Question: What is Closed-Loop TPM?
Short Answer: The ability to manage all
aspects of a trade promotion, from start to finish,
in one tool that is tightly
linked to all of your financial systems.
Closed-loop TPM software must manage all aspects
of a trade promotion event, from start to finish.
Many TPM packages are not truly closed-loop systems.
Information entered or processed by one module
is not used or available in other modules. Make
sure that all of the modules of your TPM software
are tightly integrated for the complete life-cycle
of a trade promotion event, including planning,
budgeting, payments, deduction resolution, and
post-promotion analysis. Make sure the life-cycle
includes all of your internal data such as shipments,
cost-of-goods, actual trade spending, etc. It
should also integrate syndicated data from A.C.
Nielsen and IRI along with retailer specific POS
data.
All of your internal financial systems must
also be in the loop:
If your internal systems are not electronically
AND automatically linked to your trade promotion
system, your trade promotion management system
is not truly closed-loop. Closed-loop TPM by definition
must be tightly integrated with all of your systems,
including your ERP's invoicing, A/R, A/P, G/L,
and supporting tables.
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In addition, TPM must be
linked to other systems such as forecasting and
supply-chain packages. TPM must also pull in data
from third-party sources such as A.C. Nielsen,
IRI, and individual retailer's POS data. Data
flows must be automated both directions, both
into and out-of your closed-loop TPM software.
Our back-office tool, Account Review Administrator,
links to virtually all ERP packages without the
use of any customized code. It also empowers you
to easily reconfigure the Account Review software
to ever changing ERP packages and business rules
without customized-software code. The result is
a true closed-loop system that easily adapts to
version upgrades and updates to your internal
systems.
True closed-loop TPM eliminates redundant
work:
Most TPM vendors do not offer true closed-loop
systems. Clients must perform duplicate data entry
to master files and other tables. These un-necessary
activities create potential data entry errors,
synchronization issues, and time delays. Data
'owned' and created in any of your internal systems
must seamlessly flow into your TPM software. Likewise,
any data owned and created in your TPM software
must seamlessly flow into all of the other systems
requiring the data.
Account Review is a true closed-loop system, where
changes in your customer master, product master,
in other sources automatically and electronically
flow from your ERP system into Account Review.
This is the best way for any TPM system to handle
new customers, new products, geographic realignments,
and other day-to-day changes in your financial
systems. Data also flows the other way. Any data
element from any field in any data table within
Account Review can be linked and/or exported into
all of your internal systems for true closed-loop
TPM. |
