16Tracking Sales History

Tracking Sales History

This chapter provides information about standard Siebel Automotive functionality for tracking sales history. It consists of the following topics:

Note: Your company’s application configuration and business processes may differ from the procedures or business scenarios presented in this chapter.

About Tracking Sales History

In the automotive industry, the automobile manufacturers sell vehicles to the dealers. In turn, the dealers sell vehicles to the consumers. The manufacturer sells the vehicle to the dealer at a certain price (Dealer Invoice) and suggests a retail price (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price or MSRP) for the vehicle. As a result, the dealer’s profit is the difference between MSRP and Dealer Invoice.

Dealers report their sales transactions to the manufacturers using proprietary interfaces. That data can be used by manufacturers who create targeted marketing campaigns and also for personalized interactions. The manufacturers load that data into Siebel Automotive using Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM).

Dealers need to periodically report back sales of all new vehicles to the manufacturer using a batch mode interface called Dealer Communication Systems (DCS). The information dealers provide to the manufacturers varies from dealer to dealer. In some cases, dealers may only provide the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle sold, along with a contact name and address. However, in some cases, dealers may additionally provide the price at which the vehicle was sold along with the VIN, contact name, and address.

Scenario for Tracking Automotive Sales History

This topic provides scenarios for sales history. The order in which the procedures are performed may vary based on the business practices of the end user’s company.

Siebel Automotive allows you enter or import a vehicle’s sales history. Usually, dealers maintain their sales history in a Dealer Management System (DMS). After making a sale, the dealer reports it to the manufacturer, using an interface provided by the manufacturer. The OEM can then import it into Siebel Automotive using Siebel’s Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM).

The sales history is automatically visible to the selling dealer. If the value in the Selling Dealer field is the organization of the employee who is logged in, then that employee is able to view the sales history.

Process of Tracking Sales History

Car dealerships (dealers) are end users of the Sales History tab. Dealers can use the Sales History screen to create a new sales history record after the sale of a vehicle, and the dealers can also use the Sales History screen to view the sales history for their dealership.

To track sales history, end users perform the following tasks:

  1. Creating a New Sales History Record

  2. Viewing Sales History

Note: OEMs can also use this data to create targeted campaigns and personalize customer interactions.

Creating a New Sales History Record

A dealer can use this procedure to add a new sales history record.

Note: Most sales history records are added to Siebel Automotive using Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM).

This task is a step in Process of Tracking Sales History.

To create a sales history record

  1. Navigate to the Sales History screen.

  2. In the Sales History list, create a new record.

Related Topic

Viewing Sales History

Viewing Sales History

Use these procedures to view sales history for a vehicle or for a contact. The Sales History screen contains a list of all sales transactions.

This task is a step in Process of Tracking Sales History.

To view the sales history for a particular vehicle

  1. Navigate to the Vehicles screen.

  2. Drill down on the VIN field link for a selected vehicle record.

  3. Click the Sales History view tab.

To view the sales history for a particular contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen, then the Contacts List view.

  2. Drill down on the Last Name field link for a selected contact record.

  3. Click the Sales History view tab.

Related Topic

Creating a New Sales History Record