Configuration Experiment #T2

Configuration Experiment #T2


Goal
The goal of this experiment is to help you understand the time dimension in calculation mechanics. For this challenge, you will use a production workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to a document (along with the step #), as you will be using those values later on.

Difficulty
Easy.

Preparation
Create a CSV file with the following:
  • Date,Unique ID,Owner,Revenue
  • 2021-01-01,ID-1,Daniel Martinez,100
  • 2021-02-01,ID-2,Daniel Martinez,100
  • 2021-03-01,ID-3,Daniel Martinez,100

As you can see, there is 1 transaction in January, 1 in February, and 1 in March. All transactions are assigned to "Daniel Martinez" and have a value of 100.

Steps
  1. Go to Account > My Workspaces
  2. Create a production workspace
  3. Go to Users > Add Users
  4. Add a user with email DanielMartinez@xyz.com
  5. Go to Transactions > Add Transactions
  6. Import your CSV file
  7. Go to Plans > All Plans
  8. Create plan "Test"
    1. Choose "Monthly"
    2. Choose "By Individual"
    3. Choose "All Workspace Users"
    4. Choose "Revenue" > "Raw Value"
    5. Choose "As Percentages Of A Fixed Quota" with a quota of 200
    6. Add two attainment levels
      1. For the lower level, set the attainment threshold to 0% of quota
      2. For the higher level, set the attainment threshold to 100% of quota
      3. Make both levels cumulative
    7. Add a per-transaction reward to each attainment level 
  9. For the lower level, pay 5% of revenue
  10. For the higher level, pay 10% of revenue 
  11. Make sure to select "To Transactions At This Attainment Level"

  12. Create the plan
  13. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  14. Run a calculation for January 2021
  15. Run a calculation for February 2021
  16. Run a calculation for March 2021
  17. Open calculations
    1. How many deals were credited for each calculation period?
  18. As you can see, the March calculation
    1. Has attainment based on March deals
    2. Pays commissions based on March deals
  19. As you can see, the February calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Feb deals
    2. Pays commissions based on Feb deals
  20. So, the plan has monthly payouts AND monthly attainment to quota
    1. However, we want a plan with monthly payouts BUT quarterly attainment to quota
    2. We cannot make the plan quarterly because payments will then be quarterly
    3. We have to keep the plan monthly, but enable QTD attainment
  21. Go to Plans > All Plans
  22. Edit plan "Test"
  23. Go to the Calculations tab
  24. Enable this advanced option

  25. Save plan changes
  26. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  27. Delete all calculations
  28. Run a calculation for January 2021
  29. Run a calculation for February 2021
  30. Run a calculation for March 2021
  31. Open calculations
    1. How many deals were credited for each calculation period?
  32. As you can see, the March calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb + March deals
    2. Pays commissions based on Jan + Feb + March deals
  33. As you can see, the February calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb deals
    2. Pays commissions based on Jan + Feb deals
  34. This means that we are processing all QTD transactions for attainment which is perfect
    1. However, some deals are getting duplicate commissions as they are processed multiple times
    2. We have to keep the QTD attainment behavior, but isolate payments to in-month transactions
  35. Go to Plans > All Plans
  36. Edit plan "Test"
  37. Go to the Incentives tab
  38. Edit both per-transaction rewards to add the IFEX() condition
    1. Keep the payout rates to 5% and 10% respectively 

  39. Save plan changes
  40. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  41. Delete all calculations
  42. Run a calculation for January 2021
  43. Run a calculation for February 2021
  44. Run a calculation for March 2021
  45. As you can see, the March calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb + March deals
    2. Pays commissions based on March only deals
  46. As you can see, the February calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb deals
    2. Pays commissions based on Feb only deals
  47. This means that we are processing all QTD transactions for attainment which is perfect
    1. And we also only pay commissions over those transactions which are within each month

Key Learnings
  • Some plans may have QTD / YTD attainment, but monthly payments
    • Reps will progress towards higher tier as they retire a quarterly / annual quota 
    • Because payments are monthly, plans should be configured as monthly plans
  • To enable the QTD attainment behavior, we must configure an advanced option
    • StartDate=QuarterStart means "please scan transactions starting from the beginning of the quarter for the chosen calculation period"
  • However, we must be careful to avoid double-paying commissions as we reprocess the same deals within the quarter
    • One strategy is to use a reward formula which excludes transactions outside the calculation period
    • IFEX([Transaction].[in_period] = 0, 0) means "please exit with a value of zero if the transaction is not within the current calculation period"

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