Naarvin reads every subscription in Zoho Billing, formerly Zoho Subscriptions, and loads it with its status and its monthly recurring revenue (MRR), worked out before tax where Zoho gives a pre-tax amount. It uses the same Zoho sign-in as Zoho Books and Zoho CRM, reads every linked organization in full on each sync, and never writes to Zoho.
What does Naarvin read from Zoho Billing?
Subscriptions, in every status, and the organization's own settings for its name and currency. Naarvin asks Zoho for those two read permissions only. Each subscription comes in with its customer, plan, currency, billing period, start and end, status and MRR.
Zoho Billing shares its customers with Zoho Books, so the names match. Naarvin links each subscription to the company's customer of the same name, the way contracts from a CRM are linked.
How are Zoho Billing statuses treated?
| Status in Zoho Billing | In Naarvin |
|---|---|
| Live, non-renewing, dunning, unpaid, future | Active |
| Trial | Trialing |
| Paused | Paused |
| Cancelled, cancelled from dunning, expired | Cancelled, ended on the cancellation or expiry date |
| Trial expired, creation failed | Not loaded: these were never billed |
| Any other status | Not loaded, and counted in a sync warning |
A subscription starts on its activation date, or failing that its start date, the start of its current term or the day it was created. A trial starts on its trial start date.
How is MRR worked out?
From the subscription's pre-tax subtotal for one billing period, divided by the length of that period: a quarterly plan is divided by three, an annual one by twelve, weeks are counted at 52 a year and days at 365.
When Zoho sends no pre-tax subtotal for a subscription, Naarvin uses the amount Zoho lists, which may include tax, and the sync warning says how many subscriptions were read that way. Check them before you report MRR.
Zoho Billing's subscription list carries no MRR history. An upgrade or a downgrade therefore shows as the current MRR from the start date, not as an expansion or a contraction on the day it happened, and the subscription metrics say how many subscriptions have history. In FP&A AI, a plan's revenue model can carry today's MRR forward; it is included only when someone chooses to.
How often does it sync?
On the schedule you set: every 15 or 30 minutes, every 1, 2, 4, 6 or 12 hours, daily or weekly at a time in your time zone, or only when someone runs a sync. Zoho's list has no filter for changes, so every sync reads every subscription of each linked organization. A subscription Zoho no longer lists is marked removed.
Can one connection read several organizations?
Yes. The sign-in lists every Zoho Billing organization the user can see, and each one you choose links to the Naarvin company that sells its subscriptions, usually one your ERP connection already loads. Each organization's currency must match its company's. Each subscription keeps its own currency.
What does the connection not do?
- It never writes to Zoho Billing: no plan, subscription or invoice is changed.
- It reads subscriptions, not invoices or payments. Those come from your ERP, which can be Zoho Books.
- It cannot rebuild past upgrades and downgrades, because Zoho Billing does not list them with the subscription.
- Deals and the sales pipeline come from Zoho CRM, a separate connection.
How do you connect Zoho Billing?
- Sign in to ZohoAllow Naarvin to read subscriptions and the organization settings. Zoho tells Naarvin which data centre holds your account, so you type nothing first. The tokens are encrypted when saved and never shown again.
- Choose the organizationsPick each Zoho Billing organization to read and link it to the company that sells its subscriptions.
- Set the schedule and run the first syncRead the warnings: statuses Naarvin does not know, subscriptions without a readable price or period, and any read with an amount that may include tax.
- Compare MRR with ZohoCheck a few subscriptions of each billing period against Zoho's own figures before the numbers go into a report or a plan.
Questions people ask
Is MRR before or after VAT?
Before, wherever Zoho sends a pre-tax subtotal. When it does not, Naarvin uses the listed amount, which may include tax, and says how many subscriptions that affects.
Why are some subscriptions missing?
Trials that expired and subscriptions Zoho failed to create were never billed, so they are not loaded. Subscriptions with an unknown status or no readable price, period or start date are left out too, and counted in the sync warnings.
Do we need Zoho CRM as well?
No. Zoho Billing on its own brings subscriptions. Connect Zoho CRM only if you also want won deals as contracts, or the sales pipeline.