The Meat and Potatoes of Dynamics 365 Service Subscriptions

Today, we are discussing Service Subscriptions in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations (formerly known as Dynamics AX). Service Subscriptions are all around us as equipment maintenance, software as a service, television or phone service, fitness club memberships, financial services, and landscaping to name a few.

A Service Subscription is used in Dynamics 365 to document an agreement with a customer to provide some type of Service or Product on an agreed upon schedule or interval for a specified period of time. The Subscription fees are then invoiced to the customer as transactions according to a Period Type.

Service Subscriptions are created in two ways in Dynamics 365:

• From the Service Subscription form
• From a project (Time and Material type)

Prerequisites for Service Subscriptions are:

• Period Type
• Sales Currency
• Fee Categories
• Subscription Groups
• Project (if creating directly from Service Subscription form)

Once the Service Subscription is created, the Service Subscription Fee(s) can be entered.

Period Type

A Period Type, or Period Code, is determined by the Service Subscription Group. Period Types are set up as part of the Organizational Administration. These are typically monthly, quarterly or annually.

Sales Currency

Sales Currency is assigned at the Subscription from the currencies set up for the organization.

 

Fee Categories

Fee Categories are used to group or classify the fees to be charged. Navigate to Project Management and Accounting > Categories > Project Categories

Follow the standard process to create a Category Group and a Shared Category prior to creating the Project Category. The Category Transaction Type will be Fee. To enable the Project Category to be used for subscriptions, click the Subscription switch to “Yes”.

Examples of Fees would be the annual, monthly or quarterly fee, administrative fees, and membership fees

Subscription Groups

Subscription Grouping defines the period type for invoicing and accrual, if applicable, for all subscriptions in the group. The example below demonstrates Monthly and Weekly groups.

Navigate to Service Management > Setup > Service Subscriptions > Subscription Groups

Service Subscription Form

Navigate to Service Management > Service Subscriptions > All Service Subscriptions

Click the New button.

Populate the Service Subscription name, Project ID, Subscription Group, Fee Category, Sales Currency (will default in from Project but can be changed), and Base Price, if applicable. Save.

Project

If a customer has multiple Service Subscriptions, it is recommended to create one project for the customer and attached all of the Service Subscriptions to the single project.

Navigate to Project Management and Accounting > Projects > All Projects

Create a project, or select an existing project.  Select the Manage tab of the project. Locate the New section, and select Service > Service Subscription.

Click New 

Populate the Service Subscription name, Subscription Group, Fee Category, Sales Currency (will default in from Project but can be changed), and Base Price, if applicable. Save.

Subscription Fees

Now to establish the Fees to be invoiced to the customer.

Navigate to Service Management > Service Subscriptions > All Service Subscriptions

Select the Service Subscription requiring a fee transaction to be created. Click on New, then the Subscription Fees button. Populate the Subscription Type, Period Code, From and To Dates, and indicate where pricing should come from (Base price with an index applied, or Standard Sales Price. Click OK.

Note: Subscription Fees can also be created from the Service Subscription Form and from the Subscription Group Form (Subscription > Function > Create Subscription Fee).

Service Fees for the Project can be reviewed by looking at the Related Information under the Manage tab, clicking Service > Service Subscriptions. Once there, select the subscription to review, and click the Fee Transactions button under Transactions.

The vast majority of this functionality is available in Dynamics AX 2009 and AX 2012.

Have other Microsoft Dynamics AX Inquires or needs? Visit our Help Desk for AX page to see how our experts can help! 

For more information please contact Ellipse Solutions at info@ellipsesolutions.com or by calling our corporate office at (937) 312-1547.