Invoice Calendar Bliss: How Coterminosity Can Improve Your Cloud Operations and Customer Experience

One key functionality that can significantly improve your cloud subscription management and add value to your customer is "Coterminosity". This article delves into the practical aspects of aligning subscription end dates, simplifying invoice calendars, and providing your customers with a smooth ride through their billing cycles. We share examples and best practices to help you make the most of coterminosity, ensuring a stress-free invoicing process for all parties involved.

Scope of coterminosity

Subscriptions created on different dates have different end dates. Coterminosity is the ability to align the end dates of subscriptions to make renewal easier. Coterminosity is a powerful feature available in new commerce experience.

However, it's important to note that customers who purchased licenses through Web Direct or an Enterprise Agreement are not able to use it. Is still possible to achieve alignment through other methods, which fall outside the scope of this article.

Additionally, aligning subscriptions with the end of the month presents another option for streamlining invoicing processes.

Coterminosity alignment rules

While the theory behind coterminosity is simple, practical implementation may vary based on your unique use case, often involving prorated refunds. Instead of tracking and managing renewals at different times throughout the year, coterminosity allows you to consolidate renewal dates, reducing administrative overhead and making your customers' lives easier.

Coterminosity can be activated when a subscription is created or when it is renewed. A subscription can be made coterminous with an existing subscription according to the following table:

In summary, a new or renewing 1 or 3-year subscription may not be made coterminous with a 1-month subscription.

Activating coterminosity for an existing subscription

Activating coterminosity for an existing subscription does not change the end date of the existing term, rather it schedules the coterminosity to be activated when the subscription next renews.

Let's illustrate this with an example:

Imagine that CSP Company has an existing 1-year subscription for Office 365 E5 that ends on November 9, 2023. On March 15, 2023, they want to purchase Office 365 E3 licenses for a 1-year term and align the subscriptions. Here's how it works:

• The existing subscription is represented in dark blue, with renewal terms in a lighter blue.
• The new subscription is depicted in dark orange.
• By default, the new subscription would end on March 14, 2024.
• Upon aligning the new 1-year subscription with the existing one, the end date exactly matches the existing subscription's end date.

The initial term of the new subscription is shorter, and charges are prorated accordingly (shown in dark orange at the bottom of the diagram).

Aligning subscriptions with the end of the calendar month

When purchasing a new subscription, there's an option to align its end date with the end of the calendar month. This ensures that multiple subscriptions can be renewed simultaneously, simplifying the management process for both you and your customers.

Conclusion

Coterminosity is a powerful way to streamline subscription management by aligning subscription end dates, you can avoid multiple discussions throughout the year, reduce administrative overhead, and maintain a cleaner and simpler calendar. Understanding the scope and alignment rules of coterminosity empowers you to provide efficient and effective solutions to your customers, enhancing their cloud experience and overall satisfaction.

How can Cloudcockpit help you?

• Cloudcockpit simplifies the coterminosity process by offering built-in functionalities that provide partners with the necessary tools to effortlessly align subscription end dates.
• One of the challenges in coterminosity is dealing with prorated charges, which can be confusing. However, with Cloudcockpit, partners can rest assured that all calculations are accurate and up-to-date. The platform ensures that all values in our system and reconciliation files are consistently updated, leaving no room for discrepancies.
• The self-service portal in Cloudcockpit empowers your customers if you choose so to take control of their subscription calendars, allowing them to align their end dates with ease, reducing administrative overhead for both parties.