Product Level Approval for Deals

Until now, the relationship manager could send one best version of the deal for the division and deal level approvals. Now, in addition, the relationship manager can send one best version of the deal for the product level approval when the following conditions are met:

  • Customers or accounts in the deal have enrolled for the products

  • Product Level Approval Required field is set to Yes in the respective deal type

  • Deal approval profile is specified for the division and product combination in the respective deal type

The system enables you to design a deal approval profile for the product approval hierarchy. The deal approval profile of a product and division combination helps the system to determine:

  • Different levels in the product approval hierarchy which can approve the price item pricing and financial summary of the product in the deal. Note that the product level approver can only approve the pricing of those price items which are included in the product.

  • Whether the product level approver can recommend a new pricing for a price item while approving the deal.

  • Whether the product level approver can request the respective price item manager to approve the pricing for the price item.

  • Whether the product level approver can approve the deal.

  • Whether the product level approver should only view those price items for approval for which floor and ceil limits are within his approval range.

  • The minimum and maximum profitability, profit, profit variation, and revenue which the product level approver can approve in the deal.

In a deal type, you can now specify the approval profile for a division and product combination using the approval type as Product. If a product is associated to multiple divisions, you can specify the approval profile for each division and product combination. If a deal is created for a customer or prospect whose accounts belong to different divisions, but have enrolled for the same product, the system then creates a product approval hierarchy for each division and product combination. For example, if the SAVINGS product is associated to two divisions named CA and US and an approval profile is specified for both the combinations (i.e. SAVINGS and CA; SAVINGS and US) in the deal type, the system will create two product approval hierarchies when two accounts belonging to different divisions (i.e. CA and US) have enrolled for the SAVINGS product in a deal. One product approval hierarchy would be for the SAVINGS and US combination and another product approval hierarchy would be for the SAVINGS and CA combination. However, if the SAVINGS product is associated to two divisions named CA and US and an approval profile is specified only for the SAVINGS and CA combination in the deal type, the system will create one product approval hierarchy for the SAVINGS and CA combination. The system will not create product approval hierarchy for the SAVINGS and US combination because there is no approval profile configured for this combination in the deal type.

Note: You cannot specify the same approval profile for the same or different product and different division combination. However, you can specify the same approval profile for the different product and same division combination.

The system enables you to configure parallel approval at any level in the product approval hierarchy. If the Product Level Approval Required field is set to Yes and the Division Level Approval Required field is set to Yes, the system first sends the deal to the product approval hierarchy, then to the division approval hierarchy and finally to the deal approval hierarchy for approval. However, if the Product Level Approval Required field is set to Yes and the Division Level Approval Required field is set to No , the system first sends the deal to the product approval hierarchy and then to the deal approval hierarchy for approval.

If the Product Level Approval Required field is set to Yes in the deal type, the system creates a To Do for the approver at the first level in the product approval hierarchy. The approver can either approve the product-specific price item pricing and product financial summary or request the submitter to resubmit the deal for approval after making the required changes. If the approver at the first level in the product approval hierarchy approves the product-specific price item pricing and product financial summary, or if the approver at the first level in the product approval hierarchy cannot approve the product-specific price item pricing and product financial summary, the system creates a To Do for the approver at the next level in the product approval hierarchy. This process continues until the approval is received from all the levels in the product approval hierarchy.

Note that a product level approver can recommend a price for a price item which is included in the product when the Propose Pricing field is set to Yes for the approval level in the deal type. After recommending a new price (i.e. rate), the product level approver needs to request the submitter to resubmit the deal for approval after considering the recommended price.

If the Product Level Approval Required field is set to Yes and if customers or accounts in the deal have enrolled for the products, the Product Financial Summary section appears in the Simulation Details zone when you simulate the deal. It indicates the revenue, cost, profit, and profitability for each product and division combination. In addition, the Product Financial Summary section appears in the Pricing and Commitments screen. It indicates the revenue and cost of each product to which existing customer's or prospect's account is enrolled. The system calculates the revenue and cost based on the original, proposed, and recommended prices, and accordingly shows the variation between original, proposed and recommended revenue.