SPM Operations

Think of Sales Performance Management (SPM) Operations as Information Technology (IT) Operations, but with a particular slant towards SPM. The graphic above contains seven (7) aspects, and this document provides more context for each of those aspects. 

ENVRIONMENTS 

SPM Operations personnel, we call them Operations Analysts at OpenSymmetry, can perform SPM Operations on any and/or all your SPM application environments. The main caveat; however, is that they have been granted login credentials and access rights to the desired, respective environments. 

DATA MANAGEMENT 

These services relate to managing data within an SPM environment. Operations Analysts can validate that a data file has been properly loaded either onto your sFTP site or your SPM environment. If necessary, the name of a data file can be renamed once it is validated. This renaming task allows for a complete history of data files to be retained in the storage environment. Finally, the validated, properly named data file is loaded into your SPM application. If automated data import routines have been established, these can be scheduled and performed per the documented schedule. Otherwise, manual data loads can also be accomplished. 

MONITORING PROCESSES 

Operations Analysts monitor various processes and track important data related to each process: success/failure or amount of time to complete. With data imports and exports, the amount of data processed can also be logged. These activities apply equally to batch jobs which were executed automatically on a schedule or manual jobs run in an ad hoc manner. Finally, the availability of your SPM application environment can also be monitored to ensure it is available to be accessed by your users. 

VENDOR SUPPORT LIAISON 

While performing these SPM Operations activities, Operations Analysts can report to your SPM Vendor on your behalf application errors which are encountered, issues which occur during data loads, plus any outages which are observed. 

AUDITS & CONTROLS 

An Operations Guide provides a complete, documented list of steps and activities to be performed by the team of Operations Analysts. It includes specific step-by-step instructions on what to do to accomplish the task as well as what to do depending on the success or failure of that task.  In addition, logs are kept showing the steps performed, the timestamp associated with performing that step, the amount time elapsed to complete, and the status. Because meticulous logs are maintained, Operations Analysts can react to operations which take too long to complete or complete too soon as well as identify various outliers which may indicate that an issue has occurred. 

REPORTS 

Operations Analysts can generate, save, distribute or archive reports from any SPM application environment, if desired. 

SERVICES 

At OpenSymmetry, our SPM Operations team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. This enables them to perform during your nighttime hours, on weekends and on holidays.  

 Article written by: Robert Jellison