Using the Salesforce Integration

In this section, we will go over how to use the new Salesforce integration.

Make sure that you are using a supported browser to setup and use this integration. For more information, read this article from Salesforce.

Salesforce Accounts and Contacts to Advanced Billing Customers

Salesforce Account and Contact information contain the same information that would exist in the Advanced Billing Customer record. If an Account has more than one Contact then the Contact will need to be specified at Customer/Subscription creation in Advanced Billing.

Salesforce Products / Price Books to Advanced Billing Products / Price Points

Advanced Billing Products will create a Product in Salesforce. However the Product Price Point and Currency will exist as a Price Book entry.

Salesforce Opportunities to Advanced Billing Subscription Previews and Subscriptions

Subscription Previews can be created on Opportunity in Salesforce. This allows for a preview of the Subscription pricing that can be saved for later use if the deal is won or when manually activated.

The Subscription Preview is highlighted in the image below:

Subscription Preview to PDF

After a subscription preview is created you can generate a PDF that can be sent to the customer prior to purchasing. This is a helpful tool in the early stages of negotiation and price setting.

To generate a PDF of the Subscription Preview navigate to the desired Subscription Preview and, at the top right, click Generate PDF to download the PDF.

Creating a Subscription in a Group

When creating a subscription in the subscription wizard, if “Invoice Type” is set as “Consolidated” a subscription group will be created for that subscription. More information on subscription groups can be found here: Subscription Groups.

Salesforce Account and Advanced Billing Customer Management

Depending on your sync settings any changes made to the Account or Contact in Salesforce or Advanced Billing will automatically be synced.

Create a Customer in Advanced Billing from an Account in Salesforce

At the Account or Contact level in Salesforce you are able to create a Customer using the Subscription Wizard. Clicking the “New Subscription” button the Subscription Wizard will open and a Advanced Billing Customer can be created in Salesforce.

Create an Account in Salesforce from a Customer in Advanced Billing

If your sync settings allow, when a Customer is created in Advanced Billing it will automatically create an Account/Contact in Salesforce. The sync will occur on the selected sync timing that has been setup in your Advanced Billing Configuration for Batch Timing.

Update an Account in Salesforce from a Customer Update in Advanced Billing

If selected in the Advanced Billing Configuration any update to a Advanced Billing Customer will automatically update the Account in Salesforce. This update will occur on the setup batch timing.

Update a Customer in Advanced Billing from an Account Update in Salesforce

If an Account it updated in Salesforce it will automatically update the Customer in Advanced Billing. One thing to note is that if an update occurs in Salesforce it will immediately be sent to Advanced Billing and not wait for the batch timing. Only updates that occur in Advanced Billing will respect the batch timing.

Create a Contact in Salesforce

Please note an Account will need a Contact to be present in order to create a Customer/Subscription in Advanced Billing from Salesforce. If more than one Contact is present the subscription will need to be created on the Contact level so that the Customer record in Advanced Billing can correctly reflect that Contact.

Update a Contact in Salesforce

Any updates to a Contact will automatically sync to Advanced Billing. Also any updates to a Customer record in Advanced Billing can sync to Salesforce, depending on the selected sync settings.

Link to Advanced Billing Customer

This option enables you to connect a Salesforce Contact record to an Advanced Billing Customer based on the merchant's Salesforce configuration settings (using the Reference ID, Email Address, and/or Customer ID).

By default, the Link Maxio AB Customer option is not included and must be added to the page layout. To enable, do the following.

1. From the top right of the Salesforce Account screen, click the Gear () icon and select Edit Object.
2. On the left navigation panel, click Page Layouts, then select Account Layout.
3. From the palette list, select the Mobile & Lightning Actions category.
4. Drag and drop the Link Maxio AB Customer action to the Account Detail > Custom Buttons group of the page layout.
   
   
5. Save the updated layout.

Now, you can select the Link Maxio AB Customer option from the drop-down menu.

Sync to Advanced Billing

This option will determine if a Salesforce account will sync to the 'Customer' record in Advanced Billing or if a manual checkbox within the 'Account' will need to be checked based on the 'Scope' settings under Customer Configuration.

Migrate Advanced Billing Contact

This option allows an existing Salesforce Account and Contact that has been sent to Advanced Billing to migrate to a different existing Salesforce Contact record under the established Salesforce Account record. Once the Contact has been migrated to the existing Account, the Contact information will then be updated within Salesforce and Advanced Billing.

By default, the Migrate Advanced Billing Contact option is not included and must be added to the page layout. To enable, do the following.

1. From the top right of the Salesforce Contact screen, click the Gear () icon and select Edit Object.
2. On the left navigation panel, click Page Layouts, then select Contact Layout.
3. From the palette list, select the Mobile & Lightning Actions category.
4. Drag and drop the Migrate Maxio AB Contact action to the Contact Detail > Custom Buttons group of the page layout.
   
   
5. Save the updated layout.

Now, you can select the Migrate Advanced Billing Contact option from the drop-down menu.

Salesforce Opportunity and Advanced Billing Subscription Management

At the Opportunity level a Subscription preview can be added.

Clicking into the preview, you will have the option to Activate the Subscription.

Also if setup in your sync settings a Subscription can be created when an Opportunity is Closed/Won.

Collect Payment Profile Information

Payment profile information can be collected via the Subscription Creation Wizard. Payment Profiles can later be updated by navigating into the subscription in Salesforce and clicking the “Upgrade Opportunity” button, here you will be able to changed the payment profile.

View Advanced Billing Transactions in Salesforce

You can view Transaction under the Maxio AB Transactions tab.

Update a Advanced Billing Subscription or in Salesforce

Subscriptions can be altered at any time. To do this navigate into a the desired Subscription in Salesforce. Once in the Subscription click Upgrade Opportunity.

In this wizard you will be able to change payment profile information as well as adjust the subscriptions product, components and coupons.

Change Product Immediately (No Proration)

When using the Upgrade Opportunity wizard, if a product is changed you will be presented options on how you would like to change the Product. If only “Change Product” is selected only the Product will be changed.

Upgrade / Downgrade Product (with Proration)

Similarly to above a Product can be Upgraded/Downgraded which will add a Proration to the difference of the Products.

• If “Preserve Period” is selected the normal next billing date will be respected.
• If “Include Trial” is selected the new products trial will be included on the subscription.
• If “Include Initial” is selected the setup fee will be included at the time of Upgrade/Downgrade.

Add Coupon

When using the Create Subscription Wizard you will be able to add a coupon at the time of Subscription Creation. Coupons can also be added later when updating a Subscription.

Remove Coupon

Coupon removal can also be done in the Subscription Wizard by clicking the “Remove” button next to the Coupon.

Subscription Actions

When inside of a subscription in Salesforce you will have options to control the subscription in Advanced Billing.

• Cancel Subscription
  This option allows you to cancel the subscription in Advanced Billing. You will be given the option to cancel immediately or to Cancel at End of Period. Churn code and additional notes can be added here as well.
  
  

• Reactivate Subscription
  Reactivating a subscription will move a subscription from a cancelled state to an active state. Please note that if any amount is due it will be expected immediately and if payment fails the subscription will remain in a cancelled state.

• Clear Pending Cancellation
  Using this option will remove any upcoming cancellation that has been placed on the subscription.

• Give / Deduct Service Credit
  Clicking this option provides the ability for giving or deducting service credits from a subscription.
  
  
  
  Selecting either Give or Deduct Credit takes you to the next screen where you can enter the amount to credit or deduct, respectively.
  
  

• Put On Hold
  When selected the subscription will be moved to an On Hold state. Options for how long to keep the subscription in an on hold state will be presented. More information about this state can be found here: On Hold Subscriptions.
  
  

• Resume
  This option will allow you to remove a Subscription’s On Hold state.

Invoices

Advanced Billing Invoices can be found by searching for and selecting Maxio AB in the App Search. This will open a Maxio AB Invoices tab. Here you would be able to access invoices that have been generated by Advanced Billing.

Invoice Actions

Clicking into a subscription you will be presented with actions that can be applied to the invoice.

• Record Payment

  • Use Existing Payment Profile
    Selecting this option will charge the active card on file for the invoiced amount.

  • Record External Payment
    This option allows for an external payment be created and applied the to invoice.

  • Apply Prepayment
    If a prepayment balance exists on the subscription it can be applied to the invoice using this button.

  • Apply Service Credit
    If a service credit balance exists on the subscription it can be applied to the invoice using this button.

  

• View Invoice Public URL
  Selecting this button will display a link to the invoice which can be sent to customers for payment.
  
  
  
  

• Void Invoice
  Using this action will move the invoice to a voided state and will no longer be able to receive payment.
  
  

• Invoice Refund
  
  
  
  Once clicked the option to refund the invoices payment profile or externally apply a refund can be selected. On the next page the payment to be refunded can be selected. Once the payment to be refunded has been selected the exact amount can be entered.
  
  
  
  

Creating a Coupon

Creating coupons can be done by using our coupon creation wizard in Salesforce. Go to the Products tab and click Create Coupon.

This will open the coupon creation wizard which will create a coupon in Advanced Billing and can be applied to a subscription at creation. All of the usual coupon options and restrictions can be found in the wizard. For more information on coupon options please see our coupon documentation here: Coupon Documentation

Custom Fields

Setting Up Custom Fields

To map custom fields within Salesforce, navigate to the Maxio AB Configuration tab within Salesforce and click Configure for the corresponding site as indicated in the screenshot below. 

Clicking Configure takes you to the configuration page for the given site.

Scroll down and locate the Custom Field Mapping section and click Add New Custom Field Mapping.

This opens the Mapping Custom Fields popup, from which you can select the Object in Salesforce to map the custom field to, for example, Subscription.

Then choose the Advanced Billing Custom Field to be mapped to the object chosen. For Choose Salesforce Field, you will first need to create the Object Manager for the particular Object chosen (in this case, Subscription). Next add this created field to the layout for the Subscription Object. 

To create the field, go to Setup and navigate to Object Manager. 

Chose the corresponding object, in this case it will be Maxio AB Subscription.

Next, click Fields & Relationships and then click New to create a new field.

The New Custom Field screen opens and the following steps need to be taken.

1. Choose the option that best fits the related custom field. Use the descriptions to help you determine what type of information the custom field will contain.
   
   
   Click Next at the bottom of the screen.
2. Enter the following required details:
• Field Label (for use in page layouts, reports, list views)
• Field Length (the maximum length for the Text field)
• Field Name (an internal reference used for integration purposes such as custom links, custom s-controls, and the API; be careful when changing the Field Name as it may affect existing integrations.)
  

Click Next.

3. Select the field-level security for each of the profiles listed. This text field will be hidden from any profile not selected.
   
   
   Click Next.
4. Select which page layouts you want to add this text field to and click Save.
   
   

Once completed, confirm that the field was added to the desired page layout. After this is completed, the field created will show within the ‘Choose Salesforce Field’ when mapping the custom field.

These fields will need to be created and added to the Page Layouts for each custom field you would like to display and for each object they will be displayed on.

Salesforce Quoting for Advanced Billing

When an opportunity has a subscription preview attached the subscription preview can be used as a quote versioning system to help negotiate the pricing of the opportunity before it is closed/won. Once the opportunity is closed/won the newest generated quote will be used to create the subscription.

These options can be found by clicking into the desired subscription preview.

Once inside the Subscription preview, go to the drop-down and click Generate Quote. This generates a quote that can be shared with your customer.

If the quote’s price needs to be changed due to customer negotiation you can click the edit button on the subscription preview page. This will reopen the subscription wizard and the subscription preview can be reconfigured. After the subscription changes have been saved in the wizard you can then click “Generate Quote” and another version of the quote will appear in the subscription preview. In this example 50 components were removed and a new version of the quote was generated.

Clicking into the quote will show the information on the quote as well as a downloadable PDF that can be shared with a customer for approval.

The design of the PDF can be customized and branded in the Salesforce Visualforce pages.

Additional options for how the quoting system will function can be found in Maxio AB Configuration tab under Opportunity Configuration. Here you can require customer or sales manager approval before the subscription preview will convert into an active subscription in Advanced Billing.

If Manager Approval is selected an approval will be needed before the Customer Approval is input.

Note, the Customer Approval button will need to be added to the subscription preview page from the layout edit page. Additionally, the Manager Approval uses the standard Salesforce approval processes and will need to be added as well.

Custom Offer Signup Pages

The Custom Signup Page is an externally available offer summary page, that can be shared with an external prospect looking to become a subscriber. This is typically used to present an offer at signup. 

To generate a Custom Offer Signup link, go to Opportunity > Advanced Billing Subscription Preview and click Generate Offer URL.

The pop-up lists the templates available through your Force.com configurations.

The link will be valid until the displayed Valid Until date. After that day, the customer will see an offer expiration message, "This offer has expired...". To prolong the offer, a new link needs to be generated.

Admin Tip: The expiration message can be customized from the Site Template using OfferExpiredMessage.

Default validity dates are populated for each template record, they can be overridden for a new Signup page upon clicking the date and entering a new one.

If the offer has been changed after the link was generated (Subscription Preview modified: i.e. product or component updated), a modification error message will be displayed on the page and Subscription creation from the page will be blocked. A new link needs to be generated for an updated offer (Preview).

Using the Force.com Custom Offer Signup Pages

The generated link can be shared with customers/prospects for self-servicing Subscription signups. The link is unique to the Offer and Customer; however, anyone with the link can view and submit. 

An Offer can be generated in the following scenarios: 

• When Subscription Preview is not already sent nor queued to be sent
• When Subscription Preview is not canceled
• When a new Subscription('Upgrade' subscription type not supported)
• When a Subscription Preview is approved by the manager if the approval is required

Once a template is selected, the action generates a Custom Offer Signup Link, copies this to the clipboard, and opens it in a new browser tab.

The Signup Form is generated by Salesforce using Advanced Billing JS to facilitate an in-Salesforce workflow for self-service subscriptions.

Error Messages / Troubleshooting Force.com Signup Pages

When Subscription creation fails, a customer is presented with an error message and an event log with details is created in Salesforce > Advanced Billing Event Log.

If there is an error during page rendering, it will be shown to the customer and logged into Salesforce. Possible error messages include:

• There was a problem with decoding data from your offer link. Please contact our Sales team to get the new URL.
  Is typically for a broken link with empty or missing data.

• There is a problem with your offer. Please contact our Sales team to get the new URL.
  Occurs when an Advanced Billing Subscription Preview or an Advanced Billing Signup Page record was deleted from Salesforce;
• There is a problem with your offer. Please contact our Sales team to get the new URL.
  Is for an unexpected error.

Admin tip: To attach an error log at the end of the default or custom error message, check Show_Error_Log__c field on the Advanced Billing Signup Page record.

One-time Invoice

Salesforce users can generate customizable one-time invoices for existing Subscriptions. To use this feature in Salesforce, navigate to Setup > Object Manager. Once in Object Manager, select Maxio AB Subscription > Page Layout > Maxio AB Subscription Layout.

From the palette list, click Buttons and drag the Create New Invoice button down to the “Standard Buttons” area of the page layout.

Next, from the palette list, click the Mobile and Lightning Actions and drag Create New Invoice action down to the “Salesforce Mobile and Lightning Experience Actions” section of the page layout. Click Save.

Once completed, users can see a Create New Invoice button when looking at a Subscription in Salesforce.

When clicked, a customizable Invoice template appears.

In the top left corner, merchants can fill in their company name and address. Below that clicking on the pencil icon will allow users to input custom billing and shipping information for this invoice.

Clicking on “Add New Line” will prompt users to input a line item for this invoice. Multiple line items can be added to each invoice.

Once the invoice looks correct clicking on the “Issue Invoice” button at the bottom will generate this invoice in Advanced Billing. The Advanced Billing version of this invoice can be seen by navigating to the subscription in Advanced Billing and clicking on “Invoice” and locating the recently generated invoice.