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Variables: Adders, Incentives, and Import Adders
Set up the costs that raise a price, the incentives that lower it, and the rules that apply cost automatically without anyone selecting it.
### Scanifly Proposal Tool
* Equipment and Variables
* Variables: Adders, Incentives, and Import Adders
##### Equipment and Variables
### Variables: Adders, Incentives, and Import Adders
#### Set up the costs that raise a price, the incentives that lower it, and the rules that apply cost automatically without anyone selecting it.
This guide shows you how to set up the three variable types where your pricing lives. Adders and incentives are lists your team chooses from per proposal. Import adders are rules that apply on their own.
🚧 **Admin only** 🚧
These are configured in the variables section of global settings, so they require the **Manage proposals** permission. If you cannot reach global settings, ask your Scanifly admin to change your permission level.
For more information on [Proposal Tool Permissions: Who Can Do What](https://help.scanifly.com/proposal-tool-permissions-who-can-do-what), please see this support article.
---
##### Adders
An adder is a cost your team can select on Project Builder, and it adds to the system cost. Each adder takes three things:
* **Name:** what your team sees when selecting it.
* **Type:** flat dollar amount, dollars per watt, or percentage.
* **Cost:** the amount, read according to the type you chose.
Once an adder is on your list, anyone building a proposal can select it to add that cost to the system cost.
[Image: Screenshot of the adders list in global settings, with the name, type, and cost columns visible]
---
##### 1. Create an Adder
In global settings, open **Variables**, go to adders, and add a new one. Enter the name, choose the type, and enter the cost. Your new adder now appears in the adders list, ready for anyone to select on Project Builder.
[Image: Screenshot of the new adder form with the type selector open, showing flat, per watt, and percentage]
---
##### Incentives
An incentive is the reverse of an adder. It is selectable on Project Builder the same way, and it applies against the system cost as a discount. Each incentive takes:
* **Name:** what your team sees when selecting it.
* **Type:** flat dollar amount, dollars per watt, or percentage.
* **Value:** the amount, read according to the type you chose. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: confirm the in-product field is labeled "Value" here and "Cost" on adders, rather than the same label in both places.]`
[Image: Screenshot of the incentives list in global settings with the name, type, and value columns visible]
---
##### 2. Create an Incentive
Go to incentives, add a new one, enter the name, choose the type, and enter the value. Your new incentive now appears in the incentives list, ready to select on Project Builder.
[Image: Screenshot of the new incentive form with a percentage type selected]
---
##### 3. Add a Cap, If You Want One
Caps are optional, and you add them to an individual incentive here rather than globally. A cap sets the maximum the incentive can ever be worth. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: confirm whether a cap can be added to a flat or per-watt incentive, or only to a percentage incentive.]`
For example, an incentive set at 25 percent could be capped at 5,000 dollars. On a project where 25 percent works out to more than 5,000 dollars, the incentive stops at 5,000.
If an incentive should have no ceiling, leave the cap off.
[Image: Screenshot of an incentive with a percentage value and a maximum cap entered]
---
##### 4. Set the Order Your Incentives Apply In
In the variables section you will see caret arrows next to **Action** on each incentive row. Those arrows set the order incentives apply in when more than one is selected. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: do adders also apply in a configured order, or is ordering specific to incentives?]`
Use ordering to reflect how your incentives actually stack, for example a state credit relative to a federal credit.
[Image: Screenshot of the incentives list with the caret arrows next to the Action column highlighted]
---
##### Understanding Order and Caps
Order changes the final number when a cap is involved, so this is worth checking deliberately rather than leaving to chance.
Here is a worked example. Take a 30,000 dollar system with two incentives selected:
* **Incentive A:** a flat 12,000 dollar rebate, no cap.
* **Incentive B:** 25 percent, capped at 5,000 dollars.
**Order A then B:** the 12,000 dollar rebate comes off first, leaving 18,000 dollars. Incentive B's 25 percent of 18,000 is 4,500 dollars, which is under the 5,000 dollar cap, so the full 4,500 applies. Total discount 16,500 dollars.
**Order B then A:** Incentive B goes first. 25 percent of 30,000 is 7,500 dollars, which is above the cap, so it is limited to 5,000 dollars. Then the 12,000 dollar rebate comes off. Total discount 17,000 dollars.
Same two incentives, same system, 500 dollars of difference, purely from order. The cap binds in one order and not the other. If a capped incentive is not landing where you expect, order is the first thing to check.
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION — MUST VERIFY BEFORE PUBLISH: this example assumes a percentage incentive calculates against the running total after earlier incentives are applied, not the original system cost. If percentages instead calculate against the original system cost, order would not change the result and this example is wrong and needs replacing.]`
---
##### Import Adders
Import adders are rule-based. Like a regular adder they add to the system cost, but nobody selects them. You define the condition, and when a project meets it, the cost is applied automatically.
Each import adder takes three things:
* **Adder name:** what the applied cost is called.
* **Condition:** when the rule fires. A condition can be **simple** or a **formula**.
* **Cost output:** what gets added. A cost output can be **fixed**, a **formula**, or a **variable**.
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: what does your team see on Project Builder once an import adder has fired? Confirm whether it appears as a named line item, whether it is visibly locked, and whether it prints on the customer-facing proposal by default.]`
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: if two import adder rules both fire on the same project, do both costs apply?]`
❗**IMPORTANT**
Your team cannot override an import adder once it has been applied. That is the point of the feature, but it also means a rule with the wrong threshold or the wrong output quietly changes every proposal it touches. Test each rule on a real project before you rely on it.
[Image: Screenshot of the import adders section showing the adder name, condition, and cost output fields]
---
##### 5. Build an Import Adder Rule
Nothing ships preconfigured. Every import adder in your account is a rule you built, and until you build one, none exist.
Here are three rules you could build, offered as illustrations of what the feature can do rather than as settings you will find waiting for you:
* **A steep roof adder.** You could build a rule that adds 500 dollars for each roof over 40 degrees. The degree threshold and the dollar amount are entirely yours to choose.
* **A roof count rule.** You could build a rule that fires once a project goes above a certain number of roof surfaces, to cover the extra work a multi-segment roof creates.
* **A system size rule.** You could build a rule that fires above a system size threshold you set.
Whether any of these makes sense for your company, and what numbers go in them, is a pricing decision on your side. Once saved, your rule appears in the import adders list and applies automatically to any project that meets its condition.
[Image: Screenshot of an import adder rule being configured, showing a condition and a cost output]
---
##### 6. Use AI to Help Write a Rule
Import adders carry real complexity, especially once you move from a simple condition to a formula condition or a formula cost output. You can use AI to generate these rules, which is usually faster than writing a formula by hand. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: where does this option live in the interface, and does it require the OpenAI key set up in APIs and Credentials?]`
Review what comes back before you save it. AI helps you write the rule. It does not perform your pricing or savings math, and the rule it produces is still a rule you own.
[Image: Screenshot of the AI generation option in the import adder configuration]
---
##### 7. Save Your Changes to the Preset
❗ **IMPORTANT**
Adders, incentives, and import adders are stored on the preset you are editing. Click **Update Preset** to keep your changes, or choose to discard them or save them as a new preset. Leaving global settings without doing one of those three loses your work.
[Image: Screenshot of the Update Preset control in the global settings header]
---
##### Where the Real Flexibility Comes From
Each of these types is useful on its own, but they compound.
Custom variables feed formulas. Input variables feed conditions, because a value your team types in can be the thing a rule tests against. Import adders turn both into automatic pricing, applied without anyone remembering to click it. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: what syntax do formula conditions and formula cost outputs accept, and how do you reference a variable inside them? Confirm here or point readers to the same answer in the Custom, AI, and Input Variables article.]`
That combination is where most of the tool's flexibility lives. If you are trying to make the Proposal Tool price the way your company already prices, this is the part to invest in.
---
For more information on [Variables: Custom, AI, and Input Variables](https://help.scanifly.com/variables-custom-ai-and-input-variables), please see this support article.
For more information on [Variables Overview: The Six Types and What They Do](https://help.scanifly.com/variables-overview-the-six-types-and-what-they-do), please see this support article.
For more information on [Apply Incentives and Cost Adders](https://help.scanifly.com/apply-incentives-and-cost-adders), please see this support article.
For more information on [Control What Your Team Sees: Section and Line Item Visibility](https://help.scanifly.com/control-what-your-team-sees-section-and-line-item-visibility), please see this support article.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please reach out to our chat support or email hello@scanifly.com.
* Equipment and Variables
* Variables: Adders, Incentives, and Import Adders
##### Equipment and Variables
### Variables: Adders, Incentives, and Import Adders
#### Set up the costs that raise a price, the incentives that lower it, and the rules that apply cost automatically without anyone selecting it.
This guide shows you how to set up the three variable types where your pricing lives. Adders and incentives are lists your team chooses from per proposal. Import adders are rules that apply on their own.
🚧 **Admin only** 🚧
These are configured in the variables section of global settings, so they require the **Manage proposals** permission. If you cannot reach global settings, ask your Scanifly admin to change your permission level.
For more information on [Proposal Tool Permissions: Who Can Do What](https://help.scanifly.com/proposal-tool-permissions-who-can-do-what), please see this support article.
---
##### Adders
An adder is a cost your team can select on Project Builder, and it adds to the system cost. Each adder takes three things:
* **Name:** what your team sees when selecting it.
* **Type:** flat dollar amount, dollars per watt, or percentage.
* **Cost:** the amount, read according to the type you chose.
Once an adder is on your list, anyone building a proposal can select it to add that cost to the system cost.
[Image: Screenshot of the adders list in global settings, with the name, type, and cost columns visible]
---
##### 1. Create an Adder
In global settings, open **Variables**, go to adders, and add a new one. Enter the name, choose the type, and enter the cost. Your new adder now appears in the adders list, ready for anyone to select on Project Builder.
[Image: Screenshot of the new adder form with the type selector open, showing flat, per watt, and percentage]
---
##### Incentives
An incentive is the reverse of an adder. It is selectable on Project Builder the same way, and it applies against the system cost as a discount. Each incentive takes:
* **Name:** what your team sees when selecting it.
* **Type:** flat dollar amount, dollars per watt, or percentage.
* **Value:** the amount, read according to the type you chose. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: confirm the in-product field is labeled "Value" here and "Cost" on adders, rather than the same label in both places.]`
[Image: Screenshot of the incentives list in global settings with the name, type, and value columns visible]
---
##### 2. Create an Incentive
Go to incentives, add a new one, enter the name, choose the type, and enter the value. Your new incentive now appears in the incentives list, ready to select on Project Builder.
[Image: Screenshot of the new incentive form with a percentage type selected]
---
##### 3. Add a Cap, If You Want One
Caps are optional, and you add them to an individual incentive here rather than globally. A cap sets the maximum the incentive can ever be worth. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: confirm whether a cap can be added to a flat or per-watt incentive, or only to a percentage incentive.]`
For example, an incentive set at 25 percent could be capped at 5,000 dollars. On a project where 25 percent works out to more than 5,000 dollars, the incentive stops at 5,000.
If an incentive should have no ceiling, leave the cap off.
[Image: Screenshot of an incentive with a percentage value and a maximum cap entered]
---
##### 4. Set the Order Your Incentives Apply In
In the variables section you will see caret arrows next to **Action** on each incentive row. Those arrows set the order incentives apply in when more than one is selected. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: do adders also apply in a configured order, or is ordering specific to incentives?]`
Use ordering to reflect how your incentives actually stack, for example a state credit relative to a federal credit.
[Image: Screenshot of the incentives list with the caret arrows next to the Action column highlighted]
---
##### Understanding Order and Caps
Order changes the final number when a cap is involved, so this is worth checking deliberately rather than leaving to chance.
Here is a worked example. Take a 30,000 dollar system with two incentives selected:
* **Incentive A:** a flat 12,000 dollar rebate, no cap.
* **Incentive B:** 25 percent, capped at 5,000 dollars.
**Order A then B:** the 12,000 dollar rebate comes off first, leaving 18,000 dollars. Incentive B's 25 percent of 18,000 is 4,500 dollars, which is under the 5,000 dollar cap, so the full 4,500 applies. Total discount 16,500 dollars.
**Order B then A:** Incentive B goes first. 25 percent of 30,000 is 7,500 dollars, which is above the cap, so it is limited to 5,000 dollars. Then the 12,000 dollar rebate comes off. Total discount 17,000 dollars.
Same two incentives, same system, 500 dollars of difference, purely from order. The cap binds in one order and not the other. If a capped incentive is not landing where you expect, order is the first thing to check.
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION — MUST VERIFY BEFORE PUBLISH: this example assumes a percentage incentive calculates against the running total after earlier incentives are applied, not the original system cost. If percentages instead calculate against the original system cost, order would not change the result and this example is wrong and needs replacing.]`
---
##### Import Adders
Import adders are rule-based. Like a regular adder they add to the system cost, but nobody selects them. You define the condition, and when a project meets it, the cost is applied automatically.
Each import adder takes three things:
* **Adder name:** what the applied cost is called.
* **Condition:** when the rule fires. A condition can be **simple** or a **formula**.
* **Cost output:** what gets added. A cost output can be **fixed**, a **formula**, or a **variable**.
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: what does your team see on Project Builder once an import adder has fired? Confirm whether it appears as a named line item, whether it is visibly locked, and whether it prints on the customer-facing proposal by default.]`
`[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: if two import adder rules both fire on the same project, do both costs apply?]`
❗**IMPORTANT**
Your team cannot override an import adder once it has been applied. That is the point of the feature, but it also means a rule with the wrong threshold or the wrong output quietly changes every proposal it touches. Test each rule on a real project before you rely on it.
[Image: Screenshot of the import adders section showing the adder name, condition, and cost output fields]
---
##### 5. Build an Import Adder Rule
Nothing ships preconfigured. Every import adder in your account is a rule you built, and until you build one, none exist.
Here are three rules you could build, offered as illustrations of what the feature can do rather than as settings you will find waiting for you:
* **A steep roof adder.** You could build a rule that adds 500 dollars for each roof over 40 degrees. The degree threshold and the dollar amount are entirely yours to choose.
* **A roof count rule.** You could build a rule that fires once a project goes above a certain number of roof surfaces, to cover the extra work a multi-segment roof creates.
* **A system size rule.** You could build a rule that fires above a system size threshold you set.
Whether any of these makes sense for your company, and what numbers go in them, is a pricing decision on your side. Once saved, your rule appears in the import adders list and applies automatically to any project that meets its condition.
[Image: Screenshot of an import adder rule being configured, showing a condition and a cost output]
---
##### 6. Use AI to Help Write a Rule
Import adders carry real complexity, especially once you move from a simple condition to a formula condition or a formula cost output. You can use AI to generate these rules, which is usually faster than writing a formula by hand. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: where does this option live in the interface, and does it require the OpenAI key set up in APIs and Credentials?]`
Review what comes back before you save it. AI helps you write the rule. It does not perform your pricing or savings math, and the rule it produces is still a rule you own.
[Image: Screenshot of the AI generation option in the import adder configuration]
---
##### 7. Save Your Changes to the Preset
❗ **IMPORTANT**
Adders, incentives, and import adders are stored on the preset you are editing. Click **Update Preset** to keep your changes, or choose to discard them or save them as a new preset. Leaving global settings without doing one of those three loses your work.
[Image: Screenshot of the Update Preset control in the global settings header]
---
##### Where the Real Flexibility Comes From
Each of these types is useful on its own, but they compound.
Custom variables feed formulas. Input variables feed conditions, because a value your team types in can be the thing a rule tests against. Import adders turn both into automatic pricing, applied without anyone remembering to click it. `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: what syntax do formula conditions and formula cost outputs accept, and how do you reference a variable inside them? Confirm here or point readers to the same answer in the Custom, AI, and Input Variables article.]`
That combination is where most of the tool's flexibility lives. If you are trying to make the Proposal Tool price the way your company already prices, this is the part to invest in.
---
For more information on [Variables: Custom, AI, and Input Variables](https://help.scanifly.com/variables-custom-ai-and-input-variables), please see this support article.
For more information on [Variables Overview: The Six Types and What They Do](https://help.scanifly.com/variables-overview-the-six-types-and-what-they-do), please see this support article.
For more information on [Apply Incentives and Cost Adders](https://help.scanifly.com/apply-incentives-and-cost-adders), please see this support article.
For more information on [Control What Your Team Sees: Section and Line Item Visibility](https://help.scanifly.com/control-what-your-team-sees-section-and-line-item-visibility), please see this support article.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please reach out to our chat support or email hello@scanifly.com.