Product Tiers, Add-On Features, and Entitlements

💁‍♂️ Problem/Context

For fifteen years we sold a single, all‑inclusive SKU. After the acquisition, the parent company expects a modern Good / Better / Best structure: Core, Fleet, and Enterprise.

We must:

1. Define which capabilities live in each tier (incl. add‑ons).

1. Enforce entitlements in the codebase and APIs.

1. Surface tasteful in‑app upsell/upgrade paths that don’t degrade UX.

1. Prepare GTM (contracts, billing, messaging) so all new logos sign under the new structure and existing customers can be migrated.

Failure to execute leaves money on the table, makes compliance with Ionic’s financial model impossible, and blocks future feature launches that assume tier‑based gating.

📖 User Story

As the Head of Product, I need the application to expose or hide functionality automatically based on the customer’s subscribed tier so that we can capture differentiated value, simplify sales conversations, and create clear upgrade paths.

🎨 Design

Placeholder: UX will produce a prototype showing:

• Tier‑based navigation states (visible, greyed‑out, hidden).

• Inline upgrade nudges (tooltip + modal).

• Marketplace card layout for à‑la‑carte add‑ons.

Target date for clickable Figma: June 27.

🉑 Acceptance Criteria

Tier Matrix

Board‑approved spreadsheet mapping each module/endpoint to Core, Fleet, Enterprise, or Add‑On.

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Entitlements Service

Central middleware reads tenant plan and blocks/permits API calls; unit & integration tests cover ≥ 95 % of gated endpoints.

Config & Billing

Billing server logic and SKUs created; provisioning hook updates cust record within 5 minutes of sale/upgrade.

UI/UX

All gated screens respect entitlements; upgrade CTA appears with copy reviewed by Marketing.

Analytics

Events:

feature_block, upgrade_click, upgrade_completefiring with tier and custID.

Docs & Support

Public KB and internal playbook updated; support matrix published.

Migration Playbook

Script and checklist for mapping existing tenants to new tiers without downtime.

🙅‍♂️ Out of scope

• Any change to individual price points (that’s Finance).

• Discount logic, promotions, or reseller contracts.

• Re‑platforming legacy billing; we integrate with the current system only.

• Feature re‑designs unrelated to gating.

🙈 User Roles / Permissions

• Owner / Admin – can view current tier, purchase add‑ons, initiate upgrade.

• Standard User – experiences gating; sees upsell prompts but cannot transact.

• Dispatch‑Only Role (mobile) – no upsell UI; hard‑blocked access.

  RBAC matrix updated accordingly.

💵 Pricing

• Core

  • $600

  • 1 Operations user incl.

  • 1 Driver incl.

  • On‑Demand only, 4 yr data retention, no phone support.

• Fleet

  • $1,500

  • 5 Operations users incl.

  • 5 Drivers incl.

  • Route & Distribution, Basic Ship‑Opt, phone support, 8 yr retention.

• Enterprise

  • $4,000

  • 10 Operations users incl.

  • 10 Drivers incl.

  • All features incl. Advanced Ship‑Opt, Health Data Protection, 24/7 support, unlimited retention.

Add‑ons (available to Core/Fleet unless “Enterprise‑only”):

• Route & Distribution module – $500 /mo (Core only)

• Advanced Shipment Optimisation – $2.50 /driver/mo Core, $1.50 /driver/mo Fleet

• Emergency Support – $300 /mo (Fleet)

• SOC II End‑to‑End – $500 /mo (Fleet)

• Multi‑region HA – $1,000 /mo (Fleet)

🎯 Measuring Success

🛳 Release Strategy

1. Phase 0 – Internal Dogfood: enable gating on staging/9903; enable “Enterprise” for CXT internal only, dedicate 2 other environments for “Core” and “Fleet”.

2. Phase 1 – First Adopters Beta: Launch gating & entitlements for First Adopters - features hidden when unavailable

3. Phase 2 – GA for New Logos: tiers enforced for every new contract; no migration yet.

4. Phase 3 – Existing Customer Migration: account managers run playbook; 90‑day grandfather window.

5. Phase 4 – In-Product Upsell: Add in-product upgrade paths and signifiers; self-service capability for Admin users

❓Other Questions

• Timeline – High‑level estimate 12 weeks (4 wks design, 6 wks build, 2 wks beta).

• Security – Ensure SOC scope mapping aligns with tier promises (collab w/ SaaS Ops).

• Edge Cases – What happens to API integrations? Charge by API or by Integration?

• Marketplace Alignment – Where do we list à‑la‑carte items? How does rev‑share work for Integration Partners?

• Marketplace Content – Phase 2 self‑serve signup flow must surface tier choice; needs product marketing content.