# Tillage Glossary

Key terms and definitions used in Tillage.

## 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).

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*Related: [Formulas Reference](/llms/reference/formulas.txt) | [Smart Variables Reference](/llms/reference/smart-variables.txt) | [Getting Started](/llms/getting-started.txt)*