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Commission Sandbox Development Environment

Introduction

This guide explains Commission Sandbox 100: a dedicated sandbox for commission engine development, including debugging, a sandbox database, and Exigo Admin testing.

Table of contents

In this guide:

What is Sandbox 100?

The Commission Sandbox is a specialized sandbox configured solely for Commission Engine Development.

Creating a special sandbox just for commission plan development means you will now have access to:

•

Step-through debugging

•

Sandbox Database for debugging and testing

•

Sandbox Exigo Admin for end-user testing

Commission Sandbox 100 is available in Exigo Admin by navigating to the Company Portal > Sandbox. If

you do not see this menu option, please contact your Exigo Administrator.

Who is it for?

Taking on your own commission plan development is not a trivial task. If you are thinking about using this

service, we highly recommend that you have resources who are:

•

Experienced C# developers with a strong focus on backend

•

The team has received full Commission Development Training from the Commissions team at Exigo*

*If you would like to receive training on Commission Plan development within the Exigo system simply open a

ticket (type = Training) and we will create a training plan that fits your needs.

How do I create Commission Sandbox 100?

Once access has been provided by your local Exigo Administrator, the Sandbox menu interface can be

accessed directly in Exigo Admin under the Company Portal section on the left side of the screen.

From this menu, select the Sandbox option. Once here, you can see the available Sandboxes and their status

on the page display.

Create your sandbox (steps 1 to 3)

  1. Click View in the right most column for Commission Sandbox 100

  2. On the following page click “Start” in the top right corner.

  3. Name your Sandbox and assign the necessary resources to it

On the following screen assign a Description for your new Sandbox. Next select the service level based on

your business needs.

Click the “Next” button.

*You may not see all the options listed in the below screenshot depending on your Exigo Service level

*As a note, General tiers will be priced capped as they are today, Premium tiers will be billed at the rate displayed on the

tier. Once you have gone into a Premium tier, you will not be able to scale back into a General tier.

Create your sandbox (advanced settings)

4. Configure the Advanced settings for your new Sandbox

Select the appropriate options from the screen and click “Next”

•

Enable Volume Push

This will allow for commissions to run in the sandbox environment. You will need to enable this

option.

•

Disable Data Masking

As a security precaution, Exigo provides the ability to mask sensitive information. This option will

be enabled by default. To disable data masking, click the slider to prevent masking of sensitive

information. You will know this feature is disabled when the slider shows in a blue/green color and

is showing the slide decal on the right.

5. Select the Sync options for your new Sandbox

Select the necessary sync options for your new Sandbox as outlined below and click “Next”.

Create your sandbox (sync options and confirmation)

•

Enable Shared BI

This will create a sandbox reporting instance on our shared BI server. If you will be developing web

code and need a sync database to develop against, you need to enable this option. This is explained in

greater detail later in this document.

•

Configure New Sync Connection

Here you can specify the destination for your data to be synced to. If you will be developing web code

and require a sync database to develop against, you need to enable this option if you have not opted

to use the Shared BI instance mentioned above.

•

Enable Sync Filtering

Enabling Sync Filtering tells Exigo how much data you want to include in your sync process. This defaults

to include 90 days worth of data automatially when selected but you can change this as needed to

preserve DB space.

6. Confirm Settings and start your new Sandbox

You have now reached the final steps in starting a new Sandbox. Make sure that you review the options

displayed on the page. If any of the options are incorrect click back until you get to the necessary screen to

ensure you have the appropriate options selected.

Once you have confirmed all settings are accurate, click “Start”.

Allow Visual Studio commission plan access

Allow Visual Studio Commission Plan Access

To set your “Allow Visual Studio Commission Plan Access” Flag set to True, go to www.exigo.com.

a.

Login to your Company

b. Go to Administration

c.

Choose Users

d. Find your User and Double Click or Click Edit

e. Navigate to Modify User Security

f.

Then choose Tool Access

g. Lastly, enable Allow Visual Studio Commission Plan Access

h.

Open your preferred program to remote into another computer. In this we will be using Remote

Desktop. (If you are using a Windows Operating System, it should already be installed)

Remote Desktop connection

In this Dialog Box, input your RDP Server name or IP, then press Connect

After you press connect, the dialog box will now prompt you to insert your login credentials (refer to screenshot in

step 4)

You should then see the desktop of your environment

HURRAY! You are now in your Commission Sandbox 100!

Access your commission code

How Do I Access My Commission Code?

To access your Commission Code, you can follow these easy quick steps.

  1. From your Remote Desktop Connection you just made earlier, Open your Visual Studio Application

  2. Navigate to the EXIGO tab and choose the Commission Plan dropdown item

  3. Once you click Commission Plan, a new dialog box should pop up and this is where you will enter your

Login credentials. These credentials will come from your Exigo Admin Settings (www.exigo.com). You

must have “Allow Visual Studio Commission Plan Access” set to true to be able to Login In.

Commission plans in Visual Studio

  1. To create a new Commission Plan, you will select the following option

  2. To make changes to an already existing Commission Plan, you will select the desired Plan Name from

the drop-down list shown below

SQL database access

  1. You should now see your Visual Studio Project

YOU ARE NOW IN YOUR COMMISSION CODE!

How Do I Access My SQL Database for Commission Sandbox 100?

To access your SQL Database for your Sandbox 100, you can follow these easy quick steps.

  1. Open your SQL Server Application within your Remote Desktop Connection previously created

  2. Enter your credentials to login to your Sandbox 100 Server

SQL Server connection (continued)

  1. Before clicking Connect, click Options >> and insert in the database you want to connect to

  2. Now Click Connect

  3. You are now connected to your database where you can see in the Object Explorer.

You are now connected to your Commission Sandbox 100 SQL Database!

FAQ

1.How is this new sandbox different from the other 8 sandboxes we already have?

a.

Primarily, it’s the RDP access to a virtual machine that allows you to develop the commission

plan directly on the server

b. Other than that, it works in much the same way as the other sandboxes:

i.

You can turn them on or off any time

ii. You are only billed for usage when they are on

iii. Your bill rate is based on your subscription level, service tier and options selected

iv. When you turn off and then turn back on, or when you refresh the sandbox, it pulls

your last backup of your production database, just like the standard sandboxes

2.When the code is checked in, does it check into the development area of all platforms still?

a.

It checks it into all the sandboxes, including the new commission sandbox

3.After I make a change, how do I deploy it?

a.

This operates identical to the live system. Log in to http://sandbox100.exigo.com/ and hit the

deploy button in the development area.

4.What if I am logged in and making changes to the code but then someone else logs in to the

Sandbox 100?

a.

We currently only allow one user connection at a time, therefore, the new user who logs in will

be granted the session and will resume the session from where the previous user left off.

b. The changes will not be lost, but there will be no notice as to why the original user was logged

out.

5.What if you are making changes in VS or SQL and then somebody closes the Sandbox 100?

a.

If someone hits “Stop” while you are using it, any code you have checked in will be saved, but

everything else will be lost.

6.I am assuming all Database changes I make in Sandbox 100 will need to be duplicated into the

normal SQL Database, is this correct? (Writing everything in SQL twice?)

a.

Yes, this is just like the other sandboxes work today.

As always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask.