Authorization Funds, Execution

Process optimisation

Promax streamlines the entire trade promotion lifecycle with intelligent workflow logic coordinating every step of the process across the business enterprise.

More than just process automation, Promax optimises the sequence and flow of information to ensure predictability and accountability.

Promax also integrates seamlessly into front and back-office systems, such as CRM and ERP, ensuring that relevant customer records are updated and that accruals, claims and payments correspond accurately to promotional activities.

Approval and Activation

During implementation, Promax tracks and reports actual results for all promotions. Once a promotion is confirmed the details of the promotion are preserved as ‘planned values’. Actual sales can then be recorded against the promotion to provide a detailed understanding of performance. This includes volume and financial results.

Promotional performance data can be kept on file for as long as needed. It is quite feasible to maintain two or three years’ detailed history, product by product.

While Account Managers are likely to be interested in the performance of specific promotions, it is often valuable for a company to review the performance of Trade Spend at a far higher level. The reporting and analytics capabilities in Promax allow companies to summarise performance for high-level review while also providing the ability to drill down into the detail.

Authorisation Workflows

The authorisation functionality in Promax optimises workflow for the promotions’ approval process. It allows controls to be applied to the amount of money that can be allocated to individual promotions. At the point of promotion confirmation, Promax will scan the promotion to ensure compliance. Two types of control are used. The total amount of money on the promotion must be below the limit of the individual doing the confirmation. The amount per product that is offered as a case deal must also be below the limit for that person. Different levels of management can have different limits for spend authorisation. When a promotion is above the limit (for the individual who is planning or reviewing the promotion), the authorisation will escalate to the next level.

The Promax Authorisation Workflow includes functionality that:

• prevents confirmation of promotions unless they conform to correct authorisation limits
• ensures expensive promotions are escalated to appropriate management levels before commitment is made to run the promotion or allocate funding
• reduces time for authorisation, curtails overspending, and ensures that brand equity is maintained
• allows spend limits to be set by User as well as other attributes (such as Product)
• provides for user-specific tolerances to ensure that discipline is adhered to
• allows category splits, accommodating category management processes
• accommodates customized approval processes for business plans, promotions, fund requests, and payments

Also refer to our section on Funds Management to learn more about this topic.

Market execution

Promax integrates trade promotion plans with retail execution in the field; ensuring promotions are implemented at the right time in the right place.

Promotion calendars flow directly into Sales Forecasts, giving managers a clear view of activities across territories, accounts and individual outlets.

Promax also integrates with mobile field solutions to gather in-store metrics such as promotional compliance, product availability and competitive activity.

Tactical Implementation

Promax provides comprehensive functionality that allows companies to move seamlessly from Promotion Planning to Tactical Execution. The system inherits all of the parameters specified in the planning phase and transforms them into the basis for tightly managed, efficiently executed programs.

Field Force Activity

Promax integrates with mobile Field Operations solutions to align in-store activity with promotions calendars. Information gathered in the field allows companies to validate that planned activities have occurred at the right time, at the right price and with the right in-store activities. It also allows additional information, such as competitive activity, to be recorded for use in future planning cycles.

Finance Departments

Promax provides Finance with visibility into predicted expenses by promotion, customer and product enabling insightful profit reporting. Promax provides the latest budgets and plans through a single data instance. Claims, which may arrive many weeks later, can be quickly and easily settled using Promax with direct alignment between the promotions and the claims. Promax provides visibility of accruals, paid claims and disputed claims. Settlement is quick and accurate and can be interfaced to the ERP or vice versa.

Tracking & Management

Promax includes rich functionality for tracking and managing all aspects of the implementation of the trade promotions plan:

• report overspend and deduct additional funds from customer allowances
• rebate management increases the efficiency in calculating and managing rebates and includes reporting of actual as well as forecasted rebates; rebates are included in Cost of Business reports and accruals can be created
• volume management supports exception management of key issues. It allows users to compares target volumes with actuals achieved as well as allowing year on year and year to date comparisons

Customer Allowances

The Promax Customer Allowance functionality incorporates workflow processes that preempt the occurrence of overspends by preventing confirmation of a promotion unless sufficient money has been allocated to the Account and/or Funding Type.

The following are some of the capabilities this functionality provides:

• allocates spend budgets to Accounts and to spend categories within Accounts
• warns of the possibility of overspending before the promotion is confirmed
• automatically tracks spend when promotions are confirmed
• ensures promotional program is aligned and executed within the Business Plan
• optimises profitability by Account and increases utilisation value of scarce funding resources
• customer spend allocation integrated within claim payments and accruals

Enterprise Integration

Promax is designed to be interfaced with Enterprise Systems, CRM systems, Data Warehouse and Field Operations systems so that a single point of data entry is maintained for users.

Promax supports the integration of information via a predefined set of dedicated import/export tables. Data transfer to and from the Promax database and the dedicated tables is managed via the Promax application.

Promax is a full Windows based, multi-user solution providing a range of database platform options including MS SQL Server, and Oracle.

Promax has proven Integration with ERP and CRM systems including SAP, Siebel, BPCS, JDE, MFG-Pro, Oracle as well as data warehousing.

Standard data integration capability also exists for scan data sources such as Nielson and Aztec.

View our collection of “Interfacing with Promax PX”  White Papers