The Deal Desk team's mission is to streamline the opportunity management process while acting as a trusted business partner for field sales. We are the first point of contact for sales support.
The Deal Desk team will do their best to respond to each request to '@sales-support' within 6 business hours. Revenue generating or current quarter requests will take priority, especially during Month & Quarter End. If a task is not resolved within 24 hours it will be escalated (if necessary).
| Type of Request | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Quote Assistance | 6 Hours | 8 Hours |
| Ramp Deal | 6 Hours | 24 hours |
| Flat Renewal | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| IACV/ARR Review | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| Contract Reset / Co-Term | 6 Hours | 24 Hours |
| RFP/Vendor Forms | 6 Hours | Dependent on AM |
The Deal Desk team will respond to E0A Ramp requests as quickly as possible. However, due to the complexity involved in building ramp deals, the SLA for an EoA Ramp Deal Order Form creation is as follows:
| Subscription Term Start Date | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| < 30 days in the future | 4 Hours | 1 Business Day |
| > 30 days in the future | 4 Hours | 3 Business Days |
A Deal Desk team member will respond to your chatter request with an estimate on when the Order Form will be complete. Please let us know if your customer requires the quote in advance due to lengthy procurement cycles or budget planning reasons - exceptions will be considered in cases of urgency, or to meet a customer's needs.
The Deal Desk team is located around the world and will be available during standard business hours within most regions - typically 9:00am - 6:00pm for the local time of the team member.
Deal Desk's primary communication channel is Salesforce Chatter. When you chatter @Sales-Support, it will automatically create a case in the Deal Desk queue. Please do not tag Deal Desk team members directly in chatter or make a request through Slack direct message. Always uses @Sales-Support for SFDC requests or post #sales-support in Slack for general questions. This ensures our team is working as efficiently as possible and that you are covered in case the DD team member who replied first is unavailable. If someone is working on a case, they will continue to support until the case is closed. If an issue has been resolved, please chatter @Sales-Support to reopen a case.
Deal Desk team members monitor the queue throughout the day. For all cases directly related to opportunites, quoting/deal structure or booking a deal, Deal Desk will respond to a case within 6 hours, Monday-Friday, with the exception of National/Regional holidays. Resolution or escalation for these cases will occur within 24 hours.
For cases related to Account Segmentation (ROE, Territory), account data, or account merges, Deal desk will reassign these cases to our Sales Operations team to review and resolve.
To Chatter the DD team, tag @Sales-Supportin Chatter on the related opportunity or account page and a short sentence on your request. If the Deal Desk team needs more information, we will follow up directly via Chatter.
Use our Slack channel in case of general, non-record related requests and/or urgent questions: #sales-support [If the request is related to a quote, opportunity, or account - please chatter on the page in Salesforce instead of the Slack channel.]
Please avoid contacting the DD team members directly via Slack. Utlizing the #sales-support channel is best to ensure timely coverage, helps others who may have similar questions, and aligns with our Transparency value.
In case of a specific opportunity or quote related question please use SF Chatter (see section Salesforce Chatter Communication)
Desk Desk process updates and announcements will be communicated via **#sales** and **#sales-support** Slack channels.
Weekly Deal Desk Office Hours are scheduled each Wednesday at 12 PM EST. During Month End, Office Hours will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, scheduled in both AMER and EMEA time zones. Calendar invites will be sent to Sales-All Distribution group. Priority will be given to opportunities closing within the quarter.
Supported topics include:
Deal Desk AMA's are an opportunity to invite someone from Deal Desk to your local team call. We can help address any questions regarding quote processes, best practices, or unique deal structures. Think of this as an opportunity for your team to learn together on general topics for quoting or opportunity management. For specific questions related to in-flight opportunities, it is best to join Deal Desk Office Hours.
Chatter or Slack #sales-support if you are interested in having Deal Desk join your team call!
In an effort to proactively prevent common order issues (especially those that would require a customer to resign our order form) the Deal Desk team will conduct a manual review of all opps that meet the following criteria:
Team members will review opps in their region each week. We are looking for anything that would prevent the opportunity from booking smoothly, including:
Review Cadence
The team will review opps on a monthly basis, as time allows throughout the work week. During the last month of any quarter, the review will be conducted weekly.
To calculate ARR, please review the ARR in Practice handbook page.
The following is intended as a step by step guide for opportunity owners or ISR's to learn how to create standard quotes for New Subscriptions, Amendments, and Renewal opportunities.
Follow this step by step guide for creating a New Subscription quote. Use a New Subscription quote when the customer is purchasing a brand new subscription, OR if the deal structure includes a Contract Reset.
A. Open the New Business opportunity and click the “New Quote” button.
B. When prompted select “New Subscription” and click “Next.”
C. Provide Quote, Account, and Subscription Term Details and click “Next.”
| Template | Use For |
|---|---|
| Standard Order Form | Most quotes, including alliance marketplace transactions, EDU/OSS/YC, or Customers with an Existing Agreement (MSA) in place |
| Standard Order Form (Hide Discount) | Hide the Discount Column for Direct Deals. Otherwise Identical to the Standard Order Form Template |
| Authorized Reseller Order Form | Authorized Reseller Transactions |
| MSP Order Form | Managed Service Provider Transactions |
| Distributor Order Form | Distributor Transactions |
If there is a signed MSA between the customer and GitLab, the “Existing GitLab Agreement Effective Date” field should be populated with the date of the MSA’s signature. If "Existing Agreement Effective Date" is populated on the quote object, the Order form will automatically generate with Acceptance Language that References the existing agreement. If it is not populated the language will default to Standard terms.
Add any preapproved legal language selections to the order form. Checking the box next ot the langauge selection will automatically generate an order form with pre approved legal language - no need for Deal Desk intervention. Selections are as follows:
| Toggle Field | Output |
|---|---|
| Annual Payments | Annual Payment Language will populate in Payment Details on the Order Form PDF |
| Customer Reference Langauge | Customer Reference Langauge will populate in Notes Section of the order form |
| Add Quarterly True Up Langauge | Standard Quarterly True Up langauge will populate in the Notes section of the Order Form |
| Remove Signature Block | Signature Block will be removed. Use for customers with Existing Agreements (MSA) |
@Billing-ops on the Partner account and ask for a Billing account to be created.If the customer or reseller is based in the EU, enter the “VAT ID” number. This is required to book the order.
D. Select “Add Base Products” from the drop-down menu on the “Edit Products and Charges” page. Select the correct product and click Next. E. Enter the product quantity, and adjust the discount or effective price as needed. Click Submit. F. Add Annual Payments to a order form by:
@Sales-Support in chatter.To supplement these steps, review the THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for a New Subscription quote.
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
This quote type should be only used when new users are being added to an existing subscription during the current subscription term. This includes both additional licenses to existing products, and true-ups. This also includes any scenario where the products are being changed during the term - i.e., an upgrade from Premium to Ultimate. Amendment quotes cannot extend a subscription term.
Amendments to subscriptions must be processed entirely before any changes can be made via additional amendments or a renewal opportunity. This means that the Add On Opportunity should be Closed-Won before submitting a Renewal opportuntiy for approval.
A. Add-On Quote Creation
Provide Quote Template, Account, and Subscription Term Details and click “Next.”
| Template | Use For |
|---|---|
| Standard Order Form | Most quotes, including alliance marketplace transactions, or Customers with an Existing Agreement (MSA) in place |
| Standard Order Form (Hide Discount) | Hide the Discount Column for Direct Deals |
| Authorized Reseller Order Form | Authorized Reseller Transactions |
| MSP Order Form | Managed Service Provider Transactions |
| Distributor Order Form | Distributor Transactions |
If there is a signed MSA between the customer and GitLab, the “Existing GitLab Agreement Effective Date” field should be populated with the date of the MSA’s signature. If "Existing Agreement Effective Date" is populated on the quote object, the Order form will automatically generate with Acceptance Language that References the existing agreement. If it is not populated the language will default to Standard terms.
Add preapproved legal language selections to the order form. Checking the box next ot the langauge selection will automatically generate an order form with pre approved legal language - no need for Deal Desk intervention. Selections are as follows:
| Toggle Field | Output |
|---|---|
| Customer Reference Langauge | Customer Reference Langauge will populate in Notes Section of the order form |
| Remove Signature Block | Signature Block will be removed. Use for customers with Existing Agreements (MSA) |
B. Upgrade or Switch Products During the Subscription Term
To supplement these steps, review THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for an Amendment Quote:
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
This quote type should be used when the customer has reached the end of their subscription term and wishes to renew the subscription for another term, using the same term start date.
Note: "Renew Subscription" quotes should be used even if the customer is renewing for a different term length than the previous period. i.e. If the customer is renewing a 12 month subscription for 24 months, choose "Renew Subscription" and enter "24" in the Renewal Term field.
A. Standard Renewal
| Template | Use For |
|---|---|
| Standard Order Form | Most quotes, including alliance marketplace transactions, or Customers with an Existing Agreement (MSA) in place |
| Standard Order Form (Hide Discount) | Hide the Discount Column for Direct Deals |
| Authorized Reseller Order Form | Authorized Reseller Transactions |
| MSP Order Form | Managed Service Provider Transactions |
| Distributor Order Form | Distributor Transactions |
If there is a signed MSA between the customer and GitLab, the “Existing GitLab Agreement Effective Date” field should be populated with the date of the MSA’s signature. If "Existing Agreement Effective Date" is populated on the quote object, the Order form will automatically generate with Acceptance Language that References the existing agreement. If it is not populated the language will default to Standard terms.
Add any preapproved legal language selections to the order form. Checking the box next ot the langauge selection will automatically generate an order form with pre approved legal language - no need for Deal Desk intervention. Selections are as follows:
| Toggle Field | Output |
|---|---|
| Annual Payments | Annual Payment Language will populate in Payment Details on the Order Form PDF |
| Customer Reference Langauge | Customer Reference Langauge will populate in Notes Section of the order form |
| Add Quarterly True Up Langauge | Standard Quarterly True Up langauge will populate in the Notes section of the Order Form |
| Remove Signature Block | Signature Block will be removed. Use for customers with Existing Agreements (MSA) |
B. **Add Annual Payments to a order form by:
D. Renewal Using a New Subscription Quote
If the customer needs to change the Quote Start Date (typically for Billing purposes) at time of Renewal, you will need to build a New Subscription quote. We will also use a New Subscription quote if the deal includes a Contract Reset.
| Template | Use For |
|---|---|
| Standard Order Form | Most quotes, including alliance marketplace transactions, or Customers with an Existing Agreement (MSA) in place |
| Standard Order Form (Hide Discount) | Hide the Discount Column for Direct Deals |
| Authorized Reseller Order Form | Authorized Reseller Transactions |
| MSP Order Form | Managed Service Provider Transactions |
| Distributor Order Form | Distributor Transactions |
If there is a signed MSA between the customer and GitLab, the “Existing GitLab Agreement Effective Date” field should be populated with the date of the MSA’s signature. If "Existing Agreement Effective Date" is populated on the quote object, the Order form will automatically generate with Acceptance Language that References the existing agreement. If it is not populated the language will default to Standard terms.
Add any preapproved legal language selections to the order form. Checking the box next ot the langauge selection will automatically generate an order form with pre approved legal language - no need for Deal Desk intervention. Selections are as follows:
| Toggle Field | Output |
|---|---|
| Annual Payments | Annual Payment Language will populate in Payment Details on the Order Form PDF |
| Customer Reference Langauge | Customer Reference Langauge will populate in Notes Section of the order form |
| Add Quarterly True Up Langauge | Standard Quarterly True Up langauge will populate in the Notes section of the Order Form |
| Remove Signature Block | Signature Block will be removed. Use for customers with Existing Agreements (MSA) |
E. **Add Annual Payments to a order form by:
To supplement these steps, review THIS TRAINING VIDEO to see each step live for an Renewal Quote:
Note: If you cannot view the video, make sure you are logged in to GitLab Unfiltered. You can learn more about how to log in or request access to GitLab Unfiltered here!
Co-terming is when a customer wants to align two or more separate subscriptions with different end dates. Co-Terming is not the same as an Amendment quote (adding and prorating users for an existing subscription).
Ex). Customer has 2 separate subscriptions for Premium.
The most likely scenario is to co-term into the subscription ending last:
The other scenario is co-terming into the subscription ending first:
This requires two steps: first combining the subscriptions, then cancelling the leftover one.
As of 2021-01-26, the following changes have been made to the quoting process in relation to the end of availability of Starter/Bronze:
Silver/Premium + Gold/Ultimate Legacy SKU Quoting Guide
As of 2021-01-26, the following changes have been made to the quoting process in relation to the renaming of Silver and Gold:
Salesforce Guided Selling filters have been updated. Legacy SKUs have been removed where appropriate, resulting in a shorter, cleaner list of products that can be sold. Legacy SKUs from previous product deprecations have also been removed.
| New Rate Plan Name | Legacy Name |
|---|---|
| SaaS - Premium | Silver |
| Self-Managed - Premium | Premium |
| SaaS - Ultimate | Gold |
| Self Managed - Ultimate | Ultimate |
Quote Discount Approval Module Updates
To learn more about the SuperSonics Billing and Subscription Management experience and how it impacts your quote, review the following:
There are two separate ways to quote Professional Services, depending on whether the services are standard, or scoped/custom.
If you'd like to save time by cloning an existing quote, you can do so by doing the following:
Follow the standard process for quote creation. The Quote Object does not need to be approved before generating a Draft proposal.
Important Notes
Occasionally an opportunity will require a unique structure that is outside of the normal quote format. Examples of these scenarios are listed below. Deal Desk will partner with the Account Owner to structure the opportunity and provide guidance on creating the quote. Please chatter on the opportunity if you need assistance with one of these scenarios!
Contract Resets are used to perform an "Early Renewal" - i.e. start a new 12 month subscription before the renewal date. They can also be used if a customer needs to change a billing date or would like to change the term length, mid term.
@Sales-Support in Chatter on the Renewal Opportunity to create a credit opportunity and quote to cancel the existing subscription, which in this scenario is being replaced with the new subscription. Deal Desk will then manually generate a Contract Reset Opp and Order Form to add the credit line into the order form once the quote has been fully approved.On the main contract reset opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Contract Reset." On the associated credit opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Credit."
All Contract Reset opportunities will be classified as a "Renewal" and will be subect to ARR Basis, which will impact overall Net ARR depending on the scenario.
For more information on ARR calculation for Contract Resets, see ARR in Practice.
In the case of multi-year deals, the Initial Term should be updated to reflect the number of months in the subscription term - 24, 36, 48, 60, etc.
For prepaid multi-year deals, you must select the correct multi-year SKU (i.e. for a prepaid 2 year SaaS - Premium deal, select “SaaS - Premium - 2 Year”). Prepaid multi-year deals that do not utilize the correct multi-year SKU will be rejected.
For multi-year deals, paid annually, you must select the 1 Year SKU, and click on the Annual Payments checkbox to add the necessary payment language to the Order Form. Multi-year deals paid annually that do not utilize the correct 1 Year SKU will be rejected.
For more information on ARR calculation for Multi-Year Deals, see ARR in Practice.
A ramp deal is when a contracts a multi-year deal for users that will be fulfilled on a set annual schedule throughout the duration of the multi-year subscription term. In a Ramp, users are prorated from when they will be added. The customer pays upfront, or annually, for all users planned in the ramp schedule. For Amendment quotes, the customer adds users throughout the subscription with no set schedule.
Ramp deals are limited to multi-year deals, with 12 month ramp periods. See ARR in Practice for more information.
A. To create a ramp deal, tag @Sales-Support in chatter on the opportunity. Provide the following information for each ramp period:
B. Request template:
C. Deal Desk will create the quotes and Order Form.
On the opportunity, populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Ramp."
For more information on ARR calculation for Ramp Deals, see ARR in Practice.
Occasionally, changes will be made to a Custom SOW after an opportunity has been booked. These changes could include delivery (invoice) schedules or types of services delivered. The total value of the opportunity should not change. If the total value of an opportunity is negatively impacted, this will require an internal refund and rebooking of the order. Should there be additional revenue generated as a result of this Change Order, a new Professional Services Only opportunity is required to account for the delta value.
Deal Desk will create Decommission (refund) opportunities for all Sales Assisted Orders. The Billing team will create Decommission (refund) opportunities for all Web Portal purchases. The creation process is the same for both Deal Desk and Billing.
To create the decommission opportunity, navigate to the related Closed-Won Opportunity. Click 'Create Refund Opportunity'. Navigate to the opportunities tab under the Account page. Click on the newly created decommission opp, it will have 'REFUND' in the opportuntiy name. On the opportunity level, double check all fields populated as expected. For some multi-year deals, or partial refunds, 'Amount' may need to be updated manually.
Deal Desk - After confirming all fields are correct on a Sales Assisted decommission, submit the opp for approval. Billing - After confirming all the fields are correct on a Web Portal Purchase, manually change the 'Stage' to 'Closed-Won'.
If an opportunity requires multiple invoices due to a specific professional services delivery schedule, a separate opportunity is required for each invoice period. If there is no difference in number of seats or price across the years only one subscription and quote would be required (ie. Invoice Only opps do not require a quote object).
In FY22, multi year deals for recurring subscription products, paid annually, will be captured on one opportunity.
Opportunity Structure
Invoice Amounts
If all payments associated with the opportunity are equal (ex. 3 payments of $10,000) the quote on the original opporunity must reflect the entire opportunity term.
Ex.
3 Year Subscription worth $30,000, broken out into 3 equal annual payments of $10,000.
If the payment amounts or user count per year are not identical, (ex. Year 1 - $15,000 Year 2 - $10,000, Year 3 $5,000)- then the original opporunity quote should only reflect the first year (invoice period) of the subscription.
Ex.
3 Year Subscription worth $30,000, broken out into 3 payments. Year 1 - $10,000, Year 2 - $7,000, Year 3 $13,000
Ex. Professional Services Deal -Opportunity amount $300,000. 4 Deliverables are outlined in the Custom SOW to the customer, each deliverable includes a different date for delivery. This requires 4 opportunities because the customer will be invoiced after completion of each deliverable.
To create opportunities requiring multiple invoices:
Note: The "Payment Schedule" field on each opportunity should be populated with the value "Annual Payments" or "Custom Payment Schedule," whichever applies.
Add-Ons to Opportunities with Multiple Billing Events
A. To add users to an existing license at a different price, please add the users on a new, separate product line.
B. To create a true-up/add-on quote for a multi-year deal, please add both the true-up and increase the license count by the same number of users. Note that the user number cannot decrease during the term of a multi-year deal - i.e. in the case of a three-year deal, if the customer exceeds the 100 license count by 25 users, (1) True-Up SKU with 25 users, and (2) increase the license quantity from 100 to 125.
C. If the customer signs a renewal quote, but a true-up is required before the renewal date, create an add-on opportunity from the closed renewal opportunity, use the same start date as the renewal, and add the necessary true-up.
D. If you have multiple quote objects under one opportunity, the quote you are using must be marked Primary.
The following fields are maintained by Deal Desk to distinguish standard vs. non-standard opportunities:
Opportunity Category Definitions are viewable here.
On Order Forms, GitLab entity information will be populated via the following rules. This table is based on the ISO-2 billing country code of the direct customer or reseller we are delivering invoices to:
New Subscription and Renew Subscription Quotes
| Customer's Billing Country | Partner's Billing Country | GitLab Quote Entity |
|---|---|---|
| NL | NL | BV (NL) |
| DE | DE | GmbH (DE) |
| UK | UK | Ltd (UK) |
| All countries outside of NL, DE, UK, AU | All countries outside of NL, DE, UK, AU | Inc. (US) |
| AU | AU | PTY LTD (AU) |
Note For direct deals, Billing Country is based on the mailing address of the Bill To contact listed on the quote object. For partner deals, Billing Country is based on the mailing address of the Invoice Owner Contact listed on the quote object.
Amend Subscription Quotes
| Initial Transaction Method | Amendment Transaction Method | GitLab Quote Entity |
|---|---|---|
| Web Direct | Web Direct | Inc. (US) |
| Web Direct | Sales-Assisted | Inc. (US) |
| Sales-Assisted | Sales-Assisted | Same quote entity as on base subscription`s billing account |
| Sales-Assisted | Web Direct | Same quote entity as on base subscription`s billing account |
Note: All initial web direct subscriptions ordered through the web store are placed on the US entity. For sales-assisted add-ons to subscriptions initially purchased via web store, the amendment quote/Order Form must reflect the US entity.
Custom Quote Entity Rules
| SFDC Account Name | Name Of Billing Account(s) | Search Word For Exception Rule In Invoice Owner Field | GitLab Quote Entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazic EMEA (Parent) | Amazic, Amazic BV, Amazic Germany GmbH, Amazic UK Ltd | "Amazic" | Inc. (US) |
| Google Cloud (Parter) | Google Cloud Marketplace | "Google Cloud Marketplace" | Inc. (US) |
| Amazon Web Services | Amazon Web Services, Inc. | "Amazon Web Services" | Inc. (US) |
| Epidata SA | Epidata SA | "Epidata SA" | BV (NL) |
Zuora Account information is linked to Salesforce Account Information via Account IDs. If this information is not updated, Zuora cannot sync existing billing or subscription information to new quotes.
If Zuora successfully maps to the correct account, a green check box will appear.
