Assigning Sales Areas to a Competitive Product 

Use

You use this procedure to assign, edit and delete sales area information for a competitive product. Assigning sales areas to a competitive product helps you identify the various locations of your competitors’ business operations. You can use this information to organize your sales activities accordingly.

A sales area is a combination of the distribution channel, sales organization and division where:

·        Distribution channels define how different products can reach customers, for example, wholesale, retail or direct sales.

·        A sales organization defines the national or international sales sub-sectors such as the northern region of South East Asia Pacific.

·        A division is a way of grouping materials or products. It helps you organize your sales structure around groups of similar products or product lines.

Procedure

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       1.      On the navigation bar, choose Products ® Search to select the competitive product for which you want to assign a sales area.

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                            a.      On the Products Search tile, choose Type and select Competitive product from the dropdown box.

You can enter more search criteria, if required.

                            b.      Choose Search.

A list of competitive products appears on the Products List tile.

                            c.      On the Products List tile, select the required competitive product in the column on the far left.

       2.      On the navigation bar, choose Sales Area.

The Products/Sales Area tile set appears.

Products tile

This tile displays details of the selected competitive product.

The details in this tile set are not editable. You can edit the details of the competitive product in the Products/Details tile set. For more information, see Creating a Competitive Product.

Field name	Description	Req./Opt./Dep.	User action and values	Comment
Product No.	Specifies the unique number that identifies the product	Opt.	This field is not editable.
Description	Displays a short description of the product	Opt.	This field is not editable.
Division	Specifies the section to which a product belongs	Opt.	This field is not editable.	For example, beverages belong to the food division.
Type	Specifies the nature of the product	Opt.	This field is not editable.	For example, a configurable material or a competitive product.
Group	Specifies the group to which the product belongs	Opt.	This field is not editable.	Products with similar features are grouped together
GTIN	Specifies the Global Trade Item Number, used to identify a product worldwide	Opt.	This field is not editable.	It is a 14 digit number, used to identify a product worldwide. For more information, see Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
GTIN Category	Specifies the type of numbering standard used for GTIN	Opt.	This field is not editable.	Currently only one GTIN category is maintained in CRM Online.

Product Long Texts tile

This tile displays the description of the product such as Inspection Text, Basic Text or Internal Note. The field is not editable either for competitive or non-competitive products.

The data on this tile is displayed only when the long text is maintained in CRM Online.

Product Long Text Details tile

This tile displays a memo field that contains a detailed description of the product. The information displayed is based on the type of product long text. The field is not editable either for competitive or non-competitive products.

The data on this tile is displayed only when the long text details are maintained in CRM Online.

       3.      Choose the Sales Areas Details tile, then choose  on the toolbar, and enter the necessary data:

Field name	Description	Req./Opt./Dep.	User action and values	Comment
Sales Organization	Sales organization which deals with the sale of the product	Req.	Choose the sales organization from the dropdown box.
Distribution Channel	Channel used to sell a product	Req.	Choose a distribution channel from the dropdown box.
Hierarchy	Category to which a product is assigned in the sales hierarchy	Opt.	Choose the choice field and select a hierarchy from the tree structure in the Product Hierarchy dialog box. The hierarchy is displayed as a number.	Choosing this hyperlink navigates you to the Products/SA Hierarchies tile set. This tile set displays the sales area hierarchy of the product.
Item Cat. Group	Grouping of products, which is used by the system to determine the properties and characteristics of a transaction item, when processing a business transaction	Opt.	Choose the item category group from the dropdown box.	For example, the product can fall under the item category group Sales Item. This means that the product can be proposed for a sales transaction.
Sales Unit	Unit in which the product is sold	Opt.	Choose the sales unit from the dropdown box.
Delivery Unit	Unit in which the product is delivered	Opt.	Enter the delivery unit. A maximum of three digits is allowed.
Min. Delivery Quan.	Minimum delivery quantity of the product	Opt.	Enter the minimum delivery quantity. A maximum of three digits is allowed.
Min. Order Quan.	Minimum quantity of the product that can be ordered	Opt.	Enter the minimum order quantity. A maximum of three digits is allowed.

       4.      Save your entries.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 to assign more sales areas to the competitive product.

Result

You have assigned a sales area to the competitive product.

The Sales Organization and Distr. Channel assigned to the competitive product are displayed on the Sales Areas tile. This tile also displays a list of all sales areas assigned to the competitive product.