Enhancements to ZAB Revenue Processing
Enhancement to the getRevenueElementSourceIdsForUpdate search to reduce complexity and increase efficiency, particularly in high volume environments.
Enhancement to Evaluate Transaction Lines Before Processing
Enhancement to evaluate the number of Transaction Lines earlier in the Create Transactions process, and return an error on the ZAB Process record if the attempted number of Lines exceeds native NetSuite Transaction Line limits. Previously, this was not determined up front, which in some scenarios led to timeout issues.
Enhancement to Charge Consolidation Backup File
This enhancement to the ‘Generate Charge Consolidation Backup File’ functionality enables the generated JSON and CSV files to return the labels of the search fields, rather than the field IDs.
By default, the following out-of-the-box ZAB column mappings are included as the file headers: Rate, Quantity, Amount, Start Date, and End Date. If additional custom columns are mapped on the Rate Plan Search Map’s ‘Charge Consolidation Aggregations’ tab, and the columns in the search include a custom label, the custom label will be returned in the backup file. If no custom label is defined in the search, the field ID will continue to be used instead.
Enhancement to 'Terminate and Replace Subscription Item' Functionality
This enhancement to the ‘Terminate and Replace a Subscription Item’ functionality enables users to determine if billed Charges beyond the Terminate-As-Of Date should be preserved or refunded upon termination. Additionally, the End Date of the Subscription Item prior to termination will be stored in a new ‘Original End Date’ field, for reporting purposes.
When the Termination feature is leveraged, the ‘Preserve Cancelled Charges’ behavior defined on the Subscription Item is evaluated. If the ‘Preserve Cancelled Charges’ field is null on the Subscription Item, the preference defined on the related Subscription is inherited. By default, the ‘Don’t Preserve Cancelled Charges’ behavior is enabled, consistent with the existing behavior.
If ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ is selected, offsetting Charges (with a Bill Date of the Termination Date) are created for any Billed Charges with a Service Period End Date after the selected Terminate-As-Of Date. If ‘Preserve Charges’ is selected, any Billed Charges beyond the Termination Date will remain, and no offset Charges will be created. In both instances, any Charges beyond the Termination Date are deleted.
Enhancement to Create Transactions Process
Additional enhancements were made to the Create Transactions process to more efficiently evaluate the Charges to be billed, generate the Transaction, and update the Charges.
New Feature: In-Product Access to ZAB Knowledge Base
A new feature, ‘Enable Knowledge Base Links’, provides easy access to the ZoneBilling Knowledge Center from key records. To enable the feature, select the ‘Enable Knowledge Base Links’ checkbox on the ZAB Preferences record.
Once enabled, an information icon will be displayed on key record pages, next to the record type name, and provide a direct link to the documentation for the related feature or record type.
New Subscription Management Feature: Cancellation
The ‘Cancellation’ feature provides enhanced subscription management capabilities by allowing users to easily cancel a specific Subscription Item or an entire Subscription (including all related Subscription Items). Users can define if billed Charges beyond the Cancellation Date should be preserved or refunded upon cancellation.
When the Cancellation feature is leveraged, the ‘Preserve Cancelled Charges’ behavior defined on the Subscription and Subscription Item(s) is evaluated. The behavior on the Subscription applies to all related Subscription Items, unless overridden on a specific Subscription Item. By default, the ‘Don’t Preserve Cancelled Charges’ behavior is enabled on the Subscription and all Subscription Items.
If ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ is selected, offsetting Charges (with a Bill Date of the Cancellation Date) are created for any Billed Charges with a Service Period End Date after the selected Cancellation Date. If ‘Preserve Charges’ is selected, any Billed Charges beyond the Cancellation Date will remain, and no offset Charges will be created. In both instances, any Charges beyond the Cancellation Date are deleted.
Users may choose to cancel an individual Subscription Item, by setting the ‘Status’ to ‘Cancelled’ and specifying a ‘Cancellation Date’ on the Subscription Item. Upon saving the record, the Subscription Item ‘End Date’ is updated to the ‘Cancellation Date’. The prior End Date will be preserved in the ‘Original End Date’ field for reporting purposes, and the Charges are updated based on the defined ‘Preserve Cancelled Charges’ behavior.
Alternatively, a user may choose to cancel an entire Subscription, inclusive of all related Subscription Items, by setting the ‘Cancelled’ Status and ‘Cancellation Date’ on the Subscription. Upon saving, the Subscription and all Subscription Item’s End Dates are updated to the Cancellation Date and the prior End Dates preserved in the ‘Original End Date’ fields. Each Subscription Item is updated with the ‘Cancelled’ Status and Charges updated.
Once a Subscription or Subscription Item has been cancelled, the Cancellation Date may not be changed. If the record was cancelled in error or as of the incorrect date, it is recommended to create a new Subscription or Subscription Item.
Cancellation may not be used with Subscription Items with a Prepaid Subscription or Prepaid Item Quantity Rate Type. If a Subscription has any Subscription Items with a Rate Type of Prepaid Subscription or Prepaid Item Quantity, the Subscription cannot be cancelled. The Subscription Items with non-prepaid Rate Types may be cancelled individually.
Subscriptions with more than 15 Subscription Items are not recommended in ZoneBilling. If this configuration is present, it is recommended to cancel individual Subscription Items, not the Subscription.
By default, permission has been granted to the Administrator and Zone Advanced Billing Administrator roles to leverage cancellation functionality. If additional role(s) need the ability to edit or view cancellation behavior:
- Edit the following fields and provide edit or view access to additional role(s) as needed:
- On the Subscription record:
- Status
- Cancellation Date
- Preserve Cancelled Charges
- Original End Date
- On the Subscription Item record:
- Status
- Cancellation Date
- Preserve Cancelled Charges
- Original End Date
- On the Subscription record:
New Subscription Management Feature: Evergreen
Evergreen refers to a contract which, unless canceled, is ongoing in perpetuity. In these scenarios, the Subscription and Subscription Item(s) End Dates are automatically extended at a defined cadence prior to the original End Date. By default, all Subscription Items on a given Evergreen Subscription are extended, unless otherwise specified.
To leverage Evergreen functionality, first define the 'Evergreen Notice Period in Days’ on the ZAB Preferences record to determine when the Evergreen process should execute. For example, if the ‘Evergreen Notice Period in Days’ is set to ‘15’, the Evergreen process will find all Subscriptions where the End Date is within today or the last 15 days.
On the ZAB Subscription form, under the “Renewal” tab, you will see two fields called ‘Evergreen Period (Frequency)’ and ‘Evergreen Period (Interval)’. These fields work in tandem to define by what period the Subscription End Date should be extended by the Evergreen process. By default, this applies to all related Subscription Items unless indicated on the Subscription Item via the ‘Exclude from Evergreen’ checkbox (located on the ‘Renewal’ tab of the Subscription Item).
Updating the Subscription or Subscription Item to remove the Evergreen settings or utilizing the Subscription Cancellation or Termination functionality will cease the Evergreen actions.
Issue Evaluating ZAB Revenue Details in ZAB Prospective Merge
Resolves an issue occurring when using ZAB Prospective Merge where not all eligible ZAB Revenue Details were found to be processed.
Issue Evaluating Revenue Elements for ZAB Prospective Merge
Resolves an issue where the ZAB Prospective Merge suitelet did not display all available Revenue Elements for processing. Elements were not found when their Effective Start Date was before the first day following the most recent closed accounting period. This fix ensures that the suitelet includes all eligible Revenue Elements.
Additionally, data entered in the ‘Date To’ field will no longer auto-populate in the ‘Date From’ field.
Issue Leveraging Billing Profile with High Volume of Charges
Resolves an issue in the Create Transactions process when a Billing Profile was used in conjunction with extremely high volumes of Charges being billed on a single Transaction. This fix helps to optimize ‘Create Transactions’ to process large volumes of Charges more efficiently.
Issue Changing Rate Plan After Billing
Resolves an issue occurring in niche scenarios when the Rate Plan on a partially billed Subscription Item was changed from a non-Ad Hoc Rate Plan to an Ad Hoc Data Rate Plan. In some scenarios, the placeholder Charge with an ‘Ad Hoc’ Charge Type was not generated, resulting in errors in the Rating process.
Issue Displaying License Expiration Date
Previously, if the product key entered in an account was not associated with a ZoneBilling license, the ‘View License’ suitelet displayed a placeholder ‘License Expiration Date’. Now, the ‘License Expiration Date’ will return null if no license exists, to reduce confusion.
Error Evaluating Time of Day Field with Managed Display
Resolves an issue when evaluating a Display Condition with a ‘Time of Day’ Data Type in ‘View’ context.
Error Evaluating Date Fields with Managed Display
Resolves an issue when evaluating a Display Condition with a ‘Date’ Data Type using the ‘On’ Operator in ‘View’ context.
Non-Impacting ZAB Revenue Billing Event Processing Error
Resolves an extraneous error present in script logs when the ZAB Revenue Billing Event Processing MR was unable to initiate because another deployment was already running. This was non-impacting, as the data is consumed in a subsequent run, and therefore removed.
Resolve Non-Impacting Date Parsing Error
This change resolves a non-impacting error caused by date parsing logic in various processes.