Choosing a calculation basis
How to pick the right ClaimDS calculation basis — volume, stepped, tiered, flat, growth or target — plus best practices and common questions.
The right calculation basis is the one that matches the behaviour your scheme is actually paying for. This page lines up each basis against the kind of scheme it fits, then covers the practices that keep a scheme out of trouble.
Match the basis to the scheme
- Reward total volume, with the rate stepping up as a partner grows → volume slab.
- Reward each additional unit at a rising rate → stepped.
- Give different partners different rates by status or grade → tiered.
- Apply one simple rate to everything, like an early-payment rebate → flat.
- Reward partners for growing the business year on year → growth.
- Reward partners for hitting an individual target → target achievement.
Best practices
- Decide the basis before you go live. It locks once accruals post, and changing it afterwards means an amendment and a re-post. Model it first.
- Mind the thresholds. A slab threshold is the top of its band — leave no accidental gaps between bands unless you mean to, and remember the top band is open-ended.
- Set targets and tiers at enrolment. Target-achievement and tiered schemes earn nothing for a partner whose target or tier is missing, so make that part of onboarding the partner.
- Keep volume slab and stepped straight. They look alike but pay very differently — see whole-volume vs stepped before you commit to one.
Related
Frequently asked
What's the difference between volume slab and stepped?
A volume slab applies one rate — the band the total volume reaches — to all of that volume. Stepped applies each band's rate only to the volume within that band, then adds them up. Same tiers, very different payout.
Can I change the basis after the agreement is live?
Once accruals are posted the basis is locked, so a change goes through the amendment process, which re-posts the difference. It's doable, but far better to choose the basis before you go live.
What happens if a partner has no target or tier set?
They accrue nothing. Target-achievement needs each partner's target on their enrolment, and tiered needs each partner's tier — without them, there's nothing for the engine to apply, so set them at enrolment.
Does the rate apply to value or to quantity?
Most bases work on value with a percentage rate. Stepped is the exception — it works on quantity with a per-unit amount. That's why a stepped slab asks for units and an amount per unit rather than a percentage.
What if a partner's volume goes past the top slab?
The top band is open-ended, so volume beyond it still earns at the top band's rate. There's no cap unless you model one.
Still stuck?
Book a demo and we'll walk through it on your own data — or just talk to us.