This article explains how a bill agreement header controls the basic attributes of a bill agreement and how it groups the bill rate rules that define how a client is billed for time worked by an agency payee. Use it when you need to set up or review billing behaviour for job orders.
⚠ Important: The validity dates of a bill agreement cannot overlap with another agreement assigned to the same hierarchy level and hierarchy value, and the selected country on a saved agreement header cannot be changed.
Configure a Bill Agreement Header
When you create or edit a bill agreement header, you define the core characteristics of the agreement. Use the sections below to review and configure each field correctly.
Validity Dates
Enter the validity start date for the agreement.
Enter the validity end date, or leave it blank if the agreement should remain valid indefinitely.
Check that the validity period does not overlap with the validity period of any other agreement assigned to the same hierarchy level and hierarchy value.
Confirm that the validity period spans the entire length of any job order that will use this agreement.
📌 Note: An agreement is only applicable to a job order if the agreement’s validity period covers the full duration of that job order.
Hierarchy Level and Hierarchy Value
Select the hierarchy level that determines which level of the agreement hierarchy the agreement belongs to (for example, brand).
Select the hierarchy value, which is the actual object at that level (for example, the specific agency brand name the agreement applies to).
The hierarchy level and value together control which job orders can use the agreement.
Hierarchy Group
If hierarchy group functionality is enabled for the agreement’s country, optionally assign the agreement to a hierarchy group.
Use hierarchy groups as an additional, customisable category to refine how agreements are matched to job orders.
When the system matches bill agreements to a job order, it:
First searches the agreement hierarchy using hierarchy level + hierarchy value + hierarchy group.
If it does not find a match, it searches again using hierarchy level + hierarchy value only.
📌 Note: Assigning an agreement to a hierarchy group is optional. You can only assign a hierarchy group if hierarchy group functionality is enabled under Maintenance, then Hierarchy, then Country, then Hierarchy Group for the country the agreement header is assigned to. Hierarchy group labels can be configured there to match your local business terminology.
Status
Set the status of the agreement header to reflect whether the agreement is ready to be used.
The status controls whether Rates and Rules can apply the agreement:
Pending – The agreement is configured but not active. Rates and Rules do not apply it yet.
Released – The agreement is active. Rates and Rules can apply the agreement where applicable.
📌 Note: New agreements default to Pending. Change the status to Released only when the agreement has been configured and checked.
Country
Assign the agreement to a country within the country/brand/region/office hierarchy.
The country:
Determines which maintenance items, such as pay codes, are available to add to the agreement.
Ensures that only pay codes assigned to the same country (for example, Sweden) can be selected within the agreement.
📌 Note: The country in the agreement header is not the same as assigning the agreement to a country within the agreement hierarchy (which is managed via hierarchy level and hierarchy value).
⚠ Important: Once you save the agreement, you cannot change the selected country.
Bill Rate Type
Select the bill rate type to control how bill rates behave on job orders in Recruitment Manager.
You can choose:
Rate-based agreement – The agreement defines the bill rate, and this bill rate cannot be changed on the job order in Recruitment Manager.
Manual agreement – The agreement defines a default bill rate, which users can change manually on the job order in Recruitment Manager.
If the bill rate type is set to Manual, you can configure an option that:
Prevents users without the relevant security permission from reducing the bill rate below the default rate defined in the agreement.
Still allows those users to increase the bill rate to a value higher than the default rate.
Use Supplementary Rates for Oncosts
Decide whether to enable the Use Supplementary Rates for Oncosts option on the agreement header.
When this option is enabled:
Bill oncosts for pay items (created by interpretation against the pay agreement) can be calculated using the supplementary rates method.
The system uses the pay rate of the supplementary pay code in the oncost calculation, instead of the pay rate of the pay code that was actually paid.
The supplementary rates oncost calculation method is only used if all of the following conditions are met:
The Use Supplementary Rates for Oncost Calculation option is enabled for the oncost rate used in the calculation.
The pay code that was paid is linked to a supplementary pay code on the relevant timesheet end date.
The supplementary pay code exists in the rates matrix for the corresponding job order.
For more information about the supplementary rate oncost calculation method, see the Pay Code Maintenance configuration for your system.