Complimentary (free-of-charge) subscriptions
This document contains information about Complimentary subscriptions, including the setup guide.
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This document contains information about Complimentary subscriptions, including the setup guide.
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Was this helpful?
DISCLAIMER
Product Information contained within this document, including technical information and functional specifications, is subject to change without notice. Naviga reserves the right to make any changes to the information in this document at any time without notice. Naviga makes no warranty, representation, or guarantee regarding the suitability of its products and services for any particular purpose.
Please note that this document is currently under revision. Last changes were made on Oct 10th, 2023.
A Complimentary Subscription Purchase does not require the subscriber to provide payment information or payment. Subscribe clients may offer Complimentary (free) Subscriptions to their employees, partners, advertisers, etc.
The goal of this section is to explain how to configure a Complimentary Subscription Purchase in Naviga's Solicitor Concierge and CMS dashboard.
This feature allows users to create a fixed term (with an end date) or unlimited (no end date) free subscription.
Unlimited Complimentary subscriptions (Subscription Kind = Comp with the option 'No end date' selected) are supported from Subscribe 3.16.2 onwards.
If the subscription is set up as unlimited, the subscription can be stopped at any time via Account Management or by calling a CSR rep.
Complimentary Subscriptions cannot be turned into paid subscriptions. If you are interested in this functionality, please check .
Complimentary subscriptions do not have access to payments, including EZPay, payment method updates, complaints, or vacations.
Please note that in the 3.16.2 Release, the flow was reworked with the following changes:
A new 'Complimentary' option is available under Offer Groups → Additional Options → Subscription Kind, replacing the earlier 'Comp' option. The Complimentary subscription can be either with 'No end date' or 'With end date'.
The complimentary subscription with no end date will be available for an unlimited period of time. If the user selects the option With end date, two additional fields are displayed under Complimentary Unit: a dropdown with values Day(s), Week(s), Month(s) and a text field that accepts Integer values greater than 0.
The options available under Subscription Kind are Complimentary, Lite, and Trial Subscriptions. Only one option from Subscription Kind can be selected for an offer.
The other validations added to Solicitor Concierge for Complimentary Offer Groups (Offer Groups → Coding → Billing system codes) are:
The Purchase flow corresponds to various Start Types from the Offer API. Within the SP logic, the Complimentary flow has been mapped to the 'isComp' flag from the Offer API.
Complimentary subscriptions do not involve any payment from the subscriber. From an application perspective, a default PaymentTypeID value of '13' has been set for Complimentary subscriptions within the Subscription Panel.
The Purchase API for Complimentary flows has been revised as part of code clean-up and to distinguish between Complimentary and Trial Subscriptions.
The Purchase API has also been updated to accommodate Payment Method ID 5, which is 'Billed,' to support the Matrix client.
The 'Comp' option is configurable from MG2control or Support Viewer, with a new property added to App settings ('OfferGroupAdditionalOptionIsCompFlag').
To configure the 'Comp' option, you need to follow these steps:
Navigate to Support Viewer → Management → App settings.
In the Filters section, set the following parameters:
Setting type: Client Component Permission
Key: OfferGroupAdditionalOptionCompFlag
App type: SolCon Admin
Click 'Search' and select a value from the 'Setting keys' grid.
Choose a value from the 'Clients group' dropdown (e.g., Mg2 Groupstripe) and 'Environment' drop-downs. Note: Set the value as either 0 or 1 for any selected client.
After making the change, click 'Update.' A popup will appear, click 'Execute.'
Due to changes in the 3.16.2 release, the setup for Complimentary subscription differs between previous releases and versions 3.16.2 and above. Please refer to the relevant section below.
For this feature to be implemented the following prerequisites must be met:
To set up a Complimentary offer with an end date in Solicitor Concierge please perform the following steps:
Select offer groups from the left sidebar.
Select an offer group from the list, or create a new offer group.
Set the price as $0. Please note that even if you set the price >0 then it will not be charged but can be displayed on UI during checkout.
Select the additional options category, then select the Subscription Kind section, select 'Complimentary' and enter the number of trial days that are offered (please note that you can enter up to 10 digits). Once the offer group the number of comp days cannot be edited and the 'Complimentary' checkbox cannot be unchecked
In the additional options category go to EZPay section and select the No EZPay option.
Select the coding category, then select the billing systems code drop-down menu.
Designate the billing method as UnPaid Comp.
Select update or save as new.
The steps described above are mandatory. As the majority of complimentary subscriptions don't have print products, we recommend using ZIP-only checkout for them.
To configure an offer for ZIP-only checkout please go to the additional options category, then select address requirements section and uncheck the billing address, delivery address and run product delivery check checkboxes.
No additional CMS setup is required.
Even if the presentation has one or more payment methods added as children of Payment Method V3 component they will not be displayed if they are not checked in Solicitor Concierge.
As the proper Complimentary Subscriptions (SubscriptionKind = Comp) without an end date were not supported in NCS prior to 3.16.2, this guide is merely a roundabout, describing how to set up a free-of-charge subscription valid for an unlimited period of time. SubscriptionKind will be Standard.
To set up a Free-of-charge offer with an end date in Solicitor Concierge please perform the following steps:
Select offer groups from the left sidebar.
Select an offer group from the list, or create a new offer group.
Set the price as $0.Please note that even if you set the price >0 then it will not be charged but can be displayed on UI during checkout.
Select the additional options category, then select the Payment Method section and select the Billed checkbox.
In the additional options category go to EZPay section and select No EZPay option.
Select the coding category, then select the billing systems code drop-down menu.
Designate the billing method as Unpaid Comp.
Select update or save as new
Some additional CMS setup is required for this method to work as expected: under the Payment Methods V3 component, please add Bill Me V3 as a child component.
For Matrix we are calculating the expected end date based on the complimentary days set up in Solicitor Concierge.
For this feature to be implemented for the Matrix circ system the following prerequisites must be met:
The minimum Subscribe version is 3.14.1 and the minimum circ version is 38.00.034 P4
The client must be on the latest subscribe extracts that include demographics data
To set up a Free-of-charge offer with an end date in Solicitor Concierge please perform the following steps:
Select Offer Groups from the left sidebar.
Select an offer group from the list or create a new offer group.
Set the Price as $0. Please note that even if you set the Price >0, then it won't be charged anyway but dependent on the presentation setup might be displayed on UI during checkout.
In the Complimentary section check "Enable" and enter the number of free days that are offered (please note that you can enter up to 10 digits). Note: Offer group cannot be saved without the number of free days entered. Once the offer group is published the number of free days cannot be edited.
Select the Additional options category, then select the Payment Method section and select the Billed checkbox.
In the Additional options category go to EZPay section and select No EZPay option.
Select the Coding category, then select the Billing systems code drop-down menu.
for the fixed term Complimentary offer: set the Rate code to IEDGPRM_TR. This code is set up in Matrix to NOT renew the subscription at 0 cost. Then define source code, reason code, and paper code.
for the unlimited term Complimentary offer: Set the Rate code to IEDIGPRMFR. This code is set up in Matrix to bill 0 dollars forever. Then define source code, reason code, and paper code.
Select Update or Save as new.
Some additional CMS setup is required for this method to work as expected.
Under the Payment Methods V3 component, you will need to add Bill Me V3 as a child component.
The minimum Subscribe version is 3.13 and the minimum NCS circ version is . The client must be on the latest subscribe extracts that include demographics data
As the majority of complimentary subscriptions don't have print products, we recommend using ZIP-only start. Please see for more details
The minimum NCS Circ version:
The 'Comp' option should be configured from MG2control or Support Viewer by setting the value 1 to the key OfferGroupAdditionalOptionIsCompFlag. Check for the configuration steps.
