Managing Financial Needs Analyses

This chapter describes the procedures necessary to administer and perform a needs analysis session using Siebel Finance and includes the following topics:

About Managing Financial Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is the process sales agents use to gather information about their customers and recommend the best products to them. In a needs analysis, an agent asks questions and selects answers with preassigned scores. The scores for each product are aggregated, and by clicking on the Recommend button, an agent can recommend and cross-sell a package of products or a single product to customers. In addition, a relationship manager can use the investment needs analysis to recommend model fund and asset distributions for an investment portfolio.

Following the procedures in this chapter, administrators will be able to:

Develop needs analysis scripts, which are specifically worded sets of questions. Call center agents use these scripts in a needs-based selling process to gather information from customers interested in learning about or purchasing a specific product. The scripts can also include pick list values for the customer answers.
Set up product scoring, which assigns number values to needs analysis script answers. Based on the script answers, a needs analysis recommendation lists the products for the agent to recommend to the customer; recommended products having higher scores more closely meet the customer’s needs than those with lower scores.
Create investment objectives.
Create an optimal portfolio mix for asset and fund types for each investment objective.

Following the procedures in this chapter, end users will be able to:

Perform a needs analysis.
Recommend products that best match customer needs.
Recommend model fund and asset distributions for an investment portfolio.

Scenarios for Managing Financial Needs Analysis

These scenarios feature sample tasks performed by a financial institution’s applications administrator, a call center agent, and a relationship manager. Your organization might follow different workflows according to its business requirements.

The Needs Analysis views within Siebel Finance allow financial institutions to capture customer requirements in a needs-based selling process for multiple products including checking, convenience, investment, credit, mortgage, savings, and retirement products. The views specifically support both the individual customer as well as the business customer.

Application Administrator Creates a New Needs Analysis Script

An applications administrator is given the business requirements to create a new needs analysis script. The administrator supports the requirements by defining the product scores for each needs analysis question. The product scores are used to calculate and define the product recommendations. The administrator also sets up the optimal portfolio mix and investment objectives for the Investment Needs Analysis view.

Agent Uses Needs Analysis Script to Determine Product Requirements

A call center sales agent receives a call from a prospective new customer who is interested in opening a checking account. The agent uses the Siebel Finance Needs Analysis script to walk the customer through a series of questions to gather her product requirements, and to record the answers used to calculate the best financial products for her. The agent provides the customer with key information about the recommended checking accounts with the highest scores. The call center agent tells the customer that she can apply for more than one product if she chooses; however, the customer decides to go with the first product on the list, and the sales agent begins the application process using the Auto Application feature.

Relationship Manager Uses Investments Needs Analysis Script

A relationship manager receives a call from a customer who has an investment account with the financial institution. The customer is interested in finding out about a general investment strategy. The relationship manager uses the Investments Needs Analysis script to walk the customer through a series of portfolio interest, risk tolerance, investment horizon, and profile information questions to recommend a model portfolio of assets and fund types.

Administrator Financial Needs Analysis Procedures

The following administrator procedures are included in this chapter:

End-User Financial Needs Analysis Procedures

The following list of end-user procedures are included in this chapter:

Needs Analysis Script Creation

Those with the required administrative responsibilities, such as Siebel administrators, can set up and modify needs analysis questions and the related scripts.

Before creating a script, define each question that the script will use. If you add questions to a script, you must add score values to the Product Scores for the questions. You also must add the questions to the appropriate Business Component. For example, if you are modifying a checking account needs analysis script for a contact, then you would want to add questions to the FIN NA RET Checking Business Component. When the user clicks the Recommend button in the script wizard to calculate the score, changes to the script are taken into account. For additional information about creating SmartScripts, see Siebel SmartScript Administration Guide.

Setting Up Product Scores

Administrators use the Product Scores Administration subview in the Administration - Product screen to define the product scores associated with each of an organization’s products. You can include each product in one or more needs analysis view.

To associate questions and scores with products

Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, and then the Products view.
In the Products list, drill down on the product for which you want to define questions and scores.

Note: If the product does not exist, add it. For more information about adding products, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
Click the More Info view tab.
On the More Info link bar, click the Product Scores view link.
The Product Scores list displays the questions and corresponding answers that are currently associated with a selected product.

In the Product Scores list, add a record and complete the necessary fields described in the following table.

Field	Description
Answer	The answer given by the customer. For each possible answer the customer can give, you can assign a score.
Question	The asked question.
Score	The score associated with the answer. You assign this value according to the importance you attach to the customer’s response.
Script Name	The script used for this question. You are not limited to a single script for a product; you can use any number of the scripts listed.

Note: During a needs analysis session, if the sum of the product scores appears incorrect after you click the Recommend button to select a product, check for duplicate product score questions.

Correcting a Script Problem with a Product Score

It might be necessary to correct a script problem with a product score. Use the following procedure to correct a script problem with a product score.

To correct a script problem with a product score

Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, and then the Products view.
In the Products list, drill down on the product with the script to correct.
Click the Product Scores view link.
The Product Score displays the questions and corresponding answers that are currently associated with the selected product.
Edit the Score list.
For example, if the same question-and-answer pair appears more than one time, delete the extra question and answer.

Creating Investment Objectives and the Portfolio Mix

Administrators can add or modify investment objectives as well as create asset and fund portfolio distributions in the Securities views in the Finance Administration screen.

Several Portfolio Objectives are provided in the standard Siebel Finance application. If you must make changes to the assets or funds used to score the investment objectives in the Investments subview of the Needs Analysis view in the Contacts screen, you can change the score calculations in the FINS Investment NA Action business component by making changes to the applicable fields, such as these:

The Computed INV NA Score Calc field is used to calculate the average score of the first 13 questions.
The fields Score1 to Score5 are used to convert the average score to a number divisible by 4.
The field Computed INV NA Score is used to calculate the final score.

You can even apply a different algorithm to compute the scores if, for example, you want to add more questions or convert the average score to a number divisible by 3 or 5 instead of 4.

To create an investment objective

Navigate to the Administration - Finance screen, and then the Investment Objectives view.
In the Portfolio Investment Objectives list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.

Performing Portfolio Mix Administration

After you create a new investment objective, you can set up the portfolio mix for the investment objective.

To perform portfolio mix administration

Navigate to the Administration - Finance screen, and then the Investment Objectives view.

In the Portfolio Investment Objectives list, select a portfolio investment objective to administer as described in the following table.

To...	Add...
Add a new asset.	A record in the Asset Recommendation list and complete the necessary fields.
Add a new fund.	A record in the Fund Recommendation list and complete the necessary fields.

Performing General Needs Analysis for Companies or Contacts

The following table shows the needs analysis sessions that can be performed by product type.

Product	Available For
Checking	Companies Contacts
Convenience	Companies Contacts
Credit	Companies Contacts
Investments	Contacts
Mortgage	Contacts
Retirement	Companies Contacts
Savings	Companies Contacts

After entering specific details in the selected Needs Analysis view, end users can prompt Siebel Finance to recommend the best product or service for the company or contact.

To perform a general needs analysis for a company or contact

Navigate to the one of the following views depending on the type of needs analysis to perform:
- Companies screen, and then the Companies List view.
- Contacts screen, and then the Contacts List view.
In the list, drill down on a company or contact for which you want to perform a needs analysis.
Click the Needs Analysis view tab.
On the Needs Analysis link bar, select the type of needs analysis you want to perform.
In the Needs Analysis form, add a record and complete the necessary fields.
To use a script to help determine values to enter, click Script.
In the SmartScript list, drill down on the Name link.
Complete the questions as prompted, and click Finish.
(Optional) Click the Recommend button to generate a recommendation.
See Generating Recommendations from a Needs Analysis Session for more information on recommendations.

Performing Investment Needs Analysis for Contacts

An investment needs analysis is similar to a general needs analysis. The results, however, are different. After completing an investment needs analysis, a recommended mix of assets and funds appears, based on the customer’s needs.

The Investment Needs Analysis view provides an approach to understanding the customer’s needs and recommending an investment strategy. A script is used to guide the customer through a series of questions. The average score from the set of answers, in conjunction with the time that the customer might need his or her money invested, drives the model and determines the asset and fund allocation.

To perform an investment needs analysis for a contact

Navigate to the Contacts screen, and then the Contacts List view.
In the Contacts list, drill down on the contact for which you want to perform a needs analysis.

Note: If the contact does not exist, add it. For more information about adding contacts, see Adding Contacts.
Click the Needs Analysis view tab.
Select the Investments link on the Needs Analysis form.
In the Needs Analysis form, add a record and complete the necessary fields.
To use a script to help determine values to enter, click Script.
In the SmartScript list, drill down on the Name link for the script you want.
Complete the questions as prompted, and click Finish.
(Optional) Click the Recommend button to generate a recommendation.

Generating Recommendations from a Needs Analysis Session

After performing a needs analysis, end users can generate a list of recommended products or a proposed mix of investments.

For more information on performing a needs analysis, see Performing General Needs Analysis for Companies or Contacts and Performing Investment Needs Analysis for Contacts.

To generate a recommendation from a needs analysis session

Navigate to the Contacts screen, then the Contacts List view.
In the Contacts list, drill down on the contact for which you want to generate a recommendation.

Note: If the contact does not exist, add it. For more information about adding contacts, see Adding Contacts.
Click the Needs Analysis view tab.
In the Needs Analysis form, select the link for the needs analysis type, and click Recommend.
Scroll down to see the generated recommendations.
For an Investment Needs Analysis, the application generates a recommended asset and fund distribution. The Asset Distribution and Fund Distribution display information in either lists or charts.

For other types of needs analysis, the recommendation list displays a score (a relative ranking), a product name, and a description.
In the Recommendation list, drill down on the Product Name field to view further information about the product.

After customers have determined the product or products they are interested in, the end user can select the Apply field for those specific products. If the Auto Application feature has been set up, the end user can then use the Auto Application feature to automatically create a new application for the customer. The Application is prepopulated with the company and product-related information already captured in this screen. For more information about creating an application, see Managing Siebel Finance Applications.

You select products recommended in all Needs Analysis views in the Contacts screen, except the Investments view.

Selecting a Recommended Product Using the Apply Field

Use the following procedure to select a recommended product using the Apply field.

To select a recommended product using the Apply field

If necessary, return to the generated Recommendation list based on the needs analysis.
Click to place a check mark in the Apply field next to each product for which the customer wants to apply.
There is no limit to the number of products that can be selected.

Note: If the customer wants to apply for more than one product (for example, a checking account and a mortgage loan), you can go to a different Needs Analysis view for each product type, perform the needs analysis, and apply for additional products. When you select Auto Application, you are taken to the Application screen, where you can fill out applications for all the selected products.
Leave the record containing the checked Apply field.
Select Auto Application by doing one of the following:
- Click the Auto Application icon in the corner.
- From the application-level menu, choose File, Auto, and then Application.
In the first Application view, click the select button in the Product Name field.
The recommended products appear in the Applications view.
In the Products dialog box, select the Primary field for the product whose name appears in the Product Name field.

For more information about filling out applications, see Managing Siebel Finance Applications.