If you're selling paid apps on the AppExchange and Salesforce isn't collecting payment on your behalf (you sell direct or through resellers), you owe Salesforce visibility into those orders. The Channel Order Application is the mechanism. Almost no plain-language content exists on how it works, which is why most ISVs discover it three days before their first reseller deal.

Pro Tip

TL;DR: The Channel Order Application (COA) is a Salesforce-provided managed package ISVs install in their Partner Business Org to report AppExchange-related orders, especially orders sold through channels or resellers. The COA feeds order data to Salesforce for revenue-share calculation and partner-program tracking. Free to install, required for ISVs selling outside the AppExchange Checkout flow.

Three jobs.

1/ Order capture. Records every commercial order tied to your AppExchange managed package, especially orders Salesforce doesn't see directly (resellers, direct sales, OEM transactions). 2/ Revenue-share reporting. Feeds order data to Salesforce so the 15% (ISVforce) or 25% (OEM) revenue share gets calculated correctly (Salesforce ISVforce Guide). 3/ Partner-program credit. Your AppExchange ARR rolls up through COA data for tier evaluation (Crest, Ridge, Summit) and program benefit calculation.

The mental model: if Salesforce isn't collecting payment via AppExchange Checkout, the COA is how you tell them what was sold and at what price.

You need it.

→ You sell paid apps direct (your own billing, your own contracts) → You sell through resellers or channel partners → You have OEM customers (embedded Salesforce licenses) → You sell through Salesforce Checkout but also have side deals

You don't need it (or barely).

→ You only sell via AppExchange Checkout (Salesforce already sees those transactions) → Your app is free with no commercial transactions tied to it

Most ISVs need it. The "AppExchange Checkout only" path is the exception.

The COA is a managed package Salesforce provides. You install it into your Partner Business Org (the same org running your LMA, usually).

1/ Request COA credentials through the Salesforce Partner Community. Your partner manager or the Partner Operations team provides the install link and the connection details (a username and an integration user setup). 2/ Install the COA package into your Partner Business Org. Free, one-click install from the link Salesforce provides. 3/ Configure the integration user. A dedicated user that the COA uses to authenticate to Salesforce's order-reporting API. 4/ Connect to your AppExchange listing. Done through the Partner Console; tells Salesforce which managed package the order reports correspond to. 5/ Test with a sample order. Submit a test order through the COA UI to confirm the data flow works before your first real deal.

Expect a few days from "I need the COA" to "fully configured," mostly waiting on the Partner Operations team to send credentials.

The COA covers the order-level data Salesforce needs.

→ Customer details (account name, contact, install location) → Order details (SKU, seats, term, list price, net price) → Discount and reseller information if applicable → Effective and expiration dates

Reporting cadence varies by your contract terms. Most ISVs report orders monthly or quarterly. Late reporting affects revenue-share reconciliation, so set a calendar reminder.

Pro Tip

Late COA reporting is a real source of friction with the Partner Operations team. Building it into your monthly close process pays off when partner-tier reviews come around.

The two systems handle different cases. AppExchange Checkout is Salesforce's hosted payment flow that handles credit-card transactions through Stripe. When you sell through Checkout, Salesforce sees the transaction directly and calculates revenue share automatically. No COA reporting needed for those orders.

The COA fills the gap for everything else. Direct invoicing. Resellers. OEM deals. Custom contracts. If money changed hands and AppExchange Checkout didn't process it, the COA is how it gets reported.

Many ISVs run both: Checkout for self-serve buyers, direct sales tracked through COA for enterprise contracts.

Patterns the Partner Operations team flags.

→ Skipping the COA entirely. ISVs who sell direct and assume the LMA handles revenue reporting. The LMA tracks installs; the COA tracks orders. → Late reporting. Quarterly close that slips into the next quarter, throwing off revenue-share calculation. → Missing reseller flags. Reseller orders reported as direct deals, skewing channel-program credit. → Test data in production. Sample orders submitted during testing that didn't get marked as test, ending up in revenue-share reports. → Multiple AppExchange products under one COA without proper tagging. Order data mixes between SKUs and reconciliation gets painful.

It doesn't, directly. The COA is operational tooling for revenue reporting, not part of the managed package itself. A no-code platform generates the managed package and prepares it for security review; the COA is separate setup the ISV does once in the Partner Business Org. See our guide on requirements to publish a paid app on AppExchange for the full operational setup.

A Salesforce-provided managed package that ISVs install in their Partner Business Org to report AppExchange-related commercial orders, especially orders sold outside AppExchange Checkout (direct sales, resellers, OEM). The COA feeds order data to Salesforce for revenue-share calculation and partner-program tracking (Salesforce ISVforce Guide).

Yes. The COA is free to install. You request credentials through the Salesforce Partner Community and install the managed package into your Partner Business Org. The 15% (ISVforce) or 25% (OEM) revenue share is what's owed based on reported orders.

No, not strictly. AppExchange Checkout handles Salesforce's visibility into those transactions directly. The COA fills the gap for orders Salesforce doesn't see, like direct sales, reseller deals, or OEM transactions.

Request COA credentials through the Salesforce Partner Community. Salesforce Partner Operations provides the install link and integration user details. Install the package into your Partner Business Org, configure the integration user, and connect it to your AppExchange listing through the Partner Console.

Cadence varies by contract, but most ISVs report monthly or quarterly. Late reporting affects revenue-share reconciliation and partner-tier evaluation, so build it into your regular close process.

The LMA (License Management App) tracks installs and license records: who installed your app, when, and the license terms. The COA (Channel Order Application) tracks commercial orders for revenue-share reporting: what was sold, at what price, through which channel. Both run in the Partner Business Org. Different jobs.

About the author. Sunny Chauhan is the founder and CEO of Appnigma AI, a no-code platform that generates Salesforce AppExchange-ready managed packages. He helps SaaS teams set up the operational pieces of AppExchange revenue reporting.

The Channel Order Application (COA) is a free Salesforce-provided managed package ISVs install in their Partner Business Org to report AppExchange-related orders Salesforce doesn't see directly (direct sales, resellers, OEM). The COA feeds order data to Salesforce for revenue-share calculation and partner-program tier evaluation. You request credentials through the Partner Community, install, configure an integration user, and connect to your AppExchange listing. Most ISVs need it. AppExchange Checkout-only sellers don't.

• Requirements to publish a paid app on AppExchange

• How does the AppExchange revenue share work

• License Management Org vs License Management App

• What is the AppExchange Partner Console

1/ Salesforce ISVforce Guide, AppExchange Checkout revenue share 2/ Salesforce Partner Community, ISV onboarding documentation (COA) 3/ Salesforce ISV partner onboarding PDF

What's the gap in your current order reporting that you didn't realize the COA was supposed to close?