Each record carries its own Referred by, decided once, when the record is made. Reports read it as it is; they never work it out again. That is what makes last month’s figure stay last month’s figure.
| Record | Credited to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | The partner chosen in Referred by. | When it is filled in. |
| Customer | The lead’s partner, with the date of the referral; or the partner chosen on the customer. | On conversion, or when it is filled in. |
| Deal | The partner of the lead it came from, with no time limit; otherwise the customer’s partner while inside the window. | When the deal is made, on the form, the board, an import or a conversion. |
| Quotation, proforma, sales order, invoice | The deal’s partner if it belongs to a deal, even when that is nobody; otherwise as for a deal. | When the document is made. |
| A document made from another | The same partner as the one it was made from: a quotation’s order, an order’s invoice, a revision, a credit note. | Copied, never asked again. |
| Payments | Not stamped themselves; they count through the invoice they are recorded against. | When recorded. |
Why a document follows its deal
If the deal was credited to nobody, its documents are too, even when the customer is referred. The deal was asked the question when it was made, and its answer stands. Two figures on one screen that disagree are worse than either.
Why a converted document keeps its partner
A quotation accepted in month eleven and invoiced in month thirteen is the same sale. Asking again at invoice time could answer differently, because the window may have closed in between, and the invoice would then disagree with the quotation it came from.
Not credited at present: sales rung up in Point of sale, invoices raised from Projects or Subscriptions, and orders from Shopify. They are made by their own modules, and none of them asks who referred the customer.
Use cases
- A lead an architect referred converts, the deal is won and invoiced: everything carries her name without anybody choosing it again.
- A referred customer’s deal for a different product is raised by a different salesperson: it is still credited to the partner while inside the window.
What will catch you out
- A deal made before a partner was set on the customer stays credited to nobody, and so do documents raised against that deal. Use Set on the deal, and on its open documents, to credit them.
- Changing the partner on a customer later does not move what was already credited. See Changing who a record is credited to.
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