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Advanced Analytics in Tour deForce

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Purpose

The purpose of this technical bulletin is to provide users with a guide on how to use the Advanced Analytics module in Tour de Force.  The Advanced Analytics module is used to download and view reports that have been published by Tour de Force as either a default report or a customized report created specifically for that company.

 

The reports that are downloaded are viewed in the Advanced Analytics section in the Manager’s Console. However, there are several steps that need to be taken before users can view and install the reports to their local machines.  This technical bulletin also outlines each of those steps and explains what needs to be done before users can use the Advanced Analytics module.

 

This technical bulletin contains the following sections:

 

  1. Overview of the Advanced Analytics Module
  2. Granting User Permissions to Advanced Analytics
  3. Downloading New Reports
  4. Assigning Permissions to Reports
  5. Installing and Updating Reports
  6. Viewing Reports
  7. Report Dependencies
  8. The About Screen
  9. Report Descriptions
  10. Overview of the Tour de Force Scorecard

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Please read the entire documentation before using the Advanced Analytics module.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Overview of the Advanced Analytics Module

 

One of the new features in version 5.5 of Tour de Force is the Advanced Analytics module.  The Advanced Analytics module was created to provide users with the ability to generate different types of reports to view sales data and other various types of data.  These reports are either generated by Tour de Force, or companies can submit requests to have reports generated for them.  The Advanced Analytics module is located under the Analysis section of the Manager’s Console, and like most modules in Tour de Force, requires user permission to view and access.

The purpose if this section is provide an overview of what the Advanced Analytics module looks like and what the different areas of the module are and what they mean.

Like most features in Tour de Force, the Advanced Analytics module contains a normal, end user area of the module and an administrative area of the module.  The end user area of the module is where users actually install and view the reports on their local machine.  The administrative area of the module is for administrators to download new reports and manage existing reports already downloaded to the system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced Analytics Setup

The Advanced Analytics Setup utility is the utility that administrators need to use in order to download new reports, as well as to set whether the reports downloaded are active or inactive. Before users can install or view any reports in the Manager’s Console, an administrator needs to download the reports from this utility.  This utility is accessed through the Administration Console in Tour de Force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use the following procedures to access the Advanced Analytics Setup utility:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.

 

  1. On the Tour de Force toolbar, click Admin Utilities drop down to display the Admin Utilities menu.

 

 

  1. In the Admin Utilities menu, select Advanced Features Setup, and click Manage Advanced Analytics.

 

 

 

There are three important sections in the Advanced Analytics Setup utility:  The Current Analytics Path field, the Downloaded Reports tab, and the New Reports tab.

 

When a report is created Tour de Force posts the Zip file, which contains the report .dll file, to a web server that users can download and install on their local computer.  However, rather than having each user download the file individual the Advanced Analytics module is set up so that only one copy of the report is downloaded to a company share that the user can then download and install the report from that company share location.  The Current Analytics Path field shows the location of that company share folder.  Before users can install any report on their machine a path needs to be set in the Current Analytics Path field that points to a company share folder that users have access to.  

 

 

Note:  While not required, Tour de Force recommends using the default company share folder that was set up on initial implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

After a download path has been set, new reports can be downloaded to the share folder.  Any new report created by Tour de Force shows up under the New Reports tab.  There are a few fields of note within the New Reports tab that administrators need to understand before downloading a new report.  How to download reports is covered in Section C of this technical bulletin.

There are five columns in the New Reports tab; however, the two most important columns are the Min Version and Max Version columns.

Min Version – This column shows the minimum version of Tour de Force that needs to be installed on a user’s computer before the report can be used.  For example, if the number is 55040, that means the minimum version that can be installed is version 5.5.040.

Max Version – This column shows that maximum version of Tour de Force that can be installed on a user’s computer.  For example, if the number 55999, that means the maximum version that can be installed is version 5.5.999.

 

 

 

 

 

Once a new report has been downloaded from the New Reports tab the downloaded reports display in the Downloaded Reports tab.  This tab is used by administrators to manage which reports are displayed in Tour de Force, and whether those reports need permissions tied to the report or not.  How to assign permissions to reports is further explained in Section D of this technical bulletin.

There are three columns on the Downloaded Reports tab:

Name – This column shows the name report as well as the version of Tour de Force the report was created on.

Active – This column is used to hide or show each report in Tour de Force.  If the report is set as Active then that report is available in the Manager’s Console.

Secured – This column is used to set the report to secure which allows administrators to set permissions for each report downloaded.  If the Secured column is unchecked then every user that has permissions to the Advanced Analytics module can view that report.

 

  1. Granting Permissions to Advanced Analytics Module

Before users can view and use the Advanced Analytics module, permissions need to be assigned for any user that plans to view reports. There are several methods to do this, and this technical bulletin shows the new way to assign user permissions by module which is a new feature in version 5.5 of Tour de Force.

Use the following procedures to assign user permissions to users for the Advanced Analytics module:

  1. On the Tour de Force toolbar, click Admin Utilities drop down to display the Admin Utilities menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. In the Admin Utilities menu, select Users, Permissions, and Organizational Structure and click User Permission Wizard.

 

 

  1. In the User Permission Wizard, select User Rights.

 

 

 

  1. In the User Rights screen, select View Advanced Analytics under the USER RIGHTS section.

 

 

  1. In the Users section, select each user that needs to be able to access the Advanced Analytics module.  

For example, to grant Ann Fisher the ability to access the Advanced Analytics module in the Manager’s Console, click the check box next to Ann Fisher.

  1. Once finished adding the necessary users, exit the User Permission Wizard.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Downloading New Reports

 

After the permissions have been set for each user, the administrator can go to the Advanced Analytics Setup utility and download any report created.  When a new report, or an update to an existing report, has been uploaded by Tour de Force the new report appears under the New Reports tab in the Advanced Analytics Setup utility.  After clicking on the download button in the New Reports tab, that report is downloaded to the location set in the Current Analytics Path field.

Note: Only users that have access to the Administration Console can download reports from the Tour de Force server.

Note: As of version 5.5 the user logging into the server that the Administration Console is installed on needs to have local admin rights, and the UAC (User Account Controls) needs to be disabled before reports can be downloaded.  Once the reports are downloaded the UAC can be turned back on.

Use the following procedure to download a new report:

  1. On the Tour de Force toolbar, click Admin Utilities drop down to display the Admin Utilities menu.

 

  1. In the Admin Utilities menu, select Advanced Features Setup, and click Manage Advanced Analytics.

 

  1. In the Advanced Analytics Setup utility click the Ellipsis button next to the Current Analytics Path field to pick a folder path.

 

Note:  Tour de Force recommends using the default company share folder that was set up during initial implementation.

 

 

  1. After a folder path has been set, click the New Reports tab.

The New Reports tab displays all of the reports available for download from the Tour de Force server.  These reports range from reports created as a standard report available to all customers of Tour de Force as well as reports requested by that company.

 

  1. Click the download arrow next to each report to download the report file to the location set in the Current Analytics Path field.

 

  1. Once all of the reports have been downloaded those reports appear in the Downloaded Reports tab.

  1. Close the Advanced Analytics Setup utility.

 

 

  1. Assigning Permissions to Reports

 

After new reports have been downloaded, administrators can set the reports to active or inactive as well as determining whether the report needs to be secured.  By default each report downloaded is marked as unsecured, which means that, every single user that has permissions to view the Advanced Analytics module has access to that report.  However, if a report is marked as secure then the administrator can set permissions for each user in Tour de Force in relation to the report marked as secure.  Whether a report is marked as secure or unsecure is up to the company and their business practices.  If the company practice is to leave every report marked as unsecure then this section can be skipped.

Use the following procedures to assign permissions to downloaded reports:

  1. Access the Advanced Analytics Setup utility.

 

  1. In the Downloaded Reports tab click the Secured field next to the report that needs to be marked as secured.

 

For example, if the At Risk Line Items report needs to be a secure report, click the Secured checkbox field next to the At Risk Line Items report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. After the secured field has been checked, click the Plus Sign next to the report that has been marked as secure.

  1. Click the Users tab to view all of the users that are licensed users of Tour de Force.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Click the Allow field next to each users name to grant those users permissions to view the report.

For example, to grant Ann Fisher permissions to view the At Risk Line Items report, click the Allow field next to Ann Fisher.

  1. Continue adding as many users as needed and then close the Advanced Analytics Setup utility once finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Installing and Updating Reports

 

After the reports have been downloaded from the New Reports tab, and the appropriate permissions have been set for the Advanced Analytics module and reports, users can now view the newly downloaded reports.  When a report is downloaded from the New Reports tab, the file is sent to the company share folder.  Once the reports have been downloaded, any user who can access that share folder and has permissions to view the Advanced Analytics module can install that report on their local machine.  These reports are installed from the Advanced Analytics module in the Manager’s Console.

Use the following procedures to install a new report from the Advanced Analytics module:

  1. Click the Manager’s Console icon on the Tour de Force toolbar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Click the Analysis button.

  1. Click the Advanced Analytics button.

 

 

 

 

The Advanced Analytics screen displays.

 

 

The important fields to note on the Advanced Analytics screen are the Status field values.  This Status field has three values:

 

Not installed – This status indicates that the report has been added to the company share folder but has not been installed on the user’s computer.

 

Installed – This status indicates that report has been installed on the user’s computer and currently matches the report in the company share folder.

 

An update is available – This status indicates that the report installed on the user’s computer does not match the version of the report in the company share folder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Click the download button next to the reports that need to installed or updated.

  1. After the report has either been installed or updated the Manager’s Console needs to be closed and then reopened before that report can be viewed in the Advanced Analytics module.

Note: The Status field updates to Downloaded – restart of Outlook is required, however only the Manager’s Console needs to be restarted.

 

 

 

 

  1. Close the Manager’s Console.

 

  1. Click the Manager’s Console icon and return to the Advanced Analytics module.

 

  1. Click the Get New Reports drop down field and those newly installed reports appear in the drop down for use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Viewing Reports

 

After a report has been installed and the Manager’s Console has been restarted, the reports can now be viewed in the Advanced Analytics module.  The reports that can be viewed are determined by whether the report is marked as active, the permissions tied to that report, and whether or not that report has been installed to the user’s computer.

Use the following procedures to view installed reports in the Advanced Analytics module:

  1. Access the Advanced Analytics module.

 

  1. Click the Get New Reports drop down list.

 

All of the reports that have been installed display in the drop down list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Click the report that needs to be viewed.

  1. The report displays in a new tab.

 

 

 

 

  1. To return to the main screen click the Reports tab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Report Dependencies

 

The reports in the Advanced Analytics module are separate .dll files and thus, for the most part act independently of most Tour de Force functions.  Because of this, and due to the nature of the data some reports are displaying, there are certain dependencies or conditions that need to be met for some of the reports currently available.  

This section discusses the current reports that require a special condition or dependency that needs to be activated before that report can be used to its fullest capabilities.  While these dependencies do not stop the report from functioning, without these dependencies certain reports do not work to their full potential.  However, it is important to note that while this technical bulletin contains these dependencies it is possible that future reports may not be included in this document.  To avoid having to continue checking this technical bulletin every time a new report has been added, the current dependencies of the report are available in the About screen.  Refer to section H of this technical bulletin to learn more about the About screen.

At Risk Line Items Report

The At Risk Line Items report has one dependency that is required before the report can be viewed to the fullest.  One of the features of the report is to view the item history of each line item selected by clicking the View Item History button.  However, in order for View Item History button to display any data the table, data_bsi_itemcode_history needs to contain data.  In most cases this requires that the BSI Connector be updated to pull data from the ERP system to the data table.  

Macrovision Report

The Macrovision report is a report that takes a closer look at all of the items marked as Key Items in the Sales Planning module, and pivots that information on Account.  Each Account displays the dollar amount sold for each key item by Account.  However, before any key items can display in the setup screen of the report, the key items need to be selected for the current planning year in the Sales Planning module.

Tour de Force Scorecard

The Tour de Force Scorecard provides a performance overview for the territory or sales person selected.  For more information how the Tour de Force Scorecard works refer to section I of this technical bulletin.  Similar to the Macrovision report, in order for the Product Category section to display any information they Key Items related to the current planning year need to be selected in the Sales Planning module.

 

 

  1. The About Screen

 

Because the reports created for the Advanced Analytics module are independent from Tour de Force, they are not dependent on a new release of Tour de Force to work.  Due to this, the reports that are going to be added are going to be added far quicker than what could be updated for this document.  In order to avoid having people check this technical bulletin every time a new report has been released, the About screen has been added to each report in order to give users an overview of what the report does and what changes are included in any new editions of that report.

To open to the About screen, click the About button in the top right corner of the report screen.

 

  1. Report Descriptions

 

At Risk Line Item Report

A summary of items sold between two date points that are set by the user.  The first date field is the items sold in the past XX number of days.  The second date is select how many days to look back for items not sold.  Both of these date fields are based on the current date.  Users can then select each item code that displays in the grid and click the View Item History button to view the sales trends of that item code by period.  The charts display the previous year as well as two years prior.  In the grid to the left of the chart users can select which year to display by clicking the Account in the grid.  Clicking an Account name selects or deselects that item in the chart.

In the case of this report the Settings button is only used to set a filter for the item code grid at the top of the report.

Average Line Item Report

Displays the average number of line item, per invoice sold by Account, SalespersonID, prclass, vendor, or alt1, 2, 3.  The first option users would choose is which grouping they need to use and then selecting the year that needs to be viewed.  After those two options are set they click the Go button and display the information in the grid.  The average number of line items sold per invoice is displayed per month in the year that is selected in the date field.  So for example, if the user sees the number 38 for the month of June that means the average number of line items sold per invoice during the month of June was 38 items.  By clicking each grouping a chart displays at the bottom of the report that shows the average number sold by period.

There is no Settings button on the Average Line Items Report.

BSI Line Items Helper

As far as I can tell this report is currently not working as intended.

Macrovision

A summary of sales or profit per product group by Account, Account Package, or Account Root.  The purpose of this report is to see how well certain products are doing either by looking at the total sales or the total profit.

The Settings button on this report is used to configure which products to display in the grid as well as choosing the date range and whether to display sales or profit.  The first setting set in the Settings menu is the date range.  Only one date range is selected so select by period, quarter, or year.  Next option to set is the item type.  For now this report is only looking at the key items that have been set up in the Sales Planning module.  Next is select whether to display sales or profit.  After that select which items to display in the grid by clicking the checkbox in the Include? field.  Finally, select how to pivot the data and then click the Apply button.  After that the information displays in the grid.

Rolling Accounts (Rolling 12 Report)

A rolling trend report of sales and profit for Accounts, Account Packages, Product Group, Account Root, and Level 3, 4.  This report is used to view sales and profit related to the grouping set in the settings menu and to identify sales trends for the current year up to the current date.  The sales and profit data is displayed by month.  By selecting a grouping in the top grid and clicking the chart button a chart can be displayed showing the total sales for each month.  This is a way to visually see the sales trends rather than just looking at the numbers.  Multiple groupings can be selected.  By scrolling to the right users can also see the profit data displayed in the same manner as the sales data.

The Settings button is used to set up the report and needs to be used before being able to run the report.  The first option that needs to be set is the grouping.  Next a user selects whether to pivot that date by the grouping selected.  If this option is set the grid is changed.  Instead of showing the rolling trend by month at the top of the grid, instead the grouping is displayed at the top of the grid and the months are displayed by date range per month.  Doing this disables the ability to use the Chart button.  The next two options selected are to choose whether to display just sales, or just profit, or both.  The consolidate option is used to combine the sales or profit in the charts when multiple groupings are selected, rather than showing the sales and profits for the individual groupings.  Click the OK button to confirm the options and then click the Go button to run the report.

Stagnant Accounts

Displays the Accounts that have either had no sales or linked items added to those Accounts within a set period of time. This report is designed for users to view the Accounts that have grown cold, or stagnant during a set period of time.  This would allow users to identify the Accounts that are being ignored or pushed aside in favor of other Accounts.  The stagnancy can be based on either sales or linked items which would include emails, activities, etc.  Users need to select the date field to base the number of less days by and then click the Go button to view the Accounts.

There is no Settings button for this report.

TDF Analysis

This is the Analysis section from Tour de Force, just now added to the Advanced Analytics.

Scorecard

The TDF Scorecard that is in the documentation.  A better reference for what it does, and how it used is based served by looking there.

 

 

 

Year-to-Date Product Erosion

Displays a summary of sales by Account, per two different timeframes set up by the user in the Settings menu.  The purpose of this report is find the margin difference per item sold between the two date ranges selected.  For example if date range 1 is this year, and date range 2 is the previous year, the purpose is to find the difference in either sales dollars or percent.  The threshold for each the margin difference is set in the Settings menu.

The Settings menu is used to set up the report, however it is not necessary to use the settings menu to view the report.  The first option that can be selected is the grouping field.  Then the user selects the two timeframes that need to be compared.  Finally the user sets the threshold for the items that display in the grid and chooses whether to view by sales dollars or percent.  For example, if the user just wants to see the items that have a margin difference of 3 % or higher, they selected Percentage and then type in 3 in the threshold field.  Clicking the OK button confirms the selection and automatically updates the report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Overview of the Tour de Force Scorecard

 

The Advanced Analytics module was created for users to benefit from the information shown in the reports that either Tour de Force has provided, or a custom report a company has asked for.  These reports can range from gap analyses, a report that shows Accounts that could be at risk, as well as a report that shows any Accounts that have not had any activity for a set date period.  

The Tour de Force Scorecard is a report that is highly configurable based on a company’s needs and can show many key items and data that are good indicators on a salespersons or territories performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section provides an overview of the Tour de Force Scorecard and how to access many of the reports functions and how to set up the report.  However, this report is highly configurable and there is no standard way to set up the report and the items chosen are going to be determined by business terminology and business practices.

The Tour de Force Scorecard is accessed by selecting TDF Quarterly Scorecard in the Get New Reports drop down list.  If the report does not appear then make sure that the report has been downloaded and installed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setting up the Tour de Force Scorecard

Before the Tour de Force Scorecard can be used the report needs to be set up for use.  In order to set up the Tour de Force Scorecard the user needs to be granted Global Grid Admin rights in the User Permissions Wizard.  However, this does not mean that every single user who wants to use the report needs to be granted those same permissions.  The settings that are set in the Tour de Force Scorecard are global settings and not local settings.  The only local settings used on the Tour de Force Scorecard are the options setting in the Summary Settings drop down and the red button Settings.

The global settings for the report are accessed by clicking on the Setup button on the top right of the Tour de Force Scorecard.  If a user does not have Global Grid Admin rights then the Setup button does not appear.  

Click the Setup button to access the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen.

 

The first tab on the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen is the Product Category tab.  The Product Category tab is used to choose what information displays under the Product Category Purchases section of the Tour de Force Scorecard.  

The source fields available in this tab are Product Group History, Vendor, Alt 1, Alt 2, and Alt 3.  

As of version 5.5 the items that appear under each source field are dependent upon the key items selected in the Planning Administration utility.  If no key items have been selected for the current planning year then no information displays under any of the options selected in the Source field.  

 

The second tab in the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen is the Custom Line Item Summary tab.  The Custom Line Item Summary tab is used to determine what information displays under the Summary section of the Tour de Force Scorecard aside from the default information.  The fields Orders Placed, Lines Placed, Avg. # Lines Per Order, and Average Order Value load by default and cannot be removed.

The purpose of the Custom Line Item Summary tab is to create custom groups based on a line item field selected in the Select a Line Item field to summarize field.  For example if a user wants to see a summary of orders placed based on a group of Accounts, that user would select AccountName and then select the Accounts to be summarized in that group by clicking the Create Group button.

 

The third tab on the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen is the Expense tab.  The Expense tab is used to select an UDF from the Expense item in Tour de Force and create a summary based on that field.  This information then displays in the Expense Summary section of the Tour de Force Scorecard.

The Expense Summary displays a summary of expense information based on the values checked for the UDF selected in the Select the UDF to summarize Expenses by field.  For example, if Expense Type is selected then the values associated with the Expense Type UDF display.

 

 

 

The fourth tab on the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen is the Activities tab.  The Activities tab functions the same way as the Expense tab does, however the UDFs that can be selected are now related to the Activity item in Tour de Force.  The items selected here determine what information displays under the Activity Summary section of the Tour de Force Scorecard.

The Activities tab is used to display information related to an Activity item UDF selected in the Select a non-billable, value added UDF on the Activity form field.  For example, if Activity Type is selected as the UDF the values associated with the Activity Type UDF display.  This information can be used to summarize the time spent on certain activities such as Cold Calls or Support calls.

 

 

The final tab on the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen is the Advanced tab. The Advanced tab should only be used by users that have some knowledge on HTML.  This tab can be used to change the background color of the Tour de Force Scorecard, as well as determine the color of each section in the report.  

Once all of the necessary information has been selected in the setup tabs, the settings need to be applied and saved before they display in the report.  Before closing the TDF Quarterly Scorecard Setup screen click the Apply and Save buttons.

 

 

Creating the Tour de Force Scorecard

After a user with Global Grid Admin rights has set up the Tour de Force Scorecard, the report can be created for use by any user with sufficient rights.  Refer to Sections B and D of this technical bulletin to learn about granting user rights for the Advanced Analytics module and reports.  The purpose of this report is to show a performance snap shot based upon the salesperson(s) or territory(s) selected.  The information that displays in the report are based upon what is selected in the set up screen as well as the settings selected in the Summary Settings button.

Use the following procedures to create the Tour de Force Scorecard:

  1. Access the Advanced Analytics module and select TDF Quarterly Scorecard in the Get New Reports drop down list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Click the Summary Settings button and select the salesperson or territory that the report needs to be based upon.

 

 

  1. In the Goal Type field, select the type of goal planning that is being used in the Planning Administration utility.  

 

For example, if goals are being planned by Account make sure that Account is selected in the Goal Type field.

 

  1. Click the Settings button.

 

 

  1. In the Name on Report field, type in the name that needs to be displayed on the report.

 

For example, because this is a performance overview of the Bill Pargeon territory the name of this report is Bill Pargeon Overview.

 

 

 

  1. In the Start Quarter field, select the starting quarter of the report.  The Tour de Force Scorecard always displays a summary based on four quarters.  For example, if the Start Quarter field is set to 2, that means the 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarters of 2012 display as well as the 1st quarter of 2013.

 

 

  1. In the Start Year field, select the year that the report needs to be based upon.

 

 

 

 

  1. Once finished click the Generate button to create the report.

 

 

  1. The report displays.  To print a copy of the report click the Print button.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

The purpose of this technical bulletin is to provide users with an overview of the Advanced Analytics module.  This document explains how to download and install reports, as well as what permissions need to be set in order for users to view and use reports.  The Advanced Analytics module is used to create and view several of unique reports created by Tour de Force.  Companies can also request reports to be created by Tour de Force based on specifications provided by those companies.  

For further assistance, please submit a support request at http://www.tourdeforcesupport.com

 

 

Version: 5.5         of   Technical Bulletin 5320

©2012 Tour de Force CRM

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