Managing Rating Runs
Rating is the process of creating charges for subscription line items. Charges for a subscription are calculated based on its line item details:
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The quantities, pricing, and usage in the price plan and price book
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The effective date of the subscription
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The status of the subscription and its line items
To set and change the status of subscription line items, use a change order.
Certain tasks done on a subscription line item that affect charge calculations are called ratable events. Ratable events may be caused by:
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Activating a line item
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Reactivating a line item
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Renewing a line item
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Suspending a line item
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Terminating a line item
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Modifying quantities and rates on a line item
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Saving a change order
For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.
Automatic Rating Runs
Saving an action that causes a ratable event automatically starts the charge calculation process, known as a rating run. You can also generate charges on demand or schedule them with your current billing operations. Run ratings from the Billing Operation page.
Saving a change order is a ratable event and starts a rating run. You can only submit one change order of a specific type per day for a subscription line item. For example, if you submit a modify pricing change order to change a line item's price and later want to add a discount to the same line, you must wait 24 hours.
The same is true for quantity changes. If you submit a change order that changes the quantity of a line item, you must wait at least 24 hours before submitting another.
Changing a draft subscription's pricing also starts an automatic rating run. Although this rating run doesn't generate charges, it helps calculate the total subscription amount when synchronizing a draft subscription with a sales order. Rating runs are asynchronous server processes, so the latest results may not be immediately available after saving the draft subscription. For the current data, resynchronize the sales order.
Example:
Suppose you have a subscription line item, cell phone service, from January 1, 2029 to December 31, 2029.
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You create a change order that changes the subscription start date to February 1, 2029. When you save the activation change order, rating occurs. Charges are created from February to the end of the subscription term, reflecting the new start date.
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May 1, you create a suspend change order for the cell phone service subscription line item. When you save the change order, rating occurs. A rating run starts and calculates the charges from May 1 to the end of the subscription term, and places the charges On Hold. If earlier charges were invoiced, negative charges could occur.
For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.
Manually Starting a Rating Run with Billing Operations
You can start a rating run manually at any time to create charges. For example, you might use billing operations manually when a a subscription's price changes. Another situation is when a customer cancels their subscription early and is entitled to a partial refund. In this case, you use billing operations to create a credit memo. A subscription change order could require you to manually create SuiteBilling charges. For more information about billing operations, see Billing Operations. For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.
To manually start a rating run to generate charges with Billing Operations:
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Go to Transactions > Billing > Process Billing Operations.
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On the Billing Operation page, check the Rating Run preference, then click Run.
Creating a Scheduled Rating Run Using Billing Operations
You can schedule a rating run to create subscription charges for a specific day and time, such as for billing monthly subscription charges. For more information about Billing Operations, see Billing Operations.
To create a scheduled rating run using Billing Operations:
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Go to Transactions > Billing > Schedule Billing Operations.
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Under Primary Information, enter a name and description for the bill run schedule. To delay the bill run schedule, check the Inactive box.
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Under Schedule, set up a schedule for the bill run.
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Under Billing Operations, check the Bill Run preference.
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Under Billables, choose the transaction types to bill.
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Under Accounting, indicate whether the credit card is approved.
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Under Communication, choose whether bills are printed, emailed, or faxed.
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Click Save.
Related Topics
- Creating a New Stand-alone Subscription
- Creating a Subscription from a Transaction
- Updating a Subscription on a Transaction
- Adding Line Items to an Existing Subscription
- Activating a Subscription
- Creating Usage Records
- Terminating a Subscription Line Item
- Suspending a Subscription Line Item
- Reactivating a Subscription Line Item
- Modifying Pricing
- Renewing a Subscription
- Adding Renewal Information to Subscription Plans