Indirect Relationships 
This function helps you manage your indirect lines of business by enabling you to establish links between indirect accounts and the wholesaler(s) those indirect accounts buy from. You can use this information about indirect consumption to build total trade spending and plan sales volumes for a wholesaler, carry out volume planning for a wholesaler and plan trade promotions for indirect accounts
An indirect account is a retailer who does not receive shipments directly from the manufacturer. Instead, the manufacturer sells the product to a direct account (wholesaler or distributor), who then resells the product to the indirect account, who finally sells it to the consumer. The retailer receives financial compensation for promotional performance directly from the manufacturer.
Integration
This function is closely related to trade promotions planning, funds and claims.
Prerequisites
You have made the necessary settings for Trade Promotion Management in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management , by choosing
Trade Promotion Management
.
You have specified the product dimension that has to be used to maintain indirect account → wholesaler relationships, in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management, by choosing
Trade
Promotion Management 
Trade Promotions
Indirect Relationships Define
Business Line Level.
Features
A single indirect account can source different products from different wholesalers and therefore be linked to one or more wholesalers. This is an indirect account → wholesaler relationship with details about indirect consumption from different wholesalers for a particular product dimension and time period.
Establishing indirect relationships also allows you to specify the percentage split of the volume that the manufacturer ships to a wholesaler down to the indirect accounts serviced by the corresponding wholesaler, called Wholesaler Split. When a wholesaler ships to indirect accounts, the quantity is usually significant enough for the manufacturer to keep track of individually or as part of a target group, but the wholesaler also ships to a large number of small stores, which the manufacturer does not keep track of. Therefore wholesaler → indirect account relationships are not just the converse of the indirect account → wholesaler ones.
With a link set up both ways, that is an indirect account → wholesaler and wholesaler → indirect account, you have information that helps you with planning, execution and reporting functions in the following ways:
Trade Spends and Sales Volumes
Build a total trade spending and sales volume plan for a wholesaler, including incremental sales volumes originating from promotions with an indirect account as well as the related spending. By keeping track of the amount of trade spending that is allocated to a particular wholesaler during each time period – either directly or through investments in indirect accounts and the resulting increase in sales volumes that this generates, you are in a position to evaluate the profitability of your business with a given wholesaler.
Planning and Forecasting
You can plan trade promotions for indirect accounts serviced by one or more wholesalers. Here you use the details of the indirect account → wholesaler relationship to determine the wholesaler for a particular promotion involving an indirect account. In case of small indirect accounts, you can plan trade promotions for wholesalers and attach related indirect accounts as the target groups.
Trade Funds Management
Draw funding for indirect promotions either from the indirect account or the related wholesaler. Indirect promotions draw their funding from either a specific fund for the indirect account or from the fund of the corresponding wholesaler
Trade Claims Management
Match trade claims raised by a wholesaler with the respective indirect promotion.
Integration with Marketing Calendar
Use the marketing calendar to view trade promotions of a wholesaler or indirect account. When viewing the promotions of an indirect account, you can view the corresponding wholesaler-level promotions in the Split Calendar..
Example
The following are sample structures of the various kinds of indirect relationships:
Legend
Indirect Account → Wholesaler Relationship
The following are possible indirect account → wholesaler relationships:
Exclusive Indirect Account
Here, the indirect account does not buy directly from the manufacturer, but orders all products through a single wholesaler or distributor.
Non-Exclusive Indirect Account
Here the indirect account does not buy directly from the manufacturer. He or she orders products through several wholesalers and/or distributors instead.
Combination of Direct and Indirect Account
Since different products may call for different distribution methods, an account can be both a direct and an indirect account. For example, a particular account could source only chilled products from a wholesaler, or it may be that the relationship between the manufacturer and the account is time dependent.
Wholesaler → Indirect Account Relationship or Wholesaler Split
For top down planning as well as reporting purposes, the manufacturer needs to understand which indirect account(s) the wholesaler supplies goods to. So when goods are shipped to a wholesaler, the wholesaler → indirect account relationship can give you information about the percentage that is distributed to the various indirect accounts.