The Salesforce CPQ price waterfall and the prorate multiplier
The Salesforce CPQ price waterfall, the sequence in which each price is derived, and the calculation that prorates a subscription to its term.
Salesforce CPQ derives a subscription's prices in a fixed sequence, and a migrated or remediated subscription must carry values consistent with that sequence or the next amendment or renewal will reprice it unexpectedly. Trailhead's Salesforce CPQ pricing module lists most of the same price fields, in the same order, as they appear on the quote line. For teams moving from Salesforce CPQ to Revenue Cloud, see CPQ to Revenue Cloud migration. The sequence, in order of derivation:
| Field | Derivation |
|---|---|
| List price | The prorated unit price from the product's price book entry at the time of sale. |
| Special price | A non-prorated price used where a special price type applies; ordinarily migrated as the non-prorated list price. |
| Regular price | The prorated list price after system discounts, such as discount schedules, or the special price where one applies. The price before discretionary discount. |
| Additional discount (percent or amount) | The discretionary discount applied between regular and customer price. |
| Customer price | Regular price less additional discount. The price after discretionary discount; the basis from which Salesforce CPQ starts a renewal when the account's renewal pricing method is uplift or same. |
| Partner and distributor discounts | Applied after all automatic and discretionary discounts. |
| Net price | Customer price less partner and distributor discounts. The final line price. |
| Renewal price | A non-prorated net price used only where the client requires a renewal value different from the subscription's own; the renewal quote line's price is then renewal price multiplied by one plus uplift. |
Pricing methods that alter quantity
Two pricing approaches alter how quantity is treated and must be recognized in the data. Under a slab discount schedule, or a block pricing method, the quantity fields hold the purchased quantity but the price need not be that quantity multiplied by a single unit price; loaded prices must reflect the block or slab, not the unit. Under percent-of-total pricing, the subscription's price is a percentage of the total of its covered assets, and Salesforce CPQ links each covered asset to the subscription through a subscribed asset record.
The prorate multiplier
The prorate multiplier is the ratio of the subscription's duration to the product's subscription term. It is the number used to calculate a subscription's prorated price for the length of the contract. Under multidimensional quoting (MDQ), each segment's start and end dates are used rather than the subscription's: a thirty-six-month contract with three twelve-month segments carries a multiplier of twelve on each segment of a monthly product, not thirty-six. The exact calculation depends upon the prorate precision configured in the org, which is set in the Salesforce CPQ package setting Subscription Prorate Precision.
Assess the data before the agents depend upon it
The first call is with the practitioners who would do the work, not a sales intermediary. The measures come first and the estimate follows.