Pluribus has nearly transitioned all accounting functions, but still needs some assistance getting over the finish line. would recommend focusing on the following items:


1. COLLECTIONS: Social5 could use assistance with collecting payment from overdue accounts. Pluribus has designated Melaney Stanton as a collections agent for Social5. She is making a good effort. But we are still behind on payments. I would recommend spending time on the following processes:


  • Are payments being accurately recorded in the Social5 backend system?
  • Could the process for reaching out to past-due accounts be expedited or improved?
  • How do we avoid collections calls on accounts that are part of a group billing account, such as UNFI locations or Big Leap customers?
  • Can you be added to the Aging Accounts list that is being generated weekly by Pluribus to have increased visibility into the status of collections?


2. SALES COMMISSIONS: Pluribus assumed responsibility for sales commissions in April 2023. They will be calculating and processing commission payments based on the instructions I have provided in the following Freshdesk Solution: https://support.social5.com/a/solutions/articles/9000225327.


Unfortunately, sales commissions have not been paid on time since August 2022, creating some frustration among sales partners. Also, the change in commission structure to paid full-time sales people based on gross-margin has created some additional confusion. I would recommend focusing attention on the following items:


  • Provide support to Faiza Abdulahi in calculating commissions on a monthly basis. Ensure that commissions are being calculated and processed in a timely manner.
  • Work with Faiza to establish clear timelines for when sales commissions will be paid. Then hold Pluribus accountable for meeting those timelines.
  • Ensure that all sales people, affiliates, licensees and partners are properly loaded into the Tipalti system so they are receiving payment. There are still individuals who have not received payments.
  • Develop a process for communicating gross margin to sales people. Although I have a basic model that I use, we have not communicated effectively will sales people to engender confidence. The process feels murky and arbitrary. Here is a link to the gross-margin template I have used: https://support.social5.com/a/solutions/articles/9000226083
  • Develop a timeline for adding a gross-margin calculation to new accounts. I have been doing this on an account by account basis. This is done by going to the Advanced tab and doing a manual commission override, found by the Affilate portal link. If the account has a gross margin of 15%, I manually override the commission to be 7.5% (or rather, the nearest whole number). This commission change needs to have a formalized process.


3. CONTRACTOR PAYROLL: Pluribus assumed responsibility for contractor payments in April 2023. They will be calculating payments for the first time at the end of the month. This process is relatively straight-forward. But Pluribus has had difficulty making payment on time. I would recommend doing the following:


  • Follow up with Faiza to ensure contractor payments are processed before the first of each month.
  • Work toward transitioning responsibilities off of Kari Perlewitz. Pluribus has offered to assume those responsibilities. From a resourcing perspective, it may be wise to increase Kari's time on product-related work.


4. CUSTOMER AGREEMENTS: Candace has been heroic on this front. We may have an audit coming later this year on agreements to ensure that we are fully documenting customer services. But Candace has moved us into a good place. Here are some items worth considering:


  • We have been asked to migrate customer agreements from Dropbox to Sharepoint, then to start using Sharepoint as our repository of that information going forward. This process has not been started yet.
  • We need to implement a process to add Faiza to agreements involving Pluribus companies or Pluribus products so we can facilitate internal transfers of funds between companies. This will be particularly relevant as our team increases the sale of POWR products. We need to ensure accounts POWR is paid with accounts are on the system and not paid when the go off. 


5. ONGOING REPORTING: Pluribus has asked for weekly reports on a number of metrics within Social5. This is simply a reminder to be aware of that report. Instructions on how to compile it can be found here: https://support.social5.com/a/solutions/articles/9000226084. The formatting of this report needs to change. Pluribus asked for so many things in the beginning that it now includes many hidden columns that are no longer useful. Revisiting this report would be wise.