RELEASE 6.0E Support Package 2 - Vistex, Inc Postings ... Automatic Truncation in Membership ... The...

RELEASE 6.0E

Support Package 2

Summary of

New Features and Enhancements

Vistex Release 6.0E – Support Package 2

2 Summary of New Features and Enhancements

Contents Contents............................................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction........................................................................................................................................ 5

About This Document ...................................................................................................................... 5 Disclaimer and Liability Notice.............................................................................................................................. 5

SAP ECC Version Requirements ........................................................................................................ 5 Feature Name Changes ................................................................................................................... 6

Global ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Business Script ................................................................................................................................ 7

Business Script Definition ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Business Script Integration for Matrix .................................................................................................................. 7

Process Observer ............................................................................................................................ 8 New Generation Launchpad ............................................................................................................. 8 Data Objects ................................................................................................................................... 9

Duplicate Check Improvements ............................................................................................................................ 9 Reprocess Data Object .......................................................................................................................................... 9 File Templates ....................................................................................................................................................... 9 Business Script Integration ................................................................................................................................... 9 Serial Number Integration .................................................................................................................................... 9 Offline Maintenance ........................................................................................................................................... 10

Incidents ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Direct Agreements ......................................................................................................................... 10 SEPA Compatibility with SAP SD ..................................................................................................... 11

Agreement ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Multi-Use Agreements ........................................................................................................................................ 12

Agreement Schedules .................................................................................................................... 12 Schedule Definition ............................................................................................................................................. 12 Claim Creation from Agreement Schedule ......................................................................................................... 13

Campaigns .................................................................................................................................... 13 Agreement Postings....................................................................................................................... 14

Agreement Postings – Removed Dependency with IP type................................................................................ 14 Agreement Group Postings ................................................................................................................................. 14 Derivation Postings in the Agreements .............................................................................................................. 14

Agreement Close-Out .................................................................................................................... 14 Follow-On Functions ...................................................................................................................... 14 Other ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Bucket Type ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 Automatic Truncation in Membership ............................................................................................................... 15 Periods Tab in Agreements ................................................................................................................................. 15 Dimension Scales in Agreement Review Sheet ................................................................................................... 15 Territory Locking ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Territory Assignment Structure Upload .............................................................................................................. 16 Agreement Log Improvement ............................................................................................................................. 16 Creating Master Request Using Reference ......................................................................................................... 16 Tracking Tab and Proforma Tab in BSP ............................................................................................................... 16 Hide Summary Price Sheet ................................................................................................................................. 16

Proforma .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Proforma Models ................................................................................................................................................ 17 Proforma Pushback ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Recreate and Refresh Proforma ......................................................................................................................... 17 Background Processing ....................................................................................................................................... 18



Proforma Notes .................................................................................................................................................. 18 Any Value Description ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Proforma URL...................................................................................................................................................... 18 Characteristic Explosion ...................................................................................................................................... 18

Settlement ........................................................................................................................................ 19 New Bucket Types ......................................................................................................................... 19

Simulation Bucket Usage .................................................................................................................................... 19 Quantities and Amounts Bucket Usage .............................................................................................................. 19

Bucket Upgrades ........................................................................................................................... 19 Dynamic Header Criteria ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Creating Dynamic Buckets from Settlement Parameters ................................................................................... 20 Priority for Updating Dynamic Buckets ............................................................................................................... 20 Creating Dynamic Buckets during Agreement Creation ..................................................................................... 20 Agreement at the Bucket Item Level .................................................................................................................. 20 Processing Status on Bucket Header .................................................................................................................. 21

HR Settlement ............................................................................................................................... 21 Posting to INFOTYPEs .......................................................................................................................................... 21

Claims .............................................................................................................................................. 22 Serial Number Integration in Claims ................................................................................................................... 22 Serial Number Integration in Pools ..................................................................................................................... 22 Pools Submitter Settlement Parameter for Claims ............................................................................................. 22 Pools Condition Type .......................................................................................................................................... 22 Sales Areas in Claims ........................................................................................................................................... 22 IP Document Reverse Cancellation ..................................................................................................................... 23 Selective Claims Locking in Claims Validation Report ......................................................................................... 23 Claims Output in IDoc Format ............................................................................................................................ 23

Composite Processing........................................................................................................................ 24 Matrix ........................................................................................................................................... 24

Key Figure Grouping ........................................................................................................................................... 24 Characteristic Value Controls ............................................................................................................................. 24 Material Based Conversion Definition for Quantity ........................................................................................... 24 Usage as a Characteristic .................................................................................................................................... 24 Reference Usage for Members ........................................................................................................................... 24 Computation and Formula Functions Merged .................................................................................................... 24 Scenarios (formerly Matrix Variant/Planning Area) ........................................................................................... 25 Staging Data for Matrix ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Updating Matri x from Calculation Run .............................................................................................................. 25 Matrix Explosion ................................................................................................................................................. 25 Sweep Function .................................................................................................................................................. 26 BI Query as Usage Function ................................................................................................................................ 26

Composite IP ................................................................................................................................ 26 Modeling for Planning ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Reason Codes for Editable Eligible Amounts ...................................................................................................... 26 Deployment Code Participants Type Changes .................................................................................................... 27 Derived Participation .......................................................................................................................................... 27 Postings Options for Components and Subcomponents .................................................................................... 27 Subcomponent Sequencing to Fetch Characteristics from Multiple Sources ..................................................... 28 Key Figure Descriptions for Components and Subcomponent ........................................................................... 28 Store Exploded Hierarchy ................................................................................................................................... 28 Summarization in Report Definition ................................................................................................................... 29 Line Items Display in BSP .................................................................................................................................... 29 Call Back for Customer Search Help .................................................................................................................... 29



Calculation Run Extended Options in Reports .................................................................................................... 29 Drivers (a.k.a. Express Rebates) .......................................................................................................................... 30 Roster .................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Redemption of Awards ....................................................................................................................................... 31 Pricing Lookup .................................................................................................................................................... 31

Other IP Enhancements ..................................................................................................................... 32 Fund Hierarchy.................................................................................................................................................... 32 Improved Performance of Reconciliation Report ............................................................................................... 32 BOM Explosion in Purchase Rebates .................................................................................................................. 32 Variants Authorization Workbench .................................................................................................................... 32

Data Maintenance - Pricing ................................................................................................................ 33 Deals ............................................................................................................................................ 33

On–Demand Deals .............................................................................................................................................. 33 Deal API ............................................................................................................................................................... 33

Pricing .......................................................................................................................................... 33 Pricing Area Workbench ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Pricing Workbench .............................................................................................................................................. 34 Maintenance Request Workbench ..................................................................................................................... 34 Virtual Tables in Master Request ........................................................................................................................ 35 Price Method ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 Price Monitor Workbench .................................................................................................................................. 35 Communication Segment in Catalogs ................................................................................................................. 35 Flexible Group as a Source to Catalogs ............................................................................................................... 36 Price Simulation Enhancements ......................................................................................................................... 36 Price Source ........................................................................................................................................................ 36 Explosion Profile in Structural Pricing ................................................................................................................. 36 Supporting Condition Class ‘D’ for Taxes ............................................................................................................ 36

Data Maintenance – Resources .......................................................................................................... 37 Domains ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Facets .......................................................................................................................................... 37 Data Flow ..................................................................................................................................... 38 Other Enhancements ..................................................................................................................... 38

File Template for Info Records ............................................................................................................................ 38 Creation of Multiple Info Records from Material List ......................................................................................... 39 Integration of Product/Customer/Vendor List in Segments ............................................................................... 39 String Data Type for Attributes ........................................................................................................................... 39 Propose Class when Relevant Attributes are entered ........................................................................................ 39 INFO Records in the Material Dashboard ........................................................................................................... 39 Global / Maintenance Level Post from List ......................................................................................................... 40 User Maintenance Level ..................................................................................................................................... 40 Structure Assignment ......................................................................................................................................... 40 Structure Upload/Download using File template and BOM assignment ............................................................ 41 Business Script for Attribute Rules ..................................................................................................................... 41 Usage of the Attribute Set .................................................................................................................................. 41 Separate List Type Authority Check for Items .................................................................................................... 41

Support of Standard SAP Features .................................................................................................. 41 Joint Production .................................................................................................................................................. 41 Vendor Sub-Range .............................................................................................................................................. 42



Introduction

About This Document

This document provides an overview of the Vistex Release 6.0E Support Package 2 new features and

enhancements. Vistex provides this release summary to briefly explain new features and changes

included the software. To ensure our customers benefit from new developments and improvements,

Vistex offers a variety of sources of information about Vistex solutions.

Vistex publishes release notes both on SAP Service Market Place and on Vistex VOICE at

http://www.vistex.com/VOICE. VOICE is a customer media channel for learning about Vistex solutions,

networking with other Vistex users, and sharing knowledge and best practices for using Vistex solutions

in the business processes that Vistex solutions support. VOICE provides an excellent vehicle for

discussing new business trends, new features and enhancements, and engaging with the Vistex

community about any topic that has piqued your interest.

Further information about Vistex features can also be found in the Vistex Help Portal at

http://www.vistex.com/help. This website provides extensive documentation from the Vistex Library on

Vistex solutions, organized by release number, product and application.

Vistex software releases, support packages and SAP Notes are all available on SAP Service Marketplace.

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade.

Vistex will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or

methods suggested in this document, and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk.

Vistex offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the

content of this article including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this

document and the materials and services offered by Vistex. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to

hold, Vistex responsible or liable with respect to the content of this document.

SAP ECC Version Requirements

Vistex Release 6.0E and 6.0E Support Pack 1 required SAP ECC 6.0 Enhancement Pack 5 with no

requirement on the SAP Support Pack level.

Vistex Release 6.0E Support Pack 2 introduces minimum SAP Support Pack levels to ensure proper

installation and feature function, as follows:

SAP ECC 6.0, Enhancement Pack 5, Support Pack Stack 11



http://www.vistex.com/VOICE

http://www.vistex.com/help



Feature Name Changes

As a result of continuing improvement and reviews, Vistex has decided to rename certain existing

features beginning with this release:

“Price Request” renamed to “Master Request”

“Matrix Scenario” renamed to “Subset”

“Scenario Group” renamed to “Matrix Group”

“Matrix Variant/Planning Area” renamed to “Scenario”



Global

Business Script

Business Objective

SAP Solution Extensions by Vistex, as embedded components of the overall SAP ECC instance, offer a

number of methods—some native to SAP ECC and others developed by Vistex—to construct rules and

formulas for determining pricing and incentives. As a result, the implementation of calculation logic can

be inconsistent and difficult to maintain. To streamline the definition and maintenance of calculation

logic, and to improve the user experience of such activities, Vistex introduces Business Script.

Business Script allows users to define calculation logic using language that is more human than

computer. Business Script eliminates the need for the Formula Builder, Condition Editor and BRF+

features as well as Measures definitions. You may still use these tools, but Business Script will be default

for all new implementations by Vistex.

Business Script Definition

Functionality

The new Measure Workbench will hold all of the formulas and measures in one centralized area. Instead

of separately using formula builder and measure features, all formulas and all of the measures are now

maintained in one single area. In addition, it supports new functionalities.

The workbench has three tabs:

General Tab – identify incoming and outgoing parameters that process data and produce results

Fields Tab – define the parameter name, description, variable type and references

Steps Tab – define logic and formulas used to produce results

Business Script Integration for Matrix

Functionality

The new Business Script functionality has been implemented to replace the old formula functionality.

Business scripts have been implemented into the functionality of the formula transaction and impacts all

of the applications where formulas may be created. Existing formulas can be edited in the Formula

Workbench. When creating a new formula, the users have an option to either use the old formula

functionality or the new business script functionality. Users can maintain either existing formulas or

business script.



Process Observer

Business Objective

Process Observer is a new feature that enables the solution to efficiently provide business metrics for

dashboard purposes, such as the Vistex LaunchPad. Process Observer can be used to count the number

of new claims submitted each day, the total number of contracts that are active, the number of open

requests at any given time, etc. This new functionality is incredibly valuable because it displays a

comprehensive snapshot of real-time status of any process performed on an item.

Functionality

Process Observer serves as an activity auditor during the various lifecycle stages of agreements,

agreement requests, claims and transaction register documents and IP documents. It can also provide

tracking of the duration of an item between any stages in its lifecycle.

Examples:

Users can determine the number of items in the specific system status (e.g. started, running,

finished, restarted) Users can determine end-to-end process visibility

Number of items that have been created/posted/released during any specific time frame

Number of agreements created from agreement requests

Users can determine how long a process ran by linking the process creation event to the process

final event

Track how long it takes an agreement request to post

Track how long it takes between creation of an agreement request and the creation of the

subsequent agreement

KPI information can be bucketed for easier display (e.g. each week, last 30 days, etc.)

New Generation Launchpad

Business Objective

The original Launchpad was introduced in Release D to provide customers with fully configurable landing

page. The earlier generation Launchpad allowed users to configure organized lists of SAP or Vistex

transactions or links to pre-defined reports. The original version of Launchpad is still available in this

release.

The next generation of Launchpad allows dashboard concepts to be introduced to the landing page,

including KPI metrics, charts and other information in addition to links to SAP transactions, Vistex

transactions or BCAs, reports and other web content.

Functionality

New Generation Launchpad is now in a Web view and fully customizable. The screen is only available in a

web-based tile view (no SAP GUI option), and allows the user to log on to the SAP system when directly

launching the Launchpad from a browser window.

Vistex provides the Launchpad Builder to customize the Launchpad view, number of tiles, tile size, tile

image and image carousel. The layout of the Launchpad can be configured:



Any number of tiles

Multiple pages (up to 5 total)

Number of columns of tiles per page

Gap spacing size between tiles

Each tile has settings to adjust:

Size – a mixture of small, medium and large tile sizes can be displayed

Font – font type, size and color of each tile is individually set

Image – background image with adjustable width, height

Alignment – slide tile left/bottom/top/right

Visibility -- can choose to display or hide the tile

Animation -- details scroll right/left/up/down and percentage scale

Links – a tile may have multiple links; links may be transaction or report

The new Launchpad web view also provides flexibility to add multiple links to each tile from a Workspace

or Process Observer. Users may drag-n-drop links from the workspace or may assign a Process Observer

process ID. Runtime variables can be added to tile links, either in the tile or in a pop-up window. In

order to add a chart to a tile, the IP report link has to be added to the workspace.

Data Objects

Data Objects was introduced in Release E-SP1 and has received minor enhancements to functionality in

addition to a significantly improved user experience in Release E-SP2.

Duplicate Check Improvements

Potential duplicates found by Data Objects will now show the context of the possible duplicate within the

document data. Previously, the potential duplicates were identified with an error message on the row.

Reprocess Data Object

Users can re-run the data validations on corrected data to determine if errors and duplicates have been

properly resolved. Reprocessing can also be performed if the data validation configuration has changed

since the prior validation process was completed.

File Templates

The File Template feature (available previously in other areas of the solution) has been introduced within

Data Objects.

Business Script Integration

The new Business Script feature is available in Data Objects. For more information on Business Script,

see the related topic in this document.

Serial Number Integration

Serial number tracking and validation has been integrated into Data Objects. For more information on

the new treatment of serial numbers, see the related topic in this document.



Offline Maintenance

Any version of data in Data Objects can be downloaded into a spreadsheet file, changed offline and

uploaded into Data Objects again as a new version.

Incidents

Business Objective

The Incident management functionality enables users to record, manage and track concerns about data

within the Vistex solution.

Functionality

A user may record an Incident for any Vistex data object type: customer, material, vendor, catalog, rule

(condition), deal, agreement, clause, claim and any IP document. A user can record multiple issues per

incident; each issue is a separate line item of the incident. Multiple objects can be assigned to an issue.

The Incident Workbench consolidates and tracks incidents. The workbench has several tabs containing

issue details, resolutions, related partners and document attachments.

Examples of possible business scenarios:

1. The expected employee commission for a transaction was calculated as 4%, but employee believes that 5% is correct. Employee can create an incident to identify this issue and track its

resolution.

2. A distributer’s claim was adjusted by the manufacturer, and the distributor disagrees with the adjustment. The distributer can view the claim in the Vistex portal and file an incident for the

claim.

Direct Agreements

Business Objective

This new concept allows users to define sales order pricing agreements without regard to a specific Vistex

application. No subsequent IP document processing is expected with Direct Agreements, i.e. no billback,

rebate or other subsequent documents are necessary.

Functionality

Direct agreements offer a similar header, rules sheet and other agreement elements as other agreement

types. A direct agreement is an IP application but acts as a global agreement which is not specific to any

application. Direct agreements provide sales order pricing similar to billback agreements but no

subsequent IP documents (e.g. billback documents) are created. Direct Agreements can be created

directly or via an Agreement Request.



SEPA Compatibility with SAP SD

Business Objective

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is an initiative of the EU governments, the European Commission

and the European Central Bank (ECB), to create an integrated payments market across Europe for any

organization or individual making or receiving payments in euros. Vistex has integrated the SEPA (Single

Euro Payments Area) compliant functionality into the appropriate Vistex IP documents.

Functionality

The SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) as well as the Agency Business (AB) components support the

processing of direct debits within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in compliance with legal

requirements. SD provides the SEPA-specific functions for processing sales documents and billing

documents using Terms of Payment or Payment Methods. Vistex has extended this methodology to IP

documents settled through the SD method. Mandates assigned to the Sales document (Sales Order and

Invoice) are copied over to the IP documents, and during SD and/or AB settlement process, the

mandates are passed to the respective Billing item.



Agreement

Multi-Use Agreements

Business Objective

The purpose of this new functionality is to use the same agreement in multiple Vistex applications

without having to recreate the agreement. A Multi-Use Agreement is created from a Direct Agreement

source, and may appear in multiple Vistex applications. This allows users to define billbacks, rebates

and/or deals in a global agreement framework that can be extended into each relevant Vistex application

from a central agreement object.

For example, using this functionality a company may offer both rebates and deals to the same customers

on a single agreement, or create a chargeback to a supplier for the cost associated with a deal offered to

an end-customer.

Functionality

In previous releases, agreements and agreement numbers were specific to each Vistex application. This

new functionality allows users to create an agreement that exists in multiple Vistex applications with the

same agreement number. This “extension” of an agreement is supported in multiple scenarios:

Extend Direct Agreement to IP Agreement/Deal

Extend IP Agreement to IP Agreement

Extend Direct/IP Agreement to IP/Direct Agreement Request

Extend Direct/IP Agreement Request to IP/Direct Agreement Request

Extend Deal to Direct/IP Agreement

The agreement is created from the Direct Agreement Workbench using Multi-Use Agreement function.

The Direct Agreement extension source has to be maintained in the application to extend the agreement

to a different application. An extension source number is listed in the agreement header of the new

agreement when an agreement is extended to a new agreement. Condition type group contains common

condition types in the condition type group to extend the agreement; the same agreement number from

the original agreement will be kept in the new agreement. Although the agreement is extended, the

parameters of the agreement, including rules, can be specific to each instance of an agreement in a

Vistex application to allow agreement rules to vary by Vistex application. Rules that should be common to

all instances of the agreement, such as eligible customer or vendor, can be extended to the multiple

agreements when maintained in Additional Price Sheets.

Agreement Schedules

Schedule Definition

Business Objective

This new functionality allows users to determine when amounts are paid from an agreement. The

amounts may be a fixed amount or calculated percentage, and may occur periodically.



Functionality

A new “Schedule” tab is introduced in the Agreement Workbench for Release E- SP2. Schedule

functionality allows users to allocate amount by payment period dates using agreement parameters. Each

line item of the schedule defines a schedule type, start date and total amount which is allocated based on

payment period schedule. Agreement schedules can be based on a specific date, a milestone (as defined)

or periodic.

When a scheduled amount is allocated, it is automatically and equally distributed among the periods if

schedule type is periodic. Functionality provides flexibility to remove periods from the schedule by simply

deleting the timelines and the amount is automatically recalculated and equally re-distributed based on

the validity dates.

Schedules appear in the Agreement Review Sheet and are fully supported in Agreement

Upload/Download.

Claim Creation from Agreement Schedule

Functionality

From the “Schedules” tab the total amount per line item can be allocated based on the schedule dates

and special promotion running at the time. The expense for the promotion is distributed and the amount

is allocated to the final materials. In order to allocate the expense the claim document is created from the

item source. Once the claim is created and the amount is allocated, changes are no longer allowed.

Schedule expense amounts can also be tracked from composite when defined in the subcomponent

formula.

Campaigns

Business Objective

Campaigns are a new concept that exists above the agreement level. Campaigns are defined to plan

marketing campaigns for new product launches or promoting existing products in one or more markets.

After a campaign is defined and planned, one or more agreements can be generated from the campaign.

Functionality

This functionality allows users to plan, analyze, execute and measure promotional campaign activities

through all Vistex applications (e.g. pricing, billbacks, deals, rebates, etc.) before creating any resulting

agreements or deals.

Each campaign is defined using a number of elements that are included in KPI metrics and used for

profitability analyses. Elements are the pertinent information in the campaign (dates of the campaign,

target market, type of campaign, etc.). Element details include dates, locations, evaluation criteria and

day-to-day agenda.

Agreements can be created from the campaigns. When agreement is created from a campaign, the

campaign number is displayed on the agreement.



Agreement Postings

Agreement Postings – Removed Dependency with IP type

The new nodes have been added for the postings to the agreement configuration and eliminated

dependency on IP type.

Agreement Group Postings

Agreement Group is a new workbench for enabling Agreement postings. Agreement group is designed for

user-friendly maintenance of postings data in Composite IP, Bucket and Transaction IP. The user is able

to select either a single agreement or multiple agreements. The user has to maintain postings at the

agreement type level. With this new functionality users will be able to check posting amounts.

Derivation Postings in the Agreements

Derivation Postings are the postings that the user can maintain on the agreement posting fields for

Outstanding Settlement, Total Spend, Average Spend, and Close-out. Derivation Contribution is set up at

the agreement type level. Users can assign a derivation of their choice and define their own formula.

Agreement Close-Out

Agreement closeout functionality is utilized when the agreement is about to be retired and when there

will be no further activity related to the agreement. Prior to Release E-SP2, “Close out agreement” was

selected from the edit menu, and once the agreement was closed it could not be re-opened again. With

Release E-SP2, a new “Close out” tab is available from the Agreement Workbench, and the agreement

can be closed-out for all periods or based on the user’s selection of a specific period. After the

agreement is closed, a claim document is created displaying the close-out amount. Each close out

document can be cancelled from the “Close-out” tab. Mass agreement close-out functionality is also

introduced.

When a difference exists between the Actual Accrual and Expected Accrual, the solution creates a claim

document with the adjustment amount, and the new “Derivation For Postings” logic is introduced for

posting purposes. The close-out derivation steps can be assigned to the derivation postings to identify

the distribution of the amount.

Follow-On Functions

Follow-On Functions is a mass report. Follow-On Functions is performed with the following options:

Schedule – this option has to be selected in combination with schedule type, usage and

periodicity timeframe. Proforma – the report can be created in correlation with Proforma profile for the agreement type

Close Out – this option can complete a mass close-out or individual, the follow –on function is

selected in combination with close-out type and reason, dates.

Follow-on functions report can be executed in real-time or as a background job.



Other

Bucket Type

To create Buckets, the Bucket type can now be maintained at the Agreement type level. Buckets can be

created manually, automatically and automatically using a scheduled job. Bucket validity dates can be

derived from agreement header dates, settlement calendar or period profile. Bucket type can also be

maintained at the Deployment Code level in the Agreement type maintenance.

Automatic Truncation in Membership

Business Objective

At times, users may want to replace existing membership data with an entirely new and updated

membership list. Instead of having to determine the records that are to be added, changed or deleted,

an exhaustive list of members can be imported to replace all existing data with new data. Replacing all

existing data can ensure that unmentioned members in the new file are properly terminated.

Functionality

All existing membership records in the system for a given organization can be truncated, i.e. deleted,

before loading the newly submitted membership records. A new membership submission category

“Replace” is used in combination with the “Revision date” and submission date to replace existing

membership data.

Periods Tab in Agreements

Business Objective

Prior to Release E-SP2, the periods were maintained under the Tracking tab with the respective

deployment code and only one version could be maintained. Multiple agreement-specific periods are now

possible in an Agreement using the new Periods tab.

Functionality

The new Periods tab is now available within an agreement; there is no need to maintain periods for the

deployment code at the agreement level. Similar to the layout of periods under the former Tracking tab,

periods can be set up in the new Periods tab. Periods can be defined with a predefined period profile or

a document- or participant-specific period profile. Posting periods can be reviewed in the Agreement

Overview screen.

Dimension Scales in Agreement Review Sheet

Scales Dimensions are now available for review in the Agreement Review Sheet from the Agreement

Workbench.

Territory Locking

In the Territory Workbench under the Determination tab, if the assignment type of the territory was open

in Change Mode, it prohibited other users from opening the same territory assignment type in any other



territory. With Release E-SP2, this has been enhanced to allow other territories to be changed

simultaneously.

Territory Assignment Structure Upload

Release E-SP2 allows a user to upload a territory assignment structure from a file.

Agreement Log Improvement

The Agreement Log has a new look, which is similar to the Deal Log. Administrators can choose to revert

back to the previous version of the Agreement Log.

Creating Master Request Using Reference

In any Agreement Workbench, a Master Request can be created using an agreement as a reference from

the edit menu. The functionality will provide a pop-up window.

Tracking Tab and Proforma Tab in BSP

Now users can maintain Tracking tab and Proforma tab in the BSP screen as well as traditional SAP GUI

screen.

Hide Summary Price Sheet

The Summary Price Sheet will not be displayed if there is only one price sheet being used.



Proforma Proforma Models

Business Objective

Proforma is used to simulate the effect of changes to rule parameters of one or more agreements for a

segment of customers and/or materials. Proforma can be used for budgeting, account planning,

incentive simulations, accrual modeling, etc. Proformas can be created from multiple source types,

including tracking documents, calculation runs, and price simulations and proposals.

Functionality

Proforma Profile has a new “Proforma Model” concept that categorizes the type of Proforma and its

source. Proforma Model field allows the user to choose one of the following types:

“Rule-based model” for a Proforma created from deals, deal requests, agreements, agreement

requests, direct agreements, and direct agreement requests.

“Tracking model” for a Proforma created from a calculation run for composite (versus

transactional) sources. “Simulation model” for a Proforma created from price simulations. This model is useful for

upfront planning purposes prior to the existence of any agreement or price request.

“Price model” for a Proforma created from price proposals.

Proforma Pushback

Business Objective

Proforma is used to simulate the effect of changes to rule parameters of one or more agreements for a

segment of customers and/or materials. This is accomplished in Proforma by copying the rules and

parameters from the source(s) and allowing the user to modify the parameter values within the

Proforma. Once the desired effects are realized in the Proforma, the user needs to apply these changes

to the source(s).

Functionality

The values transferred into Proforma from the source documents can be updated and sent back to the

source document. Only those fields that directly have been sourced from the rule can be updated in the

Proforma and pushed back to the source document.

In the Proforma profile for key figures, the pushback can be configured to update source fields on save or

on post. If configured to pushback on save, the source document is updated when the Proforma is

saved; if pushback is on post, the source document is updated when the changes in the Proforma are

posted.

Recreate and Refresh Proforma

After creating a Proforma with any of the models described above, a user may recreate the Proforma or

refresh the data within the Proforma. These functions are enabled in the Proforma Profile. Recreate

Proforma function recreates the Proforma data from the source document. All manual adjustments not



part of the source documents will be lost. Refresh All function refreshes the Proforma data from source

document, except changed values in the Proforma will remain the same.

Background Processing

Proformas can now be created in the background.

Proforma Notes

Notes can be maintained for Proforma from the Note tab. Notes may also be changed in the Planning

Workbench.

Any Value Description

There is a new field at the Usage level called Characteristic Usage Description. In this field the user can

enter a new value, and any characteristic at the level will be overridden to display the value entered.

Proforma URL

Now Proforma URL is available from any application.

Characteristic Explosion

The Proforma can be exploded based on a selected field, e.g. material, need to enter the field and select

a function module to utilize the explosion.



Settlement

New Bucket Types

Release E-SP2 introduces new types of Buckets. The original single usage of Buckets indexed

settlements by customer, period, etc. for transactional and composite scenarios. In addition to the

original usage, two new usages are introduced: (1) Simulation Buckets and (2) Quantities and Amounts

Buckets. These new usages are further described below.

Simulation Bucket Usage

Business Objective

Simulation Buckets allow users to apply existing (historical) data to proposed agreements without

duplicating the historical IP document data. The amounts are calculated in the simulation buckets for

analysis.

Functionality

The functionality allows users to estimate the outcome of incentives, paybacks or rebates for the

upcoming periods using existing sales orders or billing documents without needing any subsequent IP

documents. Source documents are used by the Bucket Simulation Report to create virtual IP document

items that populate the bucket.

Quantities and Amounts Bucket Usage

Business Objective

Quantities and Amounts Buckets store quantities and values from line item key figures in the bucket

itself. This condition-level bucket type is intended for composite processing.

Functionality

The advantage of this new functionality is retrieving quantity and amount data from the bucket while

using buckets. The quantity and amount bucket created directly in the Bucket Workbench. The Bucket is

updated when IP document(s) is created.

Bucket Upgrades

Dynamic Header Criteria

Business Objective

Previously, buckets were created based on a few header criteria: material, partner and agreement. This

release allows a user to use a wider range of criteria to define buckets.



Functionality

Starting in Release E-SP2 users have the flexibility to define a wider variety of anchors for buckets, such

as IP type, plant, settlement profile, etc. The new “Criteria node” field has been added to the

configuration of the Bucket Types. It provides a field catalog to allow users the flexibility to maintain their

own values or records in the bucket. Bucket Type can be assigned to the Bucket Profile, and the Bucket

Profile is assigned to the item level at the IP type configuration.

Specifically for using material as a header criterion in buckets, a new option has been introduced for

retrieving the necessary data for performing Individual and Collective tracking for Government Pricing

[life sciences industry] purposes. For Business Register, either the SAP Material or the Reported Material

may be used in the Bucket criteria. For all other applications (Billbacks, Rebates, etc.) only the SAP

Material may be used.

Creating Dynamic Buckets from Settlement Parameters

Business Objective

This new feature will help users to auto-create buckets from customer/vendor/employee settlement

parameters to make tracking user-friendly and update buckets based on settlement parameter changes.

Functionality

Buckets can now be created automatically from customer/vendor/employee settlement parameters. This

feature offers a Create Bucket configuration window for users to maintain behavior for bucket types

created from customer, vendor and employee settlement parameters. For each bucket type, users can

choose to create buckets from the settlement parameters automatically, manually, or not at all (do not

create using settlement parameters). Buckets are recreated or deleted based on validity date changes in

the associated settlement parameters.

Priority for Updating Dynamic Buckets

This updated functionality indicates the priority for updating the dynamic buckets with IP documents

items. The settlement parameters flag at the header control for sales documents indicates the priority

and updates the buckets based on the selection made. Options include using partner only, partner and

parameter group, and parameter group only. The company code is used with each option, unless no

buckets are found.

Creating Dynamic Buckets during Agreement Creation

This functionality will automatically create a bucket after an agreement is created. The attributes of the

bucket, such as validity timeframe, will match the corresponding agreement. The buckets will be deleted

if the corresponding agreement is deleted.

Agreement at the Bucket Item Level

The agreement associated with each condition in the Bucket item-level fields is captured to provide

flexibility for further Composite processing. The solution will retain and display agreements fetched by

the conditions in a bucket.



Processing Status on Bucket Header

Business Objective

Users would like to know if a bucket is already fully settled or partially settled before the next settlement

job is executed.

Functionality

In this release, tracking tables are introduced to avoid confusion on partially processed buckets. The

“Status” tab in the Bucket Workbench displays the status of the bucket.

HR Settlement

Posting to INFOTYPEs

Prior to Release E-SP2, HR postings were allowed only to INFOTYPE 15. Now users will be able to

configure HR settlement postings to any INFOTYPE in the Payroll Profiles using the new Infotype field.



Claims

Serial Number Integration in Claims

Prior to Release E-SP2, standard SAP screens and functionality were utilized to process serial numbers in

claims, and serial numbers were stored in SAP tables. As of Release E-SP2, serial numbers submitted in

claims will be stored in Vistex tables. Serial numbers can be viewed in a new screen introduced at the

item detail level in a Claim document.

Claim validations can use serial number data to determine if a submitted serial number is valid (i.e. exists

in tracking table) and whether the serial number pre-dates the claim (i.e. valid serial number but invalid

claim). There is a refresh option to update the existence status of the serial number on the Claim item.

Serial Number Integration in Pools

The system will now allow tracking of serial numbers in supply chain inventory using Pools and

Reservation documents.

Pools Submitter Settlement Parameter for Claims

In Release E-SP1 the Pools Submitter Parameters were defined and assigned in the “Define Submitter

Parameters” node in the configuration. Starting with Release E-SP2, the Pools Submitter Parameters can

be maintained from Customer/Vendor Settlement Parameters. The new Pool Parameters fields (Price

Type, Reservation Type, Past Offset Periods and Future Offset Periods) can now be maintained in

Customer/Vendor Settlement parameters.

In addition, the new “Pool Partner Role” field has been added at the claim type configuration under

Partners header. It allows users to assign a partner role of customer or vendor.

Pools Condition Type

Pools Condition Types are can now be maintained from the Claim Types Pricing element and can be

calculated for the claim type. If the settlement parameters specify than a pools price should be

calculated, the condition type should be included against which the price calculated for pools will be

stored.

Sales Areas in Claims

In the prior releases the sales area in claims was determined from the sales order type. In Release E-SP2

the sales area can be determined from the claim type. Under the Claims Type, the new “Sales Area” field

has been added to indicate the priority for using settlement partners. When creating a claim, the user

may choose from the combination of the master sales area and the reference sales area of the customer,

or select only from the master sales area of the customer.



IP Document Reverse Cancellation

Business Objective

The system should allow the user to reverse the cancellation process in order to use the IP document for

further processing. This feature provides efficiency and effective way of utilizing the same IP document

and avoids the need to create a replica of the IP document.

Functionality

In the IP application workbench, select the required document and choose to reverse cancellation. After

the cancellation of the IP document is reverse, the OP document can be utilized for further processing.

The system logs the cancellation of the IP document in the audit trail of the cancelled document.

Selective Claims Locking in Claims Validation Report

Business Objective

Selective locking will help users to lock only those claims which are being processed in the Claim

Validation Workbench. Even if the claims are selected by the Claim Validation report, by using the newly-

introduced selective locking concept the users gain the ability to work on these documents from various

other workbenches simultaneously if it is not locked from the Claim Validation Workbench.

Functionality

In the Claim Validation Workbench there a “Change Claims” button that allows a user to lock claims. If

any user is working on the claims from any other workbench at the same time they will receive a

message stating that the claim is locked.

Claims Output in IDoc Format

IDocs are used in most SAP applications to transfer data among SAP applications and external systems.

When generating claims within the solution to send to a supplier, the solution is now able to create these

claims as outbound IDocs. In order to create an IDoc from Claim the user will run the ‘Create Output

IDoc for Claim’ report.



Composite Processing

Matrix

Key Figure Grouping

Key figures now can be defined as a group in the Matrix Workbench for layout, and they can be viewed in

the Planning Workbench in collapsed mode or expanded to see all of the data of individual key figures.

Characteristic Value Controls

Characteristics in the Matrix can now be controlled for blank values and non-specific values (similar to

wildcard search). Release E-SP2 provides four options for Characteristic values:

Can be blank

Cannot be blank

Can be any value and can be blank (i.e. can be wildcard/non-specific value or be blank)

Can be any and cannot be blank (i.e. can be wildcard/non-specific value and cannot be blank)

Material Based Conversion Definition for Quantity

In prior releases, there was no option to convert the quantity based on material. A new material field is

now available at the key figure level. When the MATNR is selected in the field it considers materials

during the quantity conversion process in the Matrix characteristics.

Usage as a Characteristic

Prior to Release E-SP2, only one Usage could be selected for planning purposes. This feature allows

multiple Usages in planning by introducing Usages as a part of the characteristic hierarchy in the planning

process. There is no limit to the number of Usages that can be selected and compared. In the Layout

tab, Usage is listed as a characteristic and part of the hierarchy. Only Anchor Usage can be maintained,

the other Usages are display only.

Reference Usage for Members

Reference Usage can be assigned to a Usage to retrieve the members from that referred usage into the

actual or anchor usage. The members of a usage can be used in the supplemental usage of the same

scenario with this reference usage. When the usage is referred to an actual usage all the members from

referred usage will be displayed or added to the actual usage. Then the actual or anchor usage cannot be

edited to add the members, but the members can normally be added for the referred usage. For

example, Plan Usage 001 may utilize Reference Usage 004, and therefore Plan Usage 001 may use

members from Reference Usage 004.

Computation and Formula Functions Merged

Computation and Formula functions are merged in to a single function which is named Computation

Function.



A function may be assigned to one or more categories. Load functions can be called when any data in

the Planning Workbench is saved. Check functions are called when the “Check and Complete” feature is

executed. Demand functions are called in planning features. A function may be categorized for Load and

another type at the same time. Check and Demand categories are mutually exclusive; only one of these

categories can be flagged for a function at one time.

Scenarios (formerly Matrix Variant/Planning Area)

This new functionality allows users to create variants for Matrices for planning purposes. A variant for the

Planning screen is created in the new Variant Workbench and is used in the Planning Workbench. The

variant stores selection criteria for the Planning screen fields in the Scenario Workbench. User-specific

fields can also be flagged and saved, but user-specific fields can only be flagged during the creation of

variant; once the variant is created, the user-specific fields become non-editable.

Staging Data for Matrix

Prior this release the IP document data was stored in the Matrix directly. This may not be desirable due

to possible process issues. Starting with Release E-SP2, a staging area is introduced. While updating

Matrix from a source document (IP document), the data will be stored in a staging area and a job may be

run to update the Matrix from the staging area.

Updating Matri x from Calculation Run

A new Matrix Group field is introduced to determine which Matrix to update. The Matrix Group field is

introduced at the Calculation Run level in the Deployment Code configuration to identify fields mapped to

the Matrix. The conditions that evaluate the Matrix are also assigned in the dataset.

Matrix Explosion

The Derivation tab of the Matrix now has an additional derivation type called “Explosion”. Explosion can

also be automatically added via the “Add Explosion” button on the header menu. Only a single Explosion

ID can be used in derivation. In order to syndicate the data from different Matrices, the Explosion ID,

key figures and characteristics values are maintained in the Matrix derivation type.

The Explosion values are maintained in the Scenario Workbench at the Usage level. Users have flexibility

to add multiple Matrix Explosion IDs for each Usage type and map each Matrix to the specific key figures

and characteristics using source map along with target period and period mapping. The key figures

indicate the placement target of the data in the Matrix. Characteristics provide ability to control the way

data is pulled.

Once Explosion ID is maintained with the key figures and characteristics, it is added to the column

hierarchy in the layout of the Matrix setup and can be compared to the other Usage types side-by-side.

While the values in the Matrix may be changed, changed values are not stored in the Matrix where the

source data was pulled; these changes are for analyses exclusively. While creating a Proforma the data

can be created and stored in the Proforma for analytical purposes.



Sweep Function

The main purpose of this functionality is to reflect a higher-level value to all the lower-level fields equally.

When a Matrix is created, the “Sweep” function is automatically defined for the Matrix.

BI Query as Usage Function

In the Matrix Workbench, “BI query” can now be selected as a part of the Usage function. The query is

defined in combination with period profile with the mapping of the corresponding fields. Based on the

mapping, the system selects data and stores it in the Matrix.

Composite IP

Modeling for Planning

Business Objective

To allow modeling of planning data without posting to Matrix.

Functionality

The Deployment Code configuration now contains a new “Modeling” flag that can prohibit any postings

for the Deployment Code. Every modeling scenario is mapped to a reference version (e.g. A000, A001,

etc.). A new Reference Version field is added to the Deployment Code configuration to map to the

modeling version. Central components and formulas are utilized in the Reference Version to adjust values

of the modeling, thus, all of the values for modeling derive from a specific reference version. Formulas

from the reference version can be overwritten with the key figures from modeling.

The Proforma tab is now available in the Calculation Run Workbench. The Proforma can now be created

in the calculation run using tracking and Matrix function. When Proforma data is created the data is

derived from modeling version utilizing Proforma Profile which is determined based on the configuration

of the Calculation Run type assigned to the Deployment Code and version.

Reason Codes for Editable Eligible Amounts

Business Objective

To provide a reason code when eligible accrual amount has been changed or modified.

Functionality

When the Eligible Amounts is changed or modified in the Calculation Run, the Assign Reason Code pop-

up window will appear to allow the user to assign an Accrual Reason Code. The Accrual Reason Code is

used for tracking only and has no impact on financial area.



Deployment Code Participants Type Changes

Business Objective

To support Plant, Agreement Group, Agreement Request, Company Code and Organization Unit in the

Deployment Code Participants node.

Functionality

Participation Types (e.g. Plant, Agreement Group, Company Code, and Organization Unit) are now

available from the Deployment Code configuration in the Participants node to auto-assign them at the

Deployment Code level in the tracking.

Derived Participation

Business Objective

To assign multiple settlement partners directly in the Participation to create collective tracking with a

single agreement but multiple participants.

Functionality

The existing Dynamic Participation functionality has been extended to support multiple settlement

partners. An agreement with Dynamic Participation is now able to include multiple participants.

In the configuration of the Deployment Code, the Virtual Participation flag has been replaced with the

“Virtual/Dynamic Participation” field offering “Derived Participation” and “Virtual Participation”

participation category options.

In Derived Participation, the agreement acts as a participant with each settlement partner acting as a

sub-participants. Plan Tracking will now have a new “Sub-Participant” field to select the sub-participant;

only those sub-participants that belong to the specific agreement will be displayed. Users can track

multiple sub-participants at a time.

Postings Options for Components and Subcomponents

Business Objective

In prior releases, there was only the ability to create a Calculation Run from a report; now the solution

provides an option to directly post approvals/settlements.

Functionality

Vistex is now proving an option to post Calculation Run after it has been created. In the “Create

Calculation Run” transaction there is a new “Select a Function” window that provides several options:

None – will only create the Calculation Run

Accrue – Calculation Run will be created as well as an accrual document for the same amount

Settlement

Interim settlement

Settlement Adjustment

Post All

If the Calculation Run is relevant for creation of a Claim, it will create a Claim document.



Subcomponent Sequencing to Fetch Characteristics from Multiple

Sources

Business Objective

In order to help determine which characteristics are displayed on the screen for different areas of the

composite function and to maintain subcomponents into individual or collective tracking in the

deployment plan from multiple sources.

Functionality

In order to pull data into tracking from multiple sources, new configuration is added to the subcomponent

definition.

A new “Agreement Group” field is now available in the subcomponent configuration that allows selecting

the “Agreement Group” flag and “Agreement Field” which displays the field where agreement is

populated on the tracking page. The key figures in the tracking page depend upon characteristics.

“Characteristics Source Sequence” configuration allows multiple selections of characteristic sources (e.g.

rules, Matrix, Agreement Group, IP Document, IP Buckets, hierarchy, evaluation, and general ledger

account) and the characteristic sequence (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.).

Key Figure Descriptions for Components and Subcomponent

Using this new functionality, users can change the descriptions of key fields for both components and

subcomponents in deployment code definition. The new “Maintain Key Figure Description” button is now

available at the Deployment Code menu level and displays the deployment code, subcomponent, field

name, description of the data element, and the option to change the description in different languages.

The modified descriptions of components and subcomponents are displayed in the Tracking Workbench.

Store Exploded Hierarchy

Business Objective

With key figure mapping, the solution provided characteristics mapping and allowed the explosion of

customer hierarchy, vendor hierarchy and IP hierarchy. After the hierarchy was exploded and the results

displayed, no permanent record of what exact customers or values were part of that explosion.

Hierarchies may change frequently and there was no tracking of what part of hierarchy had been

exploded.

Functionality

Hierarchy that was part of the characteristics for composite can now be stored using configuration in the

deployment code/source key field identification. The hierarchy displayed will be based on the type of the

tracking characteristic and the component. The new Hierarchy button is added to the tracking plan page,

when the hierarchy button is used the “Exploded Hierarchy” dialog box appears to display hierarchy

values. When creating individual tracking, the results are still dynamically displayed and not stored;

however, when a Calculation Run is created, the results are store in new database log tables.



Summarization in Report Definition

Business Objective

Define summarization criteria in the report definition prior to navigating to the results. This was an

existing feature that moved into the definition of the report rather than offered via a button in the report.

Functionality

The report functionality now features a new Summarization tab where users can define multiple

summarization profiles. One summarization profile can be selected as the default. After maintaining a

summarization profile users have flexibility to assign summarization fields to the profile. The report

subtotal can be calculated based on the summarization fields.

Line Items Display in BSP

This functionality already exists in SAP GUI screens, and is now available in the BSP equivalent screen.

This functionality allows the extension of Collective Tracking into the BSP screen. In Collective Tracking

after selecting the “Line Items” button, the Component window displays all of the components available

for a deployment code. When selecting one of the components, the system lists all of the line items

available based on the deployment code.

Call Back for Customer Search Help

Business Objective

There are scenarios where agreements are maintained as participants and the agreements have the

same number but different settlement customers.

Functionality

When Participant search help is added to the deployment code participant configuration the system

tracks the IDs and able to track for only those participants. To define the search the new “Participant

Search Help” field is now available at the deployment code level in the configuration of the participants

with the search components assigned at the deployment structure level.

Calculation Run Extended Options in Reports

As of Release E-SP2, in the Report Workbench, when the user selects “Composite with Calculation Run”

category the selection options have changed. There is a new participation selection “Relevant for” field in

the “Participation” tab; this field is used in combination with the “Action” field.

“Relevant For” options:

Calculation – this option allows selecting any Calculation Run with respect to the posting

type/accrual/settlement. When the Calculation Run type is selected in combination with

settlement or accrual the Calculation Run selected has to be posted.

Accrual

Interim Settlement

Settlement

Settlement Adjustment



“Action” options:

Do not execute tracking if no posted Calculation Run found

Execute tracking if no Calculation Run found

Execute tracking always

Use saved Calculation Run if no posted Calculation Run found

Drivers (a.k.a. Express Rebates)

Business Objective

This functionality handles complex scenarios that may undergo numerous changes to the rebate

calculations. Express Rebates should also be used when there are similar types of rebate calculations with

a common rebate basis.

Functionality

The idea of Express Rebates is to allow users to create new rebate types on-the-fly without needing new

configuration or development (at least for simple rebates). Each rebates type is a set up as a “Driver” and

users can maintain the rebate drivers in a table. The new “Express Rebate” can be created and assigned

to the condition type of the express rebate to the deployment code via “Rebate Driver.”

Example of Express Rebate: A manufacturer pays distributor(s) the following:

Product Specific Rebate (Monthly)

Product Line Rebates (Quarterly)

Admin Fee (Quarterly)

Marketing Fee (Semi Annual)

Third Party Fee (Monthly)

Volume Rebate (Yearly)

These rebates can be represented under the Tracking tab in the Deployment Code type as a list of

configured options: express rebate—monthly, express rebate—yearly, express rebate—quarterly, express

rebate—annual and express rebate—flexible. Information specified on various agreement tabs work

together to define the rebates described in the above example:

“Tracking” tab – allows for input of the periods, participation and drivers. The agreement set up

requires only one generic rebate payout rule with driver and flexible group.

“Drivers” tab – drivers categorize rebates. One driver can be assigned multiple deployment

components. A driver is a parameter used in the lookups to get a condition rates and rules. With the drivers flexible groups are defined as one of the subcomponents characteristics to use flexible

group in the tracking. Drivers reduce the number of benefit rules in an agreement. Drivers define

the “Type of Rebate’ and relationship to the component. “Participation” tab – auto-participation is a pre-requisite in using rebate express functionality.

Participation in the tracking utilizing all of the attributes from the agreement participation, in case

of three deployment codes with participation then participant attribute can be maintained for each deployment code level which is valid all of the participants defined for the agreement, if

there are multiple settlement partners maintained in the tracking, the attributes maintained in the

tracking will be copied in to the participation entries. The feature allows overwriting any participant’s parameters, the data is copied from agreement and stored in the participation

tables.



Roster

Business Objective

Roster is a program such as points/miles/awards and is an extension of the existing Awards feature.

Functionality

Vistex now provides new “Roster” and “Roster Request” Workbenches to maintain B2B loyalty programs.

Roster is an extension of the Award functionality introduced in Release E-SP1.

This new functionality is introduced to award existing customers by giving them additional points, gifts,

awards, etc. It can also be used to add new customers into existing loyalty programs. Roster

functionality utilizes a similar framework and approach as Agreements. The new Roster and Roster

Request functionality utilizes the methodology of existing features such as individual and collective

tracking, deployment code definition and configuration, Roster Run (equivalent to Calculation Run), mass

processing, and status profile.

Roster Workbench has the same look and feel as the Agreement Workbench with similar tabs: General,

Criteria (i.e. rules), Overview (i.e. rules summary), Enrollment tab (to enroll partners into the loyalty

programs and assign an active tier to the partner), Documents, Periodicity, Clauses/Templates, Revisions,

etc.

Roster utilizes a tier structure. Each Roster Tier defines a level of status or achievement in the awards

program, such as platinum, gold, and silver. Roster Tiers can be manually assigned.

Redemption of Awards

Using this functionality an award can be redeemed when a Deal is utilized in a sales order. The award is

assigned on the rules price sheet for the Deal and will be applied on the sales order when the sales order

is created.

Pricing Lookup

Release E-SP2 introduces new Pricing Lookup feature used when pricing in Composite processing. In

previous releases, all the data had to be provided in the formula(s); now the solution offers mapping

functions to lookup any needed data. The new “Condition Lookup Mapping” node is added in the

Deployment Code and Formula at the component and subcomponent levels. The new lookup feature

provides flexibility to read dimensions and dimension scales which was not possible with the previous

lookup feature. Users also now have the ability to modify data in a user exit which was not an option in

earlier releases.



Other IP Enhancements Fund Hierarchy

Business Objective

A fund hierarchy defines the roll-up path to summarize allocated monies.

Functionality

Prior to Release E-SP2 the only hierarchy available in funds was for the funds center and commitment

item. Now, the hierarchy functionality can be used at the fund level. The new “Parent Fund” field is now

available in the Fund Management Workbench which is used to indicate the name of the fund at the next

higher level in the hierarchy. To review the entire hierarchy, users may click the Hierarchy button at the

workbench menu. Fund Budgeting Workbench will display the entire funds management hierarchy

including funds center, commitment item and fund, and will calculate the distributed value to the funds.

Improved Performance of Reconciliation Report

Business Objective

When items were selected in the reconciliation report in combination with the change mode then all the

selected documents were locked. Also the Dynamic Selection option was not available in certain

applications. If an IP document was selected by the reconciliation report then any user was not able to

make changes in that document from any other workbench, as this report used to lock all the selected

documents in change mode. Earlier as the IP type was mandatory parameter, it was quite difficult to

search with the settlement or park document number since IP type may not be known to the user.

Functionality

Now users can select documents in the reconciliation report by using item level locking concept. Fetching

the documents from multiple IP types and Dynamic Selection in all reconciliation reports for all

applications was also required. Even if the IP documents are selected by the reconciliation report, by

using the newly introduced item level locking concept users gained the ability to work on these

documents from various workbenches simultaneously. Earlier the Dynamic Selection was available only

from chargeback and billback applications. Now, it is available in sales incentives, customer rebates and

purchase rebates, allowing selection of multiple IP types.

BOM Explosion in Purchase Rebates

In previous releases, BOM explosion was supported in other applications, and now it is supported in

Purchase Rebates application as well.

Variants Authorization Workbench

Authorization group functionality allows only those with the authorizations to access the variant.



Data Maintenance - Pricing

Deals

On–Demand Deals

Users are now able to create Deals on-demand, using the existing items on the sales order to create the

qualification criteria. On-Demand Deals can be applied from the Deals Workbench or from the sales

order itself. These types of deals do not overwrite any benefits already applied to the sales order; they

simply provide additional benefits. The Deal Log will reflect the on-demand Deal similar to traditional

Deals.

Deal API

An application interface (API) is now available to request deal pricing without needing an SAP Sales Order

to identify and price included items. This API can be used to provide deal pricing to other solutions such

as SAP CRM, SAP C4C, SAP hybris, SalesForce.com, and other 3rd-party solutions.

Pricing

Pricing Area Workbench

Business Objective

The new Pricing Area Workbench is used to define and maintain Pricing Areas used in the new Pricing

Workbench to maintain pricing records. A Pricing Area combines several different price sheets (e.g. by

customer, by customer and material, etc.) as well as price profile or index profile. Pricing Areas allow

user-friendly, variant-driven pricing maintenance. Instead of using GPR transactions, users can select a

Pricing Area from within an entirely new Pricing Workbench to perform condition record maintenance.

Functionality

The Pricing Area Workbench allows users to create and maintain Pricing Areas to be used during price

maintenance. A Pricing Area combines several different price sheets (e.g. by customer, by customer and

material, etc.) as well as price profile or index profile. Different Pricing Area types are used in the Pricing

Workbench (Pricing Area Usage = “Price”) and in Pricing Maintenance Requests (Pricing Area Usage =

“Price + Rules”).

The Pricing Area Workbench defines all maintenance criteria using price sheets, price profile or index

profile. Based on the condition type and table, more than one price sheet as well as additional fields can

be added to a Price Area. The Pricing Area Workbench has an Authorization Group field that controls

which users can review each Pricing Area.



Pricing Workbench

Business Objective

This is an entirely new Pricing Workbench and is not to be confused with the older Pricing Workbench

found in earlier releases. The new Pricing Workbench offers centralized condition maintenance to allow

users to efficiently manage pricing records and eliminate the need to use multiple GPR transactions. The

entirely new Pricing Workbench supports flexible maintenance of price sheets, statistics for each price

sheet, price proposal, download/upload capabilities, and analytical reports.

Functionality

The new Pricing Workbench provides a centralized platform to manage price sheets and records instead

of using several GPR transactions. The Pricing Workbench allows users to select a Pricing Area and review

all of the associated price sheets and included fields at once and make changes to the records. It allows

all of the basic operations that are available in GPR transactions for rules in pricing sheets, and it allows

users to create pricing proposals directly from within the Pricing Workbench.

The Pricing Area Workbench also offers pricing analytics:

The Statistics function allows users to review statistics of the active, expired and deleted records.

Statistics can be displayed for each sheet by selecting the Statistics button in the Overview tab. Existing and Missing Records report can be run from the Report button on the workbench. This

report is based on fields selected from the allowed fields defined for the Pricing Area.

Users may also download pricing for individual price sheets or pricing for the entire Pricing Area. The

entire Pricing Area can be exported directly from the Pricing Area Workbench without having to open a

Pricing Area. This avoids loading possibly thousands of rows of data to the screen before export can be

requested.

Maintenance Request Workbench

Business Objective

To change pricing or introduce/discontinued products in prior releases, users needed to create a price

proposal for standard prices and an agreement request for contract prices. There was not a way to

accomplish this from a single action. The new Maintenance Request in Release E-SP2 allows a user to

initiate maintenance for selected materials across prices (DMP pricing) and agreements (IP pricing)

collectively in a single action. Maintenance Requests can be used to increase/decrease prices, substitute

discontinued products with new offerings, add newly-launched products across an array of offers, etc.

Functionality

The new Maintenance Request Workbench allows users to create both standard prices and agreement

prices from a single request as well as search and maintain (i.e. find and replace) both standard prices

and agreement prices from a single request. Using the Pricing Area as source for selections of condition

records for standard and agreement price sheets, the workbench allows users to change existing records

or create new records by applying procedures on selected fields and posting those records as a Master

Request (formerly Price Request).



Virtual Tables in Master Request

Business Objective

Virtual tables are used to create a Master (formerly Price) Request without creating a permanent

condition table. This is useful for requests that require new condition tables to define the request, but

the request is never approved and the condition tables are never needed.

Functionality

Virtual tables are used in Master Request and Agreement Request to store data when an appropriate “A”

condition table does not exist for the price sheet. By creating Virtual tables the data is stored in Vistex

tables instead of SAP tables. Virtual tables are based on the Dynamic Pricing feature, and are maintained

at the price sheet for the Master Request and Agreement Request. Campaigns only use Virtual tables.

Price Method

Business Objective

This new functionality provides ability to specify the default price method and override the price method

for a condition record.

Functionality

The new node “Assigned Price Method” has been added in the dialog structure of the Price Sheet. It

includes “Rate Unit” field in currency or percentage, “Per” field, “UoM” field and “Default Price Method”

flag. This new feature allows users to assign method of payment parameters and override the price

method on the condition record (if the “Default Price Method” flag is activated). A new button “Price

Method” has been added to the Price Sheet menu to allow users to select the price method and update

the default.

Price Monitor Workbench

The main purpose of the “Price Monitor Workbench” is to simulate and calculate prices based on different

pricing procedures. It may calculate and simulate pricing for the same material but different customers

that may be included on the sales agreement. Price Monitor is an extension of Price Simulation where

users can carry out various business processes on a single item at the same time. The feature is used in

the case when the user has to calculate different prices for the same material combination for the same

customer and select the best price obtained from the various pricing procedures applied.

Communication Segment in Catalogs

New Communication Segment field has been added to the Price Catalog Workbench. This new feature

allows users to create a Segment to calculate a particular price for a specific customer and include the

price in a catalog. Partners involved in the Communication Segment are maintained and automatically

updated in the Partners tab along with the partners derived from the Segment field.

Customer/Vendor/Product list is integrated to be created from the segment.



Flexible Group as a Source to Catalogs

In prior releases, Segments were used as the sole source for catalogs. In Release E-SP2, Flexible Groups

are now available as a source, and so is the newly introduced Pricing Area concept. A new Source Type

field is now available at the header of the Price Catalog Workbench to allow the user to choose which of

these sources to use to generate a catalog.

Price Simulation Enhancements

In Release E-SP2, Price Simulations now support Segments, Flexible Groups, and Pricing Areas as

additional sources of data for use in a Price Simulation.

Also new in Release E-SP2 is the new Calculation Items tab. Calculation Items can be used for ad hoc

price analysis.

Price Source

Price records can be created from many different sources. The new Record Source field has been

introduced in the price sheet to track the source from which the condition record was derived. For

example, a company’s U.S. price list may be copied into a Canadian price list; or current pricing may be a

result of an increase of earlier pricing. The Record Source field provides a business definition of the

source for a condition record or why the record was created.

Explosion Profile in Structural Pricing

Used for defining the pricing, the Explosion Profile is assigned to the Master Request type. Explosion

Profile has several explosion source options to derive from: BOM, Structures and Compositions. When the

Explosion Profile is assigned to the price sheet, the second structural pricing sheet will appear

automatically.

Supporting Condition Class ‘D’ for Taxes

Condition class “D” needs to be maintained for tax calculations. Now, when creating the condition record

there is a new tax code field. It represents a tax category which must be taken into consideration while

creating a tax return for tax authorities. The tax rate calculation rules and further features are stored in a

table for each tax code, which are unique for each country.



Data Maintenance – Resources

Domains

Business Objective

Domain is a new concept for Release E-SP2. Domains allow various extended attributes of master data

to be grouped by category or purpose (i.e. marketing attributes, sales attributes, logistics attributes,

etc.). This grouping allows users to work with a set of attributes for a specific purpose collectively. A

user may be authorized to view or maintain one or more domains.

Functionality

Domains contain data that is not an integral part of customer/material/vendor master data but is an

extension to such master data. The customer/material/vendor is considered a central domain. Domains

can access data from other domains. Each domain will have its own set of transactions for maintenance.

Facets

Business Objective

Facets are categorical hierarchies of attributes that enable logical browsing. For example, facets for

shoes could allow users to search “Mens -> Casual -> Brown” as well as “Sandals -> Brown -> Mens”.

Hierarchies do not need to be mutually exclusive, allowing users to browse in multiple ways to get the

same or similar subset of data. Facets is available for customer, material and vendor master data.

Before using a facet, the built-in data type in the Type column for simple data type, element, or attribute

have to be selected.

Functionality

Facet is a new concept in Release E-SP2. Facets allow users to search or navigate a collection of

attributes by value or keyword. A Facet represents a specific perspective on content that is typically

clearly-bounded and mutually exclusive. The values within a Facet can be a flat list that allows only one

choice (e.g. a list of possible shoe sizes) or a hierarchical list that allows you to drill-down through

multiple levels (e.g. gender -> style -> color -> size).

Facets leverage configured index tables, with each index table having an attribute such as brand, MRP

type, size, etc. A Facet Profile fetches the data from the Index Table Profile and hosts the facets. The

Facet Profile is used to assign an attribute with allowable facet values.

When a Facet View is set up, the Facet creates a list of categories and/or hierarchies for browsing, called

a Gateway, on the BSP screen. Materials, customers or vendors are filtered and categorized based on

their values, and displayed when the check box of a specific category is selected.



Freestyle Search is also available for users to search for any attribute. When searching for a category

using Freestyle Search, all of the categories pertaining to the search will be highlighted in the hierarchical

structure displayed.

Currently, the master data displayed for any selections is read-only (no maintenance of data found using

Facets can be performed in Release E-SP2).

Facets have been integrated with Catalog feature to allow users to search catalogs by facet.

Data Flow

Business Objective

The main purpose of this new functionality is parallel maintenance of the data within an organization.

Data Flow is a simplified version of the previously released Data Map feature. Data Map is intended to

manage master data maintenance across multiple departments or functional groups. Data Flow is

intended to manage master data maintenance within a single department or functional group. It

incorporates step-by-step processing with true workflow and approvals.

Functionality

Defining a Data Flow is similar to creating a Status Flow. In order to create a data flow, the steps, levels,

status, and activity template have to be maintained in the Data Flow Workbench. Each step in the Data

Flow process is defined, including triggers, outcomes, resulting status, and next step(s) to be triggered.

Parallel steps can be defined for multi-threaded maintenance of the same customer/master/vendor by

several individuals concurrently. The posting of master data changes is performed after completion of

the last step in the Data Flow.

Users can view the current status of each step and the overall progress at any time. The Data Flow

maintains an audit trail of all activity and actions related to the progress of the Data Flow.

Other Enhancements

File Template for Info Records

Business Objective

The purpose of adding this functionality is to allow users to upload and download info records and trade

records from structured data sources.

Functionality

This functionality is available for Customer-Material/Vendor-Material Info Record and

Customer/Material/Vendor Trade Record Workbenches.

User can now upload and download info records using a file template. File upload now supports the

following records: Customer info record; Customer trade record; Vendor info record; Vendor trade

record; Material trade record. Downloading data to a file can be performed from either the Info Record

or Trade Record Workbench.



Creation of Multiple Info Records from Material List

Business Objective

Purpose of providing this functionality is to allow users to create multiple Customer/Vendor info records

from Material List Workbench. In prior releases, such records could only be created one at a time.

Functionality

This functionality is available from the Material List Workbench. There are two types of info records:

independent info record and integrated info record. Now, users can create multiple independent info

records from the list. The functionality provides creation of info record as a separate line item in the list.

Users can now create Customer/Vendor info records for the new material that the user is creating in the

same list—as well as for existing materials.

Integration of Product/Customer/Vendor List in Segments

Users can now maintain Customer/Product/Vendor lists in Segment Workbench. When a Segment is

created for the Customer/Product/Vendor List, the respective component tab is available for each

component (i.e. “Customer” component type for “Customer List” component, “Material” component type

for “Product List” component). Users can also upload Customer/Material/Vendor List from Segment by

selecting “Import component” button at the top of the menu.

String Data Type for Attributes

Users can maintain attribute values that are more than 30 characters in length by using ‘String’ as the

data type definition in the Attribute Workbench. This functionality is available in Attribute Workbench,

Attribute Group Workbench, Attribute Set Workbench, Customer/Material/Vendor Workbenches,

Customer/Material/Vendor List Workbenches, Dashboard, Data Map, File Template, IDoc, Info Record

Workbench, Attribute Cross Reference Workbench, Attribute Rule Workbench, Structure Workbench,

Segment Workbench, and in conversions from SAP ECC to Vistex DMR.

Propose Class when Relevant Attributes are entered

The solution will automatically propose the class if attributes for that class are maintained in the

document. Prior this functionality, it was difficult to differentiate between normal attributes and

classification attributes. This functionality is available in Customer/Material/Vendor Workbench and

Customer/Material/Vendor List Workbench.

INFO Records in the Material Dashboard

Business Objective

The purpose of providing info records in the Material Dashboard is to allow users to maintain data for

non-integrated Customer-Material info records and Vendor-Material Info records collectively.

Functionality

Users can now maintain data such as attributes, identification, and text for more than one info record in

the Material Dashboard. The new “Info Record” tab is introduced in the Material Dashboard to allow



users to select info records. The Object field provides several options to select info records, such as

material, customer info record or vendor info record. When Customer info record or Vendor info record is

selected, the object type displays only attributes and identification areas.

Global / Maintenance Level Post from List

Business Objective

In previous releases, users were not able to choose specific organizational areas across multiple

customers/materials/vendors; users were forced to choose all organizational areas and then make

changes at each maintenance level.

The purpose of providing this functionality is to post data maintained at the global or maintenance level

in Customer/Material/Vendor List to Customer/Material/Vendor Workbench at the maintenance level as

per the Maintenance Category selected at the List type level in configuration.

Functionality

If data is already maintained in maintenance levels and the same data needs to be changed for only few

of the maintenance levels, the user can (1) create a list with the required number of maintenance levels,

(2) make changes at the global level, and (3) post it. The data for selected number of maintenance levels

will be changed.

A new field called Maintenance Category defines if data can be posted only at the maintenance level from

list to workbench, or if data can be posted at the global as well as maintenance level from list to

workbench. If the former option is chosen, then another new field called Maintenance View defines if

maintenance is only allowed at the global level in the list workbench or if maintenance is allowed at the

global as well as maintenance level in the list workbench.

User Maintenance Level

This functionality will allow user-friendly maintenance of partner data, text and hierarchy for user

maintenance levels. This functionality is available in Customer/Material/Vendor Workbenches,

Customer/Material/Vendor List Workbenches and Dashboards.

The maintenance level determines the benefit classification level at which data can be extended into

extended maintenance levels.

Structure Assignment

In the Material Workbench there is a new transaction to maintain Material BOM Assignment.

User can assign structures to materials for creating BOMs in mass.

User can assign BOM structure to materials from single transaction.

User can only save material from this transaction

User can only add line to material under BOM.

Data will get stored to Material Workbench.

This separate transaction dedicated to Material BOM Assignment should provide users with easier means

of maintenance.



Structure Upload/Download using File template and BOM assignment

The familiar File Template functionality has been introduced to the upload/download feature for

structures. This will allow structured data to be up- or downloaded for structures such as BOMs, routings,

etc.

The structure type is assigned to the file template and mapped to the attributes; the section and indicator

are listed to upload the structure. When the structure is uploaded it has to be assigned to the particular

material (BOM). There is a grid view where users can assign multiple materials. The structure will be

displayed in the BOM tab of the product.

Business Script for Attribute Rules

Business Script (see earlier topic in this document dedicated to this new feature) has been introduced in

Customer/Material/Vendor and Domain Workbenches.

When creating new attribute rules, the user will have an option to create logic via formula (the only

option in earlier releases) or script (new Business Script feature). Regardless of the method used for

creation, rules may still be assigned to Customer/Material/Vendor and Domain Workbenches.

In addition to standard Business Script functionality, there are DMR-specific functions that will allow users

to process incoming and outgoing attributes efficiently:

Read – to read the value of an incoming attribute and return its value as an outgoing parameter

which can be used for defining further steps Update – to substitute a value for an outgoing attribute; set property, date, action

Delete – to delete an attribute value

Set Property – to set the property for an outgoing attribute

Set Error – to set error for an incoming attribute

Usage of the Attribute Set

A “Where Used” button is introduced to allow the user to view all instances where the selected attribute

set has been used. This feature is available in Customer/Material/Vendor Attribute Set Workbenches.

Separate List Type Authority Check for Items

Now users can assign separate organizational areas for objects created for List. The authority check will

be performed at the list type level.

Support of Standard SAP Features

Joint Production

Business Objective

Joint Production is standard SAP ECC functionality that was not maintainable in Vistex prior to this

release. This functionality is used to create a structure for goods that are combined in order to create a

one product. This functionality is available from Material Master, Material Workbench and Material List

Workbench.



Functionality

This new feature provides one common area to input all of the goods that are combined in to a solitary

product. There are two ways to create Joint Production materials:

From the Material Master, users are offered a Joint Production button, which is available only

after a material has been created and posted to SAP. From the Material and Material List Workbench, users are offered a Joint Production tab to add

products and validity dates for the finished product.

Vendor Sub-Range

Business Objective

Vendor Sub-Range is standard SAP ECC functionality that was not maintainable in Vistex prior to this

release. This functionality is used to maintain data related to a vendor sub-range like attributes and

partners.

Functionality

The Vendor Sub-Range is a new maintenance level to maintain data related to vendor sub-range such as

attributes and partners. This functionality is introduced in the Vendor Workbench and Vendor List

Workbench. This new feature is available in Mass Processing as well.

Users can add descriptions in different languages for each sub-range by clicking on the Descriptions

button. To maintain partners, the partner determination procedure for the sub-range is assigned in

configuration.

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