Managing Subscriptions
JustOn implements subscriptions using a dedicated object that represents the periodic billing plan for a contracted product use. See the subscription as a "blueprint" for the future invoice: It combines the account information (buyer name, address, etc.) with the details of the products to be charged, like product name and description, price, price model, applicable discounts, etc.
Managing subscriptions includes the following main tasks:
- Creating subscriptions
- Activating subscriptions
- Defining a preferred invoice date
- Configuring subscription auto-renewal
- Updating subscription and subscription items
- Configuring subscription price increases
- Setting up installments
- Canceling subscriptions
- Using subscription-based metrics
Creating Subscriptions
There are two ways to create a subscription manually:
- Creating a subscription manually from scratch, or
- Cloning an existing subscription, copying the current configuration and any attached items and prices.
Info
JustOn also allows for building subscriptions automatically. For details, see Automatic Subscription Build.
Creating a Subscription From Scratch
You can create subscriptions in different contexts, either directly via the Subscriptions tab or from any other page that includes a related list of subscriptions, for example, a detail page for an account or a contract. Depending on the creation context, the new subscription may automatically be connected to an account.
To create a new subscription from the Subscriptions tab:
- Open the Subscriptions tab.
- Click New.
-
Specify the details as required.
Setting a legal address will overwrite the billing address from the associated account on invoice creation (see General Address Concepts).
-
Click Save.
This generates the new subscription, and you can proceed to add items (see Managing Subscription Items).
To create a subscription from a specific context:
- Open the detail page of the account, contract, etc., in the context of which you want to create the subscription.
- Scroll to the Subscriptions list.
- Click New.
-
Specify the details as required.
Setting a legal address will overwrite the billing address from the associated account on invoice creation (see General Address Concepts).
-
Click Save.
This generates the new subscription, and you can proceed to add items (see Managing Subscription Items).
Note
The Subscriptions list must be made available in the corresponding detail view. For details, see Managing Pages.
Creating Subscription From Individual Object
Note
Make sure that the automatic subscription build is enabled, and that the button to invoke the subscription creation from a source record is available. For details, see Automatically Building Subscriptions.
To generate a subscription from an accordingly configured object:
- Navigate to the object record for which you want to create a subscription.
- Click New Subscription.
-
Select the subscription build filter.
Be aware that individually creating a subscription from a single source record does not evaluate the filter condition (which is used to define the set of involved records on batch processing).
-
Click Continue.
This generates the new subscription, including all relevant data available from the source record and via the related account.
Cloning a Subscription
Certain business use cases require a subscription to be cloned. Cloning a subscription creates a copy of the current subscription, including the attached items. In addition, the following information is set by default:
- the subscription name
Autogenerate, - the status
Draft, - the account, invoice template, contact data etc. as copied from the original subscription.
Upon cloning, you can modify this data as required.
To clone an existing subscription:
- Open the subscription that you want to copy.
- Click Clone.
-
Edit the details as necessary.
Cloning a subscription -
Click Clone.
This generates the new subscription, including the selected items and their prices.
Activating Subscriptions
Unless otherwise defined upon creation, new subscriptions have the status Draft. To be considered in an invoice run, they must be set Active. To do so:
- Open the subscription that you want to activate.
-
Double-click the current status and select
Activefrom the drop-down list.Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then select
Activefrom theStatusdrop-down list. -
Click Save.
This activates the subscription, including it in the invoice run.
Info
In order to be considered by the invoice run, a subscription's start date must be within the invoice run period. This also applies to the start dates of the subscription items as well as to the transaction date. If there is no start date set, JustOn includes the subscription in the next invoice run.
Defining a Preferred Invoice Date
You can set up a subscription to only generate an invoice on a preferred date with a specific time interval, for example, on the 6th day of the month every three months. To do so:
- Open the subscription for which you want to set a preferred invoice date.
- Click Edit.
-
Edit the details as necessary.
- Preferred Invoice Date: Specifies that an invoice is generated if this date is before the invoice run end date; it will also be copied as the invoice date when the invoice in finalized
- Billing Period: Specifies the number of months to set the next preferred date after the invoice has been finalized
-
Click Save.
The subscription is considered in an invoice run if the invoice run end date is after the preferred invoice date. When finalizing the resulting invoice, the preferred invoice date is copied to the invoice as invoice date if the preferred invoice date is the current or a future date. The next preferred invoice date of the subscription is calculated by adding the billing period months to the last preferred invoice date.
Configuring Subscription Auto-Renewal
Auto-renewal parameters
The following settings control the automatic subscription renewal:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-Renewal | Defines the number of days or months (like 30d or 12m) to extend the subscription, setting up the subscription for automatic renewal.You can modify the picklist values (always using the pattern x(d|m)) according to your requirements, see Modifying Picklist Values. |
| Cancellation Terms | Defines the cancellation period in days or months for a subscription. If empty, a value of 0 is taken by default. |
| Renewal Date | Specifies the next renewal date. If the subscription is set up for automatic renewal, the date is automatically calculated like:End Date - Cancellation Terms + Grace Period.If the subscription has no end date, the field is empty. |
The grace period is controlled via the corresponding global setting. Click to enter Setup, then open Custom Settings > Global Settings > Manage > Edit, and set a value for Grace Period. If left empty, 0 is used by default.
To set up a subscription for automatic renewal:
- Open the subscription that you want to be extended automatically.
- Click Edit.
- Specify the auto-renewal, cancellation terms and renewal date as necessary.
-
Click Save.
This makes the subscription subject to automatic renewal. JustOn schedules the corresponding job to run daily in order to extend all auto-renewal subscriptions when the renewal date is reached.
Optionally, JustOn can merge items during the automatic subscription renewal. To use this option, it must be enabled accordingly (see Enabling Item Merge)
Info
For the automatic subscription renewal to run, the following conditions must be met:
- Subscription is set
Active. End Dateis set.Auto-Renewalis set.Renewal Dateis set and less or equal to the current date.
Updating Subscription and Subscription Items
Info
The automatic subscription update functionality is available as of JustOn 2.43.
Certain business use cases require existing subscriptions or subscription items to be updated, for example, after the value of a source object field has changed.
Note
Make sure that the subscription update is enabled. For details, see Enabling Subscription and Subscription Items Update.
- Open the subscription that you want to be updated.
-
Select the
ON_UpdateSubscriptioncheckbox, and click Save.As an alternative, you can set up a custom process to have the checkbox selected automatically when certain conditions are met.
-
Execute the subscription builder as set up for the corresponding source object.
For details, see Enabling Subscription Generation.
This triggers the automatic subscription update. The subscription builder copies the specified fields to be updated. After completing the update, the subscription builder deselects the checkbox
ON_UpdateSubscriptionand sets a date inON_LastSubscriptionUpdate.
Configuring Subscription Price Increases
Certain business use cases require the prices for subscription items to be increased automatically on a regular basis.
The following subscription details control this behavior:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Price Increase | Specifies the percentage value by which to increase the prices of this subscription. Note that the price increase affects all items equally. |
| Price Increase Date | Specifies the date (MM-dd) on which the price increase is made effective. |
Price increase concepts
The subscription price increase feature makes use of price tier groups. If set up accordingly, a scheduled job duplicates the latest price tier group and increases the price of all subscription items by the defined percentage value once a year at the defined date.
For Price Increase Date, the following options are available by default:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
01-01 |
January 1st |
06-01 |
June 1st |
Start Date |
Month and day of the subscription start date |
End Date |
Month and day of the subscription end date |
You can add more month/day combinations to the picklist. For details, see Adding Price Increase Date Options.
The price increase considers subscriptions and items if the following conditions are true:
- The subscription status is
Active - The corresponding price increase settings at the subscription are set
- The subscription end date is empty or after the current date
- The item status is
Active - The item end date is empty or after the current date
-
The item has price tiers whose
- End date is empty
- Start date is empty or at least nine months in the past from the current date
Once set up properly, JustOn creates the new price tier groups at the earliest nine months before the price increase becomes valid (according to the value in Price Increase Date).
To manage the price increase options:
- Open the subscription for which you want to configure a price increase.
- Click Edit.
- Specify the price increase and price increase date as necessary.
-
Click Save.
JustOn creates the new price tier groups at the earliest nine months before the price increase becomes valid.
Note
For the automatic price increase to become effective, there must be set up the corresponding scheduled job.
Price increase example
This section shows a price increase example, illustrating its behavior.
Subscription settings
| Field | Example Value |
|---|---|
| Price Increase | 5% |
| Price Increase Date | 06-01 |
Corresponding price tier group before the price increase
| Quantity | Price | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 10,00 | - | - |
| 1000 | 9,50 | - | - |
| - | 9,00 | - | - |
Price tier groups after the price increase
(1) Existing price tier group
| Quantity | Price | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 10,00 | - | 2017-05-31 |
| 1000 | 9,50 | - | 2017-05-31 |
| - | 9,00 | - | 2017-05-31 |
(2) New price tier group
| Quantity | Price | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 10,50 | 2017-06-01 | - |
| 1000 | 9,975 | 2017-06-01 | - |
| - | 9,45 | 2017-06-01 | - |
Using Installments
To support staged payment plans for invoices, JustOn allows for setting up installments, which represent models for intended payment plans.
If this feature is enabled, you can configure an installment for a subscription. When executing an invoice run, JustOn consequently produces an invoice with the payment plan (installments) set up.
Installment Examples
This section summarizes some examples for the installment configuration, illustrating its behavior.
Four equally distributed monthly installments
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-05 |
| Installment Type | Four by Month |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Four by Month |
| Period | 1m(4) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2017-12-05 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-01-05 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-02-05 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2018-03-05 |
25,00 |
Five equally distributed monthly installments, due end of month, overwritten titles
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-31 |
| Installment Type | Five by Month |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Five by Month |
| Period | 1m(5) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
| Title1__c | First Rate |
| TitleLast__c | Last Rate |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
First Rate |
2017-12-31 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 1 |
2018-01-31 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-02-28 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-03-31 |
20,00 |
|
Last Rate |
2018-04-30 |
20,00 |
Three installments, distributed by rate, regular period
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-05 |
| Installment Type | Three by Two Months |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Three by Two Months |
| Period | 2m(3) |
| Rate | 20,30,50 |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2017-12-05 |
20,00 |
20 |
Installment 2 |
2018-02-05 |
30,00 |
30 |
Installment 3 |
2018-04-05 |
50,00 |
50 |
Three installments, distributed by rate, irregular dates
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2018-03-15 |
| Invoice Date | 2018-03-01 |
| Payment Due | 14 (days) |
| Installment Type | Three Irregular |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Three Irregular |
| Period | 17d,103d,0d |
| Rate | 20,30,50 |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Since the first installment is bound to the payment due date – or, with Date Reference, to a custom date –, the first date definition in Period determines the date of the second installment, the second that of the third, etc. However, you still need as many date definitions as intended installments. We recommend to use 0d as the last one to complete the number.
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-03-15 |
20,00 |
20 |
Installment 2 |
2018-04-01 |
30,00 |
30 |
Installment 3 |
2018-07-13 |
50,00 |
50 |
Four installments, irregular dates, with custom date as anchor
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 1000,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2021-07-15 |
| Invoice Date | 2021-07-01 |
| Date1__c | 2021-07-30 |
| Installment Type | Four Irregular |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Four Irregular |
| Period | 30d,90d,180d,0d |
| Date Reference | Date1__c(4) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Since the first installment is bound to the payment due date – or, with Date Reference, to a custom date –, the first date definition in Period determines the date of the second installment, the second that of the third, etc. However, you still need as many date definitions as intended installments. We recommend to use 0d as the last one to complete the number.
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2021-07-30 |
250,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2021-08-29 |
250,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2021-11-27 |
250,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2022-05-26 |
250,00 |
Three installments with fixed first amount, regular period
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-05 |
| Installment Type | 30 Deposit |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | 30 Deposit |
| Period | 20d(3) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | 30 |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2017-12-05 |
30,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2017-12-25 |
35,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-08-14 |
35,00 |
Existing pre-payment, four equally distributed monthly installments
Invoice with prepaid balance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Date | 2018-06-01 |
| Payment Due Date | 2018-07-31 |
| Prepayment | -40,00 |
| Installment Type | Four by Month |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Four by Month |
| Period | 1m(4) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Open Payment Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-07-31 |
25,00 |
0,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-08-31 |
25,00 |
10,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-09-30 |
25,00 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2018-10-31 |
25,00 |
25,00 |
Four equally distributed installments with custom date as anchor
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-05 |
| Date1__c | 2018-02-01 |
| Installment Type | Different Anchor |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Different Anchor |
| Period | 1m(4) |
| Date Reference | Date1__c(4) |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-02-01 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-03-01 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-04-01 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2018-05-01 |
25,00 |
Four equally distributed installments with custom dates
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2017-12-05 |
| Date1__c | 2018-02-03 |
| Date2__c | 2018-05-07 |
| Date3__c | 2018-11-13 |
| Date4__c | 2019-05-19 |
| Installment Type | Four custom dates |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Four custom dates |
| Period | 0m(4) orfix,fix,fix,fix |
| Date Reference | Date1__c,Date2__c,Date3__c,Date4__c |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-02-03 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-05-07 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-11-13 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2019-05-19 |
25,00 |
Four equally distributed installments, first with custom date, others based on payment due date
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2018-03-01 |
| Date1__c | 2018-02-03 |
| Installment Type | One custom date |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | One custom date |
| Period | fix,15d(3) |
| Date Reference | Date1__c |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-02-03 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-03-01 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-03-16 |
25,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2018-03-31 |
25,00 |
Four installments, distributed by rate, last with custom date, others based on payment due date
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 100,00 |
| Payment Due Date | 2018-03-01 |
| Date1__c | 2019-12-31 |
| Installment Type | Last custom date |
Installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Last custom date |
| Period | 1m(3),fix |
| Date Reference | PaymentDueDate__c(3),Date1__c |
| Rate | 20(3) |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Resulting payment plan
| Title | Date | Amount | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
Installment 1 |
2018-03-01 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 2 |
2018-04-01 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 3 |
2018-05-01 |
20,00 |
|
Installment 4 |
2019-12-31 |
40,00 |
Installments created per service month from invoice line item service periods
Assume an invoice (with a payment due of 10) created for a recurring item with a billing factor of 12.
| # | Quantity | Unit Price | Billing Factor | Service Period Start | Service Period End | Tax Rate | Pos Total (net) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 100,00 | 12 | 2019-04-15 | 2020-04-14 | 19% | 1200,00 | |
| Subtotal Net | 1200,00 | |||||||
| Tax | 228,00 | |||||||
| Grand Total | 1428,00 |
For service month-based installments to work with one-time items, the billing factor and the billing unit must be empty.
Applying this installment custom setting
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Period | Service Month |
| Rate | |
| Amount | |
| Title | Installment [PosNo] |
Produces the following payment plan (note that the installment date is calculated using ServicePeriodStart + PaymentDue):
| Title | Service Period Start | Service Period End | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installment 1 | 2019-04-15 | 2019-05-14 | 2019-04-25 | 119,00 |
| Installment 2 | 2019-05-15 | 2019-06-14 | 2019-05-25 | 119,00 |
| Installment 3 | 2019-06-15 | 2019-07-14 | 2019-06-25 | 119,00 |
| ... | ||||
| Installment 12 | 2020-03-15 | 2020-04-14 | 2020-03-25 | 119,00 |
To display the service period in the installment table on the invoice PDF, specify the following configuration in the Installment Columns Template field: Title__c;ServicePeriodStart__c;ServicePeriodEnd__c;Date__c;Amount__c.
Installments created per service quarter from invoice line item service periods (using a JSON configuration)
Invoice
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Grand Total | 166,00 |
| Installment Type | Custom |
| CustomInstallment__c | {"period":"Service Quarter","titles":{"default":{"default":"Installment [PosNo]"}}} |
Invoice line items
| # | Quantity | Price | Service Period Start | Service Period End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 120,00 | 2019-04-01 | 2019-09-31 |
| 2 | 1 | 46,00 | 2019-04-01 | 2019-05-31 |
The service period of the first invoice line item spans two quarters, so the price of 120,00 will be distributed over two installments of 60,00 each. The service period of the second invoice line item is within the first quarter, so the complete price of 46,00 is added to the first installment, which results in 106,00:
| Title | Service Period Start | Service Period End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installment 1 | 2019-04-01 | 2019-06-30 | 106,00 |
| Installment 2 | 2019-07-01 | 2019-09-31 | 60,00 |
To display the service period in the installment table on the invoice PDF, specify the following configuration in the Installment Columns Template field: Title__c;ServicePeriodStart__c;ServicePeriodEnd__c;Amount__c.
Activating Installment
To activate a defined payment plan, you add an installment type to a subscription.
- Open the subscription for which you want to define installments.
-
Double-click the
Installment Typefield and select the intended payment plan from the drop-down list.Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then select the payment plan from the
Installment Typepicklist. -
Click Save.
This activates the selected installment type, which triggers the generation of the corresponding payment plan when creating the invoice.
Canceling a Subscription
Canceling a subscription clears the renewal date and updates the end date if
-
the old end date is empty – the new end date will be
Cancellation Date+Cancellation Terms -
the cancellation date is after or equal to the renewal date – the new end date will be
old
End Date+Auto Renewal
To cancel a subscription with immediate effect:
- Open the subscription that you want to cancel.
-
Double-click the current status and select
Canceledfrom the drop-down list.Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then select
Canceledfrom theStatusdrop-down list. -
Click Save.
This sets the cancellation date to the current date.
To cancel a subscription for a future date:
- Open the subscription that you want to cancel.
-
Double-click the
Cancellation Datefield and specify the date as required.Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then specify the cancellation date.
-
Click Save.
This sets the status
Canceledon the specified date.
Info
JustOn continues to process canceled subscriptions in the invoice run until their end date is reached. Canceled subscriptions without end date, however, are ignored.
Using Subscription-Based Metrics
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).
For analytics and reporting purposes, JustOn introduces specific metric objects that can be set up to track billing-relevant changes: account metrics, subscription metrics and cash metrics.
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 to customize the JustOn reports or to build your own reports in Salesforce (see Business Reports).
- Account metrics and subscription metrics
-
Account metrics and subscription metrics display recurring revenues and growth/churn rates. They track changes to recurring and transactional items, like creation, termination or price/quantity modifications, on a monthly base to produce MRR values.
MRR values make up the base for further KPIs, like churn or ARR. JustOn directly saves churn values into the metrics records, whereas the calculation of other KPIs (ARR, ARPA, etc.) is subject to dedicated business reports.
Account metrics aggregate data over all subscriptions of an account, whereas subscription metrics consider 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.
- Cash metrics
-
Cash metrics display a business's expected cash flow. They track current changes to the amount of one-time, recurring and transactional items of active subscriptions.
To create cash metrics, JustOn "simulates" an invoice run per month and aggregates the resulting amount. That is, one cash metric record shows the same amount data as a monthly invoice run for a subscription would produce.
Info
The decision whether to create MRR metrics or cash metric depends on your reporting requirements. Investors or shareholders of a business may want forecasts on recurring revenues. In this case, you would create account metrics or subscription metrics and build reports based on the produced MRR and churn data. A business's directors or managers, however, may rather need a cash flow forecast – so you would create cash metrics and build reports upon them.
Why MRR, not ARR?
Producing MRR in the first place provides for more flexibility:
MRR values make up the base for further KPIs, like ARR. You can easily create a business report (or even a custom formula field on the metric object) that calculates ARR on the basis of MRR.
Furthermore, subscriptions may have terms that are less than one year. In these cases, producing ARR would just be wrong, as they would show inaccurate figures.
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 on a monthly base, producing MRR values. Subscription metrics are related to the account and the subscription.
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.
Subscription metrics generation
Generally, the following item actions produce new or changed metric records:
- Creating a recurring item
- Creating a transactional item with expected revenue
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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.
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Deactivating an item
- Changing the price/quantity of an item
To actually create or update subscription metric records, you schedule the subscription metric builder job.
- Single subscription
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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 creationBased on the given subscription items, the subscription metric builder job produces these metric records:
Produced subscription metric records# Event Modification 1 REC1 start date 50,00initial MRR value50,00actual amount2 REC2 start date 270,00(positive) change270,00expansion value320,00actual amount3 REC3 start date 30,00(positive) change30,00expansion value350,00actual amount4 REC2 end date -270,00(negative) change270,00churn value80,00actual amount5 REC1 end date -50,00(negative) change50,00churn value30,00actual amountIf there are end dates set for items, JustOn produces the corresponding end metrics.
- Subscription cancellation
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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 50,00initial MRR value50,00actual amount2 REC2 start date 270,00(positive) change270,00expansion value320,00actual amount3 REC3 start date 30,00(positive) change30,00expansion value350,00actual amount4 subscription end date -350,00(negative) change350,00churn value0,00actual amount - Subscription upgrade
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Let us consider a subscription upgrade: There is a subscription with one item of 100 Euros, then you upgrade this subscription, raising the item's price to 125 Euros. There will be two subscriptions with their metric records. But because they all originate from the same item, the metric records will be aggregated in one metric chain, which allows for tracking the MRR for the item.
Produced subscription metric records of one subscription after upgrading it
Produced subscription metric records of the second subscription# Event Modification 1 item start on subscription 1 100,00initial MRR value100,00actual amount2 subscription 1 end -100,00(negative) change100,00churn value0,00actual amount3 item modification on subscription 2 125,00(positive) change25,00smooth change (= combined previous-100,00change and current125,00change)125,00expansion value125,00actual amount
The individual subscription metric records are accessible via the corresponding related list on the subscription detail page if set up accordingly.
Note
Do not delete items from active subscriptions when using subscription metrics, as this would break the metrics. Instead, deactivate the item or set an end date, as described in Terminating Item.
Info
To actually create or update subscription metric records, your org requires the subscription metric builder job to be scheduled. The changes are always based on the previously tracked metrics.
Cash Metrics
Cash metrics display a business's expected cash flow. They track current changes to the amount of one-time, recurring and transactional items of active subscriptions. That is, they produce a cash flow forecast based on current data, but do not show the actual cash flow history.
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.
Cash metrics are related to the account and the subscription.
Typically, you want JustOn to run the cash metric algorithm when the subscription or a related item changes. To this end, you create dedicated flows that run on subscriptions and items.
The conditions that trigger cash metric updates may include
- Modified start/end date or activation status for subscriptions
- Modified next billing date, start/end date, activation status, billing period or modified quantity, price or discount values for items
You can access the cash metrics records via the corresponding related list on the subscription if set up accordingly.
Info
To actually create or update cash metric records, your org requires the corresponding flows to be set up.
Next steps:
Managing Subscription Items
Managing Item Pricing
Managing Invoice Runs
Manually Creating Invoices