With the sales module , we have already shown how we map our sales process in Odoo. The focus was on selling and invoicing one or more products to our customers on a one-time basis. But how do we proceed if we offer a service or product to a customer on a regular basis and bill them accordingly on a recurring basis?
This is where Odoo helps us with its Subscriptions module. This allows us to sell our services and products based on contracts and maps the recurring invoicing in a predefined period, manually or fully automated, for individual sales orders. So in today's blog, we're going to look at the Subscriptions module and show how we map our sales with periodic billing.
There are three different access rights in the Subscriptions module. If a user does not have access rights, the module will not be displayed to them in the dashboard and they will therefore not have access. Users in the "View subscriptions" rights group have read rights for the subscriptions as well as access to part of the reporting. The users of the "Administrator" rights group have full access to the module including read and write rights for the subscriptions, reporting and configuration.
The menu of the module includes three menu items - Subscriptions, Reporting and Configuration. The Subscriptions menu item takes us to the overview of our subscriptions, an overview of subscriptions that are about to expire and can be renewed, and our subscription products.
The subscriptions are displayed in a Kanban view in different, individually definable levels. For each subscription, Odoo shows us the corresponding customer, the sales price, the sequential number and the seller. If there is an activity for a subscription, the clock icon is colored accordingly. In addition, we find in the overview the functions already known from other Odoo modules for search, filter, grouping and favorites. Last but not least, we can choose between different views and switch to the list or activity view instead of the kanban view.
The reporting offers us different views to evaluate our subscriptions based on different KPI's. So we have a pivot view with different filter functions, a revenue analysis as well as a reporting per salesperson.
Within the configuration, we make some essential settings for our subscriptions. The most important is the definition of the subscription templates, with which we determine the billing frequency. We can define in which period (days, weeks, months, years) the billing takes place and for which period or duration the subscription is valid. Furthermore, we select whether the invoices are created and sent manually or automatically on the due date.
At this point, we can also opt for partial automation, for which Odoo creates an invoice for us in draft form and this is sent manually by a user. Optionally, we can still specify, for example, whether our customer can terminate his subscription himself via our customer portal or whether we assign the subscription to a specific company in a multi-company environment . Entering our T&Cs ensures that they are also displayed in the subscription in the customer portal.
The definition of the levels for the overview of subscriptions, the specification of reasons for the termination of a subscription as well as the configuration of individual activity types complete the configuration of the module. With that, let's now take a look at the process flow. In the overview of subscriptions, we have the option to create a subscription manually. However, we will focus on how to integrate the subscriptions into our sales process and automate the creation of the subscriptions.
To do this, we start by configuring our products, in this case the subscription products. For the product configuration navigate to Sales --> Products or alternatively to Subscriptions --> Subscription Products. Here we can create new products or edit existing ones. In the product we open the Sales tab and activate the "Subscription product" checkbox. We also select one of the previously defined subscription templates.
We then create a quote and select one of our subscription products there. With the confirmation of the offer, Odoo automatically creates a new subscription based on the above product configuration, which is directly linked in the offer. The relevant data from the offer is also transferred to the subscription.
Within the subscription we can now find all relevant information, such as customer, start and end date, date of next billing, subscription template, salesperson and sales team. In a multi-company environment, Odoo also shows us the associated company. The product lines are shown to us in the same way as the offer. The offer is also linked in the subscription.
Billing is now done according to the configuration of the subscription template. For the manual creation of the invoice, it helps us to specify the date of the next billing. In that case, we manually create the invoice on the due date directly from the subscription. For (partially) automated billing, there is a so-called scheduled action in Odoo, which checks in a fixed period of time (for example, once a day) whether a new invoice should be created for a subscription. Depending on the configuration of the subscription template, Odoo automatically generates a draft invoice for us on the due date or sends the invoice directly to our customer. All invoices of a subscription are also linked in the subscription, just like the linked offer.
In the subscription Odoo offers us some more helpful tools to manage our subscriptions. Using the "Renewal offer" button, we can create a new offer directly from the subscription, for example when the previous subscription expires. Using "Upsell" we can add more products to the existing subscription. Using the "Close" button we can end the subscription. The history known from other modules is also available to us in the subscriptions and enables us to communicate internally and externally as well as to plan activities.
As described at the beginning, Odoo's Subscriptions module thus offers us the optimal way to map our contracts and their billing and to integrate them into our usual sales process. With the appropriate configuration, the process can be almost completely automated, so that even with a large number of subscriptions, we always have an overview of the services and products we offer, as well as the invoicing. Renewing an expiring subscription and upselling also simplifies the operational handling of our subscriptions with just a few clicks.
Are you looking for an ERP system to manage your subscriptions or do you already work with Odoo and have questions about the Subscriptions module? No problem! Contact us now and we will be at your side as a reliable Odoo partner!
Source: www.odoo.com