Incentive lines

An incentive line is one rule of an incentive plan. It groups one or more targets under a qualification rule, and it carries the compensation slabs that say what the rule pays. You add lines after you create the plan and before you approve it. When a period is processed, the incentive engine checks every line of the plan for each member and adds up what the qualifying lines earn on the member's compensation line.

Overview

A line answers two questions:

• When does it pay? The line's Definition Filter Criteria says how its targets must qualify: all of them, any of them, or a custom combination such as {1} AND {2} OR {3}.
• How much does it pay? Each qualifying target qualifies one slab on the line. The line's Reward Applicability then combines the money those slabs pay: added together, or only the highest or the lowest.

A plan can have several lines, for example one for sales value and one for new outlets. The plan's Compensation Eligibility combines the lines' amounts, as described on Incentive plans.

When to use it

Use one line for each separate reward in the plan. Put two measures on the same line when they belong to one decision, such as "pay only if the rep reaches both the sales value and the order count". Put them on separate lines when each measure should pay on its own, such as a sales-value bonus and a separate collections bonus.

How xMatix handles it

• Lines are evaluated only on Approved plans. A line on a Draft or Pending Approval plan is never scored.
• Lines run in Sequence order. The order matters only for a Slab Reward Percentage slab, which pays a share of what an earlier line paid the same member. Otherwise each line is scored on its own.
• A line pays only through its slabs. A line with no targets, no slabs, or no slab whose band contains the achievement pays nothing.
• Changes apply at the next scoring. Nothing re-scores existing compensation lines when you change a line. The change counts the next time a compensation line is saved or the period is processed.

Prerequisites

• An incentive plan, usually in Draft. See Incentive plans, Step 1.
• A security profile that can create and edit Incentive Line records (see Permissions).
• To use Custom Logic Is Met or Always (No Criteria), an administrator must first add those values to the Definition Filter Criteria picklist (see Configuration).

Procedure

Step 1 — Add a line in the line builder

1. Open Rewards → Incentive Plans and open the plan.
2. Go to the Related tab. The top of the tab is the line builder. It has one panel per existing line, in Sequence order, and an add-line panel.
3. In the add-line panel, enter the Sequence Number. It is required, starts at 1 and cannot be lower than 1.
4. Enter a Title, such as Monthly sales. The title is optional, but it is the name you see on the line's panel.
5. Under Condition, choose the Definition Filter Criteria. It is required. If you choose Custom Logic Is Met, a Definition Custom Logic box appears. Type the combination there (see Business rules).
6. Under Rewards, choose the Reward Applicability. It is required. If you choose Custom Logic, a Reward Custom Logic box appears, but the engine does not evaluate it.
7. Click Save.

A confirmation message appears, and the new line appears as a panel with its title and its number in brackets, for example Monthly sales (ILN…). The number comes from the incentive line numbering. If the save is refused, the message starts with Save failed and gives the reason.

Step 2 — Add the line's targets and slabs

In the line's panel:

1. Click Condition to add a target, fill the row and save it with its save icon. The fields are described on Incentive targets.
2. Click Reward to add a slab, fill the row and save it. The fields are described on Compensation slabs.

Targets are numbered in the order the rows appear. Custom logic refers to them by that position, so {1} is the first target on the line.

Step 3 — Change a line

1. On the line's panel, click Edit. The panel opens a form with Sequence Number, Title, Definition Filter Criteria and Reward Applicability, all required except Title. The custom logic box appears when the criteria is a custom value. Below each picklist, the panel lists the line's saved targets and slabs.
2. Change the values and click Save. The message Line updated confirms the change. Cancel closes the form without saving.

You can also click the line's title on its panel to open the line's record page. The page header shows Title, Name, Definition Filter Criteria and Reward Applicability, with Edit and Delete buttons. The Details card shows Incentive Plan, Reward Applicability, Definition Custom Logic, Reward Custom Logic, Definition Filter Criteria and Name, and you can change them in place. The record page has no Sequence Number box and no Use Slab Absolute Value switch.

Step 4 — Remove a line

On the line's panel, click Delete. The line is deleted straight away, without a confirmation, and the message Line deleted appears. The record page's Delete button does the same.

Deleting a line does not delete its targets or slabs, but they stop counting. The engine reads targets and slabs only through their line. If a deleted line used custom logic on another line's results, or a later line paid a Slab Reward Percentage of it, check those lines too.

Step 5 — Create a line from the Incentive Line list (absolute bands)

Below the builder, the Incentive Line list shows the plan's lines with Name, Incentive Plan, Reward Applicability, Reward Custom Logic, Definition Custom Logic and Definition Filter Criteria. Its New button opens the Incentive Line form. Use it when the line needs Use Slab Absolute Value, because the builder cannot save that switch.

1. Click New on the Incentive Line list.
2. Check that Incentive Plan is your plan.
3. Choose Definition Filter Criteria and Reward Applicability. The form does not mark them as required, but a line with no Definition Filter Criteria never qualifies.
4. Turn on Use Slab Absolute Value if the slabs should compare the achieved value itself, not the percentage of quota.
5. Leave Name empty. The incentive line numbering fills it on save.
6. Click Save.

The form has no Sequence Number or Title box. The line is saved with Sequence 0, so it runs before lines numbered 1 and up, and its panel in the builder shows no title until you set one with Edit (Step 3). Use Slab Absolute Value can be set only on this form, so decide on it before you save.

Fields

Business rules

• Definition Filter Criteria.
  • All Conditions Are Met: every target on the line must qualify a slab.
  • Any Condition Is Met: one qualifying target is enough.
  • Custom Logic Is Met: the line follows the Definition Custom Logic. With no logic typed, the line never qualifies.
  • Always (No Criteria): the line qualifies without checking its targets. No slab qualifies that way, so the line pays nothing.
  • Empty, or any other value: the line never qualifies.
• A line with no targets never qualifies, unless its criteria is Always (No Criteria).
• Custom logic. {N} is the Nth target on the line in sequence order, starting at 1. Write AND and OR in capitals with a space on each side. OR is split first, so {1} AND {2} OR {3} reads as ({1} and {2}) or {3}. Brackets are not supported. A number with no matching target counts as not met. A part with no {N} in it, such as 1 AND 2, makes the whole line fail. Lowercase and or or is not recognised, so only the first {N} in that part counts.
• How a target qualifies. A target qualifies when the member's achievement falls inside one of the line's slabs. The first slab by sequence whose band contains the achievement is the one it qualifies. Two targets that land in the same slab pay that slab once. The scoring is described on Compensation slabs.
• Use Slab Absolute Value. When it is on, each target's achieved value is compared with the slabs' From Value and To Value, and the member needs no quota. To Value 0 means no upper limit. A slab with neither value never qualifies.
• Reward Applicability. The money of the line's qualifying slabs is added together, or the line keeps only the highest (Any One With Highest Value) or the lowest (Any One With Lowest Value). Gifts, gift points, a scheme or a discount group are written onto the compensation line, and do not count as money.
• Between lines. Each qualifying line that earns money adds one amount. The plan's Compensation Eligibility then pays their sum, the largest or the smallest.
• Sequence and references. A Slab Reward Percentage slab pays a percentage of what its referenced line paid the same member. Only a line that runs earlier counts. A later line, or one that paid nothing, counts as 0.
• No locking. You can change or delete lines on an Approved plan. Nothing stops you, and nothing re-scores compensation lines that are already scored.
• Partner portal. For an Approved Partner plan, the partner portal's targets are built from the plan's lines, targets and slabs, and are refreshed only when the plan itself is saved again. See Incentive plans.

Example

A distributor pays its field reps on two separate measures each month.

1. On the plan's Related tab, the administrator adds line 1, Sales value, with Any Condition Is Met and All Rewards. They add one target, Sale Amount, with a quota of 200,000. Then they add two slabs: 90 % to 99 % pays 4,000, and 100 % and above pays 8,000.
2. They add line 2, Range selling, with All Conditions Are Met and Any One With Highest Value. They add two targets: No Of Sale Orders with a quota of 40, and Sale Order Amount with a quota of 250,000. They add one slab: 100 % and above pays 2,500.
3. The plan's Compensation Eligibility is empty, so the lines are added together.
4. In June, a rep invoices 205,000 and books 44 orders worth 210,000. Line 1 qualifies the 100 % slab and pays 8,000. On line 2, the order count reaches 110 %, but the order amount reaches only 84 %, which is below every band, so line 2 pays nothing.
5. The rep's compensation line for June shows an Incentive Amount of 8,000.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox, open a Draft incentive plan that already has members, periods and quotas.

1. Add a line with Sequence Number 1, Title Practice, All Conditions Are Met and All Rewards.
2. Add two targets and one slab from 100 %.
3. Edit the line and change the criteria to Any Condition Is Met. Save.
4. Open the line's record page from its title and check the header.

Expected result: the panel shows Practice (ILN…). After the edit, the message Line updated appears, and the record page header shows Any Condition Is Met. Moving the plan to Approved and processing a period pays the slab to every member who reaches 100 % on either target.

Quick reference

• One line is one reward rule: targets plus slabs.
• All Conditions Are Met = every target; Any Condition Is Met = one target.
• Custom logic uses {1}, {2}… with capital AND and OR, no brackets.
• Empty criteria, or Always (No Criteria), pays nothing.
• Reward Applicability adds, or keeps the highest or the lowest slab amount.
• Use Slab Absolute Value is set only on the Incentive Line form, at creation.
• Delete in the builder has no confirmation.
• Line changes count from the next scoring.

Permissions

Incentive Line records follow the entity permissions on each security profile. In the seeded profiles, Sales Executive, Sales Manager, Standard User and System Admin have full access (read, create, edit and delete). A user without create or edit access cannot save a line from the builder, and the builder shows Save failed with the reason. Lines need no server-action grant.

If reps should not be able to change how they are paid, reduce the Sales Executive and Standard User profiles to read-only on Incentive Line, and on Incentive Target and Compensation Slab as well.

Configuration

• Definition Filter Criteria picklist. The seeded picklist has All Conditions Are Met and Any Condition Is Met. To use custom logic, add Custom Logic Is Met on the Incentive Line field's picklist in the entity's field settings, spelled exactly as shown. Add Always (No Criteria) only if you have a reason to, because a line with it pays nothing.
• Reward Applicability picklist. The seeded values are All Rewards, Any One With Highest Value, Any One With Lowest Value and Custom Logic. Custom Logic adds the amounts together like All Rewards, so you can deactivate it to avoid confusion.
• Numbering. The line number comes from the Incentive Line Document Name Setting (series ILN). See Templates.
• Record page. The Incentive Line View layout shows a target list and a compensation slab list. In the standard layout these lists have no relation, so they list every target and every slab, not just the line's own. To show only the line's rows, set each list's Relation in Design a form layout. To edit Sequence Number, Title or Use Slab Absolute Value on the record page, add those fields to the Details card in the same designer.
• No app entry. Incentive Line is not in any app's navigation. Users reach lines through the plan's Related tab.

Common problems

"Sequence Number is required", "Definition Filter Criteria is required" or "Reward Applicability is required"

The builder needs all three before it saves a line. Fill in the field shown and click Save again.

The line never pays, even though the member beats the target

Check these in order:

1. The plan's Status is Approved.
2. The line has a Definition Filter Criteria. A line created with New on the Incentive Line list may have none.
3. The criteria is not Always (No Criteria).
4. With Custom Logic Is Met, the logic is filled in, uses capital AND and OR, and refers only to targets that exist.
5. The line has slabs, and the achievement falls inside one of their bands. With All Conditions Are Met, every target must land in a band.

The troubleshooting page has the full checklist.

I can't find Use Slab Absolute Value on an existing line

The switch is only on the form that New on the Incentive Line list opens. It is not on the builder or the record page. Create a new line from the list with the switch on, move its targets and slabs to it, and delete the old line. Or ask an administrator to add the field to the record page layout.

Two lines are paying in the wrong order

Lines run by Sequence Number, and a line created from the Incentive Line list has Sequence 0. Edit the lines in the builder and give each one a distinct number. This matters only when a slab pays a Slab Reward Percentage of another line.

Common questions

Should I put two measures on one line or on two lines?

Put them on one line when they make one decision. With All Conditions Are Met, the rep is paid only if both measures land in a slab band. Put them on two lines when each should pay on its own. Each line then earns its own amount, and the plan's Compensation Eligibility adds the amounts together, or pays only the largest or the smallest. Two lines are also easier to read on the compensation line, because each measure keeps its own slabs.

Does changing a line change pay that is already calculated?

No. Compensation lines keep the amounts they were scored with. Your change counts the next time a compensation line is saved or the period is processed again with Process Compensation. If you change a line after a period is processed, process that period again to bring its compensation in line with the new rule. Periods that are already paid out should be left alone.

What does Reward Custom Logic do?

Nothing at present. The field is stored, but the engine does not read it, and Custom Logic as a Reward Applicability adds the slab amounts together like All Rewards. To pay only one slab, use Any One With Highest Value or Any One With Lowest Value. To pay several slabs on different terms, split them across lines and combine the lines with the plan's Compensation Eligibility.

Related topics

• Incentive plans
• Incentive targets
• Compensation slabs and line scoring
• Running an incentive cycle
• Rewards troubleshooting
• Incentive Line — entity reference