Partner managers buy PRMs to postpone an argument. The argument is: who gets credit, and what does “this deal involved the partner” mean.
You can settle that in a CRM you already have.
Two labels, written down
Sourced. The partner created the opportunity. Without them there is no deal. Rare. Protect it. Do not water it down.
Influenced. The partner or the integration showed up in the cycle: a technical win, a listing, an intro that was not the origin. Common. Still worth counting, with a definition.
If you mix them, finance will not trust either number.
Five fields
Partner name. Sourced or influenced. Date registered. Owner on their side. Owner on yours. That is enough for year one. A dropdown beats a portal nobody logs into.
The rule sellers will follow
Register before the stage where commission fights start. 48 hours after the intro, not after verbal commit. If two partners claim the same account, first valid registration wins, and you tell both of them that in advance.
Put the rule in the enablement kit. A rule that lives only in your head will be broken on the first big deal.
What not to do
Do not promise a partner they will see every Salesforce opportunity. You will not get that access, and they should not need it if registration is real.
When volume justifies it, buy the mapping tool. Not before you have a definition two humans can recite.