Issue a Subscription License

A Subscription License is used to effect a licensing scheme whereby the customer is maintaining a regular payment schedule and the software should mirror this by extending the right to use the software until the end of the currently paid period (which is calculated relative to the commencement date of the contract).

During a given period, the activation of a Subscription license yields time-limited access to the software. At the end of that period, the license becomes inactive until a renewal (retrieval of an updated license pertaining to the new period) is completed. (Please see Getting Started With Subscription Licensing for more details.)

Subscription License Properties

When you issue a subscription license you will need to set the following license properities:

Subscription Period
Grace Days
Start Date (defaults to Issue Date)
Auto-renew (default is ON)

Subscription Period

The period of a Software Potential subscription license is denominated in calendar Months (entering 1 year 6 months translates to an 18 calendar month cycle).

Grace Days

At the end of each period, unless Grace Days are set, the licensed software will immediately cease to function and will remain disabled until the license is successful renewed.

In order to smoothly handle delays or other issues with renewal processing, one should strongly consider applying a number of Grace Days which allows the software to remain functional pending the completion of renewal. Note that the license expiration date still continues to be computed relative to the start of the contract (i.e. the customer does not gain any advantage as a result of a renewal being 'delayed').

Auto-renewal Option

By default Subscription Licenses are set to Auto-renew. This means all renewal requests against the Software Potential service will be automatically approved without any intervention by you. If you wish to explicitly manage the approval of renewal requests then one can disable auto-renewal by un-checking the Auto-Renew checkbox.

Start Date

Each subscription license has a Start Date which indicates the date on which the first subscription period starts. All subsequent subscription periods will start on an anniversary of the Start Date.

By default the Start Date is set to the Issue Date, the date on which the license was issued. When issuing a subscription license it is possible to explicitly set the Start Date to a date other than the Issue Date e.g. to synchronize the subscription period with an order date in an external system such as an ERP/CRM solution.

Renewed Until Date

When a Subscription license is activated, its Renewed Until Date is set as an offset to the License Start Date.

By default the Start Date is set to the Issue Date i.e. the date on which the license is created.

This ensures the license is valid until the end of the current period, irrespective of when the activation takes place.

When you issue a Subscription license its Renewed Until Date is shown as as Unactivated until such time as the license is activated.

To issue a subscription license:

Select Issue and then the Custom option in the main navigation.
Select Product and Features as required.
Select the Environment and Locking properties as required.
Select the Lifecycle section and set the mandatory Period, Grace Days, and optionally Start Date as required.

You should not need to adjust/set the Start Date unless you wish to set the subscription to start at a predetermined date other than the issue date.
Complete the remaining license sections and click the Issue button to issue the license.
Click the View Details button to review the subscription license settings in the Lifecycle section. If the license is auto-renewable you will see the following:

If the license is not Auto-renewable you will see the Renewal Authorized Until date, which by default is set to the end of the current Subscription Period i.e. should be the same value as the Renewed Until date.

Activated Subscription License Details

To view the details of an activated subscription license:

Select Search in the main navigation.
Enter the Activation Key in the Search box and click the Search button.
Select the license in the search results and click View Details button to see the properties in the Lifecycle section. The Renewed Until date indicates when the subscription license is next due for renewal.

if the license is not Auto-renewable then you will see the current Renewal Authorised Until date.

If you wish you can now control renewal of the license. Please see Renew Subscription License for steps involved.