Overview

Subscription Actions are used to manage subscriptions by carrying out processes specific to subscriptions and their associated services, such as activating, deactivating, resting and providing discounts.

A subscription action is used to apply changes on existing subscriptions either on customer request, or for applying the service provider's business rules. Each subscription action has a specific behaviour which indicates a specific change on the subscription. A subscription action's behaviour is denoted by its behavior code and the business classification code. A behavior code denotes the type of behavior that will be applied on subscriptions, such as the addition of subscription service, removal of subscription service, replacing traceable physical goods etc. A business classification code classifies the applied behaviour into different categories, therefore giving a business meaning to the change that was applied and enabling additional process automation in the software such as billing, validations etc. 

Using the Subscription Action Modal

The actions that can be performed on a subscription are available in the Action Panel on the right of the subscriptions data entry page. Actions fall into three categories, determined by the entity they are acting on:

• Subscription Service related actions
• Subscription Traceable Physical Goods related actions
• Subscription related actions
   

Select an action to open the subscription action modal and provide the required information. 

The action modal is split into three areas.

Action selection area

Located on the left side of the modal, this area changes the most between actions. Amendments allowed by the subscription action can be selected here.

Subscription detail area

Located at the bottom of the modal (beneath the Action Selection Area), this area displays information regarding the execution of the action.

• Subscription Action Classification indicates the reasoning behind the action being carried out (available values if configured).
• Performed by User indicates the user who performed the Action. Defaults to the logged-in user.

• Select the Performed Date (and time) of the action. Unless defined, Performed Date is equal to the date of execution. For activation related actions, it can be set to a date in the past from which billing will start. The past date must be after the date on which the service was added on the subscription in a 'Draft' state.

• Scheduling Information (available for some actions only).

• View upcoming bills demonstrates how the upcoming bill is affected if the action is submitted (available for some actions only for subscription-driven and payment-driven Subscriptions).
• Click Submit to execute or schedule the action.
  

Effective and payment area 

This area appears on the right-hand side of the screen. The user has the option of selecting when the actions will be applied (Now, On a specific date, After a number of days) available for some actions only. A Quotation is provided for the amendments made and there is also the option to pay using an alternative form of payment using the Pay by option.    

Preview bill amount before performing an action

It is possible to preview the total amount to be billed upon the execution of a subscription action. In CRM.COM it's possible to preview the amount by which the customer will be billed for actions which will incur financial changes. This is done by clicking on the View upcoming bills button available from the Quotations area on the subscription action screen. You can view the upcoming bills for the next 5 months.

Paying with a card other than the one defined as recurring

If charges are involved and a card is already registered on the associated account (and set as recurring), then money will be automatically deducted from the card once the action is submitted. However, if the card is not set as a recurring, or the customer would like to pay with a different card, or by other means it is also possible through the Pay by area on the right-hand side of the screen..

Paying with a different card

Either select Payment Preference and select the card with which the customer would like to pay, or select Register new cards and complete the new card details for payment.

Paying by other means

Click on Pay now by other payment option link and proceed to make the payment as defined in the Financial Transactions.

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Scheduling an action

Selected actions can be scheduled and executed in the future. If an action can be scheduled you will be able to see the scheduling information on the action's modal window. You can either specify a specific date or in how many days the actions should be scheduled for. For further information on scheduled actions refer to Scheduled Subscription Actions.

Viewing legacy actions

Some of the subscription actions used in previous releases have been replaced by a new action. If you would like to keep using these actions then you should enable them through Configuration > System Settings > Set up General Settings > Compatibility Settings. Compatibility settings ensure that features remain compatible across releases. 'Enabled' legacy subscription actions are available.

The following legacy subscription actions are replaced by 'Amend Subscription' subscription actions:

• Add Service
• Remove Service
• Add Traceable Physical Good
• Remove Traceable Physical Good
• Change Subscription Distributions

Subscription Actions

Subscription Service Actions

Add Services

This action is available under Amend Subscription, select the termed services (services charged on a recurring basis) to be added to the subscription from the 'Services to be added' section, and additionally also add 'Traceable physical goods to be added' from the respective section if necessary. You can use Submit to add services as 'Effective' (i.e., those ready to be billed), or plan services to be activated later using the 'On a specific date' or 'After a number of days' option. Services and physical goods available to be added are the ones allowed by the Subscription Type.

Add service is a legacy action. This means that you won't be able to view the action unless you enable it through the Compatibility settings.

Remove Services

Cancel

This action is available via Amend Subscription, select the termed services to be cancelled (no longer required by the subscriber) via the 'Services to be removed' section.

Whereas 'Cancel Subscription' (via Terminate Subscription action) cancels all services, the 'Cancel Service' action (via Amend Subscription) cancels specific services. 

Penalty-free service cancellation and its time limit depend on the company's business rules which are defined in the Subscription & Billing Policies.

Start Services

Available via Activate Subscription action, use 'Start Services' to activate termed services that are in a 'Draft' or 'Not Effective' state. 

Available  only if the subscription services are in 'Draft' or 'Not Effective' state. The subscription services that are to become 'Effective' must be allowed by the subscription type, billing term scheme and provisioning distributor. 

Stop Services 

Available via Deactivate Subscription action, use 'Stop Services' to deactivate selected or all termed subscription services. If all services are deactivated, the action's effect is similar to that of the Deactivate Subscription action. The action is only available if the subscription service is in an 'Effective' life cycle state.

Swap Services

Available via Amend Subscription action, use 'Services to be swapped' to replace existing subscription termed services.

Upgrade service

Replace with a more expensive service.

Downgrade service

Replace with a cheaper package.

Switch service

Replace with a package of the same price.

When a classification is selected, the system filters and presents the services available for each swap classification. Tiers defined in the subscription type determine the filtering and swap classification. The available services to swap must follow the tier rules specified in the subscription type.

The services that can be swapped are those allowed by the subscription type, billing term scheme and provisioning distributor.

Define swapping rules using Subscription & Billing Policies.

Add Service Usage

Available via Add Usage action, use 'Add Service Usage' to add usage services (services charged based on their usage, such as film, telephone logs or games) ordered by a subscriber. Available usage services are defined in Price Plans. 

Define Usage Service Billing Rules in  Billing Term Schemes.

Amend Bundle

Available via Become Subscriber action (Billing > Subscriptions > New), use 'Amend Bundle' to change the termed services (e.g. channels in Subscription TV) included in a flexible product bundle. Services can be added to, or removed from the bundle, based on the components and restrictions set up on creating the Product.

Add Expense

Available via Amend Subscription action, expenses are used to bill a subscription with a one-off charge. Expenses can also be automatically added to subscriptions upon the execution of an action if defined in the Subscription & Billing Policies Expenses. If you would like to add an expense manually select one from the available list. Only expenses allowed by the subscription type are available for selection.

Cancel Expense

Use 'Cancel Expense' to remove expenses added to the subscription through 'Add Expense' action. The action can be used after the expense has been rated but not after it has been billed.

Traceable Physical Goods Actions

Add Traceable Physical Goods Items

Available via Amend Subscription, use 'Traceable Physical Goods to be added' to add traceable physical goods necessary for the operation of a subscription, such as decoders, smartcards, modems or telephones. 

Physical goods that can be selected must be allowed by the subscription type and the provisioning provider. The traceable physical goods available to be added are those which reside in warehouses. It is also possible to import a traceable physical good (ad-hoc), which the customer owns and is not yet registered in CRM.COM. The physical good is first added to the customer's account (via Finance > Accounts > locate and View the account > Actions > Manage Assets), and will then be available to add to the subscription via Amend Subscription > 'Traceable physical goods to be added'.     

Note that you can block the usage of traceable physical goods which reside in certain warehouses through the subscription plan using the Set up advance physical goods rules. For example if you 'Block Rentals of Traceable Physical Goods', then you will not be able to add to the subscription any physical goods which reside in warehouses used for rentals.

Remove Traceable Physical Goods

Available via Amend Subscription action, use 'Traceable Physical Goods to be removed' to remove an physical good from a subscription when the subscription is cancelled or regretted, or if the item is no longer necessary.

• Rented installed items are returned to the warehouse from where they were taken using a 'stock in' warehouse transaction.
• Sold items or items that originally belonged to the customer are removed from the subscription and remain in the account as an asset.

In both cases the installed item history is updated accordingly.

Move Traceable Physical Goods to Another Subscription

Use this action to move traceable physical goods between subscriptions of the same account owner. If either subscription is 'Effective' then restrictions and dependencies set on the subscription type must be met.

Swap Traceable Physical Goods 

Use this action to replace an existing traceable physical good (e.g., in case it is broken or exchanged for a new or different model). The system checks that the subscription is owned by an active account and for a valid warehouse in which to store the removed item, as defined in the 'Warehouse Types Used During Transactions'.

• New traceable physical goods are issued, removed from the warehouse using a 'stock out' warehouse transaction and the traceable physical goods history is updated.
• Rented traceable physical goods are returned to the warehouse from which they were taken using a 'stock in' warehouse transaction and the traceable physical goods history is updated.
• If the replaced installed item originally belonged to the customer (i.e. identified through the ownership status) then it will remain on the customer account as an asset).

Subscription Actions

Become Subscriber ('Effective' or 'Draft')

Register a new subscription from scratch. The action is triggered using NEW from the Billing > Subscription screen. The subscription can be created in a 'Draft' (use Submit as Draft) or 'Effective' (use Submit) life cycle state.

Subscriptions created in a 'Draft' state are not activated. I.E., signals are not transmitted to the subscriber and will require the Activate Subscription action at a later stage in order to become 'Effective'.

Activate Subscription

Use this action to activate all subscription services in a 'Draft' or 'Not Effective' state. A subscription can be activated when its life cycle state is:

• 'Draft', i.e., the subscription was created but not activated. 
• 'Not Effective', i.e., the subscription has been disconnected due to overdue Invoices. 

The action cannot be used if not all services are 'Draft' or 'Not Effective'. In this case, the 'Start Service' action must be used instead.

Define Subscription Activation rules in the Subscription Activation Policy found at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Short-term Subscription Activation

Subscriptions in short-term activation can be deactivated automatically by setting a date using the 'End short term activation' section, or through the Short term subscription deactivation action. The system verifies that the subscription account is active and that short-term activation rules specified in the billing definitions are met.

If the action is scheduled to take place in the future then the short-term activation end date must be greater than the scheduled date. Use 'End Short-term Subscription Activation' action to deactivate subscriptions in short-term activation, on customer request, earlier than scheduled.

Define Short Term Activation rules in the Subscription Activation Policy found at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Deactivate Subscription

Disconnect all effective subscription services. Deactivation can result in a pause in billing and an interruption in transmission, depending on the provisioning distributor.

Define Subscription Deactivation rules in the Subscription Deactivation Policy found at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Short-term Subscription Deactivation

Temporarily deactivate a subscription for a short period and automatically reactivate it. If the action is scheduled to take place in the future then the short-term deactivation end date must be greater than that of the scheduled date.

Define Subscription Short Term Deactivation rules in the Subscription Deactivation Policy found at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Amend Services and Traceable physical Goods

Amend a subscription by adding or removing termed services and traceable physical goods or by amending their distribution as well as swapping termed services and adding expenses. This action replaces all legacy actions. For additional information on each legacy action refer to the action itself.

Terminate Subscription

Classification can be:

Cancel Subscription

Cancel a subscription and all associated services. The system verifies that the subscription account is active, and that 'cancellation inside and outside binding' rules set in the billing definition are met.

Regret Subscription

Cancel a subscription and all associated services, in cases where subscribers change their mind within a given time from the first activation. The system verifies that the subscription account is active and that 'regret period' rules set are met.

Define Regretting and Cancellation Rules in the respective tabs at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Rest Subscription

Deactivate a subscription, excluding it from billing for a specific period. Used to pause a subscription when the subscriber is going to be away from the physical address where the services are delivered for a predetermined amount of time.

The system verifies that the subscription account is active and that the 'resting' rules defined are met. If the action is scheduled to take place in the future then the resting end date must be greater than that of the scheduled date. Use 'End Subscription Resting' to pull a subscription out of resting earlier than scheduled.

Define Resting period rules in the respective tabs at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Extend Grace Period

Grant a number of days grace before deactivating subscribers who are behind on their payments, or reactivate a disconnected subscription.
Subscriptions in grace are billed normally and excluded from deactivation. The system verifies that the subscription account is active and that 'grace' rules set in the billing definition are met.

Define Grace Period rules in the respective tab at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Bill Subscriber

Bill a subscription-driven subscription or display the dates on which a prepaid subscription is estimated to be disconnected, based on the funds available in the subscriber's wallet. ('Bill as of Date' cannot be assigned on payment-driven subscriptions.)

Once a bill is created, subscription-driven subscriptions can be settled directly by using the QUICK PAY action.

Amend Billing Terms

Changes associated to the billing terms of the subscription can be achieved through this action. According to the desired changes you can select one of the following classifications:

Adjust Binding Period: Modify the contract binding start and end date.

Cancel Binding Period: Cancel current customer contracts. A subscription can be created without a contract, in which case the subscriber is not bound by an agreement.

Extend Binding Period: Extend a customer's contract before it expires, by updating the customer binding end date for a period defined by the user.

New Binding Period: Amend the contracted period, renewing the binding start and end date.

Renew Binding Period: Renew expired contracts by setting the binding end date to a new expiry date.

New Billing Terms: Replace the subscriber's current contract with a new one, amending basic attributes such as: 

• Billing Term Scheme
• Billing Frequency
• Price Plan
• Binding Period
• Binding Start
• Binding End
• Concurrent Usage
• Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage

Define Billing Amendment rules in the respective tab at Subscription & Billing Policies.

Change Subscription Address

Change the physical address of service delivery. The action can be used to:

• Create a new address and define it as the subscription address.
• Change the subscription address to an existing address.
• Change existing subscription address details.
• Assign the billing address as the subscription address.

Change Subscriber Account

Use the action to transfer a subscription from one account to another. Select the respective action depending on what the desired result is, options are: 

Change Account

Bill the subscription to a different account belonging to the same subscriber.

Change Subscriber

Use the action to transfer a subscription from one subscriber account to another.

Provide Ad Hoc Discount

Select and apply a pre-configured discount. For more information view Additive Discounts available in Pricing. 

Scheduled Subscription Actions

Viewing scheduled subscription actions 

Scheduled subscription actions can be viewed from the History modal available via View History from the Subscription screen then select Subscription Actions History > Scheduled.

Executing scheduled subscription actions

Scheduled subscription actions are executed via a background process. During this process scheduled subscription actions with a scheduled date of execution before or equal to the current date are executed.

When the background process has finished, the subscription actions executed will appear under the Executed tab. 

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Rejecting and canceling scheduled subscription actions

Scheduled subscription actions that do not meet certain conditions are rejected during execution. This is either because conditions met during scheduling were not met during the execution, or because an affected service, traceable physical good or distribution is no longer available on the subscription. Rejected actions are logged with the reason they were rejected.

To cancel an action:

1. Open the Subscription History Modal (View History link from subscription screen).
2. Click on the Subscriptions Actions History section.
3. Select the Scheduled tab.
4. Find the scheduled action to cancel.
5. Click on CANCEL to open a modal prompting for an optional cancellation reason.
6. Click on SAVE.

When a scheduled action is cancelled or rejected, modifications that resulted from scheduling are reverted. Possible modifications include:

• The binding period end is rolled-back to the previous date. 
• The life cycle state history of the subscription and/or affected services is updated.
• Added or swapped services are removed from the subscription.
• Billing for services is reverted (related Rated Billing Items are cancelled).
• Scheduled subscription actions submitted after the rejected action remain scheduled but scheduled services are adjusted according to those affected by the rejected action.

Amending scheduled subscription Actions

Scheduled subscription action details and scheduling information (such as the execution date) can be amended.

1. Open the Subscription History modal (View History link from subscription screen).
2. Click on Subscriptions Actions History section.
3. Select the Scheduled tab.
4. Find the scheduled action to amend.
5. Click on AMEND and set
   
   1. New Scheduled Date: Click on the calendar to set a new date for the action.
   2. New Performed Date: Click on the calendar to set the date on which the action will be logged as performed.
   3. New Performed By User: Search and add the user the action will be logged from.
6. Click on SAVE.

The action is updated with the new information. The system updates the scheduled action by cancelling the existing and creating a new one with the updated information.

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Billing scheduled subscription actions

Scheduled subscription actions that fall within the current billing period of the subscription are taken into consideration by billing. For example, if a subscription is scheduled to rest for the last half of the month, then the system will only bill the first half.

If the action is cancelled or rejected, then the system will settle the discrepancy by crediting or debiting the subscriber's account accordingly. In the example above, if the customer were to cancel the resting scheduled for the last half of the month, the system would bill the period that was not billed in the next billing cycle.

Provisioning of services coming from scheduled subscription actions

Provisioning (i.e., sending information to a third party Conditional Access (CA) and Over-the-top (OTT) platform, takes place during the execution of the subscription action (unlike other processes, such as billing which usually takes place during scheduling).