This chapter covers the following topics:
Oracle Partner Management offers the ability to create partners by inviting them to enroll a partner into a program. When you invite a partner to enroll in a program, the partner contact receives a notification and registers the partner organization. You can administer and expedite a partner's registration and enrollment into the program.
Mike Driver works at Vision Corporation as a channel manager. Mike meets a prospective partner for their Desktop Computer' program. Mike decides to invite the partner to join the program. Mike enters the relevant company information of the new partner, and selects a program for them to be invited into.
Mike then decides to offer a 10-percent discount in the enrollment fees for the program. When a new partner user receives the program invitation through e-mail, she logs into the partner dashboard, and enrolls into the program. Once the partner user submits the enrollment request, Mike can approve the partner's membership into the program.
The new partner receives any benefit associated with the Desktop Computers program, and starts working with Vision Corporation immediately.
Using Oracle Partner Management and Oracle Marketing, you can allow partners to participate in a marketing campaign. The channel manager generates a list of partners that he would like to receive the campaign offer. The partners are then sent an email notification describing the campaign. The notification contains a link that takes the partner directly to the vendor’s web site, where they can place an order.
Mike Driver works at Vision Corporation as a channel manager. Mike realizes that the marketing department has created a new sales campaign that includes the Envoy Deluxe Laptop, which is a popular product for partners that focus on the high tech market. Mike decides to notify these partners about the new campaign so that they can take advantage of the campaign’s volume purchasing discount.
Vision extends campaigns to Platinum level partners only. So, Mike logs into Partner Management and creates a search for Platinum partners who have high tech as an industry focus. Mike runs the search, and gets a list of 10 partners. Because marketing campaign notifications are sent via email, he must make sure that the email addresses for the partner contacts are available and correct. When Mike is confident that the email addresses are accurate he reruns the search, clicks Create Partner List and saves the list
Mike now accesses the Campaign Workbench application, and goes to the Campaign Dashboard. From the dashboard, he searches the schedules list for the campaign Volume Discount Laptop Campaign. Mike searches for the partner list he created previously, adds it to the campaign schedule, and saves his changes. Mike then goes to Generate List and clicks Refresh List Status to make sure that any additional changes to the partner data are included. When the target list is generated, the list status changes from Scheduled to Available. The partners are now included in the campaign.
Mike next must associate collateral with the campaign. Mike knows that a cover letter that contains a link to Vision’s Web Store is already available. Mike searches for the Partner letter, and then reviews it to make sure that the link to the web site is correct for his partners. Mike sees that it is not, so he changes the site link to point to Vision’s Channel Services web store, and applies his changes. He then submits the letter for approval. When the letter is approved, he activates the schedule
Rhonda Sellers is an employee of a partner named Bay Circle Systems. Rhonda receives the campaign email message. She reads the message and decides that the campaign offers her a great discount on a volume purchase of laptops. Using the link in the message, she goes to the Web Store and logs in. She searches for the Envoy Deluxe Laptop. She enters a quantity of 100 laptops (to qualify for a volume discount). She then selects shipping method and a payment option, and places her order.
In this scenario, a partner is set up as a recipient of opportunities generated by a specific marketing campaign. The lead is entered by a Sales user, qualified as an indirect opportunity, and automatically routed to the partner by the Partner Management routing engine. The partner accepts the opportunity, and then creates a quote for the end customer. Once the customer approves the order, the partner places the order and is also able to periodically check the status of the order.
Vision Corporation has developed a fall campaign that offers discounts to customers on products that will are soon to be replaced by newer versions. The campaign will be offered to many customers, including small customers that are handled by Vision partners. Vision wants these leads to be sent automatically to a partner or partners.
Mike Driver, a channel manager for Vision Corporation, decides that the number of Indirect opportunities generated by the campaign will probably be able to be handled by one partner, and he decided that Bay Circle Systems is the best fit. Mike logs into Oracle Marketing and locates the campaign. He then goes to the Partners tab, and searches for and adds Bay Circle Systems to the campaign.
Responses to the campaign are being handled by internal sales reps. Lisa Jones is a sales rep at Vision Corporation. She receives a message from Business World, a small customer that is interested in purchasing some of the products from the campaign. Lisa enters the response as an opportunity into Oracle Sales, indicating the customer name and the campaign code. When she saves the opportunity, it is routed automatically to Bay Circle Systems.
Bay Circle Systems can subsequently decide to accept or reject the routed opportunity. Bay Circle Systems accepts the opportunity, and contacts the customer. The customer requests a quote, which Bay Circle sends to them. The customer accepts the quote, and the partner subsequently places the order directly from the quote.
When partners resell your products, there is often a conflict between your direct sales force and your partner network. Deal Registration enables partners to submit opportunities and receive your commitment not to compete directly and support partners on the deal. You increase partner loyalty and gain visibility into partner activity.
When a partner registers a deal, it is routed to the appropriate approver(s). Approvers are notified of the deal registration and they review it and approve, reassign or decline it. When the deal registration is approved, a new opportunity is created in the system and assigned to the partner's organization for fulfillment.
Rhonda Sellers works at Bay Circle Systems, a partner of Vision. Rhonda learns that University of California at Berkeley is replacing desktops in some of their labs. Rhonda is actively working on this deal and decides to register the deal with Vision to avoid competition from Vision's sales force.
Rhonda registers the deal. The timeframe for the purchase is within the next month and the total budget is about $30,000 for 20 new desktops. She enters a note for the reviewers saying that she is registering this deal and believes that the opportunity is already in an advanced status. Vision has configured a deal registration approval policy to automatically route all incoming deal registrations to the partner's channel manager for approval.
Mike Driver is the channel manager for Bay Circle Systems. Mike is notified of Rhonda's deal via e-mail and he reviews the deal and decides whether the deal is valid. If it is valid, he can look for potential duplicates for the deal registered.
Mike does not find a duplicate and so he approves the deal. Mike reviews the list of potential customer duplicates and finds that the actual customer record is already defined in the customer database. Mike selects the record and reviews the contact information and selects the actual contact for the lead. Mike approves the deal and anew opportunity is created in the system. Both the partner and the partner contact are assigned to the opportunity on the external sales team. Mike is also assigned to the internal sales team for the opportunity.
Rhonda views the status of her registration and also receives an e-mail notifying her that her deal registration has been approved. Rhonda views the opportunity details for the opportunity that is created as a result of her registration. She updates the opportunity and creates a quote for the opportunity. She submits a quote for approval. Approval is immediate, as she did not request any additional discount. Rhonda publishes the quote to the customer. The customer accepts the quote and Rhonda places an order from the quote. The system updates the deal registration and closes it as the opportunity is Won.
Referral Management enables partners to refer business opportunities that they cannot fulfill directly to the vendor organization. For example, the partner learns of an opportunity for a customer who is interested in a product that the reseller does not sell. In this scenario, the partner can submit a referral to the vendor and receive a percentage of the revenue.
When a partner submits a referral, it is routed to the appropriate approver(s). Approvers are notified of the referral and they review it and approve, reassign, return, or decline it. When the referral is approved, the partner receives a commission if an approved referral generates a sale. Commissions are calculated after the customer places the order and the partner is notified about the commission amount. After the partner accepts the amount, the vendor pays the commission.
Rhonda Sellers works at Bay Circle Systems, a partner of Vision Corporation. Rhonda learns that University of California at Berkeley is replacing desktops in some of their labs. However, Bay Circle Systems does not resell desktops. Rhonda decides to refer the potential lead to Vision to get compensated if the deal goes through.
Rhonda creates a referral and submits it. The timeframe for the purchase is within the next month and the total budget is about $30,000 for 20 new desktops. She enters a note for reviewers that Bay Circle Systems cannot fulfill the deal directly as they do not resell the product. Vision has configured a referral approval policy to automatically route all incoming referrals to the partner's channel manager for approval.
Mike Driver is the channel manager for Bay Circle Systems. Mike is notified of Rhonda's referral via e-mail and he reviews it. Mike first checks that the lead is unique and then, using the referral deduplication process, he does not find a similar lead or opportunity. Mike decides that this is a valid lead and approves the referral.
Mike reviews the list of potential customer duplicates and finds the actual customer record. Mike reviews the contact information and finds the actual contact record. The lead that was created when Mike approved the referral is processed though the lead engine to qualify, rank and channel it. Lisa Jones is identified as the owner of the lead based on territory definitions.
Lisa Jones, a sales manager with Vision, logs into the system, reviews the lead and decides to accept the lead. She contacts the customer and decides to convert the lead into an opportunity. Lisa creates a quote for the opportunity and then places an order.
After the entire order is shipped to the customer, the compensation for the partner is calculated. To pay the partner, a claim is automatically created and assigned to a claim analyst for research. The claim analyst researches the claim and starts the settlement.
After the claim is approved internally, Rhonda is notified that she needs to review and accept the compensation. When Rhonda accepts it, the claim in sent to the credit department. Rhonda could also request additional assistance and enter, in a note, details for the request. Vision's credit department is notified of the incoming claim and the claim analyst validates the claim and initiates payment to Bay Circle Systems.
Vendors can extend special pricing to partners to help them meet competitor’s prices, move aging inventory, or to meet a bid request. Oracle Partner Management leverages Trade Management’s special pricing capability, allowing the vendor to create a budget to fund special pricing requests, track the liability against the budget, and upload the partner’s Point of Sale data, which the partner can then use to submit POS claims.
Rhonda Sellers works at Bay Circle Systems, a partner of Vision. Rhonda has a reseller who has encountered a sales situation where a competitor is offering a lower price. The reseller needs discounted pricing to match the competitor's price and win the deal.
Rhonda submits her request. Vision has configured a special pricing approval policy to automatically route all incoming requests to the partner's channel manager for approval.
Mike is the channel manager who works at Vision. Mike reviews the special pricing request to determine whether there are any existing requests for the same end-customer deal. Mike decides that there are no existing requests for this particular end-customer deal and approves the request.
Rhonda receives an e-mail notifying her that her special pricing request has been approved. Now, she wants to submit a claim to receive payment on the promised discount. The claims process can be automated through a POS file (Point of Sale). So, if Bay Circle Systems submits POS data to Vision, including special pricing authorization information. The system can automatically validate the information and start the payment.
Vision's credit department is notified of the incoming claim and the claim analyst validates the claim and initiates payment to Bay Circle Systems.
Vendors can allow partners to participate in marketing programs by allowing them to request marketing development funds. The vendor creates a budget in the Oracle Trade Management application and associates marketing programs and tasks with it. The vendor then makes the funds available to partners, who submit funding requests and, if approved, can be reimbursed for their activities upon completion of their campaign.
Rhonda Sellers works at Bay Circle Systems, a partner of Vision. Bay Circle Systems has access to channel marketing funds from Vision to support execution of marketing activities agreed upon by Vision and Technology Solutions.
Rhonda submits a fund request into Vision for a specific lead generation activity. Vision has configured a fund request approval policy to automatically route all incoming fund requests to the partner's channel manager for approval.
Mike Driver is the channel manager who works at Vision. Mike is notified of Rhonda's incoming fund request and reviews the request. He links into the Budget tab where he sees the default budget for this MDF benefit. He makes sure that the funds are available. He then reviews the request to make sure that the proposed activity meets Vision's partner marketing guidelines, and approves the request.
Rhonda receives an e-mail notifying her that her fund request has been approved. Rhonda proceeds with the lead generation activity. When the activity is complete, Rhonda is ready to submit a claim to receive reimbursement. She enters information about the activity results, specifies that she would like payment by check, and enters reimbursement amounts. Rhonda submits a claim.
Vision's credit department is notified of the incoming claim and the claim analyst validates the claim and initiates payment to Bay Circle Systems.