Overview of Customer Programs

Program managers are sales representatives for channel customers with an arsenal of program types to incentivize channel sell through.

You can use annual programs such as annual co-op and annual volume programs, which are built into the unit cost, to drive customer loyalty. Additionally, you can use shorter, more targeted programs such as customer promotions and volume programs. Use lump sum programs to promote marketing activities and behaviours, which aren't predicated on purchases.

Deductions started in consumer goods where retailers would short pay invoices based on their understanding of customer promotions.

To combat invalid or unauthorized deductions, customer programs in Channel Revenue Management provide:

• Centralized promotions for channel customers.
• Automated eligibility of channel incentives against sales transactions.

  This leads to fast and accurate accruals.

• Automated accrual tracking.

  This provides real time visibility of liabilities.

• Centralized claims processing.

  This helps reduce margin leakage and reduce your DDO (Days Deductions Outstanding).

• Automated channel accounting.

  This configurable integration reduces time to implement and cost of ownership.

The following table provides a comparative of the available customer programs:

Program Feature	Customer Annual Co-op Program	Customer Annual Volume Program	Customer Promotion Program	Customer Volume Program	Customer Lump Sum Program
Typical program duration	Jan – Dec Entire Year	Jan – Dec Entire Year	4-8 weeks	4-8 weeks	One time, no duration
Eligibility attributes	Customers (All)	Customer (1 or more, All not allowed)	Customer Bill To Ship To Order Type Order Line Type Salesperson Warehouse Custom Qualifiers	Customer Bill To Ship To Order Type Order Line Type Salesperson Warehouse Custom Qualifiers	Customer (only 1)
Eligibility date context attributes	Actual Ship Date Invoice Date Order Date Requested Arrival Date Requested Ship Date	Actual Ship Date Invoice Date Order Date Requested Arrival Date Requested Ship Date	Actual Ship Date Invoice Date Order Date Requested Arrival Date Requested Ship Date	Actual Ship Date Invoice Date Order Date Requested Arrival Date Requested Ship Date	Not applicable
Additional Mandatory Conditions (AND condition)	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Program qualification	To check eligibility and create accruals, run the Create Accruals for Co-op Programs scheduled process.	To check eligibility and create accruals, run the Create Accruals for Volume Programs scheduled process.	Pricing Algorithms are used to check program eligibility. To create accruals, run the Create Accruals for Channel Batch scheduled process.	Pricing Algorithms are used to check program eligibility. To create accruals, run the Create Accruals for Channel Batch scheduled process.	No eligibility check performed. One time accrual creation and settlement for selected customer.
Tiers	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Accrual record for each order line or aggregation	Accrual is calculated based on rebate type and rebate amounts defined on program’s product rules and are aggregated based on Program, Business Unit, Customer account, Bill To, Item, UOM, Currency and Period.	Accruals are calculated based in tiers defined on Program and are aggregated based on Program, Business Unit, Customer account, Bill To, Item, UOM, Currency , Tiered rebate and Period.	Accrual is calculated based on rebate type and rebate amounts defined on program’s product rules. One accrual is created for each order line	Accrual is calculated based on tiers defined on Program and one accrual is created and for each order line	One accrual record is created for each product distribution added on the Program.
Beneficiary support for accrual	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Product category	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Category exclusion	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Calculation method	Not Applicable	Retrospective	Not Applicable	Retrospective Stepped	Not Applicable
Tier prequalification for customer	No	Yes	No	No	No
Customer rule and product rule start and end dates	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Manual adjustments	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes

Customer Annual Co-op Program

Co-op advertising is an annual arrangement between a manufacturer or distributor and their channel partners. With co-op programs, you can accrue rebates based on your sales, spanning the effective date of the program. This program is a variation of an annual program. It applies to all customers and you can define rebates for each product rule. You can define product eligibility by item, category, or for all items. Product eligibility supports exclusions by item or category. Eligible sales are obtained from sales orders, which are imported through a CSV file.

The program provides the ability to:

• Streamline and automate tracking and payment of co-op marketing funds.
• Improve financial visibility to volume program liabilities.
• Improve differentiation and channel awareness of the manufacturers or distributors products and services.

Customer Annual Volume Program

Use customer annual programs to accrue rebates based on cumulative sales volumes across orders.

These programs are critical to promoting loyalty from channel partners because higher rebates are provided for more annual buying; and this reduces the risk of customers defecting to competitors.

Annual volume accruals are summarized and calculated on a periodic basis; not for each sales transaction. If you want volume rebates for each eligible sales transactions, then use customer volume programs.

This feature provides wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers the ability to:

• Promote greater loyalty from channels.
• Improve customer satisfaction.
• Reduce cost of ownership.
• Reduce invalid deductions.
• Reduce Days Deductions Outstanding (DDO).
• Improve visibility to annual incentives and liabilities for programs, customers, and the business unit.

Additionally. this program enables you to:

• Define volume rules for tiered rebates as a percentage of sales revenue or an amount per unit for eligible products or exclusions.
• Define eligibility based on dates including invoice date which is most typically used.
• Prequalify customers with a proven track record to start at a higher tier.
• Eligible sales are obtained from sales orders, which are imported through a CSV file.
• Execute annual volume agreements with channel customers with the ability to aggregate and track cumulative sales revenue or quantity across orders for a period and to calculate retrospective volume rebates on periodic basis.
• Track accruals using Checkbook.
• Post channel transactions to General Ledger.
• Support rules based subledger accounting.

Customer Promotion Program

Use customer promotion programs to define the rules of a promotional agreement with your customers. Use configurable templates to create multiple program types. Define customer eligibility based on the customer, bill-to, or ship-to qualifiers. Define additional conditions based on an order type or a salesperson. Specify rebate amounts in terms of the percentage or the amount per unit.

This feature benefits wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers to incent channel sales by offering rebates on eligible sales transactions.

This program provides the ability to:

• Negotiate and activate customer promotions.
• Define customer and product eligibility.
• Define accruals by amount or percentage.

Customer Volume Program

Use customer volume programs to accrue volume rebates based on cumulative sales volumes across orders.

You can define the product eligibility based on item or for all items. You can also apply exclusions at the item level.

The program encourages the desired channel purchasing behavior within a specific time frame and increases the channel sell-through.

The program provides the ability to:

• Incentivize channel customers to reach predefined purchasing volume levels, and to track these rebates on each eligible sales transaction.
• Streamline and automates tracking and payment of volume rebates.
• Improve financial visibility to volume program liabilities.

Customer Lump Sum Program

A customer lump sum program is an agreement which pays out an previously agreed-to amount and may require a customer to carry out certain trade promotion activities.

For example, an advertising campaign, on behalf of a manufacturer. You can create a lump sum program to capture the terms of the agreement. The incentive is accrued up front when the program is activated and available for immediate payment.

This program enables you to:

• Define trade promotion activities agreement and terms that:
  • Pay out a previously agreed-to amount
  • May require a customer to carry out certain trade promotion activities on behalf of the manufacturer or wholesaler
• Create, track, and pay immediate accruals including slotting fees, marketing incentives, and other non-transactional incentives.