sales performance management template - ibm

Request for ProposalSales Performance ManagementTemplate

Contents Contents........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21. Brief Project Overview.................................................................................................................................................................................. 32. Organization’s Background........................................................................................................................................................................... 33. Project Goals & Stakeholders....................................................................................................................................................................... 34. Scope of Work & Deliverables...................................................................................................................................................................... 35. Timeline......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 46. Technical requirements................................................................................................................................................................................. 46.1 Model Configuration & Maintenance............................................................................................................................................................. 46.2 Create Plans................................................................................................................................................................................................... 56.3 Decentralized Administration of Plan Components...................................................................................................................................... 86.4 Plan Participation........................................................................................................................................................................................... 96.5 Adjustments................................................................................................................................................................................................... 96.6 Territory Management.................................................................................................................................................................................. 106.7 Data Entry/Quota Management.................................................................................................................................................................... 126.8 Sales Analytics.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 136.9 Workflow & Security...................................................................................................................................................................................... 156.10 Audit & Compliance...................................................................................................................................................................................... 166.11 Data Integration............................................................................................................................................................................................ 176.12 User Interface and Experience..................................................................................................................................................................... 186.13 Technical Requirements............................................................................................................................................................................... 197. Principle Point of Contact............................................................................................................................................................................. 218. Budget........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 219. On-going Support.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 2210. Criteria for Selection...................................................................................................................................................................................... 2211. Format & Proposal Timeline.......................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Watson Financial Services Request for Proposal – Sales Performance Management – Template

1. Brief project Overview

2. Organization’s Background

3. Project Goals & Stakeholders

4. Scope of Work & Deliverables


5. Timeline

6. Technical Requirements

6.1 Model Configuration & Maintenance


Client Requirement Vendor Response Vendor Comments and Explanation

Define and create hierarchies

Maintain hierarchies through trees and tables

Have multiple hierarchies on any dimension

Create unlimited hierarchy levels

Create unlimited hierarchy levels

Use drag and drop feature for hierarchy management

Define different data tables for each source system. Do you support multiple data formats?

Easily create lookup tables

Add fields to existing tables and specify any limits

6.2 Create Plans



Hide payees who are no longer with the organization (in the current active period)

Lock periods


Create plans using out-of-the-box rule based wizards

Get a graphical view of how the overall plan/model fits together (i.e. calculations, tables, reports, etc.)

Create plans based on user-defined formulas

Define desired decimal precision (rounding of results)

Access prebuilt items (e.g. reports, tables, calculations) in order to speed up the creation of plans.

Define payout interval (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.)

Mix payout intervals (e.g. some plan elements payout monthly and others payout out quarterly)

Ability to set “effective dates” for objects in the model such as data, calculations, plans or any custom object.

Define multiple calendars with unlimited levels and be able to choose whichcalendar to use for each compensation plan. (e.g. individuals based oncalendar months vs. 445 vs. subsidiaries or acquisitions that usedifferent fiscal years may need to be compensated based on different Fiscal periods)

Generate commission accrual amounts



Support creation of accelerators by any dimension

Specify the weightings of plan components by payee, position, tenure, group, etc.

Specify targeted earnings by payee, position, tenure, group, or any other user-defined metric

Build plans based on items such as:– Profitability– MBOs, KSOs, KPIs, etc.– Volumes– Retention percentages– Activity based (# of calls, leads, customer satisfaction scores, etc.)

Roll-up transactions and individual results for group-based incentives

Support for:– SPIFs– Draws – recoverable and nonrecoverable– Guarantees – recoverable and nonrecoverable– Splits (team selling)– Pool based incentives

Cap payouts:– By transaction– By named account– By period– By product– By other user-defined metric

Carry forward negative or positive balances to future periods

Support true-ups when prior period maximum payouts are not achieved



Handle product returns:– Adjust accelerator threshold level attained– Apply against return schedule to determine portion to be deducted

Prorate targets for employees who work partial periods

An individual can participate in one or many plans at the same time with oneEmployee ID and can report to one or many different managers with propervisibility for managers

Simulate economic impact of proposed new plans

Multi-currency capabilities:– Convert quotas to local currency– Convert transactions to calculation currency– Convert payouts to local currency– Define exchange rates by year, period, transaction, etc.– Ability to have multiple rate sets

Create what-if plans and multiple scenarios that can be comparedagainst each other or production (Live data)

Create calculations centrally and reuse them in multiple plans

Have a start and stop date on each plan

Define unique start and stop (eligibility) dates for each plan member

Create calculations that are both date and elapsed time sensitive

Assign payees to plans through a drag-and-drop feature

Create dynamic rules that assign payees to plans


6.3 Decentralized Administration of Plan Components


Build a plan from more than one data source dynamically

Have plans that automatically release payments based on defined criteria(e.g. 50% on signing and 50% on completion, or stop payment to a payeeafter client has been on board for 365 days)

Hold payments until a pre-defined threshold has been met (e.g. hold back50% of commissions until payee meets 50% of attainment)


Ability to restrict access to (and management of) various aspects of themodel to certain individuals – e.g. business units, job roles, etc. Definewhat level access may be restricted for users as well as administrators

Collect MBO or KSO assignments and scores from managers and allowrouting through a workflow for approvals

Collect split details from managers

Collect sales targets from managers

Collect plan component weightings from managers

Collect account assignments from managers

Collect customer classifications

Collect temporary territory assignments from managers


6.4 Plan Participation

6.5 Adjustments


Use drag and drop feature to assign individuals to plans

Dynamically assign individuals to plans based on plan participation rules

Movement of individuals between plans

Participation in more than one plan at the same time

Generate reports when payees participate in more than one plan

Provide payees with proration information including %, time in plan,metrics, attainment, etc.

Participation in a plan after termination

Participation of external payees (e.g. agents, re-sellers, brokers, dealers etc.)in plans


Freeze actual results after period is closed

Adjust transaction amounts in prior periods

Adjust accelerators, tiers and/or quotas in prior periods

Adjust territory assignments (e.g. named accounts, geographical etc.) in prior periods

For any adjusted amount, calculate the delta between what was paid and what should have been paid and carry the delta amount forward to the current period (true-ups)


6.6 Territory Management


Option to spread adjustments over multiple periods (i.e. smooth out theimpact from a large return)

Designate users to make manual adjustments

Allow manual adjustments to be modified or deleted by thecompensation administrator

Capture of comments on manual adjustments

Adjust results without changing source data (i.e. have the adjustment layeredon top of the source data so that it’s always possible to reconcile back to theoriginal source)

Account for differences in exchange rates when performing adjustments

Capture audit log of all changes to data, plans, payees, etc. including who, what, and when (date/time stamp)


Define territories by:– Named account– Vertical (industry)– Product– Account– Geography– Mix– Other user-defined metrics

Define territories using wildcards, ranges or hierarchy groupings.

Define territories and territory assignments using date-effective rules



Allow rules and exceptions to rules defined using groups and hierarchical levels.

Allow multiple date-effective hierarchies to be created for the same attribute(product, geography, etc.)

Assign individuals or groups to territories

Automatically roll transaction credits up the people hierarchy

Handle overlays by sharing the transaction across multiple payeesincluding the ability to allow for multiple compensation targets

Handle open territories, temporary territory coverage, long-term change in territory management

Move or realign territories without restating history

Future-date changes without impacting current alignments

Allow shared revenue on overlapping territories

Allow exclusive revenue credits (precedence) to prevent overlapping territories

Use precedence to easily define exceptions and priorities

Allow the combination of precedence and a matrix approach to assigning credit

Reports to identify un-credited transactions and unassigned territories

Reports to identify how frequently each rule is used to assign a transaction credit.


6.7 Data Entry/Quota Management


Build a quota by person, territory, product, customer, etc.

Ability to plan quotas by month, quarter, desired seasonal interval or year.

Support for multiple versions or scenarios of quotas

Build quotas based on historical performance

Mass pre-population capabilities

Make mass top-down modifications including proportionally, evenly or bysome other user-defined criteria including the ability to hold (freeze)certain participants from being affected by the top-down reallocation

Plan by growth % (period-to-period and current year vs. prior year)

Spread quota amounts based on seasonal variations or a mathematical formula

Plan quota based on– Payee’s historical performance– Assigned book of business historical performance

Build quotas based on business drivers

Cross-dimensional quota population (e.g. base new territory’s quota on asimilar existing territory, new product’s quota on a similar existing product ornew payee’s quota on a similar existing payee)

Build quotas based on multi-year averages

Build quotas based on last 12 months (rolling)

Adjust quotas based on YTD actuals

Assign quotas based on top-down allocations

Immediate visibility of quota results at both the detailed and aggregated levels

6.8 Sales Analytics


Immediate visibility of quota results at both the detailed and aggregated levels

Reassign quotas mid-year

Plan quotas in payee’s local currency

Plan quotas in reporting currency and then translateto payee’s local currency

Make retroactive changes including prior period assignment of namedcustomers, product, geography, transactions and quotas

Textual capabilities to add context to quota management and reporting process

Allow designated users to update transactions where appropriate


Canned reports included in the system

Ability to copy/paste reports for re-use

Report writer with immediate access to data and calculation results

Ability to create a single report which dynamically changes information basedon the participant’s plan

User-defined report writer

Graphing – canned (bar, line, pie, etc)

Ability to brand (logo and color/font formatting in the application)

User defined dashboard creating capability

Conditional formatting (traffic lights)


Detailed compensation statement production

Display transactions that comprise the payout

Run reports while system is being updated with new data

Export reports to Excel, PDF, ASCII, etc.

Support multiple hierarchies

Leverage hierarchical attributes

Drill down through the hierarchy via links to other reports

Ability to sort data (alphabetical, by date, largest number first, etc)

Ability to dynamically filter data through drop-down menus

Leaderboard activity/gamification (top sales, top territories, etc)

Distribute reports to non-system users

Restrict access to reports based on user name or user profile

Ability for users to have their own private reports

Produce a package of reports for distribution

Restrict access within a report based on hierarchical security

Compare and contrast YTD, QTD, prior period, quarter over quarter, trailing 12, etc.)

View a single report with all calendar levels such as: Annual, Quarter, Month,Week and Day. How many levels are supported?

Easily customize look and feel of reports with comprehensive range of formatting and design features

Dynamically suppress ‘zero’ rows


6.9 Workflow & Security


User ability to create and display reports with large numbers of rows of data (define any limitations)

Ability to seamlessly integrate with predictive tools

Provide native language exploration of data


Support for hierarchical-based security

Create an unlimited number of visually represented workflows with differentrouting levels and structure

Workflow for compensation plans, payout approval based on hierarchy

Ability to delegate in workflow approval

Workflow approval and dispute resolution capabilities on payoutamounts - users can submit inquiries or disputes through the system along with comments

Maintain a history of previously submitted disputes and their resolution

Maintain audit and history of all workflow steps. Ability to report on workflow

Quota workflow for approval and sign-off on targets

Email notification for workflow tasks

Administrator(s) able to see the workflow status of all users

Managers able to see the workflow status of their direct reports

Route disputes/inquiries directly to the administrator(s)

Route disputes/inquiries to managers


6.10 Audit & Compliance


Payees (internal and external) able to log in and see their payouts

Support for multiple types of users (e.g. users who can only run reports, vs.users who have to sign-off on payouts vs. users who can make adjustments to payouts)

Create security groups and have users belong to more thanone security group

Make payouts contingent on sign-off on goal sheets or sign-off on payouts


Ability to create alerts in the following situations:– Payees are in more than one plan at the same time– Payees are not in a plan– Payout exceeds a pre-defined threshold– A transaction is credited to more than one payee– A payee is still active in a plan after termination– Additional user-defined alerts

Produce summary reports stamped with the user name and time & date for each adjustment

Seamless support for multiple environments (e.g. one for building andtesting new plans and another for live production payouts)

Promotion process between environments


6.11 Data Integration


Link/store plan documentation and/or compliance documentation within the application

Ability to build business rules into the application for automated control purposes

Comprehensive audit log that tracks all system events (e.g. hierarchy changes, data loads, approvals, etc.)


Import data from multiple systems including Excel, csv, ODBC, XML, or through API

Direct/scheduled data imports

Load of both data, master (reference), and hierarchical information

Generate exception reports if an import routine fails

Email notification if an import routine fails

Import tool capabilities:– Field mapping– Field splitting (sub-fielding for long strings of meta data)– Concatenation of fields– Wild-carding support

Replace or update transactions and hierarchies during data load


6.12 User Interface and Experience


Allow other systems to pull results fromyour system through:– API– ODBC– Excel– Text/CSV– XML

Send information directly to our payroll system

Generate journal entries for commission accruals


Graphical visualization of models to enable comparison betweendev/test/production instances

User access to commission statements, plan documentation, or inquiries directly from Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics CRM interface

Ability to define task lists in the administrative tool that describe typicaltasks for administrators (e.g. finalize payroll, complete the month-endprocess, etc.)

Ability to customize the web interface based on company needs – and withcontent that is specific to certain roles (e.g. payee, sales manager, etc.)

Ability to provide mobile access to the entire application to end users viaphones, tablets, etc.

Ability to provide single sign on access through the corporate web portal

The application can be fully rendered in local language (specify which languages)


6.13 Technical Requirements


Ability to leverage SSO

Use system defined user names and passwords with timed expirations

Integrate directly to source business applications (without having to uploadtext files)

Database support:– SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2012

If Cloud, describe the level of encryption

Simultaneous system access by multiple administrators

Add new tables to the system (describe process)

Add new fields to your existing system tables (describe process)

Single integrated technology. Describe any third party software packages that are required to operate the proposed solution.

Establish and maintain alternate hierarchies (describe process)

Frequent data updates– Hourly?– Real-time?

Confirmation of successful data updates and notification of unsuccessful data updates– How are clients notified?



Are there any limits to the amount of data that can be loaded and calculatedper period (monthly) and process within a nightly window?

Describe the average load (number of records per second)

Fast calculation time. What is the typical calculation time for a model withthousands of employees and dozens of compensation plans

Extract data directly from your database and into our existing systems

System data purging– When does this occur?

Maintain high performance with large volume of users– What is the maximum number of simultaneous users your system can

support before performance degrades or the system fails?

24/7 support– If we want our system to be available 24x7, how do you deal with

system maintenance?

Does anything get installed on our users’ systems?

Minimal impact on user experience due to other client processes– Will the system slow down if another client is running a large process?

Protection against another company’s user from accessing our instance of the software

Customization that is possible to meetcurrent and future business needs?

Maintain history for inactive payees– Are we charged for payees who are no longer active?


7. Principle Point of Contact

8. Budget


Protection in the event that your company goes out of business– What happens to our data if you go out of business?

Protection against hackers

Compliance controls that allow us to distinguish between live compensationplans and plans that are in development

Option to move the system on-premise or to the cloud in the future

Seamless upgrade process

Ability to upgrade based on customer schedule and without impact to currentproduction environment

Ability to test upgrade in non-production environment before upgrading production

9. On-going Support

10. Criteria for Selection

11. Format & Proposal Timeline

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sales performance management template - ibm

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