Sales channel management can be fairly tricky in terms of data quality, because the systems keeping the sales channel data range from the core systems to field systems to excel sheets. The data issues mentioned below are typical of the field systems, which are not part of your core production/ERP systems.
Sales Channel Master Data:
The masters related to sales persons (especially in terms of their addresses, their active/inactive status, the products which they are allowed to sell etc.), can be inconsistent across various systems. This is more of an issue with those field & frontline systems, which do not have seamless integration with the core systems. Master Data Management is one way to help this issue.
Excel
This is a common issue which you will find in all field activities. Many of the field activities are managed in excel and for good reasons. As excel is a standalone data repository, not linked with the core system. it can generate information which will not be in synch with the core system.
Non-production related information
There is a large amount of non-sales related information, which is relevant for overall channel management. For example, Sales training information, sales hiring and retention information, sales channel outlet management etc. There are plethora of systems, which are used to manage these activities. Due to the diversity of these systems, sometimes this information is not included in the BI models, and is handled separately. For example, if you want to find out the sales performance linkage to the number of training days attended and the kind of trainings attended, you may have to do it outside of your BI platform.
Non-linkage with the information from 3rd party channel
Some-times are 3rd party distributors, do not have the level of information you want to do for a good analysis. For example, you may be interested to find out on which 3rd party outlets are selling higher value re-fill/pre-paid cards. This information may not be available with your 3rd party provider, who may not be maintaining its inventory flow at this granular level.
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