I'm not an accountant and may have some of the finer details...

I'm not an accountant and may have some of the finer details wrong, but at large the old way involved realising revenue on a pro-rata time (i.e. linear) scale throughout the subscription, whilst now it is realised on a milestone basis (i.e. non-linear), reflecting that effort/value of a contract isn't always seen on a linear basis.

Rough sketch to demonstrate. Vertical axis is "earned" revenue. Horizontal axis is time.




The examples JCS gives of the milestones are;

- implementation
- providing technical support
- providing TEMS solutions