If you’ve ever spent hours wrangling spreadsheets to assign quotas, you know it’s tedious, error-prone, and frankly not a great use of anyone’s time. This guide is for sales ops folks, revenue leaders, or anyone handed the job of “making quota assignments work better.” We’re going to walk through how to actually automate quota assignment workflows in Anaplan—what works, what’s hype, and what to watch out for.
No fluff, no magic bullets. You’ll still need to think through your process, but we’ll show you how to set up something that actually saves time (and sanity).
Why Automate Quota Assignment?
Let’s level-set: assigning sales quotas is rarely a fun job. You’re typically dealing with shifting targets, sales team changes, and a stack of “urgent” exceptions. Doing this manually is a recipe for mistakes and late nights.
Automating quota assignment means: - Fewer manual errors (no more “oops, wrong rep got the wrong number”) - Faster updates when things change - A clear audit trail when someone asks, “Why did my quota go up?”
But—and this is important—automation won’t magically fix a broken quota process. If your logic’s a mess in Excel, it’ll just be a fancier mess in Anaplan.
Step 1: Map Out Your Quota Assignment Process
Before you open Anaplan, get crystal clear on how quotas should be assigned. This is the most overlooked (and most important) step.
Questions to answer: - Who gets a quota? (By role, region, tenure, etc.) - What data do you need? (Territory assignments, past performance, product focus, etc.) - How are quotas calculated? (Flat, split by territory value, waterfall, etc.) - Who needs to approve or adjust assignments? - What exceptions or overrides are allowed?
Pro tip: Draw this on paper or a whiteboard first. If you can’t explain your process to a new hire, it’s not ready to automate.
Step 2: Prep Your Data (Don’t Skip This)
Anaplan’s power is in connecting data, but garbage in really does mean garbage out. Before you build anything:
- Clean up your user and territory lists. Make sure names, IDs, and reporting relationships are up to date.
- Gather all needed inputs. This might be sales targets, territory sizes, historical performance, or HR data.
- Standardize formats. Dates, territory names, and currency should be consistent. Anaplan is picky here.
- Decide on your source of truth. Don’t pull from four different spreadsheets if you can help it.
What to ignore: Don’t try to automate every edge case from day one. Focus on the 90% scenario; you can always layer on complexity later.
Step 3: Build Your Core Quota Assignment Model in Anaplan
Time to get into Anaplan. Here’s the honest path that works—don’t be seduced by fancy dashboards just yet.
3.1 Set Up Your Core Lists
Lists are the backbone of Anaplan models. You’ll need: - Sales reps (or users) - Territories or segments - Products or lines of business (if quotas are split this way) - Time periods (year, quarter, etc.)
Pro tip: Use unique IDs (not just names) for everything. It’ll save headaches later.
3.2 Create Input Modules
Modules are where your data lives. Set up modules for: - Quota Inputs: Targets, historical sales, territory values - Assignments: Which rep covers which territory and when
Lock down who can edit these. You don’t want everyone “helping” themselves to quota changes.
3.3 Define the Quota Calculation Logic
This is your process, codified in formulas. Keep it as simple as possible:
- Basic formula: Territory Target x Rep Allocation % = Rep Quota
- More complex? Maybe you pro-rate for tenure or split by product.
Test with a small set of data before scaling. If it doesn’t work for 10 reps, it won’t work for 1,000.
3.4 Build Workflow Modules for Approvals and Exceptions
If someone needs to review or approve quotas: - Use Anaplan’s workflow features to flag records that need approval. - Set up dashboards for managers to review, approve, or request changes. - Track who made adjustments and why (audit trail).
Don’t overengineer—start with a simple “approve/reject” and expand only when you need more.
Step 4: Automate Data Imports and Updates
Manual data entry defeats the purpose of automation. Here’s how to keep updates hands-off:
4.1 Schedule Imports
- Use Anaplan’s integration tools (like Anaplan Connect) or APIs to pull in HR, CRM, and sales data on a schedule.
- Set up automatic imports for new hires, territory changes, or target updates.
What works: Automated nightly imports from your source systems. What doesn’t: Pulling random ad hoc spreadsheets—someone will forget a column, and your model will break.
4.2 Handle Data Errors Gracefully
You’ll get the occasional bad import. Build checks into your model (e.g., “flag if quota total doesn’t match target”) so you catch issues before they go downstream.
Pro tip: Set up notifications for failed imports. Don’t rely on “someone will notice.”
Step 5: Set Up Dashboards and Reporting
Don’t bury users in complexity. Give them what they need and no more.
- For sales reps: Show their quota, how it was calculated, and what’s expected.
- For managers: Show team quotas, pending approvals, and exceptions.
- For execs: High-level rollups and audit trails.
What to ignore: Flashy charts no one looks at. Focus on clarity.
Step 6: Test and Roll Out (But Don’t Boil the Ocean)
Test early and with real users: - Run a pilot with a small sales team. - Ask them to break it—see where the process falls down. - Adjust logic or dashboards based on feedback.
What works: Iterative rollouts. Fix what’s broken before adding bells and whistles. What doesn’t: Big-bang go-lives. They rarely go smoothly, and you’ll spend weeks untangling issues.
Step 7: Maintain and Improve
Automation isn’t “set it and forget it.” Quotas change, teams shift, and your model will need tweaks.
- Review logic and data sources at least quarterly.
- Archive old data to keep things fast.
- Document changes—future-you (or your replacement) will thank you.
Pro tip: Keep a changelog in the model itself. Saves a lot of “when did we change that formula?” detective work.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
What works: - Clean, well-defined processes mapped before you build - Automating the 90% case, not every exception - Regular, scheduled imports from reliable sources - Simple dashboards focused on real user needs
What doesn’t: - Trying to mirror your Excel monster, trick for trick - Automating before you’ve fixed process chaos - Letting everyone edit everything - Overcomplicating approvals and exceptions
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Automating quota assignment in Anaplan will save you time, cut down on errors, and give you a clear process—if you keep it simple and focus on what matters. Don’t chase perfection or try to automate every corner case from day one. Get the basics right, roll it out, and improve as you go.
Most of all: don’t let the tool drive the process. Your workflow should make sense on paper before you ever touch Anaplan. Automate what works, fix what doesn’t, and don’t be afraid to keep it boring. That’s how you win back your weekends.