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Define POB assignment rules

Zuora

Define POB assignment rules

Zuora Revenue uses POB assignment rules to group transaction lines within each revenue contract into performance obligations. There are four ways to assign a performance obligation template to transaction lines within a revenue contract. Zuora Revenue attempts all available POB assignment rules in the following order:

  1. Advance Rule
    This rule is usually used for more complex performance obligation templates. You can specify one mandatory leading line that drives revenue recognition of the performance obligation and other mandatory elements that must be present to create the performance obligation. Use Advance Rule to form consolidated POBs in Zuora Revenue.

  2. Assignment - By Attributes
    This rule is usually used when there is a one-to-one relationship between a line and a performance obligation. You can specify aggregated attributes to create the performance obligation in this assignment rule. The combination of up to 10 attributes is supported. 

  3. Assignment - By Item/SKU#
    This rule is also used when there is a one-to-one relationship between a line and a performance obligation. However, performance obligations are created based on the line item number only.

  4. Auto POB
    If no above-mentioned assignment rules are applicable to the line within a revenue contract, Zuora Revenue will assign the AUTO POB template to the line. The AUTO POB template is by default defined in the system and can be modified based on your business needs.

Advance Rule

Use the advanced rules to combine one or more transaction lines into a single POB.

To define an advanced rule, you must specify required and optional goods and/or services to be included in the POB and specify the leading line that drives revenue recognition for the POB.

Complete the following steps to assign the POB template with the advanced rule:

  1. Navigate to Policies > Performance Obligations.

  2. Click open-side-menu.png to open the side menu, and then click Advance Rule.

  3. To add a rule, click add-icon.png on the left pane.

  4. In the New Rule window, specify the rule name and the sequence number, and then click the save icon. The rule name is listed on the left pane.

  5. To add a grouping condition, complete the following steps:

    1. Hover the mouse over the rule that you created and click add-icon.png.

    2. On the New Condition page, enter the condition name, select the attribute to derive POB name, and then select the appropriate POB template.

    3. In the Grouping Identifier field, select the attribute that you want to use for grouping across different goods and services.

    4. Click save-icon.png. The condition is created and listed under the rule name on the left pane.

    5. On the Goods and Services tab, enter the name of the goods or services in the Name column.

    6. Specify whether this transaction line is required to form the POB within the revenue contract in the Mandatory Element column.

    7. Specify whether this transaction line is the leading line that drives revenue recognition in the Leading Indicator column. For example, if there are multiple lines in a POB, the leading line determines the revenue timing that all the other lines within the same POB should follow.

      • If an item is selected as the leading indicator, it must also be selected as the mandatory element. The mandatory element leading indicator is the item sold within a revenue contract that will be used to identify the line that drives revenue recognition for the performance obligation. A performance obligation can have only one mandatory element leading indicator. 
      • Besides the mandatory element leading indicator, it is not required for a performance obligation to have other mandatory elements. If more than one mandatory element is selected for a performance obligation, all mandatory elements must be present in the revenue contract to create the selected performance obligation. 
      • Optional elements are not required to create a performance obligation. However, if optional elements exist in the revenue contract, they will be included as part of the performance obligation.
    8. (Optional): If there are multiple goods and/or services that meet the criteria, use the Consolidate and Consolidate Identifier columns to select the attribute that is used for consolidating the transaction line. Otherwise, individual POBs are created for each satisfied POB condition line.

    9. Click action-icon.png to assign the grouping criteria for the current line. The Assign Criteria window is displayed.

    10. In the Assign Criteria window, specify the attribute name, operator, and operand that are used to group multiple goods and/or services into the single transaction line.
      For example, if you set Product Catalog = Maintenance, all goods or services that fall into the maintenance catalog will be grouped into one transaction line.  

    11. Click icon-save-new.png and then close the Assign Criteria window.

    12. Repeat the above steps to add more goods and services for this POB template.

    13. (Optional): To assign holds to the POB template, click the Assign Holds tab and select the appropriate holds from the Available Holds list and add them to the Selected Holds list. Then click save-icon.png.

  6. Add as many conditions as you need.

  7. Adjust the sequence of multiple conditions to apply, edit the number in the Sequence filed on each condition page.

When Zuora Revenue identifies performance obligations within a revenue contract,  it always attempts to apply the configured advance rules first. If no advanced rules are applicable, Zuora Revenue then attempts the Assignment - By Attributes rule.

Assignment - By Attributes

Use the Assignment - By Attributes rule to map one transaction line to one single POB. You can define up to 10 Assignment - By Attributes rules. The rule is the most common approach that is used to assign POB templates.

Complete the following steps to define this type of assignment rule:

  1. Navigate to Policies > Performance Obligations.

  2. Click open-side-menu.png to open the side menu, and then click Assignment - By Attributes.

  3. Click icon-add-new.png to add one attribute.

  4. Specify the attribute name and specify how to derive the POB name.

  5. In the POB Template column, select the appropriate POB template. Revenue treatment information is automatically populated.

  6. Add more attributes if necessary. Zuora Revenue can support up to 10 attributes to be configured.

  7. In the Seq column, edit the number to set the order of how the attributes are applied. A best practice is to place the more specific attribute on a higher level and place the more generic attribute on a lower level.

  8. Click icon-save-new.png to save your configuration.

You can create the assignment rules by uploading a spreadsheet, which can be created based on a provided template. Click Download to download the template as a spreadsheet, fill in the data and then click Upload to upload the spreadsheet again.

Zuora Revenue attempts the Assignment - By Attributes rule to assign POB templates. If none of these rules are applicable, Zuora Revenue then attempts the Assignment - By Item/SKU ID rule.

Assignment - By Item/SKU#

Use the Assignment - By Item/SKU# rule to map one transaction line into one single POB. It is recommended to use the high-level attribute for mapping the POB template, such as Product Family or Product Catalog.

The difference between this rule and the Assignment - By Attributes rule is that you can specify more aggregated attributes for mapping the POB template with the Assignment - By Attributes rule. 

Complete the following steps to define this type of rule:

  1. Navigate to Policies > Performance Obligations.

  2. Click open-side-menu.png to open the side menu, and then click Assignment - By Item/SKU#.

  3. Click icon-add-new.png to add an assignment rule.

  4. Specify the line item number in the Item Number column and optionally provide an item description.

  5. In the Derived POB Name column, specify how to derive the POB name in a revenue contract by selecting the attribute name to be assigned to the POB name.

  6. In the POB Template column, select the appropriate POB template to which you want the transaction line to map. The remaining columns are automatically populated based on your selection.

  7. Enable this assignment rule by selecting the checkbox in the Enabled column.

If you have a large product list that contains many line item numbers to be configured, you can create the assignment rules by uploading a list of the line item numbers with the naming convention of the POB and the POB template. To do this, first click Download to get the template spreadsheet, fill in the data and then upload the spreadsheet again.

Zuora Revenue attempts the Assignment - By Item/SKU# rule. If none of the rules are applicable, Zuora Revenue then assigns the AUTO POB template to the transaction lines.

Auto POB

If no POB assignment rules are configured or applicable, Zuora Revenue assigns the AUTO POB template to the transaction lines within a revenue contract. The AUTO POB template is predefined by Zuora Revenue and can be customized to meet your business needs.

The application of the AUTO POB template is to ensure that every transaction line in a revenue contract is mapped to a performance obligation. When the AUTO POB template is assigned to a transaction line, you cannot view the POB rule name in the Workbench.