Credits and billing
Planning a year's consumption
Count actions, not suppliers or users, and anticipate the three peaks.
Estimates nearly always fail for the same reason: they are calculated per supplier or per user, and consumption does not work that way. It follows executed actions, and those cluster at specific moments of the year.
How to count
- 1
Count the recurring actions in a normal month
Onboardings, signature sends, documents uploaded and read. That is your floor.
- 2
Multiply by twelve
That is the bulk and it tends to be fairly stable.
- 3
Add the peaks separately
That is what throws everyone's estimate off.
The three peaks almost everyone has
| Peak | When | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|
| Annual supplier renewal | Usually January or the start of your year | One send per supplier, plus reminders |
| Season or peak trading | By sector | Staff onboarding in a few weeks |
| Mass send to all staff | Agreement changes, amendments | One send, even to three hundred |
Important
The third is the most overestimated and it works in your favour: a bulk send counts as **one** action, not one per recipient. If you are budgeting the annual amendment for three hundred employees as three hundred send credits, the real figure is much lower.
Watch out
The most underestimated is the second. Sixty onboardings in one week of season consume more than three normal months, because each onboarding is several actions: creating, sending, uploading and reading documents.
What to review mid-year
Worth knowing
Buying for a whole year at once only makes sense if the licence covers that period: credits do not expire with time, but they cannot be spent if the licence lapses.
›Can I adjust mid-year?
Yes, topping up is immediate.
›Is it worth buying extra?
Enough not to stop mid-batch; beyond that it adds nothing.
›Can I see consumption per process?
Yes, and it is what explains the peaks.
A real case
The situation
A company budgets the year by multiplying its supplier count.
What you do
- Counts actions in a normal month and adds the three peaks separately
- Checks that a bulk send counts as one action
What you get
The figure drops substantially and the budget stops being oversized by mid-year.
The situation
The year is estimated from a quiet month's consumption.
What you do
- Separates the peak month from a normal one
What you get
The forecast holds for the year.
The situation
Expected growth is not accounted for.
What you do
- Adds the growth assumption
What you get
The estimate does not fall short mid-year.
The situation
Planning happens without knowing what each process consumes.
What you do
- Checks consumption by activity type
What you get
The forecast rests on your own data.
The situation
A new process is introduced without estimating its consumption.
What you do
- Estimates before rolling it out
What you get
The impact is known beforehand.
The situation
Management asks for an annual figure.
What you do
- Brings the per-activity calculation and the assumption
What you get
The figure is explicable.
This article answers
- budgeting annual consumption
- how many credits will i need per year
- planning platform spend
- estimating credit usage