This glossary defines common terms you might encounter while using ChartMogul and our Help Center.
Active
The status of a subscription that has generated billings of more than $0.00 in its most recent billing period. The status of a customer who has at least one active and no past-due subscriptions. Learn about Customer & Subscription Statuses.
Annual Run Rate (ARR)
An estimate of the revenue you will earn in the next 12 months from a subscription at its current MRR. Calculated as MRR × 12. See also Monthly Recurring Revenue.
Billing System
The system(s) you use to generate and issue invoices to customers and track and collect payments. This could be a third-party system such as Stripe or Reculy, your custom-built solution, or a set of manual processes. Add each of your billing systems to ChartMogul as a source in Data Platform.
Cancelled
The status of a subscription that has expired or been terminated. The status of a customer whose subscriptions have expired or have all been terminated. Learn about Customer & Subscription Statuses.
Churn
When a subscriber stops doing business with you, i.e., cancels all of their subscriptions. Most commonly expressed as a rate (i.e., percentage of customers lost in a given period). For a SaaS business to grow, churn must be outpaced by growth. Learn about MRR Movements.
Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue (CMRR)
A projection of MRR into the future, based on expected or scheduled changes to a subscription, e.g., a future cancellation a customer has already communicated. Learn more about CMRR.
Contraction
A decrease in a subscriber’s MRR, usually due to a downgrade or a cancellation of some (but not all) subscriptions. Contraction can also result from applying a discount. Learn about MRR Movements.
Credit
A positive amount issued or applied to a customer’s account balance. For example, when the customer switches to a lower cost plan and receives a prorated credit for their existing subscription’s already paid for service period.
Customer
An individual or company with a current or past relationship with your business, viewable in ChartMogul from Customers. Customers can have a Lead, Active, Past due, or Cancelled status, depending on their subscription history. Learn about the lifecycle of a subscription.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
The total estimated gross margin you’ll collect from an average customer over their lifetime.
Custom Attribute
An additional data attribute you add to a customer, such as their last login, the marketing campaign used to acquire them, or the name of their account manager to help with search, filtering, and segmentation. Read more about custom attributes in ChartMogul.
Custom Data Source
A specific type of source used to connect a non-supported billing system to ChartMogul. A custom data source can also be used to import historical data, or when you have customers billed outside of your billing system. Import data using the Import API, CSV, or enter it manually. Each source must contain plan, customer, and invoice data for ChartMogul to calculate metrics and analytics correctly. Manage custom data sources in Data Platform.
Data Platform
The engine of the ChartMogul subscription analytics platform where you add, configure, and manage sources and destinations, and configure how ChartMogul calculates subscription metrics. Learn more about configuring data settings.
Destination
An external system, such as an Amazon S3, you’ve connected to ChartMogul to export data such as MRR movements, customers, custom attributes, and tags for further analysis. Manage destinations in Data Platform.
Discount
The amount the price paid by the customer has been reduced, for example, as a result of applying a coupon.
Expansion
An increase in a subscriber’s MRR most often the result of upgrading an existing subscription or purchasing an additional subscription. Expansion can also result from a discount expiring. Learn about MRR Movements.
External ID
The unique identifier for a customer imported by ChartMogul from a supported billing system or which you’ve added manually using a custom data source. View a customer’s external ID(s) from their profile.
Integration
A connection between ChartMogul and an external system (or service) set up for the purpose of exchanging data. ChartMogul integrates with leading SaaS billing platforms to import subscription billing data and also allows you to export metrics for further analysis.
Invoice
A document that records the sale of products/services to a customer and used to collect payment. Invoices have one or more invoice line items. Invoices can be open, closed, failed, or voided. ChartMogul uses invoice data to generate MRR movements.
Invoice Line Item
Defines the product/service sold to and purchased by the customer. The type of each line item is either subscription (i.e., recurring) or non-recurring (one-time). When the type is subscription, the invoice line item includes a plan and a service period.
Lead
The status of a non-paying individual or company who may eventually become an active subscriber, including those on a free trial. Leads also include those who have only made non-recurring payments and do not have any subscriptions. Learn about Customer & Subscription Statuses.
Lifetime Value
Measurement Interval
The unit of time (day, week, month, quarter, or year) used to subdivide a chart’s reporting period into individual report intervals.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
An estimate of the revenue earned each month from a product/service sold on a subscription basis. For monthly plans, MRR is the price paid for each month of the subscription. When a customer pays for more than one month up-front (e.g., 12 months), ChartMogul divides the amount paid for the subscription by the number of months in the service period. Learn more about Monthly Recurring Revenue.
MRR Movement
The increase or decrease in a subscription’s MRR. View MRR movements on a customer’s profile or in the Chart Data table. Learn more about MRR Movements.
New Business
When a customer becomes a paying subscriber for the first time. Learn about MRR Movements.
Non-recurring
A single or one-time purchase by a customer such as an add-on or setup fee. Specified as a non-recurring (in app; using Data Platform) or one time (via CSV or API) invoice line item. Non-recurring (one-time) purchases do not contribute to MRR.
Past due
The status of a subscription for which a payment or cancellation has not been received since the end of the subscription’s most recent billing period. The status of a subscriber with one or more past-due subscriptions. Learn about Customer & Subscription Statuses.
Payment
A transaction where cash has been received from the customer and the payment amount has been applied to an invoice.
Plan
A product/service (or set thereof) you offer on a subscription (recurring) basis, e.g., Gold Monthly Plan.
Prorated
When the price of a product/service has been adjusted to reflect the period of time it was used by or made available to the customer. For example, reducing the price of a yearly subscription by 50% when the customer uses it for half a year.
Reactivation
When a formerly paying customer re-subscribes. Learn about MRR Movements.
Refund
A transaction where cash has been returned to the customer and the refund amount has been applied to an invoice.
Report Interval
A discrete date range. In the context of a chart, one subdivision of the chart’s reporting period based on the chosen measurement interval. For example, a reporting period of January 1, 2022–March 31, 2022 with a measurement interval of month results in the following report intervals: January, February, and March (2022).
Reporting Period
The range of dates you establish for a chart when choosing a from and to date using the date range drop-down menu. Used in conjunction with the measurement interval to establish a chart’s report intervals.
Service Period
The period of time when a product/service is available for use by a customer. Subscriptions have a recurring service period, and payment is collected at the start of each period. ChartMogul determines a subscription’s service period using invoice line items.
Smart Activity Classification
When ChartMogul groups certain subscription changes that take place within a specified period of time (e.g., 60 minutes) of each other. For example, when a new customer purchases multiple new subscriptions at the same time. Learn about Smart Activity Classification.
Source
A repository within ChartMogul for subscription billing data which ChartMogul uses to calculate metrics and analytics. Data from supported billing systems is imported using an integration. To import billing data from other systems, add a custom data source. Each source must contain plan, customer, and invoice data for ChartMogul to calculate metrics and analytics correctly. Manage sources in Data Platform.
Subscriber
The individual or company who has purchased a subscription.
Subscription
A specific instance of a plan a customer has purchased and agreed to pay for on a recurring basis. ChartMogul generates subscriptions using invoice line items.
Subscription Event
A change to a subscription, either resulting from a billing activity or scheduled to take place in the future. When the change impacts the subscription’s MRR, ChartMogul creates an MRR movement. Learn more about subscription events in ChartMogul.
Supported Billing System
Any billing system for which an out-of-the-box integration exists. Add each of your supported billing systems as a source. See our current list of supported billing systems.
Tag
A keyword or term added to a customer’s profile to classify and group customers in ChartMogul. Learn more. See also Custom Attribute.
Transaction
An attempt to collect and settle a payment (or refund) for an invoice. The status of a transaction can be successful or failed. Transaction data is not required in ChartMogul; however, it is used to generate cash flow reports.
Transaction Fee
The amount paid to a third-party provider to conduct or conclude a transaction, such as a credit card, payment processing, or platform usage fee. Read about how ChartMogul handles transaction fees.
Webhook
A lightweight solution for pushing data from one app to another triggered by an event. When the event takes place, the app makes an HTTP request to the URL you configured for the webhook, sending a predefined set of data elements. Read more about ChartMogul’s support for webhooks.