Contract Renewals Overview

Software Vertical Contract Renewals SuiteApp gives your software company unprecedented ease in managing contract renewals of your install base.

This SuiteApp is designed for software companies who offer perpetually-licensed and term-licensed products, enabling you to effectively manage the recurring billing of both on-premise and on-demand software licenses and entitlements.

This SuiteApp offers:

• A flexible and powerful automated renewal process that lets you track renewable assets and maximize renewal revenue

• Seamless tracking of upsell and returns

• Complete visibility into your install base

• Multi-tier channel sales management

The Software Vertical Contract Renewals SuiteApp enables you to manage your renewable products and services as well as non-renewable items like training and consulting. In addition, maintenance and support fees can be applied and included in the renewal contract.

A flexible, automated renewal process generates a transaction at the end of a contract term that is, in turn, used to generate the renewal contract. This new contract includes items that you have set as renewable, such as products and module licenses, user licenses (or seats), and support and maintenance entitlements. One-time, non-renewable items like training and consulting are not typically renewed.

Availability

Software Vertical Contract Renewals is provided as a SuiteApp developed by NetSuite. For information about this SuiteApp, contact your NetSuite account representative.

Read the following topics for more information about the features offered by this SuiteApp:

• Contracts and Renewals

• Upsell and Returns

• Support for Multiple Sales Channels

• Discounts

Contracts and Renewals

With Contract Renewals, when you create an initial sales order for a customer, the information from that order is used to generate a contract. The overall start and end dates of the sales order define the contract term, and items on the sales order generate contract items on the resulting contract.

The contract and contract items make up the install base of the customer. Contracts are listed on the Contracts subtab on customer records. You can also click the contract ID link on the original sales order to view a specific contract.

Prior to the end of the contract term, a renewal transaction is generated based on your setting for the Transaction Type to Create preference at Contract Renewals > Setup > Contract Renewals Preferences. When saved and billed, this order generates a new contract that includes the items from the customer's install base that are configured as renewable.

If you are using the channel management fields on customer records to track indirect sales relationships (including resellers and distributors), a single renewal transaction is generated for each combination of End User and Bill To Customer.

For more information about creating contracts, see Creating a New Contract. For information about renewals, see Contract Renewals Process.

Upsell and Returns

During the term of a contract, you can make changes by entering sales orders for additional items (upsell) or by issuing returns (downsell).

When you want to add items to an existing contract, you create another sales order for the customer and attach it to the existing contract. You can also create a new order from the contract by selecting the contract items for upsell and clicking the Create Upsell Order button.

Items added to a contract must have start and end dates within the contract term. To add items that extend beyond the existing contract's start and end dates, you need to create a separate contract. For more information, see Contract Upsell.

If the customer reduces their service during the contract term, you create a return authorization tied to the contract. These items are then offset from the contract and are not renewed. For more information, see Contracts and Returns.

Support for Multiple Sales Channels

The Software Vertical Contract Renewals SuiteApp enables you to track and manage multi-tiered sales interactions with distributors, resellers, and end users.

The Channel Tier field on the customer record defines the relationship each customer has with your company. You can choose one of the following:

• End User - The end user is the customer who uses or registers the product. The end user may purchase the product from you or from a reseller or a distributor.

• Reseller - The reseller purchases the product from you and resells it to an end user. The product can be delivered from you either through the reseller or directly to the end user.

• Distributor - Distributors purchase from your company and sell the product to a reseller or end user. The distributor delivers the product and bills the purchaser.

With Contract Renewals, these channels are managed through two fields on sales transactions: End User and Bill To Customer.

On the Channel subtab of the transaction form, do the following:

• If you are creating a contract for an end user who purchased through a reseller, on the Channel subtab of the transaction form, select the reseller or distributor for the transaction, and select Reseller in the Bill To Tier field.

• If the contract is for an end user who purchased through a distributor, select Distributor in the Bill To Tier field.

• Select the end user in the End User field.

If you have partners who sell your products, you can track them with partner records in your NetSuite account. You can associate partners with customers and with sales transactions. For more information, see Associating Partners With Customers and Transactions.

A variety of channel-based reports are available on the Contract Renewals tab.

Discounts

There are three types of discounts available in the Software Vertical Contract Renewals SuiteApp:

• Transaction body discounts affect all transaction lines and cannot be renewed.

• Transaction line discounts affect the line above the discount in a transaction and also cannot be renewed.

• In-line discounts affect an individual transaction line and are stored in the corresponding contract item. These discounts can be renewed.

General Notices