The Subscriptions module gives you the flexibility to decide when you would like to process a subscription. Depending on the type of subscriptions you offer, you may want to process a subscription yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly etc. When you decide you would like to process a subscription you simply choose which subscription list you would like to process, identify the product that is being subscribed to, release the subscription, and the system does the rest. The Subscriptions Module allows you to process subscriptions for renewals, next issue, sample products and multiple products.
The processing of Subscriptions is done via the following options:
- Order release
- Release analysis
- Release run management
Once Product Lists have been maintained in preparation for a Bulk Run, the Order Release process is run to generate the transactions in batch mode.
Printing a report and viewing the results of the Release Run can help do Release Analysis.
Release Run Management is used to delete or complete a run finalizing the transactions in preparation for processing a Release or invoice mail out.
Automated order processing
One of the most time-consuming and labour intensive activities within subscriptions is having to manually enter orders each time a subscription is processed. The Subscriptions Module automates this process so there is no manual entry of orders at any time. When you decide to process a subscription, you choose your subscription list, the product that is being subscribed to and release the subscription. The Subscriptions Module then automatically creates orders which it feeds into the integrated Bookmaster Order Processing and Billing Module. Once the orders have entered the Order Processing and Billing Module they follow the same path as a regular order through the warehouse.
The automation of order generation and entry not only saves a large amount of time and staff resources, it also eliminates the potential for human error, which improves efficiency.
This is the first step in the Bulk Run or Release process.
Automated renewals and invoicing
Manually tracking renewals of subscriptions can be a daunting task, especially when subscribers often initially subscribe at different times. The Subscriptions Module keeps a record of each subscriber’s renewal date so that when a subscription is processed it automatically identifies those subscribers that are due for renewal and generates a renewal invoice to be sent out to them. This eliminates the need to manually track subscription terms and renewals.
The Subscriptions Module allows you to incorporate a user- defined renewal lead-time for invoicing. For example, if you decide that your renewal lead-time will be two months, the system will automatically identify the subscriber as being due for renewal two months before their renewal date, and will generate an invoice with a due date that corresponds to the renewal date.
The automation of renewals and invoicing combined with a user-defined renewal lead-time will save you time and effort in manually tracking renewals and will significantly reduce the potential for errors.
There is also an option to renew subscriptions by customer; this is more applicable for educational institutions where they will be renewing a group of subscriptions every school term.
