Fine-Tuning Subscription Creation

This document summarizes the subscription builder setup options, irrespective of your business model and your source data.

When generating subscriptions and their corresponding subscription items, the subscription builder always evaluates multiple sources in the following order:

specific mapping documents
records of accordingly configured parent-child objects
remote data received by a REST web service
preconfigured master subscriptions

Thanks to this approach, you can combine multiple sources, providing the corresponding setup.

Info

For an introduction to the subscription builder and details about how to set it up, see Automatically Building Subscriptions.

ON Fields on Objects

The subscription builder requires a number of ON fields on objects if you build subscriptions based on master subscriptions, based on accordingly configured parent-child objects, or based on a data mapping.

Subscription Source Fields

For target objects (with master subscriptions) and parent objects (of a parent-child relationship), the following fields are available:

API Name	Required	Data Type	Description
ON_Account	✅	Formula (Text)	Specifies the Salesforce account ID or external ID. The formula uses the API name of the field that links the object to the account, for example, `AccountId`.
ON_Subscription	✅	Lookup (Subscription)	Links to the related subscription.
ON_SubscriptionBuildError	✅	Text (255)	Shows the error message in case the subscription creation has failed.
ON_MasterSubscription	✅	Text (255) Formula (Text)	Required when using a master subscription. Specifies the name of the master subscription. If configured as a formula field, the master subscription name is used for every record.
ON_MappingName	✅	Text (255) Formula (Text)	Specifies the name of the file that contains the field mapping in JSON to define the data to be retrieved. If configured as a formula field, the mapping name is used for every record. Deprecated, accessible via the Documents tab in the Salesforce Classic UI only. Use `ON_MappingId` instead. When using the data mapping to build or update subscriptions, either `ON_MappingName` or `ON_Mapping` is required.
ON_MappingId	✅	Text (255) Formula (Text)	Specifies the 18-digit, case-safe Salesforce record ID of the file that contains the field mapping in JSON to define the data to be retrieved. If configured as a formula field, the mapping ID is used for every record. When using the data mapping to build or update subscriptions, either `ON_MappingId` or `ON_Mapping` is required.
ON_Mapping	✅	Text Area (Long)	Specifies the field mapping in JSON to define the data to be retrieved. Make sure to write all JSON code in a single line without spaces. Takes precedence over `ON_MappingId` and `ON_MappingName`. When using the data mapping to build or update subscriptions, either `ON_MappingId` or `ON_Mapping` is required.
ON_CurrencyIsoCode	✅	Formula (Text)	Sets the subscription currency to the parent object currency if a) you use multiple currencies and b) the account currency differs from the parent object currency. The formula is `TEXT(CurrencyIsoCode)`.
ON_UseCase		Text Formula (Text) Picklist	Defines the use case (`NEW`, `UPGRADE`, `REORDER`) to create or modify the subscription. If the field is missing or not set, the use case is determined automatically.
ON_ExcludeFromUpgrade		Formula (Text) Text (255)	Specifies items to exclude from being cloned and moved to the new subscription during `UPGRADE`. Expects a comma-separated list of order numbers.
ON_RelatedSubscription		Lookup (Subscription) Formula (Text)	Specifies the related subscription, which can be used with the `UPGRADE` or `REORDER` use cases. This is useful if there are multiple active subscriptions available on the account.
ON_SubscriptionBuilderCriterion		Formula (Text) Text (255)	The criterion provides an alternative way to specify the target subscription for `UPGRADE` or `REORDER` use cases (see also `ON_RelatedSubscription`): Source records will be matched to subscriptions with the same criterion in `ONB2__SubscriptionBuilderCriterion__c`.
ON_UpdateSubscription		Checkbox	Controls whether the already generated subscription linked by `ON_Subscription` is to be updated. Must be set by the user or a process. After the update, the value is unchecked.
ON_FieldsToUpdate	✅	Text Formula (Text)	Specifies the subscription fields to be updated. Expects a comma-separated list of fields, like `StartDate__c,EndDate__c`. If configured as a formula field, the mapping name is used for every record. When using the subscription update, either a data mapping (specified using `ON_MappingId` or `ON_Mapping`) or this list of fields is required.
ON_AddNewChildren		Checkbox	Controls whether to create new items from new child records upon subscription update.
ON_LastSubscriptionUpdate		DateTime	Shows the time of the last update. Is set automatically when the subscription is updated.
ON_BalanceAssignmentKey		Text Formula (Text)	Key to match invoices with pre-payment balances of the same source. Set on subscription build, to be copied to the invoice on invoice generation.

Item Source Fields

For child objects (of a master-detail relationship), the following fields are available:

API Name	Required	Data Type	Description
ON_OrderNo	✅	Formula (Text)	Key to match source data to a subscription item, must be unique for each detail of the same master.
ON_Price	✅	Formula (Currency)	The net sales price of the item, required if the detail object is defined in subscription build filter.
ON_Quantity	✅	Formula (Number)	The quantity of the item to be invoiced, required if the detail object is defined in subscription build filter.
ON_Title	✅	Formula (Text)	The name or title of the item, required if the detail object is defined in subscription build filter.
ON_StartDate		Formula (Date)	The service period start of the item. If the referenced field is of the type `Date/Time`, the operator `DATEVALUE` must precede the referenced field, like `DATEVALUE(<datetime_field>)`.
ON_EndDate		Formula (Date)	The service period end of the item. If the referenced field is of the type `Date/Time`, the operator `DATEVALUE` must precede the referenced field, like `DATEVALUE(<datetime_field>)`.
ON_BillingType		Formula (Text) Picklist	Specifies whether the object is invoiced once, on a recurring or a transactional base; possible values include `One-Time`, `Recurring`, `Transactional`.
ON_BillingPeriod		Formula (Number)	Specifies the time interval (in months) for the item to be considered in an invoice run.
ON_BillingUnit		Formula (Text) Picklist	Specifies the time frame (`Day` or `Month`) used for the price calculation of the billing period
ON_FieldsToUpdate	✅	Text Formula (Text)	Specifies the item fields to be updated. Expects a comma-separated list of fields, like `Title__c,Quantity__c,Price__c`. If configured as a formula field, the mapping name is used for every record. When using the subscription update, either a data mapping (specified using `ON_MappingId` or `ON_Mapping`) or this list of fields is required.
ON_InvoiceLineItemType		Text(255) Formula(Text)	Specifies the type of the invoice line item to be built from the subscription item.

Info

Depending on your use case and its requirements, you can add more fields to have them copied to the generated subscriptions or items, like, for example, ON_StartDate. For an overview of typically used fields, see Best Practice: Subscription Builder Source Data.

ON fields are directly mapped to the subscription or item fields. Fields that are not starting with ON_ can only be referenced and used by a data mapping, or, in case of subscription updates, via the field list in ON_FieldsToUpdate.

Tier Source Fields

For subchild objects (of a lookup relationship or a master-detail relationship), which are used to create price tiers or commission tiers, the following fields are available:

API Name	Data Type	Description
ON_Quantity	Formula (Number)	Specifies the item quantity until which the price defined in this tier is valid. If left empty, the defined tier price is valid for all quantities. Tiers are sorted by quantity with empty values last.
ON_Price	Formula (Currency)	Specifies the price to apply to quantities within the range of this tier. If left empty, the tier is not considered in the price lookup.
ON_Type	Formula (Text)	Specifies the price calculation method of this item for the current price tier (`Default` or `Flat`, see Price Tiers).
ON_Target	Formula (Text)	Specifies the target of this tier (`Price` or `Commission`).
ON_Commission	Formula (Percent)	The commission (percentage value) to apply to the price.
ON_StartDate	Formula (Date)	Specifies the first day of the validity period of this tier. If the referenced field is of the type `Date/Time`, the operator `DATEVALUE` must precede the referenced field, like `DATEVALUE(<datetime_field>)`.
ON_EndDate	Formula (Date)	Specifies the last day of the validity period of this tier. If the referenced field is of the type `Date/Time`, the operator `DATEVALUE` must precede the referenced field, like `DATEVALUE(<datetime_field>)`.
ON_SplitQuantity	Formula (Checkbox)	Specifies whether the item is to be split into a new invoice line item when it exceeds the quantity defined in this tier. Can be used for scaled prices or if you want to state a basic charge separately.

Use Cases

The subscription builder supports three different use cases for the subscription building. They map typical sales use cases:

Use Case	Description
NEW	Creates a new subscription.
REORDER	Creates new items and adds them to an existing subscription. If there is no existing subscription, it builds a new subscription. Adding a new child source record to an existing parent source record is covered with the subscription update including the option to create new items.
UPGRADE	Creates a new subscription, sets an end date on the existing subscription and sets its status to `Upgraded`. Certain items (active, not already available, not excluded, matching service period) of the existing subscription are cloned and added to the new subscription.

NEW

Creates a new subscription.

NEW is set automatically if all of the following conditions are true:

the use case is empty
there is no existing active subscription for the target account

JustOn can automatically determine and apply the subscription builder use cases if the relevant conditions are true and the field ON_UseCase is missing or not set.

Your business may, however, require to force a certain use case. In this case, use the field ON_UseCase on the subscription source record. This can be formula that determines the use case to set according to certain conditions, a picklist or a fixed value. If, for example, your sales use case will never need the subscription builder use case UPGRADE, you can set REORDER as a fixed value – this will update an existing subscription or create a new one if there is none.

REORDER

Creates new items and adds them to an existing subscription. If there is no existing subscription, it builds a new subscription.

REORDER is set automatically if all of the following conditions are true:

the use case is empty
there is exactly one existing active subscription for the target account
the start date of the source record (→ the new subscription) is empty

Adding a new child source record to an existing parent source record is covered with the subscription update including the option to create new items.

JustOn can automatically determine and apply the subscription builder use cases if the relevant conditions are true and the field ON_UseCase is missing or not set.

Your business may, however, require to force a certain use case. In this case, use the field ON_UseCase on the subscription source record. This can be formula that determines the use case to set according to certain conditions, a picklist or a fixed value. If, for example, your sales use case will never need the subscription builder use case UPGRADE, you can set REORDER as a fixed value – this will update an existing subscription or create a new one if there is none.

UPGRADE

Creates a new subscription, sets an end date on the existing subscription and sets its status to Upgraded. The new subscription relates to the original subscription via the field Previous Subscription.

UPGRADE is set automatically if all of the following conditions are true:

the use case is empty
there is exactly one existing active subscription for the target account
the start date of the source record (→ the new subscription) is set, that is, not empty

Items of the existing subscription are cloned and added to the new subscription if all of the following conditions are true:

the item is not already available in the new subscription (according to the value of ON_OrderNo)
the item is not excluded by ON_ExcludeFromUpgrade (see ON Fields on Objects)
the item is active
the end date of the item is empty or after the start date of the new subscription

JustOn can automatically determine and apply the subscription builder use cases if the relevant conditions are true and the field ON_UseCase is missing or not set.

Your business may, however, require to force a certain use case. In this case, use the field ON_UseCase on the subscription source record. This can be formula that determines the use case to set according to certain conditions, a picklist or a fixed value. If, for example, your sales use case will never need the subscription builder use case UPGRADE, you can set REORDER as a fixed value – this will update an existing subscription or create a new one if there is none.

Use cases example

To illustrate the use cases, assume the following example: You sell phone contracts, and you keep track of your deals using opportunities. For each opportunity you generate a subscription, which is finally invoiced.

When you close a deal with a new customer, the new (or updated) opportunity triggers the creation of a new subscription. This is covered with the use case NEW.

Now an existing customer orders an additional service, which you add as a new opportunity product on a new opportunity. This opportunity product becomes a new subscription item on the existing subscription. This is the use case REORDER – you add new subscription items, leaving the existing in place.

If, however, the customer decides to upgrade the calling plan, you usually refund the amount that is already paid for the rest of the current contract term. This is where you apply the use case UPGRADE: you create a new subscription that includes items for new products as well as credit items for products to be refunded, and the existing subscription terminates.

Assigning Items to a Related Subscription

If you work with multiple active subscriptions, the use cases REORDER or UPGRADE require the items to be assigned to the related subscription. To this end, set a value in the field ON_RelatedSubscription on the configured target or master object (see ON Fields on Objects). If the field is empty on the first use, the subscription builder creates a new subscription and inserts the subscription ID of the new object. In a subsequent subscription build process, the related subscription is then identified by the value in the field, and the item is assigned to the related active subscription.

Reasons for multiple active subscriptions can be:

doing customer business with different clients via business entities,
setting different payment due terms for the items (on one invoice, all items must have an identical payment due),
offering several invoices to a customer for specific products

Enabling Subscription and Subscription Items Update

Certain business cases require automatically updating existing subscription fields or subscription item fields after the subscription has been built (applying one of the subscription builder use cases). This may be necessary, for example, after the value of a source object field has changed.

To enable the automatic subscription update:

Add the fields ON_UpdateSubscription and ON_LastSubscriptionUpdate to the source object.
Navigate to the fields list of the source object and create the fields as follows:

API Name	Data Type	Description
ON_UpdateSubscription	Checkbox	Must be selected (by a user or a flow) for the subscription to be updated. Is cleared automatically after completing the update.
ON_LastSubscriptionUpdate	DateTime	Is set automatically when the subscription is updated.

For details, see ON Fields on Objects.

Depending on your business requirements, you can either have users select the checkbox ON_UpdateSubscription manually, or create a custom process to have it set automatically when certain conditions apply.

Make sure not to create the checkbox ON_UpdateSubscription as a formula field. Doing so would produce errors when executing the subscription builder.

Example flow for selecting ON_UpdateSubscription

This example assumes that you build subscriptions based on orders. A modification to the order amount is to select the field Update Subscription and hence, trigger an update.

Note that depending on your use cases, the flow setup, the objects to involve or the fields to watch as conditions will vary.

Flow Element	Option	Example Value
Start	Object	`Order`
	Trigger	`A record is updated`
	Conditions	`Any Condition Is Met (OR)` `TotalAmount` `Is Changed` `{!$GlobalConstant.True}`
Update Records	How to Find Records to Update and Set Their Values	`Use the record that triggered the flow`
	Condition Requirements to Update Record	`None -- Always Update Record`
	Set Field Values for the Order Record	Field: `ON_UpdateSubscription__c` Value: `{!$GlobalConstant.True}`

Define the target fields to be updated.

To do so, you can either

Set up a data mapping using fieldsToUpdate (see Using Data Mapping) and configure ON_MappingName, ON_MappingId or ON_Mapping on the source object, or
Alternatively, configure the field ON_FieldsToUpdate on the source objects (see ON Fields on Objects)

Optionally, enable the creation of new items from new child records.

To do so, you can either

Configure the field ON_AddNewChildren on the parent source object (see ON Fields on Objects)

JustOn evaluates the value of ON_OrderNo to decide whether to update an existing item or to create a new item: With an existing key, JustOn updates the corresponding item, whereas with a new one, it creates a new item.

Example flow for selecting ON_AddNewChildren

This example assumes that you build subscriptions and items based on orders and order products. Creating a new billable order product (or modifying an existing order product to make it billable) is to create a new item when updating the subscription.

Note that depending on your use cases, the objects to involve or the flow setup (conditions, etc.) will vary.

Flow Element	Option	Value
Variable	API Name	`OrderId`
	Data Type	`Text`
	Default Value	`{!$Record.Order.Id}`
Start	Object	`Order Product`
	Trigger	`A record is created or updated`
	Conditions	`All Conditions Are Met (AND)` 1: `ListPrice` `Is Changed` `{!$GlobalConstant.True}` 2: `ListPrice` `Greater Than` `0`
Assignment	Variable Values	`OrderId` `Equals` `{!$Record.Order.Id}`
Get Records	Object	`Order`
	Filter Order Records	`All Conditions Are Met (AND)` `ID` `Equals` `{!OrderId}`
Update Records	How to Find Records to Update and Set Their Values	`Specify conditions to identify records, and set fields individually`
	Update Records of This Object Type	`Order`
	Filter Order Records	`All Conditions Are Met (AND)` `ID` `Equals` `{!Get_Order.Id}`
	Set Field Values for the Order Records	`ON_AddNewChildren__c` `{!$GlobalConstant.True}`

Alternatively, set up the data mapping addNewChildren like
CODE
```
"addNewChildren":true
```
and configure ON_MappingName, ON_MappingId or ON_Mapping on the source object

→ Once set up, selecting the checkbox ON_UpdateSubscription triggers the automatic subscription update. The subscription builder "simulates" the use case NEW and copies the fields selected to be updated. After completing the update, the subscription builder deselects the checkbox ON_UpdateSubscription and sets a date in ON_LastSubscriptionUpdate.

Keeping Track of Source Records

Certain business use cases require keeping track of the source records based on which a subscription and its items have been created, for example, when updating subscriptions. To this end, there are two source fields on the item: SourceParentId and SourceChildId. JustOn automatically fills these fields during the subscription build process.

Once set, the fields keep track of the item's source records. This allows for unequivocally identifying multiple items with the same OrderNo. Following the subscription update example, JustOn only updates items whose values for SourceParentId match the IDs of the parent objects.

Excluding Certain Source Records

Assume that you want to exclude specific source records from being subject to the automatic subscription build based on certain conditions.

JustOn recommends to use a custom field on the source object that is then to be used as an exclude (or include) condition in the subscription build filter. In the easiest way, this custom field is a checkbox that is set using a formula or a flow based on your requirements.

Note

We advise against using validation rules to exclude source records from subscription building. Validation rules are a powerful means to ensure data quality, but this is not your goal here – you just want to set and check one condition. Besides, validation rules may have a considerable performance impact and may have unwanted effects on other business processes.

Think of the following example:

You build subscriptions from opportunities. Usually, the opportunity state is the perfect trigger to invoke the subscription builder: you define a corresponding condition in your subscription build filter. The condition is an expression (as used in an SOQL WHERE clause) that restricts the set of involved records, like Status = 'Activated' – this makes sure that only opportunities of the state Activated will be subject to the subscription build.

The opportunity state, however, may not be enough. Assume you want to exclude opportunities of a certain account. In this case, you add an exclude condition to the filter, like Status = 'Activated' AND ON_Account__c != '<ID>'.

Now assume you want to apply some custom logic to set a "trigger field" based on certain conditions. You create a custom checkbox, like Billable, to include only records where the checkbox is selected, excluding records where the checkbox is not selected. To cover this, your subscription build filter sets this condition: Status = 'Activated' AND Billable__c = true.

Info

You can set up the checkbox as a formula field or use Salesforce flows to have the checkbox selected automatically. This way, you can apply additional logic to determine whether a record is subject to the subscription build or not.