Browser version scriptSkip Headers

Oracle® Fusion Applications Sales Implementation Guide
11g Release 1 (11.1.4)
Part Number E20373-04
Go to contents  page
Contents
Go to Previous  page
Previous
Go to previous page
Next

33 Define Sales Partners

This chapter contains the following:

Define Sales Partners

Partner Assignment to Opportunities: Explained

Manage Partner Accounts and Programs

Creating Partner User Accounts:Explained

Automatic Role Provisioning:Explained

Enabling the Link to Register an Existing Account as a Partner: Worked Example

Associating a Terms Template to a Partner Program:Worked Example

Enabling Partner Programs: Points to Consider

Customizing Terms and Conditions Link: Worked Example

Channel Program Manager Territory and Partner Territory : How They Work Together

Manage Default Attributes for Partner Opportunities

Manage Partner Budgets

FAQs for Manage Partner Budgets

Manage Default Attributes for Partner Opportunities

Define Sales Partners

Partners in Opportunities: Explained

Managing partners in Oracle Fusion Opportunity Management allows deploying companies to leverage alliances, thereby achieving growth and expansion strategies faster, and to maximize sales through broader territory coverage.

Opportunity Management partner relationship features focus on the following business benefits:

Using Opportunity Management, sales representatives can add partners to opportunities and revenue lines. Partner users of the application can work individually or with internal sales team members to win opportunities.

How Partners Are Added to Opportunities

Partners typically become involved in opportunities in one of the following ways:

Supported Partner Functionality

Opportunity Management can distinguish between these different scenarios and take the appropriate action with regard to team assignment and credit allocation. Following is a high-level list of supported functionality:

Partner Assignment to Opportunities: Explained

Much like any other internal resources, partners can be added or removed from the opportunity team manually. However, the resource picker displays only partner resources whose partner organization is already associated to the opportunity. The same behavior is applied when choosing a partner resource for credit allocation purpose.

Partner Opportunity Assignment

A partner resource cannot be removed from the opportunity team if the resource is receiving nonrevenue credit on a revenue line on the opportunity. The credit allocations must first be removed from the partner resource. When a partner organization is removed from the opportunity and no resource from that partner is receiving credits on the opportunity, all partner resources, if they exist, will be automatically removed from the opportunity team.

After a partner is added to a revenue line, the next step is to assign matching territories to the revenue line and relevant resources to the opportunity sales team. Partner territories and Partner Program territories (territories of type equal to Partner or Partner Program) are not assigned to opportunities, since they are not used to drive territory forecasting, metrics, or reporting. However, other territories such as Prime, Overlay, Channel Sales Manager territories, and territories of custom defined types will be assigned based on matching dimensional attributes on the revenue line, much like an internal sales opportunity. The treatment of a territory in terms of post-assignment, such as the side effect of adding territory owner or members to the opportunity team, is the same as that of an internal sales territory.

Sales Credits and Partners

Partner resources are only eligible to receive nonrevenue credits on opportunity revenue. When selecting sales credits for partner resources, only partner resources whose partner organization is associated to the revenue line are eligible for sales credits. Partner resources are also not eligible for deal protection.

Credit Allocation Templates and Partners

The allocation of credits to partner resources can be automated through the use of credit allocation templates. The automation is highly desirable, since credit allocations for partner opportunities are often split among multiple types of resources (prime, overlay, channel, and partner) and are pre-determined ahead of time in the form of contractual agreement, compensation plan, and/or the program details of the partner agreement.

Manage Partner Accounts and Programs

Internal and External Partner Users and Roles:Overview

The Partner Center enables channel managers of a supplier or a brand owner that deploys the Oracle Fusion Partner Management application, to search for the partner accounts, as well as view and update the details of the partner profile, partner members, partner account team, partner programs, tasks, interactions, leads, and opportunities of the selected partner. The channel managers can only view the performance snapshot and partner contracts of the selected partner. The Partner Management application provides the following internal job roles:

A channel manager with any one of the above job roles can search and view the details of partner profile and related information of all partner accounts in Partner Center. Partner tasks, interactions, performance snapshots, leads, and opportunities are separately secured child objects of any partner account in Partner Center.

To view and update the partner tasks and interactions of any partner account in Partner Center, the channel manager needs to be a member of the partner account team of the partner account.

To view the partner performance snapshot and contracts of any partner account in Partner Center, the channel manager needs to be a member of the partner account team of the partner account.

Creating Partner User Accounts:Explained

When you create a partner user, you enable the partner member to access and use the deploying company's resources for working on assigned tasks. You also assign job and security roles to the partner member's user profile and specify the organization to which the new user needs to belong.

Assigning Job and Security Roles to Partner Users

Every partner user needs to have an assigned job role. This job role can be used to create security roles for the user. Based on the security roles you assign, the user can access applications, locations, and data within the deploying company. You may choose to assign security roles automatically to a user; you can also assign additional security roles individually if needed.

Assigning Partner Users to Organizations

While assigning non-manager partner users to organizations, you can either select an organization or a manager. Once you select an organization, the manager of the selected organization becomes the new user's manager. Similarly, once you select a manager, the new user automatically becomes a member of the organization to which the manager belongs.

Assigning Manager-Level Partner Users to Organizations

If the role of the new user is that of a manager, you need to assign the new user to an organization even after specifying a manager. This is because you granted the new user a managerial role, and you now need to specify the organization that the new user needs to manage. You can either select an organization from the list of available organizations, or you can create a new one if required.

Automatic Role Provisioning:Explained

Automatic role provisioning is the process by which security roles are granted to a user based on the user's resource role.

Resource roles capture the nature of work intended to be performed by the partner user. As a result of automatic role provisioning, a range of security roles are granted to the new user. This enables users to access applications flows that are crucial for performing the tasks related to their resource roles.

Once the list of assigned security roles is populated, you can choose to remove roles or add new ones individually as needed.

Enabling the Link to Register an Existing Account as a Partner: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to enable the link to register an existing account as a partner. There are two registration task flows available from the partner registration landing page:

Enabling the Links

  1. Login to the Channel Dashboard as channel_partner_portal_administrator
  2. Click View Partner Portal Registration Pages in the Tasks region.

    This launches the partner registration pages.

  3. To enable the link to this task flow, customize the page using Oracle Composer using Administration > Customize Page
  4. Select External CustomizationLayer
  5. Click Sign In to the Partner Web Portal region

    This highlights the corresponding region in the source pane.

  6. Select component panelHeader: Sign In to the Partner Web Portal
  7. Find and select the component commandlink: Register You Existing Account as Partner.
  8. To enable commandlink: Register You Existing Account as Partner, click Edit toolbar and access Edit from the Mouse Context menu
  9. You can also click Show Component from the Mouse Context menu
  10. In the Edit Properties dialog, access the Display Options tab and click Show Component to enable or display the link.
  11. Exit Oracle Composer and when the page refreshes, the Register Your Existing Account as Partner link now appears in the registration landing page.

Associating a Terms Template to a Partner Program:Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to associate a contract terms template to a partner program. The following table summarizes key decisions for this scenario:


Decisions to Consider

In This Example

Create a new terms template?

No. Use an existing terms template

Prerequisites

  1. Create a terms template from the Sales Contracts work area.
  2. A program must exist in the draft status.

Associating a Template to a Program

  1. From the Partner Programs page, select a program that is in draft status.
  2. Select Agreements tab and click New under Actions.
  3. In the Create Agreement Detail window, complete the fields as shown in the table.

    Field

    Value

    Language

    English

    Business Unit

    Vision Operations

    Contract Template

    Select an available contract template

    Note

    If a contract template is not available, you need to create a contract template from the Oracle Fusion Contracts application

    Contract Type

    Select a contract type

    Contract Owner

    Optional. Select a contract owner

    Term

    1 year

    Acceptance

    Online

    Country

    Brazil

    Cancellation Reason

    Select a cancellation reason

    Close Reason

    Select a close reason.

    Note

    A close reason is required, when a program period has gone beyond the expiration date for the program.


  4. Click OK.
  5. Click Save.

Enabling Partner Programs: Points to Consider

The channel organization can either enable partner programs or not enable them. If partner programs are not enabled, then the channel organization can conduct business with partners without the partner having to enroll one of the channel organization's partner programs. If partner programs are enabled, then the partner must enroll into a partner program before the partner can be active.

Partner Programs Enabled

If you enable partner programs:

Partner Programs Disabled

If you disable partner programs:

Note

If you do not enable partner programs, you should remove from the application all job and duty roles for programs. By doing so, Programs will not appear in the Navigator menu and the Partner Programs node will not appear in Oracle Partner Center.

Customizing Terms and Conditions Link: Worked Example

During Partner Registration, the terms and conditions content can vary for different sites. You can customize the link to the terms and conditions content. This example demonstrates the steps to customize the Read Terms and Conditions hyperlink.

Customizing the Terms and Conditions Link

  1. Log into Channel Dashboard as channel_partner_portal_administrator
  2. Click on the View Partner Portal Registration Pages in the Tasks region.

    This launches the Partner Registration pages

  3. Click on Register Your Company as a New Partner link to access the registration pages
  4. In the Review and Accept Terms page, access Oracle Composer to customize the Read Terms and Conditions link. To enable the link to this task flow, customize the page using Oracle Composer. Select Customize from the Administration menu.
  5. Select the External Customization layer. Click on the Terms and Conditions region

    This highlights the corresponding region in the source pane.

  6. Select component panelHeader: Terms and Conditions . Find and select the component Hyperlink Component
  7. To customize the hyperlink destination URL, click Edit or access Edit Component Properties dialog from the Mouse Context menu.
  8. In the Component Properties:Hyperlink dialog select the Display Options tab. Enter the desired Terms and Conditions document URL in the Destinationfield.
  9. Click Ok and then click Close to exit Oracle Composer. Test whether the Read Terms and Conditions link displays the correct document.

Channel Program Manager Territory and Partner Territory : How They Work Together

Channel Program Manager Territory and Partner Territory are some of the sales territories for a vendor. A sales territory is the area of responsibility of a sales representative over a set of accounts, leads and opportunities.

Channel Program Manager Territory

A Channel Program Manager Territory and a Partner Territory will have an area of responsibility defined or bounded by a specific type and share the same data set of dimensions. Once a Channel Program Manager Territory has been created and activated from the Oracle Fusion Territory Management application, the territory can be reviewed in the Eligibility tab in the Program Details page.

Partner Territories

Partner Territories are child territories of Channel Program Manager Territories.

Manage Default Attributes for Partner Opportunities

Partner-Registered Lead Attributes: Explained

For partner-involved opportunities, capturing the lead registration type is vital to driving defaulting behavior within the opportunity for downstream processes of assignment and credit allocations. Supplied, supported lead registration types are Resell, Co-sell, and Referral, though the list can be extended through customization.

Setting Lead Registration Type

Lead registration type can be set during the following events:

Based on a pre-configured setting, the system may set a default sales channel and add the opportunity partner to all the revenue lines based on the value of the lead registration type of the partner. Sales channel is one of the dimensions that drives the territory assignment logic, and the tracking of partner and sales channel at the revenue line is also important for revenue reporting by channel. The defaulting feature eliminates the need for the user to manually manage these attributes and also minimizes data entry errors which can have far-reaching consequences on revenue reporting and territory metrics.

The following table shows the pre-configured settings for lead registration type behavior:


Lead Registration Type

Add Partner to Revenue Lines?

Default Sales Channel for Revenue Lines

Referral

No

Direct

Co-sell

No

Direct

Resell

Yes

Indirect

None

No

Direct

Note

Automatic propagation of the partner to the revenue lines (provided that the Add Partner to Revenue Lines setting is set to Yes) happens only when the first partner of that lead registration type is added to the opportunity. Subsequent additions of partners with a lead registration type that is flagged for partner propagation will not overwrite the first partner that has already been added by default to the lines. During the creation of a new revenue line, the system will also use the previously defaulted partner to populate the new line.

Manage Partner Budgets

Budget Dates: Explained

Marketing budgets exist for a limited time period, determined by the dates you specify.

When you create or edit a marketing budget, four date fields appear:

These dates are described in the sections that follow.

Budget Start Date

This marks the beginning of the planning period for the budget. It is not necessarily the date on which the budget becomes available. You can create a budget with Draft status and then change it to Active when funds become available.

Budget End Date

This is the date the budget expires. It must be later than the submission deadlines for fund requests and claims. You must specify the end date before you activate the budget. After this date, no funds can be drawn on the budget, no fund requests or claims can be made, and the budget cannot remain in or be placed in Active status. Optionally, you can inactivate the budget before this date.

Fund Request Submission Deadline

This is the last date a budget fund request will be accepted. It must precede the budget end date.

Claim Submission Deadline

This is the last date a budget claim will be accepted for reimbursement. It must precede the budget end date.

FAQs for Manage Partner Budgets

What's the difference between a fund request and a claim?

Partners can submit a fund request for expense items that they plan to claim, before incurring the expense. The approver can decide whether or not to approve some or all of the expense.

Partners submit claims for reimbursement of the approved expense after the expenses have been incurred.

When does the budget available balance get updated?

When you click Refresh Budget Checkbook to update the available budget amount. The total budget is updated with entries that are Active, Complete and have an Effective Date before or equal to the current date. The available budget is the sum of total budget minus approved fund requests.

When claims that do not reference a fund request are approved.

Manage Default Attributes for Partner Opportunities

Partner-Registered Lead Attributes: Explained

For partner-involved opportunities, capturing the lead registration type is vital to driving defaulting behavior within the opportunity for downstream processes of assignment and credit allocations. Supplied, supported lead registration types are Resell, Co-sell, and Referral, though the list can be extended through customization.

Setting Lead Registration Type

Lead registration type can be set during the following events:

Based on a pre-configured setting, the system may set a default sales channel and add the opportunity partner to all the revenue lines based on the value of the lead registration type of the partner. Sales channel is one of the dimensions that drives the territory assignment logic, and the tracking of partner and sales channel at the revenue line is also important for revenue reporting by channel. The defaulting feature eliminates the need for the user to manually manage these attributes and also minimizes data entry errors which can have far-reaching consequences on revenue reporting and territory metrics.

The following table shows the pre-configured settings for lead registration type behavior:


Lead Registration Type

Add Partner to Revenue Lines?

Default Sales Channel for Revenue Lines

Referral

No

Direct

Co-sell

No

Direct

Resell

Yes

Indirect

None

No

Direct

Note

Automatic propagation of the partner to the revenue lines (provided that the Add Partner to Revenue Lines setting is set to Yes) happens only when the first partner of that lead registration type is added to the opportunity. Subsequent additions of partners with a lead registration type that is flagged for partner propagation will not overwrite the first partner that has already been added by default to the lines. During the creation of a new revenue line, the system will also use the previously defaulted partner to populate the new line.