Payment milestones

IN THIS ARTICLE

Overview

Payment milestones provide a structured way to define when payments are expected throughout the lifecycle of a deal. These milestones adjust dynamically based on the deal's price and duration and can be visually represented as waterfall charts in proposals.

Key features:

• Milestones automatically adjust to changes in deal price and duration.
• Milestones are exported to proposals as clear, easy-to-understand waterfall charts.

Getting started

Payment milestones are located on the deal > overview tab.

1. Click Add milestones to open the milestone dialog window.
2. Choose a preset, or select Custom to create your own. Some presets cancan also be customised after selection.

Presets

Using a preset template is the quickest way to set up payment milestones. Estii offers dynamic templates for various common payment structures:

Split progress milestones

Split progress milestones distribute payments evenly across key progress points. Depending on the chosen template, you can customise:

• Start Date: Toggle between deal start or the first progress point.
• Milestone Name: Edit the name to reflect its purpose.
• Description: Optionally add details about deliverables and assumptions.
• Due Date and Amount: Click customise to adjust these settings.

Periodic milestones

Periodic milestones generate recurring payments based on the deal's duration. These can be set to:

• Fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly intervals.
• Dynamic Calculation: Default settings calculate the payment amount per period, adjusted for phase start and end dates.
• Fixed Intervals: Use a split template to divide the total deal price into equal instalments.

Note: Periodic milestones are fully dynamic, meaning their dates and amounts adjust automatically based on the deal's timeline. As a result, these milestones cannot be manually edited.

Custom milestones

Custom milestones offer advanced scheduling options based on various attributes.

Start with the 'custom' template for a comprehensive setup. You can add up to 8 custom milestones, each with unique dependencies, due dates, and amounts.

Customization options:

• Dependency: Link milestones to:
  • deal progress
  • phase progress
  • fixed dates (before, during or after the deal)
  • before deal start (days)
  • after deal end (days)
• Progress: Define as a percentage or a number of days, depending on the dependency
• Due date: Automatically calculated, unless tied to a fixed date.
• Percent: Set amount as a percentage of the total deal value.
• Amount: Specify a fixed amount or let it calculate automatically.
• Price: The final calculated price, including rounding (read-only).

Considerations:

• Out-of-order due dates can be reordered with a single click.
• Adjusting the amount for one milestone will update subsequent milestones to reflect the remaining value.
• If there’s no remaining value, percent and amount inputs will be disabled.
• Milestones with no value ($0) are hidden from charts when there are more than two milestones.

Milestone settings

Milestone settings include options for:

• Round up dates: Choose between day (default), start of the next week, or end of the current month.
• Round prices: Select rounding increments (nearest $100, $1K, $5K, or $10K).
• Payment terms: Add optional formatted text for inclusion in the proposal appendix.

Note: Some settings may be ignored under specific conditions:

• Round up dates are not applied to milestones scheduled for the deal start or fixed dates.
• Round price is ignored for the final milestone, which always reflects the remaining value.

Proposal templates

Overview (chart)

The proposal overview template includes the same waterfall chart as displayed in the deal.

Appendix (list)

The appendix template lists all milestones, including descriptions and any additional payment terms.

Export deal

When exporting a deal, any milestones will automatically be included:

• Deal overview: Contains a section summarising milestones.
• Payment milestones tab: Provides detailed information on each milestone.