Overview
Contracts in DeskDay help you manage customer billing agreements and define how services are charged. You can configure hourly rates, fixed fees, seat-based pricing, or prepaid service hours, and automate recurring billing based on your agreement.
DeskDay supports five types of contracts:
Fixed Fee: Charge a fixed amount for agreed services.
Seat-Based: Bill customers based on the number of seats or users.
Hourly: Charge for time spent on tickets, projects, and activities.
Prepaid Hours: Allocate a set number of service hours that customers pay for in advance.
Block Hours: Sell service time in predefined blocks and track usage against the available balance.
1. Create a Contract
Navigate to Billing → Contracts.
Click + Contract.
Select the customer and contract type.
Configure the contract details and billing preferences.
Click Save to create the contract.
General Settings
The following settings are available when configuring a contract.
Field | Description |
Contract start date | Select when the contract becomes effective. |
Contract ends in | Choose 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, or Custom. |
Set as default for | Set the contract as the default for Tickets, Projects, or Activities. |
When a contract is set as the default for a service type, it is automatically selected for applicable new work items.
Note: There may be some changes to the configuration options as part of the upcoming billing updates. These changes will be released along with the next version of the billing updates very soon.
2. Fixed Fee Contracts
A Fixed Fee contract lets you charge a predetermined amount for services, regardless of the time spent delivering them.
Configure Billing
Select Fixed Fee as the contract type.
Under Billing, add the required billing items.
Enter the item name, description, and amount.
Add more items if the contract includes multiple services.
The Contract Value is calculated from the total of all billing items.
Invoice Display
Choose how contract charges appear on customer invoices:
Show line items: Displays individual services and their charges.
Show contract name only: Displays a single line with the contract name and total value.
Recurring Invoice
Enable Recurring invoice and select a recurring invoice to include the contract charges in scheduled billing.
3. Seat-Based Contracts
Seat-Based contracts calculate charges based on the number of users, devices, or seats covered by an agreement.
Configure Billing
Select Seat-Based as the contract type.
Add the billing items.
Enter the item name and description.
Specify the quantity and rate per seat.
Add additional items if required.
The amount for each item is calculated as:
Amount = Quantity × Rate per seat
The total of all items determines the contract value.
You can also configure the invoice display and recurring invoice settings, as described for Fixed Fee contracts.
4. Hourly Contracts
Hourly contracts let you bill customers for time spent on tickets, projects, and activities.
Configure Billing Rates
Select Hourly as the contract type.
Choose the applicable service types: Ticket, Project, or Activity.
Configure the default hourly rate for each service type.
Set specific rates using Billing Roles and Work Types, if required.
Rates can be configured separately for:
Business Hours: Rates applied during regular business hours.
After Hours: Rates applied outside business hours, including optional rate multipliers.
Time Rounding
Select an interval for rounding billable time.
For example, with a 15-minute rounding interval, a 20-minute time entry is rounded up to 30 minutes.
Minimum Billable Time
Set a minimum billable duration for:
Each time entry
Each ticket
Each project
Each activity
These settings determine the minimum amount of time charged, even when the actual recorded time is shorter.
5. Prepaid Hours and Block Hours Contracts
Prepaid Hours and Block Hours contracts allow customers to purchase service time in advance.
Both contract types share the same configuration options. The main difference is how service time is priced and tracked.
Prepaid Hours: Customers purchase a specified number of hours at an hourly rate.
Block Hours: Customers purchase a specified number of blocks at a rate per block. Each block represents a configured number of minutes.
Configure Billing
Select Prepaid Hours or Block Hours as the contract type.
Enter the included hours or blocks.
Configure the hourly or block rate.
For Block Hours, specify the duration of each block.
Configure the reset period and usage settings.
Reset Period
Choose how the available balance is managed.
Periodic reset: The available hours or blocks are renewed at the configured interval, such as monthly.
Do not reset: The balance remains available until it is used or end date of contract, without periodic replenishment.
For periodic resets, you can enable Rollover to carry unused hours or blocks into the next period.
Threshold Alert
Set a usage threshold to receive an alert when the customer approaches their allocated limit.
For example, an 80% threshold triggers an alert when 80% of the available hours or blocks have been consumed.
Time Settings
You can also configure billing time rounding and minimum billable time for entries, tickets, projects, and activities.
6. Configure Billing Automation
Prepaid Hours and Block Hours contracts support automated billing when balances are renewed or exhausted.
Available options depend on the selected reset period.
For Periodic Reset Contracts
Recurring Invoice
Enable recurring invoicing and select an invoice schedule to bill the customer for their recurring allocation.
Overage Top-up
Enable Overage Top-up to generate additional charges when a configured usage limit is reached.
Configure:
Trigger condition
Additional hours or blocks
Invoice destination
Invoice handling preference
For Contracts Without a Reset Period
Auto Top-up
Enable Auto Top-up to replenish the available balance when the configured threshold or exhaustion condition is reached.
Choose how the resulting invoice should be handled.
Invoice Handling, if create new invoice is selected
For automatically generated top-up invoices, choose:
Save as draft: Keep the invoice for review before sending.
Send to customer: Automatically send the generated invoice.
Exhaustion Policy
When the customer runs out of available hours or blocks and no top-up is applied, choose how additional work should be handled.
Option | Description |
Switch to hourly | Charge additional time using a specified hourly rate. |
Continue unbilled | Continue recording work without additional charges. |
Pause work | Stop additional covered work when the balance is exhausted. |
When Switch to hourly is selected, configure the hourly rate and rounding interval.
7. Configure Ready-to-Bill Preferences
Ready-to-Bill preferences determine when time entries, products, and expenses become available for invoicing.
Time Entries
Available for Hourly, Prepaid Hours, and Block Hours contracts.
Option | Description |
Immediately | Make entries available as soon as they are recorded on ready to bill to generate invoices. |
After work item closed | Make entries available when the associated work item is closed. |
After timesheet approval | Make entries available after timesheet approval. |
Manually | Move entries to ready to bill manually from tickets. |
Products and Expenses
Option | Description |
Immediately | Make items available as soon as they are added. |
After work item closed | Make items available after the associated work item is closed. |
Manually | Move to ready to bill manually from tickets |
Do not bill | Exclude items from billing. |
Default Review Preference
For supported contract types, select the initial review status of billable time entries:
Pending review: Entries require review before invoicing.
Approved: Entries are marked as approved by default.
8. Manage Existing Contracts
Go to Billing → Contracts to view existing customer contracts.
You can:
Search for contracts.
Filter contracts by customer or contract type.
Switch between available list and card views.
Open a contract to view its details and configuration.
Update contract settings as needed.