A

ACH (Automated Clearing House)

Electronic bank-to-bank payment network in the US. ACH transfers have lower fees than credit cards (0.8% capped at $5 vs 2.9% + $0.30). Payments take 1-3 business days to process.

Activity Timeline

A log of all interactions with a quote, contract, or invoice. Shows when documents were created, sent, viewed, approved, signed, or paid. Includes timestamps and relevant details.

API Key

A unique identifier used to authenticate with external services like OpenAI or Anthropic. Required for AI quote generation. Stored encrypted in Tillage.

Auto-Pay Consent

Client permission to automatically charge their saved payment method. Three levels: Never (manual only), Recurring Only (subscriptions), All Invoices (everything).

B

Base Cost

The fundamental cost of a line item before variance buffers or profit margins are applied. Calculated as: Quantity × Unit Price.

Block (Contract Block)

A modular section of a contract. Types include: Text, Deliverables, Payment Schedule, Ongoing Services, Timeline, Signature, and Attachments.

C

Cash Flow Projection

An estimate of future income based on open invoices, recurring billing schedules, and contract milestones. Includes confidence levels based on contract status.

Client

A customer record in Tillage containing company information, contacts, and associated quotes, contracts, and invoices.

Contact

An individual person associated with a client company. Each client can have multiple contacts with different roles.

Contract

A formal agreement generated from an approved quote. Contains scope, payment terms, timeline, and signature blocks. Legally binding when signed.

Contract Template

A reusable contract structure with predefined blocks and content. Saves time when creating similar contracts.

Convenience Fee

An optional fee passed to clients to cover payment processing costs. Only applies to credit card payments. Available on Premium plan.

D

Deliverables

The specific outputs or work products promised in a quote or contract. Often pulled from quote line items into a contract's Deliverables block.

Digital Signature

An electronic signature captured in Tillage. Legally binding with full audit trail (name, timestamp, IP address, browser info).

Discount

A reduction applied to a quote total. Can be a percentage (e.g., 10% off) or fixed amount (e.g., $500 off). Applied after variance and margin calculations.

E

Express Account (Stripe Express)

A simplified Stripe account created for Free plan users. Quick setup with 1% platform fee. Managed through Tillage.

F

Final Total

The amount the client pays after all calculations: base cost + variance + profit margin - discount.

G

Global Profit Margin

A percentage applied to all line items in a quote to ensure minimum profitability. Applied after variance buffers.

H

Harvest

Time tracking and invoicing software. Tillage integrates with Harvest to import clients and detect recurring billing patterns.

I

Invoice

A request for payment sent to a client. Contains line items, amounts, due date, and payment link. Can be generated from contracts or created manually.

Invoice Reminder

An automated email sent to clients when invoices become overdue. Configurable timing and frequency.

L

Line Item

A single service or deliverable in a quote or invoice. Contains description, quantity, unit price, and (for quotes) variance buffer.

Locked Pricing

When a quote is approved, prices are locked. Invoices generated from that quote preserve the exact amounts, regardless of any calculation changes.

M

Milestone

A defined checkpoint in a project. Used to trigger payments in milestone-based payment schedules.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

The total predictable revenue from monthly subscriptions and retainers. A key metric for service businesses.

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)

MRR × 12. The annualized value of recurring revenue.

O

OAuth

An authorization protocol used to connect your existing Stripe account to Tillage (Premium plan). Allows 0% platform fee with direct account access.

Ongoing Services

A contract block for recurring billing. Configures automatic invoice generation at set intervals (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually).

P

Payment Instance

A single scheduled payment within a payment plan. Can be triggered by dates, milestones, or contract execution.

Payment Link

A secure, tokenized URL that allows clients to pay invoices without logging in. One-click payment access.

Payment Plan

A schedule of payments associated with a contract. Can include deposits, milestones, balance payments, and recurring charges.

Payment Schedule

The configuration of when and how payments are due on a contract. Common patterns include 50/50, thirds, quarterly, and milestone-based.

Platform Fee

The percentage Tillage charges on payments processed. 1% on Free plan, 0% on Premium plan.

Primary Contact

The main point of contact for a client. Used as default recipient for quotes, invoices, and contracts. First contact used for smart variable replacement.

Profit Margin

See Global Profit Margin.

Q

Quote

A proposal sent to a client detailing services, pricing, and terms. The starting point of Tillage's workflow. Can be AI-generated or manually created.

Quote-to-Cash (Q2C)

The complete revenue lifecycle: Quote → Contract → Invoice → Payment. The core workflow Tillage automates.

R

Recurring Invoice

An invoice that generates automatically on a schedule (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually). Used for retainers and subscription billing.

Retainer

An ongoing service agreement where clients pay regularly for continuous access to your services. Managed through contracts with Ongoing Services blocks.

S

Service

A saved, reusable line item with preset description, pricing, and variance. Used to quickly build quotes with consistent entries.

Service Template

See Service.

Shareable Link

A secure URL that allows recipients to view quotes, contracts, or invoices without logging in. Token-based for security.

Smart Variable

A placeholder in templates that auto-fills with actual data. Examples: {clientName}, {projectName}, {month}. Used in quotes, contracts, invoices, and emails.

SOW (Statement of Work)

A contract type defining project scope, deliverables, timeline, and payment terms. Common for project-based engagements.

Stripe

The payment processing platform integrated with Tillage. Handles credit cards and ACH bank transfers.

Stripe Connect

Stripe's platform for marketplace and multi-party payments. Used by Tillage to process payments on behalf of users.

T

Team

The organizational unit in Tillage. All data (clients, quotes, invoices) belongs to a team. Users can be members of multiple teams.

Team Settings

Configuration for a team including business information, branding, quote/invoice defaults, payment settings, and integrations.

Template

A reusable structure for quotes, contracts, or emails. Saves time and ensures consistency.

U

Unit Price

The price per unit (hour, item, etc.) for a line item. Combined with quantity to calculate base cost.

V

Variance Buffer

A risk percentage added to individual line items to protect against scope creep and estimation uncertainty. Visible to you, hidden from or blended for clients.

Formula: With Variance = Base Cost × (1 + Variance%)

Recommended ranges: 5-10% (simple, repeat work) to 30-50% (complex, uncertain work).

Related: Formulas Reference | Smart Variables Reference | Getting Started