Definition
Sales attribution refers to agents who purchase SIM cards or distributors who allocate SIM cards selling them to end customers. Each order is automatically attributed to the corresponding agent or distributor, used for subsequent settlement and profit sharing calculations. Sales attribution is the basis for profit sharing calculation, ensuring each sale can be accurately traced back to the corresponding channel partner.
Attribution Rules
- By card number attribution: Trace the source of purchase/allocation based on the card number and automatically attribute to the corresponding channel partner
- By order attribution: Attribute based on the order association
- By Customer Ownership: Ownership based on the binding relationship between end customers and channel partners.
- Multi-level Ownership: When there are multi-level agents/distributors, support ownership by level, with profit sharing proportionally at each level.
Use Cases
For Agents: After the purchased cards are sold to end customers, the sales are attributed to the corresponding agent, supporting profit calculation based on purchase volume, sales amount, order quantity, and other rules. For Distributors: Each order is automatically attributed to the corresponding distributor chain, and in multi-level distribution, each level is proportionally allocated. Sales ownership is automatically recorded without manual maintenance, meeting compliance and audit requirements.
Ownership Rules and Configuration
Sales ownership rules need to be configured on the platform: by card ownership (owned by the agent who purchased the card), by user ownership (owned by the distributor who developed the user), or by promotion link/QR code, etc. Multi-level ownership is supported (such as the ownership chain of level-1 and level-2 agents). Ownership rules need to be determined when the order is generated, for the later calculation of settlement and profit sharing or payment splitting. Incorrect ownership will lead to miscalculation of profit sharing and needs regular verification. Ownership data is an important basis for settlement statements.
Sales Ownership and Profit Sharing
After sales attribution is set, the profit-sharing amount is calculated from the profit-sharing ratio. Settlement and profit sharing groups the attributed orders by settlement period and produces a settlement statement. Payment splitting shares the amount immediately with the split receivers at each level, following the attribution chain, when the user pays. When a card an agent purchased is sold to a C-end user, that user’s renewal orders stay with the agent. When a distributor sells a card within quota, the user’s payment order stays with the distributor. Sales attribution is the core data for channel profit sharing under the B2B2C model.
Attribution Rules
Sales attribution rules can be set by card (the card belongs to the agent who purchased it), by user (the user belongs to the distributor who acquired them), or by a promotion link. Multi-level attribution is supported, and each level shares profit by ratio. The rule must be fixed when the order is created. Wrong attribution miscalculates the profit share. Attribution data is an important basis for the settlement statement and needs a regular check. Sales attribution is core data for channel management on the IoT Cloud Platform.
Who is recorded when a card passes through two channels
Sales attribution answers which channel chain should receive the renewals, changes, and refunds this card produces. It happens at the instant the order is created, and it freezes attribution from facts that can be known then, instead of guessing from a channel name at month end. Usable facts include who purchased the card or who issued it after receiving quota, which promotion entry the user finished binding through, and whether the order carries a channel code. When all three exist and contradict each other, there must be a priority. A common priority is: an explicit channel code on the order outranks the promotion entry, and the promotion entry outranks the card’s initial allocation. If the business actually wants the card to follow the issuing channel forever, write the priority the other way. Two versions cannot both be in force by word of mouth.
When a card is transferred from channel A to channel B, orders already paid stay with A, and new orders belong to B from the moment the transfer takes effect. If the attribution field on the card is overwritten and history is recalculated, share that has already been paid out will be asked back. The attribution chain has to store the identifier at each level, not only the last level. Otherwise the upper-level ratio cannot be calculated, and when a middle level is disabled the order becomes ownerless.
How an unassigned order enters the manual queue
A failed attribution should not block the user’s payment and plan provisioning. Otherwise the person who bought the card goes offline because one level is missing from the channel profile. The right bypass is: the order finishes provisioning first, attribution is marked as awaiting assignment, and the share is not entered into settlement and does not call a split. The awaiting-assignment queue must be able to fill in a record from the card identity, the payment time, and the entry parameters. After it is filled in, only this order’s attribution is added. Other periods on the same card are not changed along with it. Orders that nobody fills in for a long time should be listed before settlement, not quietly folded into platform-operated sales.
Promotion parameters that a user forwards, and that then land on the wrong channel, are another kind of wrong attribution. Entry parameters need an expiry and a signature. An expired link must not be written onto a new order. SimtoLink channel management treats attribution as the projection of card attribution onto a transaction. Who currently holds the card is a stock fact. Order attribution is a transaction fact. After a transfer the two can diverge. Settlement reads only the copy on the order.
An expired promotion link should not rewrite a new order
A QR code or link a user saved can still be opened after the channel is disabled. If attribution trusts the channel code on the link without conditions, a disabled channel keeps receiving new renewals. The link should carry an expiry. After it expires, the order page can still finish binding and payment, but the order enters awaiting assignment and the share is not credited to the disabled channel. When a card already has a clear attribution, a new promotion parameter cannot overwrite it, unless a transfer is processed. SimtoLink stores the attribution source used at the time on the order, so later it is clear whether this sale followed the card or followed one promotion that was still valid.