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Managing Subscriptions

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. In this sense, subscriptions represent contracts or "billing plans".

A subscription is the main "trigger" for an account to be considered in an invoice run - that is, each account for which you want invoices being created automatically is to be assigned a subscription. The invoice run will create one invoice for each active subscription.

Generally, subscriptions represent contracts. As contracts usually apply for a certain period of time, may involve automatic renewal and define cancellation terms, JustOn allows for applying these criteria to subscriptions.

This way, you can configure a subscription that has an end date to be extended before it expires. If you enable the automatic subscription renewal, JustOn schedules a job that will run daily and extend all auto-renewal subscriptions when the corresponding date is reached.

Managing subscriptions includes the following main tasks:

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:

  1. Open the Subscriptions tab.
  2. Click New.
  3. Specify the details as required.

  4. 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:

  1. Open the detail page of the account, contract, etc., in the context of which you want to create the subscription.
  2. Scroll to the Subscriptions list.
  3. Click New.
  4. Specify the details as required.

  5. 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.

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:

  1. Open the subscription that you want to copy.
  2. Click Clone.

  3. Edit the details as necessary.

    clone_subscr
    Cloning a subscription

  4. 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:

  1. Open the subscription that you want to activate.

  2. Double-click the current status and select Active from the drop-down list.

    Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then select Active from the Status drop-down list.

  3. Click Save.

    This activates the subscription, including it in the 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:

  1. Open the subscription for which you want to set a preferred invoice date.
  2. Click Edit.

  3. 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

  4. 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

The following settings control the subscription automatic renewal:

Field Description
Auto-Renewal Defines the number of days or months to extend the subscription, setting up the subscription for automatic renewal.
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.

Info

The grace period is controlled via the corresponding global setting. In Setup, 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:

  1. Open the subscription that you want to be extended automatically.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Specify the auto-renewal, cancellation terms and renewal date as necessary.

  4. 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.

For the subscription renewal job to run, the following conditions must be met:

  • Subscription is set Active.
  • End Date is set.
  • Auto-Renewal is set.
  • Renewal Date is 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.

  1. Open the subscription that you want to be updated.

  2. Select the ON_UpdateSubscription checkbox, and click Save.

    As an alternative, you can set up a custom process to have the checkbox selected automatically when certain conditions are met.

  3. 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_UpdateSubscription and sets a date in ON_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 the 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

Info

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

Managing Price Increase Details

To manage the price increase options:

  1. Open the subscription for which you want to configure a price increase.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Specify the price increase and price increase date as necessary.
  4. Click Save.

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 -

Setting Up Installments

Certain business use cases require staged payment plans for invoices. To this end, JustOn allows for setting up installments, which represent models for intended payment plans. For details, see Enabling Installments.

If this feature is enabled, you can define an installment type for a subscription. When executing an invoice run, JustOn consequently produces an invoice with the payment plan (installments) set up.

  1. Open the subscription for which you want to define installments.

  2. Double-click the Installment Type field 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 Type picklist.

  3. 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:

  1. Open the subscription that you want to cancel.

  2. Double-click the current status and select Canceled from the drop-down list.

    Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then select Canceled from the Status drop-down list.

  3. Click Save.

    This sets the cancellation date to the current date.

To cancel a subscription for a future date:

  1. Open the subscription that you want to cancel.

  2. Double-click the Cancellation Date field and specify the date as required.

    Alternatively, you can click Edit in the detail view and then specify the cancellation date.

  3. Click Save.

    This sets the status Canceled on the specified date.

Info

You can still process canceled subscriptions in the invoice run until their end date is reached. To this end, configure the subscription status Canceled as active for the invoice run. In Setup, open Custom Settings > Global Settings > Manage > Edit, and add Canceled to the value list for Active Subscription Status.

Next steps:

Managing Subscription Items
Managing Item Pricing
Managing Invoice Runs
Manually Creating Invoices