Question: We were working up setting up TCAM Commissions for an internal employee, John. We added him to an Opportunity that already had Opportunity Commissions on it. When I run my reports, this shows as John being the Agent, but the Agent or Rep Company Commissions are $0.
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Are the Agent or Rep Company Commissions only run on Load Commissions?
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If so, do I need to delete the existing related Opportunity Commissions and then reimport and run Load Commissions again?
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Question 1. Are the Agent or Rep Company Commissions only run on Load Commissions?
Yes, Commission calculations are made ONLY when Imported Commissions are loaded and become Opportunity Commissions. These calculations are PERMANENTLY FIXED. This intentionally prevents changes to the records later that would cause errors in prior commissions paid and their reports. These are the "Static Rates" seen on an Opportunity Commission record.
Here is why we do this.
Any Opportunity Commissions that already exist are protected against change to maintain an audit history. The premise is this.
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When you "Load Imported Commissions" the Agent or Rep Company, in this case, the account record associated with John, applies the rate in place at that time the run is done.
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All commission records already in existence remain the same.
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The new Opportunity Commissions records are rated at the Compensation Level and Rate for the then-current recipients.
If this was not the case, and if Opportunity Commission records changed based on the then-current Agent or Rep Company, all the prior commission reports relating to all the Opportunity Commission records associated with the Opportunity would no longer match the previously paid amounts.
Here are some useful examples of how the Static Rate feature benefits our customers.
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An accurate audit history is always maintained.
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As discussed, a new Agent or Rep Company can be assigned to an Opportunity, and thereby be paid on one, some, or all Opportunity Commissions for that Opportunity going forward. The amount paid is always based on the Compensation Levels and Rates assigned to the Agent or Rep Company in place at the time of the loading of Commission records.
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An Agent or Rep Company can have their Compensation Level or Rate Plan changed based on whatever criteria you decide.
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Most often this is the Rep over or underperforms.
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If they Over Perform their Commission Level can be increased within the existing Commission Levels and Rate Plan they are assigned to.
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If they underperform their Commission level can be decreased within the same Commission Levels and Rate Plan.
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Example 1: Compensation Levels and Rates plan assigned: Direct Sale Standard. On this Opportunity, the Compensation Levels and Rates are selected as "Direct Sale - Standard" for the Agent or Rep Company "TelCloud, LLC".
TelCloud LLC's Account record shows they are set up as Level 1.
On the Compensation Levels and Rates object these come together as you see here.
Therefore as the Partner/Agent account record is set at Level 1 AND the Opportunity is set to a Compensation Level and Rates of "Direct Sale - Standard" the Level 1 rate of 10% is applied to the commissions for the Agent or Rep Company "TelCloud, LLC".
To summarize:
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Static Rates are intentionally used to permanently fix the rates on each and every Opportunity Commission record based on the structures in place at the time they were created.
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The existing Agent or Rep Company can have their commission rate increased or decreased by changing the Level or the Compensation Level and Rates selection on the Opportunity.
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New Agent or Rep Companies can be applied to an existing Opportunity at any time. The Opportunity Commissions created while they are the compensation recipient are paid at their specific Level and Rate.
Question 2. If so, do I need to delete the existing related Opportunity Commissions and then reimport and run Load Commissions again?
Answer: Maybe. It depends upon whether you intend to pay the newly assigned Agent or Rep Company for the commissions already accounted for and which many have previously been applied to one or more prior Agent or Rep Company AND you want to pay on the Opportunity Commission previously created at the new Agent or Rep Company's Compensation Level and Rate.
If this is correct then how to do it depends upon the number of Opportunity Commission records already existing. If it is just a few, you can do the following after first adding the new Agent or Rep Company to the Opportunity, and setting the Compensation Levels and Rates to the correct selection.
NOTE: MAKING THE FOLLOWING CHANGES TO EXISTING RECORDS RATHER THAN TO A NEWLY CLONED RECORD WILL INVALIDATE ANY OF THE ORIGINAL COMMISSION RECORDS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE REPORTS. THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
Recommended Best Practice: Before changing any of the Opportunity Commission records, first Clone the existing Opportunity with all related records including the Opportunity Commissions.
On the original Opportunity record, set the "Split Method" field to No Commissions and modify the value in the Supplier ID field so that it is no longer valid. For example, if it was ABC-123, make it ABC-123-No Commissions. This way all future commissions will apply to the new cloned Opportunity.
For every existing Opportunity Commission record under the new cloned Opportunity:
Clone the original Opportunity Commission record. It will calculate with the new Agent or Rep Companys rates applied.
Delete the original Opportunity Commission Record.