How to Work with Subscriptions

The following is an overview of the process for working with subscriptions in Aptify:

1. An organization begins production of a new product that is sent to customers on a recurring basis.
   • See Best Practices for Setting Up Subscription Products for information on suggested practices when creating new subscription products.
     
     
2. A user creates a Products record for this item, specifying that it is a subscription.
   • See Creating Subscription Products for instructions on how to create a subscription product.
     
     
3. An order entry clerk takes an order for the subscription from a customer/member.
   • See Placing an Order for a Subscription Product for information on how to create an order for a subscription.
   • When the order ships, Aptify automatically creates a Subscriptions record.
     
     
4. When a new issue of the subscription is ready for distribution, a user creates a Subscription Fulfillment record to generate the list of subscribers who should receive the issue.
   • See Fulfilling a Subscription for details.
   • Each time a subscription fulfillment is generated, Aptify automatically deducts the appropriate number of issues from the corresponding Subscriptions record.
   • If a subscriber does not renew a subscription, the subscription expires when either all issues in the subscription have been sent or the end date has passed.
     
     
5. As subscriptions approach the expiration date, a user runs the Subscription Renewal wizard to generate invoices for current subscribers, prompting them to renew their subscriptions.
   • See Renewing a Subscription or Membership for details. This topic also describes how to configure automatic subscription renewals.
     
     
6. Under some circumstances, a current subscriber may want to cancel an active subscription. In this case, an order entry clerk creates a cancellation order to cancel the remainder of the subscription.
   • See Cancelling Subscriptions and Membership for instructions.