Recipe - How To Setup "Pay When You Get Paid" Plans (Invoices Only)

Recipe - How To Setup "Pay When You Get Paid" Plans (Invoices Only)


Advanced Setup
This is an advanced setup because two different timelines are involved. One timeline is associated with opening invoices. Another timeline is associated with receiving payments. Sometimes, 2 systems are involved as well (ex: a CRM system and a billing system). This article, we assume one system is used. You will need to create 2 plans which will work together.

This article applies if you want to:
  • Determine commission rates based on open invoices 
  • Issue actual commissions based on paid invoices
  • You use one system (ex: QuickBooks) to track invoices
  • You may receive incremental payments, but only pay commissions when the balance is zero  

Becoming Familiar With General Plan Setup
We first recommend first reading this article to become familiar with fundamental mechanisms of plan configuration. We also recommend first reading this other article to understand how "pay when you get paid" plans work.

Estimated vs. Issued Commissions 
We will create two plans which will work together:
  • One estimated plan will estimate commissions based on open invoices
  • One due plan will issue commissions when invoices get paid

This will allow your reps to see:
  • How much to expect in commissions as invoices are opened
  • How much is due to them as invoices get paid
  • Which invoices are outstanding / awaiting payment

The estimated plan will establish a commission rate for each deal and payee based on opened invoices. The due plan will process paid invoices, lookup estimated commission rates, and apply this rate to payment amounts. For example, if a rep opened a large invoice worth $100K, this rep may receive an estimated commission of 10% based on attainment. However, if the payment is only $96K, you will then pay 10% of $96K.

=============== Estimated Commission Plan Setup ===============

Check Your Data Import
The estimated commission plan will process open invoices. Make sure you've imported relevant data from your CRM system.

Specify Plan Targets
The goal here is to ensure the plan targets the right individuals or teams. Follow this article to specify plan targets.

Select Crediting Field
The goal here is to ensure the plan credits targets correctly when processing transactions. Follow this article to specify the crediting field.

Select Eligible Transactions - Filtering
The goal here is to ensure the plan only processes eligible transactions based on a criterion. For estimated commission plans, you could create a query to select all invoices. Follow this article to filter transactions.



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. For estimated commission plans, you could select the "Closed Date" or "Transaction Date" field as the effective date to determine which transactions are eligible for each calculation period. Follow this article to set your effective date field.



Define Attainment
The goal here is to define attainment for your plan. Follow this article to configure attainment.

Refine Tier Behaviors
The goal here is to define how tiers work. Follow this article to refine tier behaviors. Make sure to select the appropriate option to show (and calculate) a commission percentage such as this one.



Define Rewards
The goal here is to add rewards to each attainment level. Follow this article to define rewards. Make sure to check the estimated checkbox.



=============== Due Commission Plan Setup ===============

Check Your Data Import
The due commission plan will process paid invoices. The default should be to sync invoices (or invoice line items). In this recipe, we assume you only want to pay commissions when invoices get paid.

Specify Plan Targets
The goal here is to ensure the plan targets the right individuals or teams. Follow this article to specify plan targets.

Select Crediting Field
The goal here is to ensure the plan credits targets correctly when processing transactions. Follow this article to specify the crediting field.

Select Eligible Transactions - Filtering
The goal here is to ensure the plan only processes eligible transactions based on a criterion. For due commission plans, you could create a query which filters transactions to those having a "Payment Date" set and a balance of zero. Follow this article to filter transactions.



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 payment date. For due commission plans, you should select the "Payment Date" field as the effective date to determine which transactions are eligible for each calculation period. Follow this article to set your effective date field.



Define Attainment
Since the estimated plan determines attainment (and commission rates), the due plan doesn't need to deal with attainment. So you could just have one attainment level like this:



Refine Tier Behaviors
Since the estimated plan determines attainment (and commission rates), the due plan doesn't need to deal with attainment. You can ignore this part.

Define Rewards
The goal here is to add a single reward to your attainment level. Follow this article to define rewards. For due commission plans, you want to a/ grab the payee user ID, b/ lookup the estimated commission rate, and c/ apply it to the payment amount. Here is what you could use:



=============== Associating Plans ===============
To create a dependency between your plans, you need to set an advanced option:
  1. Edit your due commission plan
  2. Go to the Calculations tab
  3. In advanced options, add a dependency on your estimated plan 



=============== Configuring Withholdings ===============
To show a list of withheld deals awaiting payment to your reps, refer to this article.



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