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Cancelling Subscriptions and Subscription Items

Summary

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.

Important Note: Previously ‘Cancelled’ Subscriptions can be reverted to a pre-'Cancelled' status. Subscriptions may be re-opened by editing the Subscription record and clearing the Subscription ‘Status’ field, after which new Subscription Items can be added. When a ‘Cancelled’ Subscription is reverted, the Original End Date and Cancellation Date fields are cleared, and the End Date may be manually updated as needed. Any previously ‘Cancelled’ Subscription Items remain in a ‘Cancelled’ status and are not updated.

Keep in mind

  • Cancellation may not be used with Subscription Items with a Prepaid Subscription or Prepaid Item Quantity Rate Type.
  • 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.

Charge Behavior After Cancellation

Before leveraging cancellation behavior, it is recommended to review the ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ behavior on the relevant Subscription or Subscription Item.

The ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ behavior defined on the Subscription will apply to all related Subscription Items by default, unless overridden on a specific Subscription Item.

  • By default, the ‘Don’t Preserve Canceled Charges’ behavior is enabled on the Subscription and all Subscription Items.

Don’t Preserve Cancelled Charges

If ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ is selected,

  • Offsetting Charges are created for any Billed Charges (i.e. Charge Status = ‘Billed', ‘Excluded - Zero Quantity’, or ‘Excluded - Zero Amount’) related to this Subscription Item with a Service Period End Date after the selected Cancellation Date.
  • The offsetting Charge has the Cancellation Date set as the Bill Date, to be available for immediate billing.

Preserve Canceled Charges

If ‘Preserve Charges’ is selected, 

  • Any Billed Charges beyond the Cancellation Date will remain, and no offset Charges will be created.

Example Behavior

Subscription Item ‘A’ has a Monthly (Calendar) Charge Schedule, and an End Date of December 31, 2023. 

  • The month of November was billed in advance, on November 1 for the November 1 - 30 Charge Period.
  • The Subscription Item is then canceled as of November 15.

If ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ is selected on Subscription Item ‘A’:

  • An offsetting Charge is generated for the dates of November 16 - 30, with a prorated amount for the period, and a Bill Date of November 15.
  • Charges are regenerated and the Charge for the December period is deleted.

If Preserve Charges’ is selected on Subscription Item ‘A’:

  • No changes are made to the November Charge (i.e. it remains billed for the full November 1 - 30 period).
  • Charges are regenerated and the Charge for the December period is deleted.

Cancel a Specific Subscription Item

Users may choose to cancel an individual Subscription Item.

To cancel a Subscription Item:

  • Set the ‘Status’ to ‘Canceled’ and specify a ‘Cancellation Date’.
    • The Cancellation Date must be before the current End Date.
      • If a user tries to set a Cancellation Date on or after the current Subscription Item End Date, no changes will be made to the record, and a notice will be displayed to the user that they must select an earlier Cancellation Date.
  • 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.

Once a Subscription Item has been canceled, the Cancellation Date may not be changed. If the Subscription Item was canceled in error or as of the incorrect date, it is recommended to create a new Subscription Item.

Cancel a Subscription

Alternatively, a user can cancel an entire Subscription, which will also cancel all related Subscription Items. To cancel a Subscription:

  • Set the ‘Status’ to ‘Canceled’ and specify a ‘Cancellation Date’.
    • The Cancellation Date must be before the current End Date.
      • See the detailed table below behavior if a Cancellation Date on or after the Subscription End Date or any Subscription Item End Date is selected.
  • Upon saving the record, the Subscription ‘End Date’ is updated to the ‘Cancellation Date’. The prior End Date will be preserved in the ‘Original End Date’ field for reporting purposes.
    • Additionally, all Subscription Item End Dates are updated to the ‘Cancellation Date’, and the prior End Dates preserved in the Subscription Item ‘End Date’ fields.
    • The ‘Status’ will be updated to ‘Canceled’ on all Subscription Items.

Once a Subscription has been canceled, new Subscription Items may not be added to the Subscription.

If the Subscription was canceled in error or as of the incorrect date, users may create a new, corrected Subscription and Subscription Item(s).

 

Action Example Cancellation Date Example Subscription and Subscription Item End Dates Expected Behavior
Cancellation Date is Before the Subscription and all Subscription Item End Dates 1/8/2023 Subscription: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item A: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item B: 2/5/2023		 1. The Subscription and Subscription Items A & B are canceled.
Cancellation Date is Before the Subscription and some Subscription Item End Dates 2/15/2023 Subscription: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item A: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item B: 2/5/2023		 1. The Subscription and Subscription Item B are canceled.
2. Subscription Item A is not canceled (since the End Date is before the Cancellation).
Cancellation Date is After the Subscription and any Subscription Item End Dates 2/15/2023 Subscription: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item A: 1/31/2023
Subscription Item B: 2/5/2023

1. The Subscription and Subscription Items are not canceled (since the End Date is before the Cancellation).

Expected Charge Behavior

Subscription Item Canceled

  1. If ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ Setting = ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’
      1. For any Billed Charge(s) where the Service Period End Date is after the Cancellation Date, an offsetting Charge is created.
      2. Charges are regenerated and future period Charges are deleted.
  2. If ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ Setting = Preserve Charges’
      1. Any Billed Charge(s) where the Service Period End Date is after the Cancellation Date remains unchanged.
    2. Charges are regenerated and future period Charges are deleted.

Subscription Canceled

  1. If the Subscription ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ Setting = ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ and all related Subscription Items are ‘Don’t Preserve Charges’ (or blank),
      1. For any Billed Charge(s) where the Service Period End Date is after the Cancellation Date, an offsetting Charge is created.
      2. Charges are regenerated and future period Charges are deleted.
  2. If the Subscription ‘Preserve Canceled Charges’ Setting = Preserve Charges’ and all related Subscription Items are ‘Preserve Charges’ (or blank),
      1. Any Billed Charge(s) where the Service Period End Date is after the Cancellation Date remains unchanged.
      2. Charges are regenerated and future period Charges are deleted.
  3. If any Subscription Item ‘Preserve Cancelled Charges’ differs from the Subscription setting, the Subscription Item’s setting takes precedence for that Subscription Item.

Permissions

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:

  1. Edit the following fields on the Subscription record type and provide edit or view access to additional role(s) as needed:
      1. Status
      2. Cancellation Date
      3. Preserve Canceled Charges
      4. Original End Date
  2. Edit the following fields on the Subscription Item record type and provide edit or view access to additional role(s) as needed:
      1. Status
      2. Cancellation Date
      3. Preserve Canceled Charges
      4. Original End Date

Important Key Reminders

  • You cannot ‘un-cancel’ a Subscription or Subscription Item.
    • Once a Subscription or Subscription Item has been canceled, the cancellation status and date cannot be changed.
    • If the Subscription or Subscription Item was canceled in error, create a new Subscription or Subscription Item for the corresponding term.
  • 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 canceled. The Subscription Items with non-prepaid Rate Types may be canceled 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.
  • If a Subscription has a large number of Subscription Items and/or a high volume of Charges per Subscription Item, it is recommended to cancel the individual Subscription Items, not the Subscription.
  • It is recommended to always test canceling any part of a Subscription with more than 15 Subscription items in a sandbox environment prior to making changes in production.

Cancellation and Evergreen

Canceling a Subscription or Subscription Item will end any Evergreen activities.

For example, if a Subscription Item is set to extend by a period of one month, and is included in the Evergreen Notice Period, but has a status of ‘Canceled’, it will not be picked up by the Evergreen process.

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