Oracle Retail Merchandising System (RMS) - Location Management

Welcome again Oracle Retail fans. This post is a continuation of Oracle Retail Merchandising System Deep Dive article. You may want to visit Oracle Retail Merchandising System Overview article before proceeding on this article, however, it is not completely necessary.

The purpose of this article is to provide you a complete detail and all about RMS Location Management in RMS Foundations. You will not have to visit any other place after going through this article. This article also covers each and every detail required for Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems (RMS) Certification (Pearson Vue Exam Number 1Z0-453) preparations. Please do let me if you think anything I’ve missed to include under Location Management, I’ll incorporate those.

I’ll be taking you through following details for Location Management under RMS Foundations:

1. Organizational Hierarchy
2. Set up stores within RMS

• Store
• Store Address
• Store Custom Attributes
• Store Format
• Store Department Area
• Stop Ship (Distribution Stop)
• Activity Schedule
• Transfer entity
• Transfer zones
• Other Store Attributes

1. Set up warehouses within RMS (incl. Virtual and physical)
2. Location lists
3. Location traits
4. Cost zones
5. Wholesale/Franchise Stores and Internal Finishers

1. Set up Organizational Hierarchy

The organizational hierarchy allows you to create the relationships that are necessary in order to support the operational structure of a company. You can create a preferred organizational structure to support consolidated reporting at various levels of the company. Also, you can assign responsibility for any level of the hierarchy to a person or persons in order to satisfy internal reporting requirements.

The following default levels are used within RMS:

Company:

•          Highest level of the organizational and merchandise hierarchy

•          Only one company per instance can be defined.

•          Shared by both the organizational and merchandise hierarchies

Chain:

•          The first level below the company level in the organizational hierarchy.

•          The definition of a chain is based on the needs of the company, but a chain can be used to group various store formats, concepts, and geographical locations within the organization.

•          Typically used to distinguish brands or trading names within a company

•          The application allows up to a ten digit id

•          Chain attributes:

•          Description (free form text)

•          Manager name (free form text)

•          Currency (used for reporting)

Field	Required	Functionality
Chain ID	Yes	Unique numeric ID assigned to a Chain, up to 10 digits.
Chain Name	Yes	Name used to best describe the Chain.
Manager Name	No	Identifies the Manager assigned to the Chain.
Currency Code	No	This field contains the currency code under which the Chain operates.

Area:

•          The second level below the company level in the organizational hierarchy.

•          The definition of an area is based on the needs of the company, but an area is used typically to define a geographical group within a chain

•          Typically used to define a geographical grouping within a chain

•          An area will only belong to one chain

•          The application allows up to a ten digit id

•          Area attributes:

•          Description (free form text)

•          Manager name (free form text)

•          Currency (used for reporting)

•          Location traits

Field	Required	Functionality
Area ID	Yes	Unique numeric ID assigned to a Chain, up to 10 digits.
Area Name	Yes	Name used to best describe the Area.
Manager Name	No	Identifies the Manager assigned to the Area.
Currency Code	No	This field contains the currency code under which the Area operates.
Chain ID	Yes	Contains the ID of the Chain of which the Area is a member.

Region:

•          The third level below the company level in the organizational hierarchy.

•          The definition of a region is based on the needs of the company, but a region can be used to group geographical locations within an area

•          A region will only belong to one area

•          The application allows up to a ten digit id

•          Region attributes:

•          Description (free form text)

•          Manager name (free form text)

•          Currency (used for reporting)

•          Location traits

Field	Required	Functionality
Region ID	Yes	Unique numeric ID assigned to a Region, up to 10 digits.
Region Name	Yes	Name used to best describe the Region.
Manager Name	No	Identifies the Manager assigned to the Region.
Currency Code	No	This field contains the currency code under which the Region operates.
Area ID	Yes	Contains the ID of the Area of which the Region is a member.

District:

•          The fourth level below the company level in the organizational hierarchy.

•          The definition of a district is based on the needs of the company, but a district is used typically to group geographical locations within a region

•          One district will only belong to one region

•          The application allows up to a ten digit id

•          District attributes:

•          Description (free form text)

•          Manager name (free form text)

•          Currency (used for reporting)

•          Location traits

Field	Required	Functionality
District ID	Yes	Unique numeric ID assigned to a District, up to 10 digits.
District Name	Yes	Name used to best describe the District.
Manager Name	No	Identifies the Manager assigned to the District.
Currency Code	No	This field contains the currency code under which the District operates.
Region ID	Yes	Contains the ID of the Region of which the District is a member.

Channel:

A channel grouping mechanism for a multi-channel environment. You can associate a channel with a location when you create or edit a store or virtual warehouse.

Channel ID’s are not considered part of the Organizational Hierarchy; they are an Attribute of the Hierarchy.

The multi-channel business structure is :

•          Combination of brick and mortar stores, websites and catalog sales channels

•          New channels on the horizon: kiosks in stores or airports, palm pilots, web-enabled phones, etc. 

•          Retailers need to track the profitability of each channel. 

–         To support profitability metrics, sales and inventories must be isolated by channel 

–         RMS supports the segregation of sales and inventory by channel for both stores and warehouses

–         RDW allows for reporting at the channel level

What makes an RMS installation multi-channel?

•          System variable: retailer either is or is not multi-channel

•          If there is any possibility multi-channel will be used, should be set up at install

•          If install is multi-channel, a channel must be selected for each store and warehouse, BUT can be changed over time.

2. Set up stores within RMS

Store

Store is the lowest level of the organizational hierarchy. A Store in RMS is the actual retail location and is considered a stock holding location for the Brick and Mortar channel. Store is the level at which all business transactions occur.

 When creating a new store, the user will enter basic information like Store ID, Name, District, and Address. In addition to that a Like Store can be selected and an existing store’s items’ cost, retail, and replenishment parameters (if required) are copied to the new store.  A batch job then adds the store into RMS.  Note: Like Store functionality does not copy clearance skus to the new store.

•          Defines the physical retail location/s. Store can be Stock Holding/Non Stock Holding location.

•          One store will only belong to one district

•          The application allows up to a ten digit id

•          Level at which all business transactions occur:

•          Sales

•          Returns

•          Receipts

With RMS becoming the system of record for stores, only merchandising attributes related to functionality being used in RMS will be stored in RMS. Store attributes related functionalities that will be used are described in the next few paragraphs.

Store Address

RMS requires two mandatory addresses for each store – Business address and Postal address. Other address types as required by the business can be added as well.

Store Custom Attributes

RMS allows the addition of new attribute definitions that are specific to a retailer. These new attributes are defined after determining that those are truly required by the retailer and after, are added into the system by the system administrator. Afterward, users can store values in those attributes e.g. Longitude, Latitude, Departments available at that Store, Store Hours and Eligibility to do Ship-to-Store. 

Store Format

RMS Store Format functionality allows defining the store formats that can be applied to the stores in the organization. Some examples are Mall, Strip Mall, and Kiosk. After the formats are defined, stores in the organization can be associated with a format.

Store Department Area

This functionality allows storage of the square foot area dedicated to a given department within a given store as of an effective date.

Stop Ship (Distribution Stop)

This functionality allows Retailers to indicate when specific stores should not receive items of a particular department, class and subclass combination. This is normally used in conjunction with Allocation system.

Activity Schedule

This functionality keeps information about store availability on specific dates for shipments, receiving and sales. It can also be used for the temporary closing of stores (for reasons like fire, flooding or remodel) so that the store is taken out of comparison calculations.

Transfer entity

 Transfer entities define which locations in an organization are grouped together due to legal requirements. Transfer entities can be defined by brand, geography, country or other grouping defined by your company. Moving items between transfer entities are treated as a sale from the sourcing location and purchase by the receiving location.

Transfer zones

Transfers zones are a grouping of locations within an area. Transfer zones are set up to restrict the transfer of items to locations within the transfer zone

Other Store Attributes

Following are the other notable store related functionalities available in RMS. Let me know if you need more details for any of these:

1.        Maintenance of Competitive Store for competitive shopping purposes.

2.        Maintenance of POS Configuration like Coupon, Money Orders, Product restriction, Pay in /pay out, Supplier Payment Type, Tender Type and Touch buttons for downloading to POS registers.

3.        Store Class attribute where stores are attached to one of the store classes – A, B, C, D and E that typically classifies stores by the size (ranking by volume).

4.        RMS can have Store Grade data interfaced to it from planning systems. Store grade is typically then fed to Allocation systems.

5.        Delivery Schedule functionality allows management and maintenance in RMS of delivery schedules from either a warehouse or from a supplier to store.

6.        Geocode data is used for tax functionality.

7.        Default warehouse – default sourcing warehouse for Store for the purpose of replenishing items

8.        Store open/close – Store Open and Closed Date

9.        VAT regions (value added tax) – VAT Regions for the Store

10.     Store attributes – additional attributes may include warehouse, bank, accounting, location, and pharmacy information

11.     Location traits - Location traits are a means of grouping stores together used for Sales Audit (ReSA)

12.     Address

13.     Email address

14.     Store order dates

15.     Duns number

16.     Channel ID

3. Warehouses within RMS (incl. Virtual and physical)

A warehouse is a physical storage, cross-dock or distribution facility. A warehouse has all transaction capabilities of a store, except for the ability to sell. The warehouse will no longer be defined as a store but will be established as a physical warehouse within RMS.  In RMS, the warehouse does not need to be part of the 6 levels of the Organization Hierarchy.  The reason for this feature is that a warehouse has the ability to ship merchandise across the entire company’s organizational hierarchy.

·         Defines a physical storage, cross-dock, and/or distribution facility

·         Level at which business transactions occur, except sales

·         Can be optionally tied to any level of the organizational hierarchy for reporting

·         Activity schedule for shipping and receiving can be defined

·         The application allows up to 10 digit warehouse numbers

Stock holding indicators –warehouses

Virtual warehouse

·         Allows the retailer to have 1 physical warehouse that stocks many virtual warehouses.

·         A physical warehouse can have one or more virtual warehouses associated with it and is considered a “non-stock holding” location because the virtual warehouses are the “stock holding” entities.

·         RMS expects a Warehouse Management System to hold warehouse related attributes and hence the number of attributes maintained in RMS is very limited. Attributes that are maintained in RMS are as follows:

WH Address

RMS requires two mandatory addresses for each warehouse – Business address and Postal address. Other address types as required by the business can be added as well.

WH Attribute

Total square footage, a number of loading/unloading docks and time zone are maintained here.

Activity Schedule

This functionality keeps information about warehouse availability on specific dates for shipments and receiving.

4. Usage and Purpose of Location Lists

         In RMS, Location Lists allow stores to be grouped based on common characteristics for reporting or to drive functionality.  RMS Location Lists are lists of stores or warehouses that can be used to execute tasks or for reporting.  Lists can be built manually by selecting locations individually or by criteria such as State, Store Dates, or levels of the Organizational Hierarchy and can be set up as dynamic or static.

5. Usage and Purpose of location traits

In RMS, Location Traits allow stores to be grouped based on common characteristics for reporting or to drive functionality. Traits are first established and then associated to store or warehouse locations. Traits may include such characteristics as weather, size, or volume. Location Trait defaults can also be assigned to four levels of the Organizational Hierarchy. When Location Trait defaults are associated with a specific level of the hierarchy, then any store location added under that hierarchy level will take on the associated Location Traits. 

Below is the screenshot of setting location traits at Area level:

6. Cost Zones

RMS cost zone structures are used to group locations together to facilitate expense management.  Stores and warehouses are generally grouped into cost zones based on their geographical locations and how the items are brought to the destination.  Cost zone structures consist of Cost Zone Groups, Cost Zones, and Cost Zone Location assignments.

There are two types of Cost Zone Groups that can be created, zone level and location level.  Zone level groups have one or more locations within each zone.  Location level zone groups have one zone for each location.  Location zone groups may be required if there are different expenses required for each location, but also require a higher level of maintenance than zone level.  Expenses can vary at a zone level (i.e. for a group of locations). 

An example of a zone level group is shown below.

Zone structures have several rules in RMS:  

• Cost Zone Groups may contain one or more Cost Zones while Cost Zones may contain one or more locations. 
• A Location may belong to Cost Zones in different Cost Zone Groups, but within a given Cost Zone group, a location can only exist once. 
• A location may only belong to a single Cost Zone within any given Cost Zone Group. 
• All locations (including warehouses) must belong to a Cost Zone Group. 
• Within a Cost Zone Group, locations can move from one zone to another. 
• When you enter a new Cost Zone Group, all locations must be added to the group.
• When a new location is added to RMS, the location is assigned to existing Cost Zone Groups and Cost Zones based on the zoning location selected during the setup of the store or warehouse.

Within RMS, all items are associated with a Cost Zone Group upon initial item set up.  A change to the item’s Cost Zone Group does not affect item basic cost but will impact expenses and the Estimated Landed Cost (ELC).   

Creating Cost Zone Group:

Field	Required	Functionality
Cost Zone Group ID	Y	Contains the identification number of the zone group in which the zone is located.
Cost Level	Y	Contains the pricing level of the zone group. Valid values are: ‘L’ = Location ‘Z’ = Zone ‘C’ = Corporate There will be one record with a Location cost level, but there can be an infinite number of records with a Zone cost  level.
Cost Zone Group Description	Y	Contains the description of the cost zone group.
Like Group	N	This can be used to copy from an existing Cost Zone Group.

Creating Cost Zone:

Field	Required	Functionality
Cost Zone ID	Y	Contains the zone identification number which uniquely identifies the zone. If the cost level of the zone group is store, then the zone will be the store number.
Cost Zone  Description	Y	Contains the name of the zone. If the cost level of the zone group is Store, then this column contains the store name.
Currency	Y	This field contains the currency code for the zone. Each zone will have a currency code attached to ensure that each store location associated with the zone shares the same currency.
Base Cost Indicator	Y	Indicates whether or not this zone will be used as the default for the base cost zone. Valid values are ‘Y’ and ‘N’.

Field	Required	Functionality
Location Type	Y	This field indicated whether the value in the LOCATION field is a store value or a warehouse value. Valid values for this field are: S – Store W – Warehouse
Location ID	Y	Contains the store or warehouse number which uniquely identifies the location. Whether this field contains a store or warehouse is determined by the LOC_TYPE field. If the cost level of the zone group is Location, then the location value will be equal to the zone value. There must be exactly one record for every store and warehouse in every zone group.
New Zone ID	Y	Contains the zone identification number of the zone within the zone group. If the cost level of the zone group is Location, then the location value will be equal to the zone value.
Primary Discharge Port	N	Allows the user to select a Primary Discharge Port for the location.  This is used for defaulting in the Expense functionality.

7. Wholesale/Franchise stores and Internal Finishers

Wholesale/Franchise

This functionality allows retailers who also operate a wholesale business to support the merchandising functions for wholesale operations. This functionality is activated or deactivated based on system option settings. When a wholesale/franchise return to warehouse is shipped, RMS publishes an ASNOut message to RWMS so that RWMS has an ASN shipment number to receive against.

Internal Finishers

Transfers with finishing require that the items on the transfer are worked on before they arrive at a final location. Works on items are completed at finishers. Finishers can be internal or external. Internal finishers are part of the company and are typically located in an area of the warehouse. External finishers are set up as a partner to the company and may be located off site

A finisher does work on items, such as adding buttons, ironing, hanging, tagging and so on. There are 2 types of finishers: internal and external. Internal Finishers are considered part of the company, and typically is an area of a warehouse that does the work. Internal Finishers are set up similarly to Virtual Warehouses in RMS, but have an additional indicator selected to identify them as finishers rather than virtual warehouses. External finishers are not considered to be a part of the company and are set up as Partners in RMS.

This was all about various aspects of Location Management in RMS. Looking for more or think anything else too needs to be covered. Please do let me know.

In next article, we are going to dive more in Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems and understand all about RMS Merchandise Hierarchy. 

You may also want to refer to parent article Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems - Deep Dive. Do drop a note/comment in case you have any question, comments or feedback. 

Note: source of images are Oracle/Google

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About Nagesh Mishra

Nagesh Mishra - A Passionate Oracle Retail Certified Professional with more than 17 years of overall experience in IT industry and more than 15 years of domain expertise in Oracle Retail Applications. Worked extensively in diversified fields of Product Implementation, Business Consulting, Pre-Sales, Application Software Development, Maintenance and Support and Re-Engineering Oracle Retail projects.