Compute
Pricing and natural units
Every workflow declares its own natural unit. See how accepted units become charges, when verification, transfer and retention bill separately, and where to read your own amounts.
What a charge is made of
Compute charges for accepted work, counted in one unit per workflow. Every workflow declares that natural unit, and the charge is the accepted count of it.
Accepted units come from the finished result, not from what you submitted. Items that failed, abstained or were refused are counted under the commercial policy in your agreement.
Where each number is declared
| Where you read it | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Workflow descriptor | The natural unit the workflow counts, and its maximum item count |
| Quote | The unit, the currency and the maximum charge for that one submission |
| Result bundle | The accepted units the job actually produced |
| Statement line | The accepted units billed inside one period |
| Invoice | The amount due, and the agreement it was issued under |
The maximum item count for a workflow is stated on its descriptor and repeated on your quote. No single ceiling covers every workflow.
Lines that can be charged separately
Three things are charged on their own lines when your agreement charges for them. Each carries its own unit, so read the unit before comparing two lines.
- Verification — independent sample checks or a higher check count, driven by the quality preset you chose.
- Transfer — moving an accepted result to a destination you registered.
- Retention — keeping a result bundle available for a period you selected.
If a line is absent, that work was not separately charged. An absent line is never evidence that a check did not run.
Currency and amount format
Every amount carries an explicit currency code, and every amount is an exact decimal value.
Read an amount as the decimal string it is given as. Never re-derive it through a floating-point type in your own system, because that changes the value.
The maximum_price on your quote carries the same two parts: a currency and a decimal amount.
A quoted maximum is a ceiling
The maximum price is the most that job may charge. It is not the amount you will be charged.
A job cannot exceed the quote it references. Where accepted units land below the ceiling, you are billed for the accepted units.
A quote never authorizes work, whatever its amount. Approval is always a separate act, and you can read what your quote commits you to before you take it.
Where to read your rates
This page publishes no rate, fee or discount. Your commercial figures live in three places only: your signed agreement, the quote for a submission, and the invoice for a period.
Unit definitions and prices are issued as releases, and a release can change. Read the current one at quote time rather than copying a rate into your own system.
Related
- Usage and statements — how accepted units become a statement line