Reporting and Analytics Support
In addition to the automatic billing and invoicing, JustOn provides flexible reporting and analytics features.
Metric Objects
Service companies (SaaS, professional services, etc.) usually generate recurring revenue based on subscriptions with their customers. JustOn supports subscription billing with recurring and transactional (usage-based) items. Now the companies need continuous reporting about subscription-based KPIs, too – like, for example, MRR (monthly recurring revenue) or Churn (rate of discontinued subscriptions or lost revenue).
Take, for example, companies that provide SaaS services. In order to run their business and to get a complete overview of their financial data, they usually distinguish between bookings, billings and revenues:
- Bookings provide a view on the growth of the business. You can analyze the past and near future using the reports based on actual bookings. Basically, they reflect how well a business model scales and how well the sales team performs. Common KPIs include MRR (monthly recurring revenue, based on subscriptions) and Churn (rate of discontinued subscriptions or lost revenue). Taking this one step forward: Actual subscriptions allow for forecasting the future cash position.
- Billings indicate the amount of money that has been invoiced and that is to be collected from customers. They provide information about the cash that a business can expect in the near future. Common KPIs include ARPA (average revenue per account) and CLTV (customer lifetime value). Additional reports may inform about the invoiced amount by product group, the total invoiced amount by account or the amount of tax to pay.
-
Revenues represent a view on the financial situation of the company. JustOn revenue reports are based on bookkeeping data for invoices, which provide information about
- the revenue that can be recognized in a certain booking period, like a yearly invoice split into monthly revenue amounts – it can show the billed and recognizable revenue as opposed to the deferred revenue
- the revenue that is not yet billed but can be forecasted based on the existing bookings, providing a view on the future financial data – this is the amount that is not billed yet but booked, that is, the forecasted revenue by booking periods.
Now adding the dimension time to bookings, billings and revenues results in the following SaaS reporting scheme:
SaaS KPI reporting with JustOn
For analytics and reporting purposes, JustOn introduces specific metric objects that can be set up to track billing-relevant changes and, consequently, display previews of expected revenues: account metrics, subscription metrics and cash metrics.
Account metrics track changes to recurring or transactional items, like creation, termination, price/quantity modifications, to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates aggregated over all subscriptions of an account. Subscription metrics, in contrast, track the same changes in order to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates for individual subscriptions. Your business decides which to use:
- Your accounts may have multiple active subscriptions. If you want to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates aggregated over all subscriptions of an account, you use account metrics.
- If you want to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates for individual subscriptions, you use subscription metrics.
Last but not least, cash metrics track current changes to the amount of existing subscriptions in order to display a business's cash flow.
Info
The metric records can give valuable insights into your business by displaying the recurring revenue for the current or a future date, recurring changes (like growth or churn), or expected cash flow on a monthly basis. That is, they provide previews of expected revenues based on current subscriptions but do not track generated revenues.
In addition, you can use the metric records in order customize the JustOn reports or to build your own reports in Salesforce.
Account Metrics
Account metrics track changes to recurring or transactional items, like creation, termination, price/quantity modifications, to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates aggregated over all subscriptions of an account. Account metrics are related to the account and the subscription.
Account metric data model
Field | Description |
---|---|
Account | The related account (secondary master-detail); the metric record is deleted when the account is deleted. |
Actual | The actual amount of this metricPrevious/Initial + Change |
Change | The change of the MRR based on the previous MRR. |
Churn Rate (Gross) | The gross churn rate is the ratio between Churn and Actual .IF(Actual=0,1,Churn/Actual) |
Churn Rate (Net) | The net churn rate is the ratio between Change and Actual .IF(Actual=0,1,Change/Actual) |
Churn | The absolute churn if the change is negative.IF(Change < 0,ABS(Change),null) |
Date | The effective date of this metric, depends on the kind of change (add/subtract) and the service period/next invoice date of the item. |
Expansion | The absolute expansion if the change is positive.IF(Change > 0,Change,null) |
Growth Rate | The growth rate is the ratio between Change and Previous .IF(Previous=0,null,Change/Previous) |
Initial | Holds the initial MRR value. Only filled if the change date equals the start date of the first subscription. |
Is Latest (checkbox) | Marks the latest metric record for a particular item criterion. |
Item Criterion | The criterion shows which items have been aggregated to this metric. |
Items | The names of the related items that caused the current change. |
Next Metric | Links to the next metric record, which supersedes the current record. |
Previous Metric | Links to the previous metric record, which is superseded by the current record. |
Previous | Holds the MRR value of the previous metric record. |
Retention Rate | The opposite of the gross churn rate. The sum of the two is always 100%.1-ChurnRateGross |
Smooth Change | The smooth change formula allows to report two consecutive metrics (within two days) as one (like -50 and +70 is reported as +20 ) |
Subscription | The first related subscription (lookup). If the metric is aggregated from multiple subscriptions, it is not specified which subscription is linked. |
Subscriptions | In case of an aggregated record, a (comma-separated) list of involved subscriptions that caused the current change. |
Account Metric Generation
Generally, the account metric generation and the subscription metric generation are nearly identical. They use the same subscriptions and items as input and follow the same rules that trigger the metric creation.
The difference is:
- Metric data for subscription metrics is aggregated on subscription basis.
- Metric data for account metrics is aggregated on account basis, that is, for all subscriptions of an account.
The decision whether to create subscription metrics or account metrics is controlled via the global setting Subscription Metrics Scope
.
Generally, the following item actions produce new or changed metric records:
- Creating a recurring item
- Creating a transactional item with expected revenue
-
Ending a subscription or item using an end date
You can set the end date retroactively within one month to trigger the end metric creation.
-
Deactivating an item
- Changing the price/quantity of an item
Workflow details
Subscription metric records and account metric records are created on subscription or item change if the following conditions are met:
-
Subscription
- Status is set to
Inactive
,Canceled
orUpgraded
- Status is set to
-
Recurring item
- Billing type is
Recurring
,Recurring Prorated
orRecurring Prorated AVG
- Item is created
- Quantity or price is changed
- Item is deactivated
- End date is set
- Billing type is
-
Transactional item
- Billing type is not
Recurring
,Recurring Prorated
,Recurring Prorated AVG
orOne-Time
- Item is created
- Expected revenue is changed
- Item is deactivated
- End date is set
- Billing type is not
In addition, the following rules apply:
- Each change results in a new metric record that is linked to the previous record.
- If the change date equals the start date of the first subscription, the field
Initial
is set. - Subsequent metric records have filled the fields
Previous
andChange
. - The first record is set to the start date of the item or subscription.
- Subsequent metric records are set to the next invoice date of the item.
- A final metric record for an item is created only if the end date of the item actually reached (that is, if the end date equals the current date or a previous date), or if the subscription is canceled.
- The final metric record is set to the end date of the item.
- Metrics are continued from upgraded subscriptions (related via the subscription field
Previous Subscription
).
Account metrics generation example
The metric data for account metrics is aggregated over all subscriptions of an account.
Assume the following subscription metric data from two subscriptions of one account:
Subscription sub1
:
# | Date | Actual | Change |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 7/1/2020 | 10,00 |
10,00 (positive) change |
2 | 8/1/2020 | 110,00 |
100,00 (positive) change |
3 | 9/30/2020 | 100,00 |
-10,00 (negative) change |
4 | 10/31/2020 | 0,00 |
-100,00 (negative) change |
Subscription sub2
:
# | Date | Actual | Change |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 7/1/2020 | 10,00 |
10,00 (positive) change |
2 | 9/1/2020 | 11,00 |
1,00 (positive) change |
3 | 10/31/2020 | 1,00 |
-10,00 (negative) change |
This results in the following account metrics:
# | Date | Actual | Change | Subscriptions |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7/1/2020 | 20,00 |
20,00 (positive) change |
sub1,sub2 |
2 | 8/1/2020 | 120,00 |
100,00 (positive) change |
sub1 |
3 | 9/1/2020 | 121,00 |
1,00 (positive) change |
sub2 |
4 | 9/30/2020 | 111,00 |
-10,00 (negative) change |
sub1 |
5 | 10/31/2020 | 1,00 |
-110,00 (negative) change |
sub1,sub2 |
Account Metric Chains
By default, JustOn aggregates the items of a subscription to one metric chain, where the metric records have a predecessor and a successor. Optionally, the subscription metric records can be grouped by an item criterion, for example, the product group. The resulting metrics are organized in metric chains per criterion. This allows you to build reports that reflect changes that result in growth or churn based on a specific criterion.
Applying an item criterion, JustOn produces metric chains per criterion
Metric Fields on Accounts
The account includes the field Initial MRR
. It shows the sum of the initial MRR values of account metrics records.
You can define additional fields on the account that summarize account metric data. Use this to calculate the current or future MRR values, like Current MRR
or MRR in One Year
.
Info
JustOn deletes the current or future MRR values during the next metric generation if an account has no subscription in scope, for example, when all subscriptions have reached the end date.
Example metrics-related fields on accounts
Field | Purpose |
---|---|
Last MRR Update | Shows the date on which the MRR fields were last calculated. |
Current MRR | Shows the current MRR over all recurring items. |
MRR in One Year | Shows the MRR in one year, based on the last MRR update. |
The MRR fields are set up individually for your org by an administrator. Be aware that the field labels as well as the count/month configuration may vary.
Subscription Metrics
Subscription metrics track changes to recurring or transactional items, like creation, termination, price/quantity modifications, to display the recurring revenue or growth/churn rates for individual subscriptions. Subscription metrics are related to the account and the subscription.
Subscription metric data model
Field | Description |
---|---|
Account | The related account (secondary master-detail); the metric record is deleted when the account is deleted. |
Actual | The actual amount of this metricPrevious/Initial + Change |
Change | The change of the MRR based on the previous MRR. |
Churn Rate (Gross) | The gross churn rate is the ratio between Churn and Actual .IF(Actual=0,1,Churn/Actual) |
Churn Rate (Net) | The net churn rate is the ratio between Change and Actual .IF(Actual=0,1,Change/Actual) |
Churn | The absolute churn if the change is negative.IF(Change < 0,ABS(Change),null) |
Date | The effective date of this metric, depends on the kind of change (add/subtract) and the service period/next invoice date of the item. |
Expansion | The absolute expansion if the change is positive.IF(Change > 0,Change,null) |
Growth Rate | The growth rate is the ratio between Change and Previous .IF(Previous=0,null,Change/Previous) |
Initial | Holds the initial MRR value. Only filled if the change date equals the start date of the first subscription. |
Is Latest (checkbox) | Marks the latest metric record for a particular item criterion. |
Item Criterion | The criterion shows which items have been aggregated to this metric. |
Items | The names of the related items that caused the current change. |
Next Metric | Links to the next metric record, which supersedes the current record. |
Previous Metric | Links to the previous metric record, which is superseded by the current record. |
Previous | Holds the MRR value of the previous metric record. |
Retention Rate | The opposite of the gross churn rate. The sum of the two is always 100%.1-ChurnRateGross |
Smooth Change | The smooth change formula allows to report two consecutive metrics (within two days) as one (like -50 and +70 is reported as +20 ) |
Subscription | The related subscription (primary master-detail); the metric record is deleted when the subscription is deleted. |
Subscription Metric Generation
Generally, the account metric generation and the subscription metric generation are nearly identical. They use the same subscriptions and items as input and follow the same rules that trigger the metric creation.
The difference is:
- Metric data for subscription metrics is aggregated on subscription basis.
- Metric data for account metrics is aggregated on account basis, that is, for all subscriptions of an account.
The decision whether to create subscription metrics or account metrics is controlled via the global setting Subscription Metrics Scope
.
Generally, the following item actions produce new or changed metric records:
- Creating a recurring item
- Creating a transactional item with expected revenue
-
Ending a subscription or item using an end date
You can set the end date retroactively within one month to trigger the end metric creation.
-
Deactivating an item
- Changing the price/quantity of an item
Workflow details
Subscription metric records and account metric records are created on subscription or item change if the following conditions are met:
-
Subscription
- Status is set to
Inactive
,Canceled
orUpgraded
- Status is set to
-
Recurring item
- Billing type is
Recurring
,Recurring Prorated
orRecurring Prorated AVG
- Item is created
- Quantity or price is changed
- Item is deactivated
- End date is set
- Billing type is
-
Transactional item
- Billing type is not
Recurring
,Recurring Prorated
,Recurring Prorated AVG
orOne-Time
- Item is created
- Expected revenue is changed
- Item is deactivated
- End date is set
- Billing type is not
In addition, the following rules apply:
- Each change results in a new metric record that is linked to the previous record.
- If the change date equals the start date of the first subscription, the field
Initial
is set. - Subsequent metric records have filled the fields
Previous
andChange
. - The first record is set to the start date of the item or subscription.
- Subsequent metric records are set to the next invoice date of the item.
- A final metric record for an item is created only if the end date of the item actually reached (that is, if the end date equals the current date or a previous date), or if the subscription is canceled.
- The final metric record is set to the end date of the item.
- Metrics are continued from upgraded subscriptions (related via the subscription field
Previous Subscription
).
Subscription metrics generation example
The following example illustrates the subscription metric generation on a basic level, that is, without applying criteria. This produces a single metric chain.
There is a subscription with the start date set to 2019-01-01 and the following items:
Start and end dates trigger subscription metric record creation
Based on the given subscription items, the subscription metric builder job produces these metric records:
Produced subscription metric records
# | Event | Modification |
---|---|---|
1 | REC1 start date | 50,00 initial MRR value50,00 actual amount |
2 | REC2 start date | 270,00 (positive) change270,00 expansion value 320,00 actual amount |
3 | REC3 start date | 30,00 (positive) change30,00 expansion value350,00 actual amount |
4 | REC2 end date | -270,00 (negative) change270,00 churn value 80,00 actual amount |
5 | REC1 end date | -50,00 (negative) change50,00 churn value 30,00 actual amount |
If there are end dates set for items, JustOn produces the corresponding end metrics.
Now assume you cancel the subscription before an item end date is reached. This forces JustOn to generate one end metric record for the current metric chain that includes all items, irrespective of their end date settings.
Produced subscription metric records after cancelling the subscription
# | Event | Modification |
---|---|---|
1 | REC1 start date | 50,00 initial MRR value50,00 actual amount |
2 | REC2 start date | 270,00 (positive) change270,00 expansion value 320,00 actual amount |
3 | REC3 start date | 30,00 (positive) change30,00 expansion value350,00 actual amount |
4 | subscription end date | -350,00 (negative) change350,00 churn value0,00 actual amount |
Subscription Metric Chains
By default, JustOn aggregates the items of a subscription to one metric chain, where the metric records have a predecessor and a successor. Optionally, the subscription metric records can be grouped by an item criterion, for example, the product group. The resulting metrics are organized in metric chains per criterion. This allows you to build reports that reflect changes that result in growth or churn based on a specific criterion.
Applying an item criterion, JustOn produces metric chains per criterion
Metric Fields on Subscriptions
The subscription includes the field Initial MRR
. It shows the sum of the initial MRR values of active recurring items at the subscription start.
You can define additional fields on the subscription that summarize subscription metric data. Use this to calculate the current or future MRR values, like Current MRR
or MRR in One Year
.
Example metrics-related fields on subscriptions
Field | Purpose |
---|---|
Last MRR Update | Shows the date on which the MRR fields were last calculated. |
Current MRR | Shows the current MRR over all recurring items. |
MRR in One Year | Shows the MRR in one year, based on the last MRR update. |
The MRR fields are set up individually for your org by an administrator. Be aware that the field labels as well as the count/month configuration may vary.
Cash Metrics
Cash metrics track current changes to the amount of existing subscriptions. They give a forecast on a business's expected cash flow based on current data rather than show the actual cash flow history.
Cash metrics are related to the account and the subscription.
Cash metric data model
Field | Description |
---|---|
Subscription | The related subscription (primary master-detail); the metric record is deleted when the subscription is deleted. |
Account | The related account (secondary master-detail); the metric record is deleted when the account is deleted. |
Date | The effective date of this metric (month and year, always first day of a month) |
Amount | The sum over all items of this month for the subscription |
Month | The month of the effective date |
Year | The year of the effective date |
Depending on your process configuration, JustOn creates and updates cash metric records on subscription or item change. The conditions that trigger cash metric updates may include
- Modified start/end date or activation status for subscriptions
- Modified start/end date, activation status, billing period or modified quantity, price or discount values for items
One cash metric record corresponds to a monthly invoice run for a subscription. That is, JustOn "simulates" an invoice run per month and aggregates the amount of the resulting invoice line items for each subscription in the Amount
field of the cash metric record.
Workflow details
If set up accordingly, JustOn creates and updates cash metric records when relevant fields of existing subscriptions or items change.
The following conditions apply:
-
Cash metrics reflect current values and do not look back. That is, a recent cash metric record cannot reproduce previous changes to a subscription or item.
Consequently, JustOn cannot restore deleted cash metric records.
-
One cash metric record corresponds to a monthly invoice run for a subscription. That is, JustOn "simulates" an invoice run per month and aggregates the amount of the resulting invoice line items for each subscription in the
Amount
field of the cash metric record. - With respect to transactional items, the monthly amount of transactional items is derived from the
Expected Revenue
field of the item record (ONB2__ExpectedRevenue__c
). If this field is empty, the relevant record will be ignored on metrics creation. - JustOn creates cash metrics up to the end of the subscription or item. If there is no end date, cash metric records are produced for a maximum of 12 months.
Business Reports
Businesses need continuous reporting about their KPIs. To meet such requirements, Salesforce includes a reporting functionality. Using reports, you can examine your data in almost infinite combinations, display it in easy-to-understand formats, and share the resulting insights with others. For details, see Reports in the Salesforce Help.
JustOn makes use of Salesforce's reporting feature, providing a number of reports based on your org's invoicing-relevant data. You can select and add these reports to your Salesforce org.