Salesforce CPQ Evaluation of Quote Line Start Date, End Date and Subscription Term

All Subscription-priced products require Start Date defined on Quote or Quote Lines or Quote Line Group in order to price correctly and contract successfully. The Quote, Quote Line and Quote Line Group records have Start Date, End Date, and Subscription Term fields that are considered when evaluating subscription dates and Quote Line net total proration. The Quote Line’s Effective Start Date represents the Start Date of the product or service in its term.

Resolution

While working with Subscription-Priced products in Salesforce CPQ, there is an evaluation order for evaluating Start Date, End Date and Subscription Term and thus Quote Line’s Prorate Multiplier value is set. The Prorate Multiplier, a number field on the Quote Line record is used in evaluating Prorated and Total fields.

( List Price / Regular Price / Customer Price / Partner Price / Net Unit Price) * Quantity * Prorate Multiplier = Total

The Quote Line Prorate Multiplier is calculated by using Start Date, End Date or Subscription Term for Subscription-priced products. The table below illustrates the order in which prorate multiplier values are calculated – lower values of the fields on Quote, Quote Line and Quote Line Group indicate higher priority.

 

	Quote Line	Quote Line Group	Quote
Start Date Or End Date	1	2	3
Subscription Term	4	5	6

 

As per the above table, Quote Line Start Date / End Date has highest priority for evaluations while Quote Subscription Term has lowest priority for evaluations. One advantage for utilizing Start Date and End Date field values is, the Quote Line Effective Start and Effective End Dates are non-null values representing the calendar dates for the Quote Line’s term. Subscription Term will not be evaluated in the effective date formula fields. 

Examples

How can we calculate Start Date and End Date with proration set as Monthly+ Daily, a Proration Unit of Monthly, and with a Default Subscription Term of 12 months. 

Example1: What shall be the Start Date and End Date of Subscriptions generated from this Quote Line?

 

	Quote Line	Quote Line Group	Quote
Start Date	1/1/2023	x	7/1/2023
End Date	x	x	x
Subscription Term	x	x	12

 

Answer: 

                        Start Date – 1/1/2023

End Date – 12/31/2023

Explanation: As we can see that Start Date is set on the Quote Line record and on the Quote record. We see that Quote Line Start Date is taking Priority over the Quote Start Date. Since there is no End Date Populated, Subscription Term of 12 months from the Quote is taken as the term.

Suggested Reading: Managed Services Provider Metrics

Example 2: What should be the Start Date and End Date of Subscription generated from this Quote Line?

 

	Quote Line	Quote Line Group	Quote
Start Date	1/1/2023	1/6/2023	7/1/2023
End Date	x	x	11/30/2023
Subscription Term	24	12	x

 

Answer:                                   

Start Date – 1/1/2023

End Date – 11/30/2023 

Explanation: If Start Date is given on every Quote Line record, Quote Line Start Date takes precedence over Quote Line Group or Quote. Even though Subscription Term is given on Quote Line and Quote Line Group, CPQ looks at Quote End Date first before looking at Subscription Term for End Date evaluation.