In lots of the Salesforce orgs I’ve worked in over the years the renewal process is managed through Opportunties. When a new business Opportunity is Closed/Won a Renewal Opportunity is automatically generated and the Account Manager (or CSM) is responsible for managing the renewal. This is typically on an annual renewal basis – and you can automatically generate renewals for more or longer periods of time as needed. I was recently asked about monthly renewals, though, which led to some research comparing the Opportunity generation process versus Product Revenue Schedules in Salesforce. I’ll add my analysis here:

Opportunities vs. Revenue Schedules for Renewal Business:

• Use ‘Renewal Opportunities’ if each month there’s an actual renewal – that renewal business must be won each month.
• Use ‘Revenue Schedules’ if the monthly revenue is assumed and there’s no business to win each month.
• If recognizing an agreed on monthly revenue then use ‘Revenue Schedules’, if each month there’s a negotiation and won business then use Opportunities.
• If using Revenue Schedules you’ll need to define the timeline for the Revenue Schedule associated with each Product.

For either approach you can:

• Automatically generate the renewal Opportunity (or Opportunities) or Revenue Schedule, or Renewal Opportunity with Revenue Schedule on New Business Opportunity Closed/Won.
• Automatically set values on the Opportunities or Revenue Schedules to indicate likelihood the revenue comes in to allow for forecasting existing business.
• Adjust future predicted revenue as needed.

Advantages of Revenue Schedules:

• Out of the box MRR tracking for Closed Business in Salesforce.
• Very configurable – can adjust pricing and configurations on Revenue Schedule records for forecasting purposes.

Disadvantages of Revenue Schedules:

• Tied to Products so you’d need to introduce a Product or Products in order to use.  Products are probably a good thing to get started on anyway.
• Introducing 2 new objects – Product and Revenue Schedules – adds complexity.

Advantages of Opportunities:

• No need to introduce new products.
• If each month the revenue is not assumed based on the initial deal then Opportunities are a better fit.  We can still set forecasting values for the Opportunity to indicate likelihood to close.
• We can use Opportunity Forecasting which is out-of-the-box Salesforce functionality.

Disadvantages of Opportunities:

• Less structured than building out a Product Catalog with Revenue Schedules.
• Potentially lots of extraneous Opportunities generated that are irrelevant.

My Suggestion:   Use Revenue Schedules if the monthly revenue is assumed and there’s no business to ‘win’ each month.  Use Opportunities if each renewal is ‘won’ each month.  If business is ‘won’ each month we’ll want to track the won and lost business to understand why we’re winning and losing.  If the business is assumed each month, then Revenue Schedules are much simpler.