Build What-If? and Ghost Rules
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Set up What-If? Rules.
- Build Ghost Rules.
Define What-If? Rules
Imagine you want a rep to have visibility regarding the commission they’d earn if they closed all pipeline deals for the period. Great way to keep the energy up, right? In this scenario, you can use What-If? Rules to show potential commission earnings if certain criteria (that you define within your data filters) are met. This isn’t a calculator where the rep can type in values to help predict outcomes. But this feature has so much potential (wink!) when it comes to motivating your reps. Let’s dive into how you can set up these rules.
Define the Parameters
Like most payout rules, your first step is to go to Salesforce Spiff Designer, then create the data filter that determines what records to include. This can include criteria like a particular deal stage being achieved or a specific date range that needs to be considered.
Create the Rule
Next, you create the datasheet to get the commission amount. If this is a payout rule where the rep earns commission “deal-by-deal” or line-by-line, in the right sidebar, select the data filter that you created earlier. This applies the formula you define only to records that meet the parameters of the data filter.
Then you can define your formula to determine the potential commission the rep gets paid if these deals do eventually make it to the closed-won stage. After you define the commission field, create a payout rule by following the steps you learned in the previous unit. To ensure this is a What-If? rule that does not contribute to the rep’s commission amount for the period, toggle the What-If? option to On with the correct payout rule selected.
Check Out the Statement
The end result is a payout rule on the statement that calculates the potential commission amount. What-If? Rules are denoted by the What-If? Rule 
icon . However, as expected, the rule total doesn’t contribute to the rep’s total commission amount for the statement period. Just like with any other payout rule, you can add any metric cards or columns that contain pertinent information to display for reps.
Define Ghost Rules
Ghost Rules are payout rules that are only visible to admin and finance roles, and the output does not contribute to the rep’s total commission amount for a statement period. These can be valuable in situations where you want to start building or testing rules for next quarter or next year. You can then track the results against your current commission plan. This approach can help you make crucial decisions as you finalize the plans for next year, or you can use the data for analysis, reporting, and so on.
This is how they appear to the admin or finance user on the rep statement. They aren’t visible to any other user roles, including reps, when they log in to check out their statement.
Make a Payout Rule a Ghost Rule
Building on what you learned in the previous unit, you can create a payout rule in Salesforce Spiff Designer by clicking the plan name, and selecting + New Payout Rule. To ensure a rule is set as a Ghost Rule that doesn’t contribute to the rep’s commission amount for the period, select the rule and, in the right sidebar, toggle on Ghost Rule. You can confirm it’s a Ghost Rule by the icon that appears next to it.
When reps export a commission statement, they don’t see any Ghost Rules on their export. Salesforce Spiff users with an admin or finance role see Ghost Rules when exporting a statement.
To convert a rule to a What-If? Rule or Ghost Rule:
- Under PAYOUT RULE in the right sidebar, click the three dots
to the right of the rule.
- Select Edit Payout Rule Settings from the menu.
- Select What-If? or Ghost.
- Click Save.
Ghost Rule Errors
Even though a Ghost Rule doesn’t contribute to the rep’s commission amount, if a Ghost Rule assigned to a plan has an error, it causes the statement to error. Errors can happen frequently while a rule is in the development stage. If your Ghost Rule is displaying errors, consider making a Hidden Plan with its own rules instead. Hidden Plans are similar to Ghost Rules, but you can have an entire plan with rep assignments and rules that aren’t visible to reps.
You dig into Hidden Plans the next unit.