-
Is SaaS Optics a metrics management & analysis tool or a system of record for contracts or revenues?
Return to questions
For all customers, SaaS Optics is a metrics management and analysis tool. Whether you are public, private, big or small, the application is designed first and foremost to help you measure and track performance.
If your existing system of record for contracts is a spreadsheet/digital list combined with a shared drive or filing cabinet to hold your contracts, SaaS Optics is likely a far better solution. If you have a contract management application today, SaaS Optics is simply for analysis.
SaaS Optics' revenue schedule generation feature is designed first and foremost for analysis. It was not designed as a financial accounting system, and therefore lacks the type of audit trails and "period closing" features found in most serious commercial accounting/GL systems. If your accounting system generates revenue schedules, clearly that is a superior approach as a system of record.
However, if you are generating revenue schedules using a spreadsheet, SaaS Optics might be a better solution as a system of record and most certainly is a superior revenue analysis tool.
-
You use an accounting and financial management system to manage your company finances. You use a spreadsheet for key SaaS metrics only because your finance system doesn't address all your SaaS needs, and no other SaaS financial metrics application existed - until now!
Spreadsheet files are hard to share collaboratively. One person ends up being in charge or maintenance, creating a single point of failure. To get the right metrics, you must program your spreadsheet with sophisticated formulas. That is time consuming and prone to errors. And, it's disruptive when the finance staffer who did the programming leaves. Spreadsheets weren't made for data entry. Data entry is slow and also prone to input errors because field validation capabilities are limited. This presumes your organization knows all the information and metrics you should be tracking.
SaaS Optics is a multi-user SaaS application. It's designed, built, maintained, and QAed by a team with expert knowledge of SaaS operating metrics. SaaS Optics stays on top of the evolving trends in SaaS operating metrics, updating and enhancing the application to keep up with changes. So, you are able to tap into the rapid evolution of the application based on the collective knowledge and needs of all of our SaaS software clients that drive enhancements and improvements.
-
SaaS Optics is 100% web based, and a hosted solution, so there is nothing to install. It takes about one minute to establish your account. Login and get started instantly! The SaaS Optics concept is very simple. In fact, it tracks pretty closely to a simple accounting system, but is lighting fast to set up.
First, you configure your account to include your Item and Metrics terminology and business rules that apply to your SaaS contracts and revenue sources. If you are just getting started with your SaaS initiative, the preconfigured SaaS best practices templates make configuration a breeze. It takes only a few minutes to configure the system.
Second, you build your transaction register(s). Registers includes all the transactions relating to your SaaS revenue sources, including new and renewal contracts or invoice transactions, including recurring revenue and one-time fee items. Transactions can be keyed or imported from a spreadsheet.
Third and last, your run reports, configuring and saving them for easy access anytime, anywhere you need them.
-
If you are just getting started with your SaaS initiative and you are on-boarding up to a couple of dozen customers per month, you might find simply keying the information is the simplest approach.
If you have hundreds or thousands of existing customers or are adding at that rate, you will most definitely want to use the Import function. It's designed to be easy and flexible.
-
We go to great lengths to secure your information. Your data is stored in a sophisticated relational database in the "cloud," specifically on server at Rackspace, a NYSE listed company (NYSE: RAX) and one of the oldest and biggest hosting services around.Your data is stored in its own database that keeps it separate from other users of SaaS Optics. SaaS Optics is SSL encrypted and passwords are never stored in plain text. And on top of all of that, if you feel extra protection is needed, you can enjoy all the benefits and power of the system without uploading actual customer names.
-
Simply click the Export menu option to extract and download all your transactions at any time. While we hope you never leave, you can pack up and take your data out at any time.
