Siebel Marketing User Guide > Planning and Budgeting for Marketing > About Developing and Tracking Budgets for Marketing Plans >

Managing Marketing Assets and Collateral

Using the Marketing Asset feature, you can track the physical inventory of your marketing collateral, monitory inventory status, and manage requests for vendors to replenish your marketing materials.

The Marketing Assets screen provides a running inventory of each collateral item, with visual indicators that show when collateral is likely to require replenishment. For more rigorous purchase processes, the fulfillment process supports tracking of vendors and multiple bids for fulfillment requests to make sure that the low price supplier is always used.

Marketing Assets is integrated with Siebel Content Center. Using Content Center, users can use version management for revision of content, and implement workflow-driven approval processes.

This task is a step in Process of Creating Marketing Plans and Budget Requests.

Creating a Marketing Asset

The following procedure shows how to create a marketing asset.

To create a marketing asset

1. Navigate to the Administration - Content Center screen.
2. Select the Content Assets link.
3. Click New to create a new asset.
4. In the dialog box, enter a Name and Title for the asset, and then click File Options to browse for the file or URL options if you want to reference a URL to an online location.
5. Click OK to save the document.
6. Enter Activation and Expiration dates for the asset.
7. Select the Marketing Asset check box.

Tracking an Inventory of Marketing Assets

The following procedure shows how to track an inventory of marketing assets.

To track inventory of marketing assets

1. Navigate to the Marketing Asset screen.
2. Select the Marketing Inventory link.
3. Click New to add an asset to the inventory list.
4. In the location field, enter the Location where the inventory currently resides.

   NOTE:  To create a location, go to Administration - Location on the site map.

5. In the Quantity Available field, enter the current inventory amount for that location.

Creating Fulfillment Requests

The following procedure shows how to create fulfillment requests.

To create fulfillment requests

1. Navigate to the Marketing Asset screen.
2. Select the Fulfillment Requests link.
3. Click New to enter a request.
4. Enter the priority, date requested, and shipping location.
5. Save the record, and then click the Request # link.
6. Select the Pieces view tab, and then click New.
7. Select the Asset name field and specify the asset you want shipped and the quantity requested. Repeat this step for other assets you want fulfilled.

Tracking Bids for a Fulfillment Request

The following procedure shows how to track bids for a fulfillment request.

To track bids for a fulfillment request

1. Navigate to the Marketing Asset screen.
2. Select the Fulfillment Requests link.
3. Click on the Request # link.
4. Select the Bids view tab.
5. Click New to create a record for each supplier that is considered for fulfillment, and then select the Supplier name and set the Bid Status to Request Submitted.
6. In the Bid Items list at the bottom of the screen, enter the Asset, # of Units, and expected Unit Cost.
7. Repeat Step 5 and Step 6 for other suppliers.
8. When bids are received for a supplier, set the bid status to Bid Received and update the bid items list to reflect their submitted estimate.
9. When you select a supplier, set the bid status to Awarded Bid and update the Actual Cost field on the bid header.