9 Create Location Plan Task

Location Planning is the process in which planners create the location plans at the store level. These plans are then compared to and reconciled against the Merch Plan.

Building the Workbook

To build the workbook, complete the following steps.

1. Click the Create New Workbook icon in the Create Location Plan step.

2. The Product Selection step of the workbook wizard is displayed. Select the department you want to plan and move it to the Selected Items box. Click Next.

   Figure 9-1 Workbook Wizard: Product Selection

   
   

3. The workbook wizard opens at the Calendar Selection step. Select the halves that you want to plan and move them to the Selected Items box. Click Next.

   Figure 9-2 Workbook Wizard: Calendar Selection

   
   

4. The Location Selection step of the workbook wizard is displayed. Select the channels you want to plan and move them to the Selected Items box. Click Finish.

   Figure 9-3 Workbook Wizard: Location Selection

   
   

Create Location Plan

This section describes location plan creation.

Seed Plan

The first action that the location target users perform when creating a new plan is to seed the plan with the Seed Sales view. This view is found under the first tab within the Create Plan step, Seed Sales.

Figure 9-4 Create Plan - Seed Sales: Initialize Plan View

Table 9-1 Top Down Initialize Plan Measures

Measure	Description
Wp 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. Alternatively, choose the Blank option if you do not want to seed the working plan.
Wp 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 perform the Seed. If blank, then the given intersection has never been seeded.

With this view, you can choose to seed your plan with Last Year (Ly), Forecast (Fcst), or Targets (Tgt) data to create a demand curve on which to spread the new plan's initial targets. Or, you can instead choose to not seed the plan, which allows you to create a plan that is not influenced by last year's performance or forecast (plus last year's performance).

In the preceding example, both Half1 and Half2 have been selected to be seeded for the Brick & Mortar channel.

See Table 9-2 for the list of measures that are seeded for different seeding options.

Table 9-2 Seeding Options

Seeded Measure	Seed With Version
Wp Sales R	Ly/Fcst/Tgt*
Wp Sales U	Ly/Fcst/Tgt*
Wp Markdown R %	Ly/Tgt
Wp Returns R %	Ly/Tgt
Wp Returns AUR	Ly/Tgt
Wp Receipts R	Ly
Wp Receipts U	Ly
Wp Receipts MU %	Ly
Wp Receipts MU %	Ly
Wp Shrink R %	Ly
Wp Shrink AUR	Ly
Wp Shrink MU %	Ly
Wp Transfers In/Out R	Ly
Wp Transfers In/Out U	Ly
Wp W/F Owned by Retailer R %	Ly
Wp W/F Markup R %	Ly
Wp W/F Markdown R %	Ly

Note: Tgt* - Only Target measures corresponding Variance to Ly (var Ly) measures will be seeded.

Sales and Markdowns

After seeding, a user can verify the seeded sales and markdown data in this view.

Figure 9-5 Sales and Markdowns View

Plan Sales/Markdowns View

You can verify the seeded sales and markdown data in this view. After you have seeded, develop the sales and markdown location plan for those departments. Sales/Markdowns has one default view: Plan Sales and Markdowns.

Figure 9-6 Plan Sales/Markdowns View

If the Wholesale Franchise or the Local Currency options are provisioned, then there are additional views to support planning sales and markdowns specifically catered to those options.

• Local Currency Plan

• Plan W/F Sales and Markup

Local Currency Plan

The Local Currency step displays your plan using the local currency conversion set up by the administrator.

Figure 9-7 Local Currency Plan View

Plan W/F Sales and Markup

If the Wholesale Franchise options are provisioned, then this additional view will be available to plan additional wholesale/franchise measures in this view.

Figure 9-8 Plan W/F Sales and Markup View

Plan Receipts/Inventory

The third tab within the Create Location Plan step, Inventory/Gross Margin, has two default views: Plan/Receipts and Inventory and Gross Margin.

After you have developed the sales and markdown plan, develop a receipts and inventory plan that can support the sales and markdown plan. The purpose of this step is to ensure that you have a receipt and inventory plan that supports the sales that you are projecting. Like the Plan Sales and Markdowns View, the Plan Receipts/Inventory view contains several Ly metrics that you can reference when setting your targets. Additional measures can be used to adjust your inventory targets.

Figure 9-9 Plan Receipts/Inventory View

Use the Gross Margin view to evaluate the gross margin created from your sales and markdown plan and receipts and inventory plan. Determine whether the planned gross margin meets your gross margin goal. If it does not, return to the Plan Sales and Markdown Plan and Plan Inventory and Receipt Plan steps to adjust your receipt markups and receipt flow. When you return to the Plan Sales and Markdowns view, adjust the markdown plans, but do not change the sales. Continue this process until you are satisfied with the gross margin.

Figure 9-10 Gross Margin View

If the Wholesale Franchise or Local Currency options are provisioned, then there are additional views to support planning sales and markdowns specifically catered to those options:

• Local Currency Plan

  Figure 9-11 Local Currency Plan

  
  

  The Local Currency Plan view shows the Gross Margin plan using the local currency conversion set up by the administrator.

• W/F Gross Margin

  Figure 9-12 W/F Gross Margin

  
  

  The W/F Gross Margin view shows planned Wholesale Franchise Gross Margin if this option is provisioned.

Review and Reconcile to MFP

In this step, review and compare your targets to the top down targets to see if you meet the goals created by the top down user. Use the MFP OP and the MFP CP measure profiles to reconcile your location plan to the Merch Plan and Merch Targets.

Figure 9-13 Review and Reconcile

Review and Approve

In this step, the location planner can review and approve the created location plan. The Review and Approve step contains two views: Review Plan and Approve Plan.

Review Plan

In this step, review the location plan you created. Use the Approve Plan custom menu when you are ready to approve the location plan you created. The purpose of reviewing the plan is so that you can understand the goals that your plan should meet.

Figure 9-14 Review Plan

Approve Plan

When you are ready to approve your working plan, use the Approve Plan view and custom menu Approve Plan. The approved versions will be committed after the process is complete.

Figure 9-15 Approve Plan View

Review and Re-Approve

Use this step to review the location plan during in-season for On Order and Open to Buy and to update the plan and reapprove if necessary. The Review and Re-Approve step has two views: Review and Re-Project Plan and Approve Plan.

Figure 9-16 Review and Re-Approve

Review and Re-Project Plan

In this view, the user can review the On Order and Open To Buy during in-season and adjust planned inventory data as needed and re-approve the CP Plan.

Figure 9-17 Review and Re-Project Plan

Approve Plan

When you are ready to re-approve your working plan during in-season, use the Approve Plan view and custom menu Approve Plan to re-approve the plan.

Figure 9-18 Approve Plan View

All Measures

Use this workbook to create a view of workbook measures that you may not be able to view at the same time in other views.

Figure 9-19 All Measures

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. All remaining measures are available in Show/Hide.

Figure 9-20 All Measures View