How Renewal Engineers Manage Subscription Items for Customer Validation
Learn how renewal engineers effectively handle subscription items to ensure customer verification and satisfaction.
Introduction
Once subscription renewal projects are assigned to you, one of the first steps in the renewal execution process is reviewing the Managed Subscription items and preparing them for customer validation.
This step ensures that SKUs, quantities, terms, and usage details are accurate before creating Asset Lists or sending items for pricing.
In this article, you’ll learn how to:
- Review Managed Subscription details
- Export subscription items for customer validation
- Understand what customers typically validate
- Handle customer feedback efficiently
- Update quantities, terms, and renewal dates in the console
Prefer video? Watch the walkthrough here
See next: How to proceed with vendor pricing for managed subscriptions
Key Terms and Concepts
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Renewal |
In the VAR ecosystem, Renewal refers to the process of extending, maintenance contract to continue service coverage for hardware or software. This typically involves reviewing expiring contracts, create asset lists for customers to approve, prepare list of assets/services to be priced, and initiate quoting process for services like: Cisco SmartNet maintenance contracts Managed service subscriptions etc
The renewal process ensures uninterrupted service, and allows for co-terming, identify potential product upgrades, or request for change in service levels. |
| Renewal Engineer (RE) | Processes subscription items for renewal after projects are assigned by the Renewal Manager. |
| Renewal Project | A group of Managed Subscriptions created in PrW to collectively track renewal activities for a customer. These projects are assigned to Renewal Engineers to execute. |
| Managed Subscription | A record in PrW that holds all subscription information — including header-level details and related SKUs. |
| True Forward | A Cisco billing policy that adjusts future subscription charges based on actual usage. If a True Forward event is approaching, REs must prepare renewal workloads accordingly. |
| Subscription Items | An individual SKU or service line within a Managed Subscription. These are validated by the customer before renewal. |
Table of Content
| No. | Topic | Detail | Timestamp |
| 1 | Introduction | Understanding MS console and process of customer validation | 00:00 |
| 2 | Key Terms and Concepts |
Defines key terms like Renewal Engineer, Managed Subscription etc | 00:20 |
| 3 | Table of Content | Provides a preview of the topics that will be covered in this video to help viewers understand the structure of the walkthrough. | 00:58 |
| 4 | Reviewing MS Console and details | Viewing SKU-level details, hierarchy, and term metadata, filters etc | 01:10 |
| 5 | Export Action in MS console | Downloading a clean asset list template for customer review of upcoming subscriptions | 02:25 |
| 6 | Handling Subscription Data post customer review | Updating details in PrW based on customer inputs | 03:00 |
| 7 | Summary and what's next | How to focus data for specific accounts or timelines using filters | 03:30 |
Watch the Video
1. Reviewing Managed Subscription Details
The MS Console provides your full view of subscription records assigned to a renewal project. It allows you to inspect subscription-level and item-level details before sharing with customers. Begin by navigating from:
Subscription Renewal Dashboard → Managed Subscription Console
1.1 Using Filters to Refine Subscription Data
You can refine the MS list using:
- Account filter – view subscriptions belonging to one or multiple customer accounts
- Renewal Project filter – isolate subscriptions assigned to a specific renewal project
- Subscription Type filter – e.g., SaaS, EA, Perpetual
- Server vs Client filter – helps distinguish infrastructure-based or user-based subscriptions
- Date filters – focus on subscriptions expiring within specific timelines
- Grouping options – group subscriptions based on Renewal project, subscription type and account
1.2 Reset Filter Behavior
After applying filters, a Reset Filters button appears. Clicking it restores the original, unfiltered MS list
1.3 Reviewing Managed Subscription Details
Each row in the MS Console displays subscription-level fields such as Vendor, Part number, expiration date, next true forward (for EA True Forward subscription type), next steps etc
1.4 Hyperlinks For Reviewing Details
Hyperlinked fields allow drill-down navigation:
Account Name → opens account details
Project Name → opens Renewal Project details
These help you perform deeper validation when customers ask for clarifications.
1.5 Updating Next Steps, Reminders, and Notes
For each MS record, you may update:
- Next Step (e.g., Pending Customer Response, Review with AE)
- Renewal End Date
1.6 Save and Delete behavior
When you edit any MS field:
- A Save icon appears → saves all changes to the record
- A Delete (discard) icon appears → discards any unsaved changes
This ensures you only commit changes when confident they are correct.
1.7 Show MS Items
When you select any Managed Subscriptions- The Show MS Items button becomes active.
Clicking it opens the Subscription Items section, showing:
- SKU details
- Quantities
- End Date
- Renewal Date
This level of detail is essential before generating customer-facing exports.
2. Export Action in MS Console
When one or more subscriptions are selected, two key action buttons appear Show MS Items and Export MS which:
Exports the selected subscriptions into a clean, structured Asset List Template, formatted for customer validation.
Export includes:
- Subscription header details
- All child SKUs
- Quantities, metrics, and bundle structure
- Expiry and renewal dates
This is the file you share with customers for confirmation.
3. Handling Subscription Data after Customer Review
Once customers return the validated file, you must:
3.1 Compare Customer-Confirmed Quantities and Dates
Compare customer review on specific fields such as: Renewal quantity, Is renew, requested renewal date etc
3.2 Update MS Records in PrW
Using the MS items record as required.
Once these changes are done, the Managed subscription is ready for pricing.
4. Summary and Next Steps
In this article, you learned how to:
- Navigate and review subscription details using filters, grouping, and hyperlinks
- Drill down into SKU-level details using Show MS Items
- Export Managed Subscription data for customer validation
- Update the subscription records based on confirmed customer inputs
- Save changes and maintain clean next-step tracking
After customer validation is completed and MS details are updated, the managed subscription details can be sent to vendor for pricing of individual items and quote generation. In the next video/article in the series will cover: “How to Prepare and Share Subscription Data for Vendor Pricing”
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