| Excerpt |
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| | Learn to work with Subscriptions |
OverviewA subscription consists of a group of services which are renewed automatically. Prepaid subscribers pay in advance for services they want to buy or subscribe to, and the billing is handled either upon activation or by the execution of the prepaid billing run. Services are either billed after being used for a certain period (post-rated) or billed for an upcoming period defined in the system (pre-rated) and funds are directly deducted from their wallet. Major features- The commercial offerings of the company are set up in CRM.COM through the subscription types, which define available products, their pricing and billing rules.
- Business functions available to subscriptions, such as their upgrade, activation and termination are undertaken through subscription actions, which are either executed instantly or scheduled for later.
- The life cycle state of a subscription indicates its operational condition, while that of each included service determines whether the service is subject to billing. A subscription can have the following life cycle states:
- Draft: the subscription is new and not yet activated
- Effective: the subscription isactive
- Not Effective: the subscription services are disconnected
- In Resting: the subscription has been put on hold for a predefined period
- Regretted: indicates the reversal of a subscription decision shortly after the subscription was activated
- Cancelled: the subscription is no longer in operation
- Short-Term Effective: the subscription is activated for a short predefined period
- Short-Term Not Effective: the subscription is deactivated for a short predefined period
Using Prepaid Subscriptions| Include Page |
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| V4MANUAL:Creating a Subscription |
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| V4MANUAL:Creating a Subscription |
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Subscription fieldsThis table contains an explanation of the sections of the Subscriptions Data Entry page, a description of the usage of its fields and additional information. Mandatory Configurable | Contact Information |
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| The details of the contact whose name the subscription is in. | | Account Information |
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| The account of the subscriber which is charged during billing. | Billing Addresses Whether a billing address is mandatory is defined in the active accounts receivable definition. Mandatory on conditions |
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The address used to communicate billing information.
The billing address is one of the addresses of the contact. If an address is not available, one must be created. If the contact has more than one address, use the one selected by the customer. Contact information addresses are updated when a billing address is modified. | Subscription Addresses Whether a subscription address is mandatory is defined in the billing definition. Mandatory on conditions
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The subscriber’s physical address; where the hardware is located and the services are delivered.
The subscription address is one of the addresses of the contact. If an address is not available, one must be created. If the contact has more than one address, use the one selected by the customer. Contact information addresses are updated when a subscription address is modified. | | Subscription Terms |
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The terms applied to the subscription that define the billing and contract details. Subscription Type determines the subscription offerings including services, rates, physical goods and billing information.
Billing Term Scheme defines the subscription billing rules, whether to pre-bill or post-bill services, the billing frequencies, binding periods and price plans. When the subscription type is selected, its default billing term scheme and respective values are set.
Price Plan is the catalog with billing rates for each subscription service. The default price plan defined on the billing term scheme can be revised. Agreement Date is the date on which the contract was signed. Rated Up To is the date up to which the subscription is billed Effective From is the day on which the services included in the subscription started getting billed. It reflects a change in the life cycle state of the subscription from 'Draft' to 'Effective'. Life Cycle State reflects the operational state of the subscription. It is automatically set by the system based on the status of the subscription and its services, usually on the execution of a subscription action. Refer to subscription services life cycle state for more information. Concurrent Usage based pricing is the application of a price rate, based on the total number of people using a service or installed items at the same time and a percentage which is agreed between the customer and the company. Concurrent usage based pricing must be supported by the selected billing term scheme.
- Concurrent Usage is the total number of people that can use a service at the same time.
E.g., the number of rooms in a hotel with access to channels from the same subscription
- Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage is the rate that should be applied to concurrent services.
The following formula is used in the billing calculation:
Total Subscription Rate = Subscription Rate * Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage * Concurrent Usage
(E.g, $1000/month = $50/month * 20% * 100 rooms)
Subscriber Since is a read-only field and displays the date on which the subscription was activated for the first time. | | Services & Installed Items Subscriber services and installed items can be distributed to one or more provisioning distributors |
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| Mandatory and Optional Services | Mandatory are the services without which a subscription is not possible (e.g. a specific channel). Optional are those that can be added onto a subscription. Service: A termed product a client can subscribe to, such as a broadband or TV channel telephony service. Only termed services can be added as subscription services.
Distributor: An abstract layer used in CRM.COM to relate subscription services (e.g. broadband service) and subscription associated devices (e.g. modems) to a Provisioning Provider and to define what services will be available from each device (if more than one is available on a subscription). Components Services: a link to available services that constitute a bundle (offered for sale as one product). First Activated On is the date on which the service first became 'Effective'.
Rated Up To is the date up to which the service has been billed. Life Cycle State the state of the service during the current period.
Determines whether to charge the subscription services. By default, subscription services in an 'Effective' state are charged but this can be changed in the billing definition.
View History provides information for the service during distinct periods: - Billing Directive determines whether a period should be debited, credited or ignored by billing.
- Rating State indicates whether or not the period was already taken into consideration by the billing engine. A 'Pending' state indicates that the period is not billed yet, while a 'Completed' state indicates that the period has already been billed/credited.
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| Expense Services | One-time charges to the subscription, such as a startup or installation fee. |
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| Subscription Installed Items | The installed items provided to the subscriber which can be distributed to one or more provisioning distributors from one or more providers.
Serial Number is a unique number used to identify the specific physical product. Ownership Status reflects whether the installed item is owned by the company and rented to the customer or if it was sold. Distributors are the companies from which the installed item is available. Components are other physical goods that may be part of the installed item bundle. |
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| Communications |
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Subscription information can be communicated to the subscriber by email or SMS. | | Activities |
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The small tasks or actions requested and scheduled for the subscription, such as an installation or a maintenance visit.
Activities can be automatically scheduled for a subscription through Workflow Rules. |
Updating subscriptions using subscription actions
Subscription actions are used to apply business changes on subscriptions, usually requested by the customers, such as activating and deactivating, resting a subscription, changing its contract details, adding services or hardware and many more available from the subscription Data Entry page. Actions are categorised by the affected area, in order to easily find the action you are looking for. All actions will then open in the subscription action modal each time providing the required information- Subscription Related Actions
- Subscription Service Related Actions
- Subscription Installed Items Related Actions
Go to Subscription Actions to view all available actions, when and how they can be used.Deactivating and reactivating prepaid subscriptionsDeactivate subscriptions by system processes responsible for handling multiple records at a time. The process is configured once, based on your business rules and then executed as often as required, by the system. Go to Deactivating Prepaid Subscriptions to view how you can deactivate and reactivate subscriptions in batch. Reactivation of prepaid pre-rated subscription services can be done automatically upon a customer payment. Billing of prepaid subscriptionsBill your subscriptions using 'Prepaid Billing Run'. Billing run can be configured once and then run as often as you schedule it for, to invoice your subscribers and generate the related bills. Go to Billing of Prepaid Subscriptions to view how you can bill normal subscriptionsApplying business flows on prepaid subscriptionsBuy in Advance plans
Subscribers can be billed for a longer period than their prepaid/pre-rated period, in exchange for a discount or convenience. Refer to Buy in Advance for more information. Previewing days until deactivation
The funds available in the subscriber's wallet are used to pay for the services (either pre-rated or post-rated) she is subscribed to. The subscriber's can have an estimation of the days left till their wallet funds run out, by using the Bill Preview feature available in the /wiki/spaces/WIP/pages/10009522 Bill Subscription action | Include Page |
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| v4manual:Common Business Flows on Subscriptions |
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| v4manual:Common Business Flows on Subscriptions |
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Prepaid Subscriptions Analytics| Include Page |
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| V4MANUAL:Subscription Analytics |
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| V4MANUAL:Subscription Analytics |
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Setting Up Prepaid SubscriptionsBefore you start using subscriptions the system must be configured to reflect your business subscription and billing rules. | Include Page |
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| v4manual:Setting up Subscriptions-1 |
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| v4manual:Setting up Subscriptions-1 |
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Prepaid billing term schemePrepaid billing term schemes are used to describe the billing rules governing a normal subscription. You can define if services will be billed before or after their usage or whether they should always be active (i.e. free to air channels). The available/ allowed periods for which a subscription contract is valid, along with the allowed frequencies that a subscriber should be billed are also defined by the billing term scheme. In general, all billing rules that should be taken into consideration for billing are defined in the billing term scheme, which once configured it must be added to the subscription type to create the offering. Mandatory Configurable | Main Information |
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Classification: The type of billable entity that can use the scheme; 'Subscriptions' in this case. Billing Type: The method used by the billing engine to bill products; 'Prepaid' in this case. Life Cycle State: A scheme must be in an 'Effective' state to be used on subscriptions during billing runs. | | Allowed Attributes |
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| Services | Define the termed and expense services available for the specific billing term scheme and how termed services will be treated during billing by selecting a Billing Type - Post-Rate: Services which are billed after being used for a certain period (usually on a daily basis); funds are directly deducted from the wallet.
- Pre-Rate: Services which are billed and must be pair for an upcoming period defined in the Period Billed in Advance; funds are directly deducted from the Wallet to cover the whole period.
- Period Billed in Advance: This is the number of days/weeks/months that a pre-rated service should be billed in advance.
If the wallet of the subscriber does not have enough money to cover for the pre-rated period, then the service(s) cannot be activated.
Expenses do not have a billing type as they are always billed by the next billing run. |
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| Price Plans | The price plans available for the scheme. If no Price Plan is selected, then all valid Price Plans will be available for selection for Subscriptions with the specific Billing Term Scheme. |
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| Subscription Types | View a list of subscription types that are using the billing term scheme. The scheme is added on the subscription type. |
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| Billing Rules |
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| Generic | Billable Period Start Date: Determines the date from which the service is considered by the Billing Run, regardless of the date on which the service became 'Effective'. By default, Billable Period Start Date and subscription service Effective Date are the same.
Billing Effective Date: The date from which a service should start being billed. By default, it is equal to the subscription service Effective Date.
Discount Option: Determines whether the billing terms will use Fixed or Flexible pricing. If fixed pricing is selected, then additive discount cannot be applied on billable entities having billing terms of this scheme. Allow Concurrent Usage: Determines whether pricing based on concurrent usage can be specified in the billing terms of this specific scheme. |
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| Billing Term Amendments | Determines the rules that are applied when using the Amend Billing Terms subscription action. Minimum Period of Time Before Billing Term Amendment: Constraints the user to schedule the action on a predetermined number of days after the end of the next billing cycle, so that it does not coincide with an already billed period.
Exceptions allow specific users or units to override the rule. |
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| Automatic Activation Rules | Determines rules based on which services should be activated automatically. For the rules to be applicable you must first Enable Automatic Activation | What Services to Activate | Determine how services to be activated are selected. You have the option to exclude services that were deactivated 'X' days ago by providing a number at Activate Services Deactivated Less Than X Days Ago. Additionally you can define specific services or service types that should never be automatically activated at Services that Should Never Be Activated Automatically |
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| When to Activate Services | The activation will be done on posting any payment, apart from payments that have as Payment Type the one set in the 'Payment Types that Should Never Trigger the Automatic Activation Process' list. |
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| How to Activate Services | Determine the activation action and sub-action type that will be applied on each activated subscription or service. A default action type is assigned, if one is not configured |
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| Include Page |
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| v4manual:Setting up Subscriptions-2 |
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| v4manual:Setting up Subscriptions-2 |
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The following modules are related to subscriptions and may be configured for the subscription module to operate at its full capacity. | Module Link | Description |
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| Wallets | A wallet is a financial account which allows customers to use a credit balance to fund transactions within CRM.COM. Prepaid subscriptions are paid through the subscriber's wallet, and if there are not enough funds in the wallet then activation of new or existing services is not allowed. Set up wallets to define the rules related to prepaid subscriptions as well as the minimum wallet threshold allowed. | | Vouchers | Vouchers are an alternate way of paying an amount of money across CRM.COM modules. Customers can buy Vouchers and use them to perform payments within the system, while optionally, limitations can exist on the products money can be spent on. Set up and use vouchers as payments to the wallets, for prepaid subscriptions | | Provisioning | The Subscription TV industry can use the provisioning module, into order to integrate with Conditional Access (CA) and Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms. The CA or OTT platform responsible for provisioning signals to subscribers must be set up through the CRM.COM integration provisioning module. - Set up the provider.
- Define dependencies and restrictions associated with subscription services, physical goods and distributors .
- Add respective distributors to the subscription type.
| | Buy in Advance | An arrangement that allows the customer to pay for a period longer than that determined by the billing frequency, in exchange for a discount or convenience.
| | Additive Discounts | Discounts generated when predefined conditions related to an accounts receivable, subscription or job are met and are applied automatically during billing or ad hoc by agents. | | Usage Service Catalogs (USCs) | Contain information on products which are provided upon customer request and charged based on their consumption. The catalogs include information on pricing, service validity and integrating with third party provisioning systems. USCs support the Over-the-top (OTT) business model. | | Inventory Management | Used to set up warehouses (where traceable physical goods provided to subscribers are taken from and returned to) and the relevant inventory definitions. | | Platform / Compatibility settings | Enable option to display legacy subscription actions (Add Service, Remove Service, Add Installed Item, Remove Installed Item, Change Subscription Distributions) whose functionality is now replaced by the Amend Services and Installed Items subscription actions. |
Subscriptions Business Example | Panel |
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| name | blue |
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| title | Company ZX Weekly Invoice Run |
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| Scenario 1. Company ZX advertises two subscriber offerings on which services must always be prepaid for a week. The weekly rates cover 7 whole days. i.e. if the subscriber was activated at 3:00 a.m on 1/1/2017 then he will be deactivate at 3:00 a.m on 8/1/2017 but not earlier. Broadband & TV Gold (€10/week) - 2 main channels that are mandatory for the subscription
- 5 add-on channels selected from a pool of 20 channels
- 50 Mb internet
Broadband & TV Platinum (€20/week) - 5 main channels that are mandatory for the subscription
- 10 add-ons channels selected from a pool of 20 channels
- 50 Mb internet
Subscribers must have a streaming device and a modem. Both items are available from Company ZX. There are two ways for creating new subscriptions:
- Customers can visit a retailer shop, pick-up the necessary equipment and start using their subscription directly.
- Customers can place an installation order by calling the Company ZX call centre. The installer activates the subscription from the customer's location using a mobile app.
Subscriptions are billed as soon as they are added on a subscription and then on a weekly basis. If the subscriber does not have enough funds (i.e. €0) then the subscription is deactivated. Subscribers that cancel their subscriptions or change to another service that was already billed are credited and re-billed if necessary.
Solution Configuration - Go to Products and create:
- Channels and broadband (as termed services)
- A physical good for the modem
- A physical good for the Roku box
- Go to Price Plans and provide rates for each of the products
- Go to Billing Term Schemes to define billing rules and set up as follows:
- Type: Prepaid
Allowed Services Billing Type should be set to 'Pre-rated' and 'Period Billed In Advance' to one week
- Go to Subscription Types and create your offerings. Create one subscription type per offering.
- Broadband & TV Gold: Includes two main channels that are mandatory for the subscription and five add-ons which can be selected from a pool of 20 channels and 50 Mb internet.
- Add the two main channels and the 50 MB broadband service and define them as 'mandatory' under allowed services
- Add the remaining 20 channels and define them as 'optional' under allowed services
- Add the Roku box and modem in the allowed physical goods
- Define a minimum and maximum number of mandatory services to '2'
- Define a maximum number of optional services to '5'
- Define a dependency of the broadband service on the modem
- Define a dependency of all termed services on the Roku box.
- Broadband & TV Platinum: Includes five main channels that are mandatory for the subscription and 10 add-ons which can be selected from a pool of 20 channels and 100 Mb internet.
- Add the five main channels and the 100 MB broadband service and define them as 'mandatory' under allowed services
- Add the remaining 20 channels and define them as 'optional' under allowed services
- Add the Roku box and the modem in the allowed physical goods
- Define a minimum and maximum number of mandatory services to '5'
- Define a maximum number of optional services to '10'
- Define a dependency of the broadband service on the modem
- Define a dependency of all termed services on the Roku box
- The following steps are only necessary through one of the two subscription types, as the step will add all the services in the billing term scheme
- Through the billing term schemes tab add the billing term you have created
- Click on 'Add Missing Services' to add all the services added to the subscription type to the billing term scheme
- Define their billing type as pre-bill (billed before usage)
- Go to Wallets and set up the following:
- Wallet Threshold: 0
- Wallet Causes - Debit Wallets
- During Prepaid Billing Run
- Select Normal Debit (given that the wallet transaction type it is already configured)
- Wallet Causes - Credit Wallets (This is to ensure that upon cancellation of a service the subscriber will get back his money)
- During Prepaid Billing Run
- Select Normal Credit (given that the wallet transaction type it is already configured)
Go to the Prepaid Billing Run and set up as follows
- Go to Prepaid Billing Run
- Set up the billing run in the scheduling settings tab as 'recurring'. (This will cause the billing run to be executed daily)
- Submit the prepaid billing run and execute
Once the billing run is completed a new prepaid billing run job will be created in the scheduler, scheduled for the next day. The services that should be deactivated due to insufficient wallet funds will be marked for deactivation
- Go to Prepaid Deactivation Process and set up as follows:
- Deactivation method: Day and Hour based Deactivation
- Scheduling Settings: Run repeatedly every hour
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It is important to schedule the deactivation process to be executed after the prepaid billing run, as information on what must be deactivated is identified by the billing run. |
User Process Once the configuration is in place, agents can start registering subscriptions. Retailer Shop Subscriptions The Become Subscriber action is used and submitted as 'Effective'. - At the subscriptions Data Entry page:
- Provide the new customer's details
- Select one of two subscription types available
- Select the requested services and hardware equipment
- Submit the action as 'Effective'
The signal is available as soon as the equipment is connected. Call Centre Subscriptions The Become Subscriber action is used and submitted as 'Draft'. - At the subscriptions Data Entry page:
- Provide the new customer's details
- Select one of two subscription types available
- Select the requested services
- Submit the action as 'Draft'
The subscription and its services remain in the System as 'Draft'.
- The installer activates the subscription from the customer's location using a mobile app integrated to CRM.COM, using subscription WEB APIs. The installer:
- Executes the Add Installed Item action and enters the serial numbers of the Roku box and modem
- Uses the 'Activate Subscription' action
| Info |
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| title | Billing Run executed on a daily basis |
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| Assume you have 3 subscribers that wish to subscribe to Broadband & TV Gold which costs €20/week - Mary makes a down-payment of €40
- John makes a down-payment of €20
- George does not make a payment
| Subscriber | Requested Effective Date | Wallet Amount (Prepaid) | PreRate Period | On activation of the services | Prepaid Billing Run | Prepaid Billing Run |
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| | | | | 01.01.2017 | 08.01.2017 | 15.01.2017 |
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| Mary | 01.01.2016 | €40.00 | 1 week | Pre-Rated Amount = €20 Wallet Amount = €20 Billed up to : 08.01.2017 | Pre-Rated Amount = €20 Wallet Amount = €0 Billed up to : 15.01.2017 | Pre-Rated Amount = €20 Wallet Amount = €0 Subscription will be marked for deactivation as there are no funds in the wallet to cover for another week |
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| John | 01.01.2016 | €30.00 | 1 week | Pre-Rated Amount = €20 Wallet Amount = €10 Billed up to : 08.01.2017 | Pre-Rated Amount = €20 Wallet Amount = €10 Subscription will be marked for deactivation as there are no funds in the wallet to cover for another week | Remains deactivated |
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| George | 01.01.2016 | €0.00 | 1 week | George's subscription will fail activation as he has no funds in his wallet | Remain deactivated | Remains deactivated |
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Glossary| CRM.COM Term | Definition |
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| Job | A small project initiated by the operator for customers, involving the delivery and billing of services, products and activities. Customer requests and orders, such as that for a new subscription, can be initiated and registered through a job. |
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| Subscription | A collection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis. |
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| Workflow | A set of tasks which are necessary to complete a bigger task, involving the definition, execution, and forwarding of the task among users for action, according to a set of workflow rules. |
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| Activity | Small task or action that is either stand-alone or must be completed as part of a larger project. |
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| Communications | Log interaction between customers and agents. Communications can support multiple Communication media such as email, SMS, telephony, letters and others. |
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| Provisioning Distributor | An abstract layer used in CRM.COM to relate subscription services (e.g., broadband service) and subscription associated devices (e.g., modems) to a Provisioning Provider and to define what services will be available from each device (if more than one is available on a subscription). |
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| Provisioning Provider | Third-party Conditional Access (CA) and Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms with which CRM.COM integrates to provide services such as video content, telephony or games. |
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| Installed Item | A physical good which is uniquely identified by its serial number. |
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| Product Bundles | A combination of component products offered for sale as one product. Flexible product bundles are those that have a variable selection of constituent products as components, while fixed product bundles have a fixed selection.
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| Usage Detail Records (UDRs) | Information describing the use of Usage Subscription Services.
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| Wallet | A wallet is a financial account which allows customers to use a credit balance to fund transactions within CRM.COM. |
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