Configuring › Accounting Configuration Options › Manage Subscriptions › Subscription Management Options

Subscription Management Options

To manage subscriptions, you specify the subscription management options, using the Subscription Decision Tree. You can specify separate settings that apply to all either all accounts in the business unit or to selected accounts only. In both cases, you use the tree to set the following options for individual services, service option groups, or service option elements:

Effective Dates and Bill Dates

Specifies when billing should begin after an account subscribes to a service option element. Select one of the following:

• Bill Date begins on the Effective Date – Begins billing the account on the date the subscription is made.
• Specify a Bill Date separate from the Effective Date – Begins billing the account on a specific date, regardless of the subscription date.
• Specify a Bill Date relative to the Effective Date – Begins billing the account based on the complex option you specify, relative to the subscription date. An example is “the first day of the month of the subscription.”
• Specify a Bill Date offset from the Effective Date – Begins billing the account based on the "before and after" option you specify, relative to the subscription date. An example is “two months after the subscription date.”

Bill in Advance

Specifies whether a subscribing account is charged in advance of a service being rendered. Select one of the following:

• Do not bill in advance – Bills the account when the service is rendered.
• Specify how far in advance the charge should be billed – Bills the account the specified number of periods in advance.

  Note: The billing period is the billing period of the service option element being subscribed to, not the account's billing cycle.

  For example, suppose a service option element specifies a Unit Cost of $10 with a Billing Cycle of Periodic, a Periodic Type of Monthly, and a Periodic Type Interval of 1. If this setting is 3, then a subscribing account is billed $30 on the first invoice and each interval invoice, rather than $10 per month.