Nextian Quote-to-Cash (QTC) Model

The Nextian Quote-to-Cash object model is compatible with widely used CRM industry standards, and includes elements as opportunities, quotes, accounts, orders, line items, and more. Beyond these standards, Nextian adds new objects and enhances standard ones to support managing the entire lifecycle of cloud and communications services — from ordering new services and handling changes to managing service cancellations.

The key elements of the model include:

Element Description
Opportunity A standard CRM opportunity supporting subscription services and widget product prospecting with:

  • Advanced financial forecasting (synchronized with syncing quote) including:
    • Customer MRCs and NRCs
    • MRR & NRR analysis (new, lost, uptick/downtick, net)
    • Recurring profit & margin
    • New Sales, Cross-sell and Upsell (recurring and non-recurring)
  • Resulting customer order (once the opportunity has been Closed Won)
Quote A standard CRM quote with:

  • Support for subscription service and widget sales
  • Quote Line Item (QLI) types supporting the full life cycle of a service: New, Replace, Cancel, Re-Term, Service Request, etc.
  • Multiple line item types on a single quote
  • Financials analysis:
    • Customer MRCs and NRCs
    • MRR & NRR analysis (new, lost, uptick/downtick, net)
    • Recurring Profit & Margin
    • New Sales, Cross-sell and Upsell (recurring and non-recurring)
Customer Order Orders are the main vehicle for creating and applying changes to services. A single order may apply to multiple services (e.g., 5 virtual machines or 5 site MPLS network) as well as contain multiple kinds of requests (e.g., cancel one service and replace it with a new one):

  • An order is created automatically when an opportunity is Closed Won, but it can also be built manually
  • It has its own line items (Order Line Items), created from and related to quote line items
  • Each quote line item references a service and a work order defining what needs to be done
  • Along with work orders, the order keep track of the delivery schedule
  • Each order line item can be managed individually for maximum flexibility

More information about orders can be found here.
Work Order Work orders are made of tasks (either user-executed or automated) along with their dependencies determining a sequence of actions for delivery:

  • Each line item on a customer order has a one or two work orders determining its delivery —compound line items (i.e., ones that have old and new part such as Replace) have two work orders, otherwise only one (e.g. New)
  • Work orders are not only defined for new service or widget delivery, but also for re-term, cancellation, etc.
  • Work orders are created from predefined templates
  • Association between products, line item types and templates used for delivery is done via price book entries

More information about work orders can be found here.
Service Services represent customer-facing [subscription] services (CFS) bringing together customer, product, pricing, elements and other information.Services are created in the process of order delivery (preexisting services may also be migrated).More information about services can be found here.
Product Standard CRM products with additional metadata determining product properties (e.g., is a service or widget, requires location, single or multiple quantity, etc.) used for quoting.
Price Book Entry (PBE) Nextian uses custom PBEs (price book entries) defining pricing, work order template and service template on a per operation type (New, Cancel, Re-Term, etc.) and product basis. More information about product catalog can be found here.

In short, the Nextian Quote-to-Cash process and the relationships between its individual elements can be visualized as follows:

A diagram presenting key elements of the Nextian quote-to-cash model
Nextian Quote-To-Cash Model: Key Elements
Services vs. Orders

Many systems conflate services and orders into a single object in their model. Nextian, however, makes a clear and deliberate distinction between the two. It’s important to emphasize that:

  • Services are long-lived objects, with their lifespan determined by how long a customer maintains the subscription.
  • Orders and work orders are short-lived. They are important during execution, but once completed, they primarily serve historical purposes.
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