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Getting started with Zuora Developer Sandbox

Zuora

Getting started with Zuora Developer Sandbox

Zuora Developer Sandbox allows you to have a testing environment with similar settings and configurations as your Production environment. 
In contrast to API Sandboxes, which are ideal for experimenting but are likely configured very differently than your production systems. Developer Sandbox copies configuration data from your production system, ensuring that your developers are always developing in a system that is identical to your production environment.

Zuora Developer Sandbox supports you in the following:

  • Integration development
  • Integration testing
  • Includes the latest configuration from production, such as product catalogue, workflows, notifications, and settings.
  • Frequent refreshes for agile and iterative development processes.
  • Self-service tooling - Continuous integration and continuous development 
  • Speed up development - Automate the population of master configurations from the production instance, including product catalogue, settings, workflows, and notifications.
  • Self-serviceability - Take actions, including refreshing and viewing ETC via self-service UI.
  • Refresh often - Refresh is done frequently (every two weeks), giving developers higher confidence in the changes.
  • Refresh will erase all the data in the sandbox and bring over the latest configuration and settings copy from production.

The following configuration data is copied from Production to Developer Sandbox. The table contains information on what is considered transactional vs configuration data.

Component Name

Level 1

Configuration

Product Catalog

Product

Configuration

Product Rate Plan

Configuration

Product Rate Plan Charge

Configuration

Feature

Name

Configuration

Feature Code

Configuration

Finance

Finance-Accounting Period

Configuration

Platform

Custom Objects

Configuration

Work Flow

Configuration

Data Query

Configuration

Custom Fields

 

Configuration

Administration

Entity Profile Attachments

Configuration

Entity Profile Info/Manage Tenant Profile

Configuration

External SMTP

Configuration

Manage User Roles

Configuration

Manage Data Access Control

Configuration

Manage OAuth

Configuration

Manage Audit Trails Setting

Configuration

Manage Insights

Configuration

Security Policies

Configuration

Billing

Batch Aliases

Configuration

Billing Cycle Types

Configuration

Billing Period Starts

Configuration

Billing Periods

Configuration

Billing Rules

Configuration

Charge Types/Models

Configuration

Discount Settings

Configuration

Doc Prefixes/Defining Numbering, SKU Formats

Configuration

List Price Bases

Configuration

Payment Terms

Configuration

Revenue Recognition Codes

Configuration

Subscription Setting

Configuration

Unit of Measure

Configuration

Currencies

Configuration

Billing Document

Configuration

Configuration

Configuration

Configuration

Tax Codes

Configuration

Tax Engine and Tax Date

Configuration

Configuration

Finance

Accounting Codes

Configuration

Accounting Rules

Configuration

Aging Buckets

Configuration

Chart of Accounts

Configuration

FX Currencies

Configuration

GL Segments

Configuration

Revenue Event Types

Configuration

Revenue Recognition Code Status

Configuration

Revenue Recognition Models

Configuration

Revenue Start Date

Configuration

Platform

Communication Profiles

Configuration

Product Attributes

Configuration

Sharing Attributes

Configuration

Payment

Application Rules

Configuration

Payment Gateways

Configuration

Payment Methods

Configuration

Payment Retry Rules

Configuration

Reason Codes

Configuration

Zuora Developer Sandbox vs Central Sandbox

See the contrasts between the use cases of Developer Sandbox and Zuora Central Sandbox.

  Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Production Snapshot - Transactional Data No Yes
Production Snapshot - Configuration Data Yes Yes
Allowable Snapshot Refreshes  2X per month 1X per month
Self-service UI Yes Yes
Designed for Integration development and testing UAT and performance testing

Guidelines on Zuora Developer Sandbox environments

General Implementation Guidelines 

See the following general guidelines when working with Zuora Developer Sandbox:

  • Limit testing to end-to-end feature testing and start with smaller data sets.
  • Follow the performance guideline. Contact Zuora Global Support if you plan on any activity that exceeds the guidelines in a 24 hour period.
  • Reduce or turn off notifications and callouts. 

Data copy guidelines

You can request a data copy once every 14 days through the following ways:

  • Request through the Zuora Developer Sandbox homepage
  • Submit a request at Zuora Global Support. You must provide the endpoint of your environment when submitting the request.

Access Zuora Developer Sandbox environments

You can access Zuora Developer Sandbox environments through the Zuora UI and API. 

See Zuora Data Centers for the Zuora UI and API base URLs for each environment.

Username and password

The naming convention of your Zuora Developer Sandbox login username is:

<username>_<tenant id>

where <username> is your username of Zuora production environment, and the<tenant id> is your Zuora Developer Sandbox tenant Id that is sent to you when your Zuora Developer Sandbox environment is provisioned. For example, john.doe@zuora.com_10000001.

The tenant id appears in the username to help identify which Zuora Developer Sandbox tenant you are logging into.

Your login password for the Zuora Developer Sandbox environment is the same as that of the corresponding production environment.

Initial setup

Make the following configurations upon the first-time login. Once configured in the Developer sandbox, they will be retained on every subsequent refresh.

  • Refer to Zuora Testing Environments to confirm key attributes that are scrubbed as part of the copy process.
  • Re-configure the integration with external applications (for example, Salesforce, Avalara, Payment Gateways, and so on) as credentials for the external applications are scrubbed for security purposes when your Zuora Developer Sandbox environment is provisioned.
  • If you have a Salesforce integration, Zuora 360 in Salesforce must be updated with a new Entity Key and Id representing the new Zuora Developer Sandbox tenant.
  • Re-configure all required certificates, as certificates will be scrubbed.
  • Re-configure your APIs, callouts, and schedules in Workflow, as Workflow endpoints and credentials may change.
  • Re-configure your callouts within Workflow, as callout data may be scrubbed.
  • Developer Sandbox refresh will not copy the scheduled Bill Run and Payment Run, so the Bill Run and Payment Run will not work as scheduled after the refresh.
  • Developer Sandbox refresh will not copy the OAuth 2.0 providers. You can create and manage OAuth 2.0 providers independently across Production and Developer Sandbox environments.
  • Ensure any additional information within Workflows, such as callout endpoints, credentials, and liquid templates, are updated as needed.
  • Add new users to Commerce Portal. Note that your users from production will not be inherited to Developer Sandbox automatically.
  • Re-configure tokens that relate Commerce Portal to other apps (for example, Customer Catalog). Tokens from each source app will be re-generated and must be obtained from that app within the Developer Sandbox environment.
  • Within the Collections application, tokens related to various applications (for example, Workflow, Payment Plans, Notes) must be re-configured.

Other characteristics

Once the Zuora Developer Sandbox is provisioned or the production data is copied, a complete set of the latest production data configuration will be in the Zuora Developer Sandbox environment. See the following characteristics of the Zuora Developer Sandbox environment:

  • Zuora Developer Sandbox uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as the system time.
  • The Single Sign-On and IP address enforcement must be re-configured as this information is scrubbed for security.
  • Your customers will not receive notifications from Zuora Developer Sandbox as the customers' email addresses are intentionally scrubbed for a test environment.
  • The integration with Salesforce, payment gateways, tax engines, and other external services must be re-configured, as the credentials for the external services are scrubbed for security.
  • After a refresh or data copy of Zuora Developer Sandbox, the SMTP server settings will be reset. Tenants that use Advanced SMTP or External SMTP will be reset to use the default Zuora mail server after the refresh or data copy. All email-related features will work after the reset. However, if you want to use Advanced SMTP or an External SMTP, you will need to re-configure the SMTP server settings after the refresh or data copy.
  • Refresh wipes out all data, and only the configuration data is copied to the Zuora Central Sandbox developer edition.

Limitations

Zuora Developer Sandbox has the following limitations:

  • Zuora Developer Sandbox supports copying multiple entities from your production environment. However, it has the following limitations:
    • Add an additional entity to your production tenant after a complete copy to your Zuora Developer Sandbox. We must provide a brand new Zuora Developer Sandbox tenant and make a full copy to include the newly added entity. Consequently, your Developer Sandbox environment will have a unique Tenant Id, and your usernames will also be changed accordingly. Contact Zuora Global Support for the first time when you want a fresh data copy after adding a new entity to your production environment.
    • We only support the refresh at the global level. Refreshing just a single child entity is not supported.
  • The refresh from Production to Developer Sandbox is limited to every 14 days.
  • Currently, Developer Sandbox only allows the copy of the entire production configuration data and does not allow a selective copy of configuration data.