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 is located around the world and will be available during standard business hours within most regions. We operate under a Regional Support Model, meaning, each region (EMEA/APAC/AMER) will receive support from a dedicated regional team of Deal Desk Specialists and Analysts.
For Alliances & Private Offer Creation, this process is supported by one team member globally, with managers trained as back ups for escalation points. For all Alliances deals, each region will be supported by a dedicated Deal Desk Analyst who specializes in Alliances, based out of AMER (Pacific Time).
During holidays, or when team members are on PTO, individuals located in different regions may step in to support and ensure appropriate coverage. This is reserved for End of Month/End of Quarter, or other times when the team is short-staffed.
Support will be provided based on the following business hours in the respective region. If a complex case or non standard deal request is submitted after 4:00PM (Local Time) the case will be prioritized the following business day.
| Region | Standard Support Hours |
|---|---|
| APAC | 8:00AM to 5:00PM (IST) |
| EMEA | 8:00AM to 5:00PM (GMT) |
| AMER / LATAM | 7:00AM to 5:00PM (PT) |
Our regional teams do not operate on a 24/7 support model. If your request is submitted after 4:30PM local time, or outside of standard support hours, it may not be reviewed until the following business day. The only exceptions for this are End of Month/End of Quarter. Support hours and availability will be shared in advance of high volume periods through #field-fyi.
As of 2022-02-01, the Deal Desk team is structured as follows:
AMER Team:
EMEA/APAC TEAM:
Deal Desk's primary communication channel is Salesforce Chatter. When you chatter @Sales-Support, it will automatically create a case in the Deal Desk/Order Management queue.
@Sales-Support for SFDC requests or post #sales-support in Slack for general questions.
@Sales-Support to communicate with the team in chatter.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.
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 #field-fyi, #sales and #sales-support Slack channels.
Weekly Deal Desk Office Hours are scheduled as follows:
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!
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). The SLAs below are applicable (especially for contract resets and ramp deals) if all the necessary information is provided in the request.
| Type of Request | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Quote Assistance | 6 Hours | 8 Hours |
| Ramp Deal | 6 Hours | 24 hours |
| Alliances, General Support | 8 Hours | 48 Hours |
| Alliances, Private Offer Creation | 24 Hours | 48 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 EoA 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 | 6 Hours | 1 Business Day |
| > 30 days in the future | 6 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.
Cases that are urgent, customer impacting, or critical to business may be prioritized upon request. If the case has been submitted after Standard Support hours, you may escalated the case for a different regional team to review in the #sales-support Slack channel. You may also tag regional Deal Desk Managers for review and assistance in delegating the case.
Cases in this queue must be urgent and business critical. Cases that are routinely escalated out of individual convenience instead of legitimate urgency will be addressed with Sales Management.
Cases / Average First Response
All regions will receive a Quarterly Customer Satisfaction survey at the beginning of each new quarter. Our team aims for a 92% satisfaction rating for their supported region. This survey is a valuable tool to provide feedback on areas of improvement related to the Quote to Cash lifecycle.
Results from the survey will be used to evaluate team member performance and to identify areas for improvement.
Measuring Regional Support Satisfaction:
The Deal Desk team will be responsible for taking action on feedback received in our Quarterly CSAT survey by improving process related to common quoting errors, opportunity bugs, or gaps in process documentation. The goal is to decrease the number of cases and enable the field to complete the standard duties related to quoting without Deal Desk intervention. Deal Desk will always assist in complex or non-standard deals.
To review quarterly KPI results, see: Deal Desk & Order Management KPI - Results
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 “MSA Effective Date” field should be populated with the date of the MSA’s signature. If "MSA 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 language 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 Language | Customer Reference Language will populate in Notes Section of the order form |
| Add Quarterly True Up Language | Standard Quarterly True Up language 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 and the Partner Account Owner listed on the Partner Account Record 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.
@Partner Operations for questions.F. Add Annual Payments to a order form by:
G. SuperSonics: Review the Zuora fields to determine whether any Cloud Licensing features apply to the subscription. For more information on Cloud Licensing, see: SuperSonics and Sales Assisted Transactions
H. Order Form Generation
@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 only be used when new users are being added to an existing subscription during the current subscription term. This includes any scenario where the products are being changed during the term - i.e., an upgrade from Premium to Ultimate. Please note: Amendment quotes cannot extend a subscription term.
Add On Opportunity should be Closed-Won before submitting a Renewal opportunity for approval.
If you are still unable to determine which to choose, please ask @Sales-Support via Chatter to help confirm. and click “Next.”
Select a Quote Template ** Amendments must transact through the same route to market as the original order.
@Billing-ops and the Partner Account Owner listed on the Partner Account Record and ask for a Billing Account to be created.Explanation with screenshot of example order form
* On add-on/amendment order forms the amounts are prorated based on calendar days as per the following example (adding 10 users to existing subscription)
* Annual fee for 10 add-on users: 10 users x $228 = $2,280.00
* Number of calendar days of the add-on period: 177 days (7 Apr 2022 - 1 Oct 2022 in this example)
* Prorated fee calculation: ($2,280.00 / 365 days) x 177 days = $1,105.64
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.
Important:
Select a Quote Template from the options above
@Billing-ops and the Partner Account Owner listed on the Partner Account Record and ask for a Billing Account to be created.@Partner Operations for help.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.
For information on how to quote late renewals, see here .
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!
A Managed Service Provider (MSP) purchases licenses on behalf of an end user. The MSP will be the owner and manager of the licenses but their customer, the end user, is the one using the licenses.
A. MSP Opportunity Details:
B. MSP Quote Creation Steps:
More details on MSP deal reg can be found in the Channel Ops handbook.
In accordance with Section 6 of the GitLab Subscription Agreement, customers may be required to pay for Overage Users upon the expiration of a Subscription Term in order to renew the Software.
Effective 2021-11-15, the "True-up" SKU has been deprecated and replaced with 6 new annual True-Up SKUs, each of which ties to the related subscription SKU. When creating quotes that include a backward looking, one-time True-Up charge, please select the appropriate True-Up SKU as listed below. For the avoidance of doubt, you must select the True-Up SKU related to the subscription SKU that was in use when the True-Up was incurred.
Example 1: A customer has a 100 user SaaS - Premium subscription. At renewal, you learn that the customer incurred 5 Overage Users during the initial subscription term. On the renewal quote, you will select True-Up (Annually) - SaaS - Premium SKU with a quantity of 5.
Example 2: A customer has a 500 user Self-Managed - Premium subscription. At renewal, they are upgrading to Self-Managed Ultimate for 600 users. During the renewal conversation, you learn that the customer incurred 50 Overage Users during the initial subscription term. On the renewal quote, you will select the True-Up (Annually) - Self-Managed - Premium SKU with a quantity of 50. You will also add the Self-Managed Ultimate SKU for 600 users, and then remove the Self-Managed - Premium SKU.
Self-Managed True-Up SKUs
SaaS True-Up SKUs
True-ups shouldn’t be added to an amendment quote, because functionally they will do nothing. Overuse is only recognised at renewal and hence, true-ups are necessary only at renewal to unlock a license when the customer had gone over their licensed user count in the previous subscription term. Example- The customer had 100 licensed users and they used 108, the 8-user overuse will be covered and quoted as True-up during renewal.
Reading Through Customer's Dashboard:
To streamline the quoting process, we have created a new product selection step, called "True-ups." When selecting SKUs to add products to a quote, the new True-Up SKUs will display under the third and final page. Previously the "True-up" SKU was displayed under "Add Add On Products."
On this new Guided Selling "True Ups" screen, you must select the appropriate True-Up SKU, as displayed below:
There are 2 types of co-terming:
Automatic/ Same Subscription: Creating a co-termed Amendment quote to an existing subscription. The Amendment quote will have the same start date and initial/ renewal term as the related existing subscription by default.
Manual/ Separate Subscriptions: Customer needs a separate new subscription with the same end date as their existing subscription. In order to create a new co-termed subscription, you will need to use the monthly SKU and also set the start date of the new subscription quote in line with the existing subscription (currently there is no option to create new subscription for a calendar day based prorated period but month based only). For example, if the existing subscription runs from 15 February 2022 to 15 February 2023, and they need another subscription with the same end date but as of April start date, you would create a new subscription quote with 15 April 2022 start date, set the initial term to 10 months and select the monthly product SKU instead of the standard annual one. When creating a new subscription for period < 12 months in order to co-term it with an existing, no approvals are need for a shorter subscription term as per the approval matrix. Additionally, New Business or Renewal Subscriptions with <12 month term lengths require approval, unless the subscription is meant to co-term with another pre-existing subscription.
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
GitLab's Cloud Licensing experience allows for the activation and provisioning of Quarterly Subscription Reconciliation and Auto-Renewals, which apply to both SaaS and Self-Managed Subscription plans. In addition, the Cloud Licensing experience introduces Operational Data.
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.
General Quoting Instructions
Note: You do not need to submit the quote for Custom services for approval. Approvals will be handled by the Engagement Manager via the scoping issue, and any discounts in rate should be handled separately via Chatter, as per the Approval Matrix. The SAL/AE remains responsible for obtaining any approvals required. As well as discounts in price, this also includes increased payment terms. Once approved, the SOW will be sent to the customer for signature, not the quote/order form.
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 @ Sales Support 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. Contract reset can only be requested via the same party that originally purchased the subscription.
@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, Deal Desk will populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Contract Reset." On the associated credit opportunity, Deal Desk will populate the "Opportunity Category" field with "Credit."
All Contract Reset opportunities will be classified as a "Renewal" and will be subject 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.
Concurrent Subscriptions are two unique subscriptions (instances) for Self Managed and SaaS issued for the purpose of supporting a large customer migration over an extended period. This does not allow the customer to use Self Managed and SaaS on the same instance.
Approvals for this deal strucutre will follow the standard approval matrix.
Deal Structure Requirements
Deal Desk will work closely with Sales, Legal, and Revenue to ensure all booking requirements are met. Please work directly with Deal Desk to structure this deal accurately. Please tag sales support early in the deal negotiation.
If the customer needs parallel access for 1 month only that can be managed through a trial license via Support Team.
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 a multi-year deal in which products can vary in price, quantity, or discount over set annual schedule or can remain flat for the entire duration of the subscription term. Customer pays upfront or annually, for all users planned in the ramp schedule.
To create a Ramp Deal, tag @Sales-Support in chatter on the opportunity. Deal Desk will create the quotes and Order Form. Provide the following information for each ramp period:
On the opportunity, Deal Desk will 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 both Sales Assisted and Web Direct Orders. All refund requests should be sent to AR Team at AR@gitlab.com. Once approved AR Team will tag Sales Support (Deal Desk) to create a refund opportunity. Deal Desk will then contact Billing Ops Team who will processed the refund in Zuora.
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
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)- 3 opportunities should be created, each one with primary opp quote. The original opporunity quote should only reflect the first year (invoice period) of the subscription, the full opportunity term and amount (36 months and subtotal of 3 years). Second and Third Opportunity should have quote object created (12 months term each) but the amount will be updated to 0, only correct NetARR reflected.
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.
A. To add users to an existing license at a different price, please add the users on a new, separate product line.
B. To add users to an existing license at the same price please note that no additional line needs to be added (to avoid multiple lines at renewal) and existing product line should be updated by increasing the quantity.
C. 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.
D. 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.
E. If you have multiple quote objects under one opportunity, the quote you are using must be marked Primary.
F. Please note that we should avoid processing contract reset if the customer is only looking to add additional users mid-term as this can be processed via add-on and amend subscription quote object.
G. Please note that backdated amendments for adding additional users can be processed before renewal but once renewal is processed any overusage can only be processed by charging the customer for true-ups.
Effective Friday, 2022-04-08, Deal Desk manages AWS and GCP Private Offer creation and acceptance.
Please note that Deal Desk handles only Private Offer creation, edits to Private Offers, and the acceptance of Private Offers. For any other matters related to Alliances deals, Sales must work with the appropriate ABDM. The Alliances team can provide assistance and best practices that are vital to a successful marketplace transaction.
To reach an ABDM, use the #a_aws_deal_registration or #a_gcp_deal_registration Slack channels.
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.