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Compensation plan

Board Plan MLM Software

A board plan pays when a small grid fills and then splits, promoting the top position to a higher board. It is the plan family most dependent on continuous new entrants, which makes the compliance design as important as the commission design.

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What you get

Outcomes operators report after moving onto the platform.

  • Split events are auditable

    Every split records the board, the positions that filled it, the promotion applied and the payout produced — so a cycle can be replayed years later.

  • Committed liability, stated

    Open boards near completion are a payout already owed in practice. The platform reports that number per period instead of letting it surface as a surprise.

  • Sales-linked qualification

    Advancement gated on personal volume and personally sponsored actives, checked at split, so payout tracks selling rather than waiting.

Plan structure

The placement shape this plan produces, drawn from its real width and depth rules.

A board is a small fixed grid — commonly 2×2, so six positions plus the holder. When it fills, the board splits into two, the holder is promoted to the next board, and two new boards begin.

board plan structure: 2 levels below the sponsor, 2 positions per level. 0 1 2

How the plan actually pays

A board plan replaces the persistent tree with a queue of small grids.

A board is a fixed grid — commonly 2×2, meaning six positions below the holder. New positions fill it breadth-first.

When the board fills, it splits. The holder is paid, promoted to the next board in the chain, and the two halves of the filled board become two new boards with new holders at the top. The event is the payout; there is no per-level rate.

A four-board chain

BoardEntry requirementPositions to fillSplit payoutPromotion
BronzeInitial order6100to Silver
SilverPersonal volume 2006400to Gold
GoldPV 200 + 3 personal actives61,200to Platinum
PlatinumPV 200 + 6 personal actives64,000re-entry at Gold

Note the rising qualification. The entry requirement is what keeps the chain tied to selling rather than to waiting — and it is checked at the split, not at entry, so someone who stopped selling does not advance on other people’s activity.

The number to watch

A board that is five-sixths full is a payout you already owe. The platform reports:

  • open boards by chain level,
  • average fill percentage,
  • committed payout — the sum of split payouts on boards above a configurable fill threshold.

That third figure is the one that matters. A board plan’s monthly payout is lumpy by construction, and the lumpiness is predictable if you are measuring fill rather than history.

Configuration decisions to make before launch

  1. Board size, per chain level. Smaller boards split faster and need a longer chain.
  2. Chain length and split payouts. Rising payouts require rising qualification, or the top of the chain becomes the only thing anyone talks about.
  3. Qualification at split — personal volume plus personally sponsored actives. This is the compliance-critical setting, not an optional refinement.
  4. Re-entry policy and funding. Deducting from the split payout keeps the economics closed.
  5. Whether a period-based component runs alongside, to smooth the lumpiness.
  6. Committed-liability threshold for reporting — commonly 50% fill.

Modelling it before you commit

A board plan cannot be modelled on aggregate volume alone, because the payout is an event count. Model expected splits per period from your enrolment rate and board size, multiply by the split payouts, and only then express the result as a ratio of sales volume. Then run the same figures through the plan calculator with a pessimistic enrolment assumption — a board plan’s ratio worsens exactly when growth slows, which is the opposite of what most budgets assume.

Commission mechanics

How money moves through this plan, rule by rule.

Board sizeA fixed grid, typically 2×2 (six filled positions) or 2×3, configurable per board levelSmaller boards split faster and need a longer promotion chain to stay interesting.
Split triggerThe board fills completely. Partial-fill splits are not supported, because they make the payout event ambiguous
PromotionThe holder moves to the next board in the chain; the two halves of the split board become new boards
Board chainA configurable ladder — for example bronze, silver, gold, platinum — each with its own entry requirement and payout
Payout eventA fixed amount, or a percentage of the volume that filled the board, paid on split rather than per period
Re-entryConfigurable: automatic re-entry at the bottom board, re-entry funded from the split payout, or none
Qualification to advancePersonal volume and a minimum count of personally sponsored actives, checked at the split rather than at entry
Liability reportingOpen boards, fill percentage and the payout each would trigger, reported as a committed liability per period

At a glance

Best suited toCompanies with a genuine repeat-purchase product that want an event-driven payout distributors can see coming
Typical payout ratio30% to 45% of sales volume, highly sensitive to board size and re-entry policy
Main design riskEntrant dependence. A board plan only splits when new positions arrive, which is the structural feature regulators examine
Common chainThree to five boards with rising entry requirements and rising split payouts
Run frequencyEvent-driven on split, with a periodic reconciliation run for reporting and caps
FAQ

Questions operators ask before they switch

Straight answers on plan mechanics, migration risk and compliance. If yours is not here, ask us directly.

Is a board plan legal?

The plan shape is not itself unlawful, but it is the shape that most closely resembles the structures regulators act against, so the design has to be deliberate. The test applied in the United States and in South Africa is substantially the same: are earnings driven by retail sales of a real product, or by payments from new entrants? A board plan that pays on split with no product moving and no personal sales requirement fails that test regardless of what the plan document calls it. Tie the payout to product volume, require personal sales and personal sponsorship to advance, and take local legal advice — we build the engine, we do not give legal opinions. Our articles on MLM versus pyramid schemes and on South African law, both linked below, set out the tests in more detail.

What is the difference between a board plan and a matrix?

A matrix is a single persistent tree that pays per level, per period. A board is a small grid that pays once, when it fills, and then ceases to exist as that board — it splits, and the holder moves up a chain. That makes a board plan event-driven rather than period-driven, which distributors often find more motivating and which makes forecasting harder: your payout in a period is determined by how many boards happen to complete, not by aggregate volume. Both are supported, and a company running a board plan usually also needs a period-based component for stability.

How should re-entry be funded?

Out of the split payout, in most designs. Automatic free re-entry means one enrolment produces an unbounded number of payout events over time, which is very hard to budget. Deducting the re-entry cost from the split payout keeps the economics closed and is easy to explain. The third option — no re-entry — makes the plan finite per person, which is honest but usually kills momentum after the first chain completes. All three are configuration.

What liability number should we be watching?

Committed split payouts on boards that are more than half full. Those boards will almost certainly complete, and each one triggers a known payout, so the total is a liability you have effectively incurred but not yet paid. The platform reports it per period alongside open board count and average fill. Companies that get into trouble with board plans are usually the ones that only measured what was paid last period, in a month where an unusual number of boards happened to complete at once.

Ready to Transform Your Direct Selling Business?

Send us your plan rules and we will run a live commission cycle against them, on your numbers, before you commit to anything.

  • Configured in a sandbox before the call, usually within two business days
  • No slide deck and no card — you watch your own plan pay out
  • Your plan document stays confidential and is deleted on request

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