Recipe - How To Efficiently Setup A New Plan

Recipe - How To Efficiently Setup A New Plan


This article describes a recipe to efficiently create plans based on common patterns. Those patterns work for 75% of plans. This article is intended to be a compact reference and provide general guidelines.

Initialize Plan
The goal here is to quickly create a plan.
  • Go to Plans > Add Plan
  • Choose a plan name
  • Choose a payment frequency
  • Specify whether your plan is based on team vs. individual performance
    • Individual performance - ex: AE plan, SDR plan, etc.
    • Team performance - ex: manager override plan, territory manager plan, etc.
  • Quickly click "Next" on all subsequent screens
  • Mark the plan as "Active" and save



Don't worry about choosing the right options during initial plan creation. Everything can be configured once the plan is instantiated. The goal here is to create the plan quickly using defaults. The following steps will ensure all relevant options are configured correctly on your plan.

Specify Plan Targets
The goal here is to ensure the plan targets the right individuals or teams.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Targets tab
  • Select the "Having Any Of The Tags Below" dropdown option
  • Enter relevant tags
    • Example: "Bonus Plan", "Junior AEs", etc.



The tag-based approach ensures that plan targets are "dynamic" (i.e. you don't need to list them explicitly and maintain this list). To enroll new targets, all you need to do is tag them accordingly, and they'll automatically become a target of the plan. Your tags could be based on a/ job titles, or b/ plan names to associate targets with plans.

Select Crediting Field
The goal here is to ensure the plan credits targets correctly when processing transactions.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Targets tab
  • Enter the crediting field under "Crediting Fields Override"
    • Example: "Sales Rep", "Territory Name", etc.



Note: this step is not required if you want to use the field mapped to "Owner / Sold By" (for individual-based plans) or to "Team / Territory" (for team-based plans) during data import.

If using a crediting field is not sufficient, you will need to use dynamic crediting. This lets you create a script to further decide who to credit for each transaction.

Select Eligible Transactions - Filtering
The goal here is to ensure the plan only processes eligible transactions based on a criterion (ex: transactions whose state is "Closed Won"). 
  • Go to Transactions > All Transactions
  • Click on "advanced search"
  • Add required conditions
    • Example: Status = "Closed Won" AND Revenue > 0 
  • Click on "Save Query" (top right corner)
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Limits tab
  • Specify the saved query in the dropdown



If a transaction query is not sufficient, you will need to use dynamic filtering within the Limits tab. This lets you create a script to further specify which transactions to process.

Select Eligible Transactions - Effective Date
The goal here is to ensure the plan only processes transactions within the calculation period based on each transaction's date (ex: you want to use the "Close Date" for this plan).
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Calculation tab
  • Enter the appropriate date field under "Transaction Date Override"
    • Example: "Closed Date", "Payment Date"



Note: this step is not required if you want to use the field mapped to "Transaction Date" during data import.

If your plan works in a YTD or QTD manner, you will need to configure advanced options within the Calculations tab.

Define Attainment
The goal here is to define attainment for your plan.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Incentives tab
  • Choose "As Percentages Of a Per-Target Dynamic Quota" in the dropdown
  • Enter the name of the custom variable with each target's quota
    • Example: @@Quota
  • Add attainment levels and percentages

Below, we're using a custom variable called "Quota", which will need to be set on each target user or team.



If this approach is not sufficient, you will need to use dynamic quotas within the incentives tab. For example, this may apply if you want to set quotas purely based on job titles or calculate quotas based on a start date (ramped quotas).

Refine Tier Behaviors
The goal here is to define how tiers work.

If you want to use blended tiers for transactions which cross tiers.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Calculations tab
  • Choose "Split On-The-Fence Transactions Between Tiers" in the "Per-Transaction Buckets" dropdown



If you want to show commission rates to payees.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Calculations tab
  • Choose the appropriate value in the "Per-Transaction Rates"



Define Rewards
The goal here is to add rewards to each attainment level.
  • Edit your plan
  • Go to the Incentives tab
  • Edit attainment levels
  • Pay attention to the cumulative vs. non-cumulative setting
    • Cumulative - rewards at lower attainment levels will be activated
    • Non-Cumulative - only rewards at the highest attainment level will be activated   
  • Add incentives to each attainment level
    • Most of the time, you should select "Per-Transaction Reward"
      • In some rare cases, you may need to select "Global Reward" 
    • Pay attention to the "Apply Formula" dropdown
      • Apply to All Transactions - apply rewards to all credited transactions
      • Apply to Transactions at This Attainment Level - only apply rewards to credited transactions that "fell" within the tier



Additional Configuration Recipes
With commissions, every situation is unique, but those may prove useful.
  • For manager / override plans, check this article
  • For SDR plans, check this article
  • For YTD quota-based plans, check this article 
  • For QTD quota-based plans, check this article
  • For "pay when you get paid" plans, check this article 
  • For plans with ramped quotas, check this article
  • For plans with title-based quotas, check this article

Understanding How Sales Cookie Works
We also recommend those articles to understand how Sales Cookie works.
  • To learn about custom variables, check this article
  • To learn about transactions, check this article

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