Using Opportunities and Revenue Line Items

During August’s Social Club, we explored how to get the most value out of Opportunities and Revenue Line Items (RLIs) in Sugar. These modules power forecasting, quoting, and sales reporting, and when used together, they unlock detailed insights across your pipeline. Liana Melendez led the session with a walkthrough of configurations, best practices, and clever tips for working smarter in Sugar. 

️ Working with Revenue Line Items

Revenue line items are where you define the quantity, pricing, and discounts for each part of a deal. During the session, Liana walked through how these fields work together to calculate totals, track product sales, and support accurate forecasting.

• You can set expected close dates and sales stages at both the Opportunity and RLI level, which is great for managing larger, multi-part deals.
• We discussed examples of teams working with monthly services, platform fees, and variable pricing models, as RLIs provide the flexibility to reflect a wide range of product offerings.
• If you're working with custom formulas or calculated fields, Studio allows for easy adjustments and enhancements to match your business model.

 Supporting Renewal Sales Models

More and more customers are tracking subscription renewals and annual contract reviews inside Sugar. Liana showed how to set start and end dates to better manage contract timelines, track revenue by product or service, and create dashboards that surface upcoming renewals or milestones. We also discussed aligning opportunity creation with annual sales reviews to support proactive planning and visibility across accounts.

 Transitioning to Standardized Processes

Several attendees shared how they're evolving from manual or spreadsheet-based workflows to more structured processes in Sugar, which leads to cleaner reporting, faster insights, and easier onboarding for new team members. Using consistent methods to create records, apply discounts, and track sales stages helps improve collaboration and forecasting across the team. Liana encouraged everyone to review their current setup and identify areas where automation and structure can simplify day-to-day sales work.

 Currency Handling: Set It and Forget It

We talked through how Sugar handles multiple currencies, especially for teams operating across regions. Sugar gives users control using two helpful settings in their profile:

• "Show Preferred Currency"
• "Create Revenue Line Items in Preferred Currency"

When both are enabled, Sugar will create and display new opportunities and RLIs in the user's preferred currency. Even if the system default currency is set to USD, users with these settings enabled will see amounts in their chosen currency, and so will others, based on their preferences.

In other words, everyone sees values displayed in the currency most relevant to them, ensuring consistency and clarity across teams working in different regions. A parallel for this is how calendar invites adjust for time zones, so each user sees what's most helpful to them.

 Tips & Tricks 

As always, the group shared a mix of configuration tips and smart usage ideas. Here are a few standouts from this month's session:

• Limit Sales Stages: Keeping your number of sales stages focused makes reports easier to use and processes easier to follow.
• Create Opportunities from Contacts: Liana recommended starting from the Contact record when creating opportunities. With one click, it links the Opportunity to both the Contact and Account—great for context and reporting.
• Auto-Carry Fields from Product Catalog: Want to bring over custom fields from the Product Catalog to the RLI? Just name the field the same in both places. For example, adding a "Color" field in the Product Catalog will carry into RLIs automatically when you configure it properly.
• Choose the Right Field Type: Use a text field rather than a text area if you want the field to carry over between modules.
• Apply Discounts Easily: Discounts can be entered as either a percentage or fixed amount. These apply to the subtotal and help with fast, flexible pricing.
• Clean Layouts Matter: Streamlined layouts help teams work more efficiently. Liana encouraged users to simplify wherever possible to keep CRM workflows smooth and user-friendly.
• Subscription-Friendly Features: Sugar supports renewable services, automatic end dates, and flexible pricing, making it easier to manage contracts over time.

 Looking Ahead

A big thanks to everyone who joined this session and shared their experiences!

Our next Social Club is coming soon! Join us on September 11th to discuss and learn more about Studio, Module Builder, and Module Loader Best Practices. Don't forget, SugarClub points are also awarded for attending Social Club sessions!

Have an idea for a future topic? Let us know in the Social Club group or send me a message directly.

See you next time!