Configuration Experiment #T3

Configuration Experiment #T3


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 
      1. For the lower level, pay 5% of revenue
      2. For the higher level, pay 10% of revenue 
      3. Make sure to select "To Transactions At This Attainment Level"
      4.   
  9. Create the plan
  10. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  11. Run a calculation for January 2021
  12. Run a calculation for February 2021
  13. Run a calculation for March 2021
  14. Open calculations
    1. How many deals were credited for each calculation period?
    2. As you can see, the March calculation
      1. Has attainment based on March deals
      2. Pays commissions based on March deals
    3. As you can see, the February calculation
      1. Has attainment based on Feb deals
      2. Pays commissions based on Feb deals
    4. So, the plan has monthly payouts AND monthly attainment to quota
    5. However, we want a plan with monthly payouts BUT quarterly attainment to quota
    6. We cannot make the plan quarterly because payments will then be quarterly
    7. We have to keep the plan monthly, but enable QTD attainment
  15. Go to Plans > All Plans
  16. Edit plan "Test"
  17. Go to the Calculations tab
  18. Enable this advanced option

  19. Save plan changes
  20. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  21. Delete all calculations
  22. Run a calculation for January 2021
  23. Run a calculation for February 2021
  24. Run a calculation for March 2021
  25. Open calculations
    1. How many deals were credited for each calculation period?
    2. 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
    3. As you can see, the February calculation
      1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb deals
      2. Pays commissions based on Jan + Feb deals
    4. This means that we are processing all QTD transactions for attainment which is perfect
    5. However, some deals are getting duplicate commissions as they are processed multiple times
    6. We have to keep the QTD attainment behavior but use deductions to avoid double-payment
  26. Go to Plans > All Plans
  27. Edit plan "Test"
  28. Go to the Calculations tab
  29. Enable those advanced options

  30. Go to Calculations > All Calculations
  31. Delete all calculations
  32. Run a calculation for January 2021
    1. Release rewards
  33. Run a calculation for February 2021
    1. Release rewards
  34. Run a calculation for March 2021
    1. Release rewards
  35. As you can see, the March calculation
  36. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb + March deals
  37. Pays commissions based on Jan + Feb + March deals
    1. But deducts commissions from Jan + Feb
  38. As you can see, the February calculation
    1. Has attainment based on Jan + Feb deals
    2. Pays commissions based on Jan + Feb deals
      1. But deducts commissions from Jan
  39. This means that we are processing all QTD transactions for attainment which is perfect
  40. And we also re-evaluate QTD commissions but deduct what has been paid before

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 an advanced option which deducts what has been paid before
    • CumulativeQuarterly means "please deduct what has been paid from prior released calculations in the same quarter"

    • Related Articles

    • Configuration Experiment #V5

      Goal The goal of this experiment is to help you understand how to use custom variables in your configuration. For this challenge, you will use a demo workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to ...

    • Configuration Experiment #V3

      Goal The goal of this experiment is to help you understand how to use custom variables in your configuration. For this challenge, you will use a demo workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to ...

    • Configuration Experiment #V2

      Goal The goal of this experiment is to help you understand how to use custom variables in your configuration. For this challenge, you will use a demo workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to ...

    • Configuration Experiment #V1

      Goal The goal of this experiment is to help you understand how to use custom variables in your configuration. For this challenge, you will use a demo workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to ...

    • Configuration Experiment #V4

      Goal The goal of this experiment is to help you understand how to use custom variables in your configuration. For this challenge, you will use a demo workspace and enter some configuration. When asked to write down something, please copy the value to ...