Revision as of 16:31, 11 May 2011

Configurable Options on products allow you to give your clients variables which alter the price of that product. Addons let you offer additional items which the client has a yes/no choice over and are billed seperately from the product. In this article, we will look at when you would use them and how.

When should I use configurable options instead of addons?

• If you want to offer a choice of options for a single thing - for example Disk Space, Operating System, Locations, etc...
• If you want the total amount to be billed as a single item and not seperately
• When you want the billing cycle of the addon to match the billing cycle of the product

When should I use addons instead of configurable options?

• If the item is a one off service
• If it can be selected independantly of other items
• If it should be billed on it's own cycle - eg. a dedicated IP might be billed annually regardless of the package cycle

Configurable Options

• Configurable options are defined in groups
• Groups of options can then be applied to one or more products

Setting up a New Group

1. Go to Setup > Configurable Options > Create a New Group
2. Enter a name & description (used for admin reference only) and choose the products it applies to (you can do this later aswell)
3. Then click Save Changes
4. The page will reload showing the group details and allowing you to move on to managing options

Managing Options

1. Go to Setup > Configurable Options and click the edit icon next to the option group you want to modify
2. At the top of the page you can edit the name, description and assigned products
3. To add a new one, click Add New Configurable Option
4. A popup will open and ask you to enter an option name and choose a type. The type can be one of 4 things:
   • Dropdown - this will show a dropdown of options on the order form
   • Radio - this will show a radio button selection of options on the order form
   • Yes/No - this will show a checkbox on the order form allowing the option to be turned on or off
   • Quantity - this will show an input field on the order form allowing the user to enter the number of the item they want
5. Next, enter the first sub-option value you want to offer for this option (pricing is set after saving)
6. Then click Save Changes
7. The page will refresh with the sub-option showing pricing fields where you can then enter prices - you should enter pricing for all the cycles that the product has enabled
8. If for the option type, you chose Yes/No or Quantity then only one sub-option is necessary
9. For Dropdown or Radio types, to add another sub-option, again use the Add Option field at the bottom of the page
10. After every addition, hit Save Changes to reload and set the new sub-options pricing
11. Once you have completed configuring your options, click Close Window
12. This will refresh the underlying page to show the option you just setup
13. Once you have more than one option setup in the group, you can use the Sort Order column to define the order the options should show in (just like with products)
14. Once you are entirely finished, click Back to Groups List to complete the process

Hiding Options

• Hiding is useful for when you want to remove an option from the order forms that you no longer offer to new signups, but don't want to lose the selections for existing customers
• You can hide entire configurable options or just individual sub-options.
• This can be done in the managing options screen detailed above by ticking the Hidden/Hide box for an option you want to disable
• Important Note: Once hidden, they remain visible to admin users to allow you to view them for existing customers and so when viewing clients or the order forms while authed as an admin you will still see the hidden options.

Product Addons

Creating a New Addon

1. Begin by going to Setup > Product Addons > Add New
2. Enter a Name and Description, then choose the Billing Cycle to bill for
3. Enter the prices next for each of your activated currencies - setup fees to be charged at the initial time of order only and recurring amounts to be charged every cycle
4. Tick the Tax Addon box if tax rules should be applied to this addon
5. Tick Show on Order if you want the addon to be displayed during the initial order process. Leaving it unchecked means clients can choose to order it later from the client area only.
6. Tick Auto Activate on Payment if you want to automatically activate the addon as soon as the order is paid for
7. Ticking Suspend Parent Product will cause the parent product to which the addon belongs to be suspended should it become overdue on payment per your automation settings.
8. Choose a Welcome Email if you want to send an email notification relating to the new addon when activated
9. Addon Weighting – By default addons are listed on the order form alphabetically (set addon weighting value to 0), this display order can be customised by entering a weighting for each addon. A value of 1 would mean the addon was displayed at the top of the list, an addon with a weighting of 2 displayed beneath it and so on...
10. Finally, choose the products the addon applies to and can be ordered for and then hit Save Changes

Managing Addons

• To manage existing addons, go to Setup > Product Addons
• From here you can view, edit and delete existing addons
• You will not be able to delete an addon if it is in use by customers
• Modifying addons gives you exactly the same layout and options as adding a new one

Assigning Addons to Customers

• In addition to clients being able to order addons from the client area, admins can issue addons to customers
• Refer to Products Management#Addons for details