6Activating and Maintaining Territory Alignments
Activating and Maintaining Territory Alignments
This chapter is about making the territory alignments active so that the account, contact, and asset assignments take effect in the database, and then maintaining the alignments. It includes the following topics:
About the Special Behavior for Position-Specific Contact Data in Siebel Life Sciences
Scenario for Activating and Maintaining Territory Alignments
Generating Reporting Structures Based on Territory Hierarchy
Using the Periodic Runs Workflow to Maintain Territory Alignments
Configuring the Periodic Runs Workflow to Use the Timestamp Filter
About Activating and Maintaining Territory Alignments
About Activating Territory Alignments
When you activate an alignment, Siebel Territory Management creates the actual assignment rules for the territories. (Assignment rules are not created when the alignment is run.) These are the rules that are used by Assignment Manager to assign positions to the opportunity, account, contact, and asset records.
When you create the rules for territories, any existing rules that conflict with the new rules are set to expire on the activation date (or on the rollout date if the activation date is in the past).
You can activate alignments only where all territories have the same primary hierarchy as the alignment hierarchy. Territories can be associated with multiple territory hierarchies so you can run alignments to simulate results, but Siebel Territory Management does not allow you to activate alignments for nonprimary hierarchies. The Siebel Territory Management application requires that you use only one primary hierarchy for alignment activation for a given group of Territories. The primary hierarchy that you defined for each territory is used to validate that all territories in the alignment have the same primary hierarchy as the alignment hierarchy. The alignment can be activated only if these hierarchies are the same.
The following describes two slightly different activation behaviors, depending on whether the activation date is in the future or the past.
| If the Activation Date Is . . . | Then Siebel Territory Management . . . | And, the Alignment Status Is . . . |
|---|---|---|
In the future |
Creates the rules for the territories and then schedules a workflow process to implement and roll out the rules on the activation date. |
Scheduled, until the activation date Active, after the activation date |
Present or in the past |
Creates the rules for the territories and immediately runs the workflow process to roll out the rules. |
Active |
About Maintaining Territory Alignments
After the territory rules have been created, you can set Assignment Manager to rerun these rules at regular intervals. This action updates assignments as database records are added and changed.
About the Special Behavior for Position-Specific Contact Data in Siebel Life Sciences
In Siebel Life Sciences, the contact record displays some position-specific data including rep specialty, last call date, and primary address. This position-specific data is stored in the position-contact table, S_POSTN_CON.
When a new position is added to a contact team during an alignment, the most recent data (for rep specialty, last call date, and primary address) is copied from a position in the same hierarchy and division to the new position’s row in the position-contact table. The effects of this copy action are:
When a representative who is newly assigned to contact team looks at the Contact record, he or she sees the Last Call Date field populated with the date of the last call made by a representative in the same hierarchy and division.
When the original representative is removed from a contact team and replaced by another, the values in the Rep Specialty, Last Call Date and Primary Address fields are not lost but are transferred.
If multiple positions in the same hierarchy and division belong to the team, the data copied is from most recently updated row in the position-contact table.
Scenario for Activating and Maintaining Territory Alignments
This scenario provides an example of how alignment is rolled out to a sales force by the territory administrator and her team. Your company might follow a different process according to its business requirements.
A pharmaceutical company has run and optimized its territory alignments for its neurology sales force. The results of this major alignment have been reviewed, and the rollout of the assignments needs to take place at the beginning of the quarter, July 1st.
The time line for the rollout is as follows:
June 15. The administrator sends email to all sales representatives in the neurology sales force to inform them of the rollout and to let them know that they will not be able to synchronize their laptops with the company’s database on June 29th and 30th.
June 25. The administrator sets the activation date for the alignment to June 29th, and she activates the alignment.
June 26. The administrator confirms that the status of the alignment is scheduled and that the alignment has completed running.
June 27. A sales manager calls and tells the administrator that one of the neurologists who had been assigned to territory B100 using a direct rule has just retired and so this rule must be deleted. To make this minor change, the administrator deletes the rule in the territory itself. This deletion allows the administrator to avoid having to cancel and reactivate the alignment. The administrator also deletes the rule in the alignment list so that the rules in the alignment record match what is actually rolled out on July 1st.
June 28. At the end of the day, the administrator shuts down the Siebel Remote server so that the sales representatives no longer have access to the company’s database.
June 29. Territory alignment takes place. Positions in the contact and account teams are added and dropped accordingly.
June 30. The administrator checks that the status for the alignment is active and that the rollout of the alignment is complete.
Company policy is to have sales representatives report to the sales manager responsible for their territories. Some sales representatives have changed territories in this major alignment, so the administrator adjusts the reporting structure so that these representatives are reporting to the correct managers.
July 1. Early in the day, the administrator starts the Siebel Remote server so that the sales representatives can synchronize their laptops, downloading their new account and contact records.
The time line for the maintenance is as follows:
July 2. Sales representatives make changes and additions to account and contact records daily. To make sure that territory alignment keeps up with these changes, the administrator asks the Assignment Manager administrator to set up a weekly batch run that applies the alignment rules to the database, keeping position assignments current.
August 1. The administrator is told that some territories in the hierarchy need to be inactivated as of September 30th. He prepares two minor alignments, both based on the current alignment. The first alignment drops the rules from the territories that are going to be removed from the hierarchy. The second alignment provides an adjustment in the current assignments to compensate for the loss of some territories from the hierarchy.
September 29. The first minor alignment is run to expire rules from the territories that are about to be dropped from the hierarchy.
September 30. Some territories in the hierarchy are expired and then the second minor alignment is run to adjust the current assignments for a hierarchy with fewer territories.
Activating Territory Alignments
After you successfully run and review your alignment (as described in Setting Up and Running Territory Alignments), you are ready to activate the alignment so the assignment of positions to account, contact, asset records or a combination thereof takes effect in your database.
This task is a step in Roadmap for Using Siebel Territory Management.
To activate a territory alignment
Decide the date that you want your alignment to take effect (become active).
Review the dates on the territory nodes to make sure that all the territories that you want to assign have active nodes:
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Hierarchies List view.
Drill down on the hierarchy record.
In the Territory Nodes list, review the Effective Start Date and Effective End Date for each territory.
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Alignments Administration view.
Enter or confirm the activation date.
Click Activate Rules.
Refresh the screen to monitor the status as the alignment is activated.
If the Activation Is Successful and the Activation Date Is... The Final Status Is... Future
Scheduled (On the activation date, the alignment takes effect and the alignment status changes to active)
Past
Active
For more information about status values, see the table in About the Status Field.
Rolling Back Major Territory Alignment Activations
If a major alignment activation is scheduled for a date in the future, you can cancel the activation any time before the activation date. Canceling the activation rolls back the territory rules you set up when you scheduled the alignment activation and cancels the scheduled Assignment Manager job.
When a major, intermediate, or minor alignment is rolled back, territory rules are restored mostly to their previous state. The exception is that end dates on existing rules are lost upon roll back.
For active territory nodes in the hierarchy, roll back:
Deletes rules where the start date (and time) match the activation date (the rule must also be present in the alignment)
Deletes the end date from rules where the end date matches the activation date.
If a territory is associated with multiple hierarchies and the same rule is being updated by more than one hierarchy, the roll back begins with the last scheduled alignment and continues rolling back all scheduled alignments until it reaches the earliest scheduled alignment. If the Siebel Territory Management application finds that either manual or alignment changes were made to any of the territories included in the alignment being rolled back, Siebel Territory Management stops the roll back process and displays an error message saying you must undo the change before performing this rollback. This allows roll back to work with multiple future versions of alignments, as described in About Versioning of Territory Alignments and Rules.
To roll back a scheduled territory alignment activation
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Alignments Administration view.
Select an alignment record where the status is Scheduled.
From the applet menu, select Roll Back Activation.
Combining Territory Alignments
After doing a major realignment, you might have to make minor updates to the territory alignment. Rather than changing the existing alignment and running the entire alignment again, you might create new alignment records that just contain the few new changes that have to be made at the time. You might do this several times before doing the next major realignment. As a result, when it comes the time for the next realignment, no single record exists that reflects the current alignment.
You can combine alignments to create a single record that represents the current alignment. You can combine the last major realignment and all the minor and intermediate alignments done since then to create a single alignment record representing the current situation.
The Siebel Territory Management application combines these alignments based on the sequence number in the dialog box it displays. The sequence affects the final outcome, since rules in later records override rules in earlier records. Generally, it is recommended to keep the default sequence in the dialog box, which is based on activation date in which the alignments were actually run in the past. If you have some special reason for doing so, you can change the sequence numbers in the dialog box.
To combine territory alignments
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Alignments Administration view.
In the alignments list, multiselect all the alignment records that you want to combine.
From the alignments list menu, select Combine Alignments.
Note: You can use Alt-C instead of selecting this menu option.In the dialog box, change sequence numbers of alignments if necessary, and click Combine.
In the newly created Alignment record, complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Comments Name
Enter the name of the new combined territory alignment.
Hierarchy
Select the territory hierarchy that you want to align.
Status
The status is In Progress when the record is created. For information about this field, see About the Status Field.
Type
Select Major. (See About Territory Alignments: Major, Intermediate, and Minor.)
Division
If the territory hierarchy contains more than one division and you want to align only the territories in one of the divisions (not all territories in the hierarchy), enter a division in this field.
Activation Date
Enter the date in the future that you want the new alignment to take effect, that is, to be rolled out to all the sales representatives in the hierarchy (or in the division and hierarchy combination).
Even though this combined alignment replicates the current assignments, you must enter an activation date, as you do for other alignments.
Coverage
Indicate whether territory coverage is nationwide or sparse (for example, in metropolitan areas only).
The alignment rules are created automatically by looping through the rules for all the alignments that you combined.
Generating Reporting Structures Based on Territory Hierarchy
This procedure is optional. Perform it only if you want to change the parent positions for the positions belonging to the divisions in the hierarchy. This option might or might not be the right course of action for your organization’s needs. Typically, you would use it if you want your management structure to parallel the territory hierarchy.
Although this procedure can be performed any time after your hierarchy has been set up, typically you choose to perform it just before or just after an alignment becomes active. For example, you might generate reporting structures based on territory hierarchy immediately after the activation of a major alignment is completed and before employees log back into Siebel Territory Management to review their new assignments.
Siebel Territory Management sets the parent positions by using the primary position currently assigned to the parent territory. If parent territory or primary position for parent territory does not exist, Siebel Territory Management does not set the parent position.
To generate a reporting structure based on territory hierarchy
Make sure the position in the active position rule is the same as the primary position for each territory in the hierarchy:
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Territories Administration view.
Drill down on the Territory # field.
Rules for that territory appear.
Click the Positions tab near the Rules tab to display position rules.
Make sure that the position listed in the active rule is the same as the Primary Position in the form, if you want that position to be given the parent position specified in the rule.
If there is more than one active position rule, one of the positions in these rules can be selected as the primary position of the territory.
Generate the reporting hierarchy:
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Territory Explorer view.
In the hierarchy pane, select a hierarchy.
The Generate Reporting Hierarchy button becomes visible.
Click Generate Reporting Hierarchy.
Note: You can also generate the reporting hierarchy structure for selected territory nodes by using the Update Reporting Hierarchy button on the Hierarchies List, Territory Nodes view.
Viewing and Editing Rules for Individual Territories
After a territory alignment has been scheduled or activated for the first time for a hierarchy, the Rules list is populated for individual territories, according to the rules set up in the Alignments view.
These territory records contain the (master) rules that are used by Assignment Manager to make changes to the database. When the alignment is rolled out or when the Assignment Rule Group is rerun for maintenance (as described in Using the Periodic Runs Workflow to Maintain Territory Alignments), Assignment Manager reads and applies these rules.
This Rules list for individual territories can be used to:
View the current rules for a territory
View the expired rules for a territory (to view a history of the territory.)
Make changes to rules for a territory
If you do make changes to rules for individual territories, remember that these changes are not reflected in the alignment record. If you do need to make a change to a territory rule, it is good practice to similarly update the alignment. To do this, you need to copy the original alignment, update the rules, and then rerun the alignment so that you have an alignment whose results are the same as what is rolled out to the sales force.
To view or edit rules for individual territories
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Territories List view.
Drill down on the territory record.
Depending on the type of rule you want to view or edit, click one of the links in the lower link bar.
Caution: Be careful to only make edits for objects where rules already exist. For example, if there are already contact rules in an alignment, you can add another contact rule to a territory and the rule will be applied. However, if there are no contact rules for the alignment, you can add the rule, but it does not take effect because no assignment rule group has been created for contacts for that alignment.
Some buttons are described in the following table.
| Button | Comments |
|---|---|
Move |
Use this button to move rules from the current territory to another territory. You are prompted for an expiration date (the day you want the rules to move) and the territory you want the rules to move to. The Move button behaves in the following ways:
|
Expire |
Use this button to set the effective end date for selected records. |
Expire All |
Use this button to set the end date for all records in the list. |
Using the Periodic Runs Workflow to Maintain Territory Alignments
In day-to-day operations, contact, account, and asset records are added, deleted, and changed. You want to make sure that as changes are made to these records, your territory alignment is updated accordingly.
For example, when a new account is added, when a contact’s primary specialty changes, or when an asset is moved to a new address, you want to have the sales team or owner for the record updated automatically and within a short period of time.
To maintain the alignment, you set up the Periodic Runs workflow to run the alignment rules in batch mode at regular intervals, for example, once a day or once a week.
This workflow:
Converts global conditions from a dummy alignment into a TOS search specification and invokes the TOS service.
Passes the resulting filtered object ids to an Assignment Manager Batch job.
Finds the Assignment Manager rule group based on the Hierarchy and Division, and uses the same rule group while invoking the Assignment Manager Batch job.
As a result:
Newly added objects are assigned to the appropriate positions.
Changed objects that no longer satisfy the global conditions are dropped.
Before you can run this workflow, you must configure the Siebel application as described in Configuring the Periodic Runs Workflow to Use the Timestamp Filter
This task is a step in Roadmap for Using Siebel Territory Management.
Running the Periodic Runs Workflow without the Time-Stamp Filter
If you run the Periodic Runs workflow without the time-stamp filter, it processes all the data. For faster performance, you can run the Periodic Runs workflow with the time-stamp filter, described as following.
To run the Periodic Runs workflow without the time-stamp filter
Activate the workflow Alignment - Periodic Runs.
Create a new alignment with the same global conditions as previous active alignment.
This dummy alignment need not have rules. It must use the same Hierarchy and Division combination as the previous active alignment. It must be an intermediate alignment.
Note: The dummy alignment must contain all the global conditions from the most recent active alignment in the hierarchy and division. The activation date of the dummy alignment must be either the current date or earlier than the activation date of the most recent active alignment in the hierarchy and division.Get the row Id of this alignment.
Create a batch job for Workflow Process Manager with the parameters shown in the following table.
Parameter Value Workflow Process Alignment
Periodic Runs
Object Id
The alignment ID you got in Step 3.
Submit the job
You can create the job as repeating instance, for example at every 24 hour interval. Each time the job is run, all the new account, contact, asset, and opportunity records will be assigned based on the rules and local conditions in the previous active alignment.
Running the Periodic Runs Workflow with the Time-Stamp Filter
If you run the Periodic Runs workflow with the time-stamp filter, it processes only the incremental data more recent than the time stamp. Because it does not process all the data, it takes less time to run.
To run the Periodic Runs workflow with the time-stamp filter
Activate the workflow Alignment - Periodic Runs.
Create a new alignment with the same global conditions as previous active alignment.
This dummy alignment need not have rules. It must use the same Hierarchy and Division combination as the previous active alignment. It must be an intermediate alignment.
Note: The dummy alignment must contain all the global conditions from the most recent active alignment in the hierarchy and division. The activation date of the dummy alignment must be either the current date or earlier than the activation date of the most recent active alignment in the hierarchy and division.Get the row Id of this alignment.
Navigate to the Admin-Business Service screen, then the Simulator view.
Create a new record with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Service Name
Server Requests
Method
Submit Request
Provide input for the record.
Create an .xml file with the following content:
<PropertySet Method="RunProcess" Component="WfProcMgr" Mode="DirectDb" ><PropertySet Object Id="88-2ARGD" ProcessName="Alignment - Periodic Runs" LastModified Timestamp ="5/11/2010 04:42:58" ></PropertySet ></PropertySet Object Id = <Alignment Id of Dummy Intermediate alignment> LastModified Timestamp = <A timestamp after which the objects are modified have to be considered for assignment/de-assignment>
Note: LastModified Timestamp must be in the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:mm:ss using a 24hr clock.In the business service input applet, select Load From File, and select this .xml file.
Configuring the Periodic Runs Workflow to Use the Timestamp Filter
You can use the periodic runs workflow to maintain territory alignments, as described in Using the Periodic Runs Workflow to Maintain Territory Alignments, but first you must perform the following configuration tasks:
Modifying the Periodic Runs Workflow
Use this procedure to modify the Periodic Runs workflow.
To modify the Periodic Runs workflow
Prepare to modify the workflow:
In Siebel Tools, connected to the Siebel server database, navigate to the Object Explorer and then Workflow Processes.
Query for the workflow Alignment - Periodic Runs.
Lock the project.
Click Revise.
Create process properties.
In the Object Explorer, open the child workflow process properties.
Create a process property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
GoToEnd
In/Out
In/Out
Default String
FALSE
Data Type
String
Create a second process property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
LastModified Timestamp
In/Out
In/Out
Data Type
String
Right-click and select Edit Workflow Process.
Edit the arguments of the step INVOKE TOS:
In the Designer Window, select the step INVOKE TOS, and select Show Input Arguments.
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
Alignment Id
Type
Process Property
Property Name
Object Id
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
BatchAssignment
Type
Literal
Value
TRUE
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
LastModified Timestamp
Type
Process Property
Property Name
LastModified Timestamp
Edit the arguments of the step Post TOS Process:
In the Designer Window, select the step Post TOS Process, and then in the MultivalueProperty Window, select Input Arguments.
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
ActiveAlignmentRowId
Type
Process Property
Property Name
Alignment Id
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
Alignment Id
Type
Process Property
Property Name
Object Id
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
LastModified Timestamp
Type
Process Property
Property Name
LastModified Timestamp
In the Designer Window, select the step Post TOS Process, and then in the MultivalueProperty Window, select Output Arguments.
Enter an output argument with the value shown in the following table.
Field Value Property Name
GoToEnd
Type
Output Argument
Output Argument
GoToEnd
Add a new decision step:
Insert a decision step between the steps Post TOS Process and Load Balancer/AM, connecting the default connector to the step Update Alignment Status to Splitting Tasks, and connecting the condition connector to the step Data Cleanup.
Select the condition connector, right-click it and select Edit Conditions, and then add a condition with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Compare To
Process Property
Object
GoToEnd
Operation
All Must Match (Ignore Case)
Value
TRUE
Edit the arguments of the step Load Balancer/AM:
In the Designer Window, select the step Load Balancer/AM, right– click it, and select Show Input Arguments.
Modify the input argument shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
Alignment Id
Type
Process Property
Property Name
Object Id
Edit the arguments of the step Data Cleanup:
In the Designer Window select the step Data Cleanup, right– click it, and select Show Input Arguments.
Modify the input argument shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
Alignment Id
Type
Process Property
Property Name
Object Id
From the File menu, select Save All.
Exit from the designer.
Click the Publish button.
Activate the workflow:
In the Siebel application, navigate to the Admin-Business Process screen then the Workflow Deployment view.
Activate the workflow named Alignment - Periodic Runs.
Modifying the TOS Workflows
Use this procedure to modify all of the following workflows:
Alignment - TOS TM Account
Alignment - TOS TM Asset
Alignment - TOS TM Contact
Alignment - TOS TM Opportunity
To modify the TOS workflows
Prepare to modify a workflow.
In Siebel Tools, connected to the Siebel server database, navigate to the Object Explorer and then Workflow Processes.
Query for the workflow Alignment - TOS TM Account.
Lock the project.
Click Revise.
Create process properties:
In the Object Explorer, open the child workflow process properties.
Create a process property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
BatchAssignment
In/Out
In/Out
Data Type
String
Default String
FALSE
Create a second process property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
LastModified Timestamp
In/Out
In/Out
Data Type
String
Right-click and select Edit Workflow Process.
Edit the arguments of the step Process TOS Object:
In the Designer Window, select the step Process TOS Object.
In the MultivalueProperty Window, display Input Arguments.
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
LastModified Timestamp
Type
Process Property
Property Name
LastModified Timestamp
Enter an input argument with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Input Argument
BatchAssignment
Type
Process Property
Property Name
BatchAssignment
You have modified the Alignment - TOS TM Account workflow, and you must repeat Step 1 through Step 4, to modify the following workflows:
Alignment - TOS TM Asset
Alignment - TOS TM Contact
Alignment - TOS TM Opportunity
From the File menu, select Save All.
Exit from the designer.
Click the Publish button.
Activate the workflow.
In the Siebel application, navigate to the Admin-Business Process screen then the Workflow Deployment view.
Activate the following workflows:
Alignment - TOS TM Account
Alignment - TOS TM Asset
Alignment - TOS TM Contact
Alignment - TOS TM Opportunity
Modifying the Runtime Repository and Deploying the Changes
Use the following procedure to modify the repository.
To modify the runtime repository and deploy the changes
Prepare to modify a business service.
In Siebel Tools, connected to the Siebel server database, navigate to the Object Explorer and then Business Service.
In the Name field, query for target Object Selector Service.
Create user properties.
In the Object Explorer, open the child business service user properties.
Create a user property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
Batch Assignment BC Map InDirect:TM Account
Value
TOS Account
Create a second user property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
Batch Assignment BC Map InDirect:TM Asset
Value
TOS Asset
Create a third user property with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Name
Batch Assignment BC Map InDirect:TM Contact
Value
TOS Contact
Stop the Siebel server.
Deploy the changes to the Siebel runtime repository.
Tasks for Working with Territory Hierarchies
The following tasks describe how to work with territory Hierarchies:
Viewing All Hierarchies for a Territory
One territory can be in several hierarchies, as described in About Territory Hierarchies and Divisions.
You can view all the hierarchies that a given territory is in.
To view all hierarchies that a territory is in
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Territories List view.
In the Territories list, drill down on the Territory # field for the desired territory.
Click the Hierarchies List view tab.
A list of all hierarchies for this territory appears. You can display any of these hierarchies and its territory nodes by clicking the Name field in the Hierarchies list.
Copying Territory Hierarchies
When you copy a hierarchy, Siebel Territory Management does a deep copy, copying all active nodes within the hierarchy. You enter a new name for the copied hierarchy, and Siebel Territory Management includes all the active nodes from the original hierarchy under the new copy of the hierarchy.
If you are creating a new hierarchy that is similar to an existing hierarchy, you can copy the existing hierarchy and then modify the copy.
Copying All Nodes
By default, when you copy hierarchies, the copy includes only the active nodes of the original hierarchy. You can configure Siebel Territory Management so the copy includes all the nodes of the original hierarchy.
To copy all nodes
Change the user property Copy All Territory Nodes in the business component Territory Hierarchy.
The default value is N.
Copying the Hierarchy
Use the following procedure to copy the hierarchy.
To copy a hierarchy
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Hierarchies List view.
In the Hierarchies list, select the desired hierarchy.
From the Hierarchies list menu, select Copy Hierarchy.
Note: Instead of the menu selection, you can press Alt+C.Enter the name of the copy of the Hierarchy.
When you step off the record, Siebel Territory Management creates a copy of the original hierarchy and its nodes with the new name that you entered.
Deleting Territory Hierarchies
When you delete a territory hierarchy, Siebel Territory Management performs a cascade delete, which deletes all the nodes in the hierarchy as well as deleting the hierarchy record.
Siebel Territory Management will not delete hierarchies with active nodes. Before you can delete a hierarchy, you must make sure that none of its nodes is active.
To delete a hierarchy
Navigate to the Siebel Territory Management screen, then the Hierarchies List view.
In the Hierarchies list, select the desired hierarchy.
Click Delete.
Removing Territory Nodes from Hierarchies
Only active territory nodes are considered in territory alignments. Because of this, you need to exercise care in how you set nodes to expire; you need to make sure that the rules associated with expired nodes also expire as planned.
Consider the case where a territory, say T3, contains rules with effective end dates of December 31st and where you set the end date for the node to be September 30th. Because T3 is removed from the hierarchy on September 30th, the rules associated with the hierarchy are ignored after September 30th. This means that the rules are not dropped after December 31st and any assignments made by those rules persist after December 31st (no matter how many times the alignment for the hierarchy is activated, as long as T3 remains inactive).
To avoid this type of problem, before removing nodes from a hierarchy, explicitly expire the associated rules, as outlined in the following procedure.
To remove territory nodes from a hierarchy and expire the associated rules
Identify the nodes that you want to remove from the hierarchy.
Create, run, and activate a minor alignment for the hierarchy in order to drop rules from the territories that you no longer want:
Copy the current alignment.
For each node you want to remove, change the add rules to drop rules.
Run the alignment.
Activate the alignment.
(Using the dates of the example, this alignment would be scheduled to run early in the day on September 30th.)
This has the effect of expiring all rules in the territories that you want to remove.
Edit the Effective End Date for the nodes that you want to remove from the hierarchy.
Create, run, and activate a new alignment for the hierarchy.
This alignment is the alignment you want, without reference to the territory nodes identified in Step 1.
(Using the dates of the example, this alignment would be scheduled to run late in the day on September 30.)