Subscription Orders

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to create a subscription order with a monthly invoicing frequency
So that the system can automatically generate a monthly invoice for the customer each period

Setup:

1. Open Subscription Setup and confirm that Subscription Nos. and Posted Subscription Nos. are filled in.
2. Navigate to the Subscription List and create a new subscription order.
3. Select the customer in the Customer Name field.
4. On the subscription lines subform, add a line: set Type to Item (or G/L Account), enter the No., Quantity, and Unit Price.
5. Set Starting Date to the date from which invoicing should begin.
6. Set Invoicing Frequency to <1M> for monthly invoicing.
7. Leave Ending Date blank if the subscription runs indefinitely.
8. Run Create Invoices from the action bar to verify the first invoice is created correctly.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to define when the first (potentially partial) billing period ends
So that the first invoice covers exactly the right number of days and subsequent invoices align to full periods

Setup:

1. Create or open a Subscription Order and add a subscription line.
2. Set Starting Date to the actual start of the customer's subscription (e.g. mid-month).
3. Set Invoicing Frequency and Subscription Period Length as required.
4. The End Date First Period field is automatically calculated based on the Calc. End First Period setting in Subscription Setup. Review this date — it defines where the first partial period ends.
5. If needed, manually override End Date First Period to a specific date.
6. When Create Invoices runs, the first invoice line will have its quantity (or price) adjusted proportionally based on the ratio of actual days to full period days, per the Adjust For Odd Subscription Period setting.

Note: End Date First Period only applies to the very first invoice. All subsequent invoices cover full periods determined by Invoicing Frequency.

As a Business Manager
I want to choose whether partial periods are handled by reducing the quantity or reducing the unit price
So that invoices for partial periods reflect the correct billing amount in the way that suits our business

Setup:

1. Open Subscription Setup.
2. Set Adjust For Odd Subscription Period to either Adjust Quantity (the invoiced quantity is reduced proportionally) or Adjust Sales Price (the unit price is reduced proportionally).
3. Set Sales Days per Month to Actual days (calendar-accurate proration) or 30 days (fixed 30-day month for consistent calculations).
4. Set Calc. End First Period to End current period, End month, or Actual period length to control how the first period end date is auto-calculated when a subscription line is saved.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to set an Ending Date on a subscription line
So that invoicing stops automatically when the subscription expires and the line is marked as Completely Invoiced

Setup:

1. Open the relevant Subscription Order.
2. On the subscription line, set Ending Date to the last date the subscription is valid.
3. The system validates that the Ending Date is after the Starting Date (taking into account the item's Notice Period if configured).
4. When the invoice creation process runs, it will not create invoices beyond the Ending Date. Once the last period leading up to the Ending Date has been invoiced, Completely Invoiced is automatically set to true on the line.

Note: If Ending Date is set to a date that falls mid-period, the last invoice will be a partial period, adjusted per the Adjust For Odd Subscription Period setting.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to add a one-time fee (e.g. installation or startup fee) to a subscription order
So that it is invoiced exactly once on the first invoice run and then marked as done

Setup:

1. On the subscription line, set Single-Use Invoicing Item to true, or set Subscription Single-Use Invoicing Item to true on the Item Card so it defaults automatically.
2. Enter Starting Date and optionally Invoicing Frequency on the line.
3. When Create Invoices runs, this line is included on the first invoice. After the invoice is created, the line is automatically marked as Completely Invoiced and excluded from all future runs.

Note: Once a line is marked Completely Invoiced, its fields become read-only on the order.

As a Business Manager
I want to set default subscription period length and other subscription properties directly on an item
So that subscription lines are pre-populated with correct settings when the item is added

Setup:

1. Open the Item Card for the relevant item.
2. Navigate to the Subscription FastTab (visible when Subscription Management is enabled).
3. Set Default Subscription Period Length (e.g. <1M>) — this will default onto subscription lines when the item is selected.
4. Optionally set Notice Period (e.g. <3M>) — the ending date on a subscription line must be at least this far after the starting date.
5. Optionally set Subscription Single-Use Invoicing Item to true if this item should always be invoiced only once per subscription.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to set the subscription period length to 1 month but the invoicing frequency to 3 months
So that the customer is invoiced quarterly but each invoice covers three individual monthly periods

Setup:

1. On the subscription line, set Subscription Period Length to <1M>.
2. Set Invoicing Frequency to <3M>.
3. The system validates that the Subscription Period Length evenly divides into the Invoicing Frequency (e.g. 1 divides into 3).
4. When Create Invoices runs, the report creates three invoice lines for each run — one for each monthly period within the quarterly billing window.

Note: Subscription Period Length must be a smaller or equal interval that divides evenly into Invoicing Frequency. A period length of 2 months with a frequency of 3 months would be invalid.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to configure a subscription order where one customer receives the service but a different customer is invoiced
So that the invoice is sent to the correct billing entity (e.g. a parent company)

Setup:

1. Open or create a Subscription Order.
2. In the Shipping and Billing section, change the Bill-to option from Default (Customer) to Another Customer.
3. Enter the billing customer's name in the Name field that appears.
4. When invoices are created, they will be addressed to the bill-to customer while the subscription is tied to the sell-to customer.

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to copy an existing subscription order to use as a template for a new customer
So that I do not have to re-enter all lines and settings from scratch

Setup:

1. Open the new (empty) Subscription Order for the new customer.
2. Choose Copy Document from the action bar.
3. Select the source subscription order as the document to copy from.
4. The lines — including all subscription fields (Starting Date, Invoicing Frequency, Period Length, etc.) — are copied to the new order.
5. Adjust dates and customer-specific details as needed.

As a Accountant
I want to see all invoices and credit memos that have been posted for a specific subscription order
So that I can verify billing history or investigate a discrepancy

Setup:

1. Open the relevant Subscription Order.
2. Use the Posted Invoices Lines action to view all posted sales invoice lines linked to this subscription.
3. Use the Posted Credit Memos Lines action to view all posted credit memo lines.
4. Use the Open Invoices/Credit Memos action to view unposted invoices or credit memos still in process.

As a Sales Manager
I want to see the annualised sales amount and profit for each subscription line
So that I can evaluate the recurring revenue value of a customer's subscriptions

Setup:

1. Open the relevant Subscription Order and review the subscription lines.
2. The Sales Amount per Year, Cost Amount per Year, and Profit Amount per Year fields are automatically calculated whenever a line is saved or updated.
3. These amounts are calculated by multiplying the line amount by the number of billing periods per year (derived from the Invoicing Frequency).

Note: These fields are informational only — they are not used in invoice creation.

As a Accountant
I want to assign dimension values to a subscription order header and individual lines
So that posted invoices carry the correct dimensions for reporting and analysis

Setup:

1. On the Subscription Order header, use the Dimensions action to assign dimension values to the header.
2. On individual lines in the subform, set Shortcut Dimension 1 Code and Shortcut Dimension 2 Code directly, or expand additional shortcut dimension columns as needed.
3. Dimension values on both header and lines are carried forward to the generated sales invoices when Create Invoices runs.

As a Accountant
I want to attach a deferral code to a subscription line
So that revenue from invoices generated by this line is deferred and recognised over the correct accounting period

Setup:

1. On the subscription line in the subform, set the Deferral Code field to the appropriate deferral template.
2. When Create Invoices runs, the deferral code is copied to the generated invoice line.
3. The posting date on the subscription order header is automatically set to the work date if it is blank and a deferral code is present (this prevents deferral validation errors).

As a Sales Order Processor
I want to delete an unposted sales invoice generated from a subscription
So that the subscription line's Next Invoicing Date and Period Start Date revert, allowing the invoice to be re-created

Setup:

1. Open the unposted sales invoice generated from the subscription order.
2. Delete the invoice. The system detects that the lines are linked to a subscription order.
3. For each subscription line involved, the system reverts Next Invoicing Date and Period Start Date to the values they had before the invoice was created.
4. The Completely Invoiced flag is also cleared if it had been set.

Note: Invoices must be deleted in the reverse order of creation. If a newer invoice exists for the same subscription line, deletion of an older invoice will be blocked.

As a Business Manager
I want to ensure that a subscription order cannot be deleted while unposted invoices still exist for it
So that we avoid data integrity issues where invoices reference a deleted subscription

Setup:

1. This behaviour is enforced automatically by the system.
2. If a user attempts to delete a Subscription Order that has one or more unposted invoices linked to it (via the same Posted Subscription No. Series and external document reference), the system will display an error and block the deletion.
3. The user must first delete all related unposted invoices before the subscription order can be removed.

As a Project Manager
I want to link a subscription line to a project and project task
So that the revenue from the recurring invoices is tracked against the relevant project

Setup:

1. On the subscription line subform, make the Project No. and Project Task No. columns visible (they are hidden by default).
2. Set the Project No. and Project Task No. on the relevant line.
3. These values are carried to the generated invoice lines when Create Invoices runs.

As a Sales Manager
I want to view realised sales, costs, VAT, profit, and outstanding amounts for a subscription order
So that I can assess the financial performance of the subscription

Setup:

1. Open the Subscription Order.
2. Use the Statistics action (shortcut: F7) to open the Sales Order Statistics page.
3. The Subscription Details FactBox on the right side of the Subscription Order card shows a summary of realised and outstanding amounts, pulled from customer ledger entries linked to this subscription's external document number.