Ranked Field Forces

Administrators can group multiple field forces together and assign ranks to each field force in the group. This increases efficiency by preventing multiple field forces in the same group from receiving the same account assignment, since accounts assigned to one field force cannot be assigned to a field force of a lower rank in the same group.

For example, field forces A and B are grouped together and have a priority of 1 and 2, respectively. Clinton Ackerman is assigned to field force A. Members of field force B cannot be assigned Clinton Ackerman.

Field forces can share account assignments with other field forces of equal priority in the same group, or with field forces of any rank in a different group.

Field force rankings are not enforced when data loading or importing account assignments, though the next assignment preview run by the admin enforces field force rankings.

This feature is supported in both production and modeling.

Configuring Field Force Groups and Rankings

To configure ranked field force groups:

  1. Add the following fields to the page layouts for the field_force__aln and field_force_model__aln objects:

    • field_force_group__aln
    • assignment_priority__aln

    Optionally, Administrators can also add these fields to the list views and related lists of these objects for additional visibility.

  2. Navigate to the Admin > Business Admin.
  3. Enter Field Force Groups in the Component lookup field.
  4. Select Create.
  5. Create a new field_force_group__aln record with an appropriate Name.
  6. Select Save+Create.
  7. Navigate to the appropriate field_force__aln record.

    When configuring this feature for modeling field forces, navigate to the appropriate field_force_model__aln record instead.

  8. Select the appropriate field force group in the field_force_group__aln field.
  9. Enter the appropriate number in the assignment_priority__aln field. The lower the number, the higher the priority, with 1 being the highest possible priority.

Repeat this process for all appropriate field forces and field force groups. Field force group assignments and priorities automatically import when moving the field force from modeling into production.

Assignment Preview and Field Force Rankings

When the administrator initiates an Assignment Preview, field force rankings are automatically considered and respected when assigning accounts to users.

Field force rankings are calculated after Targeting Exclusions and before Exclusive Assignment. This means that if a field force with a higher ranking would normally receive an account assignment, but has a targeting exclusion configured for that account, the higher ranking field force is not assigned the account and a lower priority field force can receive the assignment instead. Field force rankings determine which field force has priority for an account, and Exclusive Assignments can then determine which territory within that field force will receive the account.

If an account is assigned to two field forces in the same group with the same priority, the assignment remains for both.

All assignments to lower priority field forces are end dated during assignment previews when an account is aligned to a higher priority field force, including Exclusive and Explicit Assignments. Administrators can override this behavior by creating an exclusion in the higher priority field force.

Assignments to different field forces in different groups can coexist, regardless of priority.

Example

Dr. Clinton Ackerman is an account assigned to five different field forces:

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E

When the administrator initiates an assignment preview, Clinton Ackerman’s account assignments are maintained or removed based on the priority of the field forces:

Field Force Group

Field Force Name

Field Force Priority

Result After Assignment Preview

Cardiology

A

1

Maintained

B

1

Maintained

C

2

Removed

Diabetes

D

1

Maintained

E

2

Removed

Targeting Feedback and Field Force Rankings

Field force rankings affect how end users can challenge changes to their territory by automatically rejecting challenges based on the hierarchy of the user’s field force in relation to the other field forces in the same group.

If a user creates an Add Account or Keep Account challenge to an account during Targeting Feedback and the account already belongs to a field force in the same group that has a higher priority than the user’s field force, the challenge is automatically rejected.

Users in higher priority field forces can claim an account using Targeting Feedback by creating an Add Account or Add Target challenge. If the challenge is approved, an uneditable Remove Account challenge automatically logs against that account for all users in lower priority field forces in the same group.

If the challenge is later removed, the uneditable Remove Account challenge is removed from all lower priority field forces.