Zuora Release 2024.08.R1

New tasks available on Zuora Business Automation Dashboard

We have added the following tasks to the Zuora Business Automation Dashboard:

• Suspend Subscriptions By Overdue Invoices: Automatically suspend subscriptions associated with overdue invoices according to your defined overdue criteria and the suspension schedule.
• Resume the Suspended Subscriptions of Paid Invoices: Automatically resume subscriptions that are suspended through the Suspend Subscriptions By Overdue Invoices task after the overdue invoices are paid off according to the resuming schedule.

Note that these two tasks are only available on the Zuora Business Automation Dashboard in sandbox environments and in the Orders Harmonization tenant with Orders UI enabled or the Orders tenant.

We also have added the "I want to understand how a bill is calculated" task to the Zuora Copilot on this dashboard. If you interact conversationally with the Zuora Copilot for an invoice, you can understand calculations about billing proration and usage. 

Note that you can get valid information about an invoice from the Zuora Copilot only if the invoice contains a maximum of 10 invoice items. 

The Zuora Business Automation Dashboard now has a fresh look and feel. 

For more information, see Zuora Business Automation Dashboard and Suspend and resume subscriptions in Zuora Business Automation Dashboard.

Enhancements to Order Entry on Zuora Business Automation Dashboard

You can now configure the following settings before converting your PDF order form to a draft order:

• Keep original file on the server after the processing: If you select this option, the PDF order form will be stored on this server after the conversion. The stored file will be archived after 365 days.
• Create a new account: When the account information in the PDF order form does not exist in our system, and if you select this option, a new active account will be created for the draft order. This account also becomes the invoice owner account and subscription owner account for your subscription. 
• Additional information: You can enter predefined custom fields and specify values for the custom fields according to the examples. 

For more information, see AI Order Entry.

Adding a subset of charges available for early adopters

You can now add a subset of charges of a product rate plan to a subscription rate plan of a subscription through the following order actions in the Create an order, Create an order asynchronously, and Update an order API operations:

• createSubscription
• addProduct
• updateProduct

Previously, when you subscribed to a product rate plan, all charges of the product rate plan were added to the subscription simultaneously.

Enhancements of flexible billing attributes on order line items

We add the paymentTerm and invoiceTemplateId nested fields to the orderLineItems field in the following API operations:

• Create an order
• Create an order asynchronously
• Preview an order
• Preview an order asynchronously
• List orders
• Retrieve an order
• List orders of a subscription owner
• List orders by subscription number
• List orders of an invoice owner
• List pending orders by subscription number
• Update an order line item 
• Update order line items
• Retrieve an order line item

You can now specify the invoiceGroupNumber, sequenceSetId, paymentTerm, and invoiceTemplateId fields when creating or updating the order line items. You can also preview or retrieve these flexible billing attributes. 

Single Version Subscription available for early adopters

We support the Single Version Subscription feature that is only available to new customers. This feature offers the following benefits:

• Simplicity and clarity: With a single version, customers do not have to manage multiple versions of a subscription. This simplifies the subscription management process and reduces confusion.
• Change history transparency: The introduction of the Change History object provides a clear record of all orders-related changes made to single-version subscriptions. This transparency can help customers understand the evolution of the service and make informed decisions. 
• Consistent experience: A single version ensures that all customers have a consistent experience with the product or service, which is particularly important for brand consistency and user satisfaction.
• Consistent UI experience: Users will benefit from a consistent look and feel. This uniformity helps in reducing the learning curve and ensures a seamless experience.
• Revert Order order action: This new order action allows users to revert an order containing single-version subscriptions. 

For more information, see Single Version Subscription.

UI enhancement on updating sales order line items

If an order line item is a sales order line item, you can now edit the subscription number in the Subscription Number field in the Basic Information section of the Order Line Item page. Previously, the subscription number was not editable. 

Enhancement to Subscription Lifecycle & MRR Trending dashboard

We have changed the MRR metrics from charge-level Gross MRR to Net MRR to provide a more accurate measurement of the Subscription Lifecycle & MRR Trending dashboard. For more information, see View details of subscriptions through the reinvented UI.

Subscription Lifecycle & MRR Trending dashboard available in production environments

The Subscription Lifecycle & MRR Trending dashboard will be available in production environments. Previously, it was only available in sandbox environments.

Add Default Subscription and Order Settings to scope of Audit Trail

We have added the Default Subscription and Order Settings to the Scope of Audit Trail. If your tenant has the Audit Trail feature enabled, you can now monitor the changes in the Default Subscription and Order Settings through the auditsettingchangeevent table of the Audit Trail. 

For more information, see Table auditsettingchangeevent. 

Support different invoice owner accounts for subscriptions in same order

Through the Create an order and Create an order asynchronously API operations, you can now create an order that includes subscriptions with different invoice owner accounts. For example, if you can create an order to add product rate plan charges to different subscriptions, these subscriptions can have different invoice owner accounts. Previously, when you created an order that included multiple subscriptions, these subscriptions must have the same invoice owner account. 

To access this feature, submit a request at Zuora Global Support. 

Note that creating subscriptions with different invoice owner accounts through an order is not supported.

Resolved: data storage issue for Standalone Orders feature

Previously, the following rate plan charge fields for the Standalone Orders feature could not be stored correctly in the database. We have now resolved this issue.

• productCategory
• productClass
• productFamily
• productLine 

Dynamic Usage Charges feature available for early adopters

The Dynamic Usage Charges feature is now available. With the feature, you can bill your customers for standalone usage charges directly attached to their accounts without managing subscriptions. This means that you can charge your customers based on how much of a product or service they use without requiring them to subscribe to a product or service. Also, the change in product pricing can be dynamically reflected in the bills for all your customers without having to modify their subscriptions.

The Dynamic Usage Charges feature is supported end-to-end by the Order to Revenue feature.

Enhancement to Charge Level Proration feature

We have enhanced the Charge Level Proration feature to support more rating options for recurring charges. When creating or adding a subscription rate plan charge through an order, you can now set the value of the prorationOption field to CustomizeProrationOptionOverrides and then use the ratingPropertiesOverride field to customize the rating options for a recurring charge. For more information, see Create an order.

Bill Run Advanced Filter available for early adopters

The Bill Run Advanced Filter feature allows you to bill your customers by selecting accounts, subscriptions, and charges based on custom filters. The advanced and custom filters allow you to create bill runs more granularly and flexibly.

We add the Advanced Filter tab to the Customer Accounts section of the Create Bill Run page. In the tab, you can define your custom filters using one or more of the following filters:

• Account Filter
• Subscription Filter
• Rate Plan Charge Filter

For each of the preceding filters, you can also define a composite condition by configuring operators, conditions, and condition groups. You can also save each of the preceding filters for later use. For more information, Bill Run Advanced Filter.

Support for writing off credit memos from UI

You can now write off a posted credit memo through the Write Off Credit Memo option on the credit memo details page. Previously, you could only write off a posted credit memo through the Write off a credit memo API operation. 

For more information, see Write off credit memos.

Enhancement on bill runs for Multi-Org feature

Now, when you select an organization from the Organizations dropdown list, only the accounts labeled with your specified organization are picked up by bill runs. Accounts labeled with different organizations and without organizations are filtered out. Previously, the accounts labeled without organizations were also picked up by bill runs.
 
For example, if you select US from the dropdown list now, the bill run only picks up accounts labeled with US. The following accounts will be filtered out:

• Accounts without labeled organizations
• Accounts labeled with CA, which is a child organization under the US organization

Limit change on number of rate plan charges on invoices

We have updated the limit of rate plan charges allowed on an invoice in real-time operations to 1,000. Previously, the limit was 20,000. We update the limit because processing invoices with more than 1,000 rate plan charges may take several minutes to a few hours, depending on the number of charges, and may result in a timeout.

This update applies only to real-time operations involving invoices through the UI, REST API, or SOAP API. The limit on asynchronous operations remains unchanged.

The following table lists the limits before and after this release:

You can use asynchronous operations when an invoice contains over 1,000 rate plan charges. For example, Create a bill run and Create an order asynchronously.

For more information about asynchronous operations, see Asynchronous Requests.

FailedDocuments field available in bulk PDF generation API

A new FailedDocuments field has been added to the bulk PDF file generation job response. It includes a list of documents that failed during processing, helping you analyze and retry operations as needed. For more information, see Retrieve information of a bulk PDF file generation job.

E-invoicing profiles support custom fields

E-invoicing profiles support custom fields for storing additional customer e-invoicing information. 
When you adopt e-invoicing mandates for more and more countries, you can use these custom fields to store country-specific information for e-invoicing. 

For more information, see Configure e-invoicing profiles for accounts.

Order to Revenue feature generally available

The Order to Revenue feature, Zuora’s end-to-end solution to enable the complete quote-to-revenue operations process, is now generally available. This solution provides a single source of truth across Zuora applications. 

Previously, only new Zuora customers and existing Zuora Billing customers had access to this feature. Zuora Billing-Revenue Integration customers can now migrate to the Order to Revenue feature. 

See the following table for the side-by-side advantage comparisons between the Order to Revenue and Billing - Revenue Integration features:

Features	Order to Revenue (New)	Billing - Revenue Integration (Previous Solution)
All charge models		Partially supported
Change Plan type of order actions (and amendments)
Dynamic Usage Charges
Invoice Settlement Harmonization
Advanced Consumption Billing with delivery events		Partially supported
Booking level fixed-amount discounts		Partially supported
Booking-equals-Billing CCV metric
Automatic reconciliations		Partially supported
Multi-Org
Multiple Currencies
Standardized foreign currency exchange rates
Data Query and Data Source
Transaction objects for booking and billing data
Real-time data availability
Reduced booking volume processing time
Easy and fast setup
Pre-configuration of Revenue attributes in Billing
Data backfill and migration tools for rapid implementation

Legend:

•  (check mark): Supported
•   (cross mark): Not supported

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Support for implementing PayPal on PayPal Commerce Platform through JavaScript SDK integration

You can now add a PayPal button to your checkout flow and process payments through PayPal Commerce by integrating with a JavaScript SDK provided by Zuora. 

For more information, see Set up PayPal on PayPal Commerce Platform with Zuora JavaScript SDK.

Support for account verification and balance check through Plaid

To streamline the bank account validation in the payment flow and increase payment success rates, we have added support for Plaid's Auth and Balance products for ACH transactions. Plaid Auth authenticates account details before sending requests to the gateway, while Balance checks the real-time account balance before transactions. You can implement a Payment Page 2.0 to add ACH payment methods in Zuora through the Auth flow. One-time and recurring payments made with these payment methods are processed through the Balance flow.

For more information, see Enable the support for Plaid account validation solution.

New base objects available for custom events for payment processing

The following base objects are now available for custom events and custom scheduled events:

• PaymentMethodTransactionLog
• PaymentTransactionLog

You can use these objects to define events and set up notifications for payment processing.

New payment method types available on Braintree v2.0

Braintree v2.0 payment gateway integrations in Zuora now support the following payment method types:

• ACH
• Apple Pay
• Credit Card
• Google Pay
• PayPal

For more information, see Overview of payment gateway integrations for Braintree.

Support for receiving Stripe tokenized SEPA payment methods

To add tokenized SEPA payment methods on Stripe v2 payment gateway integrations, you can now use the Create a payment method API operation and pass in the following information:

• Existing tokens that you have obtained from transactions originating outside of Zuora, such as iDEAL or Bancontact transactions initiated through Stripe's hosted page solutions
• The masked account number

The tokenized payment methods can be used for processing recurring payments.

For more information, see Overview of Stripe payment gateway integration.

Support for implementing Apple Pay on Adyen v2.0 through JavaScript SDK integration

You can now add an Apple Pay button to your checkout flow on Adyen Integration v2.0 by integrating with a JavaScript SDK provided by Zuora. For more information, see Set up Apple Pay.

Support for implementing Google Pay on Adyen v2.0 through JavaScript SDK integration

You can now add a Google Pay button to your checkout flow on Adyen Integration v2.0 by integrating with a JavaScript SDK provided by Zuora. For more information, see Set up Google Pay with Zuora JavaScript SDK.

Support for Adyen Checkout API v70

We have upgraded Adyen Integration v2.0 to support Adyen Checkout API v70. Previously, we supported Adyen Checkout API v66 and Adyen Classic API v68. For more information, see Overview of Adyen Integration v2.0.

Payment Form available on more integrations

The Payment Form feature is now available for the following payment gateway integrations and payment method types:

Support for increasing limit of Blacklisted Card BINs field

For Credit Card payment pages implemented through the Payment Pages 2.0 solution, you can use the Blacklisted Card BINs field in the UI to define and block cards to be added. By default, a maximum of 1,800 characters is allowed for this field. To increase the limit, you can now submit a request at Zuora Global Support and then upload a .txt file from the UI to define blocked card BINs for your needs.

For more information, see Tenant-level settings for Payment Pages 2.0.

Support for ignoring CVN checking results on CyberSource

For the CyberSource v2.0 payment gateway integration, a new Ignore CVN Decline when verifying card and processing payment setting is now available. You can turn on this setting to ignore the results of Card Verification Number (CVN) checking during card validation and payment processing. The businessRules_ignoreCVResult=true field will be sent to the payment gateway.

This setting is turned off by default. The transaction is declined by the payment gateway if a CVN decline is received.

For more information, see Set up and configure a CyberSource payment gateway instance.

Support for creating tokenized Credit Card payment methods on CardConnect with existing token

To create tokenized Credit Card payment methods on the CardConnect payment gateway integration, you can now use the Create a payment method API operation and pass in the existing token.

For more information, see Overview of CardConnect gateway integration.

Visa Secure Payer Authentication update for 3D Secure transactions

Visa has revised its 3D Secure (3DS) authentication guidelines, adjusting both the deadline and the number of required fields. The new deadline is set for August 12, 2024, and the number of required fields has been reduced from 12 to 5 since their earlier announcement in February 2024. The following fields are now required by Visa during the 3DS authentication flow:

• Browser IP Address
• Browser Screen Height
• Browser Screen Width
• Cardholder Name
• Cardholder Email Address or Cardholder Phone Number

We have now enhanced the Payment Pages 2.0 solution on the following payment gateway integrations to support this change:

For the following fields that are already supported in Payment Pages 2.0, you must configure them as required fields in your hosted payment page setup:

• Cardholder Name
• Cardholder Email Address or Cardholder Phone Number

Zuora is continuing to work on the following payment gateway integrations for this change. Availability details will be communicated at a later time:

• Chase Mobility (deadline February 2025)
• Access Worldpay (deadline August 2025)
• Worldpay 1.4 (deadline August 2025)

Zuora is currently working with Chase to understand the requirements for the Chase Paymentech Orbital Gateway integration and will make the appropriate changes once it is ready.

For more information, see the following articles:

• Zuora's implementation of 3D Secure 2.0 in the Zuora Knowledge Center
• Visa Secure Payer Authentication Update For 3DS Authentication post in the Zuora Community

Enhanced Google Pay Integration through Zuora JavaScript SDK

We have now made the following enhancements to the Google Pay integration through Zuora's JavaScript SDK:

• Simplified onboarding for accessing Google Pay production:
  We now support the Google Pay Hosted Checkout feature, eliminating the need for a complex domain registration process. The Google Pay button is embedded within an iframe hosted by Zuora, and we handle domain registration with Google.
• Expanded authentication method support:
  We now support the Google Pay PAN_ONLY authentication method, ensuring compatibility across both Android devices and Google Pay compatible browsers.
• Support for Zuora JavaScript client library v3.

For more information, see Set up Google Pay with Zuora JavaScript SDK.

Enhanced Apple Pay Integration through Zuora JavaScript SDK

We have now enhanced the Apple Pay integration through JavaScript SDK to support the Zuora JavaScript client library v3. For the updated implementation instructions, see Set up Apple Pay.

Support for selecting default payment gateway in Assign Gateway Action of Payment Gateway Routing

When editing an Assign Gateway Action component in a Payment Gateway Routing rule, you can now assign the default payment gateway instance to a branch of the rule by selecting the new Use Default Gateway option. The default gateway of the customer account takes precedence over the default gateway of the tenant. 

For more information, see Create and manage Payment Gateway Routing rules.

Update to orphan payment method handling

Previously, orphan payment methods had to be associated with a customer account within 10 days, or they would be deleted. Now, orphan payment methods are not deleted, regardless of whether they are associated with an account.

Support for processing cross-border and local payments through Ebanx

To support both cross-border and local payment processing, we have enhanced the Ebanx payment gateway integration. A new Processing Type field is now available on the Ebanx gateway instance configuration page. You can select either of the following options:

• CROSS-BORDER (default)
• LOCAL

For more information, see Set up and configure an Ebanx payment gateway instance.

Enhancements to write off

Multiple enhancements are made to the write off feature.

• A new accounting code Non-revenue impacting write off is added to the credit memos.
• A new billing rule Default allocation rule for write-off is added under Billing settings.
• You can add revenue impacting write off information while writing off an invoice.
• You can now write off a debit memo through the Write Off Debit Memo option on the debit memo details page.

Real-Time Reconciliation for settlement events available on PayPal Commerce Platform

The PayPal Commerce Platform gateway integration in Zuora now supports the Real-Time Reconciliation feature for payment and refund settlement events. With this feature enabled, the gateway submits notifications to Zuora and the corresponding records in Zuora are automatically updated in real time.

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Support Multi-Factor Authentication

Until now, Zuora OneID has supported both Single Sign-On and password-based logins. To enhance security for password-based logins, Zuora OneID now includes SMS-based Multi-Factor Authentication, providing additional protection for non-SSO users.

Bulk enablement of Single Sign-On for all users

Previously, Zuora OneID allowed per-user login mode updates to Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO settings now offer bulk update support, allowing you to enable SSO for all users in your organization in one go.

Support for updating provisioning mode to Group type in bulk

On a per-user basis, Zuora OneID now allows updating the provisioning mode to Group type. The new bulk update support from security policies enables you to change the provisioning mode for all users in your organization to Group at once.

Enhancement to Zuora OneID for Multi-Org

Previously, Zuora OneID was incompatible with the Multi-Org feature. You now have the ability to modify and refresh the organization units of every OneID user in the Billing application. For more information, see Org unit.

Support for editing Tenant/Environment names

Previously, users of Zuora OneID had difficulties identifying the tenant on the MyApps page. Admins now have the option to directly edit their Environment/Tenant name in the Tenants module of OneID.

Billing connector for Salesforce CPQ available for early adopters

The CPQ Connector seamlessly integrates Salesforce CPQ with Zuora's backend, optimizing sales-to-billing-to-revenue workflows and enhancing operational efficiency. Synchronizing Salesforce CPQ data seamlessly integrates Accounts, Orders, Subscriptions, Contracts, and Quotes with Zuora objects, ensuring smooth downstream processes.

Enhanced syncing for new orders and renewals

Previously, the Billing connector for Salesforce CPQ supported syncing new assets, including one-time hardware-based products, which were created as order line items in the same order within Zuora. With this update, you can now renew contracts with asset-based products and have the renewed assets created as new order line items in Zuora.

Invoice owner transfer for orders

The Billing connector for Salesforce CPQ now supports transferring the invoice owner account in amendment or renewal orders. You can update the Invoice Owner field on the Order object. In case the account is not found in Zuora, the connector will sync and create the bill-to-contact instantly. For more information, see Invoice Owner Transfer.

Enhancement to tier syncing

In the Billing connector for Salesforce CPQ, upper bounds in consumption rates are not inclusive, unlike in Zuora, where both bounds are inclusive. The connector adjusts for this by decrementing the upper bounds in Salesforce by the smallest unit of the Unit of Measurement (UOM), except for the last tier. If UOMs with decimal places are required, the connector can increment the lower bounds instead. For more information, see Impact of Unit of Measurement (UOM) on Tier Syncing. 

Enhanced Zuora connector field mapping

Previously, the Billing connector for Salesforce CPQ supported mapping Salesforce fields to standard Zuora fields through custom field configuration for objects like Account, Contact, and Product. Now, Zuora has enhanced this capability to support mapping nested standard fields in the Zuora API. To map nested fields, use the format<parent field>/<child field>, such as taxInfo/VATId for linking the VATId in TaxInfo.

Advanced custom fields generally available

The advanced custom fields are now available in sandbox and production environments. This feature empowers you to manage custom fields in a streamlined experience that supports all custom field types:

• Text
• Long Text
• URL
• Integer
• Number
• Boolean
• Date
• Datetime
• Picklist
• Multi-select
• Relationship (available only for custom objects)

The following are standard objects that support advanced custom fields. Other objects will be available in later releases.

• Account
• Credit Memo
• Debit Memo
• Invoice
• Payment
• Product
• Product Rate Plan
• Product Rate Plan Charge
• Refund
• Subscription
• Subscription Rate Plan
• Subscription Rate Plan Charge
• Usage

You can create and manage advanced custom fields with the Object Manager. For more information, see Manage custom fields with the Object Manager and Custom fields and legacy custom fields.

After this release, we will deprecate the following custom field settings page and redirect these pages to the Object Manager page in the UI:

• Settings > Billing > Manage Custom Fields
• Settings > Payments > Manage Custom Fields
• Settings > Finance > Manage Custom Fields

The deprecation date for different environments is as follows:

• Sandbox environments: From August 13 to 15
• Production environments: From September 10 to 15

"List API failure records" API operation now available

The “List API failure records” API operation is now available. You can use this operation to check the API failure records generated by your Zuora tenant within a specified time range.

For more information about this API operation, see List API failure records.

Custom Logic available in Sandbox environments

The Custom Logic feature empowers Zuora administrators and developers to define Business Rules using Decision Table, Decision Tree, or JavaScript-based Function. While creating or updating Zuora business objects, rules can be executed to ensure data integrity, facilitate process automation, and so on.

Key functionalities of this feature are as follows:

• Validation of data accuracy
• Data cleansing
• REGEX pattern matching
• Field value assignment
• Defining formula fields

Support for creating relationship links from custom objects to countries, regions, or subregions

You can now create relationship links from custom objects to the following standard objects:

• Country: Link a custom object to a country or region.
• State: Link a custom object to a subregion of a country or region.

This enhancement allows you to create country or state-specific custom identifiers to store unique values such as the Value Added Tax (VAT) number.

For more information, see Manage custom objects and Manage countries, regions, and subregions.

Sunset Zuora AI Assistant for Analytics

Effective August 2024, the Zuora AI assistant for Analytics feature, which fetches business metrics using a conversational interface, is discontinued and no longer available in Zuora Analytics. 

Why this is needed?

Due to the introduction of an enhanced AI feature, Zuora Co-pilot for Analytics.

Impact:

The removal of Zuora AI Assistant for Analytics will not impact your data or experience. After its removal, you can continue to access Zuora Co-Pilot for Analytics with an improved user experience.

Zuora Co-Pilot for Analytics available in beta

Zuora Co-Pilot for Analytics is now available in the beta phase in the production environment for all Zuora users to try. It is a generative AI–powered assistant that can answer data-related questions and provide business metrics based on your data in Zuora. Its conversational interface makes it easier to ask questions and interpret results, thus making analytics more accessible.

To access Zuroa Co-Pliot for analytics, navigate to Analytics > Dashboard. 

Two fields on Notification History - Callout data source available in Reporting

The AttemptLimit and AttemptNumber fields on the Notification History - Callout data source are now available in Reporting.

• AttemptLimit: the maximum number of attempts for each callout notification
• AttemptNumber: the number of attempts of a callout notification

For more information about how to create reports, see Create a summary report and Create a detail report.

Enhancement on authorization validation for Events and Notifications API operations

To retrieve or configure callout templates or any other settings of the Events and Notifications feature through the REST API, such as notification definitions, event triggers, or notification histories, at least one of the following permissions or user roles is required:

• Manage Billing Settings permission
• Manage Payments Settings permission
• Manage Finance Settings permission
• Platform Administrator user role

Previously, a subset of settings were secured.

For more information, see the following resources in Zuora Developer Center:

• Notifications
• Custom event triggers
• Custom scheduled events

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