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Detach partial early renewed subscriptions and generate credit memos in a new invoice schedule

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Detach partial early renewed subscriptions and generate credit memos in a new invoice schedule

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Detaching subscription rate plan charges from existing invoice schedules allows you to generate credit memos for these charges in other invoice schedules.

In this use case, three subscriptions with the same term of 12 months are created and a single invoice schedule with two invoice schedule items is created for these subscriptions. 

As shown in the following table, three subscriptions are created by creating an order, respectively containing rate plan charges C1, C2, and C3, with a total amount of $45,000.00. For more information, see Create subscriptions.

Subscription number Charge start date Term (Month) Charge number Charge end date Selling price Lit price base Billing period
S1 01-01-2025 12 C1 12-31-2025 $15,000.00 Per Year Annual
S2 01-01-2025 12 C2 12-31-2025 $15,000.00 Per Year Annual
S3 01-01-2025 12 C3 12-31-2025 $15,000.00 Per Year Annual

You have created an invoice schedule IS1 to bill S1, S2, and S3. The invoice schedule contains two invoice schedule items. The first item was processed successfully and generated an invoice INV1 for $30,000.00. For more information, see Create invoice schedules.

The following table lists the information on this invoice schedule:

Invoice schedule Invoice schedule item Run date Amount Actual Amount To Bill Billed amount Schedule item status Billing document Service period start date Service period end date
IS1 1 01-10-2025 $30,000.00 $30,000.00 $30,000.00 Processed INV1 01-01-2025 08-31-2025
2 10-05-2025 $15,000.00 $15,000.00 - Pending - - -

Since the three subscriptions have the same term and selling price, they each contribute $10,000.00 to the total $30,000.00 invoiced in INV1 for the service period from 1 January 2025 to 31 August 2025.

invoice_schedule_partial_early_renewal_use_case_1_before_detach.png

Assume your customer wants to renew S3 for another year, from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026, while keeping the other two subscriptions unchanged. You want to generate a new invoice schedule (IS2) for the renewal term.

First, you must confirm whether the early renewal of S3 will result in a credit. You can do this in one of the following ways:

  • Compare the billed service period with the effective date of early renewal.
  • Use Order Preview to assess the billing outcome.

If the renewal does not generate a credit, you can proceed with the subscription renewal directly. However, if it does, and you want the credit memo to be generated separately from IS1, you must detach C3 from IS1 before running the billing process. If you do not detach C3 from IS1, the credit memo can only be generated when Zuora Scheduler processes the next invoice schedule item in IS1.

In the above example, C3’s billed service period end date (31 August 2025) is later than the renewal effective date (1 June 2025), so a credit will be introduced.

invoice_schedule_partial_early_renewal_use_case_1_after_detach.png

The following is a high-level procedure for detaching C3 from IS1 and generating a credit memo separately:

  1. Create an order to make an early renewal for S3.
  2. Detach C3 from IS1.
  3. Create IS2 for the renewal term.
  4. Run the first item of IS2 and generate a credit memo separately.

See the following sections for details on each step.

Step 1 - Create an order for early subscription renewal

Create an order with the following order actions to make an early renewal for S3. For more information about order actions, see Order actions tutorials.

  • Remove Product: Remove the product from which C3 is generated and set the trigger date as 6/1/2025.
  • Terms And Conditions: Update the term start date and trigger date to 6/1/2025.
  • Add Product: Add the same product from which C3 is generated and set the trigger date as 6/1/2025.

When the renewal is done, S3 now contains two subscription rate plan charges:

Subscription number Charge start date Term (Month) Charge number Charge end date Selling price Lit price base Billing period
S3 01-01-2025 5 C3 05-31-2025 $15,000.00 Per Year Annual
06-01-2025 12 C4 06-01-2026 $15,000.00 Per Year Annual

The current billing schedule of IS1 is as follows:

  • Total Amount: $45,000.00
  • Actual Amount: $36,250.00
  • Billed Amount: $30,000.00
  • Unbilled Amount: $6,250.00
  • Invoice schedule item 1:
    • Amount: $30,000.00
    • Actual Amount To Bill: $30,000.00
    • Billed Amount: $30,000.00
  • Invoice schedule item 2:
    • Amount: $15,000.00
    • Actual Amount To Bill: $6,250.00
    • Billed Amount: -

The Actual Amount of IS1 is different from the Total Amount because the term of C3 was reduced from 12 months to 5 months.

Actual Amount = $15,000.00+$15,000.00+($10,000.00-($15,000.00÷12)×3) = $36,250.00

In the equation above, ($15,000.00÷12)×3 represents the credit for C3’s removed service period from 1 June 2025 to 31 August 2025.

Step 2 - Detach the charge from the invoice schedule

To detach C3 from IS1, perform the following steps:

  1. In the left navigation section, navigate to Customers > Orders.
  2. On the Orders page, click the number of the order associated with IS1.
  3. On the order detail page, click the number of IS1.
  4. On the invoice schedule detail page, click the more options icon icon-more-options-white-background.png in the upper right and then click Detach Charges.
    The Detach Charges dialogue is displayed.
  5. Select only C3 in the subscription rate plan charge list.
  6. Click Detach.

After detaching C3 from IS1, the billing schedule of IS1 is as follows:

  • Total Amount: $45,000.00
  • Actual Amount: $40,000.00
  • Billed Amount: $30,000.00
  • Unbilled Amount: $10,000.00
  • Invoice schedule item 1:
    • Amount: $30,000.00
    • Actual Amount To Bill: $30,000.00
    • Billed Amount: $30,000.00
  • Invoice schedule item 2:
    • Amount: $15,000.00
    • Actual Amount To Bill: $10,000.00
    • Billed Amount: -

The Actual Amount is even greater than the amount before detaching. This is because when charges are detached from their original invoice schedules, amounts that have already been billed are still counted toward the Actual Amount, whereas unissued credit memos and unbilled amounts are not. This behavior allows you to generate credit memos separately.

Actual Amount = $15,000.00+$15,000.00+$10,000.00 = $40,000.00

In the equation above, $10,000.00 represents the billed amount for C3 covering the service period from 1 January 2025 to 31 August 2025.

Step 3 - Create a new invoice schedule for the renewal term

To create a new invoice schedule (IS2) for the renewal term of S3 from 1 June 2025 to 1 June 2026, perform the following steps:

  1. In the left navigation section, navigate to Customers > Orders.
  2. On the Orders page, click the number of the order created in step 1.
  3. In the upper right of the order detail page, click Create Invoice Schedule.
  4. In the Basic Information section on the Create Invoice Schedule page, click Select Subscriptions or Charges.
    The Change Subscriptions dialog opens.
  5. Select only C4 in the subscription rate plan charge list and then click Done.
    This is because you have already billed C3 in IS1.
  6. In the Additional Subscriptions section, add S3 to generate the credit memo for C3, which has already been detached from IS1.
  7. In the Schedule Items section, create two invoice schedule items with the following configuration.
    Invoice schedule item type Invoice schedule item Run date Amount Target Date
    Item With Amount 1 05-17-2025 $10,000.00 06-01-2025
    Item With Amount 2 12-05-2025 $5,000.00 -
    If you do not specify a target date for invoice schedule item 1, Zuora Schedule will use the run date as the target date when billing additional subscriptions. However, since the run date of item 1 (17 May 2025) is earlier than the service period start date of the credit (1 June 2025), no credit memo will be generated.
  8. In the upper right of the Create Invoice Schedule page, click Create Invoice Schedule.
  9. In the displayed Confirmation dialog, click Yes to confirm invoice schedule creation.

After IS2 is created, C4 will be billed according to the scheduled items. Since S3 is added as an additional subscription to IS2, a credit memo for C3 will be generated when Zuora Scheduler runs the first item in IS2.

Step 4 - Generate a credit memo within the new invoice schedule

When Zuora Scheduler processes the first invoice schedule item in IS2, it generates an invoice (INV2) for $10,000.00, along with a credit memo (CM1) for the previously billed service period of C3, from 1 June 2025 to 31 August 2025.

The following table lists the information on IS2:

Invoice schedule Invoice schedule item Run date Amount Actual Amount To Bill Billed amount Schedule item status Billing document Service period start date Service period end date
IS2 1 05-17-2025 $10,000.00 $10,000.00 $10,000.00 Processed INV2 06-01-2025 01-31-2026
CM1 ($3,750.00) 06-01-2025 08-31-2025
2 12-05-2025 $5,000.00 $5,000.00 - Pending - - -

You can apply CM1 to INV2 to eliminate duplicate charges from your customer.