One engine, two switches
The Continuous Revenue Engine builds revenue plans and posts recognition journals. You can turn it off in Salesforce or in NetSuite. Everything that keeps Booked and Billed up to date runs either way.
Most companies leave the engine on. Turn it off when another system already recognizes your revenue, so only one system posts it.
Know what the engine does
The engine turns a contract's performance obligations into recognized revenue. It has three parts:
- Update Revenue Plans builds a monthly plan for each obligation, following its recognition method. Plans recognize the obligation's Booked amount.
- Recognize Revenue shows a preview, then posts one journal entry per period. It moves the amount from Deferred Revenue to Revenue.
- The scheduled portfolio close runs both steps across every contract, on your schedule.
The engine doesn't allocate a contract's price across obligations. Each obligation recognizes what its lines booked. If you need allocation, the system that owns it does that, such as NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management or Revenue Cloud.
To run the engine day to day, see Running the revenue engine. For how it's built, see The engine Suitelets.
Know what always runs
The switch never stops your data from syncing. With the engine off, QuantumBit still gets all of this:
- Each booking creates or updates the RC Contract, orders, lines and billing records in NetSuite. RC stands for Revenue Cloud.
- Update POBs groups lines into obligations and ties invoice and credit memo lines to them. It runs from the button, on a schedule and after every sync.
- Booked and Billed stay current on each obligation and on the contract.
- Obligations are copied back to Salesforce after every sync, so the Revenue Summary card and your reports stay current. See Writebacks & the POB mirror.
Turn the engine off
There's a switch on each side. If either one is off, the engine is off.
| Side | Where | Switch |
|---|---|---|
| NetSuite | The Continuous Revenue Settings record | Disable Continuous Revenue Engine. It's unchecked by default. |
| Salesforce | Step 8 of the Connection wizard | Continuous Revenue Engine. It's on by default. |
What changes when NetSuite's switch is off
- The Update Revenue Plans and Recognize Revenue buttons disappear from the RC Contract. Update Revenue Schedule disappears from the obligation.
- Update POBs and Update POB stay.
- The engine replies that it's off and does nothing, however it's called.
- The scheduled close runs Update POBs only. The run log shows Update POBs (engine off).
- The Revenue plans by POB card on the contract says the engine is off.
Wizard step 4 shows a hint when NetSuite's switch is off.
What changes when Salesforce's switch is off
Bookings, order line syncs and invoice syncs stop asking NetSuite to rebuild revenue plans. Update POBs and the copy back to Salesforce still run. The Revenue Summary card on the Contract says "Continuous Revenue Engine is off: Booked and Billed stay current, no revenue plans are built."
Read the result on the sync run
The sync run's result has an engine value that tells you what happened:
engine | What it means |
|---|---|
"done" or "done with warnings" | Update POBs, the revenue plans and the copy back all ran |
"disabled" | Salesforce's switch is off. Update POBs and the copy back ran. |
"disabled in NetSuite" | NetSuite's switch is off. Update POBs and the copy back ran. |
"skipped" | There was nothing to update, such as an order with no contract |
A run with the engine off counts as a success, not a warning.
Create native Sales Orders if you need them
Separately from the engine, NetSuite can keep one native Sales Order for each RC Contract. Turn it on if you need item fulfillment in NetSuite. It needs no NetSuite revenue feature.
The Sales Order is built from the contract's order lines. Each amendment adds lines to it. It's marked Do Not Bill (Continuous), so it never creates a second set of invoices while Salesforce bills.
It has its own pair of switches:
- In Salesforce, turn on Create Native Sales Order in wizard step 8. Every booking then asks NetSuite for the Sales Order.
- In NetSuite, check Disable Native Sales Orders on Continuous Revenue Settings to block it. It's unchecked by default. When checked, the Sales Order button is hidden, and each booking records that it skipped it.
A call can also send the order to a Sales Order directly. Then the generator stands down for that run, so the two never collide. See native transaction targets.
Turn the engine off if you use NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management
Continuous Control doesn't use or connect to NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management. It keeps its own obligations, plans and journal entries.
If Advanced Revenue Management already recognizes your revenue, turn the Continuous Revenue Engine off. Either switch works. NetSuite's switch also hides the buttons. You keep everything in Know what always runs.
An add-on that creates NetSuite revenue elements from Continuous Control obligations is on the roadmap.