Billing regularization

D'Angelo works for Dreamhouse, a real estate company that has recently marketed new services to its clients, such as cleaning, garden maintenance and laundry. Billing for these services has created new needs at Dreamhouse. Indeed, these services are subscribed to by quarterly subscriptions, with invoicing due 60 days before the start of the invoicing period: Dreamhouse's clients buy their hours of service in advance, and the service does not start until 2 months after being invoiced, and often paid for.

D'Angelo points out some cases that were problematic before this feature:

• A customer takes out a subscription for 30 hours of cleaning per month. At the end of July, he pays his subscription for the period October-November-December. He calls in August to add 10 hours of gardening to his subscription, starting in October. This service concerns the period already billed for the household but not for the gardening, which must therefore be billed in addition.

• A customer takes out a subscription for 20 hours of cleaning per month, starting in November. She is therefore invoiced at the end of July for November to December. Finally, she wants the service to start on October 10th. She therefore needs to be billed for 22 extra days.

• A customer takes out a subscription for 10 hours of linen care per month, for December-January-February. She pays her subscription at the end of October, but has to cancel it for legitimate reasons. Dreamhouse's GTCs state that a refund must be made.

D'Angelo adds that Dreamhouse also bills these services to real estate agencies, which take out subscriptions for several residences, further complicating billing management.

Before, D'Angelo did not know how to correct this difference between an invoice issued and a service that was subsequently modified. The Spring'20 brought him the solution.

Activating the feature

In order for regularization to apply to subscriptions when the conditions for triggering it are met, it must first be activated by ticking the Billing regularization and Automatic Prorating checkboxes in the Options section of the corporate name tab.

Note: Prorating is mandatory in order to correctly adjust the billing.

Enabling the Billing regularisation component on the Subscription page:

This component allows you to bill accrual Invoice Lines on your next Schedule Invoice (see Merge with the next schedule invoice).

Steps

1. Go to a Subscription record.

2. Click the gear icon in the upper right corner, then click Edit Page.

3. In the Lightning App Builder, search for and add the regularisation component by dragging it to the desired location.

   

4. Click the Activation button.

5. In the window, click the App Default tab.

6. Click Assign as App Default.

7. Select Frisbii.

8. Click Next.

9. Keep Desktop as the form factor.

10. Click Next.

11. In the next window, click Save.

12. Then click the Save button at the top right.

13. Next, click <- Back at the top left.

    The Billing regularisation component is now available in the Subscription tab.

How regularization works

The regularization applies in several cases, always within the framework of an activated subscription. The conditions under which it is triggered are as follows:

• Adding a subscription item to an existing subscription.
  If this subscription item relates to a billing period that has already been billed, then a regularization invoice line item is created to settle the billing of this subscription line item.

• Changing the billing period start date and/or end date of one or more subscription line items.
  If the start or end of a subscription line item is changed, then a regularization invoice line item will be created for each difference in the time billed, either positive (underbilled) or negative (overbilled).

  Caution: Only one regularization invoice line item can be created per billing period for the same Subscription line Item. So if you change the start or end dates of a Subscription line item several times within the same billing period, all these changes will be merged on the same regularization invoice line item.

• Deleting a subscription line item that has already been billed.
  If a subscription line item that has already been billed is cancelled, then the invoice(s) issued for this subscription line item will result in one or more negative regularization invoice line items.

Note: regularization only applies in relation to an already invoiced billing period, and in correction of already issued invoices.

To regularize, press the Regularize button.

The Lightning Web Component Regularization displays all the regularization invoice line items related to the current subscription.

The regularization invoice line items can be merged with those in the invoice plan, so that they can be issued with the next scheduled invoice.

To do this:

1. Click on the Merge button in the Regularisation component.

2. Then select the regularization invoice line items (those displayed in the top table with 'Origin': Regularization)

3. Click on the down arrow to transfer them to the bottom table.

Here we see that a regularization invoice line item has been associated with the current scheduled invoice:

Once the regularization invoice line items have been merged with the current invoice, you can issue the invoice in the usual way.

However, you can skip this merge step and issue the adjustment invoice without merging it.

Note: this merge action is reversible as long as the invoice has not been issued.

Select in the bottom table the regularization invoice line items (indicated in the "Origin" column) that you want to remove from the invoice, then click on the up arrow to transfer them back to the top table.

Licensing and warranty limitations

This feature is available to users with a Finance or Administrator license.

Improvements over successive versions

The sales department has been using billing regularizations for two years and is very satisfied with the feature.

However, Chan and Maria have submitted a few suggestions for improvements to D'Angelo, their Salesforce and Frisbii administrator.

Processing of an unbounded invoice line item

Previously:
It was only possible to regularize an invoice line item that had the same start and/or end dates as the invoice.

Now:
Even if the invoice line item dates do not correspond to the invoice dates (start and end), i.e.'the invoice line item is included in the period covered by the invoice without sharing the'one of its milestones, you can regularize the line.

Regulate positively or negatively

Previously:
It was only possible to regulate negatively when modifying a subscription line item, in order to shorten an invoiced period.

Now:
It is also possible to extend a subscription line item and obtain a regularization invoice line item that covers the extension period.

Regularization of an issued regularization invoice

Previously:
You have created a subscription with one or more subscription line items. Following activation and schedule generation, you modify the dates and launch the regularization.

A regularization invoice is created containing one or more regularization line item(s) in relation to the modified item(s). You issue this regularization invoice.

Then you modify the subscription line item again and run the regularization again.

> Double regularization in this way was not possible until Summer '22.

Now:
A second invoice is created.

Important: Do not adjust a subscription line item for a third time, since two adjustment invoices have already been issued. We can't guarantee that it will work.

However, you can have more than three invoicing periods on the same subscription.

Ex-nihilo invoices excluded from regularization

Previously:
An ex-nihilo invoice associated with a subscription could be taken into account by the regularization, which caused problems.

Now:
Ex-nihilo invoices are ignored by the regularization feature.

Adjustment for 0 EUR invoices

Previously:
Adjustment invoices at 0 EUR were deleted.

Now:
Adjustment invoices are only deleted if there is no invoice line item. So if you have positive and negative amounts on an adjustment invoice that offset each other, the invoice is retained.

Mass processing

This is a new feature:
We provide you with an asynchronous batch for mass control. At the end of the batch, it calls up the subscription schedule generation. This makes it possible to control several subscriptions at the same time. You can use the Apex BatchCreateRegularizationItem class in your specific developments for mass processing.

Cancellation of a future subscription line item

Before:
You cancel a subscription with start and end dates in the future.  No invoice line item had yet been issued. But if you issued this future period and then regularized, then the regularization considered that you had forgotten to bill this subscription line item.

Example:
You have a customer with a monthly subscription. You have issued the invoice for January and February. The customer calls you and asks you to plan for June/July/August an option "international calls". You therefore create a subscription line item for this additional option. Finally, in mid-April, a pandemic strikes and your customer cancels his vacation and asks to cancel this option. Change the status of the subscription line item to "cancelled" and generate the schedule again. At this time, all is fine, the subscription line item is absent from this summer's invoices.

Time passes and September arrives. To make sure you haven't forgotten anything, click regularly on "Regularize". While nothing should have been generated, Frisbii mistakenly estimates that the option "international calls" should have been billed to the customer and a regularization invoice with one line for June, one line for July and a 3rd for August is generated.

Now:
If the subscription item changes to “canceled” status:

• All invoice lines issued from this subscription item are adjusted. The case presented could therefore not happen again.

• Draft invoice lines are deleted.

Data transfer on the regularization invoice

Previously:
Information was missing from the regularization invoice that should have been entered natively, such as contact, accounting data and product configuration.

Now:
Contact, accounting data and product configuration are taken from the subscription from which the regularization invoice originates.

Start and end dates of accrual invoices

Previously:
The start and end dates of the regularization invoices were too broad:

• Start date = start date of the invoice copied to create the adjustment invoice

• End date = initial end date of subscription.

Now:
The regularization invoice covers the period covered by the regulated invoices, taking into account :

• Start date = minimum start date of regulated invoices

• End date = maximum end date of regulated invoices.

• Invoice date = current date.

Example:
You have a monthly subscription of one year, following the calendar months. You issue invoices for January, February and March. You have a subscription from January 15 to March 15 which you are finally cancelling, as the customer was unable to access this service due to a malfunction.

The regularization invoice has a start date of 01/01 and an end date of 03/31. It has three control lines:

• one from 01/15 to 01/31

• one from 02/01 to 02/28

• one from 01/03 to 15/03

Cancellation of subscriptions not distributed on credit notes

Previously:
When cancelling several subscription line items without an end date, the credit note did not contain all subscription line items.

Now:
From Fall '22 onwards, all cancelled subscription line items without an end date can be found on the credit note.

Invoice line item invoicing period end date

Previously:
When regulating a subscription line item on which the end date was brought forward, the period of the regulated invoice line item began with the new end date + 1 day and ended with the old period end date.

Now:
From Fall '22 onwards, the end date of a regularized invoice line item is based on the period actually regulated and not on the difference between the old end date of the subscription line item and the new end date.