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Influencer / Affiliate ​

Status: Implemented (core attribution, campaigns, discount tiers, payout readiness, earnings, holds/clawbacks, and statement records).

Purpose ​

Influencer/Affiliate manages attribution, earnings, and payout readiness for referral and partner programs across channels.

Goals ​

  • Provide flexible attribution models that work across online and offline sales.
  • Support multiple earnings models with holds and clawbacks.
  • Preserve auditable earnings statements for accounting and payouts.

Non-goals ​

  • Influencer/Affiliate does not define pricing rules (owned by PPM).
  • Influencer/Affiliate does not define sales orders (owned by SCM).

Scope and gating ​

  • All influencer programs are org-scoped.
  • Channel context is required for attribution and earnings.
  • Channel-specific discount and earnings rules are optional.

Request context checklist ​

  • Org: required for all influencer operations.
  • Channel: required for attribution and earnings.
  • Campaign or attribution identifier: required for earnings calculation.
  • Actor + role: required for holds, clawbacks, and approvals.
  • Cost-centre: optional attribution for billing and audit.

Core business entities and relationships ​

  • Influencer profiles and program enrollment.
  • Campaigns, attribution identifiers (codes, links, QR), and rules.
  • Earnings ledger with pending, held, payable, and paid states.
  • Payout records and thresholds.
  • Disputes tied to earnings/payouts with status and resolution metadata.

Lifecycle and status model (described in words) ​

  • Campaigns move from draft to active to paused or closed.
  • Earnings move from pending to held to payable or clawed back.
  • Payouts move from scheduled to paid and are auditable.
  • Disputes move from open to under review, then resolved/rejected/withdrawn.

End-to-end workflows ​

Happy paths ​

  • Create a campaign with an attribution model and earnings rules.
  • Apply influencer discount codes in sales channels.
  • Accrue earnings and release them after hold periods.

Exceptions and edge cases ​

  • Returns or cancellations trigger clawbacks.
  • Fraud/abuse rules detect self-referrals or suspicious activity.
  • Attribution conflicts resolved by configured precedence.

Configuration and defaults ​

  • The platform is enterprise-grade by default; applications may hide complexity via defaults.
  • Attribution models: first touch, last touch, coupon, link, QR, in-store.
  • Attribution windows and eligibility rules are configurable, including product/category exclusions.
  • Earnings models: percent, fixed, tiered, bonuses, caps.
  • Channel-specific discounts and referral levels are optional.

Omnichannel requirements ​

  • Attribution supports online, POS, wholesale, and partner channel events.
  • Program rules must be consistent across channels or explicitly overridden.

Performance requirements ​

  • Attribution evaluation must not block checkout.
  • Earnings updates must be fast and auditable.

Operational resilience checklist ​

  • Operations are idempotent and retry-safe; duplicate submissions do not double-apply.
  • Event emission is non-blocking; operational actions do not wait on analytics pipelines.
  • Out-of-order events are tolerated; reconciliation uses timestamps and source references.
  • Exceptions generate actionable inbox items and can be retried or reversed with audit trails.
  • Long-running workflows are resumable with explicit state checkpoints.

Training and change management ​

  • Policy and workflow changes include training notes and operational checklists.
  • Critical changes use staged rollout with rollback guidance to reduce operational risk.
  • Support runbooks cover common attribution disputes, payout holds, and clawbacks.

BI and KPI expectations ​

  • Attributed revenue, orders, units, and conversion rate by channel.
  • Earnings vs payable vs paid with hold and clawback rates.
  • ROI by campaign, channel, and influencer tier.
  • Discount code utilization and assisted conversions.
  • Fraud and abuse indicators (self-referral, anomalous patterns).

KPI readiness checklist ​

  • Attribution rules include windows, eligibility, and channel scope.
  • Orders carry attribution identifiers or campaign references.
  • Earnings ledger captures pending, held, payable, and paid states.
  • Holds and clawbacks capture reason codes and references.
  • Campaign costs are recorded when ROI is tracked.

Rebalancing and recalibration ​

  • Rebalance attribution windows and payout thresholds to reduce fraud and improve ROI.
  • Shift campaign budgets toward higher-performing channels or regions.
  • Adjust hold periods and clawback rules based on return patterns.

Downstream accounting and integration capture ​

  • Earnings and payouts capture org, channel, influencer, order references, amounts, timestamps, and hold/clawback reasons.
  • Statements distinguish earned vs payable vs paid.
  • Minimum payout thresholds and payout references are required for accounting readiness.
  • Events include optional cost-centre attribution for billing and audit.

Comments and inbox ​

  • Campaigns and earnings records support comments, threads, and attachments with revision history.
  • Holds and fraud flags can generate inbox notifications.
  • Endpoints: POST /influencer/comment|comment/get|comment/list|comment/revise|comment/status|comment/report and POST /influencer/inbox/create|get|list|status|state.

Governance and roles ​

  • Org roles for campaign management and finance oversight (inf_* roles).
  • Payout and clawback policies are primary-owner governed.
  • Role grants can be permanent, time-bounded, or scheduled.

Relationships and data flow ​

  • SCM provides sales events for attribution.
  • PPM provides discount and pricing context used in attribution.
  • Accounting readiness consumes earnings and payout events.

Example scenarios and acceptance criteria ​

Scenario 1: Last-touch code with hold period ​

  • An influencer code is applied at checkout.
  • Earnings are held for the configured period.
  • Acceptance: earnings move from pending to payable after the hold.

Scenario 2: Return triggers clawback ​

  • A sale earns influencer commission.
  • The order is returned and the commission is clawed back.
  • Acceptance: the ledger shows the clawback and references the return.

Scenario 3: Channel-specific discount and attribution window ​

  • An influencer discount code is valid for ecommerce only with a 14-day window.
  • A sale occurs on ecommerce within the window and is attributed.
  • Acceptance: attribution respects channel eligibility and window policy.

Scenario 4: Fraud flag and payout hold ​

  • A self-referral pattern triggers a fraud flag on an influencer.
  • Payouts are held pending review and then released or reversed.
  • Acceptance: hold and release actions are auditable with reason codes.