Creating a Promotions Sales Program

Owned by Tatum Hohl (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 20, 2018 by Kati Huttunen (Unlicensed)
9 min read

Overview

Promotion programs are used to automate charges and discounts. These show up on the customer invoice as a line item. These are most commonly used for things like giving a 5% discount on all Frozen Vegetables purchased in the month of August. Promotions are assigned based on Item Sets and the Customer Addresses that are assigned to the Promotion. Because Promotion Programs add a line item to the Sales Transaction and all the accounting is based on the ‘Promotion Item’ code, an item must exist to account for promotions on invoices.

Prerequisites

Required Prerequisites

  • Program Class Setup
    • To assign to the Sales Program for categorical purposes.
  • Item Setup
    • Specifically, an Item to code promotions as that will display on the invoice for promotions.
  • Item Set Setup
    • To assign to the promotion, making all items on this item set eligible for the promotion to be applied when sold on a Sales Order transaction that is being sold to a customer also assigned to the Promotion.
  • Customer Address Setup
    • To assign to the promotion, making the assigned customer addresses eligible for the promotion to be applied to any items sold to them that are also on the promotion’s assigned item set(s).
  • UOM Setup
    • To assign the UOM for any promotion rate set to a calculation of $/UOM.

Optional Prerequisites

  • Integration setup
    • Setting the Host system integration for SO Invoice to immediate or timed.

Understanding the Data Flow

A Promotions Sales Program will automatically be applied on any eligible Sales Order transaction, as determined by the Promotion’s assigned Item Set(s), Customer Address(es), and date range, and will calculate automatically based on the promotion’s calculation method and rate for the applicable item set(s). When the Promotions Sales Program is applied to a Sales Order transaction, it will display as a line item on the invoice. The line item that displays is determined by the ‘Promotion Item’ assigned to the applicable item set(s) on the promotion. Because the promotion’s calculations are reflected via the ‘Promotion Item’, the accounting for this item will be determined by the item’s ‘Accounts’ setup for its ‘Sales’ account and will be posted along with the Invoice. 

Step 1: Creating the Promotions Sales Program

To create a Promotions Sales Program, navigate to the Sales Programs module in NorthScope, open the Programs page, click the New toolbar icon, and select Promotions.

This will open the ‘Sales Programs: New Promotions’ window with the promotion ID automatically assigned based on the Sales Programs preference for ‘Next Program ID’.

Completing the Header Fields

When creating a new promotion Sales Program, the following header fields will display for data entry:

  • Description: Enter the description of the promotion. This will display in the Programs list view and will help differentiate the sales program from all other promotions.
  • Class: Select the Program Class to assign to the promotion. This is for categorical purposes and the lookup will only include those program classes assigned a program type of ‘Promotions’. This field is required.
  • From: Enter the date as of which the promotion is eligible. This field is required.
  • To: Enter the date as of which the promotion is no longer eligible.  This field is required.
  • Settle To: This field defaults to ‘Invoice’ and is not editable for Promotions.
  • Frequency: This field defaults to ‘Invoice’ and is not editable for Promotions.
  • Inactive: This field allows users to inactivate the program. When the program is set to inactive, it is not assigned to Sales Order transactions. 

Once completing the header fields, click Save.

Then, assign the Item Set(s) eligible for the promotion.

Assigning Item Sets

To assign an item set, open the Item Sets tab within the Sales Program record and click the New grid toolbar icon.

This will open a single line item for data entry with the following fields:

  • Seq: This field defaults to the next number in the sequence and is not immediately editable. However, once the Item Sets tab is saved, each Item Set can be dragged and dropped into the correct order of hierarchy.
  • Item Set: Select the Item Set to assign to the promotion. Duplicate Item Sets are not allowed to be assigned to the same sales program. This field will display a drop-down menu of all Item Sets assigned a ‘type’ of ‘Sales Programs’ or ‘All Modules’. This field is required.
    • To setup Item Sets, go to Inventory>Item Sets and click new. Enter the Item Set name and description and select the item set’s ‘Type’. By default, all new Item Sets include all items. To limit the items included in the item set, apply as many filters as necessary to include only the items meeting the filtered criteria. Filters can be placed on the following item values: Item Type, Item Class, Attribute Class, UOM Schedule and all Item Attribute Values. Items can be manually included and excluded if necessary. Saving the item set record updates the Items tab displaying the items assigned to the item set record. When a new item is added to NorthScope that fits the filtered criteria of an Item Set, that item is automatically added to the Item Set and therefore assigned to any sales program the Item Set is assigned to. 
  • Promotion Item: Select the item that will display on the transaction for this promotion and will therefore drive the accounting rules of the sales program. This field displays a drop-down menu of all non-Sales Inventory items. This field is required.
  • Calculation Method: Select the method by which the promotion will be calculated. This field displays a drop-down menu of calculation methods including the following:
    • $/UOM: Calculates the promotion based on the rate assigned to the item set for the promotion and the UOM assigned to the item set for the promotion. This calculation is the rate times the quantity (of the Promotion UOM) that exists on the invoice for all items belonging to the item set. If this calculation method is selected, the UOM field is required.
    • % Gross $’s: Calculates the promotion based on the percentage rate assigned to the item set for promotion and the total dollars of all items on the item set. This calculation is the percentage rate times the sum dollar amount of all items belonging to the item set on the invoice.
    • % Net $’s: Calculates the promotion based on the percentage rate assigned to the item set for promotion and the total dollars of all items on the item set. This calculation is the sum dollar amount of all items belonging to the item set on the invoice less the charges from all other sales programs times the percentage rate.
    • % off Total Invoice $’s: Calculates the promotion based on the percentage rate assigned to the item set for the promotion and the invoice’s total amount. This calculation is the percentage rate times the total invoice dollar amount, including items not belonging to the assigned item set(s).
  • Rate: Enter the rate by which to calculate the promotion. If the Calculation Method is set to $/UOM, the rate being entered must be a dollar amount to be charged/discounted per 1 unit of the selected UOM. If the Calculation Method is set to anything other than $/UOM, the rate being entered is a percentage to be charged/discounted.
  • UOM: Select the unit of measure by which to calculate the promotion. If the Calculation Method is set to $/UOM, the UOM field is required and will determine the unit by which the rate is charged/discounted. If the Calculation Method is set to anything other than $/UOM, the UOM field is disabled and will display %.
  • # Items: This field is never editable by the user and will automatically update once the Item Set is saved to display the number of items on the item set, which are now assigned to the Sales Program.

Once entering all the Item Set fields, click the Save grid toolbar icon.

Multiple Item Sets can be assigned to a single Sales Program. To assign additional Item Sets, follow the steps above for each additional Item Set.

Assigning Addresses/Address Sets

Depending on the Sales Program property ‘Assign Address By’ the customer addresses are assigned to the program by the address sets or individual addresses.

Assigning Address Sets

Note: Applies to programs with ‘Assign Address By’ set to Address Set.

To assign an Address Set, open the Address Sets tab within the Sales Program record and click the New grid toolbar icon.

This will open a single line item for data entry will the following field(s):

  • Address Set: Select the Address Set to assign to the program. Duplicate Address Sets are not allowed to be assigned to the same sales program. This field will display a drop-down menu of all Address Sets. This field is required.
  • To setup Address Sets, go to Sales Order>Address Sets and click new. Enter the Address Set name and description. By default, all new Address Sets include all customer addresses. To limit the addresses included in the address set, apply as many filters as necessary to include only the addresses meeting the filtered criteria. Filters can be placed on the following address values: Customer, Customer Name, Address ID, City, State, and Zip. Once the desired filters have been applied to the Addresses list grid, click Save. When a new customer address is added to NorthScope that fits the filtered criteria of an Address Set, that address is automatically added to the Address Set and therefore assigned to any sales program the Address Set is assigned to.

After assigning the desired Address Set, click Save.

Multiple Address Sets can be assigned to a single Sales Program. To assign additional Address Sets, follow the steps above for each additional Address Set.

Assigning Addresses

Note: Applies to programs with ‘Assign Address By’ set to Address.

To assign a Customer Address, open the Customers tab within the Sales Program record.

The Customers tab will display all customer addresses with a check box, allowing the user to select the address(es) to assign to the program. Each column within the list is filterable, allowing the user to easily narrow down the addresses that display to select the appropriate addresses to assign. To assign addresses to a program, check the check box displayed before the Customer ID and click Mass Update.  This opens the mass update dialog, where addresses can be assigned. Set ‘Assign Addresses’ to ‘Yes’ and click Apply. Also the start date can be assigned on the mass update dialog, but this is not required. Multiple addresses can be assigned to the program simultaneously. To remove addresses from the program, check the check box and click Mass Update toolbar icon. Set ‘Remove Addresses’ to ‘No’ and click Apply. When an address is assigned to a program, the On Program column displays Yes. Addresses assigned to the program are displayed on top of the list view.

Step 2: Entering a transaction with the Promotion

By default, when a Sales Order transaction is entered for a customer address that is assigned to the promotion, with at least one item belonging to an item set assigned to the promotion, with a transaction date within the promotion’s date range, the promotion will automatically be applied to the transaction and calculated accordingly. The sales program is displayed as a line item, which is for informational use only and cannot be edited. If the order has two or more items that are eligible for the same sales program, the total sales program amount is displayed as the price and the extended amount. If the sales order has items that are eligible for more than one promotion sales programs, each sales program is displayed as a separate line item.

To adjust the sales program rate or to see more sales program details, click the transaction’s Program Details header toolbar icon and open the On-Invoice tab.

This tab will display all information regarding the effect(s) of the promotion on the transaction, per item affected, with the following details:

  • Gross $: Displays the item’s total gross dollar amount.  
  • Item Set: Displays the name of the Item Set assigned to the program to which the corresponding transaction item belongs to.
  • Item: Description: Displays the item and item description of the transaction item affected by the program.
  • Method: Displays the calculation method of the program.
  • Net $: Displays the item’s total net dollar amount.  
  • Program Amt.: Displays the amount of the program as calculated for the corresponding line item.
  • Program Group: Displays the Sales Program type, ID and Description. Note: This column is not in the system view. 
  • Program ID: Displays the Program ID of the Sales Program. Note: This column is not in the system view. 
  • Program Name: Displays the name of the Sales Program. Note: This column is not in the system view. 
  • Program Type: Displays the type of the Sales Program. Note: This column is not in the system view. 
  • Promo Item ID: Displays the item ID that will display on the invoice for the program calculations.
  • Rate: This field displays the sales program rate as defined on the sales program record. This field is editable and the Program Amount is re-calculated after clicking Save. Note: Updating the rate on this window impacts only this transaction and it does not update the Sales Program record.
  • Unit UOM: Identifies the unit UOM of the item that is affected by the sales program.  
  • Units: Displays the total number of units ordered of the item that is affected by the sales program.
  • UOM: Displays the UOM upon which the program was calculated.
  • Weight: Displays total weight of the item that is affected by the sales program.
  • Wt. UOM: Identifies the weight UOM of the item that is affected by the sales program.  

Step 3: Posting the transaction with the Promotion

If a promotion exists on a Sales Order transaction, no additional work is needed for the promotion to be posted with the transaction. Simply follow the steps to post the transaction and the promotion will be posted with it. Steps for posting Sales Order transactions can be found here.

However, the promotion rates cannot be adjusted once the transaction is in a status of Approved or greater.

Once the invoice is saved as Ready to Post, the promotion item will visibly display on the invoice. Prior to saving the transaction as Ready to Post, the promotion will only be visible via the Program Details page.

The promotion item will integrate to the host system the same as the other line items on the invoice, so long as the SO Invoice integration is set to immediate or timed.