Managing Rating Runs

Rating is the process of creating charges for subscription line items. NetSuite calculates charges for a subscription using the information about its line items, such as:

The quantities, pricing, and usage shown in the price plan and price book
The effective date of the subscription
The status of the subscription and its line items

You use a change order to set and change the status of subscription line items.

Certain tasks you perform on a subscription line item that affect NetSuite charge calculations (for example, renewing a line item) are called ratable events. Examples of actions that cause ratable events include:

Activating a line item
Reactivating a line item
Renewing a line item
Suspending a line item
Terminating a line item
Modifying quantities and rates on a line item
Saving a change order

For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.

Automatic Rating Runs

When you save an action that causes a ratable event, NetSuite automatically starts calculating the charges specified in the subscription. This charge calculation process is called a rating run. You also can generate charges on demand, or you can schedule them with the current billing operations. You can run rating from the Billing Operation page.

When you save any change order, a ratable event occurs, which starts a rating run. Only one change order of a specific type can occur per day on a subscription line item. For example, you modify the price of a line item using a modify pricing change order, then realize you also need to add a discount. You must wait 24 hours to create another modify pricing change order for the same line.

The same is true for quantity changes. If you submit a change order that changes the quantity of a line item, you must wait at least 24 hours before submitting another.

Also, when you make changes to a draft subscription that alter pricing, an automatic rating run starts. This rating run does not generate charges but can determine things like the total subscription amount when synchronizing a draft subscription to a sales order. It is important to notice that the rating run is an asynchronous server process, so the most up-to-date result may not be available the instant the draft subscription is saved. To get the most up-to-date data, you can resynchronize the sales order.

Use Case Example: Consider a subscription line item, cell phone service, that starts on January 1, 2029 and ends on December 31, 2029.

You create a change order that changes the subscription start date to February 1, 2029. When you save the activation change order record, rating occurs, and NetSuite creates charges for February, March, and so on to the end of the subscription term, reflecting the date change.
On May 1, you create a change order to suspend the cell phone service subscription line item. When you save the change order, rating occurs. NetSuite starts a rating run that calculates the charges from May 1 to the end of the subscription term, and places the charges On Hold. If earlier charges have been invoiced, negative charges could occur.

For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.

Manually Starting a Rating Run with Billing Operations

You can manually start a rating run to create charges at any time. You might manually use billing operations because of a price change related to a subscription. Another example is a customer who decides to cancel their subscription early, and they are entitled to a partial refund. In this example, billing operations is used to create a credit memo. A subscription change order causes the need to manually create charges related to SuiteBilling. For more information about Billing Operations, see Billing Operations. For fundamental information about change orders, see SuiteBilling Change Orders.

To manually start a rating run to generate charges with Billing Operations:

Go to Transactions > Billing > Process Billing Operations.
On the Billing Operation page, check the Rating Run box, then click Run.

Creating a Scheduled Rating Run Using Billing Operations

You can schedule a rating run to create subscription charges for a specific day and time, such as the charges for a subscription that is billed monthly. For more information about Billing Operations, see Billing Operations.

To create a scheduled rating run using Billing Operations:

Go to Transactions > Billing > Schedule Billing Operations.
Under Primary Information, enter a name and description for the bill run schedule. If you do not want to make the bill run schedule active right away, check the Inactive box.
Under Schedule, setup a schedule for the bill run.
Under Billing Operation Operations, check the Bill Run box.
Under Billables, select the types of transactions for which you want to create bills.
Under Accounting, indicate whether the credit card is approved.
Under Communication, indicate whether bills should be printed, emailed, or faxed.
Click Save.

Automatic Rating Runs

Manually Starting a Rating Run with Billing Operations

To manually start a rating run to generate charges with Billing Operations:

Creating a Scheduled Rating Run Using Billing Operations

To create a scheduled rating run using Billing Operations:

Related Topics