14.7. Add Fixed, Hourly, Usage, and Bucket Contract Lines with Reusable Presets

Contract lines are the billable parts of a contract — the actual rules that turn a signed agreement into invoiced revenue. A single contract can include more than one line, which lets your MSP model real agreements such as a fixed monthly base fee plus per-GB backup overage on top of it. This page covers how to choose the right billing model, build reusable contract line presets, configure each line type in depth, layer a bucket allowance on top of an Hourly or Usage line, and add finished lines to a client contract.

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Pick the right billing model

Every contract line uses one of three billing models. Pick the one that matches how you actually charge for the service.

Buckets are not a separate line type in Alga PSA. Instead, an Hourly or Usage line can carry a bucket overlay on a single service that defines the included amount and the overage rate. See Bucket overlay below.

Figure 1: A contract can combine multiple line types — for example, a Fixed monthly base fee paired with a Usage line for storage overage.

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Billing timing: advance vs. arrears

Billing timing controls when a line is invoiced relative to the service period it covers. In Alga PSA the Billing Timing field only appears on Fixed lines; Hourly and Usage lines always bill in arrears because the amount can only be calculated after the activity occurs.

• Advance — invoice at the start of the period. Use this when the client pays before or at the start of the service period. Common for managed services, platform fees, and per-seat agreements where the price is known up front.
• Arrears — invoice after the period closes. Use this when the amount depends on activity that happens during the period. Required for time, usage, and overage charges.

A typical MSP contract uses both at once:

• A Fixed monthly base fee billed in advance.
• A Usage or overage line billed in arrears after actual consumption is known.

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Example: GreenLeaf Dental Group flat-rate backup plan with storage overage

GreenLeaf Dental Group buys a managed backup plan that combines a predictable platform fee with metered overage:

• Managed Backup Platform Base Fee: $300.00 per month, billed in advance (Fixed line).
• Cloud Backup Storage Overage: 1,000 GB included, then $0.20 per GB, billed in arrears (Usage line with a bucket overlay on the storage service).

If GreenLeaf consumes 1,250 GB during the month, only the 250 GB of overage is billed:

The result is one easy-to-read invoice: a predictable base fee plus a clearly explained overage line.

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Contract Line Presets

Presets are reusable contract line templates. Build them once for the offerings you sell most often, and your team can drop them onto any client contract instead of rebuilding the same configuration by hand.

Navigate to Billing > Contracts > Contract Line Presets to manage the library.

Creating a preset

1. Click Add Contract Line Preset.
2. Enter the Contract Line Preset Name (e.g. "Managed Support - Gold").
3. Select a Billing Frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).
4. Choose a Billing Timing. Only enabled for Fixed; Hourly and Usage lines are locked to Arrears.
5. Pick a Billing Model: Fixed Fee, Hourly, or Usage-Based.
6. Configure the model-specific fields and add the services that belong to this line (see sections below).
7. Click Create Contract Line Preset.

Presets are independent of any specific contract. Editing a preset does not retroactively change contract lines that were created from it — it only affects future uses.

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Fixed Fee configuration

Used for flat recurring charges like managed services fees, platform fees, or retainers.

Line-level fields

• Contract Line Preset Name (required): Descriptive name (e.g. "Standard Managed Services Fee").
• Billing Frequency: How often this line is invoiced.
• Billing Timing:
  • Arrears — invoice after the period closes
  • Advance — invoice at the start of the period
• Recurring Base Rate (optional on the preset): The recurring charge amount. The preset value is a suggested default that can be overridden when the preset is added to a contract. On a real contract line this becomes a required Recurring Base Rate.
• Adjust for Partial Periods: Toggle on so the recurring fee scales to the covered portion of a service period when the contract starts or ends inside that period. When enabled, you also pick a Billing Cycle Alignment (Start of Billing Cycle, End of Billing Cycle, or Proportional Coverage).

Adding services and products to a Fixed line

1. Click Add Item in the Services & Products section.
2. Select a service or product from the catalog.
3. Set the Quantity (default 1).

For a Fixed line the contract line's Recurring Base Rate is what gets billed each period — it is not the sum of individual service rates. Service quantities on Fixed lines are used for tax allocation. Product quantities are billed as units.

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Hourly configuration

Used for labor billing based on approved time entries. Hourly lines always bill in arrears.

Line-level fields

• Contract Line Preset Name (required): Descriptive name (e.g. "Out-of-Scope Support Labor").
• Billing Frequency: How often hourly work is invoiced.
• Minimum Billable Time (minutes): The smallest increment billed. Time entries shorter than this are rounded up.
• Round Up To Nearest (minutes): Round time entries up to the nearest interval. Set to 0 or 1 to disable rounding.

Adding services to an Hourly line

1. Click Add Hourly Service in the services section.
2. Select a service from the catalog.
3. Set a per-service Hourly Rate.
4. Optionally enable Recommend bucket of hours to attach a bucket overlay to that service.
5. On a real contract line, you can also configure User Type Specific Rates that override the default hourly rate for technicians, engineers, project managers, and other roles.

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Usage-Based configuration

Used for quantity-driven billing such as monitored endpoints, storage, licenses, or transactions. Usage lines always bill in arrears.

Line-level fields

• Contract Line Preset Name (required): Descriptive name (e.g. "Endpoint Monitoring Per Device").
• Billing Frequency: How often usage is invoiced.

Adding services to a Usage line

1. Click Add Usage-Based Service.
2. Select a service from the catalog.
3. Set the Rate per Unit for this line.
4. Confirm or enter the Unit of Measure (e.g. GB, device, user, API call).
5. Optionally enable Recommend bucket of consumption to attach a bucket overlay.

Tiered pricing (per service)

Usage-based services support progressive pricing. The tiered toggle is per service, not per line, so one Usage line can mix tiered and flat-rate services.

1. On the service, turn on Enable Tiered Pricing for {service name}.
2. Add tiers with unit ranges and per-unit rates (for example, 0–100 at $5/unit, 101–500 at $4/unit, 501+ at $3/unit).
3. Optionally set a Minimum Usage value to enforce a billable floor each period.

When tiered pricing is on for a service, the tier table becomes the active pricing model for that service. The Default Rate per Unit is used only when tiered pricing is off.

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Bucket overlay

A bucket overlay can be added to an individual service inside an Hourly or Usage line. It defines an included allowance with overage billing once the allowance is exceeded. Buckets are stored per service, so a single Hourly line could carry two services with different bucket sizes side-by-side.

Bucket overlay fields

The overlay inherits the bucket period from the line's billing frequency, so there is no separate bucket-period selector in this workflow.

Example

A managed support contract includes 10 hours of support per month. Hours beyond 10 bill at $150/hour:

• Total Hours in Bucket: 10
• Overage Rate per Hour: $150
• Allow unused hours to roll over: Off

For a per-GB storage example, see the GreenLeaf Dental Group case at the top of this page.

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Adding contract lines to a contract

From the Contract Detail page, open the Contract Lines tab:

1. Click Add from Presets to drop in a preconfigured line, or Create Custom to build a one-off configuration.
2. Confirm or override the line settings — for Fixed lines, the Recurring Base Rate is required at this step even if the preset left it blank.
3. Add or adjust services on the line.
4. Save the line. Repeat for each billable part of the agreement.

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Editing and removing contract lines

• Click Edit on a contract line to change its settings, services, or rates.
• Click Delete to remove a contract line from the contract.

Edits affect future billing periods. Periods that have already been invoiced are not changed.

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Example MSP contract structures

Use these examples as starting points when designing contracts for real clients. Every example below maps to the line types covered on this page — Fixed, Hourly, and Usage, with an optional bucket overlay on Hourly or Usage lines for included quantities and overage rates.

Example 1 — Managed endpoint bundle

Scenario: A 35-seat professional services client buys a complete managed IT plan.

Best when you want a predictable monthly invoice and simple client communication. Pass-through licenses can be modeled as product-kind services on the Fixed line, or as a Usage line if the count varies. See 14.8. Pricing Schedules for pricing tiers and seat-count math.

Example 2 — Block-of-hours support bank

Scenario: A co-managed IT client prepays for 20 support hours per month and pays overage for extra work.

The bucket overlay lives on the Hourly line itself, so a single line covers both the included hours and the overage charge. You only add a second Hourly line if you want to bill a different category of work (for example, after-hours emergency labor) at a separate rate that should not draw down the bank. Approved time flows in from 14.14. Time Entry to Accounting Flow and is netted against the bucket during invoice generation.

Best when the client wants predictable support coverage but understands that excess labor is billable.

Example 3 — Backup storage with included allowance

This is the GreenLeaf Dental Group scenario described at the top of this page: a Fixed monthly base fee plus a Usage line with a bucket overlay for backup storage, billed at $0.20/GB beyond a 1,000 GB included allowance. See the worked example near the start of this doc for the full setup and per-period math. Usage is recorded through 14.15. Usage Tracking before invoices are generated in 14.12. Generating Invoices.

Example 4 — Security event ingestion

Scenario: A client buys managed SIEM or MDR services where log volume varies each month.

Best when operating cost changes with volume and you want invoice transparency. The bucket overlay handles the "included up to X, then per-unit overage" pattern in a single Usage line.

Example 5 — Project retainer with billable extras

Scenario: A client retains your team for a cloud migration or compliance project but expects overage for out-of-scope work.

Best when the contract has predictable recurring project management plus variable engineering effort.

Choosing the structure

Ask these questions before creating the contract:

1. Is the charge predictable every period? Use a Fixed line.
2. Does the amount depend on approved labor? Use an Hourly line.
3. Does the amount depend on measured consumption? Use a Usage line.
4. Does the customer get an included allowance with overage above it? Add a bucket overlay to the Hourly or Usage line; configure included quantity, overage rate, and rollover.
5. Are you reselling licenses or hardware? Use product-kind services on a Fixed line, or a Usage line if the quantity varies.
6. Should the client see one combined invoice? Put related lines in the same invoice window and cadence where possible.

For most MSPs, the most common contract pattern is a Fixed monthly managed services line plus one or more variable lines for time, usage, licenses, or overage.

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Related topics

• 14.3. Service Catalog — define the services Hourly, Usage, and Fixed lines pull from.
• 14.6. Creating Client Contracts — where contract lines live.
• 14.8. Pricing Schedules — apply per-client pricing on top of contract lines.
• 14.12. Generating Invoices — how Billing Timing turns into actual invoices.
• 14.15. Usage Tracking — how measured consumption flows into Usage lines and bucket overlays.