What it is and what it's for#
Points are generated on their own: by completing challenges, by answering surveys, by receiving recognition. But every now and then you have to step in: a challenge rejected by mistake, a reward that never arrived, a data load that duplicated entries.
There are two screens for that:
User Points
In Manage → Users. A person's history of entries, one by one, and where you correct them.
Orders
In Manage → Rewards. The redemption queue, from the moment they are requested until they are delivered.
Points earned and balance are not the same thing. Points earned are the running total and feed the ranking; the balance is what is left after spending in the store. See Concepts.
How to set it up#
Correcting a person's points#
- 1
Pick the person
In General filters, select the user and click Generate Data. Until you click it, the screen is empty.
- 2
Find the entry
Their full history appears, sorted by date. The reason column shows where each line comes from: a challenge, a store purchase, a survey or peer recognition.
- 3
Correct the line
Three things can be edited: the amount, whether the entry is valid and the notes. The change is saved immediately, with no save button.
- 4
Leave a record
Always write in the notes why you touched that line, with the date and the reason. It is the only thing that will explain the change six months from now.
When there is an error in the points, you correct the wrong line, you do not offset it with a new entry. An offsetting entry leaves two contradictory lines in the history and makes the person's record unreadable.
If an entry should never have existed, mark it as not valid instead of setting it to zero: that way you know it was there and that it was voided.
The Download button exports that person's history to a file. Download it before touching anything: if you get into a mess, you know exactly how it was.
When to touch points by hand#
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| A challenge was rejected by mistake and is no longer available | Correct the amount on that line, or create the correction with an explanatory note. |
| A data load duplicated entries | Mark the duplicated lines as not valid. |
| A reward did not arrive and the balance has to go back | Void the redemption line and cancel the order. |
| Recognising something outside the programme | Better not. Create a challenge for it; that way it is the same for everyone. |
Every manual adjustment throws the analytics off: points show up with no challenge to explain them. Use it to correct errors, never as a shortcut to reward people.
Day-to-day use#
Tracking store orders#
When someone redeems a reward, the balance is deducted at that moment, not on delivery. The order lands in Orders and lives there until it is closed.
Each row shows who requested it, from which location, which item and the Order date. Three fields are managed:
Status
A dropdown with the state of the order: pending, in progress, shipped, received or cancelled. It is what the person sees when they check their redemption.
Notes
Free text for whatever you need: tracking number, incidents, who it was handed to in person.
Cancelled
Marks the order as cancelled. Use it when the reward is not going to be delivered.
Each change is saved immediately and the list reloads.
Cancelling an order does not return the balance on its own. If the reward is not delivered, you also have to void the redemption's point entry in User Points. Otherwise the person is left with no reward and no points.
See Store and rewards.
Watching the budget#
Analyse → Points Tracking → Financial Panel holds the financial picture of the programme. It has General filters with Filter by Organisation and Filter by Location, and a Refresh Data button.
Overview shows six figures, each one in points and in its money equivalent:
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Total Budget | What is allocated to the programme. |
| Actual Budget YTD | The share of the budget matching the year so far. |
| Lost Budget | Budget for the period that was never used. |
| Committed YTD | Points already earned by people and not yet spent. |
| Spent YTD | Points already redeemed in the store. |
| Available | What is left to allocate. |
Committed is a debt, not a surplus. These are points people already hold and can spend any day. If you only look at Spent, you underestimate the real cost of the programme.
Frequently asked questions#
If I correct points, does the ranking change?
Yes. The ranking is calculated on points earned, so correcting a line moves that person's position. Redeeming rewards does not: spending balance never lowers the ranking.
Can I give points to a whole group at once?
Not from this screen, which works person by person. To hand out points to a group, create a challenge targeted at that group: it is faster, it is explained and it shows up in the analytics.
Can someone's balance be left negative?
You can enter any amount, including one that takes the balance below zero. Avoid it: the app shows that number as it is and the person does not understand what happened. Void the excess entry instead.
Someone says they are missing points. Where do I start?
Open their history in User Points and look for the date of the challenge they are claiming. Either the line does not exist (the challenge was never approved) or it is marked as not valid (someone voided it and there should be a note). It is almost always the former.
What happens to the points of someone who leaves the company?
They stay in their history. If they had redemptions in progress, decide whether they are delivered or cancelled before closing the account.
Does the employee see the notes I write on an entry?
No. The notes are for the team running the programme. What the person sees is the amount and the reason for the entry.
Limits and warnings#
- Changes are saved instantly and there is no undo. Download the history before touching a record with a lot of entries.
- You correct the wrong line; you do not offset it with a new entry. It is the team's rule and it keeps histories readable.
- A manual adjustment does not notify the person. If the change affects them, tell them yourself.
- Cancelling an order and returning the balance are two different actions. Doing only one leaves the person halfway.
- The balance is deducted on redemption, not on delivery. An order stuck for weeks is balance already spent with nothing in return.
- With nobody responsible for the store, orders pile up unseen. Assign someone to review the queue.
- Manual adjustments do not reconcile with challenge analytics. If you make a lot of them, the dashboards stop explaining where the points come from.