Rate Cost Groups

To use Rate Cost Groups, you need to set the user preferences 'Use Rate Groups' to On. Then you can create and view rate cost groups on the Rate Record Manager's Costs page (accessed via Contract and Rate Management > Contract Management > Rate Record).

Use Rate Cost Groups to group rate costs that you want to use together. This allows you to combine separate costs to produce a final rate.

All base groups are individually evaluated first and OTM applies the max, min or add option among the base groups to arrive at the final base charge. Then the miscellaneous groups are evaluated. If there are multiple miscellaneous groups that return costs, only charges from one miscellaneous group will be applied (which ever is evaluated last).

For example, you may want to create a maximum cost of $1 per pound and $3 per cubic foot for a shipment. You could create two separate rate rules, each one outlining one cost. Then, place those rate rules in the same rate cost group and select Add as your Multi-Costs Rule.

Note: There is another function called Rate Groups that groups together multiple rate offerings. This is different than rate cost groups.

Note: To use Rate Cost Groups, you must have rate groups active within your user preferences.

Oracle Transportation Management only uses the Sequence Number to know in what order to display your rate groups on this page. Oracle Transportation Management displays the lowest sequence number first.

1. Use the Group ID and Group Name fields to identify the Rate Group.
2. Select the Rate Group Type (Base to create a base cost or Miscellaneous for all other cost types) you are creating.
3. Select a Multi-Costs Rule to decide how you want costs within this group to be calculated.
4. You can define the rounding behavior of all numeric fields during the rating process using the fields described below. Rounding definitions at the more detailed levels override the rounding definitions at the higher levels. For example, the rounding definitions at the Rate Record level override the rounding definitions at the Rate Offering level. The Rounding Type field dictates how numbers are rounded. Select Ceiling to always round up, Floor to always round down, Nearest Interval to round up if it is 5 or greater and down if it is less than 5, or No Rounding to not round at all.
5. Use the Rounding Interval field to specify what interval you want to round up or down to. For example, if you want to round up or down to the nearest 1, then you would enter 1 here. If you want to round up or down to the nearest tenth decimal place, then you would enter .1 here.
6. Use the Rounding Fields Level field to specify which fields in the rating process should be rounded. For example, you may only want currency fields rounded.
7. The Rounding Application field defines when rounding should take place. For example, you may only want rounding to be done on cost calculations.
8. The Deficit Calculations Type field defines the way the rating logic handles unit breaks. When there is a unit break defined for a rate, Deficit Calculations will make sure that the least expensive rate is selected. For example, if a rate break occurs at 1000 pounds, and an order weighs 999 pounds (with a rate of $15 per pound), then Oracle Transportation Management will look at the price of shipping at the next highest weight break (1001 pounds at $13 per pound) and apply the cheapest rate. In this example, the least expensive option is to use the 1001 pound rate even though only 999 pounds are being shipped. For details on the types, see Rounding and Deficit Calculations.
9. After you have saved a new rate group, you can click Add a Cost to add actual rates to the rate group.

Additional Information

• With a tweak to the Rate Cost Groups UI preferences (Rate Record Cost Group user preferences), you can group costs and define simple relationships between groups.
• Base cost groups are executed and subtotaled in parallel.
• Either the largest or smallest subtotaled can be chosen as the base cost of the shipment.
• Miscellaneous cost groups are executed in sequence after the base cost groups.
• Each group is finalized into a subtotal which is carried into the next group.

The following flow chart represents the flow of charges when both the base cost and miscellaneous cost groups are used.

The base costs groups will have its costs finalized (add the individual costs or get the maximum or minimum of the costs in the group) and either you can sum up costs from each of the base rate group or get the maximum or minimum of these costs from the groups. Once this is done it is termed as the base cost.

The Miscellaneous cost group must be used when you want to perform an operation on the base cost (discounts or markup).