You can configure Ayora to match your organisation’s structure and pricing approach.
Configurable parameters include:
- Clients
- Fee earner grades
- Fee earner charge-out rates by grade and practice group
- Standard rates
- Exception rates linked to clients
- Fee earner cost rates by grade and practice group
- Taxonomy: work types
- Taxonomy: work streams
- Fee menus (fee scales)
- Fixed fee scope items (fixed fee quote components)
Rates (standard and client)
The Rates area lets you define the charge-out and cost rates used when building quotes.
- Open the Quote Builder admin area.
- Select Rates from the top ribbon menu.
You will see rate types for:
- Standard rates (live)
- Client rates (live)
- Matter rates (in development)
Standard rates
Standard rates are organised around your organisational structure.
- Start from a department.
- Within a department, select a practice area.
For each practice area, define:
- A standard charge rate by fee earner grade
- A standard cost rate by fee earner grade
- One or more currencies (if you quote in multiple currencies)
- Effective dates
Effective dates control when rates are included in quotes.
Client rates
Client rates are organised by client group.
- Select a client group.
- Review the client entities within that group.
- For each client entity, attach one or more rate cards.
Creating a new rate card
- In Client rates, click New rate card (top-right).
- Add metadata for the rate card.
- Set the scope:
- Apply the rate card to an entire client group, or to a specific client within that group.
- Assign the rate card to a specific practice area, or apply it globally.
- Choose the currency.
- After saving the initial setup, create rates grade-by-grade.
Fee Menus (admin configuration)
Fee Menus are configured in the admin console.
Configuration requires specifying:
- Practice area
- Work type
- Specific client group
- Fee Menu name
Features (such as transaction value) can act as anchors for certain fees and can reference values like number of documents.
A preview appears on the right side of the screen to test the Fee Menu as it’s being built.
Available Fee Menu components
- Simple fixed fees
- Featured tiered component
- Can be progressive.
- Behaviours can include:
- a fixed price at a given input value,
- an ad-valorem price at a given input value,
- a rejection (quote separately at this value),
- a cap (time-based pricing subject to a cap).
- Selection fields
- Direct input fields
- Unit pricing
- Assumptions/behaviours
- Overall discount
Fixed fee scope items (admin configuration)
Fixed fee scope items allow specific scope items to be priced on a fixed-fee basis, instead of time and materials.
Use fixed fee scope items when you want part of a quote to be fixed-fee, while the rest of the quote remains time and materials.
How fixed fee scope items work
- You define a fixed scope item (the scope item it applies to, plus one or more fixed-fee options).
- You define one or more conditions, each with options that an end user can select.
- You link a fixed-fee option to one or more condition options.
- During quote building, if the selected options match the linked conditions, the assistant can offer the fixed-fee scope item option.
Before you start
Create the conditions first. You will need them when you define fixed-fee options.
Creating conditions
- Open the Cloud Builder admin area.
- Navigate to Fixed fee scope items.
- Create a new Condition.
Name the condition.
- Example: Due diligence
- Add one or more options (these are what end users will select).
- Example options: Red flags, Full report
Repeat as needed. You can create multiple conditions.
Creating fixed-fee scope items
- In Fixed fee scope items, create a new Scope item.
- Name the fixed-fee scope item.
Associate it with the correct:
- Practice area
- Work type
- Work stream
- Create one or more fixed-fee options for this scope item.
- Example: Red flags with a specific amount
- Add assumptions for each fixed-fee option.
- Write these as natural language.
- These assumptions override any descriptions coming from templates.
- Associate the relevant conditions.
- Example: Link the Red flags fixed-fee option to the Red flags condition option.
- Allocate the default template resourcing profile for the scope item.
Glossary
- Pricing Agent: Chat-based interface that interprets inputs, finds relevant precedents and policies, and drafts quotes.
- Quote Builder: Non-agent interface for creating and editing quotes with full manual control.
- Pricing Frameworks: Pricing approaches used to structure a quote (for example Time & Materials, Fixed Fees, Success Fees with Break Fee).
- Work streams: High-level phases that organise a quote.
- Scope items: Individual components inside a work stream.
- Fee Menus: Pre-configured fixed-fee scales that drive a question-based quoting flow.
- Precedent: A historic matter or quote used as a reference point for fees and resourcing.
- Template: A reusable quote structure for repeatable matters.
- Realisation: Expected proportion of billed value that is recovered.
- Charge-out rate: Headline rate for a timekeeper grade.
- Effective charge-out rate: Adjusted rate after discounts and realisation assumptions.
- Resourcing profile: Allocation of work (and implied hours) across timekeeper grades.
- Person-hours: Calculated hours implied by fee ranges and rates.
- Margin / profit score: Measure of profitability given fees, resourcing, and cost rates.
- Assistant: Feature that helps address bugs and circularities by keeping totals and line items consistent.
- AFA: Alternative fee arrangement (a non-Time & Materials pricing structure).