Sales with subscription lines
Create a sales quote or sales order with subscription lines to record your monetary agreements with the customer. Sales subscription lines are printed on the documents and can be delivered from the order to be billed on a recurring basis.
Assign subscription lines
Subscription lines in subscription billing describe the monetary content of agreements with customers and vendors, as well as ending dates.
If an item is used in a sales document that has one or more subscription packages defined in the master data, the lines from the subscription packages marked as Standard are automatically created for the sales transaction. All subscription lines from the corresponding subscription packages are transferred to the sales item in the document. The subscription lines can then be accessed and viewed or edited via the lookup in the Subscription Lines field in the sales document line. To learn more, go to View, edit and delete subscription lines.
All subscription packages not marked as Standard can be assigned in the Assign Subscription Lines dialog. The dialog opens automatically when an item is entered in the sales document if an optional subscription package (not marked as Standard) is stored on the item. Because standard subscription packages are always accepted, only optional subscription line packages display. If you open the dialog by using the Add Subscription Line action on a line, all available subscription packages for the item in the current sales item display.
By selecting the subscription package and confirming with OK, the lines of the subscription package transfer to the selected sales item. You can't select individual lines of a subscription package. To learn more about price calculation of the sales subscription lines, go to Price determination of subscription lines.
Subscription lines can be used in sales quotes, sales orders, and blanket sales orders.
Print subscription lines
Customer-side subscription lines are automatically printed below the respective sales item if a proper report layout is used. For each subscription line, the description, the discount %, and the sales price are printed.
The amounts of subscription lines and subscription items aren't used to calculate the line and total amounts. The total amounts of subscription lines are calculated depending on the billing rhythm and print below the sales items. For each billing rhythm used in the sales document, the recurring total amount is output (if it's greater than 0). The output of the total amounts is sorted by the duration of the billing rhythm. For contract renewals, the total of the sales subscription line is printed separately and labeled with Contract Renewal. To learn more, go to Contract renewal.
View, edit and delete subscription lines
You can check whether subscription lines are entered for the sales item in the Subscription Lines field on a line in the sales document. You can select the field to view, edit, or delete the subscription lines.
Shipping subscription lines
When you ship an item on an order, a subscription is automatically created if Sales with Subscription Lines or Subscription Item are selected in the Subscription Option field on the item. To learn more, go to Subscription lines for items. The sales subscription lines for the sales item automatically transfer as subscription lines. A new subscription is created for each shipment. Delivered subscription items automatically display as invoiced, because the subscription lines are invoiced only through contracts.
Note
Note:
In sales orders, the behavior of subscription items differs significantly from that of normal items in Business Central. During an audit, the differences should be noted and explained to the auditor.
If subscription items were shipped in a sales order, they automatically display as invoiced. By clicking on the Invoiced Quantity field, the lookup won't find a posted sales invoice. To avoid invoices with amount equals to 0 and to be able to delete the sales order, a sales invoice isn't created when you ship subscription items.
Subscription line items also display as invoiced in posted sales shipments, although there isn't a corresponding posted sales invoice and both the item and value ledger entry show the Quantity invoiced as 0.
The item and value ledger entries for the subscription items from sales orders are created with Sale Amount and Cost Amount equal to 0. The item and value ledger entries for the subscription items from sales orders are created without an Invoiced Quantity.
When invoiced by a contract, item and value ledger entries are created with the Invoiced Quantity and Sales Amount.
The item and its description, as well as the customer and the delivery address, transfer to the subscription. The quantity on the subscription corresponds to the quantity in the shipment. All values from the subscription lines in the order transfer to the subscription lines in the subscription. The Shipment Date corresponds to the Provision Start Date in the subscription.
An Agreed Sub. Line Start Date can be entered in the sales subscription line for a sales item. If an Agreed Sub. Line Start Date is maintained in the sales subscription line, it's used as the Subscription Line Start Date and Next Billing Date in the subscription line. If the field is blank, the Subscription Line Start Date and Next Billing Date are determined from the Shipment Date and Subscription Line Start Formula (the field is on the subscription package line).
Here's an example. If delivery is on the 15th of a month, and the Subscription Line Start Formula defines the first of the following month as the start date, the first of the following month is used. If the Subscription Line Start Formula field is empty, the delivery date is used.
Tip
Tip:
-CM+1M calculates the first day of the following month. To learn more about date formulas, go to Work with Calendar Dates and Times.
The Cancellation Period fields calculate based on the Subscription Line Start Date. The Cancellation possible until field specifies the date on which a subscription line can be cancelled in due time. The calculation is as follows:
- Subscription Line Start Date + Initial Term - Notice Period.
The Term until field indicates the next potential end date of a subscription line upon regular termination. It's calculation is Subscription Line Start Date + Notice Period. If you use an Initial Term, it corresponds to Service Start Date + Initial Term.
Important
Important:
The subscription line isn't automatically ended when the Term until date is reached.
If there is an agreed end date for a subscription line, specify an Initial Term date and leave the Subsequent Term empty. This way, upon delivery, the Subscription Line End Date is automatically determined based on the Subscription Line Start Date.
To learn more about subscriptions and subscription lines, go to Managing contracts, subscriptions, and subscription lines.
Inventory picks
When an item is delivered using an inventory pick, either the posting date or the shipment date are used to calculate the subscription line start date. The Subscription Line Start Date for Inventory Pick field on the Subscription Contract Setup page determines which of the two options comes into play.
Calculate orders
You can't charge subscription lines through a sales order. Although the item is billed once via the sales order, the subscription lines aren't billed via the sales order, but through a contract.
Subscription items can't be billed at all. Subscription items can be rentals, support, and so on, that are offered and sold. They're automatically set to invoiced on delivery. Invoicing is also done on a recurring basis through a contract.
Archive documents
Depending on the setting in Sales & Receivables Setup, sales quotes are automatically archived when converted to a sales order or sales orders are automatically archived when deleted (fast tab Archive). Sales quotes and orders can also be archived manually using the Archive Document action. The sales subscription lines belonging to the lines are also archived.