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How To Set Up A Fund

Allocate budgets, manage claims and approvals, and track usage through clear, structured processes.

Sesimi Editorial avatar
Written by Sesimi Editorial
Updated this week

What are Funds?

Funds are cooperative marketing budgets that enable businesses to define, distribute, and track financial support across dealerships. Each fund includes configurable workflows, approval steps, and visibility settings ensuring dealership users and managers only see what’s relevant to them.

A Fund represents a specific budget pool assigned to selected dealerships. Each fund includes its own:

  • Access Groups: Limit visibility to selected dealerships or users.

  • Fund Managers: Users with permissions to create and manage that specific fund.

  • Claim and Pre-Approval Processes: Optional workflows to support flexible use cases.

  • Allocation Periods: Custom timeframes for when fund claims are valid.

  • Initiatives: Rule sets that define reimbursement rates, thresholds, and required documents.

How to Set Up a Fund

Step 1: Create Your Fund

  1. Navigate to the Funds module and select Create Fund.

  2. Enter a Fund Name and Description.

  3. Assign relevant Access Groups to control which dealerships or users can see and use the fund.

  4. Add Fund Managers responsible for managing this fund.

  5. Configure processes:

    1. Toggle Claim Process on/off

    2. Toggle Pre-Approval process on/off

  6. Enable or disable Notifications for fund-related actions.

  7. Save the Fund.

Step 2: Configure Initiatives

Initiatives are rule sets within a fund that define how claims are processed and reimbursed. They determine the reimbursement rate, required documents, and optional controls like spend caps or minimum thresholds.

By categorising claim types (e.g. print ads, digital campaigns) and standardising what’s needed for approval, initiatives streamline review processes and ensure consistent fund usage across dealerships.

  1. Within a Fund, go to Settings>Initiatives Types.

  2. Click Create Initiatives

  3. Enter the Initiative Name and Description.

  4. Set the Reimbursement Rate (%) for claims linked to this initiative.

  5. (Optional) Configure

    1. Maximum Reimbursement limits per allocation period.

    2. Minimum Expenditure Threshold before reimbursement applies.

  6. Define Required Documents:

    1. File upload

  7. Choose whether to:

    1. Allow Multiple Claim Items per claim.

    2. Require Pre-Approval for claims under this initiative.

  8. Save the Initiative.

Step 3: Define Allocation Periods

  1. In Fund’s Stats tab, select Create New Period.

  2. Enter:

    1. Label

    2. Start Date and End Date

    3. Activity Deadline for claim eligibility

  3. Save the Allocation Period.

Step 4: Allocate Funds to Dealerships

💬 Note: This is only applicable if you have activated Claim Process in the Fund.

To Individually Allocate Funds:

  1. Select an Allocation Period.

  2. Select Allocate Funds under the Action column.

  1. Add remarks or breakdown information if required.

  2. Click Save to apply the funds.

To Bulk Allocate Funds:

  1. Select an Allocation Period.

  2. Select the 3 Dot menu in the top right

  1. Select Manage Allocations.

  2. Download the Allocation Template (CSV)

  3. Fill in the 'Amount' column for relevant dealerships and upload.

💬 Note: Please remove any dealerships that do not have 'Amount' column populated.

How Claims and Pre-Approvals Work

Once a Fund is configured, dealerships can submit Claims or Pre-Approvals depending on the enabled processes.

  • Claims: Users submit claims for reimbursement based on expenses incurred.

  • pre-Approvals: Users submit requests for approval prior to incurring expenses, if this process is enabled.

Initiatives control the rules for reimbursement, including required documentation, approval flows, and expenditure thresholds.

FAQ

Do I need both Claim and Pre-Approval processes enabled for a fund?

No you don’t need both Claim and Pre-Approval processes enabled for a fund. You can configure funds with claims only, pre-approval only, both, or neither depending on business needs

Can a Fund Manager manage multiple funds?

Yes Fund Managers can be assigned to multiple funds, but management rights are specific to the funds they are assigned to.

How does the system handle dealership access?

Dealership access is managed through Access Groups, ensuring users only see funds relevant to their assigned dealerships.

What happens when a fund is retired?

Retiring a fund disables new claims, pre-approvals, and allocations.

How do I retire a fund?

To retire a fund:

  1. Go to the Funds module and select the fund.

  2. Open the Settings tab.

  3. Click Retire Fund and confirm the action.

Can a retired fund be reactivated?

Yes a retired fund can be reactivated. To reactivate a fund:

  1. Go to the Funds module.

  2. Filter or search for Retired funds.

  3. Select the fund to reactivate.

  4. Click Reactivate Fund and confirm the action.

Can allocation periods overlap?

Yes, allocation periods can overlap. The system supports overlapping allocation periods for greater flexibility in managing funds.

Are notifications mandatory?

No notifications are not mandatory. Notifications can be enabled or disabled at the fund level and refined by user role permissions.

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