If you handle sales commissions, you already know: disputes are inevitable. People spot errors, argue about quotas, or just want clarity. Manually tracking who needs to approve what, and when, is a headache that grows with your team. If you’re using Everstage to manage commissions, you can automate the whole approval workflow—saving time, reducing errors, and (mostly) keeping everyone sane.
This guide is for admins, ops folks, and anyone tired of herding cats every time a commission dispute pops up. I’ll walk you through setting up automated approval workflows in Everstage, with honest advice about what works, what to skip, and how to avoid the usual gotchas.
Step 1: Map Out Your Real Workflow Before You Touch Everstage
Everstage’s automation tools are only as good as your process. Before diving into settings, figure out how you actually want commission disputes to be handled. Don’t just copy what you think “should” happen—write down what happens now, and where it breaks.
- Who can raise a dispute? (Reps? Managers? Both?)
- Who needs to approve or review? (Team lead? Finance? The whole chain?)
- Are there different types of disputes? (Some you want to auto-approve, others need escalation?)
- What’s the fallback if someone doesn’t respond? (Does it escalate? Auto-close?)
Pro tip: Draw your approval chain out on paper or a whiteboard. If it looks like a spaghetti mess, simplify it before trying to automate. The more branches you have, the more likely the automation will break or annoy people.
Step 2: Get Your Dispute Settings Right in Everstage
Once you know your process, log into Everstage and head to the Disputes module. The details might look a bit different depending on your plan, but the basics are the same.
- Enable Dispute Management: If disputes aren’t already on, toggle them in the settings.
- Customize Dispute Categories: Set up categories that match your real-world cases (e.g., “Transaction Missing,” “Payout Error,” “Quota Disagreement”). Skip categories you’ll never use.
- Set Submission Rules: Decide who can file disputes. If you open it up to everyone, prepare for a flood—sometimes it’s smarter to require a manager’s sign-off first.
Watch out: If you make categories too broad (“General Issue”), you’ll get messy submissions and reviewers won’t know what to do. Too narrow, and people will misfile cases.
Step 3: Build Your Approval Chain
This is where the magic (or the headaches) happen. Everstage lets you define multi-step approval chains, but you need to be realistic.
- Start Simple: Don’t go wild with 5-stage approvals unless you know you need them. For most disputes, 1-2 steps is plenty: direct manager → finance or ops.
- Configure Approvers: In the Disputes workflow settings, add the roles or specific users for each step. If responsibility shifts by team or region, use dynamic fields (like “Rep’s manager”).
- Set Escalation Rules: Decide what happens if someone ignores a dispute. You can set reminders, or auto-escalate to the next level after X days. Don’t skip this—otherwise, disputes get stuck forever.
- Notification Settings: Make sure notifications are turned on for each stage. Default emails work, but people ignore them; consider integrating with Slack if your team actually checks it.
Honest take: Overcomplicating the approval chain just drags things out and frustrates everyone. If you find yourself adding more than three approvers, ask yourself why. Most disputes don’t need the CFO’s blessing.
Step 4: Automate Common Scenarios
Here’s where Everstage’s automation features shine—but only if you use them smartly.
- Auto-approve low-risk disputes: Set up rules to auto-approve disputes under a certain dollar amount or for common data entry errors. This keeps the queue clear for real issues.
- Route by category: Use logic to send disputes to the right person based on type. (E.g., quota issues to sales ops, payout errors to finance.)
- Bulk actions: Enable admins to resolve or escalate disputes in batches. You’ll thank yourself during busy periods.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time building automations for rare edge cases. The time you’ll spend setting them up isn’t worth it—handle those manually instead.
Step 5: Test With Real (Not Dummy) Data
Don’t trust the demo mode. Once your workflow is set up, run through a few real disputes end-to-end.
- Use actual users: Have a couple of reps file real disputes, and walk them through the process with their real managers and reviewers.
- Watch for bottlenecks: Time how long each stage takes. If people get stuck or lost, tweak the workflow or notifications.
- Check the audit trail: Everstage logs every step—make sure nothing falls through the cracks and that the right people are recorded as approvers.
Pro tip: Most “automation” fails because one person never logs in, or nobody reads the notification emails. Remind your team how the new workflow works and where to find their queue.
Step 6: Reporting and Continuous Cleanup
Once you’re live, automation doesn’t mean you can ignore the process. Regularly check how things are working.
- Monitor dispute volumes and resolution times: Everstage has built-in reports—use them. If disputes pile up at one approval stage, dig in.
- Spot repeat issues: If you’re seeing the same dispute type over and over, it’s a sign that something upstream (like data entry or comp plan clarity) needs fixing.
- Audit your workflow quarterly: People leave, teams change, and what worked last quarter might not now. Schedule a regular review of your approval chain and categories.
Don’t get lazy: Automated doesn’t mean foolproof. If you never check in, small problems can snowball into bigger ones.
What Works (and What to Skip)
What Works
- Two-step approvals: Fast, clear, and easy to track.
- Dynamic approvers: Saves you from manually reassigning every time teams shift.
- Auto-approvals for small stuff: Cuts down on noise and admin work.
What Doesn’t
- Overly granular categories: Creates confusion and more work.
- Too many approvers: Slows everything down and increases the chance someone drops the ball.
- Ignoring notifications: Automation is pointless if nobody reads their inbox.
What to Ignore
- Edge-case automations: Handle them manually until they become common.
- Fancy integrations you don’t use: If your team doesn’t live in Slack, don’t bother with Slack alerts.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Automating approvals for commission disputes in Everstage can save you hours and a lot of hassle—but only if you keep the workflow simple and revisit it regularly. Don’t try to solve every possible scenario on day one. Start with the basics, get feedback, and tweak as you go. The best automation is the one people actually use—and that keeps you out of endless email chains.