This chapter covers the following topics:
Credit Allocation systematically applies a set of consistent rules to determine automatically who receives credit for a sales transaction and how much of the credit each person receives. This minimizes errors, thereby reducing the time analysts must spend reconciling them.
To use Credit Allocation, refer to Oracle Incentive Compensation User Guide, Credit Allocation.
The predefined transaction sources for credit allocation are Oracle Incentive Compensation and Oracle Quoting. You can also set up a custom user defined source by adding it to the CN_LOOKUPS table in the Forms application. A link is provided in the Incentive Compensation Administrator's menu. See the Lookups appendix for details.
The Transaction Source name must be unique. It cannot be the name of an existing transaction source or an existing credit rule name.
If you delete a transaction source, you cannot view or access any rule associated with it.
In order to use the Credit Allocation engine, you must map the source tables that contain the transactions to the Comm Lines API. If the transaction source is Oracle Incentive Compensation, this mapping information is used to generate a dynamic PL/SQL package. This mapping is also used to set up attributes that are used in the Credit Allocation Rules by activating the attribute.
To create credit rules and run Credit Allocation, see the Credit Allocation chapter in the Oracle Incentive Compensation User Guide.
Navigation
Setup Tasks > Credit Allocation > Configure Transaction Source Mappings
Notes
Enter a value set name if an attribute has been assigned a value set. See value set documentation for more information.
The data type of the credit rule attribute must match the data type of the transaction attribute column value or rules engine processing will fail. For example, if the data type in the rule attribute is Numeric, the credit rule condition is Between 100,000 and 200,000, and the transaction attribute value is ABC, the rules engine will reject the transaction, because ABC is not numeric data.
If the transaction source is Oracle Incentive Compensation you must select a transaction source in the table.
After creating a transaction source mapping, activate it to use the attribute in your credit rules. You can also deactivate a mapping if it is no longer needed.
If you are using Oracle Incentive Compensation as a transaction source, click Generate to generate the PL/SQL code.
During credit allocation processing, the credit rules engine checks whether the total output revenue allocation percentage is equal to 100%. If the total revenue allocation percentage is not equal to 100%, then the status of the transaction is updated to REV NOT 100.
These transactions are processed by Workflow based on a system profile value. You can set how you want to handle transactions that are not able to be processed normally. See the example below.
There are three options provided in cases where the total percentage does not total 100%:
Even Distribution: The remaining revenue percentage is distributed evenly among the existing sales roles.
Weighted Average: The remaining revenue percentage is distributed based on the weighted average, which uses the percentages assigned to each role.
Custom: Even Distribution and Weighted Average contain built-in logic, but the Custom setting does not. You can add custom code if none of the seeded choices suits your business requirements. You can also use the Custom option to set up for the Workflow process to not process any transactions when the allocation percentages do not total 100%.
For example, the allocation percentages for a transaction are 60% to Role 1, 20% to Role 2, and 20% to Role 3. However, during transaction processing, only the first two roles are associated with the credit rule. What is to become of the remaining 20%?
Using Even Distribution, both of the remaining roles receives 10% credit, or half of the remaining 20% credit. Using the Weighted Average, The first role gets 15% and the second receives 5% of the sales credit, because 60% represents three times the 20% of the second role. Each of the resources assigned to the roles that resulted in revenue output receives additional credit.
The option is set in the system profile OIC: Allow split % less than 100%. If you do not set the value at the application level, it defaults to the site level. If no selection is made, the Workflow process fails. See the System Profile Options chapter for steps to set up this profile.
The following table includes the following columns from left to right:
Profile Name: Name of the profile.
Description: Explains what the profile does.
Level: Level at which this profile option can be set. A = Application, S = Site, R = Responsibility, U = User.
Default: Lists the seeded default for the profile, if any.
| Profile Name | Description | Level | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Rev % is Not 100 | In Credit Allocation, Revenue Split Total is not 100%. | AS | Custom |
You can use Workflow configuration to decide what should happen after Rules Engine processing is complete. If you have a PL/SQL package that copies the transactions from output interface tables to your own schema, you can configure the workflow process to perform this task.
For Oracle Incentive Compensation, Credit Allocation runs as a batch using a concurrent program in the background. This is because of the large volume of transactions that are normally processed in this application, which requires the use of tables. For Oracle Quoting, the Credit Allocation engine runs as an online process, because it needs to process a small amount of information to deliver information to a resource quickly. In this case, Credit Allocation simply applies a rule to a transaction and returns the credit allocation percentages.
In order for Workflow to run for the processes in Credit Allocation, you must set up the background process for it. This setup schedules when Workflow checks the queue.
For Credit Allocation, it is recommended that you set up the Workflow background process parameters to run periodically. You should set up start and end dates which encompass the full span of time for which you want the process to run.
After the setup is complete, you can log in to Self Service Web Applications (SSWA) to view the Workflow Administrator Activities List.
To set up the Workflow background process and view Workflow activity, perform the following steps.
Responsibility
System Administrator
Navigation
Oracle Forms: Requests > Find Requests
Steps
On the Find Requests screen, select All My Requests, and Order By Request ID.
Click Submit a New Request.
Select Single Request and click OK.
In the Parameters screen, select an item type of Sales Credit Allocation. Click OK.
On the Schedule screen, select Periodically, and enter start and end dates.
The dates should encompass the time span for which you want to run the background process. A year is a good standard span.
Set the process to run periodically and to apply the interval from the start of the prior run.
Click OK.
To view the results of the Workflow background process, log in to Self Service Web Applications.
Steps
Select Workflow Administrator Web Applications from the Self Service list.
Click Find Processes.
On the Find Processes screen, you can select which activities to view.
If you select the Any Status button, active and complete Workflow activities will be displayed. You can select Active or Complete to limit the display.
Select All from the Item Type drop-down list.
You can further narrow the Find process by entering information in the four fields that follow:
Item Key
User Key
Process Name
Process Owner
You can limit the displayed activities by selecting Suspended or In Error, or select Any Status to show all activities that match the parameters previously set.
Click Find.
In the Item Type field, select Sales Credit Allocation Process.
Click Find.
To view details about a process, click the link in the Process Name field.
Click View Diagram to see the Activities List queue.