Enhanced Territory Feedback Using Align

  • iPad

Territory Feedback utilizes both CRM and Veeva Align to enable end users to provide feedback regarding upcoming changes to their territory. Enhanced territory feedback uses an improved interface and performance to streamline this process further, enabling users to quickly locate accounts, log challenges, and repeat this process while challenges are still being processed.

This streamlines the planning process by allowing end-users to view their future territory directly on their devices as well as enabling administrators to configure rules to automatically accept or reject certain challenges to that territory.

For example, Sarah Jones reviews changes to her territory and notices two accounts in particular:

  • Clinton Ackerman, an account being removed as a target in her territory
  • Bob Adams, a new account being added to her territory

Sarah believes that Dr. Ackerman should remain a target in her territory, so she creates an Add Target challenge for Clinton Ackerman. She feels that the default target goals are too high, so she reduces the goals. While her challenge is being processed, Sarah realizes that Bob Adams is too far away for her to realistically visit. She creates a Remove Account challenge against Bob Adams, selecting Distance as her reason.

When she submits this challenge, Sarah is notified that her challenge against Clinton Ackerman was rejected because one of her channel goals is too low. She navigates back to Clinton Ackerman and slightly increases the goals. Both her Remove Account challenge against Bob Adams, as well as her revised Add Target challenge against Clinton Ackerman satisfy Approval Rules in Align, so both challenges are approved automatically.

Considerations

  • This enhanced UI will completely replace the existing Classic Territory Feedback functionality in a future release
  • The following features are not currently supported, but are planned for upcoming releases:
  • Ranked Field Forces
  • The following features are not supported in Enhanced Territory Feedback:
  • Free-text challenge reasons – Align admins can instead configure context-sensitive challenge reasons for users to choose from
  • Instruction text containing Markdown formatting
  • Utilization is not calculated and displayed to the end user

  • It is recommended to define default goals for all appropriate channels and products. This enables end users to avoid populating goals manually after adding a target.

  • If manual data changes occur while Feedback is available, for example if the admin manually adjusts a target’s goal, admins must select the Calculate Rollups button in Align for the appropriate field force to refresh the cache with the updated data.

    If this button is not selected, data displayed to end users may be out of date.

Prerequisites

Enabling Enhanced Territory Feedback

To enable the enhanced territory feedback, in CRM:

  1. Set the Align_Territory_Feedback_Mode_vod Territory Setting to 2.
  2. Enable the appropriate VMOCs for the Territory_Settings_vod object. Veeva recommends cloning the existing VMOC for the Veeva_Settings_vod object and changing the object to Territory_Settings_vod.
  3. Grant the appropriate user profiles access to the VeevaSettingsService Apex class.

  4. Grant the appropriate user profiles access to the Territory Feedback tab.

    Admins can control the position of the tab in CRM using the Tab Visibility feature. If this feature is enabled and Classic Territory Feedback Using Align was previously enabled, replace FutureTerritoryAlignments in the TAB_NAV_DISPLAY Veeva Message with TerritoryFeedback.

  5. Ensure the formatted_name__aln field is populated for all account__aln records in Align. Admins can perform this task by mapping this field to the formatted_name_vod field on the Account object in CRM and running a full import.

If Classic Territory Feedback Using Align was previously enabled, admins should remove end users' access to the following:

  • Future Territory Alignments tab
  • Future_Territory_Alignment_vod Visualforce page and Apex class

Viewing the Territory Dashboard

The Territory Dashboard provides an overview of all changes made to a user’s territory. The Territory Dashboard can also be used to navigate directly to the Edit Alignments page with predefined filters applied to make it easier for users to refine the list of changes to their territory, which they can then challenge.

To view territory changes, navigate to the Territory Feedback tab. This displays the Territory Dashboard. From this dashboard, users can view the following information:

  • The number of accounts added to the territory – Selecting this widget displays the Edit Alignments table with the Adds filter automatically applied
  • The number of accounts dropped from the territory – Selecting this widget displays the Edit Alignments table with the Drops filter automatically applied
  • The number of Approved, Pending, and Rejected challenges – Selecting any of these widgets displays the Edit Alignments table with the appropriate challenge filter automatically applied

Viewing the Territory Dashboard When Assigned to Multiple Territories

If a user is assigned to multiple territories, a list of their assigned territories displays when they navigate to the Territory Feedback tab. Selecting a territory from this list displays the Territory Dashboard for that selected territory.

After selecting a territory, users can return to the list of territories by selecting the Back button on the Territory Dashboard.

Users cannot be assigned to multiple territories across different models when both models are available to submit Feedback on.

Viewing a Future Territory

Users can view a complete list of future account assignments and targets from the Edit Alignments page, which enables users to view details about their territory, review specific changes to their territory, and create challenges. To display the Edit Alignments pages, do one of the following:

  • Select the Edit Alignment button from the Territory Dashboard
  • Select one of the widgets on the Territory Dashboard. This displays the Edit Alignments page with the appropriate filter applied.

Users can view the following details about their territory by selecting the territory’s name at the top of the page:

  • Territory Name
  • Start and End Dates
  • Due date for feedback
  • Added and dropped zip codes or brick codes

  • Any configured instructions from Align

    Instructions containing Markdown formatting are not supported.

Viewing Future Account Assignments and Targets

Each row in the Edit Alignments table represents an account or target. An account’s planned presence or absence in the user’s territory is indicated by one of the following two icons used to represent the account:

  • – The account is in the user’s territory in the upcoming cycle
  • If the account is also designated as a target, the icon displays next to the account
  • – The account is a dropped account, meaning it is currently in the user’s territory but will not be in the upcoming cycle
  • Dropped accounts are listed at the bottom of the Edit Alignments table

For example, if an account is currently in the user’s territory, but is being dropped in the upcoming cycle, the account displays at the bottom of the list with the and icons.

In another example, if an account is in the territory in the upcoming cycle, but is not a target, the account displays with the and icons.

See Challenging Accounts and Targets for more information on how to challenge future territory account assignments and targets.

Viewing Segment Information

Each target in the Edit Alignments table has several additional columns defining their segment for each channel and product.

The overall channel segment is defined by the channel_segmentation_aln field on the mc_cycle_plan_channel_aln record in Align, while individual product segments are defined by the product_segmentation_vod field on all relevant mc_cycle_plan_product__aln records in Align.

These columns populate automatically when using Rule-Based Targeting Assignments in Align.

Filtering and Searching for Accounts

A variety of methods are available to users to help them filter or search their future territory:

  • Selecting the Filter button displays the filter popover. This popover contains toggles that can be enabled or disables to filter the list of accounts in the table:
  • Targets
  • Account Adds
  • Account Drops
  • Approved Challenges
  • Pending Challenges

  • Rejected Challenges

  • Selecting the search bar enables the user to search all information in the Edit Alignments table. The entered search string is broken up into space-separated tokens. A match occurs if all of the search tokens appear in the available Account and Address text fields.

    For example, to search for Clinton Ackerman at Newton Memorial Hospital, entering Clinton Newton would result in a match, as would C New and Ack New. However, entering Clinton David Newton would not result in a match.

Challenging Future Account Assignments and Targets

Challenges can be made against individual accounts or made in bulk.

Creating Edit Goals Challenges

If an account is marked as a target, users can challenge the target’s upcoming channel and product interaction goals by creating Edit Goals challenges. Users may want to update these goals based on a target’s accessibility or priority.

For example, Sarah Jones reviews her future targets and notices that she is expected to perform four face-to-face interactions with Dr. Ackerman regarding Cholecap. Sarah knows that Dr. Ackerman is located at the geographic edge of her territory, so she feels that this is too many interactions given the distance. She edits the goals directly within the table by selecting the value in the Cholecap column and uses the + and - buttons to update the value from four to two. She then selects Distance as her challenge reason. Her challenge satisfies an Approved-type Approval Rule in Align, so her challenge is automatically approved.

To create an Edit Goals challenge:

  1. Navigate to the appropriate account in the table.
  2. Select the appropriate channel or product goal.
  3. Add or subtract from the goal.

  4. Select the appropriate reason or reasons for editing the goal.

  5. Repeat this process for all appropriate goals for the same account. The challenge automatically submits in the background when the user performs any other action.

The challenges then run against all configured Approval Rules in Align, resulting in one of three outcomes:

  • Approved () – The challenge matched an Approved-type rule and did not match a Rejected-type rule

  • Rejected () – The challenge matched a Rejected-type rule. Users can view the reason their challenge was rejected by selecting the Learn More button.

    When a challenge is rejected, users must resolve the rejection before they can navigate away from the Edit Alignments screen or submit territory feedback. Users can resolve challenge rejections using one of the following methods:

  • Select the Revert button to undo the Edit Goal challenge on the account
  • Update the Edit Goals challenge and re-submit the challenge
  • Pending () – The challenge did not match an Approved or Rejected-type rule and must be reviewed by management

Users can continue to log challenges on other accounts while feedback is being processed.

Challenging Accounts and Targets

Users may want to challenge an account or target based on their experience in the field, for example, if the user believes the account is a high priority. Users can challenge accounts or targets directly from the Edit Alignments table.

For example, Sarah Jones reviews her future territory and notices that Brendan Ford is not currently planned to be in her territory. Sarah believes that Brendan is a high priority account and should not only be in her territory, but should also be a target.

Sarah selects the Add Target () challenge and selects High Priority as her reason. When Sarah selects away from Brendan’s account, a Keep Account and Add Target challenge automatically submits to Align. Both challenges satisfy an Approved-type Approval Rule without also satisfying a Rejected-type Approval Rule in Align, so these challenges are automatically accepted and Brendan Ford is added as a target to Sarah’s territory.

To challenge an account or target:

  1. Navigate to the appropriate account in the table.
  2. Select the appropriate challenge icon.

  3. Select appropriate reason(s).

  4. Select Add Account/Remove Account/Add Target/Remove Target.

The challenges then run against all configured Approval Rules in Align, resulting in one of three outcomes:

  • Approved () – The challenge did not match any Rejected-type rule and also matched an Approved-type rule

  • Rejected – The challenge matched a Rejected-type rule. When account or target challenges are rejected, a Rejected slide drop menu displays. Users can view the reason their challenge was rejected by selecting the Learn More button in the slide drop menu.

    Rejected challenges do not update the account icon’s border or sub-icon as the challenge was ultimately never committed.

  • Pending () – The challenge did not match an Approved or Rejected-type rule and must be reviewed by management

Users can continue to create challenges on other accounts while challenges are being processed.

Saving and Submitting Challenges

If users wants to close the Edit Alignments page, but are not yet ready to submit all of their feedback, they can select the Done button. Selecting this button displays the Territory Dashboard. Users can then return to the Edit Alignments page at a later time to continue providing feedback.

After making all appropriate feedback challenges, users can submit their feedback from one of the following locations:

  • From the Territory Dashboard page

  • From the Edit Alignments table

Users must resolve any auto-Rejected challenges before submitting feedback.

Users are not able to make further challenges after submitting their feedback. If a user wishes to make challenges after submitting their feedback, the territory must be reopened by their manager.