Overview
Tern supports Advisor Commission Tracking - which allows you to track overdue payments, log exactly what you have received from your host agency or suppliers, and more.
IMPORTANT NOTE: this article focuses on commission tracking and reconciliation for Advisors.
If you are an agent looking to track commission and payout statuses (set by your agency admin), start here: Agents: Commission Tracking
If you're an agency admin looking to reconcile commission across your agency and get them ready for agent payouts, start here: Tern Agency: Commission Reconciliation
Marking activities as 'Booked'
You'll notice a 'Commission' tab on your top nav
If you haven't marked any of your activities before as 'booked', you may see a blank table at first. Tern only starts tracking commission status after you mark an activity as 'booked'. That way you can still add expected commission to activities as you propose them to your clients, but it won't create noise by tracking things that you never end up booking.
Marking activities as 'Booked'
To mark an activity as Booked, go to the Booking & Pricing tab. In the Booking details section, you'll see an Accreditation dropdown where you can select the correct IATA or credential for the agency you want this booking logged under. Your default agency will be pre-selected, but if you belong to multiple agencies, make sure to choose the right one before marking as booked. Learn more about managing your default agency.
When you select an accreditation, the Commission Type dropdown filters to show only commission types from that accreditation's agency. If you belong to multiple agencies, you will only see the relevant types for the agency you are working under for that booking. You can do this for trip activities, trip packages, and insurance.
Once your accreditation and booking details are set, click the "Mark as Booked" button in the top right of the Booking details section to confirm. You won't be able to edit the accreditation during this step, so make sure it's set correctly beforehand.
Once you mark an activity as 'booked' you'll see a 'Received Commission' option to add a payment. You can do that right from here - OR in your new commission dashboard. This article focuses on the new dashboard, but if you'd like to learn more about logging things here check out our article on Changes to Commission Status.
Commission Dashboard
Now that we've marked a few activities as booked, you'll start to see them appear in your Commission Tracking Dashboard. This includes bookings across every trip you are planning in Tern.
Logging a payment
Let's imagine your host agency, or a supplier, has paid out commission for a specific booking. Click on the table row for that booking to enter the payment.
You can adjust the exact amount you received for this booking, the currency, and the 'date received'.
If you get another payment in the future for this same booking, you can log additional payments using the '+' button.
Commission Statuses
Now that we've logged a booking as 'received', let's talk about commission statuses. You can filter by any of these statuses (and other filters) to drill down on specific bookings you need to track.
Upcoming: expected commission date is in the future
Overdue: expected commission date is in the past
Partial: at least one commission payment (from the supplier) has been logged against the activity by your agency admin, to account for activities you are expecting more commission payments for.
Received: all expected commission payments (from the supplier) have been logged against the activity by your agency admin.
Cancelled: you have marked the activity as cancelled after booking
Exporting data
In addition to using Tern to track commission payments, you can export this data at any time.
FAQ
I'm seeing a drop-down with multiple options to choose from on my Commission Dashboard - what does that mean?
You'll see this toggle if you've marked activities as 'booked' through multiple agencies in Tern, or if you've marked activities as 'booked' through at least one agency, AND marked other activities as 'booked' not through your agency. If that's the case you can toggle between agency bookings / bookings not made through your agency. Depending on which option you select, you may notice different functionality.
This article focuses on commission tracking for advisors (so it would match what you see for 'My Independent Bookings')
If you are looking at bookings made through your agency as an agent, check out this article instead: Agents: Commission Tracking
My booking is marked as booked but it doesn't appear in commission reconciliation. Why? Commission reconciliation requires bookings to have an agency credential (accreditation) selected. If the credential dropdown is empty on the booking, it will not appear in reconciliation search results. Open the booking's Booking & Pricing tab, select your agency credential (IATA number) from the Accreditation dropdown in the Booking details section, and save. The booking will then appear in reconciliation.
Can I delete a received commission payment?
Yes - agency admins can delete a commission payment if the supplier statement is not locked and no payouts have been made against it. Look for the trash icon on the payment detail row. If you don't see it, check whether the statement has been locked or a payout has already been processed. Independent advisors managing their own commission can also delete payments they've logged.