3 Starting a New Task

To open a workspace to build a plan or to start a new administration task, you expand the Tasks menu. The task menu has three selection levels: Activity Group, Activity, and Task. The options displayed to you depend on your security permissions which are based on your user role.

Figure 3-1 Tasks Menu

Administration

The administration task is where the environment and user administration activities are initiated. Activities such as User setup and maintenance, User and User Group security, and batch administration are found here. These activities are common across all applications using the Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server (RPAS) platform. For descriptions of the administration menu options, see the Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Administration Guide.

MFP Maintenance

The MFP Maintenance task is where the application-specific administration activities are initiated. Activities such as historical week mapping, setting Like Locations, and so on.

The MFP Maintenance Activity Group has the following tasks:

MFP Setup
Location Setup
Enable OP Approval
Load Validate

Create Merch Plan Targets

The tasks in this activity group are assigned to the Planning Manager role. This is where the Planning Manager navigates to start the process of creating Targets for a season. To see the list of available tasks, click the activity group and activity. The Create Merch Plan Targets activity has one task: Create Merch Plan Targets.

To open the Create Merch Plan Targets dialog, click a task.

Figure 3-2 Create Merch Plan Targets Dialog

In the dialog, you see a list of any existing plans that may be edited or opened. To select a new segment of the business for target setting or reviewing, click Create New Plan (or Create New if no plan is highlighted). When you chose to create a new target segment, a series of wizards walk you through the selection of calendar half, location channels, and product departments.

Note:

When selecting more than one calendar Half in the future, the Halves must be contiguous. This is because calculations, such as BOP, require EOP from the prior period.

The workspace is built such that the EOP of the previous period is made available for the very first Half within the segment, even if the prior Half is not part of the workspace segment.

Historical, elapsed periods do not need to be contiguous because elapsed periods are not calculated. They are fixed actuals.

Create Merch Plan

The tasks in this activity group are assigned to the Planner role. This is where the Planner navigates to start the process of creating a plan for a season. To see the list of available tasks, click the activity group and activity. The Create Merch Plan activity has one task: Create Merch Plan.

To open the Create Merch Plan dialog, click a task.

Figure 3-3 Create Merch Plan Dialog

In the dialog, you see a list of any existing plans that may be edited or opened. To select a new segment of the business for planning or review, click Create New Plan (or Create New if no plan is highlighted). When you chose to create a new target segment, a series of wizards walk you through the selection of calendar half, location channels, and product departments.

Note:

When selecting more than one calendar Half in the future, the Halves must be contiguous. This is because calculations, such as BOP, require EOP from the prior period.

The workspace is built such that the EOP of the previous period is made available for the very first Half within the segment, even if the prior Half is not part of the workspace segment.

Historical, elapsed periods do not need to be contiguous because elapsed periods are not calculated. They are fixed actuals.

Create Location Plan

The tasks in this activity group are assigned to the Location Planning Manager and Location Planner roles. This is where all location planners navigate to start the process of creating Targets and Plans for a season. To see the list of available tasks, click the activity group and activity. The Create Location Plan activity has the following tasks:

Create Location Targets
Create Location Plans

To open the Create dialog, click a task.

Figure 3-4 Create Dialog

Create location targets wizards walk you through the selection of calendar Half and locations.
Create location plan wizards walk you through the selection of product departments, calendar Half, and locations.

The segment, or positions, selected have an impact on the capabilities available to you.

Selecting the Locations

In order for a Like Location to have Ly plan data, you must select both the like store and the sister store.

The Reconcile to MFP step is used to reconcile the location plan to the merch financial plan. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, you must include all data that contributes to the rollup. This means you must select all locations that roll up within a given channel.

Selecting the Calendar Halves

When selecting more than one calendar Half in the future, the Halves must be contiguous. This is because calculations, such as BOP, require EOP from the prior period.

The workspace is built such that the EOP of the previous period is made available for the very first Half within the segment, even if the prior Half is not part of the workspace segment.

Historical, elapsed periods do not need to be contiguous because elapsed periods are not calculated. They are fixed actuals.