4 Preseason: Middle Out Role Task

The middle out role is usually associated with middle management in the merchandise planning organization. The middle out user receives group targets from the top down user. The middle out user references those targets when creating the department targets. After the middle user has created the department targets, the user provides those targets to the bottom up user, who is usually a merchandise planner.

When middle out users open MFP in the RPAS Fusion Client, they are presented with the preseason activity called Create Merchandise Financial Plan. Within this activity, the middle out user owns two tasks. The first task in the list that belongs solely to middle out users is Develop and Publish Department Targets. It has eight steps:

• Getting Started - Seed Plan

• Review Strategic Targets

• Develop Sales and Markdown Targets

• Develop Inventory and Receipt Targets

• Review and Adjust Gross Margin Targets

• Review Department Targets

• Reconcile to Strategic Targets

• Publish Department Targets

The second task for the middle out user is the Original Plan Approval task. This is where the middle out user approves or rejects the plan that was created by the bottom up user. To learn more about approving or rejecting the original plan, see the Original Plan Approval Task chapter.

These tasks and steps are shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1 Middle Out Role View: Preseason Tasks and Steps

Note: The middle out user can see the tasks of the top down and bottom up roles, but the middle out user cannot open or create workbooks within those tasks. This is denoted by the grayed out icons on the right of the taskflow.

The middle out user must complete these eight steps to publish the department targets to the bottom up user. To do this, the middle out user must first build the workbook.

Building the Workbook

To build the middle out role workbook, perform the following steps.

1. Click the Create New Workbook icon in the Develop and Publish Department Targets task.

   Figure 4-2 Create New Workbook Icon

   
   

2. The workbook wizard opens at the Calendar Selection step. Select the halves that you want to plan and move them to the Selected Items box. Click Next.

   Figure 4-3 Workbook Wizard: Calendar Selection

   
   

3. The Product Selection step of the workbook wizard is displayed. Select the division you want to plan and move it to the Selected Items box. Click Next.

   Figure 4-4 Workbook Wizard: Product Selection

   
   

4. The Location Selection step of the workbook wizard is displayed. Select the channels you want to plan and move them to the Selected Items box. Click Finish.

   Figure 4-5 Workbook Wizard: Location Selection

   
   

The Middle Out Role workbook is built, and the Initialize view opens.

Getting Started - Seed Plan

The first step that middle out users perform after they build the workbook is to seed the plan with the Initialize Plan view.

Figure 4-6 Middle Out: Initialize Plan

Table 4-1 Initialize Plan View Measures

Measure	Description
Seed Source	The seed source used to seed the working plan. Use this option to seed or not seed the working plan. You can seed with Last Year's (Ly) or Adjusted Last Year's data. Or, you can choose the Do Nothing option if you do not want to seed the working plan.
Last Seed Source	The last type of seed that was performed in this task. One of three options is shown: Seed from Last Year Seed from Adjusted Last Year Do Nothing
Last Seeded Date	The last time the working plan was seeded.

With this view, you can choose to seed your plan with Last Year (Ly) or Adjusted Last Year (Adj Ly) data to create a demand curve on which to spread the new plan's initial targets. Or you can choose to not seed the plan, which allows you to create a plan that is not influenced by last year's performance.

In the preceding example, both Half1 and Half2 are seeded with last year's data for the Brick & Mortar channel for the 20 Menswear group.

Seeding the Plan

When seeding the plan, you can choose which information is seeded. For instance, you can seed just one half or all halves in the task, as shown in Figure 4-6. You can also choose what locations and products to seed.

There are two ways you can seed. You can seed each level individually, or you can seed several levels at once by changing the dimension level shown in the view.

Seeding One Level at a Time

As shown in Figure 4-6, only the Brick & Mortar channel and the 20 Menswear group have been selected to be seeded with Ly data. This means that the other Product groups have not been selected to be seeded yet. To seed the next group in the Product dimension within the Brick & Mortar channel, perform the following steps:

1. Click within the dimension field that you want to change, as shown in Figure 4-7.

2. Click the Next or Previous arrow, as shown in Figure 4-7.

   Figure 4-7 Changing a Dimension Level with Page Arrows

   
   

3. The page refreshes and the next group in the Product dimension is displayed in the page edge. Note that the Seed Source measure is no longer populated.

4. Select the half that you want to seed with Ly or Adj Ly data.

5. Click the Next arrow to view and seed the next group.

6. When you have selected all the data you want to seed, click Seed in the top, right corner.

   Figure 4-8 Seed Button

   
   

7. A confirmation message is displayed, stating that the data has been successfully seeded. Click OK.

   Figure 4-9 Seeding Success Message

   
   

After you have seeded, the view refreshes and the Last Seed Source and Last Seed Date measures contain the source and date of the last seed.

Seeding Several Levels at Once

If you want to seed several locations and several products, you may want to change the level of the dimensions shown in the page edge.

The default setting of the Initialize view is set to show the Calendar dimension at the half level, the Location dimension at the channel level, and the Product dimension at the group level.

To change the dimension level shown in the page edge or grid, perform the following steps:

1. Click the dimension tile of the dimension level you would like to change.

   Figure 4-10 Location Dimension Tile

   
   

2. The dimension window is displayed. Select the level of the dimension that you want to appear in the page edge. If you want to view more than one level at a time in the page edge or grid, select multiple levels. In Figure 4-11, Channel was deselected and all [Location] was selected instead.

   Figure 4-11 Location Dimension Window

   
   

3. Click OK when finished.

4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for other dimensions if desired.

5. After the dimensions are at the level you want, select the halves that you want to seed.

   In Figure 4-12, both the Location and Product dimensions are at All, and the halves Half1 FY2009 and Half2 FY2009 have been selected.

6. When you have selected all the data you want to seed, click Seed in the top, right corner.

   Figure 4-12 Seeding Several Levels at Once

   
   

7. The view refreshes and the Last Seeded Source and Last Seed Date measures contain the source and date of the last seed. A confirmation message is displayed, stating that the data has been successfully seeded. Click OK.

   Figure 4-13 Seeding Success Message

   
   

Setting Beginning of Season Inventory

After you have seeded, set the Beginning of Season (BOS) inventory. By entering the BOS inventory that you project for the season, you can set the BOS markup for that inventory, which allows the BOS cost to be calculated.

To set the BOS, perform the following steps:

1. In the Initialize Plan view, change the measure profile to Seed and Set BOS Inventory.

2. The view is refreshed and the Seed and Set BOS Inventory measures are visible.

   Figure 4-14 Initialize Plan View with Seed and Set BOS Inventory Measure Profile, Half

   
   

3. Change the calendar level rollup to year.

4. Enter data in the BOS Inv R, BOS Inv IMU% , and Wp BOS Inv U measures.

   Figure 4-15 Initialize Plan View with Seeded and Set BOS Inventory Measure Profile, Year

   
   

5. Click Calculate.

After the BOS is planned, the cost and AUR is calculated.

After you have seeded the departments and set the BOS, continue to the next step: Review Strategic Targets.

Review Strategic Targets

After you have seeded the groups, review the strategic targets created by the top down user to understand the goal that your plan should meet.

The view used in this step is the 2. Target Overview view.

Note: The top down targets are at the group level, but the view is at the department level. To see the targets, change the level of the Product dimension from department to group. To see the TD Tgt Publish Date and Info measures, change the level to division and include year in the Calendar dimension.

Figure 4-16 Target Overview View

The Target Overview view contains the top down target (TD Tgt) measures as well as last year (Ly) measures.

Use this view to compare the TD Tgt measures to the corresponding Ly measures. By understanding how the top down targets compare to last year's metrics, you can better understand what your plan needs to achieve.

Note: All measures in the Target Overview view are read-only. The measures that you edit are in other views.

The following table lists the measures available on this view:

Table 4-2 Target Overview View Measures

Measure	Description
TD Tgt Sales R	The top down target for sales.
Ly Sales R	Last year's sales.
TD Tgt Sales var Ly R%	The top down target for variance between target sales value and last year's sales value, expressed as a percentage of the last year value.
TD Tgt Markdown R	The top down target value for markdowns.
TD Tgt Markdown R%	The top down target for markdown expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Markdown R	Last year's value for markdowns.
Ly Markdown R%	Last year's markdown expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
TD Tgt Mkd down Var Ly R%	The top down target for variance between target markdowns and the last year markdowns, expressed as a percentage of the last year value.
TD Tgt CMU%	The top down target for cumulative markup rate.
Ly CMU %	Last year's cumulative markup rate.
TD Tgt Gross Margin	The top down target for gross margin.
TD Tgt Gross Margin %	The top down target for gross margin expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Gross Margin	Last year's gross margin.
Ly Gross Margin %	Last year's gross margin as a percentage of total sales retail.
TD Tgt GM Var Ly R%	The top down's target gross margin expressed as a percentage of last year's gross margin.
TD Tgt Cum Turn R	The top down cumulative inventory turns (retail) target. It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly Cum Turn R	Last year's cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the same week last year, corresponding to the first week in the task.
TD Tgt Cum Avg Inv R	The top down average cumulative inventory turns (retail) target. It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly Cum Avg Inv R	Last year's average cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
TD Tgt Publish Date	The date that the top down target was published.
TD Tgt Publish Info	Additional information about the top down targets. This information was entered by the top down user who published the targets.

Retrieving Updated Strategic Targets

If the top down user updates the strategic targets after you have created your department plans, retrieve those new targets in one of two ways. You can build a new task which uses the updated strategic targets from the domain. Or, if you want to bring the new targets into one of your existing tasks, you can refresh the task.

Refresh the Workbook

When refreshing a workbook, you can run a refresh group that has been configured in order to retrieve data from the master database.

To refresh a workbook, click the Refresh icon in the toolbar. Since only one rule group exists for this workbook template, there are no options to choose from. The one refresh rule group runs and measures configured in that rule group are updated.

Figure 4-17 Refreshing a Workbook

For more information about the refresh option, see the Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server User Guide for the Fusion Client. For information about creating refresh rule groups, see the Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server Configuration Tools User Guide.

After you have reviewed and compared the top down targets to the last year metrics, continue to the next step: Develop Sales and Markdown Targets.

Develop Sales and Markdown Targets

After you have seeded the groups and reviewed the top down group targets, you can develop the sales and markdown targets for the departments within those groups. The view used in the Develop Sales and Markdown Targets step is the Sales view.

The top down user plans top down targets at the month level. As the middle out user, you should use those targets to create more detailed targets at the week level. This allows you to create a weekly EOP plan that has more accurate average inventory and turn-over plans.

Use the following best practices to plan the sales and markdowns.

1. Using the default measure profile, review and compare the total sales to the forecast.

2. Change the measure profile to Sales by Type.

   Figure 4-18 Plan Sales and Markdowns View, Sales by Type Measure Profile

   
   

3. In the Sales by Type measure profile, plan your sales by type. The sales types are regular (Reg), promotional (Promo), clearance (Clr), and regular and promotional (Reg + Promo).

   
   

   Note: Since Sales and Markdowns are both planned at the type level, the user must first complete the sales by type planning before they can plan the markdowns by type.

   
   

   Start by planning the regular sales. Then, using your marketing calendar as a guide, align the promotional sales to the calendar. Refer to the calendar again for the exit weeks for the products, and plan the clearance sales for those weeks.

   The planned figures for these sales types populates the Wp Sales R measure.

4. With the total Wp Sales R populated, you can adjust the total to your target while still maintaining the relationships between the different sales types.

5. Plan the shrink with either the Wp Shrink R or Wp Shrink R% measure.

6. Change the measure profile to Markdowns by Type.

7. In the Markdown by Type profile, edit the Wp Markdown Promo R% to adjust the Wp Markdown Promo Rate.

   Figure 4-19 Plan Sales and Markdowns View, Markdown by Type Measure Profile

   
   

The following table lists the measures available on the default measure profile of this view:

Table 4-3 Plan Sales and Markdowns View Measures

Measure	Description
Wp Fcst Pre-Season R	The preseason forecast.
Wp Sales R	The planned sales retail value.
Wp Sales var Fcst Pre-Season R%	The planned preseason sales variance forecast.
Ly Sales R	Last year's sales retail value.
Wp Sales var Ly R%	The planned sales retail variance to last year as a percentage.
Ly Sales contrib Prod R%	Last year's sales contribution, expressed as a percentage of sales of all products in the task for this period.
Ly Sales contrib Time R%	Last year's sales contribution, expressed as a percentage of sales to one product's total across the task for this period.
Wp Markdown R	The planned markdown value.
Wp Markdown R%	The planned markdown value as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Markdown R	Last year's markdown value.
Ly Markdown R%	Last year's markdown value as a percentage of total sales retail.
Wp Markdown Var Ly R%	The planned variance between the target markdown value and last year's actual markdown, expressed as a percentage of last year.
Wp Shrink R	The planned shrink for the period.
Wp Shrink R%	The planned shrink for the period as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Shrink R	Last year's actual shrink. Shrink is loss due to reason such as damage or theft.
Ly Shrink R%	Last year's actual shrink as a percentage of total sales retail.

After you have created the sales and markdown plan, continue to the next step: Develop Inventory and Receipt Targets.

Develop Inventory and Receipt Targets

After you have developed the sales and markdowns plan, develop a receipts and inventory plan that can support the sales that you are projecting in the sales and markdown plan.

Like the Plan Sales and Markdowns view, the Plan Receipts/Inventory view contains several Ly metrics that you can reference when setting your targets. There are also additional measures you can use to adjust your inventory targets. Note that the adjustments you made to the Wp Sales R measure in the Develop Sales and Markdown Targets step are visible in this view if you have calculated.

Use the following best practices to plan the receipts and inventory.

1. Ensure that you have set the beginning of season (BOS) inventory in the Initialize Plan view in the Getting Started tab. The BOS measures must be set before planning the receipts and inventory. To set the BOS measures, see the Setting Beginning of Season Inventory.

2. Plan the receipt flow and then evaluate the average inventory and turn.

3. Review the Wp CMU % measure. Cumulative markup rate (CMU %) is a blend of the beginning of period (BOP) inventory retail and cost with the future receipt retail and receipt cost. The Wp CMU % directly affects the cost of goods sold (COGS), which then affects the gross margin.

4. Adjust the Wp Stock to Sales R measure accordingly. These adjustments affect the receipts for both the current month and prior month. However, the total plan period receipts do not increase or decrease; they only shift from month to month.

Figure 4-20 Plan Receipts/Inventory View

The following table lists the measures available on this view:

Table 4-4 Plan Receipts / Inventory View Measures

Measure	Description
Wp BOS Inv R	The planned beginning of period inventory in retail value. The period can be a week, month, or any other calendar period.
Wp BOS Inv IMU %	The planned markup percentage for the beginning of season inventory. (The BOS Inv IMU% must be planned to get the BOS Cost).
Wp BOP Inv R	The planned beginning of period inventory in retail value. The period can be a week, month, or any other calendar period.
Ly BOP Inv R	Last year's beginning of period inventory. The period can be a week, month, or any other calendar period.
Wp Sales R	The planned sales retail value.
Ly Sales R	Last year's sales retail value.
Wp Markdown R	The planned markdown value.
Wp Shrink R	The planned shrink for the period.
Wp Receipts R	The planned receipt value.
Wp Receipts MU%	The planned receipts markup, expressed as a percentage of retail value.
Ly Receipts R	Last year's receipts.
Ly Receipts MU %	The actual receipt markup percentage for last year.
Wp Rec Var Ly R%	The variance between the planned receipts and last year's actual receipts, expressed as a percentage of last year.
Wp EOP Inv R	The planned end of period inventory. The period can be a week, month, or any other calendar period.
Ly EOP Inv R	Last year's end of period inventory. This can be at week, month, or any other calendar period.
Wp CMU %	The planned cumulative markup percent, cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly CMU %	Last year's cumulative markup percent, cumulated for the same period last year, corresponding to the start week of this task until the current week.
Wp Cum Avg Inv R	The planned average cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly Cum Avg Inv R	Last year's cumulative average inventory value (retail), corresponding to the start week of the task until the current week.
Wp Cum Turn R	The planned cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly Cum Turn R	Last year's cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the same week last year, corresponding to the first week in the task.
Wp Stock to Sales R Ratio	The planned ratio of the BOP inventory to the sales for the same period.
Ly Stock to Sales R Ratio	Last year's ratio of the BOP inventory to the sales for the same period.
Wp Forward Cover R	The planned number of weeks of forward cover for the period. Using the retail values sales of future weeks, this measure indicates how many weeks of sales can be fulfilled with the ending inventory of the period.
Ly Forward Cover R	Last year's forward cover for the period.

After you have created an achievable receipts and inventory plan, continue to the Review and Adjust Gross Margin Targets step to see if your sales and inventory plans achieve your gross margin goal.

Review and Adjust Gross Margin Targets

The Review and Adjust Gross Margin Targets step has one view: Gross Margin. Use the Gross Margin view to evaluate the gross margin created from your sales and markdown plan and receipts and inventory plan.

Determine whether the planned gross margin meets your gross margin goal. If it does not, return to the Develop Sales and Markdown Targets and Develop Inventory and Receipt Targets steps to adjust your receipt markups and receipt flow. When you return to the Develop Sales and Markdown Targets step, adjust the markdown plans, but do not change the sales. Continue this process until you are satisfied with the gross margin.

Figure 4-21 Gross Margin View

The following table lists the measures available on this view:

Table 4-5 Gross Margin View Measures

Measure	Description
Wp Gross Margin	The planned gross margin.
Wp Gross Margin %	The planned gross margin expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Gross Margin	Last year's gross margin.
Ly Gross Margin %	Last year's gross margin expressed as a percentage of last year's total sales retail.
Wp GM Var Ly R%	The planned gross margin expressed as a percentage of last year's gross margin.
Wp Sales R	The planned sales retail value.
Ly Sales R	Last year's sales retail value.
Wp Markdown R	The planned markdown value.
Wp Markdown R%	The planned markdown value expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Markdown R	Last year's actual markdown value.
Ly Markdown R%	Last year's markdown expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Wp Shrink R %	The planned shrink for the period, expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Ly Shrink R%	Last year's actual shrink, expressed as a percentage of total sales retail.
Wp Receipts R	The planned receipts.
Wp Receipts MU %	The planned markup rate for receipts, expressed as a percentage of markup to net sales.
Ly Receipts MU %	The actual receipt markup percentage for last year.
Wp MarkUp R	The planned markup value for receipts, expressed as a difference of net sales and cost.
Ly MarkUp R	Last year's markup value for receipts, expressed as a difference of net sales and cost.
Wp CMU %	The planned cumulative markup percent. It corresponds to the start week of the task until the current week.
Ly CMU %	The cumulative markup percent from last year. It is cumulated for the same period last year.
Wp Cum Avg Inv R	The planned average cumulative inventory turns (retail). It is cumulated from the start week of the task.
Ly Cum Avg Inv R	Last year's average cumulative inventory turns (retail).
Wp GMROI %	The planned gross margin return on inventory.
Ly GMROI %	Last year's gross margin return on inventory.

Now that you have developed your inventory and gross margin targets, continue to the Review Department Targets step.

Review Department Targets

At this step, review the targets created from previous steps. If you need to alter the targets shown in this view, return to the step where you created them and edit them there. If you are satisfied with the plan you have created, continue to the Reconcile to Strategic Targets step.

Figure 4-22 Review Plan/ Reconcile Targets View

Reconcile to Strategic Targets

After you have created a plan, compare your targets to the top down targets to see if you meet the goals created by the top down user.

Use the Reconcile to TD Targets measure profile to reconcile your plan to the top down targets. When using this profile, set the calendar hierarchy to month and product to group. This measure profile includes your working plan (Wp) measures that as well as the top down target (TD Tgt) measures.

If you need to alter your targets shown in this view, return to the step where you created them and edit them there.

Figure 4-23 Reconcile to Strategic Targets - Reconcile Targets

After you are satisfied that the plan you created sufficiently meets the top down targets, proceed to the final middle out role step: Publish Department Targets.

Publish Department Targets

Use the Publish Department Targets step when you are ready to publish the targets you created. Publishing targets copies the target information to the middle out target (MO Tgt) measures in your task, and then copies them to the database. After you have published the targets, the targets are passed down to the bottom up user.

Figure 4-24 Publish Department Targets

Publish Targets

Publishing a target copies your middle out Wp measure information to the MO Tgt measures in your task, and then it commits those target measures to the database so that bottom up users can retrieve them.

To publish the targets, perform the following steps.

1. Select the halves in the Wp Publish Targets measure that you want to publish.

2. If needed, enter relevant information in the Wp Publish Info measure. This is optional.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for other locations and products if necessary.

4. Click Publish Targets. This button is located in the top, right corner.

5. A success message is displayed. Click OK to close it.

   Figure 4-25 Success Message - Publish Targets

   
   

The view refreshes and clears the Wp Publish Targets and Wp Publish Info measures. The MO Tgt measures in this view are populated. These measures are described in the following table.

Figure 4-26 Successfully Published Targets

Table 4-6 Publish Targets - Publish Target View Measures

Measure	Description
Wp Publish Targets	Working Plan Publish Targets. Use this measure to select the targets you want to publish.
Wp Publish Info	Working Plan Publish Information. Use this measure to enter relevant target information. This measure is optional.
MO Tgt Published By	Middle Out Target Published By. After a target is published, this measure displays the username of the person who published the targets.
MO Tgt Publish Date	Middle Out Target Publish Date. After a target is published, this measure displays the date that the target was published.
MO Tgt Publish Info	Middle Out Target Publish Info. After a target is published, this measure displays the information that was entered in the Wp Publish Info measure.

Commit Wp Measures

If you want to commit your working plan (Wp) measures to the database, you need to perform a separate commit in addition to publishing your targets. For more information about committing, see the Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server User Guide for the Fusion Client.

To commit your Wp measures, perform the following step:

• In the task that you have published the targets, click Commit in the toolbar. Or, from the File menu, select the Commit option.

  Figure 4-27 Commit a Workbook

  
  

Next Steps

After you have published your targets and committed your task, the bottom up user can use your department targets to create their class and subclass plans. To learn about the bottom up user's role, see the Preseason: Bottom Up Role Task chapter.

If you need to revise your targets at any time during the preseason, you can follow the same procedures described in this chapter. Since you have already created a working plan, there is no need to seed the task again unless you want to start again with Ly (Last Year) data.