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Subscriptions

Subscriptions in APEX define how your customers access and pay for your products and services. This capability helps you manage customer relationships and monetize your offerings effectively.

What are Subscriptions?​

A subscription (called a Contract in Dynamics 365) is an instance of a Subscription Template assigned to an Account. The Account can represent either a Company or an Individual customer.

Subscriptions enable you to:

  • Define commercial relationships with your customers
  • Control access rights to your products and services
  • Facilitate billing and revenue collection
  • Track customer usage patterns

Subscription Templates​

Subscription Templates (called Contract Templates in Dynamics 365) act as blueprints for creating subscriptions. They define the structure, pricing tiers, and rules that govern your subscription offerings.

Purpose of Subscription Templates​

With Subscription Templates, you can:

  • Create standardized subscription offerings
  • Define consistent commercial terms
  • Streamline the setup process for new customer subscriptions
  • Apply changes to multiple subscriptions by updating the template

Key Components of Subscription Templates​

Pricing Tiers​

Each Subscription Template contains one or more Pricing Tiers that determine how you charge customers:

  • Time-Based Validity:
    • Start date: When the pricing tier becomes active
    • End date (optional): When the pricing tier expires
  • Product Definitions:
    • Which products or services you include
    • Access levels and feature sets available
  • Usage Ranges:
    • Volume-based pricing thresholds
    • Consumption limits
    • Tiered discount structures

Template Rules​

Subscription Templates can include rules for:

  • Billing frequency (monthly, quarterly, annual)
  • Auto-renewal settings

Renewal Cadence​

Each Subscription Template defines when subscriptions renew. Available renewal cadences include:

  • Daily: Renews every day at midnight (UTC)
  • Weekly: Renews every week on Sunday at midnight (UTC)
  • Monthly: Renews every month on the Billing Day at midnight (UTC) specified in the Template
  • Quarterly: Renews every 3 months (January, April, July, and October) on the 1st day of the month at midnight (UTC)
  • Half Yearly: Renews every 6 months (January and July) on the 1st day of the month at midnight (UTC)
  • Yearly: Renews every year on the 1st day of January at midnight (UTC)

Selecting the appropriate renewal cadence helps you establish predictable billing cycles that align with your business model.

Benefits of Using Subscription Templates​

  • Consistency: Ensure all subscriptions follow your established business rules
  • Efficiency: Create new subscriptions quickly without starting from scratch
  • Adaptability: Update multiple subscriptions simultaneously by modifying the template
  • Governance: Maintain control over subscription terms and conditions

Key Components of Subscriptions​

Account Ownership​

Each subscription connects to an Account, which can be:

  • A Company (organization)
  • An Individual (single customer)

The account takes responsibility for the subscription's financial obligations.

User Access​

You can provide access to one or more Users (called Contacts in Dynamics 365). These users can:

  • Access the subscribed products and services
  • Generate usage that you can measure and bill
  • Have different roles and permissions within the subscription

Pricing Structure​

Subscriptions use Pricing Tiers defined by their parent Subscription Template:

  • Each Pricing Tier includes:

    • A start date (when the tier becomes active)
    • An optional end date (when the tier expires)
    • Product definitions
    • Usage ranges and associated pricing

  • As users interact with your products and services, these tiers determine:

    • Which features and products are accessible
    • How you measure usage
    • What price applies to each transaction

Benefits of Using Subscriptions​

  • Flexible Revenue Models: Support for various subscription types from fixed-price to usage-based models
  • Customer Relationship Management: Centralized view of all customer agreements and entitlements
  • Automated Billing: Streamlined billing processes based on subscription terms
  • Scalability: Adapt to growing customer needs with tiered pricing structures

Common Use Cases​

  • SaaS product subscriptions with different service tiers
  • Professional services agreements with monthly retainer hours
  • Usage-based platform services with tiered volume pricing (e.g., R0.10/unit for first 1000 units, R0.08/unit thereafter)
  • Hybrid models combining base subscription fees with pay-as-you-go charges

Getting Started​

To implement subscriptions for your product:

  1. Define your Subscription Templates with appropriate pricing tiers
  2. Create subscriptions for your customers based on these templates
  3. Associate users who need access to the subscription
  4. Track usage and performance through the APEX dashboard
Last updated on by Jacques Snyman