Real-time Entitlements (NCS Circ)

Previously, New Start subscriptions created in the NCS system were pushed to the Subscribe database only during the nightly sync process. As a result, subscribers had to wait until the next day to access digital content—causing delays and frustration. This limitation has now been addressed with this new enhancement introduced in the 2025.2 release.

This feature is currently available only for NCS clients.

✅ What’s Real-time Entitlement?

With this enhancement, New Start subscriptions from NCS will be captured in real time by the Subscribe application. This means subscribers get immediate entitlements and can access digital content without having to wait for the nightly sync.

Pre-requisites

1. A new bearer token should be generated in Subscribe against the resource WebhooksAPI.

2. Setup the webhooks in NCS Circ environment. The business rules are available in NCS Release notes 2025-2.0.

   1. Webhook URL for setup in NCS - https://subscriberconceirge.com/v4/Webhooks/Subscriptions

   2. The Media Group code, Client code & Paper code need to be setup in NCS as per tenant details of Subscribe.

   3. The bearer token generated in step 1 should be setup in NCS business rule of Webhooks Authorization Code.

🔁 How this Works?

1. A subscription is created in NCS.

2. NCS sends a real-time webhook to Subscribe with the new subscription ID. Note: Webhook is a mechanism that allows one system to instantly notify another system when an event occurs. Instead of waiting for scheduled syncs or repeatedly checking for changes (polls), webhooks enable NCS to alert Subscribe immediately via an HTTP POST request.

3. Subscribe receives the webhook and uses the subscription ID to fetch the subscription details via existing NCS APIs.

4. A new subscription record is created in the Subscribe database with limited details.

5. Temporary entitlements are issued right away, giving the subscriber immediate access to the digital content with some restrictions.

6. After the nightly sync, the full details of subscription are updated in Subscribe.

7. Note that, Subscribe generates a different set of events in this case as opposed to the events generated during the new start flow initiated via Subscribe. Refer end of the document for events list.

8. The integration is supported for Standard, Trial & Comp Subscriptions. DayPass initiated in NCS is currently not supported for real-time entitlements.

One of the key advantages of the real-time entitlement flow is the Automatic Subscription Linking. If a user registers in Self Service or .com site with the same email ID as that on the subscription—either before or after the purchase—Subscribe automatically links the registration to the new subscription. Hence, account verification is no longer required for the new user.

🧮Temporary banner in Self-Service

When a new start is initiated from Circ, and real-time entitlements have been provided, a banner will be displayed on the Self Service Dashboard page notifying the user of limited subscription details. Full details of subscription will become available after 24 hours, once the nightly sync is completed.

Banner image displayed on Self-Service page

⚙️Configuring Banner message in CMS

The banner text is configurable through CMS. A new CMS content key, ‘NavBar.RealTimeSyncMessage’, of type text has been implemented for configuring the banner message. Default text available: “Your subscription details are still being updated, but you can continue to enjoy access to our content in the meantime.”

The banner message displayed on Self-Service can be configured in CMS as follows:

1. Navigate to CMS > Content.

2. From the drop-down 'Filter By Page', select 'Layout' page.

3. From the table displayed below, select the segment key NavBar.RealtimeSyncMessage. Refer to the image below.

4. Click 'Edit' to change the content of the default banner message, if required. Note: This key can hold a maximum of 120 characters.

CMS Content key for real-time banner message displayed in Self-Service

1. Click Save.

2. Click Manage Cache > Refresh CMS + Site to save and register the changes.

Note: When the banner message is displayed, the existing message on the Dashboard page - ‘You are managing the subscription for <publication> account XXXXXX’ will not be displayed.

🚫Limited Details

Before the nightly sync, Subscribe does not have complete details about the Subscription. During this time, it is recommended to impose some restrictions on users — such as preventing them from initiating payments or updating their address.

To support this, a new CMS restriction (Hide Links CMS key) ‘Real Time External Starts Pending Sync’ has been introduced. When applied to any link, it hides those links on the Self-Service Dashboard until the nightly sync is complete.

⚙️Applying 'Hide Link' for Self Service Dashboard links

1. Navigate to CMS > Navigation > Links.

2. Select the hyperlink from the drop-down on which the hide restriction has to be applied.

3. Fill in the mandatory fields with appropriate values.

4. Type in the key Real Time External Starts Pending Sync and then select it on the Hide Link For drop-down

5. Make sure the key is toggled to Active: Yes.

6. Click Save. Click Manage Cache > Refresh CMS + Site to save and register the changes.

Hide Link key for Real-time external starts

Note:

Until sync is processed, the hide-link works; when sync is processed, the hide-link doesn't work even if applied.

Configuration Notes:

1. Currently, only a single entitlement HH level can be assigned to subscriptions flowing through webhooks. That value is defined in the new MG2 control API setting — defaultHHSubscriptionLevel. This value will be assigned to the 'HouseLoldLevelId’ column in the subscription table that gives instant access to the subscription. However, this is a temporary entitlement and from the next day, the HHL will update as per clients' business rules.

Note: It is recommended that clients set a default HH Level at the Publication level that can be assigned to these new starts. After the sync process, the temporary HHL will be reset as per the client-level HHL business rules.

1. The banner display and the Hide link restrictions on the Self-Service Dashboard page are based on the values of two parameters in GET subscription/id API call.

• IsExternalNewStart: true

• isSyncProcessed: false

Events Generated

Event Type ID	Event Type Code	Event Description
4700	CIRCSYSTEM_SUBSCRIPTION_GETBYID	Get Subscription By Id from CircSystem
4040	SUBSCRIBE_ADDRESS_GET	Get Address from Subscribe
4050	SUBSCRIBE_NOTIFICATION_CREATE	Create entry in the Notification table
4702	CIRCSYSTEM_WEBHOOKS_SUBSCRIPTION_PURCHASE	Webhooks request for Purchase
4060	SUBSCRIBE_SUBSCRIPTION_GET	Get Subscriptions from Subscribe
4062	SUBSCRIBE_SUBSCRIPTION_CREATE	Create a Subscription in Subscribe
4063	SUBSCRIBE_SUBSCRIPTION_CREATEPRODUCTS	Create products for a Subscription in Subscribe
4080	SUBSCRIBE_SUBSCRIBER_GET	Get Subscribers from Subscribe
4703	CIRCSYSTEM_SUBSCRIBER_GETBYID	Get Subscriber by id from CircSystem
4070	SUBSCRIBE_NEWSTART_SYNC	Create NewStartSync event in Subscribe
4704	CIRCSYSTEM_PAYMENTMETHOD_GET	Get PaymentDetails by id from CircSystem
4705	CIRCSYSTEM_ADDRESS_GET	Get Address from CircSystem
4077	SUBSCRIBE_PAYMENTMETHOD_CREATE	Create PaymentMethod in Subscribe
4076	SUBSCRIBE_PAYMENTMETHOD_GET	Get PaymentMethod in Subscribe
4051	SUBSCRIBE_NOTIFICATION_UPDATE	Update Notification in the notification table

The events generated against subscriptions entered via webhooks would be available in SubCon Admin Event reports.