10 Create Location Targets Task

The Create Location Targets task is usually assigned to a planner in the merchandise planning organization. The Create Location Targets task is the process in which planners create the financial targets for all products in a channel. These targets are then reconciled to the location plan to ensure proper execution.

This task includes the following steps:

• Create Targets Step

• Review and Publish Step

• All Measures Step

Create Targets Step

In the Create Targets step, begin by seeding the plan and then develop high-level sales, returns, and gross margin figures.

Sales and Markdowns Sub-Step

The number of views in the Sales and Markdowns action depends on your system settings. If the Local Currency option is enabled, then there is an additional view.

Seed Sales View

The first action to complete when creating new targets is to seed the plan. Seeding occurs at the Channel/Half level. Choose a seed source of Last Year or Forecast and click the Seed button in the low right corner of the workspace.

Table 10-1 Initialize Plan 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 Forecast (Fcst) data. Or, you can choose the Blank option if you do not want to seed the working plan.
Seed Info	Includes a few pertinent facts about the last time that the Seed custom menu was executed: last seed source concatenated with last seeded date and the last user to seed. If blank, then the given intersection has never been seeded.

2. Plan Sales/Markdowns View

In the Plan Sales/Markdowns view, you plan sales, returns, and gross margins for each location.

Figure 10-1 2. Plan Sales/Markdowns View

There are several measure profiles available to logically guide you through the plan variables:

• Retail (Default)

  The measures in this profile display and capture sales, returns, and so on, in terms of their retail value.

• Units

  The measures in this profile display and capture sales, returns, and so on, in terms of units.

Local Currency Plan View

If the Local Currency option is provisioned, you use this view. In the Local Currency Plan view, you plan sales in the local currency.

Review and Publish Step

After initially developing plans for all locations in a channel, you use the Publish sub-step to review and publish the targets. Later, if adjustments are made, use the Review and Reconcile sub-step to reconcile the Working Plan (Wp) targets to Location Plans (Lp).

Review and Reconcile Sub-Step

The Review and Reconcile sub-step is for comparing the Wp Targets against Lp. This allows you to identify the variances between the targets and the location plans.

Review and Reconcile View

This view provides a comparison between key Wp targets and location plan sales figures. This view has measure profiles defined to quickly guide your comparison of different location plan versions:

• PoC Op Plan (Default)

  The Point of Commerce (PoC) Op profile is shown by default when the workspace is opened. This measure profile shows the Wp target measures and Location Plan Op measures.

• PoC Cp Plan

  This profile shows the Wp target measures and Location Plan Cp measures.

Figure 10-2 Review & Reconcile View

Publish Sub-Step

This sub-step is performed when the targets are completed for all locations in a channel.

Publishing a target copies the targets you built in the Wp measures to the target (Tgt) measures, and then commits then to the database. Once committed, Location Planners can retrieve those targets and take action planning to them.

The Tgt measures are shown in the Review Targets view found in this sub-step. These measures initially have zero values. After the targets are published in this step, those measures are populated with the target information.

Publish View

To publish the targets:

1. Place a checkmark in the Wp Publish Targets measure for the halves that you want to publish.

2. If desired, enter relevant information in the Wp Publish Notes measure. This is optional.

3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for other channels as desired.

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

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

   The view refreshes and clears the data in Wp Publish Targets and Wp Publish Notes measures. The action has populated Tgt Publish Info with name:date:notes.

Figure 10-3 Publish View

Review Targets

This view can be used to verify and review the currently published targets. The targets in this view are static and not editable. Changes to targets must be executed in the Wp plan and then published into the Tgt version.

If plans have been published or republished since you created the worksheet, click Refresh to reload the latest values. A refresh will reload all data in the worksheet to the last committed version.

Figure 10-4 Review Targets View

All Measures Step

This step has one view.

All Measures View

The All Measures view contains all the measures contained in the workbook; however, only the Wp Sales R measure is visible in the default measure profile.

Figure 10-5 All Measures View