An attribution says "employee X earns commission on client Y." Without an attribution, a client is "house" — no commissions accrue, regardless of plans.
Attributing a client
On the client detail page:
- Find the "Attributed to" section.
- Pick an employee from the dropdown.
- Accept the default plan (their assigned plan) or pick a different plan.
- Optional: add a split — a second employee with a % share.
- Save.
Splits
Multiple employees can share commission on one client. Common setup: closer + doer split 70/30 — one employee sold the work, a different employee does the work, they share the commission.
Shares must sum to ≤100%. If less than 100%, the rest is house (no commission on that fraction).
Retroactive changes
Two modes when you change an attribution:
- Going forward only (default) — new accruals use the new attribution; old accruals stay with the old.
- Retroactive — the calculator replays over the affected date range and adjusts old accruals. Owner-only, audit-logged, prompts confirmation.
Retroactive changes are sometimes necessary (e.g., you discovered the wrong employee was attributed) but are a red flag if they are frequent. They change money that was already "settled" in employees' minds. Do them sparingly, with a written explanation to the affected employee.
The "Brought in by" shortcut
On any client detail page, the "Brought in by" field is a shortcut for "100% attribution to this employee on their default plan." 90% of shops use this 90% of the time. Splits and overrides are the exception.
A client with no attribution does not generate commissions. If you set up your plans but no money is accruing, double-check that your clients are actually attributed to employees. This is the #1 commission-setup mistake.