This development automates the vehicle sales activity process with the Generic Data Extract framework. It enables Volvo to analyse vehicle sales activity in the Volvo National Sales Company, and to provide assistance to dealers where sales process improvements can be made.
Before using Volvo Prospect Activity Reporting, you must ensure that the Volvo Prospect Activity parameters and Data Mappings are set up correctly.
When you first enter the Prospect Activity Reporting interface, a default GFT (Generic File Transfer) record is created. If any changes to the GFT parameters are required after the auto creation has been done, select MS > VO > General Utilities > System Maintenance > Generic file transfers and load the GFT ID SPAR.
For activities to be captured from MK contacts, ensure that VO has been configured as the MS franchise to use when in the related module. This can be done by selecting MS > VO > General Utilities > System Maintenance > Franchise Mapping.
Note: If VO has not been set as the mnemonic for the related modules, the Volvo activities will not be captured.
The Prospect Activity extract can be performed from Timed Operations. When creating the operation entry, use the MS Daemon Controller entry 00KMN017 that exists in Timed operations and set DMN Code to VOSPAR_CC where CC is the MK company to do the extract for. In DMN mode enter START. The generic MS daemon controller record is created automatically for each MK company used in the Prospect Activity interface. To view existing generic daemon controller parameters, select MS > VO > General Utilities > System Maintenance > Daemon monitor, right-click the VOSPAR_CC daemon entry and select View daemon from the context menu.
When an extract is done from Timed Operations, each available dealer code is considered for the extract process. For each dealer code that the extract is done for, an individual extract file is created and submitted via GFT. All mapping functionality is identical to the extract running in the foreground.
When you use the Prospect Activity Reporting interface for the first time, a default GFT record is created with the following values:
GFT field Description Fixed data ID File ID SPAR MANUFACT Manufacturer code VO DESCRIPT ID description Prospect Activity Reporting XFERMETH File transfer method F FTPFTYPE FTP file type B HOSTNAME Hostname/IP address 139.9.246.31 FTPUID FTP username — FTPPASWD FTP password — DESTPATH Destination path /SAY/ DIRECTN File xfer direction PUT DMSPATH Path of file on DMS ^XFR/SPAR DMSFNAME Filename on DMS Overwritten at runtime DESTFNAM Destination filename Overwritten at runtime POSTXFER Post transfer action M DMSNEWPT Pos xfer dms path Overwritten at runtime (file suffixed with .Sent)
If any changes to the GFT parameters are required after the auto creation has been done, navigate to MS > VO > General Utilities > System Maintenance > Generic file transfers and load the GFT ID SPAR.
When running the extract process via Timed Operations, or when selecting Transfer from the Extract Preview form, GFT is initiated to submit the file to the third party system. The GFT ID used by both instances is SPAR for VO as the manufacturer. When the transfer has been completed, the preview form is terminated if the process was started from the foreground. Files that have been submitted successfully are suffixed with .Sent.
When customer contacts are being created from either CRM or Showroom, activity details that are to be submitted to Volvo that cannot be determined automatically must be captured from the user. For the Volvo capture to be invoked during the contact process, you must ensure that Volvo is configured as the franchise for the MK and Showroom modules. This is done from MS Franchise mapping (see Setup).
Only if the selected contact type and the location of the contact have been configured in the Prospect Activity data mapping parameters will the activity be recorded. If details are to be captured, a form is displayed with the following predetermined values already populated:
Vehicle type
Franchise
Model
Customer type
Activity type
Activity method
Contacts that are created for a customer during the Showroom quote process start the Activity capture once the contact has been saved. From Showroom, the majority of the information is already known. If any information could not be determined automatically, the capture form is displayed to enable you to complete the activity information as follows:
Vehicle type: Holds the value of N or U depending upon whether the vehicle is New or Used (SR.quote.NU$) (read only in Showroom)
Franchise: Holds the long franchise code (SR.quote.FRAN$) of the vehicle, for example VO (read only in Showroom)
Model: Holds the current vehicle model (SR.quote.MODEL$), for example C30 (read only in Showroom)
Customer type: Holds the customer types configured in Sales types mapping. In Showroom the current VSB company and quote sales type (SR.quote.SALETYPE$) is used to find the customer type and the control is set to read only if the mapping was found.
Activity type: Holds the contact type and description of the CRM contact that was created. This cannot be changed.
Activity method: Holds the activity methods. If the current contact type and company has activity method mapped, this value is selected.
When you click Save, the activity is recorded if all fields are populated.
When you create a new contact on a customer from CRM, the contact type code is checked. If the code and location is valid, the Activity capture form is displayed. The capture form is the same as in Showroom, but it has a different source of information for the default values. The MK.extra table is used to source most of the data for the activity capture. If no MK.extra record could be retrieved for the current Customer or Vehicle, a new record is created with values selected by the user, as follows:
Vehicle type: Holds the value of N or U depending upon whether the vehicle is New or Used. Read from MK.extra.VRTYPE$.
Franchise: Holds the long franchise code (MK.extra.VRFRAN$) of the vehicle, for example VO.
Model: Holds the vehicle model (MK.extra.VRMODEL$), for example C30.
Customer type: Holds the customer types configured in Sales types mapping. This cannot be determined in CRM so it is not be populated with a default value.
Activity type: Holds the contact type and description of the CRM contact that was created. This cannot be changed.
Activity method: Holds the activity methods. If the current contact type and company has activity method mapped, this value is selected.
When you click Save, the activity is recorded.
When the required information has been captured, the activity record can be stored in the VO.sprac table. Fields in the Activity table are populated as follows:
Activity recording record Source field VO.sprac.DEALER$ Location from contact used to find dealer mapping record (VO.SPRDM) (MK.conta.LOCN$) VO.sprac.TARMAGIC MK.conta.TARMAGIC VO.sprac.CONTSEQ MK.conta.CONTSEQ VO.sprac.CONTDATE MK.conta.CONTDATE VO.srpac.ORIGCONT$ MK.conta.ORIGCONT$ VO.sprac.CONTCODE$ MK.conta.CONTCODE$ VO.sprac.METHOD$ VO.sprcm.METHOD$ (predetermined or capture form) VO.sprac.USERID$ MK.conta.CONTEXEC$ VO.sprac.FRAN$ Either predetermined or selected from capture form VO.sprac.MODEL$ Either predetermined or selected from capture form VO.sprac.NU$ Either predetermined or selected from capture form VO.sprac.SALESTYPE$ VO.sprst.CTYPE$ Either predetermined or selected from capture form
The extract process compiles all the activity information that has previously been captured and generates the files that are to be submitted to the Volvo system. When the extract runs, information is processed per dealer, and each dealer has a separate extract file. The date ranges are defaulted to have the previous Sunday as the end date and the Monday before that Sunday as the start date. No extracts are done for items recorded in the same week in which the extract is done.
When files are stored to disk, the filename is in the format of SAY*****.jjjhhmmss, where ***** is the current dealer code, jjj is the current day number in the year and hhmmss is the current system time.
To run the extract in the foreground:
From the VOLVO UK OPERATIONS MENU, select the Prospect Activity Reporting option and the Marketing company required.
The Volvo Prospect Activity form is displayed.
Enter dates for the extract to run from and to, and click the Export button, followed by Continue.
A list of dealer codes found from VO.sprdm is displayed.
Select at least one dealer code to do the extract for. If only one dealer code was found, that code is used by default without a selection form being displayed.
When the required dealer has been selected, all available information is extracted and a form containing all extract content is displayed. The extracted content can then be printed to the current selected printer or transferred to the third party via GFT.
Note: No changes can be made to the extract content when it is being viewed.
A document is attached to provide the layout of the raw text file that is created. The file that is created is a fixed length ASCII text file.
When you enter to the Prospect Activity Reporting interface, housekeeping is done on files that have previously been extracted. Files older than 365 days are purged. Note that the date of creation is not determined by the filename, but instead from the properties of the files on the file system.
This form is displayed when you select the Prospect Activity Reporting option on the VOLVO UK OPERATIONS MENU and select a Marketing company. It enables you to run a data extract manually and view, print or transmit the created file.
Menu Bar and Toolbar
Menu bar Toolbar Action File > Parameters Enables you to view and amend GDX company-specific parameters. File > Exit Returns you to the VOLVO UK OPERATIONS MENU Tools > Mapping Enables you to set up the dealer mapping, contact mapping and sales types. Help > Help Displays this help page in a web browser. Help > About Displays version and copyright information.
Date range:
From: Earliest date to be included in the data extract, selectable by clicking an Ellipsis button.
To: Latest date to be included in the data extract, selectable by clicking an Ellipsis button.
Progress:
Progress: Indicates how much of the data extract is complete as a proportion of the whole task after you click Export.
Export Tab Button:
Export: Extracts data for dates between From and To (inclusive). All available information is extracted and a form containing all extract content is displayed. The extracted content can then be printed to the current selected printer or transmitted to a third party via GFT.
Files:
Files: List of export files.
Tip: Select an export file and click View to display the content of the file in a text display form with a print facility.
History:
Last run date: Date when the last data extract was carried out.
Last userid: Autoline login of the user who last initiated a data extract.
Instance: Number of times the extract has been run.
View Tab Buttons:
View: Displays the content of the export file selected in the Files box in a text display form with a print facility.
Logfile: Displays the content of the log file in a text display form, its data under headings Export definition, Export statistics, and File transfer.
