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Adding New Dealers

The chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide about adding partners describes the process of adding new partners. There are three major differences when you add new dealers:

• Siebel Dealer requires one organization for each dealer store if you want to prevent each store's data from being visible to the others.
• Siebel Dealer does not use Partner Self-Registration.
• Siebel Dealer requires Primary Partner type to be Dealer.

Create One Organization for Each Store

When you create a new partner company and click Register, Siebel Partner Manager creates an organization that represents that partner company.

In Siebel Dealer, it is generally recommended that you or the partner company create an organization representing each of the dealer's stores. For example, if the dealer has 500 showrooms, you generally should create 500 organizations, one representing each showroom.

By creating a separate organization for each store, you limit visibility so that each store can only see its own data and not the data from other stores. This allows dealers to use the added features that Siebel Dealer provides to manage their own retail operations, without dealers in other stores being able to see the data they enter.

It is generally best to use delegated administration to allow dealers to maintain their own employees and stores. After you have finished adding a new dealer company, when you contact the delegated administrator, you can tell the delegated administrator to create a suborganization for each store and to associate the employees of each store (including the store's delegated administrator) with the proper suborganization.

For more information, see the section about delegated administration in the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide.

NOTE:  Vehicles should also be associated with the organizations representing stores. This is necessary for the Inventory Search to work properly.

If your business model requires you to protect the data in each store from being viewed by other stores, you should create a separate organization for each store. If your business model does not require this, you do not have to create a separate organization for each store.

Do Not Use Partner Self-Registration

In Siebel PRM, companies typically apply to become partners by registering at Siebel Partner Portal. When they register, they enter information that is stored in a Prospective Partner record. When the brand owner approves them, the Prospective Partner record is converted to a Partner record.

This model of partner registration does not apply to the automotive industry. Recruiting a dealer is a long process, which would not be done through applying at a Web site.

For this reason, the section about Registering Individual Partners in the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide does not apply to Siebel Dealer.

For this reason, also, the process of adding new dealers in Siebel Dealer is different from the process of adding new partners in Siebel PRM. In the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide, the enrollment process begins with the following two steps:

• Display and assess prospective partners. Begin by displaying the list of prospective partners recruited through the Web and deciding which to approve as partners.
• Add a Partner record for the partner company. You typically add a Partner record by approving a prospective partner.

These two steps do not apply to Siebel Dealer, and they should be replaced by the following:

• Recruit new dealers. Recruit dealers in the same ways that you have in the past, without using Siebel Dealer.
• Add a Dealer record. Add a record for the new dealer directly in the Dealer Administration screen, in the Approved Dealer view, or import the dealer record using EIM.

After the first two steps, the rest of the process of adding a new partner or dealer is similar to Siebel PRM, except that roles are not used, and the Dealer Administration screen is used instead of the Partner Administration screen.

For information about adding a new Dealer record directly, see the section about other ways of adding partner records, at the end of the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide. To add a dealer, use the Dealer Administration screen rather than the Partner Administration screen described in Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide. The word Dealer is also substituted for the word Partner in most field names described in Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide.

Summary of How to Add a New Dealer

In summary, you add a new dealer as follows:

• Begin by adding a Dealer record directly in the Approved Dealer view, using the method described in the section about other ways of adding partner records, at the end of the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide. In the Partner Type field, be sure Dealer is selected.
• Click Register to create the dealer organization. This is similar to the process described in the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide, except that you can choose a parent organization for the new dealer, rather than just being able to choose a parent division.
• After registering, you continue the process of assigning responsibilities, positions, and master data to the dealer company and of adding user assignments at the dealer company, as described in the setup chapter of Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide, except that you should skip the section about roles, and you should use the Dealer Administration screen.