Set up the Software Digital Board Book for Contracts

Set up the Software Digital Board Book (DBB) for Contracts in the specific order outlined in this topic.

These tasks should be performed by a trained administrator or implementer. Contact your Sage Intacct account representative for more information.

Configuration overview

Complete the setup steps in the following order to ensure the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) data is mapped correctly.

Prerequisite: Company uses General or Services QuickStart template

1. Create the Software DBB journals
2. Create the Software DBB accounts
3. Subscribe to the Software Digital Board Book
4. Assign account categories to accounts
5. Update items

Prerequisite

For dashboard metrics, the Software Digital Board Book uses account groups that are based on account categories in the General or Services QuickStart templates. If your company was created using one of these QuickStart templates, your company has the correct account categories.

If your company was not created using a QuickStart template, you can get the required account categories by selecting a template on the Company information page.

After you subscribe to the Software DBB, you will assign specific account categories to the Software DBB accounts.

Learn more about Account categories.

To select a QuickStart template:

1. Go to Company > Setup > Configuration > Company.
2. Select Edit.
3. Select the Accounting tab.
4. In the QuickStart template field, enter General or Service industry (it doesn't matter which one you enter).
   After entering a setup template and saving, you can't subsequently change the Setup template field.
5. Select Save.

Create the Software DBB journals

1. Create a management reporting user-defined book.
2. Create a user-defined journal and associate it with the management reporting user-defined book that you created in the previous step.

   This journal will track monthly recurring revenue.

3. Create a statistical journal.

   This journal will track customer count changes.

Create the Software DBB accounts

Create or identify the GL accounts to use to post the Software DBB data as outlined in the following table. All are regular financial GL balance sheet accounts, except the Customer account, which is a statistical account. Best practice is to use the 99XX range, if available.

Account categories

Account	Description	Normal Balance
New MRR	Account used to track revenue from contract lines where Change type = "New MRR".	Debit
Add-on MRR	Account used to track revenue from contract lines where Change type = "Add-on MRR".	Debit
Renewal upgrade	Account to track the amount of monthly recurring revenue when the contract line is renewed.	Debit
Renewal downgrade	Account to track the amount of reduced MRR when the contract line is not renewed or when the contract line is renewed but the flat amount in the renewed contract is less than the flat amount in the source contract.	Credit
Downgrade	Account to track the amount of reduced MRR when the contract line is canceled (also known as Downgrade). Other contract lines on the contract are still in progress.	Credit
Churn MRR	Account to track complete loss of MRR from a customer when all contract lines in the contract are canceled.	Credit
MRR offset	The account to offset debits from MRR accounts.	Credit
Customer	This statistical account is used to track the cumulative balance of customers. When you create a contract for a new customer that contains a contract line with Change type = "New MRR", the customer count in the journal you created for customer count increases here. As customers leave, the customer count decreases. Report type = Cumulative balance	N/A

Learn how to add a GL account

Learn how to add a statistical account.

Subscribe to the Software Digital Board Book

In multi-entity companies, subscribe to the Software Digital Board Book at the top level.

To subscribe to the Software Digital Board Book:

1. Go to Company > Admin > Subscriptions.

2. Select the toggle icon for Digital Board Book.

3. On the Digital Board Book pop-up, select Subscribe.

   The Configure Digital Board Book page appears.

4. In the Journals section, select the journals to which to post MRR events and customer count.

   The MRR field only displays user-defined journals associated with Management reporting books.

5. In the GL accounts section, select the GL accounts you created to track the applicable MRR events and customer count.
6. Select Save.

Assign the Sales and Marketing Expense category

The Software DBB subscription process enables the account categories and account groups required for the dashboard. It automatically assigns the DBB account categories to the dashboard account groups and to the GL accounts you identified in the Configure Digital Board Book page. The following table shows the GL account/category assignments for your reference:

Account assignments example

Account	Category
New MRR	CMRR New
Add-on MRR	CMRR Add On
Renewal upgrade	Renewal Upgrade
Renewal downgrade	Renewal Downgrade
Downgrade	Downgrade
Churn MRR	CMRR Churn
MRR offset	CMRR Offset
Customer	Customers

The subscription process also creates the Sales and Marketing Expense account group and the associated Sales and Marketing Expense category. This account group is used in the CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and Payback in Months dashboard performance cards.

However, the system doesn't assign the Sales and Marketing Expense category to any other account groups. You need to determine how you want to associate this category based on how your existing financial reports are set up.

To assign the Sales and Marketing Expense category:

Do one of the following:

• Edit the Sales and Marketing Expense account group to include other applicable categories. For example, include your Advertising and Promotion Expense account category in the Sales and Marketing Expense account group.
• Edit your applicable Sales and Marketing account groups to include the Sales and Marketing Expense account category. For example, edit your Marketing and Advertising account group to include the Sales and Marketing Expense account category.

Update items

When you subscribe to the Software Digital Board Book, a checkbox appears on the Item information page to let you indicate if an item is eligible for tracking as monthly recurring revenue as part of the Software Digital Board Book. Select this checkbox for each item you want to include in MRR calculations.

1. Go to Contracts > All > Items.

2. Find the item that you want to update.

3. Select More actions > Edit at the end of the row.

4. Select MRR.

   The MRR field is located at the top of the page in the first field group.

5. Select Save.

   Repeat for each desired item.

1. Go to Contracts > All > Items.

2. In the Items list, locate the desired item and select Edit next to it.
3. In the Item Information page, select MRR and select Save. The MRR field is located at the top of the page in the first field group.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each desired item.

Component type	To update
Performance card	Edit the performance card settings from the dashboard. Change the Reporting book field to Multiple. Select Reporting books. Include the user-defined book to which MRR journal posts. Select Set, then select Save. Repeat these steps for all performance cards in the dashboard.
Financial reports	Go to the Financial reports list and edit one of the following: CMRR Customer Count Go to the Columns tab. For each column where a Reporting book is defined, select Edit books, then choose to include the user-defined book to which your MRR journal posts. After you've done this in all columns, select Save. Repeat these steps for the other financial report.
Financial graphs	Go to the Financial graphs list and edit one of the following: CAC Trend CMRR Waterfall Customer Churn Trend New Customers In the Basic options section of the Additional settings section, use the Reporting book dropdown to select Multiple. Select Reporting books. Include the user-defined book to which MRR journal posts. Select Set, then select Save. Repeat these steps for all financial graphs in the dashboard.