment period to the sign up date. Used for upfront contracts.
Use advance due date schema policy for contract fees - Leave this setting blank - Please see this article for more information on how to use this feature.
Assigned clubs
In the drop down list, select which club has access to sell this payment plan.
Clicking Add to new clubs will automatically add this to any new club you set up.
Access rules and Contract extras [membership add-ons]
Access rules - Select the default access rule that this payment plan has. Access rules are set up in PGM->Sale->Access rules. A contract can only have one access rule attached to it. More information can be found here.
Employees can manually change access rules on a contract on the club member profile.
Contract extras [Membership add-ons] - Contract extras [membership add-ons] can provide additional benefits to the member such as access to group fitness classes or bringing a friend into the facilities. They are set up in PGM->Sale->Memberships->Contract extras. A contract can have multiple Contract extras [membership add-ons]. More information can be found here.
Employees cannot modify Contract extras [Membership add-ons] on individual contracts.
Available for
This is where the payment plan is available to be sold. Selected modules here may not be part of your package, please contact support for more information. The most common applications used are listed below.
-
Web - This is the PGM site.
- Europe - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.pl/Pgm/
- Australia/New Zealand - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.com.au/Pgm/
-
Client Portal 2 - This is the client portal site, for external use.
- Europe - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.pl/clientportal2/
- Australia/New Zealand - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.com.au/clientportal2/
-
Reception Tablet - This is the client portal site, for internal use.
- Europe - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.pl/clientportal2/?mode=tablet
- Australia/New Zealand - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.com.au/clientportal2/?mode=tablet
-
Kiosk - This is the client portal site, for the Kiosk only (only available if you have a kiosk on site).
- Europe - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.pl/clientportal2/?mode=kiosk
- Australia/New Zealand - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.com.au/clientportal2/?mode=kiosk
-
POSWeb - This is the Point of Sale (note: requires additional software, windows based only).
- Europe - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.pl/posweb
- Australia/New Zealand - https://YOUR-SITE-NAME.perfectgym.com.au/posweb (Note - AUS&NZ - Only used for upfront Contracts only)
- API - If you are using an API for online joining, ensure this is ticked.
Payment plan Upgrades
Payment plans upgrade can be used to allow the current payment plan to be upgraded to a different payment plan i.e. customer is on a one-week trial and can then upgrade to a paid membership.
Tags
This feature allows you to give a custom label (a tag) to any Payment plan displayed in the Client Portal and Kiosk applications. The tags are visible when browsing Payment plans in the Client Portal and Kiosk applications, in the upper-left corner of the tile representing the plan. Any payment plan with a tag will be displayed first.
To select a tag, click on one or more of the tags here. To set up a tag, please have a look at the following guide here.
It is recommended to only use a maximum of two tags per payment plan. From a marketing point of view, only use tags on a couple of plans as this is more effective when trying to sell a payment plan on the client portal.
Additional payment plans
This feature will allow you to assign additional payment plans to the main payment plan. The radio buttons allow you to do the following with each payment plan.
Unused: Will not be automatically added or suggested when creating a contract on this payment plan.
Available: In client portal, this will be used as a suggestion when doing an online sign up after selecting this payment plan. Example: Do you want to have unlimited classes at $10/fortnight?
Automatically Added: This will automatically add the additional payment plan to the main contract. Example: Contract has 2 Personal training sessions per month, this is the additional payment plan for that option.
Name and description for clients
This will allow you to change the displayed name of the payment plan to make it more marketable to the club member as well as provide more information about the offer.
If you are creating a new payment plan or using insert as new function, please skip this step, save the payment plan then create the name and description when editing the payment plan.
When pressing create plan description this will display a new window where you can enter the display name, short description, and long description. See below where they sit on the client portal.
Custom Attributes
Custom attributes will be displayed at the end of payment plans and are used for references within the system, API calls, or custom development.
If creating a new payment plan, please do not add any information to custom attributes as this will not save the data. Data will only be saved when the payment plan is already on the system and you are editing the plan.
The following custom setup is designed to display features on the client portal application for main contracts only. For more information, please have a look at the following guide here.