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[L&R][Workflow] Adding troubleshooting notes RE sub/add-on start dates

Why is this change being made?

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I've had at least one ticket where a customer has been confused that:

  • Their subscription appears to have started early (before their term start date)
  • Add-ons purchased in the same order have not started early.

I enquired on Slack about this and it turns out that new subscriptions will take effect prior to the term start date (whereas renewals and add-ons will not).

This information took myself and several other team members by surprise, so I'm adding it to the workflow to ensure all L&R SEs are aware.

Slack Conversation - Click to expand

Tom McAtee

Sanity check: If a GitLab.com namespace has a future-dated subscription applied to it, does it still get the subscription benefits before the term start date? This customer is requesting a trial be applied before their term starts on the 15th, however from examining the namespace and billing page it looks like the subscription is already 'working' :meow-think:


Sokunrotanak Srey

yeah, this is the weird case. Future subscription seems to work after linking to a namespace. But there’s also some weird case where some subscription items are not provisioned before the start date

Keven Hughes

new subscriptions will start immediately renewals wont begin until renewal date



  • I've also added a troubleshooting notes regarding:
  • leading/trailing whitespace characters in the Mechanizer form (identified as an issue in this Slack thread)
  • attempting to update a subscription using mechanizer and getting an 'Unable to find subscription message' (Slack thread)

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Edited by Tom McAtee

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