Historically, subscription fulfillment systems have been oriented toward either paid or controlled circulation. The two types of circulation require different transactions and different kinds of reports. QuickFill's Audit System provides an integrated approach to both types of circulation. (Click here to see a flowchart that demonstrates how the Audit System's transactions and updates interrelate in the subscription process.)
QuickFill preserves the distinction between paid and controlled circulation at the level of the individual order. (Click here for information about the relationship between customers, subscriptions, and orders in the "Overview of lookup.") Each order is either "paid" or "controlled." Throughout this section we will use the word "paid" to indicate an order that has a nonzero price, that is, an order that you expect the customer to pay for, regardless of whether you have already received any money. By contrast, a "controlled order" is a free subscription that can be canceled at the whim of the publisher.
You create paid orders by using the 'New order' or the 'Renewals' transaction. You can also create paid orders in bulk by using the 'Trial subscriptions' update. Typically you would use this update to create free trial subscriptions for prospects you hope to convert to paid subscribers through renewal notices and promotional mailings.
You create controlled orders by using the 'Controlled subs' or 'Controlled requal' transaction. You can also create controlled orders in bulk for a group of qualified prospects by using the 'Make subscriptions' update (selected from the 'Controlled subs' update submenu). Similarly, the 'Cancel subscriptions' update allows you to cancel a group of subscriptions based on qualification data.
There are three distinctions between the transactions and updates that create controlled orders and those that create paid orders:
Paid orders require information about price, payments, credit cards, and purchase orders. Controlled orders don't require you to enter this information.
For a paid order you specify the term of the order, and QuickFill computes the expiration date. With a controlled subscription you specify the start issue and expiration issue when you create the order; with a controlled requalification you specify the expiration issue when you create the order.
When you enter a renewal or requalification for a paid order, QuickFill continues to serve issues out of the paid order until it expires. Once the paid order expires, QuickFill begins serving issues out of the follow-on order that you created.
When you enter a renewal or requalification for a controlled order, QuickFill immediately cancels the controlled order and begins serving issues out of the new order that you created. The advantage of this practice is that you will always serve paid issues in preference to controlled issues.