You may notice differences between the customers and metrics in your integration and ChartMogul due to variations in how each system classifies customers and calculates metrics.

In this article, we explore these differences in-depth and provide resources to help you understand what may be happening with your data behind the scenes.

Here’s what we cover in this article:

• Differences in MRR
• Differences in customer counts
• Differences in customer statuses
• Differences in cash flow
• MRR vs. Revenue

Resources and further reading:

• Getting started with importing data for Subscription Analytics
• Getting started with importing data for ChartMogul CRM
• Configuring data settings
• Customer & Subscription Statuses

Differences in MRR

MRR reported in your billing system may differ from what you see in ChartMogul due to differences in how we classify, process, and calculate data. Here are the most common reasons:

Time zones

Time zone differences can cause the dates when ChartMogul reports MRR to vary. For example, your billing system time zone is Pacific Standard Time (PST) and your ChartMogul time zone is Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). When an invoice is issued in your billing system, ChartMogul may report the MRR the following day.

Invoiced Customer Handling setting

Your Invoiced Customer Handling setting controls when a customer’s subscription becomes Active in ChartMogul and, therefore, when the subscription starts contributing to MRR. The timing of this may differ from your billing system.

Failed invoices

Some billing systems exclude customers with failed invoices when calculating MRR. ChartMogul includes them when calculating MRR, even when a transaction is classified as failed.

Refunds

Only Stripe sources deduct refunds from MRR calculations. For all other billing systems, refunded transactions are not deducted from MRR. Read more about configuring refund handling.

One-time payments

Some billing systems include one-time (i.e., non-recurring) payments when calculating MRR. ChartMogul does not include one-time payments when calculating MRR, as they are not recurring. View these payments in Non-Recurring Cash Flow.

Discounts

ChartMogul deducts discounts before calculating MRR.

Taxes

When the tax amount is specified in an invoice line item, ChartMogul excludes it when calculating MRR. 

Currencies

ChartMogul converts invoices billed in foreign currencies to your account’s primary currency. Read more about how we handle multiple currencies.

Customer status

ChartMogul classifies a customer as an Active Subscriber when they have at least one active subscription with an amount greater than $0.00 and no past-due subscriptions.

When a customer is on a free plan, has a 100% discount, or has only made one-time payments, ChartMogul classifies them as a lead.

Paying customers who switch to a free plan or receive a 100% discount are classified as Active or Cancelled as per your Free Customer Handling setting.

When a customer has a past-due payment, ChartMogul assumes good faith and classifies them as a Past-due Subscriber and they continue to contribute to metrics.

ChartMogul does not classify a customer as a Cancelled Subscriber until their invoice is closed or their subscription is canceled in your billing system.

Churn recognition

ChartMogul recognizes churn as per your Churn Recognition setting. This may differ from how your billing system handles cancellations, which can lead to differences in MRR calculations.

Differences in customer counts

You may see a different number of customers in your integration than in ChartMogul. Check your integration guide to learn the event which triggers ChartMogul to import a customer. 

ChartMogul classifies customers who have been successfully billed a subscription amount over $0.00 as active and includes them in subscriber counts: 

For this reason, customers on a free trial or with a 100% discount are not classified as subscribers.

Customers who only have one-time (non-subscription) payments contribute to Non-Recurring Cash Flow and ChartMogul classifies them as leads.

Export customers and subscriptions to compare the difference in counts between ChartMogul and your integration.

Differences in customer statuses

The way your billing system and ChartMogul classify customers based on their subscription activity may differ.

In ChartMogul, there are four lead statuses and three subscriber statuses, depending on a customer’s subscription history.

Filter your customer list in ChartMogul by Customer status to see which customers have each status. Export customers with a specific status to a CSV file and compare it to data in your integration.

Differences in cash flow

Learn more about how ChartMogul calculates Net Cash Flow and Gross Cash Flow, including how refunds, one-time charges, and credit card/transaction fees are handled.

Be sure you check how your billing system calculates and presents cash flow. If it handles refunds or credit card/transaction fees differently, cash flow may differ from ChartMogul.

MRR vs. Revenue

MRR and revenue are related, but there are important differences between them:

• MRR is the sum of all currently active subscriptions normalized (amortized) to a 30.45-day period. 
• Revenue is the sum of all billings successfully paid (cash) or recognized (accrual) in the month, depending on your basis of accounting (cash or accrual).

For example (using cash accounting), if you have 100 customers who you bill $10 per month, your MRR would be the sum of all committed revenue (100 × $10 = $1,000). If 10 of your customers didn’t pay their invoices, your MRR would still be $1,000, but your (cash accounting) revenue for the month would be $900.

Subscriptions which are not billed monthly (such as yearly subscriptions) would also cause MRR to differ from revenue.

To calculate MRR, ChartMogul recognizes revenue from an annual subscription over 12 months. For example, when you bill a customer $12 for an annual subscription, ChartMogul recognizes $1 of MRR each month and reports revenue as $12 in the first month and $0 in the following 11 months.

Finally, invoice line items in ChartMogul are one of two types: subscription or non-recurring (one-time). When a $100 invoice has a $20 setup fee (one-time) and a $80 subscription (subscription), MRR is $80 and revenue is $100.

If your billing system shows a different MRR amount, filter your ChartMogul account to one customer and review their charts and MRR movements to identify the differences.

For further help understanding your data and metrics in ChartMogul, please contact our support team.