Oracle® Fusion
Applications Sales Implementation Guide 11g Release 6 (11.1.6) Part Number E20373-06 |
![]() Home |
![]() Contents |
![]() Book List |
![]() Contact Us |
![]() Previous |
![]() Next |
This chapter contains the following:
Territory Components: How They Work Together
Multistep assignment processing: Explained
Define Territory Management Dimensions
Dimension Parameters: Explained
Populating Dimension Members: Explained
Using Territory Dimensions: Examples
FAQs for Manage Territory Management Synchronization
Territories are used to define the jurisdiction of responsibility of a salesperson over a set of sales accounts. Sales managers use territory proposals to change territory definitions. Managers can create more than one territory proposal and use metrics and graphs to compare and analyze their proposed territories for fairness, effectiveness, and alignment with current sales goals. Managers then activate the best territory proposals.
This figure shows the use of territory proposals to add, change, and delete territories. After analysis, managers activate final territory proposals.
A territory, whether active or part of a territory proposal, includes several elements. One or more dimensions, such as geography, define the boundaries of a territory according to selected dimension members, such as Europe or Asia. Every territory is assigned an owner and can have additional territory team members.
This figure shows two territories defined using the same two dimensions but different dimension members. Each territory has an owner and a sales team.
Mapping sets enable the grouping of mappings so that you can create more than one mapping for each combination of work object and candidate object. The mapping set concept is used only with territory-based assignment and territory-based assignment with rule filtering. When managing assignment objects, the user can define one or more mapping sets, each of which is comprised of multiple mappings, for each combination or work object and candidate object.
A sequence can be entered for each mapping set which is used to determine the order in which these mapping sets will be used in the territory-based assignment processing.
Additionally, a conditional attribute can be defined which controls whether the mapping set is used or not used during assignment processing. For example, the partner channel manager territory assignment mapping set conditional attribute is set to the value RevenuePartnerId. During the assignment processing of a revenue line, if the Revenue PartnerId attribute for that revenue line contains a value, then this mapping set will be used in territory matching processing.
Multistep assignment processing allows carrying out multiple steps of matching territories. This multistep processing allows for matching territories that use attributes, such as geography and organization type, of the sales account in one step, and then matching territories using attributes, such as the geography of the partner. Assignment Manager determines if multiple steps are performed based on the existence of more than one active mapping set. Each mapping set contains multiple mappings that determine the information on the work object, such as lead or opportunity, and information on the territory that is used in territory-based assignment processing.
The following example of opportunity assignment explains multistep assignment processing. In this example a Revenue work object has two mapping sets, each with different mappings defined. When territory-based assignment is triggered for an opportunity, it performs the following steps:
In the first step, identification of prime, overlay, or channel manager territories is based on sales account attributes.
In a second step, channel manager territories that are based on partner attributes are identified and driven from a second set of mappings between the revenue or partner work object and the territory candidate object attributes.
The performance of both steps 1 and 2 depends on the presence of a partner on the revenue line, which is controlled by setting the conditional attribute on the mapping set. The RevenuePartnerId attribute is selected on the second mapping set, and only when that attribute contains a value is the mapping set (step 2 of assignment) used.
The results of the territory matches from steps 1 and 2 are merged and the matches passed to Opportunity Management for assignment. The merging of the results is optional and is performed based on an indicator setting in the related Candidates section of the assignment configuration.
Dimensions are attributes that define jurisdictional boundaries of territories. For example, the geography dimension can be used to define territories by country or postal code. Territory dimensions are used to assign sales accounts, partners, leads, and opportunities to the correct territories.
Each territory dimension is matched to an attribute of the object being assigned. Product and Sales Channel dimensions are matched to lead and opportunity attributes directly. The rest of the dimensions are matched to sales account attributes either when assigning sales accounts to territories, or when assigning leads and opportunities to territories, in which case the sales account for the transaction is used. All dimension values combine to define the territory boundaries. For example, if Geography = United States and Product = Green Servers, then the territory boundaries are United States AND Green Servers.
The dimensions available for defining territories are:
Account
Account Type
Named or Not Named
Customer Size
From the Organization Size lookup
Geography
Industry
Organization Type
The organization type hierarchy is from the customer classification module.
Partner
Product
A hierarchy from the Sales Catalog. Used to assign leads and opportunities, but not accounts.
Sales Channel
Used to assign leads and opportunities, but not accounts.
Auxiliary 1, 2, 3
Your administrator enables the dimensions your organization uses for defining territories. The administrator also selects the dimension members that appear in the selection list when defining territory dimensions. All invisible dimension members appear in an Others category in the selection list. An Unspecified dimension member captures objects with insufficient matching values.
Dimension members are populated through synchronization with the source data. For example, products synchronize from the product catalog. Changes to the source data can impact the assignment of sales accounts, leads, and opportunities after the changes are synchronized with territory dimension members. For example, a sales account that was designated as not named is changed to named account, or a product line is removed from the sales catalog. Therefore, it is a good practice to run full reassignment processes for leads, opportunities, and accounts after synchronizing dimension changes.
Sales accounts and their hierarchies are maintained in the Oracle Fusion Customer Center application.
Sales accounts are Parties with the usage Sales Account and a sales account profile containing sales information specific to the party. When a party has one sell-to address, it ceases to be a sales prospect and becomes a new sales account. When the party purchases something, it changes from a new to an existing sales account. When defining a territory, you can select an individual account to include in the territory despite the fact that it does not meet the boundaries set in the regular coverage. You also have the option to select the individual account to exclude it from the territory despite the fact that it does meet the dimension selections in the regular coverage for that territory. The selection for inclusion or exclusion does not contain the hierarchy for the sales account.
The account must be designated as Named in Customer Center before it can be selected as a named accountusing the Account dimension in the regular coverage for the territory definition. When defining territories, you can select named accounts that fall within the other dimension definitions for the hierarchy. You can also select named accounts that do not fall within the other dimension definitions provided the accounts are higher in the customer hierarchy above a selected named account that does fall within the other dimension definitions.
The administrator can enable the Account dimension using the following choices:
Enable for both named accounts in regular coverages and selected sales account inclusions and exclusions.
Enable only for selecting individual sales accounts for inclusions and exclusions. Named accounts are not available in the regular coverage.
Disable the Account dimension so neither named accounts are available in regular coverages nor sales accounts available for inclusions or exclusions.
Geography is defined as a physical space, with boundaries, on the surface of the earth.
Geography Type is a divisional grouping of geographies, and can be either one of two types:
Master: Any record or object in Fusion that has a street address, in any country in the world, uses Master Reference Geography Types to define that address. Master reference geography data is imported into the application, not set up manually. It can be imported into the application using the Manage File Import Activities setup task in Setup and Maintenance.
Zones: A convenient, customized grouping of geographies. For example, you can group several states into a zone called Northwest. Zones have to be defined and created manually, so they are optional. No other Fusion application uses them besides Territory Management, and you only want to use zones to define your sales territories if the boundaries of your sales territories do not strictly follow the Master Geography structure (that is, if they are regional and go outside the official country specific structure, for example are different than state-county-city-ZIP code in the case of the United States).
The geography dimension value in territories is derived from sell-to addresses of sales accounts. To use geography dimensions in territories, ensure that the geography elements in addresses, such as state, city, and postal code, are validated. You can do so by enabling geography validation for each country using the Manage Geographies task. While doing so, ensure that at least one level in the geography hierarchy is enabled for geography validation. It is recommended that you enable geography validation for all geography levels that you intend to use for territory definition for each country. You can enable a list of values containing specific geography elements. This will help users search and select appropriate geography values during addresses entry and eliminate all possibilities of wrong address entry. You can also set geography validation control to Error in the Manage Geography Validation page. This ensures that users can only use valid geography elements in addresses. If you have already created addresses before setting up geography validation for a country, you must execute the Run Maintain Geography Name Referencing task for that country after enabling geography validation to ensure that all your geography elements are validated.
Since zones are user defined, they are subject to interpretation. In order to use them, you need company-wide consensus on their definition. This means across all business units, and all lines of business that sell to the same account.
Zones together with master geographies are organized in a hierarchy. Setting up the territory hierarchy using Manage Territory Geographies is a prerequisite to enabling the geography dimension, whether or not you choose to include zones in the hierarchy.
The industry hierarchy is from the customer classification module.
The profile option Industry Classification Category must be set to the classification category that you want to use as the basis for the industry dimension before you can enable the dimension. The available selections include only classification categories belonging to the Industrial Categories grouping.
A partner is an organization party with a partner profile associated and an assigned Partner usage. Partners are defined in the Partner Center. You can select individual partners to include in the definition of a partner centric territory. You can also select individual partners to exclude from the partner centric territory coverage.
The administrator can enable the Partner dimension for manual inclusions and exclusions. The Partner dimension is not available for regular coverages.
The sales channel dimension supports indirect sales through channel partners. You can create partner specific territories, structured by the sales channel dimension, in addition to the other available dimensions. The available sales channels are Direct, Indirect, and Partner. The sales channel dimension applies to leads and opportunities, but not to sales accounts.
You can define up to three auxiliary dimensions based on the customer classification model. Define classification categories first and associate them to the Customer Categories grouping.
The following steps must be done before you can enable auxiliary dimensions:
Use the Manage Classification Categories task to create a new classification category. You can allow parent code assignment. If you allow multiple class code assignments, then the classification that is designated as Primary in the customer record is the one that is matched to assign the customer to a territory.
Add classification codes for the new category. You can form a hierarchy with the codes or not.
Use the Manage Classification Groups task and search for the CUSTOMER_GROUP category group code. Edit the group and add your new classification category to the group.
Using the setup task Define Classification Category for Auxiliary Dimension 1 (or 2 or 3), you change the value of one of the profile options to point to the classification category you just created. Then this classification category becomes the source for dimension members for the auxiliary dimension.
Use parameters to refine the definition of each dimension so it best fits business requirements.
Three dimensions use parameters:
Industry
Time
Product
Use the parameter to set the number of levels in the industry hierarchy that display in the dimension member selection screen.
Set the start of the time period used in calculating metrics using the Calendar Start parameter. Set the number of years prior to today's date when the calendar starts for metrics.
Use the parameter to set the number of levels in the product hierarchy that display in the dimension member selection screen.
Dimension members are populated and synchronized in Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus either via the data warehouse, or without the use of data warehouse. Administrators must repopulate dimension members when source data changes, such as changes in the product catalog and the addition of new customers.
When you do not use data warehouse, dimension and transaction data are populated directly from Fusion Applications into territory dimension members and the Oracle Essbase cube. The structure of the cube reflects the enabled dimensions in Territory Management and their members. The cube provides metrics information for defined territories.
This figure shows the population of the dimension members data and the Oracle Essbase cube using the Repository Project Design (RPD) view from Business Intelligence.
(On-Premise implementations only.) In the Data Warehouse option, the data warehouse Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) logic extracts transaction and dimension data from Oracle Fusion Applications into the data warehouse first. The data warehouse stores dimensions and metrics data. Metrics data is based on transaction information. Territory Management contains only a subset of the dimensions stored in data warehouse.
This figure shows the use of ETL to load data from Fusion Applications to the data warehouse, and RPD to provide data to the cube and to Territory Management. ETL also loads the settings for visible and invisible dimension members from Territory Management to the data warehouse.
Use ETL to load data to the data warehouse when:
There are changes in the dimension members sources (Fusion Application), so that the new structure of the dimensions is reflected in the data warehouse and consequently in Territory Management.
After changing visibility settings for dimension members.
Territory Management generates the cube based on the enabled dimensions and their members. Territory Management loads the cube with dimension members and metrics directly from the data warehouse, in the case of the data warehouse option, or from Fusion Applications, in the case of the non-data warehouse option. The cube provides metrics information for defined territories.
There are several aspects to enabling and populating dimension members, including setting profile options for certain dimensions.
Following is the sequence for populating dimensions for use in defining territories:
Set up source data for the dimensions you plan to use. This includes:
Master geography and territory geography zone hierarchies
Customers with a sell-to address and Named Sales Account selected
Product catalog
Customer sizes lookup
Classification codes for the Organization Type classification category
Industry classification category and codes
Customer classification categories and codes for auxiliary dimensions
Change profile options for industry classification category or the classification category for auxiliary dimensions 1, 2, or 3.
If you are using data warehouse, then run ETL to populate the data warehouse with the dimension members and transactional data.
In Territory Management, identify the dimension members to be made visible in selection lists for defining territories. Refresh the members before making visibility selections.
If you are using data warehouse, then run ETL to populate the data warehouse with visibility settings.
Use the stage environment in Territory Management to enable dimensions. Execute the Stage action which synchronizes the Territory Management stage environment with the data source. You can start defining territories using newly enabled and populated dimensions after you promote the stage environment to production.
The sales administrator enables only the dimensions the organization requires for defining territories. The following examples illustrate the use of different dimensions to assign sales accounts, leads, and opportunities to the correct salespeople using defined territories.
For most of your sales activities, you want to assign salespeople by city and postal code.
You have a few key accounts that should belong to top salespeople. Use the account dimension to create territories for individual sales accounts.
You want to assign major sales accounts to Named accounts territories A named account territory can have child territories identified by other criteria, such as geography. You also have territories with the account type of Not Named that include no major named sales accounts in the hierarchy.
One product line is suitable only for organizations above a certain size. Use the customer size dimension to target only the larger customers for the product line.
You sell one type of service to telecommunications companies, another service to utilities, and a third service for insurance companies. You can create territories for each using the industry dimension.
You sell a product line that requires salespeople to have a high degree of technical knowledge. Create separate territories for this product line.
You delegate sales accounts that are small to partner sales organizations by geography.
The Stage Only process runs checks for errors, and the administrator can then analyze the environment and make any corrections before promoting it to an active environment, or deleting the stage environment.
The stage process synchronizes the dimensionsand metrics with the source and checks for any errors that occur if the current territory definitions were based on the stage data. If a change in enabled dimensions causes a currently active territory to become invalid, then the error must be corrected either by changing the enable selection or changing the territory definition before promoting the stage environment to production.
In a stage environment, the administrator changes dimension parameters and enables or disables dimensions and metrics , without affecting current territory management activities. The production environment provides enabled dimensions and metrics for ongoing territory definition activities.
Automatically staging and promoting the environment synchronizes the stage environment with the data source, runs validation checks, and if no errors, promotes (moves) the stage environment data to production.