MDF Activity Types and Templates
An activity type is a category of marketing activity a partner can request funds for - a webinar, a trade show, a digital campaign. It carries the instructions partners see, the expense types they may claim, and the evidence they must supply afterwards.
An activity template is a reusable starting point, so partners do not build every request from scratch.
Both are managed from Settings > Activity Types & POP Rules.
Set up your activity types before creating fund programs, because a program has to select which types are eligible - and a program with none selected accepts nothing.
Creating an Activity Type
| Field | Notes |
|---|
| Name | What partners see when choosing what to request funds for - "Regional Trade Show", "Sponsored Webinar". |
| Code | A short internal identifier, used in reporting and in approval rule conditions. |
| Instructions | Guidance shown to partners selecting this type. Use it to set expectations - minimum attendee numbers, branding requirements, lead times. |
| Eligible expense types | Which kinds of expense may be claimed against this type. |
| Require proof of performance | Whether evidence is needed before claims are approved. |
| Require claim receipt | Whether every claim must have a receipt attached. |
| Required items / Optional items | The evidence a partner must, or may, supply. |
| Active | Whether partners can select this type for new requests. |
Name and Code must both be unique, ignoring capitalization. "Webinar" and "webinar" count as the same name and the second is rejected. A duplicate warning may point at a type that has been deactivated but still exists.
Proof of Performance Requirements
Proof-of-performance rules are set per activity type, which is what lets a webinar require an attendee list while a trade show requires stand photographs, without either rule applying to the other.
- Required items - the partner must supply all of these. Claims cannot complete without them.
- Optional items - useful supporting evidence the partner may add.
Each item is a named slot, so a reviewer sees exactly what is missing rather than a generic "documents incomplete". Write item names the way you would phrase the request to a partner: "Attendee list (CSV or PDF)", "Photograph of branded stand", "Copy of the email sent".
An activity's proof status moves through Not Started, Draft, Submitted and Approved, with Changes Requested when a reviewer sends it back. Each evidence item is separately marked Verified or Rejected, so a partner can be asked to replace one item without resubmitting everything.
Changing requirements applies immediately, including to activities already in flight. The requirements live on the activity type rather than being copied onto each activity, so adding a required item means every existing activity of that type now expects it - including ones where a partner has already supplied evidence. Add required items between programme cycles, or tell affected partners what changed.
Retiring a Type
Switch Active off. Partners can no longer select it for new requests, but every existing activity, claim and report that used it is untouched and it continues to appear correctly in historical reporting.
Deactivating is almost always the right choice. Reach for deletion only when a type was created in error and never used.
Deleting a type
Deletion is refused while the type is in use. Four things are checked, and you are told which one is blocking:
| Blocked because | What to do |
|---|
| Activities exist of this type | These are real funded activities with history. Deactivate instead. |
| Templates reference this type | Delete or reassign those templates first. |
| A fund program lists it as eligible | Remove it from the eligible types on each program. |
| An approval rule routes on it | Edit the approval chain to remove the condition referencing it. |
Activity Templates
A template is a pre-filled starting point attached to an activity type. When a partner picks one, the activity is populated from it and they adjust the details rather than starting from an empty form.
Templates carry a name of up to 120 characters, which partners see in the picker, and the activity type they belong to.
Templates are the practical way to raise the quality of incoming requests: a well-built template carries your expectations into the request before a reviewer ever sees it.
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