Renewals

A renewal is a copy of an active or expired contract that you can edit before making it active.

When you create a renewal for an active or expired contract, this creates a copy of that contract in "Draft" status. You can edit the same fields on a renewal with the exception of the Status and Type Fields.

When you create a renewal, the values of custom fields on the contract and contract lines are copied to the renewal and renewal lines. If you do not want them to be copied, you can use the Exclude Fields on Renewals feature in Feature Console to identify custom fields that should not be copied to the renewal.

When you activate a renewal, it becomes an active contract and billing schedules are created from the contract start date up to today plus the number of months specified in the Billing Schedule Number of Months field in the Billing Central Settings custom setting. See Billing Schedule Number of Months.

Linking a Contract to Its Renewal Automatically

If you want a contract to be linked automatically to its renewal, enable the Automatically Populate Renewal Contract field in the Billing Central Settings custom setting. When renewing a contract, Billing Central then automatically populates the Renewal Contract field on the contract with a lookup to its renewal.

Ensure that the Renewal Contract field is added to your billing contract page layouts.

Adjusting Prices

When creating renewals for contracts, you can:

  • Use existing prices.
  • Adjust prices by a percentage.
  • Update prices using a price book.

Percentage

When you create a renewal you can choose to update the prices by a percentage. This also updates the unit prices on price breaks for contract line items with tiered or volume based pricing. Here is an example of the way in which prices are changed:

Example of Unit Prices Adjusted by Percentage on a Renewal

Product

Units

Pricing Type

 Unit Price on Active or Expired Contract

Unit Price on Renewal with +10% Adjustment
Product A 100 Fixed $3 $3.30
Product B 50 Tiered

Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:

 Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-20 units $5 0-20 units $5.50
21-40 units $4 21-40 units $4.40
41-60 units $3 41-60 units $3.30
Product C 10 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks: Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-5 units $10 0-5 units $11
6-15 units $8 6-15 units $8.80

Price Book

When you create a renewal you can choose to update the prices from a price book. This also updates the unit prices on price breaks for contract line items with tiered or volume based pricing. Prices on contract line items are only updated from a price book if the price book contains a price for that product with the same pricing type as the contract line item. Here is an example of the way in which prices are changed:

Example Active or Expired Contract

Product

Units

Pricing Structure

Pricing Type

Unit Price
Product A 30 – Fixed $4
Product B 25 – Fixed $10
Product C 50 Pricing Structure 1 Tiered Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-20 units $5
21-40 units $4
41-60 units $3
Product D 10 Pricing Structure 2 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-5 units $10
6-15 units $8
Product E 3 – Fixed $40
Product F 15 Pricing Structure 3 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-9 units $12
10-15 units $9.80
Example 2016 Price Book

Product

Units

Pricing Structure

Pricing Type

Unit Price
Product A 30 – Fixed $5
Product C 50 Pricing Structure 10 Tiered Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-20 units $5
21-40 units $4
41-60 units $3
Product E 3 Pricing Structure 11 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks:
0-20 units $40
21-50 units $36.80
Product F 15 – Fixed $100
Example Renewed Contract

Product

Units

Pricing Structure

Pricing Type

Unit Price

Reason
Product A 30 – Fixed $5 Unit price updated. Product is in 2016 price book and pricing type of contract line item matches the price book.
Product B 25 – Fixed $10 Unit price not updated. Product is not in the 2016 price book.
Product C 50 Pricing Structure 10 Tiered Pricing Structure with quantity breaks: Unit prices updated. Product is in 2016 price book and pricing type of contract line item matches the price book.
0-20 units $5
21-40 units $4
41-60 units $3
Product D 10 Pricing Structure 2 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks: Unit prices not updated. Product is not in the 2016 price book.
0-5 units $10
6-15 units $8
Product E 3 – Fixed $40 Unit price not updated. Product is in 2016 price book, but the pricing type of the contract line item does not match the price book.
Product F 15 Pricing Structure 3 Volume Pricing Structure with quantity breaks: Unit prices not updated. Product is in 2016 price book, but the pricing type of the contract line item does not match the price book.
0-9 units $12
10-15 units $9.80

Date Fields

When you create a renewal, the date fields are calculated from the active contract.

Contract Renewal Date Formulas
Field Formula Used to Calculate Dates on Renewals
Start Date

Active or expired contract End Date + 1 day
End Date / Original End Date

This varies depending on whether you are setting the renewal's duration using days or months. See How Renewal Dates are Calculated.

Note:

If the Original End Date field of a contract that is being renewed contains a date, the duration of the renewal is calculated using this date instead of the contract End Date. The Original End Date field is then cleared on the renewal that is created.
First Bill Date Renewal Start Date + Number of days difference between the active or expired contract Start Date and First Bill Date
Renewal Reminder Renewal End Date - Number of days difference between the active or expired contract End Date and Renewal Reminder Date
Contract Line Item Renewal Date Formulas
Field Renewal Date Option Chosen Formula Used to Calculate Dates on Renewals
Start Date Use existing duration

Renewal Start Date + Number of days difference between the active or expired contract Start Date and the contract line item Start Date.
Extend to full length of contract Use Contract Renewal Start Date
End Date Use existing duration

Renewal End Date - Number of days difference between the active or expired contract End Date and the contract line item End Date.
Extend to full length of contract Use Contract Renewal End Date
First Bill Date Use existing duration

Start Date of the renewal line item + Number of days difference between the active or expired contract line item Start Date and First Bill Date
Extend to full length of contract
Notes:

The dates on contract line items are calculated depending on whether you choose to extend contract line items to the full length of the contract or use their existing duration. If you select Use Existing Duration, the first bill date for contract lines that do not have a first bill date is set using the first bill date of the active contract.

If the Align for Billing field was populated for any contract line items, that field is cleared on the renewal. Check that any previously aligned lines are created as you expect on the renewal. For information about aligning contract line items for billing, see Aligning Billing Dates When Adding Lines to an Active Contract.

Replicating Contract Duration as Months or Days

When creating a renewal you can choose whether the renewal duration is the same number of days, or the same number of months, as the original contract. Typically when renewing:

  • Monthly or yearly contracts, replicate the contract duration as months.
  • Weekly contracts, replicate the contract duration as days.

For more information and examples of the difference this can make to renewal start and end dates, see How Renewal Dates are Calculated.

In the Billing Central Settings custom setting, the Renew Contract Duration as Months field determines whether Billing Central uses months by default. When deselected, the default is to use days. You can override the default when renewing contracts.