Territory Assignments

Territory assignmentsOnce a set of territories within a particular territory category version has been made current in SalesConnect, those territories will be assigned to appropriate connections (offices, reps, rep partnerships, teams, and even plan sponsors, if appropriate). Territory assignments are based on the criteria in the territory category definitions, on firm applicability, and on whether an entity is locked or not. In SalesConnect, territory locks always override systematic territory assignments. Firm associations can be set at the territory definition level; separately, territory categories can be set to be applicable to particular firms. These settings are very different from each other, but both firm associations and territory category applicability affect territory assignments for entities. for connectionsConnections are entities; they're the different types of companies and individuals you may need to track. SalesConnect is set up to display information about the types of connections you care about, based on the roles to which you are assigned. may occur when:

A connection is added to SalesConnect; the new connection is assigned to territoriesIn a territory category, you can define as many named territories as you need to identify sales responsibilities. Territories are often divided geographically, and can include whole countries, states or provinces, or even ZIP/postal code ranges. Other criteria can be included for each territory, such as firm association or channel/subchannel definitions. If needed, you can filter offices, reps, partnerships, and teams to which a territory will apply by their firm association alone. Each territory can have one or more operators assigned to it; after territory assignments are set, permissions can be set to control the level of access each operator has to data (such as viewing or editing), based on his or her territory assignments. for each applicable category, using the current territory definitionsA territory definition specifies characteristics that define a named territory in a territory category version. Definitions can include countries, states/provinces, ZIP/postal codes, distribution channel and subchannel, firm association and other criteria, when appropriate., unless those assignments are overridden by territory locksA territory lock can be used to override automatic territory assignment for an office, rep, rep partnership, team, or plan sponsor. When you lock a territory for one of these connections, you must specify the territory to be assigned to that connection. When a territory assignment has been locked for a connection, any territory realignment process does not change the territory you have set manually..
An authorized operator performs a complete territory realignment for a particular territory categoryA territory category represents one set of distinct territories that you need to maintain at the same time. A single territory category may not reflect how your sales force is distributed, so you can define up to fifteen (15) different territory categories in SalesConnect; however, only one version in each territory category can be current at any given time. Categories can represent particular lines of business (such as wirehouses or banks) or product lines (such as mutual funds or annuities), or any other meaningful division for which you need to support distinct sets of territories. Categories include as many named territories as you need to identify sales responsibilities. Named territories are often geographical in nature, but can also include channel/subchannel definitions and firm associations. Applicability also affects office and rep/partnership/team territory assignments: if a territory category is applicable to a firm, then entities associated with that firm can be assigned to territories in that category; but if the category is not applicable to a firm, then associated entities are not assigned to a defined territory in it, but are instead flagged "Not Applicable" for the category.. The territory definitions that are enforced by that realignment reset territory assignments for all connections as needed, unless territory locks prevent those reassignments.
Applicable territory categories for a firmA broker/dealer firm (or broker dealer or broker-dealer) is a connection associated with intermediary business, typically a top-level organization in this hierarchy. Broker/dealer firms are also sometimes referred to as just "firms" or "brokers" or "dealers" or "financial institutions." Each broker/dealer firm may have one or more offices affiliated with it, and through these offices, reps may also be affiliated with it. A broker/dealer firm may have associated firm contacts, as well. Possibly the most critical information you can track for broker/dealer firms are aliases, also known as trading IDs. Aliases are the IDs that associate transactions with each broker/dealer firm. If you need to write queries or reports: The primary data for broker/dealer firms is stored in the Firm table. The Firm Alias table stores trading IDs associated with broker/dealer firms. change. Territory assignments for connections associated with the firm are all re-evaluated, to ensure that they have territory assignments for all appropriate territory categories. Again, territory locks can prevent these reassignments.
An officeAn office is a connection in the intermediary business hierarchy, an organization subordinate to a broker/dealer firm. Offices are also sometimes referred to as "branches'; institutional firms have branches in SalesConnect. An office is affiliated with a single broker/dealer firm, and may have one or more reps directly affiliated with it. An office may have associated office contacts, as well. Possibly the most critical information you can track for offices are aliases, also known as trading IDs. Aliases are the IDs that associate transactions with each office. If you need to write queries or reports: The primary data for offices is stored in the Office table. Information about office trading IDs is stored in the Office Alias table.'s primary address or firm association changes. Territory assignments are re-evaluated for the office and for associated connections to whom the office changes cascade. Again, territory locks can prevent reassignments.
The value for a client-defined field, firm association, or primary address for a repA rep is perhaps the most important contact connection in the intermediary business hierarchy. Each rep is an individual who sells funds and is affiliated with an office (and through the office, with a broker/dealer firm). Reps may also be referred to as "financial advisors." Possibly the most critical information you can track for reps are aliases, also known as trading IDs. Aliases are the IDs that associate transactions and assets with each rep. If you need to write queries or reports: The primary data for reps is stored in the Contact and Rep Profile tables. The Rep Alias table stores trading IDs associated with reps. changes, or the firm association or primary address for a partnershipA partnership is a contact connection in the intermediary business hierarchy, though it is really a name for a group of reps working together to sell one or more products. A partnership, sometimes called a rep partnership, is treated as a special type of rep: this means that most of the tools for working with reps may be used to work with partnerships as well. Most views of transactions associated with an individual rep generally don't include transactions or parts of transactions that the rep may have cleared as part of a partnership. Instead, these kinds of trades are listed only for the rep partnership. Each member's portion of rep partnership sales data is always based on the percentages currently assigned to each member; no long-term historical information about percentages is maintained. SalesConnect does not store any calculated trade or asset values based on rep partnerships. If you need to write queries or reports: The primary data for partnerships is stored in the Contact, Rep Partnership, and Rep Profile tables. The Rep Alias table stores trading IDs associated with partnerships as well as reps. or teamA team is a contact connection, though it is really a group of individuals working together to achieve a common sales goal; a team may include reps and rep partnerships from the office with which the team is associated, but it can also office contacts and non-producing reps who support team sales efforts. changes; this is less clear-cut than the other examples, as it only occurs under particular circumstances, which are described in following sections. Again, territory locks can prevent reassignments.

Let's take a closer look at how territory definitions get applied to connections and other records in SalesConnect.

Territory Assignments for Offices

Once a set of territories within a territory category versionA territory category version is one version—current, historical, or in development—of the definitions, rules, responsiblity assignments (of national sales manages and sales contacts to regions or territories) that have been developed for a particular territory category used in SalesConnect. Authorized operators can develop territory category versions to test new territory definitions; when appropriate, a version can be implemented, at which time it becomes the current version for a territory category. Historical versions can be used to review ways in which you balanced territories in the past; versions in development can be used to experiment with new ways of balancing territories. SalesConnect prevents you from making some changes to the current or previous territory category version, since this would in effect change territory rules that have already been or are currently being enforced. has been made active, existing offices are assigned to those territories, if the category is applicable to the office's associated firm. When a territory category is not applicable to an office's firm, that office is assigned a Not Applicable (NA) territory value for that category.

Criteria for assigning a territory to each office are evaluated in this order:

Firm association—Is the office's associated firm included in any definitions? Does the office meet other criteriaIn a query, a criterion is a single point of comparison. For instance, one criterion in a query might be reps in the state of Michigan. Query and search criteria are based on properties in the primary SalesConnect objects associated with the type of connection or other record which the query or search finds. for that definition? If so, assign the office to the associated territory.
Country—Is the office’s primary address within a country included in a territory definition? If there's only one country match, assign the office to the associated territory. If there's more than one match, keep evaluating for the best match on additional criteria.
ZIP or postal code—Does the ZIP or postal code for the office’s primary address fall within a ZIP code range in a territory definition? If so, assign the office to the associated territory. (Overlapping ZIP code ranges aren't allowed in territory definitions. Use the fewest territory definitions possible for your needs; use ZIP code ranges that are as broad as you can make them. This makes territory assignment faster and easier.)
State—Is the state for the office’s primary address included in a territory definition, but the ZIP or postal code is not within a ZIP code range included in a territory definition? If so, assign the office to the territory associated with the state-only definition. When a territory can be assigned based on a definition on ZIP or postal code values, a state-only territory definition will not override that territory assignment. State-only definitions can act as defaults for any missed ZIP or postal code values in that state.
Distribution channel—Does the office's associated firm have a distribution channel that's included in a territory definition? Does the office meet other criteria for that definition? If so, assign the office to the associated territory.

If an office cannot be assigned a territory based on territory definition criteria, that office is assigned to the Unknown (UNK) territory in that category. Always have an Unknown territory defined, so that it can used as a final default value in a category.

This same territory assignment hierarchy is used when assigning territories to a new office added to SalesConnect.

Territory Assignments for Reps, Rep Partnerships, Teams, and Other Contacts

By default, territories are assigned to reps, rep partnerships, teams, and office contactsAn office contact is a contact connection in the intermediary business hierarchy, an individual affiliated with an office who is not a rep; that is, an office contact does not sell mutual funds, but does need to be tracked because he or she provides key support services. based on the territories assigned to the offices with which they are associated. That is, each office is assigned to a territory as just described, and then the office’s territory assignments are copied to all reps, partnerships, teams, and office contactsAny individual person tracked in SalesConnect is a contact, which is one type of connection. So, reps, firm contacts, and office contacts—are all contacts. Partnerships and teams are also treated as contacts in SalesConnect, because you usually need to work with them in the same ways. associated with that office—except for those reps, partnerships, teams, or office contacts with a locked territory in that category. (More about territory locking follows.)

However, SalesConnect can be configured to handle territory assignments for reps, partnerships, teams, and office contacts differently. If you prefer, you can have the addresses and other data for these connections evaluated directly against the territory definitions, too, just as is done for offices. In fact, the values of client-defined fieldsEach SalesConnect client may define up to 5 custom fields, known as client-defined fields. Only authorized client operators can set client-defined field descriptions and valid values for each client-defined field. One value for each of the defined fields may be assigned to each firm and rep. If a firm has a value for a particular client-defined field, that value will cascade to any new reps added in association to that firm. (Existing reps are not updated.) Operators can change assigned values for either firms or reps. that can be included in territory definition details really only apply to firms and reps, so if you want to use these fields as territory definition criteria, you will probably want to have rep territory assignments handled independently of the offices with which they are associated. This means, too, that if addresses for reps, partnerships, teams, and office contacts differ from those of their affiliated offices, they may automatically be assigned to different territories than those offices.

If you want to assign territories to reps, partnerships, teams, and office contacts independently of the offices with which they are assigned, the Enable Territory by Rep Address flag must be enabled for your SalesConnect system. If this option is on for your system, the criteria for assigning a territory to each rep, partnership, team, or office contact are evaluated as shown here.

Territory Locks for Connections

Sometimes, you will need to create territory exceptions or overrides for particular offices, reps, partnerships, teams, or office contacts. That is, you may need to break the territory definition rules, and assign a particular connection to a territory other than the one to which the rules would dictate.

To do so, you can override the connection’s territory within a territory category, locking that connection into the territory you want. Locking blocks processes that would systematically update the territory assignment for that connection, retaining the territory assignment you have manually set. You may be able to lock a connection's territory assignments by editing information for the connection's territories. See Add or clear a territory lock for a connection for instructions.

Systematic Updates to Territory Assignments for Connections

Several processes can systematically update territory assignments for connections: the obvious one is making a set of territory rules (a territory category version) current, so that it is enforced. But moving a rep, partnership, team, or office contact to a new office can also cause the that connection's territory assignments to be updated. Moving an office to a new firm can cause not only the office’s territory assignments to be updated; if the application is set to allow office territory assignments to cascade to affiliated reps, partnerships, teams, and office contacts, such a move also affects any of those affiliated connections whose territories are not locked, so that they may also get new territory assignments.

Locking a connection's territory prevents any systematic processes from updating that connection's territory assignment in that category.

Territory Assignments for Transactions

Territory assignments for transactions are handled differently than they are for connections. With offices, reps, and other connections, territory assignments are expected to change over time. As you balance territories, you will move connections like offices and reps to different territories. But with transactions, a territory value is assigned in each territory category as each transaction is added to SalesConnect, with the expectation that those values will remain fixed. Why have point-in-time assignments of territory for transactions, as opposed to the more fluid model used for connections? Because each transaction occurs on a specific date, so the assumption is that it should always have the territory assignments that were in effect on that date (either trade date or posting date, as has been deemed most appropriate for your company).

How are these point-in-time territory assignments made to each transaction? Transactions are usually added to SalesConnect by systematic processing of transaction feeds. Part of SalesConnect's systematic processing involves assigning appropriate territories to transactions, generally by using a simple set of rules. First, if a transaction is associated with a specific rep or partnership, then the territory assignments of that rep or partnership are copied to the transaction.

If the transaction is not associated with a rep or partnership, but is associated with an office (a condition that may be valid, depending on the transaction resolution rules in use), then the office’s territory assignments are copied to the transaction.

Transaction Definitions

Other rules may be used to change how territories are assigned to transactions, too. Those rules can be established in transaction definitionsBy default, when transactions are added to SalesConnect, they are assigned a territory for each territory category in use; the territory values are copied from the connection (usually a rep or partnership) associated with the transaction. If there is no associated rep or partnership, the transaction gets its territory value from the associated office. Transaction definitions allow you to further refine a trade's territory assignments during systematic resolution. Transaction definitions are associated with an individual territory category. They determine whether or not a particular trade gets the territory assignment (in that category) of the associated connection, based on additional data in the trade. If you use transaction definitions, you must ensure that they include criteria for all circumstances under which you want a specific territory to be assigned to incoming trades. for a version in a territory category. Transaction definitions can use lots of different types of criteria to evaluate whether the categories that are assigned to trades based on applicability and territory definitions are retained or not. (If no transaction definitionBy default, when transactions are added to SalesConnect, they are assigned a territory for each territory category in use; the territory values are copied from the connection (usually a rep or partnership) associated with the transaction. If there is no associated rep or partnership, the transaction gets its territory value from the associated office. Transaction definitions allow you to further refine a trade's territory assignments during systematic resolution. Transaction definitions are associated with an individual territory category. They determine whether or not a particular trade gets the territory assignment (in that category) of the associated connection, based on additional data in the trade. If you use transaction definitions, you must ensure that they include criteria for all circumstances under which you want a specific territory to be assigned to incoming trades. rules are defined for a territory category version, all transactions will have territories assigned to them for that territory category.) Every transaction definition is either an Inclusion rule or an Exclusion one. Inclusion rules mean keep the default territory assignment if the transaction matches the criteria; exclusion ones mean discard that default assignment in the event of a match. In practice, when you use transaction definitions, this means:

Transactions that match at least one inclusion rule retain the territory assigned to them by virtue of the associated connections. If the category uses only inclusion rules, any transaction that doesn't match at least one rule won't retain that assignment.
Transactions that match at least one exclusion rule are given the territory assignment NA (not applicable) in the category, regardless of the territory assigned to them by virtue of the associated connections. If the category uses only exclusion rules, any transaction that doesn't match at least one such rule retains that default territory assignment.
If the category uses both exclusion and inclusion rules, any transaction that matches at least one inclusion rule and doesn’t match any exclusion rule will retain the territory assigned to it by virtue of the associated connections.

You can change territory assignments for existing transactions, if necessary. See Changing Territory Assignments for Trades for the most straightforward way of doing this. However, you can also change transactions' territory assignments as part of moving trades to a new rep or partnership (and potentially office and firm). See Moving Trades for steps.