Overview of combinations of reference date and invoice start date

There is a relationship between what you set and which amount you invoice when.

Whether you can invoice a Subscription and for what amount, depends on the settings in:

• Start date invoice cycle
• Cycle (month, quarter, year or otherwise)
• the preferred cycle value set for your subscription which affects the field
• the date on which the subscription starts (Start date subscription)
• Reference date

The different combinations affect when and what you can invoice.

Two examples are given below, both with a monthly cycle. In the first situation the preferred value for the subscriptions in your environment is that the start of the subscription is equal to the start of the invoice cycle. In the second situation the preferred value in your environment is 'according to cycle' and Profit looks at your cycle (monthly in this case) and uses this to calculate when you can send your next invoice.

To see the differences, we will keep the reference date the same in both examples.

In both examples the subscription start date remains the same as the date in the Invoice from field on the lines. This means that the sales contact does not get a month for free or whatever, but has to pay all the monthly amounts as normal.

Example 1:

In this example, you have set up a subscription as follows

• Cycle: Month
• Preferred value in the environment for the subscription: Same as start date subscription

  Therefore: Start date subscription and Invoice from on the line are set to 1/1/2012. The Start date invoice cycle field is also set to 1/1/2012.

• On the line is an amount to be invoice of €10.
• Reference date 23/10/2012

Now you will generate invoices on the reference date 23/10/2012. No invoices have yet been generated. Profit now generates only the first monthly invoice for €10. If you immediately invoice again, Profit also generates the second invoice because the Start date invoice cycle date is set to 1/2/2012 and on that date the reference date has been reached.

Once you actually invoice the second invoice, Profit automatically sets the date in Start date invoice cycle to 1/3/2012. Now you manually change the date in Start date invoice cycle to 1/10/2012. The result is that Profit will now invoice all cycles (months) as of the previously generated invoice. This is: 8 months x €10 = €80. This is including October because the reference date is in October, so October is the 8th month that counts.

Example 2

In this example, you have set up a subscription as follows:

• Cycle: month
• Preferred subscription value: According to cycle

  Therefore: when adding a new subscription Profit adds 1 month to the Start date subscription. The subscription start date is 1/1/2012, invoice cycle start date is then 1/2/2012.

You now invoice on reference date 23/10/2012. You will now get the months January and February on one invoice because the start date of the cycle is set to February and that date has already passed. So the invoice amount for the first invoice is 2 months x €10 = €20.

You then invoice again on the same reference date. Profit has changed the date in Start date invoice cycle to a month later: 1/3/2012.

You then want all other outstanding invoice amounts on a single invoice. To do this, you manually change the Start date invoice cycle to 1/10/2012. Profit now generates an invoice for 7 months * €10. The reference date 23/10 falls in October and so Profit includes October.

Conclusions:

The Start date invoice cycle field indicates from when you can send the next invoice and using this field, Profit calculates how large the invoice amount should be.

Depending on your preferred settings for subscriptions, Profit invoices multiple cycles in the first invoice and in the following invoices. Eventually, you will have invoiced the same amount.