Overview - Promotion Negotiations

Jim - need a descriptive paragraph.

Note:  Promotion Negotiation options will not appear for users that do not have a Negotiation Agreement with viaLink.

See Basic Steps to negotiating a promotion for a step-by-step guide.

How it works  (top)

1. The promotion Owner (supply side) creates the promotion and marks it for negotiation.

2. The promotion Owner (supply side) selects a certificate and hands off the promotion for negotiation.  

• The certificate designates the negotiation Roles.

• E-mail notifications begin using the rules set up in the certificate..

3. The Supply Side Negotiator offers the promotion to the Demand Side.

4. The Demand Side Negotiator reviews the promotion, and either accepts, rejects, or modifies the promotion and submits a counter-offer.

5. The Supply Side Negotiator reviews the Demand Side's response, and either accepts, rejects, or modifies and submits a counter-offer.  

   1. • The Supply Side can also rescind the entire promotion, effectively cancelling it.

6. The back and forth between the Supply Side and Demand Side continues until a consensus is reached.

   1. • Each stage of the negotiation is logged using a Tracking Number.  A negotiator can select a negotiation stage using this number, and review previous offers and counter-offers.  Sally - Is there a compare function somewhere?

      • Memos can be added to each offer and counter-offer.  These can be used to comment on a particular change.

7. Either the Supply Side or the Demand Side Accepts the promotion.

8. The Subscriber, Negotiators, and Recipients are notified of the outcome.

Roles   (top)

Every participant in the negotiation process has one or more roles. These are granted through the Certificate.

• Owner / Initiator

• 1. • Supply side.

     • Builds the promotion.

     • Hands off the promotion for negotiation.

• Negotiator - Supply Side

• 1. • Makes the first offer.

     • Receives counter-offers.

     • Modifies the promotion and re-offers.

     • Accepts (or rescinds) the promotion.

     • Many times the Supply-Side Negotiator and the Owner are the same.

• Negotiator - Demand Side  

• 1. • Suggests changes (makes counter-offers).

     • Accepts or rejects the Supply-Side Negotiator's offers.

• Recipients

• 1. • Receive notifications.  These individuals are kept informed via e-mail throughout each stage of the negotiation process.  Agents, brokers, and other interested parties can be set up as recipients.

     • Recipients can view -- but cannot modify --the original promotion, offers, and counter-offers.

• Subscribers

• 1. • Receive the final negotiated promotion.

Negotiators   (top)

• Have a work queue where they can see the current status of a negotiation.

• Can select a promotion to view or modify.

• Are shown what has changed from the last time they worked with the promotion.

• Can modify and make counter-offers.

• Can accept or reject a promotion.  The Supply-Side Negotiator can also rescind a promotion.

Certificates  (top)

• Are created by the Supply Side.

• Manage / Control the process.

• Designate the Roles.

• Define the negotiation rules, such as the time slot available for negotiation and what actions are permitted.

• Set the notification rules that determine who is notified of each action during the negotiation

• Can define groups of negotiators.  

• 1. • One group for the Supply Side and one group for the Demand Side.

     • A group can consist of one or more designated negotiators.  For example, a Category Manager, Buyer, and alternate Buyer.  This allows an alternate negotiator to take over in the event the main negotiator is on vacation or must be away.

• Can be set up with different combinations of negotiators.

• 1. • For example:

Certificate 1, Supply Negotiator - Pasta Salesperson, Demand Negotiator - Pasta Buyer

Certificate 2, Supply Negotiator - Cheese Salesperson, Demand Negotiator - Cheese Buyer

Notifications  (top)

Every promotion negotiation has a Supply-Side Group and a Demand-Side Group of negotiators.  These groups are set up through the negotiation certificate.  Each stage of the negotiation (such as offer, counter-offer, or acceptance) generates an e-mail notification that is sent to all negotiators.  Each notification has a tracking number that a negotiator can use to review the proposal in his or her negotiation work queue.

Note:  After the original promotion is offered to the Demand Side, the sequence of events and notifications can vary, depending on the actions taken by each side.  For example, the Demand Side can accept the offer based on the Supply Side’s counter offer.

Sample Notifications

Negotiation Work Queue  (top)

Overview - Work Queue

Using the Work Queue

Anyone who has a role will have a work queue. (negotiators) (Sally - recipients?)  The queue displays all promotions to which you are authorized to play a role.  Use the work queue to view and negotiate promotions.  The work queue also provides a quick way to check the status of a negotiation.  The work queue will show:  

• Tracking Number:  Each offer, counter-offer, rejection, and acceptance is recorded by this number.  This makes it easy to follow the progress of a negotiation.

• Owner:  This is the trading partner who built the promotion and is offering the promotional discounts.  This is normally the Supply-Side.

• Negotiation Status:  This column lists the current status of the negotiation.  For example, Proposal offered by the Supply-Side Negotiator, Ready for Supply-Side negotiator to initiate the negotiation process, Proposal offered by the Demand-Side Negotiator.

• Event #:  The event number the promotion owner has assigned to the promotion.

• Description:  The promotion owner's description of the promotion.

• Effective Period:  The beginning and ending dates of the promotion.  Note:  The effective periods for individual deals might be different from the promotion's effective period.  However, all deal dates will fall on or with the promotion dates.

• Demand BU:  Lists the demand-side trading partner with whom the promotion is being negotiated.  

• In Use:  Designates if the promotion is checked out and by whom.  You cannot update a promotion that has been checked out by another negotiator.

Negotiation Worksheet  (top)

Overview - Worksheet

Using the Worksheet

Use the Worksheet to modify the promotion and make counter-offers.  The options that appear depend on the negotiation history (the actions the negotiators have taken).  

The Worksheet is divided into Promotion, Areas, and Deals sections.  To make a counter-offer, click Modify in the section you wish to adjust.  Sections you modify will display an X in the My Changes box in the Worksheet window.  Sections to which the Demand-Side has proposed changes will display an X in the Last Proposed Changes box.

When the promotion is open in the work sheet, it is considered to be locked or checked-out.  This means that no other negotiator can make changes to the promotion.  (Sally - Is this the correct way to describe Check Out?  There is no Check Out link?))  

Promotion View Window  (top)

Overview - Promotion View Window

Using the View Window

Recipients and other roles can use this window to review a negotiation offering.  It is reached by selecting a negotiation from the Work Queue and clicking either Negotiate or View.  If Negotiate is selected, additional links display to open a Worksheet and, depending on the stage of the negotiation, display links to make an offer, and to accept, reject, revoke an offering, and so on.

The path at the top reflects the state of the negotiation.  For example:  >>syncLink: Promotion Negotiation Work Queue:  Supply-side: View - Last Demand-side Proposal That I Rejected.