Rate selection: most specific, highest or lowest

Most Specific, Highest or Lowest choose between two matching rate lines.

This page explains the Rate Selection field of a plan component. For the other component fields, see Commission plans and components.

When more than one rate line matches a sale, Rate Selection on the component decides which one pays: the most specific line, the line with the highest rate, or the line with the lowest rate.

Choose the rate selection

1. Open the plan. In Components, find the component.
2. Set Rate Selection:

Rate Selection	Which matching rate line pays
Most Specific	The most specific line, as described in Rate lines and costs. This is the default.
Highest	The line with the highest Rate %, or the highest Amount.
Lowest	The line with the lowest Rate %, or the lowest Amount.

A line takes part only when it matches the customer, product, dimension and posting date, as always. Rate selection only decides between the lines that match.

Which methods can use Highest and Lowest

Highest and Lowest work for components with the method % of Sales, % of Margin, Amount per Unit or Fixed per Sale.

• For % of Sales and % of Margin, the lines are compared by Rate %.
• For Amount per Unit and Fixed per Sale, the lines are compared by Amount.

A Margin Band Rate component always uses the band of the margin. Components paid at period close, such as Sales Tier or Target Bonus, do not pick one rate line per sale. For these methods, Business Central does not let you choose Highest or Lowest. If you change the method of a component to one of them, Rate Selection goes back to Most Specific.

How Highest and Lowest decide

With Highest or Lowest, the matching lines are compared in this order:

1. Exclude wins. If any matching line has Exclude turned on, the sale earns nothing from this component. This is different from Most Specific, where an Exclude line works only when it is the most specific line.
2. The sale must meet the line's limits. A line whose Min. Margin % or Max. Line Discount % the sale does not meet is left out, and a line the sale meets wins over it.
3. Highest or lowest value. Of the lines left, the highest (or lowest) Rate % or Amount pays.
4. Ties. When two lines have the same value, the more specific line wins. When they are just as specific, the line with the later Starting Date wins.

If the sale meets the limits of none of the matching lines, it earns nothing, with the reason Below Minimum Margin or Above Maximum Discount.

Example

A % of Sales component has two rate lines:

Line	Customer Scope	Product Scope	Rate %	Min. Margin %
1	All Customers	Item Category CHAIRS	5	20
2	Customer Commission Group KEY	All Products	3

A key account buys chairs for 1,000.00. Both lines match.

Rate Selection	Margin 30%	Margin 15%
Most Specific	Line 2 pays 30.00. A customer level line beats a product level line.	Line 2 pays 30.00.
Highest	Line 1 pays 50.00.	Line 2 pays 30.00. The margin is below line 1's Min. Margin %, so line 1 is left out.
Lowest	Line 2 pays 30.00.	Line 2 pays 30.00.

See which line was chosen

On a sales document, choose Commission, then Explain Commission. Each rate line shows its Result:

Result	Meaning
Used	This line paid.
Lower Rate	With Highest, another line paid more.
Higher Rate	With Lowest, another line paid less.
Below Minimum Margin	The sale's margin is below the line's Min. Margin %.
Above Maximum Discount	The line discount is above the line's Max. Line Discount %.
Excluded	The line excludes the sale.
Less Specific	With Most Specific, a more specific line won.

Related

• Rate lines and costs
• Commission methods
• Commission plans and components
• Commission on sales documents