Teachworks supports a number of different billing methods. This article will go into more detail about our Package Billing Method.

When to use Package Billing

You would generally use this billing method if you’d like to bill your clients in advance for a package of lessons or hours that they can use over an undefined period of time.

How Package Billing Works

With the Package Billing Method, clients prepay for a specific number of lessons or hours for a designated service. As lessons are scheduled and completed, the system automatically tracks and reduces this prepaid balance.

The Lifecycle of a Package Balance

Purchase: The client is invoiced for a specific package (e.g., 10 Hours of Math Tutoring). Once generated, these hours are added to the Package Balances table.
Scheduling: Lessons are scheduled on the calendar under the corresponding service.
Deduction: A client's package balance is the total number of lessons or hours that they have purchased of a particular service type minus the lessons that have been "Scheduled" or "Attended" with the same service type as the package. When a lesson status is updated to Attended, the client's package balance is automatically reduced.

Why Package Lessons Show as $0.00 on the Calendar

A common point of confusion is why package lessons display a cost of $0.00 on the calendar.

Prevents Double Billing: Because the client already paid for the hours upfront during the package purchase, Teachworks zeroes out the individual lesson cost. If the lesson still carried a price tag, you would be charging the client a second time.

NOTE: Packages rely entirely on matching services. For example, if a client holds a package balance for Math Tutoring but you schedule a lesson under Science Tutoring, the system will not deduct from their balance.

How Clients are Charged

Your clients are charged for a package when you generate a package invoice using the “Add Package” option. This will add a package to the invoice.

It’s important to pay special attention to the service you select on the invoice, as this service needs to be consistent with the service you select when scheduling lessons for the student.

NOTE: If you require more information about generating package invoices, you can view the following tutorial: Creating Packages.

When using the Package Billing Method, it's generally recommended that you set the "Billing Method" on your package students' profiles to “Package”.

This will set the cost of their lessons zero automatically (since you’ve already invoiced them for the package of lessons/hours). By setting the cost to zero, it ensures that the client is not double billed by accident.

Package Settings

There are multiple settings that you can customize for Packages in Teachworks. You can adjust the following settings:

Package Units - Track packages by lesson or by hour.
Count “Missed” lessons as used -Choose to count lessons marked as “Missed” as used package lessons.
Track Packages by - Packages can be tracked by student or by family.
Packages Available when Invoice is - You can choose to make packages available when an invoice with a package is either approved or paid.

You can customize the settings above by following the steps below:

Click on "Account" and then click on "Account Settings".
Click on the "Finance & Operations" tab.
Scroll down to the "Package Settings" section.

Creating Services for Packages

If you have services in your Services list that are used for both packages and individual lessons, it’s generally best to create a separate service to use specifically for packages.

For example, if you have a service called “English Tutoring” that is used for both packages and individual lessons, you should create a separate service called “English Tutoring - Package” to use specifically for packages.

The Package Billing Method Workflow

If you'd like to use the Package Billing Method, you can use the workflow below to set it up:

Start by customizing the "Package Settings" section in the "Account Settings" page to meet your requirements.
Next, set the "Billing Method" field on the student's profile to "Package".
Create an invoice for the client and use the "Add Package" option in the line item section of the invoice and click the "Go" button.
Select the details of the package including the service, quantity, and unit price for the package.
Approve the invoice. Depending on your settings, the invoice may also need to be paid before the package is available to the client.
Schedule lessons for the student. When you select the student's name in the "Student" field on the "Add Lesson" form, the services list will be updated to display any package hours that are available to the student. Select the service matching the package service and schedule the lesson.

NOTE: If you were using Package Billing with different software, you can set up starting package balances for your clients by following these steps: Setting up Starting Package Balances.

Viewing Package Balances

You can view your clients' package balances by following the steps below:

Click on "Billing".
Click on "Package Balances".

Billing Clients for Packages and Individual Lessons

If you have students that are billed primarily using the Package Billing Method, but also may have lessons that are not apart of a package, you should still set the student’s billing method to “Package”.

When you are scheduling individual lessons that aren't apart of a package for the student, you can use the Cost Override feature. This will allow you to assign a cost the lesson(s) whenever you need to bill the client for an individual lesson.

In order to track package balances accurately and ensure that the lessons billed individually are not deducted from the clients' packages, you will need to use separate services, as described above.

For example, you can create services named “English Tutoring” and “English Tutoring - Package”. When scheduling a lesson to be billed individually, simply select the “English Tutoring” service and click the “Override Billing Method” option and then select the appropriate billing method.

Archiving Packages

Archiving establishes a calculation cutoff date for a client's package. It isolates active package usage from past lesson history under the same service type.

Why Use Archiving?

Calculation Control: It excludes lessons scheduled on and before the chosen Archive Date from current package balance calculations. This is essential when transitioning a client from hourly billing to package billing, ensuring past lessons don't retroactively drain their new prepaid balance.
Dashboard Cleanup: It removes older, pre-package activity from the active

NOTES

Archiving does not delete lessons
It does not remove historical data
It only affects what is included in package balance calculations
It can be used to improve clarity, but its primary function is controlling calculation boundaries

For step-by-step instructions on applying a cutoff date to a client's profile, see our guide: Archive Packages.

Package Billing Method