Volume Trade Discounts

For firms using Volume Trade Discounts (VTDs), Brightflag can verify that agreed-upon discounts are applied correctly.

📌 Key Features of VTDs

✅ Discount Verification

• Brightflag does not apply the discount but ensures the firm has applied the correct VTD on their LEDES file or invoice PDF.

🔹 Steps to Configure Volume Trade Discounts (VTDs)

👤 Admins Only

1️⃣ Navigate to Vendor Management

📍 Go to: Menu > Vendors > Vendor Management
🔍 Use the search bar to locate the relevant vendor.

2️⃣ Enable the Volume Discount Feature

🔹 Click on the "%VDs" button next to the vendor’s name.
🔹 If the "%VD" button is not visible, submit a request to Brightflag Support to activate the feature.

3️⃣ Add a Volume Discount

🔹 Click “+ Add Volume Discount” to begin configuring the discount.

⚠️ Important: Date-to-Track Type Selection

When configuring a volume discount, choosing the correct Date-to-Track type is crucial, as it affects how VTD calculations are applied.

• If you select Billing End Date as the Date-to-Track type, VTD calculations will be based on the invoice's billing period end date.

• Once Billing End Date is selected for a vendor, it cannot be changed back to Invoice Date. This selection is permanent. You will be warned in-app when making this change. If you delete all VTDs for a vendor, you can then use any date type.

• Switching from Invoice Date → Billing End Date may create a gap between your previous Invoice Date-based VTD and the new Billing End Date-based VTD. For this reason, if your previous volume discount is Invoice Date, and your new volume discount is Billing End Date, you will be allowed to set overlapping date ranges.

• Only invoices issued within the selected date range will qualify for the discount.

🔹 Enter a Date Range: Define the period during which the VTD will be applied.

🔹 Select a Fee Type: Choose which fees should be included in the discount band. 

🔹 Click "Save" to confirm and apply the Volume Discount configuration.

4️⃣ Add Discount Bands

🔹 Click “Add Band”
🔹 Enter the fee range/spend threshold for the discount.
🔹 Enter the discount percentage: Define the applicable discount for that fee range.  
🔹 Click "Save" to finalize the configuration.
🔹 Repeat Steps 1–4 to add more discount bands if needed.

📌 Example of a VTD Setup:

5️⃣ Add Additional Date Ranges (Optional)

📌 If you need to configure a new financial year or contract period, follow Steps 3–4 to set up a new date range.
⚠️ Do not delete existing VTD configurations, as this may impact historical invoice validations.

🔹 How Brightflag Verifies Volume Trade Discounts

📌 Brightflag does not apply discounts but instead verifies that vendors have correctly applied the VTD to their invoices.

📌 VTDs only apply to fees, not expenses.

📌 Discounts are validated based on the invoice date and must fall within the configured date range.

🔹 Automatically Recalculating a Discount

📌 If an invoice is adjusted after submission, Brightflag can automatically recalculate the discount to match the correct VTD percentage.

📌 Important: This feature must be enabled by Brightflag Tech Support. Contact your Brightflag CSM to enable it.

📌 When Does Brightflag Automatically Recalculate Discounts?

💡 Recalculation Formula:
Recalculated VTD Amount = (Total Fees - Adjustments) * VTD %

🔹 Final Invoice Calculation Formula:
(Total Fees - Adjustments) - Recalculated VTD Amount + Expenses + Taxes = Total to Pay

🔹 Excluding Matters from the VTD Feature 

• Ask your CSM to enable this feature. Once enabled, it will display an exclusion button for each vendor on the Matter Page > Vendors Tab. This allows you to exclude a vendor from all VTD calculations for that specific matter.