Bill by device type and seat

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A client rarely pays one price for every device. This page shows how to bill servers and workstations at different rates on one agreement, how to add charges such as backup on top, and how to bill per person with a number of devices included. You finish with an agreement whose lines each count exactly the devices or people you mean.

Before you begin

You have an agreement to edit. See Client agreements.
Editing lines needs psa:write.
Server roles, custom tags, device groups, and sites come from the client’s endpoints. Set them up first if a line needs to match on them. See Server roles and Organize endpoints with sites, device groups, and tags.

How counted lines work

Three line kinds count something when the invoice is drafted:

Kind	Counts
Per device	The client’s live devices that match the line’s device filter.
Per user	The active people on the client’s end users list.
Per seat	The same people, with a number of devices included per person and an overage price for devices beyond them.

Per device and Per seat lines take a device filter. A line with no filter counts every live computer, which is how a per device line counted before device filters existed.

Lines are checked from the top. An Exclusive line keeps the devices it matches, so a lower line never bills them again. A line that is not exclusive counts every device its filter matches, whatever the lines above it took. Use that for an add-on such as backup that bills on top of the main line.

You want	Set up
Servers at one price, workstations at another	Two Per device lines, both Exclusive: the first filtered to Servers only, the second to Workstations only.
Backup on every server, on top of the server line	A third Per device line filtered to Servers only, with Exclusive off.
A price for one site	A Per device line filtered to that Site, above the general line, with Exclusive on.
Per-person pricing with two devices each	One Per seat line with Devices included per seat set to `2`.

New lines start with Exclusive on. Lines saved before device filters existed keep Exclusive off, so two such lines still each count the whole fleet, as they did before.

Set a line’s device filter

Open the agreement: in the client’s workspace, select Client billing > Agreements, then the agreement.
Under Lines, find the Per device or Per seat line. Its Devices row reads the filter as a sentence, such as Every live computer.
Select Choose devices.

Narrow the line. A device must match every group you narrow, and any one of the boxes ticked within a group. A group with nothing ticked matches everything.

Group	Choices
Server or workstation	Both, Servers only, or Workstations only
Device class	Computers, Phones and tablets, TVs. Nothing ticked counts computers only.
Operating system	Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, iOS and iPadOS, Android
Server role	The built-in server roles
Custom tag	The client’s custom tags
Device group	The client’s device groups
Site	The client’s sites

Check the sentence beside Devices. It is what the line bills, for example Windows servers at Main Office.
Turn Exclusive on or off. See How counted lines work.
Use the line order to decide which exclusive line takes a device first. Put the narrowest line at the top.
Select Save.

To remove a filter, select Clear the filter. The line then counts every live computer.

Bill per seat

A Per seat line bills each active person on the client’s end users list at the line’s unit amount. Each seat brings a number of included devices into a pool shared by the whole client: with two devices per seat, one person with three computers and one with none fit the allowance. Devices beyond the pool bill at the overage price, as their own invoice line.

Under Lines, select Add a line and choose Per seat as the kind.
Enter the Description and the Unit amount, the price per person.
In Devices included per seat, enter how many devices each seat covers.
In Overage price per device, enter the price of each device beyond the pool. Zero bills nothing past the pool.
To bill only people who use a device, turn on Bill a seat only for a person with a live device.
Optionally, select Choose devices to decide which devices count toward the pool, such as computers only.
Select Save.

The overage is measured at the snapshot count only. A seat line’s usage method applies to the seat count. See Bill seat and device changes.

Agreement templates

Templates carry the same counting settings. A template’s device filter offers Server or workstation, Device class, Operating system, and Server role only. Sites, device groups, and custom tags belong to one client, so you narrow by them on each agreement made from the template. See Billing catalog.

Verify

Open the Next bill card under the saved agreement. See Check a client’s next bill.

Each counted line shows the devices or people it counted. Select Show on the line to list them.
When a device matches no line, the card says 1 device is not billed by any line, or how many, and Show them lists them. Widen a filter or add a line if they should be billed.

Next steps

Content is licensed CC BY 4.0. Code samples are MIT. Outpost and the Outpost mark are trademarks of Outpost Business Solutions, PBC and are not covered by either license.