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Revenue module - Overview

This Module is a powerful tool providing insights into key SaaS metrics such as Recurring Revenue (ARR/MRR), Net Revenue Retention & Churn.

Christian Dreyer avatar
Written by Christian Dreyer
Updated over a week ago

The Revenue module is primarily based on your company's Licenses which is also easily available under the Data Module.

πŸ“š Relevant additional reading:

  • Read about The Data Module for information regarding how to effectively search for and filter out Licenses

  • Read About Licenses in Planhat to get a thorough understanding of some of the finer nuances of how licenses are treated in Planhat


In this article we will go over the following sections:

πŸ“Œ Important to note: Several sections take into account forecasted licenses. At the end you'll find some more information about forecast settings.

1. Recurring Base

This section provides an overview of your historic, current and future Recurring Revenue by month. The data is shown as Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) or Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) depending on your settings.

Setting for ARR/MRR are found under General Setting (Menu at the bottom left / Settings)

The Chart displays your Recurring Revenue by three categories:

  1. Confirmed Base end of month - This represents revenue that is committed to by customers per their contract/licenses (i.e. license Start Date < End of Month < End Date) and is shown in black.

  2. NRR over the month - While not recurring, NRR is also included in this view as it does contribute to overall revenue and is shown in yellow.

  3. Not yet confirmed base end of month - Licenses that are assumed to be renewed (per forecast settings) or that are manually forecasted by CSMs and is shown as shaded.

The total revenue shown represents the total forecasted revenue in a given month. In case a company has both confirmed and forecasted revenue by end of month, the entire customer will be accounted for as "Not yet confirmed base end of month".

πŸš€ Quick tip: Click on a month in the chart and the actual Licenses will be listed below with relevant information. Scroll to the bottom and you'll also be able to export to Excel.


2. Renewal Rate

Some of the key metrics for any SaaS business are Renewal Rate (also known as Net Churn or Net Revenue Retention and Churn (also known as Gross Churn or Gross Revenue Retention).

In the SaaS community there is a good general understanding of what Renewal Rate and Churn mean, but in reality many companies handle the details differently. In Planhat you have a wide array of flexibility to help navigate these differences.

The three gauges show:

  • Renewal Rate (Net Revenue Retention) - a metric showing whether you are able to grow the value of your customers over time.

  • Gross Churn - the revenue of lost customers and downgrades over time.

  • Customer Churn - the % of logos that no longer use your products or services.

The results are shown for the period outlined in the top left corner. By clicking you can easily choose a predefined period (e.g. this month, year to date etc.) or choose a custom period entering from date and to date.

Before going into the details of the actual calculations of each metric, let's start by defining the metrics beneath the gauges.

  • Base refers to either the value (ARR/MRR) of Licenses expiring in the selected period OR the total value across all Licenses beginning of the period.

    You make this selection under settings (gear icon top right corner)

  • Renewal is the value of new Licenses that are the result of renewal processes, and revenue at the period start is the same as period end

  • Upgrade represents the increased value of Licenses in the time period. Could be the result of a price increase, upsale or cross-sale.

  • New Biz is the value of new licenses sold in the period.

  • Downgrade is the opposite of an Upgrade meaning the decrease in value of a License during the time period, but where it not yet zero.

  • Churn is the value lost due to a non-renewal

For each metric the number of Companies contributing to the total is also shown (within parenthesis). These numbers add up as below, where the right-side categories represent the categories mentioned above.

Given the various components available in Planhat there are actually a few different ways of calculating Renewal Rate and Gross Churn but here's how it's done on the Renewal Rate page:

Renewal Rate:

1 + ( ( upgrade - downgrade - churn ) / base )

Gross Churn:

( churn + downgrades ) / base

Customer Churn:

lost customers / # customer in base

Timeline view

In addition to seeing Renewal Rate and Churn results for the selected period, there is also an option to expand the view to show a timeline πŸ“Š by clicking the "SHOW TIMELINE" bar between the search field on top and the gauges.

In the expanded timeline view each component (Renewal, Downgrade etc.) is shown by month for the current and prior year. Beneath the chart there's also a corresponding table outlining the various rates (%) and amounts ($) for each category shown.

Clicking a month in the table will update the selected time period and show the Renewal Rate & Churn results for that period.

List view

At the bottom of the page Companies contributing to the results for the selected period are listed. Here you will see which companies contributed which amounts and how they are accounted for (e.g. renewal or upgrade).

Clicking on a Company name takes you to the Company profile while clicking elsewhere on the row expands the view and list the individual licenses.


3. Bookings

While the previous two views (Recurring Base & Renewal Rate) take into account the licenses' actual start dates AND stop dates, Bookings looks at when the contract starts.

Compared to Renewal Rate and Churn, Bookings is an indicator of future revenue growth and represents the total value of contracts sold (starting) in a given time period. Eventually Bookings will become recognized revenue throughout the contract term.

The chart on top, outlines the Bookings per month split into three categories:

  • New Biz - Total Contract Value of subscriptions for companies with no prior subscriptions.

  • Renewal - Total Contract Value of subscriptions for companies with prior subscriptions

  • Forecast - Shown where applicable for both New Biz and Renewals. Choose whether or not to include forecast in the report settings.

You can choose an individual month by clicking on the chart or using the drop down beneath the chart to choose period.

This list of Companies at the bottom work the exact same way as for the Renewal Rate page. Clicking on the company name takes you to the Company profile while clicking elsewhere on the row expands the view and list the individual licenses.


4. Renewals

The Renewals page offers an invaluable overview of past, and more importantly, coming renewals. The chart shows a monthly breakdown of renewal base size with an overlay of customer health.

On top of the chart you can choose to see Pending, Processed or All renewals. You can also choose to list renewals per the Licenses' End Date or the implied Renewal Date (i.e. license end date - notice period).

πŸ“ Use case: You want to see Licenses that are up for renewal but have not been renewed (in essence overdue licenses). Below the chart (on the right) you'll see an "alert" telling you how many "overdue licenses" there are - click it and the Licenses will be listed below.

As you would expect, the standard search bar is available on top but below the chart there is another search field available, specifically designed to help you find individual renewals. Search by custom time period, product, value or term (months).

In the list at the bottom each Renewal is listed with a bar showing the current term on a timeline (vs today). The current ARR is shown together with any forecasted value. Clicking the Company name takes you to the company profile while clicking anywhere else on that row will open up additional details and ability to edit the license.

πŸ“£ Pro tip: Planhat supports three different forecast inputs, "Best Guess", "Optimistic" & "Pessimistic". In the Company's general settings you can choose whether you only want to see "Best Guess" or also Optimistic/Pessimistic forecasts.


5. Invoices

The final section in the Revenue module is Invoices. You can choose whether you want to show invoices by Invoice Date, Due Date or Paid Date.

An Invoice shown in the chart can be in one of the following three statuses:

  • Paid - Invoices where payment have been received.

  • Not Yet Due - Invoice has been issued (or is scheduled to be issued) but not yet due (nor paid). Also referred to as pending in the list of invoices.

  • Overdue - Invoice where due date has passed and (full) payment has not been received.

By clicking on a month in the chart the corresponding invoices are listed below together with the information of your choice. Click the "Manage Table" icon on the right and choose what columns to display. Depending on which fields are showing in-line editing will be available.

πŸš€ Quick tip: The list view allows you to select individual invoices (or bulk select) and choose one of the following actions:

  • Export to Excel

  • Change paid status

  • Remove


Forecast settings βš™οΈ

Recurring Base, Renewal Rate and Bookings all have in common that they may take into account forecasted licenses. You can decide whether or not to include forecast (or in what way) by clicking the setting icon on the top right.

There are two types of forecast setting:

  • Auto Forecast

  • Manual Forecast

The Auto Forecast offers four options:

  • Assume Churn - Any License that has not already been renewed will be assumed to Churn

  • Assume Renewal - Same as above but will be assumed to Renew

  • Churn only if Auto-No - Licenses assumed to renew unless it states no automatic renewal

  • Churn only if Auto-No (ignore manual) - Same as above even if manual forecast indicate renewal

The Manual Forecast is a bit more straightforward and allows you to choose between "Ignore Manual Forecast" or "Use Best Guess".

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