SmartAIPM.com

MPLA on CRM Implementation Project

The project was planned and executed by Kashika Shrivastava

Scope
Legal upgraded the existing IVAR T&Cs and combined them with the DVAR agreement to create a single Master Purchase and License Agreement (MPLA). This consolidation allowed existing IVAR partners to switch to DVAR using just one Letter of Authorization (LOA).
However, both new and existing partners had to accept the T&Cs to continue their partnership with the company.
The total number of partner were 16K and the Business should run as usual with no revenue/sales interruption due to non-acceptance of T&Cs

  • Excluded Partners: Partners on custom agreements and those only on DVARs
  • Included Partners:
    • IVAR
    • IVAR + DVARs
    • IVAR + Federal/Services/Educational Services
    • New registered partners

Because of the large target audience, partners were split into:

  • Managed : PAM-managed and Disti-focus
  • Non-managed : Resellers (lower revenue-generating)

Within each partner organization, only 2 roles could review and accept T&Cs:

  1. Primary Legal Contact
  2. Partner Leader Contact

System & Technical Details

The project leveraged SFDC (Salesforce.com) and a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) portal. The PRM portal acted as the partner-facing account management tool.

  1. T&Cs Hosting
    • T&Cs were stored in SFDC so that the latest versions could be integrated within PRM
    • Upon launch, the PRM portal was configured to display a pop-up window containing the T&Cs when either the Partner Leader Contact or Primary Legal Contact logged in. This pop-up appeared only if the partner had not accepted the T&Cs yet.
  2. Acceptance Logic
    • Each partner’s acceptance status was tracked in SFDC. When a Primary Legal Contact or Partner Leader Contact clicked “Accept,” the system updated the partner’s record to reflect that acceptance and time-stamped it.
    • If a partner declined or did not accept within the specified timeframe (60 days + 30-day grace), the PRM portal would begin restricting transactions and registrations based on data in SFDC. Ultimately, the partnership could be declined altogether.
  3. Reminders and Notifications
    • Automated reminders were set up in SFDC, triggered weekly for any partner whose acceptance status was still pending.
    • Once accepted, SFDC automatically stopped sending reminders for that partner.

Duration

After T&Cs launch, partners had 60 days to accept. If they did not accept within this period:

  • Registrations were declined.
  • Transactions were placed on hold.
  • A 30-day grace period followed, after which the partnership ended if T&Cs remained unaccepted.

Reinstatement Process

If a partner missed the acceptance window but wanted to continue under the same status:

  1. The partner contacted the Channel Support team (CSC).
  2. CSC verified there were no red flags and initiated reinstatement with the SFDC team.
  3. Upon reinstatement, the partner was prompted to accept the T&Cs in the PRM portal.

Project Phase 1

Translations

  • The MPLA T&Cs were translated into 9 languages.
  • An RFP was sent to multiple vendors, and the vendor with prior experience (and a favorable bid due to an existing relationship) was selected.
  • Legal provided the final T&Cs, which the vendor then translated. Both the vendor and internal teams (Theater Operations, Legal) proofread the translations.
  • All finalized T&Cs were uploaded to SFDC.

Phase 1 Partner Focus

  • Managed partners first.
    * Partners with contacts in SFDC were sent emails to accept T&C
    * Identified partners lacking a Primary Legal Contact and worked with Theater Operations (PAMs) to update these records in SFDC.
    * T&Cs emails were sent again once Contacts were updated

Communications

  1. Launch Email
    • Drafted for external partners, reviewed by Legal.
  2. Heads-Up Email
    • Drafted for internal stakeholder visibility (Theater Operations, Legal) before launch.
  3. Target Contact List
    • Primary Sales, Marketing, Rewards, HQ, Branch, Partner Leader, and Legal contacts.
    • Provided a link with instructions on updating Legal contacts if none were on file.
  4. Internal FYI
    • An update went to PAMs overseeing Phase 1 partners, notifying them of the launch date.
  5. Partner Center Page
    • A dedicated webpage was created to host T&Cs-related content. A banner on the PRM portal linked to this page.
  6. Weekly Automated Reminders
    • Configured in SFDC to email pending acceptors. Once a partner accepted, reminders stopped.

Launch T&Cs

  • Verified that all new partners received the MPLA T&Cs immediately upon registering in the PRM portal.
  • Launched T&Cs for existing Phase 1 partners .
  • Created SFDC reports to track acceptance status in real time.
  • Routinely reviewed the acceptance numbers with Theater Operations to address outstanding partners.
  • Drafted a 30-day reminder after launch to prompt any remaining partners.

Inquiries

  • Partners contacted a designated inquiry alias for assistance with:
    • Login/password issues.
    • Updating the Legal Contact.
    • Missed T&Cs deadlines (requiring reinstatement).
    • Contract negotiations (escalated to Legal as the MPLA was non-negotiable).
    • Additional review time requests.

Challenges in Phase 1

  • Inaccuracies in SFDC data (e.g., outdated partner contact details).
  • T&Cs “exempt” flags had no clear historical documentation.
  • Missing or incorrect Primary Legal/Partner Leader contacts.

Project Phase 2

Target Audience

  • Remaining Managed partners (If any)
  • Coordinated with Finance to gather a list of managed partners + disti-focus partners.
  • Finalized the Phase 2 list based on the partners with valid Legal Contacts in SFDC.

All Phase 1 steps repeated, with the addition of Distributor PAMs (DPAMs) in communications due to distributor involvement.
(Disti-focus partners are partners managed by distributors but registered as separate Reseller partners.)

Project Phase 3

For the non-managed partner community lacking Legal Contacts, it was necessary to update and validate these contacts to prevent email bounce-backs or incomplete acceptance cycles.

Contact Acquisition Strategy

  • Emailed a survey form to existing partner contacts, requesting they identify their organization’s Partner Leader and Primary Legal Contact.
  • The email and survey underwent Legal and Data Privacy review prior to distribution.
  • Approved communications were then sent in batches.
  • Survey and T&Cs message was also displayed on multiple partner portals for visibility.

Data Update Process

  • Upon receiving survey responses, the CSC (Customer Support) team:
    1. Updated the new contact information in SFDC.
    2. If needed, sent out manual invites to register new contacts.

Next Steps

  • As soon as a partner’s legal information was confirmed, that partner was added to the next T&Cs launch phase for acceptance via the PRM portal.
  • This became an on-going process within hypercare phase hence we had to hire a new CSC personnel for 4 months to ensure all partners were covered and non-responsive partners were removed from the system.

Project Deliverables:

New MPLA T&Cs acceptance by New and Existing Partners

MPLA T&Cs Document

  • Consolidated existing IVAR T&Cs and DVAR agreement into one Master Purchase and License Agreement (MPLA).
  • Translated into 9 languages and uploaded to Salesforce (SFDC).

SFDC & PRM Portal Configuration

  • Developed a pop-up window in the Partner Relationship Management (PRM) portal for T&Cs acceptance.
  • Implemented acceptance tracking and automated reminder workflows in SFDC.
  • Set up logic to restrict transactions and registrations after 60 days (plus a 30-day grace period) for unaccepted T&Cs.

Partner Contact Data Updates

  • Cleaned and verified partner information (especially Primary Legal and Partner Leader contacts) in SFDC.
  • Distributed surveys to non-managed partners (Phase 3) to collect missing or updated contact details.
  • Revisted managed and non-managed partners with Theater teams for better partner targeting

For further discussion on the project, Contact kashika.shri@gmail.com