A signed PDF is a legal document pretending to be a database. Billing needs a database. Contract ingestion exists to cross that gap — with a human on the bridge.
This guide is what finance operators should expect to verify on review, not a promise that every clause automates on day one.
The minimum viable structured deal
Before you approve, confirm these blocks exist and mean what you think:
| Block | Why billing cares |
|---|---|
| Customer identity | Catalog link or defensible extracted name |
| Commercial start / end | Schedule boundaries; phase placement |
| Products and list prices | What invoices will name |
| Billing frequency | Invoice cadence per product |
| Phases / ramps | Duration and price changes over time |
| One-time fees | Setup, implementation — each with billing timing |
| Payment terms | Due date logic on invoices |
| Tax treatment | Rates you configure; Sonic is not a tax engine |
Missing any of these on review means you are approving a guess.
Phases, ramps, and one-time fees
Phases carry duration_months / duration_days and product mix. Subscription dates may be NULL under payment gates — phase shape still lives in durations until payment materialises dates.
One-time products can carry commercial_billing_date per row. Split setup/implementation instalments stay on one-time rows; deferred placement stamps missing dates — it does not invent extra phases for each tranche.
A later instalment date is not a payment gate. If the subscription should not start until setup is paid, that is the Subscription start card — not a second billing date on the fee alone.
Payment-gated subscription starts
Clauses like "term commences upon receipt of the implementation fee" map to Link subscription to payment with one of four modes:
- On the day payment arrives
- On a committed date (slides forward if paid late)
- A date you choose after payment
- Immediate (switch off)
Gate products must be ticked explicitly. All ticked one-time lines must be fully paid — partial payment does not open the gate.
Commercial contract dates do not move with the gate. Only subscription billing dates shift.
Usage, seats, and commitments in the PDF
The structurer reports product types and pricing shapes:
- Fixed recurring
- Seat linear / graduated with proration policy language
- Usage linear, volume, packaged, prepaid slabs
- Minimum commitment floors across product groups
- Volume overage companions (flat-band placement)
Seat minimums on the product still bill the contracted floor. Sonic does not auto-create minimum-seat events at activation — real headcount still arrives via snapshots or manual events.
What the parser will not invent
- A phase for a deferred instalment that the contract only dates as a fee row.
- Tax law beyond your configured rates.
- A shipper/carrier identity in subscription mode (wrong engine).
- ASC 606 policy — recognition methods are org configuration applied after billing documents exist.
Org AI parsing context brackets the rulebook: operator instructions before and after the structurer rules. Directives can target any field — keep them precise.
Approve materialises reality
Approve links or creates catalog customer, products, and list prices. Unlinked customers can auto-materialise when configured. Existing name matches link — they do not duplicate.
After approve you edit the schedule, not the PDF. Amendments flow through schedule change tools; they do not re-parse the PDF unless you ingest a new document.
Watch out for
- Ambiguous gate language. If setup "must be paid before go-live," confirm gate products vs instalment dates.
- Billing day defaults to phase start day (capped at 28) when the contract is silent — not automatically the 1st.
- Overlapping phases are rejected. Gaps are allowed; overlaps are not.
- Renewal clauses need today's date context. End dates in the past or within one cycle may append renewal phases on parse.
- Review is cheaper than reverse-invoicing. Fix customer and phase mistakes before activation.