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Managing Subscription Items

Subscriptions include items. They represent the products to be charged and will figure as invoice line items on the created invoices.

Item billing type concepts

Depending on the nature of the product, you can define a specific billing type for an item. It specifies the general billing behavior:

  • One-Time: The item is billed only once. After the item has been invoiced and the corresponding invoice has been finalized, JustOn deactivates it so it will not be included in subsequent invoice runs.

    As soon as an item specifies a billing period, billing unit, start date and end date, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management considers it as recurring and, consequently, calculates proportional price amounts, even if its type is explicitly set One-Time.

  • Transactional: There is no quantity defined for the item. Instead, the information (quantity or quantity + price) is provided by usage data that match the subscription item.

  • Recurring: The item is billed with the given amount in each invoice run.
  • Recurring Prorated: The item is billed with the given amount in each invoice run, with support for the partial calculation of months defined as the billing unit. Every whole month in the billing period is counted as one, whereas a part of a month is calculated as Days / NumberOfDaysInThisMonth.
  • Recurring Prorated AVG: This is a variant of the Recurring Prorated billing type with a different billing factor calculation. With Recurring Prorated AVG, JustOn calculates the billing factor the same way as Salesforce CPQ with a subscription prorate precision of Monthly + Daily (see Subscription Prorate Precision in the Salesforce Help).

With respect to the billing type, the items must provide different sets of required information.

  • Title
  • Billing Type: One-Time
  • Order No.
  • Title
  • Billing Type: Recurring/Recurring Prorated
  • Order No.
  • Billing Period
  • Billing Unit
  • Next Service Period Start
  • Title
  • Billing Type: Transactional
  • Order No.
  • Transaction Aggregation Fields

Info

For details about item price settings, see Managing Item Pricing.

For details about all available item fields, refer to the Item object reference.

Managing subscription items includes the following tasks:

Adding Items

There are several ways to add an item to a subscription:

To create a subscription item manually from scratch:

  1. Open the subscription to which you want to add an item.
  2. In the Items section, click New.

  3. Specify the details as required.

    Mandatory parameters include

    • Title
    • Billing Type: Recurring, One-Time or Transactional, see General Billing Settings
    • Order No.: Key to match source data to a subscription item

  4. Click Save.

    This generates the new item.

    New items are automatically set Active.

For details about the fields that control the item's pricing and billing behavior, see General Billing Settings.

Creating Items From Products

You can create a subscription item from a product that already exists in Salesforce as a pricebook entry.

Note

To be able to use this feature, you need a valid Salesforce CRM license.

To create an item from a pricebook entry:

  1. Open the subscription to which you want to add an item.
  2. In the Items list, click New Item From Product.
  3. Select the intended pricebook and pricebook entry.
  4. Modify the details as required.

  5. Click Save.

    This creates the new subscription item and returns you to the subscription detail page.

    New items are automatically set Active.

JustOn copies the following fields when generating a subscription item from a product:

Source Target
Product2 Product Code Item Order No.
Product2 Name Item Title
Product2 Description Item Description
Product2 Family Item Product Group
Price Book Entry Price Item Price

In addition, any defined ON fields are copied to the subscription item.

Info

If set up accordingly (see Enabling Product Lookup), subscription items based on pricebook entries are linked to the original product.

Cloning Subscription Items

Certain business use cases require a subscription item to be cloned. Cloning an item creates a duplicate of the current item, including all available information, and adds it to the current subscription.

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. Click the order no. of the item to be modified to open its detail view.

  4. Click Clone.

    This displays a confirmation message.

  5. Click Clone.

    This creates a duplicate of the current item, including all available information, and adds it to the current subscription.

    New items are automatically set Active.

Defining Item-Specific Billing Periods

For recurring subscription items (with the billing type set to Recurring), the following settings control the billing recurrence:

Field API Name Description
Billing Period BillingPeriod__c Defines the time interval (in days, months or years) after which the item is considered in the invoice run
Billing Unit BillingUnit__c Defines the time unit for the billing period to be displayed on the invoice (Day, Month or Year) and which is used for the price calculation of the billing period
Next Service Period Start NextInvoice__c Specifies the date of the next billing date for that item. If no value is defined, it will be substituted by the maximum of the invoice run start date, subscription start date or item start date. When the invoice is set Open, it is incremented to the current invoice line item's
service period end date + 1 day

For the resulting invoice line items, there are:

Field API Name Description
Billing Factor BillingFactor__c Factor resulting from the billing period and the billing unit that is applied to the invoice line item calculation. The billing unit Month combined with the billing period 3, for example, results in a billing factor of 3, that is, the item is invoiced every three months with the price multiplied by three.
JustOn recommends to include the billing factor in the invoice template through adding the field Billing Factor to the invoice line item table. For details, see Adjusting Invoice Line Item Table.
Billing Unit BillingUnit__c Defines the time unit for the billing period to be displayed on the invoice (Day, Month or Year) and which is used for the price calculation of the billing period
How does JustOn determine the billing behavior for recurring items?

Generally, the Next Service Period Start specifies a recurring item's next invoice date. Be aware of the following specifics with respect to this field:

  • Initially, that is, after a new item has been created, Next Service Period Start is empty.
  • If no value is set (manually), JustOn will use the maximum of the invoice run start date, subscription start date or item start date when creating an invoice line item from this item.
  • Once the relevant invoice is finalized, the value is set to the invoice line item's Service Period End + 1 day (where the service period end is calculated as follows: Next Service Period Start + Billing Period - 1 day).
  • If one of the successive invoices is canceled, Next Service Period Start is reset to the value determined with the previous invoice (or cleared in case of the first invoice).

We recommend to keep JustOn's functionality with respect to Next Service Period Start unaltered, that is, to not customize the field's behavior.

When migrating external data to JustOn, it may make sense to set Next Service Period Start to the next service period start.

In addition, there are two settings that control the subsequent billing behavior for recurring items: The billing period specifies the interval after which an item is considered in the invoice run, and the billing unit is the time unit applied for this period. Based on this data, JustOn determines the billing factor, which is then applied to the resulting invoice line item – as a multiplier for the specified price.

The billing unit Year combined with the billing period 1 results in a billing factor of 1, that is, the item is invoiced once a year with the specified unit price.

The billing unit Month combined with the billing period 3 results in a billing factor of 3, that is, the item is invoiced every three months with the price multiplied by three.

The billing unit Month combined with the billing period 3 results in a billing factor of 3, and with an item quantity of 2, the item is invoiced every three months with the price multiplied by six.

The billing unit Day combined with the billing period 10 results in a billing factor of 10, that is, the item is invoiced every ten days with the price multiplied by ten.

For the subscription item to be considered in the invoice run, the item's next invoice date and the subscription's start date must be within the invoice run period.

How to control the service period of invoices with recurring items?

JustOn automatically determines the service period of an invoice based on various conditions:

Generally, the earliest service period start date of all included invoice line items defines the service period start of the invoice. Consequently, the latest service period end date of all included invoice line items defines the service period end of the invoice.

Invoice Service Period Condition
Start The earliest (minimum) service period start date of all invoice line items.
End The latest (maximum) service period end date of all invoice line items.

The dates are recalculated when invoice line items are inserted, updated or deleted. Empty date fields on line items are ignored.

If set, the subscription end date forces the service period end of the invoice.

With respect to invoice line items, the billing type of the item usually determines how the service period is calculated.

Item Billing Type Service Period Start/Service Period End
One-Time/Recurring The start date/end date of the invoice run period.
The start date/end date of the item controls whether it is subject to the invoice run, see Start Date and End Date | Subscription.
Recurring with Billing Factor Start date: Next Service Period Start
End date: Next Service Period Start + Billing Period - 1 day
Transactional Start date: earliest (minimum) service period start date of the transactions
End date: latest (maximum) service period end date of the transactions

For recurring items, the start date and end date set as the invoice run period usually represent their service period. If, however, JustOn determines a billing factor (as given by a billing period and a billing unit), the service period start of the invoice line item is set using the subscription item's Next Service Period Start field. The service period end is then calculated as follows: Next Service Period Start + Billing Period - 1 day.

If Next Service Period Start is not set, JustOn uses the invoice run start date instead.

Other settings that force an item's service period end include:

  • the subscription item's activation end date, and
  • the end date of the last price tier defined for the subscription item.

Using the custom placeholders ServicePeriodStart and ServicePeriodEnd, you can display the items' service period in the invoice PDF. For details, see Adjusting Invoice Line Item Table.

To set up item-specific billing periods:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. Specify the billing period, billing unit and next service period start as necessary.
  5. Click Save.

Info

JustOn supports the partial calculation of months or years defined as the billing unit. To this end, use the billing type Recurring Prorated and, optionally, in combination with the synchronization setting Start of next month (see Synchronizing Recurring Items).

Defining Item-Specific Billing Practice

For non-transactional subscription items (with the billing type set to Recurring, Recurring Prorated, Recurring Prorated AVG, One-Time or Minimum Fee), JustOn allows for defining the preferred billing time – either as soon as the item service period coincides with the invoice run period, or at the end of the service period. To cover this requirement, you use the field Billing Practice on the item, selecting one of the following picklist values:

Value Description
Invoicing in advance Makes JustOn bill the item as soon as possible, that is, when the item service period coincides with the invoice run period. This is the default setting, and is also applied when the field is empty.
Invoicing in arrears Makes JustOn bill the item at the end of its service period, that is, when the service period end date of an item is before the invoice run period end date.
Invoicing in arrears requires at least one of Start Date or Next Service Period Start to be set.
Billing practice effect

For example, assume a subscription with the following item configuration:

Field Value
Billing Unit Month
Billing Period 3
Next Service Period Start 2019-01-01

This item has a service period of three months and is to be billed every three months.

Now assume a monthly invoice run. Consider the resulting invoice line item for the different billing practices:

Invoice Run Period Invoice Line Item:
Invoicing in Advance		 Invoice Line Item:
Invoicing in Arrears
2019-01-01 → 2019-01-31 2019-01-01 → 2019-03-31 -
2019-02-01 → 2019-02-28 - -
2019-03-01 → 2019-03-31 - 2019-01-01 → 2019-03-31
2019-04-01 → 2019-04-30 2019-04-01 → 2019-06-30 -

As you see, in arrears delays the billing of the item: It will not be invoiced until an invoice run covers the last third of its service period.

To set up an item-specific billing practice:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. In the field Billing Practice, select the intended behavior.
  5. Click Save.

Defining Item-Specific Lead Time

For non-transactional subscription items (with the billing type set to Recurring, Recurring Prorated, Recurring Prorated AVG, One-Time or Minimum Fee), JustOn allows for defining a lead time (in months). This enables an item to be included in an invoice run before the actual service period of the item is reached.

Note

When defining a lead time, the following item information must be set:

  • Billing Unit
  • Billing Period
  • Start Date or Next Service Period Start

The Billing Type must be one of Recurring, Recurring Prorated, Recurring Prorated AVG, One-Time or Minimum Fee.

Lead time effect

For example, assume a subscription with the following item configuration:

Field Value
Billing Type Recurring
Billing Period 1
Billing Unit Month
Next Service Period Start 2019-03-01
Lead Time 1

Now assume a monthly invoice run, starting with January (01 – 31). Consider the resulting invoice line item:

Invoice Run Period Invoice Line Item
Service Period Start		 Invoice Line Item
Service Period End
January - -
February 2019-03-01 2019-03-31

With a lead time of one month, the invoice line item will be created one month before service period starts.

To set up an item-specific lead time:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. In the field Lead Time, specify the intended number of months.
  5. Click Save.

Maintaining Contract-Specific Values

Primarily in order to support reports for forecasting purposes, subscription items can hold contract-specific amount values. Users (or some custom logic) set the base Contract Value for an item, and JustOn Billing & Invoice Management tracks and calculates the invoiced and remaining values when creating invoices from the related subscription.

The following fields are available:

Field Data Source Description
Contract Value manual input or
calculated value		 The overall value of the item for the whole subscription period. In case of a professional service item, for example, the contract value is the initially negotiated value of the opportunity product.
This value can be determined in a subscription building process.
Contract Value Correction manual input A corrective value to be deducted from the contract value because it has already been invoiced.
Contract Value Invoiced updated upon invoice modification The actually invoiced contract value, which is updated each time an invoice or an invoice line item is changed or deleted.
JustOn only considers invoices of the statuses Open, Paid or Settled.
Invoices of the type Cancelation are ignored.
Contract Value Remaining calculated value The remaining contract value, which is calculated based on the other three values (Remaining Contract Value = Contract Value - Contract Value Correction - Invoiced Contract Value). Can never be less than 0.

Info

The contract-specific value information is primarily used in reports for forecasting purposes.

To display contract-specific values:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. Specify the contract value, contract value correction and contract value invoiced as necessary.

  5. Click Save.

    This displays the contract-specific item values, including the remaining contract value, on the item detail page.

Sorting Invoice Line Items

When billing usage data, you can sort and aggregate the usage data with certain criteria. In this case, an invoice run can produce multiple invoice line items from a single subscription item of the billing type Transactional. The sorting order of the produced invoice line items is random.

To display the produced invoice line items in an intended order, you can configure a custom criterion. To do so:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.

  4. Edit the ordering details as necessary.

    • Order By: Specifies the API name of the invoice line item field by which the line items will be sorted, for example, ServicePeriodEnd__c (if empty, no sorting is done)
    • Reverse: Checkbox to force the reverse sorting order (if unchecked, the invoice line items are sorted in an ascending order)

  5. Click Save.

Synchronizing Recurring Items

For recurring subscription items, you can set up JustOn to synchronize the billing period to start with certain dates. To this end, you select the relevant value in the Sync With field of the item.

Picklist Value Description
Start of next year Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next year (for a billing period of 12 months)
Start of next fiscal year Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next fiscal year (for a billing period of 12 months)
Start of next month Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next month (for a billing period of one month and with the billing unit Day)
Start of next quarter Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next quarter
Start of next fiscal quarter Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next fiscal quarter
Start of next half year Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next half year
Start of next fiscal half year Synchronizes the billing period with the start of the next fiscal half-year period

To set the billing period synchronization:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.

  4. Specify the values for the fields Billing Type, Billing Period, Billing Unit and Sync With as necessary.

    The required Sync With value may not be available in your org. In this case, add it to the value picklist for the Sync With field of the Item object. For details, see Modifying Picklist Values.

  5. Click Save.

Defining Item Discount

JustOn allows to define discounts for individual invoice line items. You can already set the discount rate to be used on the subscription item.

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. In the Discount field, specify the percentage discount rate to be applied.

  5. Click Save.

    When generating the invoice from the subscription, the specified discount rate is copied to the invoice line item.

Terminating Item

When using subscription metrics, you must not delete items from an active subscription, as this would break the metrics. Instead, deactivate the item or set an end date:

  1. Open the subscription you want to modify.
  2. Open the Items list.
  3. In the row of the item to be edited, click , then select Edit.
  4. Depending on your use case, either deselect the Active checkbox, or specify the intended termination date in the End Date field.

  5. Click Save.

    This deactivates the item immediately, or, respectively, ends it on the specified date.

Next steps:

Managing Item Pricing
Managing Invoice Runs
Manually Creating Invoices