Retail Execution

This chapter covers the retail execution procedures that retail sales representatives and their managers perform. Topics include:

About Retail Execution

The Retail Execution module helps retail sales representatives plan, schedule, execute, and review sales visits to retail outlets. It provides views that allow retail sales representatives to perform a variety of retail visit activities, including:

Planning visits and associating activities with those visits
Performing retail assessments
Performing retail audits
Reviewing store conditions, historical audit data, required product distribution, and account promotions (planned and underway)

After retail managers use the Objectives module to schedule recommended activities, or plan activities directly in the Activities module, retail sales representatives can use the Retail Execution module to undertake those activities in specifically assigned visits. For more information about objectives, see Objectives.

If retail managers use the Routes module to schedule visits, retail sales representatives and their managers can use the Retail Execution module to plan and carry out those scheduled retail visits. For more information about routes, see Routes.

Scenario for Retail Execution

Retail sales representatives perform the process in this example scenario for retail execution. Your company might follow a different process according to its business requirements.

A retail sales representative for a large food manufacturer visits a series of retail outlets in southern France each week. He meets with the retail outlet manager and performs various retail activities, such as taking retail orders, conducting retail audits, and promoting sales objectives that his manager establishes.

Each morning, he checks his calendar and starts planning his visits for the day. He begins by reviewing activities from prior visits, noting any outstanding issues that require special attention, and checking for any objectives that are assigned to his accounts.

Today, he notices that a new objective named Southern France Beverage Launch was created for one of the accounts he is scheduled to visit. The following list of activities is also included:

Meet with the retail manager to make sure the new beverage is priced correctly.
Conduct a retail audit of the beverage to make sure that it is correctly positioned on store shelves.
Place point-of-sale coupons in the retail outlet.
Undertake a retail assessment to gain competitive intelligence.

The first two activities have a priority of 1-ASAP, and he knows he can complete them in the time he has to spend at this account. Because he has only one hour to spend at this account, he defers the remaining two activities until a later visit.

Before entering the retail outlet, he records the start time of the visit. While in the store, he performs the activities and takes notes he can use when planning future visits. He also reviews audits that were previously completed, the products carried, and the account promotions currently running. After completing the retail visit, he records the ending time of the visit and changes the status of the activities that he performed to Done.

Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution

This topic lists the tasks and processes that retail sales representatives typically perform for retail execution. Your company might follow a different roadmap according to its business requirements.

The following list shows the tasks and processes that end users perform for retail execution:

Preparing for Retail Visits (End User)
Planning Retail Visits (End User)

Note: This procedure is optional if you use the Routes module to schedule store visits.
Starting Retail Visits (End User)
Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User)
(Optional) Creating Retail Activities (End User)
Reviewing Account Information (End User)
Ending Retail Visits (End User)

Preparing for Retail Visits (End User)

Preparing for a retail visit involves reviewing prior visit activities for an account and reviewing an account’s objectives.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To review the activities from a prior visit

Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
Drill down on the Name field hyperlink for an account record, and click the Outlet Visits view tab.
In the Outlet Visits list, drill down on the Planned Start field hyperlink of the prior visit that you want to review.
The Visit Execution screen appears. Information about the visit appears in the Visit form. In the Activities list, the activities that you performed during that visit appear.
In the Activities list, drill down on the Activity Type field hyperlink for the activity that you want to review.
Information you recorded during this activity appears. The view that appears depends on the activity type.
Click the browser Back button to return to the Visit Execution screen.
Repeat Step 4 and Step 5 for each activity that you want to review.

Use the following procedure to review an account’s objectives.

To review an account’s objectives

Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
Drill down on the Name field hyperlink for an account record, and click the Objectives view tab.
The Objectives list displays all of the objectives that are targeted to the account.
Check the Start Date and End Date fields for each objective to identify active objectives.
Drill down on the Objective Name field hyperlink of active objectives to identify targeted accounts and activities to which you are assigned.

Planning Retail Visits (End User)

After preparing for a retail visit by reviewing prior visit activities and account objectives, you are ready to plan the visit.

You can plan retail visits in two ways. Each way uses of a different module:

If your organization uses the Routes module, see Using Routes to Schedule Visits (End User).
If your organization uses the Retail Execution module, perform the procedure described in this topic.

Planning retail visits involves the following tasks:

Selecting an account to visit.
Selecting activities for the visit.

Note: If you want to create new recommended activities, use the Objectives module. For more information about creating activities, see Creating Recommended Activities for Objectives.
Scheduling the visit.
Checking for activities that users created since a visit was planned.

The following procedure incorporates these tasks and describes the steps to plan a retail visit.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To plan a retail visit

Navigate to the Visit Planning screen.
In the Available Accounts list, select the account for which you want to schedule a visit.
In the Available Activities list, select the activities that you want to apply to the visit, and click Schedule.
If the activity that you want to add is associated with the account, but not on the list, you must select the Assign To All field for the activity in the account to make the activity available on the list. (Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view, drill down on the Name field hyperlink for the account, and select the Assign To All field in the Activities view.)
In the Schedule Visit dialog box, complete the necessary fields, and click OK.
The new visit appears in the Scheduled Visits list, and all the activities that are applied to that visit appear in the Scheduled Activities list.
(Optional) If time elapsed since the original scheduling of the visit and if users created additional activities, retrieve the new activities by performing the following steps:
1. In the Scheduled Visits list, click Update.
2. In the Available Activities list, select and apply the new activities to your previously scheduled visit.
Note: Alternatively, you can click Update in the Visit Execution screen to apply all outstanding activities to a single visit.

Starting Retail Visits (End User)

After completing the preceding tasks, retail sales representatives are now ready to start the retail visit.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To begin a retail visit

Navigate to the Visit Planning screen.
In the Scheduled Visits list, and drill down on the Planned Start field hyperlink for a visit record.
The Visit Execution screen appears and the Activities list displays the retail activities for the visit.

Note: You can also navigate directly to the Visit Execution screen, which displays the earliest planned visit with a status not equal to Done.
(Optional) Click Update in the visit form to automatically apply all activities to the visit, including those users created since the visit was planned.
In the visit form, click Start Visit.

Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User)

During a visit, the retail sales representative performs the activities that are selected for the visit. These activities can include the following tasks:

Performing Merchandising Audits
Performing Retail Assessments
Exchanging Products Between Sales Representatives
Performing Retail Audits
Reviewing Store Conditions

Note: The procedures in this topic assume that you need to create new activities. In many cases, you do not need to create a new activity because it is already created as a recommended activity for the applicable objective you are working on.

This process is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

Performing Merchandising Audits

To clearly communicate how an account displays the company’s products, retail sales representatives perform merchandising audits. Merchandising audits allow representatives to record the status of a specific merchandising location at a point of time. They compare and record company criteria against the merchandising location.

For more information about merchandising locations, see Associating Account Products with Merchandising Locations (End User).

Note: You must add merchandising locations to the appropriate account before performing the following procedure. For more information about adding merchandising locations, see Adding Merchandising Locations to Accounts (End User).

This task is a step in Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User).

To perform a merchandising audit

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen, and locate your visit in the visit form.
In the Activities list, create a new record with an activity type of Merchandising Audit.

Note: For information about adding an activity to an account visit, see Creating Retail Activities (End User).
In the Activity Type field, drill down on the Merchandising Audit hyperlink.

In the Merchandising Audit list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

The following table describes some fields.

Field	Comments
Name	The name of the Inventory location that you want to audit.
Entry Compliance	Record the entry compliance against the company criteria.
Exit Compliance	If you make any changes to the merchandising location that qualify for a status change, record your changes.
Last Relay	(Optional) If you perform a full relay of the display, enter the current date. Recording the last relay date allows representatives to see the level of maintenance required to keep the display compliant over a period of time.
Shelf Space	Record the percentage of the merchandising location allocated to the company’s products.

When you finish conducting the audit, select Done from the Status field drop-down list in the Account Activity form.

Performing Retail Assessments

Retail assessments measure an account against a set of predefined attributes. Typically, you create the predefined attributes as assessment templates. The assessment template can help to determine the possibility of introducing a new product or measure the retail presence of a competitor.

For information about creating assessment templates, see the topic about setting up assessment templates in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

This task is a step in Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User).

To perform a retail assessment

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen, and locate your visit in the visit form.
If a retail assessment activity is not in the Activities list, create a new record with an activity type of Retail Assessment.

Note: For information about adding an activity to an account visit, see Creating Retail Activities (End User).
In the Activity Type field, drill down on the Retail Assessment hyperlink.
The Assessments view in the Accounts screen appears. The current account appears in the Account form.
In the Assessments list, select the assessment that you want to perform during this visit.
In the Assessment Attributes list, enter values in the fields for each assessment attribute.

Exchanging Products Between Sales Representatives

If insufficient quantities are available on the van, complete a stock transfer to load additional stock on the van. To exchange products between two sales representatives, each representative must complete the following procedure.

This task is a step in Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User).

To exchange products with another sales representative

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen, and locate your visit in the visit form.
If a stock transfer activity is not in the Activities list, create a new record with an activity type of Stock Transfer.

Note: For information about adding an activity to an account visit, see Creating Retail Activities (End User).
In the Activity Type field, drill down on the Stock Transfer hyperlink.
The Part Tracker view in the Activities screen appears.
Create a new record in the Part Tracker view.
Set the values for the Source and Destination fields as follows:
- If you take inventory from your van, select Trunk in the Source field and Customer in the Destination field.
- If you add inventory to your van, select Customer in the Source field and Trunk in the Destination field.
Click Commit to update the inventory.

Performing Retail Audits

Sales representatives perform retail audits to check if products are correctly priced, positioned, and stocked at retail outlets. You can conduct retail audits on your own organization’s products and a competitor’s products.

You must complete the following tasks before performing a retail audit on a competitor’s products:

Create the competitor’s products and add them to the category-product hierarchy. For information about performing this task, see Creating Category-Product Hierarchies.
Set up product distribution lists. A competitor’s products must appear on an authorized product distribution list before you can include them in a retail audit. For information about performing this task, see Creating Distribution Lists.

This task is a step in Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User).

To perform a retail audit

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen and locate your visit in the visit form.
If a retail audit activity is not in the Activities list, create a new record with an activity type of Retail Audit.

Note: For information about adding an activity to an account visit, see Creating Retail Activities (End User).
In the Activity Type field, drill down on the Retail Audit hyperlink.
The Retail Audit view appears.
In the Retail Audit link bar, click the Retail Audit link, and then click List Products.
A list of all the products authorized for distribution to the account and designated for a retail audit appears in the Retail Audit list. The list includes products from your organization and a competitor’s products.

Note: Each specific combination of an account and a product contains an Auditable field and Delist Date field, as shown in the Account Products view. The List Products button shows only products that are auditable (where the Auditable field is checked) and not delisted (where the Delist Date field is blank or later than today).
Select a product record for which you want to perform a retail audit.
Scroll down to the Product form, and record observations about the conditions of the selected product in the appropriate fields.
When you finish conducting the audit, scroll back to the Account Activity form, and select Done from the Status field drop-down list.

Reviewing Store Conditions

Retail sales representatives periodically review the store conditions of an account. The review measures store conditions over time and is useful for managers who analyze an account.

Note: If you delete or deactivate an ADL (Product) or Merchandising Location, associated product and inventory location information remains in the Store Condition record.

This task is a step in Process of Performing Retail Activities (End User).

To review store conditions

Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
Drill down on the Name field hyperlink for the account, and click the Store Conditions view tab.
In the Store Conditions Product list, select the product record for which you want to check store conditions.
A list of previous store condition reviews appears in the Store Conditions list after the Store Conditions Product list.
To view a graphical representation of changes in the Price Point or Facing Number between various store condition reviews, select Store Condition Chart from the Store Conditions drop-down list.

Creating Retail Activities (End User)

If you want to perform additional available retail activities or new activities that you did not previously plan, you can add them during the visit.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To add an available retail activity

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen, and locate your visit in the visit form.
From the visit form, locate the account record to which you want to add an available activity.
Click Update to add available activities to this visit.
In the Available Activities list, select the activity record that you want to add.
If the activity that you want to add is associated with the account, but not on the list, you must select the Assign To All field for the activity in the account to make the activity available on the list. (Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view, drill down on the Name field hyperlink for the account, and select the Assign To All field in the Activities view.)

Use the following procedure to create a new retail activity.

To create a new retail activity

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen, and locate your visit in the visit form.
In the Activities list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

The following table describes some fields.

Field	Comments
New	This field is automatically selected when you create an activity. Later, you can clear this field to indicate that the activity is no longer new.
Started	This field is automatically populated with the time that you create the activity. Change this setting if necessary.
Status	The status of the activity, for example, In Progress.
Required	Select this check box to designate that you must complete or reschedule the activity before ending a visit.
Products	This field displays products associated with the activity.
Alarm	Select this check box to enable an alarm for this activity.
Last Name	The last name of the contact person for the activity.
Suppress Calendar	If this field is selected, the activity does not appear in the Calendar views.
Assessment Template	The name of the assessment template assigned to the activity. If the activity requires an assessment, you can associate the relevant assessment template with the activity. For more information about assessment templates, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Assigned To	To delegate the activity to another employee, select the appropriate employee.

Reviewing Account Information (End User)

During the visit, the retail sales representative might want to review and discuss the account’s performance (indicated by retail and merchandising audits), products listed for the account, and the promotions assigned to the account.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To review account audit information

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen.
Locate your visit in the visit form, and click the Account Audits view tab.
Toggle between the Retail Audit list and the Merchandising Audit list by using the Account Audits drop-down list:
- The Retail Audit list provides a list of retail audit products for the current account from the last 65 days.
- The Merchandising Audit list provides the merchandising audit locations for the current account from the last 95 days.

Use the following procedure to review account products.

To review account products

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen.
Locate your visit in the visit form, and click the Account Products view tab.

Use the following procedure to review account promotions.

To review account promotions

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen.
Locate your visit in the visit form, and click the Account Promotions view tab.
(Optional) To add an attachment to an account promotion, complete the following steps:
1. Select an account promotion, and page down to the Attachments list.
2. To add a new file attachment, click New File, navigate to the file, select it, and click Open.
  The attachment appears in the Attachments list.
3. To add a new URL attachment, click New URL, enter the URL in the URL file, and click Add.
  
  The attachment appears in the Attachments list.

Use the following procedure to review parent account promotions.

To review parent account promotions

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen.
Locate your visit in the visit form, and click the Parent Account Promotions view tab.

Ending Retail Visits (End User)

After performing the selected retail activities and reviewing account information, the retail sales representative is ready to end the retail visit.

Note: If required activities remain for the visit, you must complete or reschedule those activities before you can end the visit.

This task is a step in Roadmap for Performing Retail Execution.

To end a retail visit

Navigate to the Visit Execution screen and locate your visit in the visit form.
Click End Visit.

About Configuring Retail Execution

This topic contains information that might be useful when configuring the retail execution features.

The procedures documented in this chapter include buttons that invoke specialized methods, as described in the following table.

Button	Method	Description	Supported On
List Products (Retail Audit)	InstantiateAccountProducts	Adds all authorized products to parent account activity.	Bus Comp Layer
List Products (Retail Audit List)	InstantiateAcctMerchLocProducts	Finds all products that belong to merchandising location and that have the retail audit flag set. Adds these products to account activity for parent account.	Applet Layer
Update	OnSetUpVisits	Applies recommended activities to selected visit.	Bus Comp Layer