Territory Categories and Applicability

The business you need to track may be quite complex, such that a single set of 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. may not reflect how your sales force is distributed. So SalesConnect makes it possible to define up to fifteen different territory categoriesA 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.. Each territory category represents a single set of distinct territories that you need to maintain. For instance, let's say that your business is US only, but you use separate sales groups to market and sell funds to Key Accounts and to Broker/Dealers. Each of these sales groups have overlapping but distinct sales territories, based on the clients to be handled for each type of business. In this case, you might create two distinct territory categories, one called Key Accounts and one called Broker/Dealers. You could then define territories for each category and assign members of each sales group only to the territories that matter for them.

Example Key Accounts and Broker/Dealers territory categories, territories represented by color

Territory categories are flexible, so that you can define just the number you need, whether that's one, five, or fifteen. Each category represents a division that's meaningful for your organization, rather than a predefined bucket. Your SalesConnect application might use territory categories that represent lines of business, as in the example described here. Or you might have territory categories that represent product lines, such as one for Mutual Funds and one for Annuities. You can choose the names and divisions that make sense for the way that your organization does business. As noted in the example, each territory category may have its own distinct territories (which may overlap those of another category), with different sales staff assigned to each. Territory categories allow you to define and maintain multiple, fully independent sets of territories at the same time.

As part of defining territory categories, you can set the specific firms to which each territory category applies; we call this territory category applicability. Essentially, it defines whether each 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. is a member of the group represented by the territory category; to continue the earlier example, you'd set firm ABC Investors so that the Broker/Dealers category is applicable for it, if your organization considers ABC's business to fall into that category. Here is a brief example of how this might affect some fictional firms.

Applicability is very important for 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.: Only those officesAn 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. and repsA 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. associated with firms for which a territory category is applicable are assigned to territories within that category. Rep partnershipsA 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. and teamsA 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. are handled just like reps, so they also get territory assignments in a category only if that category is applicable to the firm with which they are associated. So here's how territory assignments will work for the 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. associated in the example we've been looking at.

	Affiliated Offices, Reps, Partnerships, Teams get territory assignments?
Firm	Category: Key Accounts	Category: Broker/Dealers

Cascading from this, transactions are usually assigned territories within each category only if they are associated with a rep, partnership, or office that has been assigned a territory in that category. (Team assignments are not used to determine territory assignment for transactions.)

Territory category applicability is a powerful way to filter which offices, reps, partnerships, teams, and transactions are assigned territories for each category. While you can change a territory category's applicability settings for firms, if you do so, you may have to adjust the territories assigned to existing transactions so that they are allocated as you would like. If you need to change applicability for an existing firm, edit the information on the Categories tab of the detail page for that firm.

See Setting Up Territory Categories for steps for defining categories.