Conference ilbbak::us_sales_service

    AMEN!  My manager has insulated those of us in sales support from this
    madness, but I've heard about it from alot of others in sales support.
    
    I for one wholeheartedly agree with you concerning SBS - we were told
    at one time that any hours reported over 40 were TRUNCATED back to 40!
    Also, its one of the most user-hostile systems I've ever seen.
    
    As for the reward/recognition mechanisms, I agree as well.
    
    Keep plugging away, we'll muddle through somehow.

    
    	Greg,
    
    	First I agree with you BUT you've got to slow down a little.  There
    is nothing 'new' happening here.  It's called bureaucracy - for a
    definitive reference, read C. Northcote Parkinson's many books on the
    subject generally called "The Law Of ..." or "Parkinson's Law" starting
    as early as 1958.  They are also entertaining (so you don't lose your
    mind :^).
    
    	Relax, all those 'managers' will be chhanged over in 18 months
    anyway and they'll have a whole net set of pet programs for us.
    

    
    
    
      Regarding .1 
         David, it's nice to know John is dealing with the "BS", and you
    guys can go about your business. I'm in the same boat, my mgr. deals
    with the headaches, while we do our jobs.
    
         Unfortunately SBS is the best we've got today. I've been with DEC
    for 11+ years, and we haven't gotten it right yet. I have yet to sit
    in a sale support meeting, that SBS was not a major topic. One of the 
    most often "vented" complaints, "THE SYSTEM IS LIKE DEATH! I need to
    put in at least 2 hours of admin. just because it takes that long to
    get my SBS data in."
         There's got to be a better, more accurate, way of accounting for
    our time.
    
    
    
                                             Phil... 
    

    I understand this note has had some visibility in the upper ranks of 
    New England.  I also understand that some people in Texas had a few
    phone conversations about these issues.
    
    I told my manager I would post the status in here to follow up from .0. 
    My manager and I had a long talk about PPPs and other issues today.  We
    went over my PPP, line by line, and talked about the whole thing.  We
    came to an understanding on this issue I can live with.  My PPP needs a
    couple minor changes, and then I'll sign the dad-blamed thing.  
    
    re: My suggestions in .0 for how to make life better in the field.  I
    understand these suggestions touched some sensitive nerves back east.
    All I can say on that is, the current system is making lots of peoples' 
    nerves out here at the bottom of the chain of command sensitive, too.  
    And these issues touch our nerves plenty hard.  
    
    - Greg Scott

    I griped about the system in .0 and offered some suggestions.  Here is
    an attempt to add some concrete ideas to my suggestions to fix the system.
    
    First, I propose we remove the word, "resource" from the Digital
    vocabulary.  All of us, top to bottom, are people, and we should refer
    to ourselves that way.
    
    Here is how the system should work for technical support people in the
    field:
    
    Every year, account managers decide how much of what kind of support
    they think they will need for the following year.  This gives everyone
    a picture and forecast of the business needs and skill sets required.
    
    Next, unit managers and technical people should go thru the PPP process
    as it was laid out summer 1991.  Come up with a bunch of  goals for the
    year and sign off on those goals.  These should be results oriented
    goals, not "time-spent" oriented goals.  Since the process involves
    everyone with a stake in the outcome, the resulting sets of goals
    should make business sense as well as personal sense for everyone.  At
    minimum, the goals should represent a compromise between personal and
    business needs.
    
    Periodically, technical support people and their managers should check
    progress against the goals laid out.  And technical support people
    should be measured on how well they progress against these goals.
    
    How do you charge back account managers for the people they use? 
    How do you make them accountable?  The current system depends on an
    elaborate time reporting mechanism that does not work and that nobody 
    understands.  Get rid of it.  
    
    Instead, I propose using the PPP goals as a natural enforcement
    mechanism.  If support people and their managers have an agreed-upon
    plan in place, based on the forecasts from account managers, then the
    system should tend to work correctly.  The accountability mechanism
    becomes progress against the plan, not time billed to an account
    manager.  For P and L purposes, just charge the account managers a
    fixed price at the beginning of the year and get it over with.
    
    This idea has lots of benefits.  First, it removes the incentive
    throughout the organization to "interpret" the time reporting numbers
    and make questionable business decisions.  It removes an unnecessary
    layer of  complexity from our day to day lives.  It removes an
    instrument of fear and paranoia from the field.  And it saves money by
    removing the massive infrastructure required to feed it.
    
    This proposal also has intangible but equally important benefits.  The
    proposed system treats our technical talent more like professionals by
    trusting people day to day to do what makes sense.  Since the
    enforcement mechanism is progress against goals, rather than accounting
    for a 40 hour work week, people should begin to feel better and more
    positive about theier workplace.  This can only result in increased
    productivity.
    
    - Greg Scott

	I would second the motion to get rid of SBS.  I understand the
	benefit of knowing where time is being spent, particularly on a
	software project.  But from a support standpoint, it is very
	difficult to account for all time spent for one customer.

	Example:  I am out with a customer.  That customer asks a question
	that I am unable to answer.  However, it is a theoretical-type of
	question and not one for which the customer really expects an answer.
	I come back to the office and spend an hour researching to come up
	with an answer.  For customer relations, I call the customer an 
	provide him with an answer.  However, the answer has bearing on
	several customer situations.  How does the hour get charged?

	I have been charging time like this to learning.  Learning about
	technologies, concepts, and products that assist me in my field(s)
	of expertise.  But we are told that we are spending too much time
	learning.  And I only count the time as learning if I am doing it
	from 8-5.  I have been with Digital for 12 years.  We haven't (in
	that period) gotten time reporting right yet.

	We use a percentage figure for contracts people and other non-direct
	people.  (Notice I didn't say `resources, Greg.)  If we are unable to
	get the contracts processed with the people we have, and the
	contracts managers know that their people are doing their jobs up to
	their capabilities, we go out at get more contracts people.

	It seems like the same can be done with Sales Support.  Use the PPP
	as Greg is suggesting.  The manager's direct involvement in regularly
	reviewing and coaching each suppport person will ensure that
	resources are being utilized to each individual's capabilities.  If
	each person is being fully utilized, and sales still needs more in
	order to close business, well, QED.

	SBS is needed for the billing of customers for the PSS folk, so we
	cannot get rid of it entirely.  As I said at the beginning, detailed
	time tracking is required for projects.  But the system has not
	worked for sales support for many years.  MBWA is a much better way
	for management to know how their people are working.

	My vote is to eliminate SBS for Sales Support.  Think of the expense
	savings that would be!

tgc

    Hmmm - .7 referred several times to the fact that SBS is built for
    project time reporting. And here, I always thought it was so
    complicated because it was built for SALES SUPPORT time reporting!
    
    Ask any program or project manager - SBS is just one of the three sets
    of books that you and your team have to maintain (the real set used to
    run the project, plus two more sets for various bureaucracies). As for
    supporting T&M ("PSS") work, using SBS to generate CLARs is like using
    a thermonuclear device to light a cigar.
    
    Computer systems attempt to model the real world. The model driving SBS
    no longer exists (if it ever did). So, people have to use their
    imaginations to shoehorn what they do into SBS' model. People don't
    "lie" to SBS; SBS just asks the wrong questions. The result is that 
    the data in SBS doesn't represent anything that anyone can use to run
    any business. At least, IMHO.
    
    I wonder, do the "users" of SBS data understand a) what this data is
    *truly* costing to collect and b) that it is not an accurate
    representation of anything interesting? I think not. The universal
    response is to "believe" SBS, and to tell people that they are doing
    their jobs all wrong, too much admin time, buncha lazy slobs, etc. 
    
    Oh well. No biggie - you just shoehorn reality into SBS differently,
    right?

Per their request I sent the following note to DELTA this afternoon. I
also attached my original memo from DIGITAL notesfile reply 1797.5.

I can remember many meetings over the years where the subject of SBS 
and time reporting came up. I can also remember a bunch of us at the
bottom of the org chart saying over and over again:

DON'T USE SBS NUMBERS TO MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS. THEY ARE TOTALLY 
INACCURATE.

Now it seems that's exactly what we intend to due. Note follows.
************************************************************
Jim

Thank you for your interest in my concern about our metric systems.
Per our discussion, I have attached my original note. Please feel free 
to discuss it with anyone who may wish to review the situation.

In the last 2 days I have been contacted by many field people about these
issues and they unanimously agree. The system is hopelessly flawed. Some
suggestions based on those talks:

   1. Just shut the SBS system down. Entirely. Completely. Now.

   2. Return the PPPs back to their original format and intent of last
      summer. Many individuals have had to write 4 and even 5 PPPs since
      last July. 

   3. Channel some of the enromous amount of time, energy, and money being
      spent on SBS into developing a new, meaningful, and simple time 
      reporting system. Implement the new system concurrent with FY93. FY92
      time reporting mechanisms should be considered a lost cause.
      
   4. A good place to start might be with sales support time usage survey 
      recently sent out to groups of field people, myself included. At least
      this survey has fairly accurate categories that define what it is we
      do on a day to day basis.

Getting started on these things will have an enormously positive impact on 
field morale. And, from my perspective, that's the first thing we need to 
accomplish to get this company rolling again. 

Please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Rgds,

Gene Haag, Network Consultant
Minneapolis, Minnesota.

    
    RE: .8
    
    > the "users" of SBS data  ...  The universal
    > response is to "believe" SBS, and to tell people that they are doing
    > their jobs all wrong, too much admin time, buncha lazy slobs, etc. 
    
    Gad!  Keep these people away from customers!  This is EXACTLY the kind
    of thing we're trying to help our customers solve. If WE are the
    company that 'invented' Enterprise Integration, we ought to listen to
    the people in the field that are delivering it (or working with those
    who are).  What we need is a dose of our own medicine.
    
    	How about that for a DELTA idea?  Put several (hundred?) FIELD
    people on special assignment in GMA to 'consult' with headquarters on
    an advanced Management Information System.  I suppose that we could
    'educate' another hundred or so 'experts' at corporate by sending them
    on a 2 year field assignment. If we did it right, it wouldn't cost
    anything, right?
     
    Jerry

    I have to concur with all of the preceding regarding SBS.  I'm a PSSM. 
    Last week I had to log into SBS to enter time for one of the
    Consultants in my group.  He had to go to training, had tried to do it
    himself, but the system was down.  I do know how to use the system from
    a previous life as a SWS PSS delivery manager.  It took me 45 minutes
    to get the data in.  I ran a few numbers and figured out that I am
    losing over a month and a half a year of productive time to SBS! 
    Multiply this by the number of the sales support specialist in the
    country and you will have an appallingly large number.

    This might be justifiable if the system produced anything resembling
    useful or meaningful information as a payback for the investment.  I
    agree.  Shut it off.
    
    Sandy

    I received an inquiry from one of the CAM'S I support the other day -
    HOW DID WE SPEND 2.1 MAN MONTHS ON xxx ACCOUNT IN FEBRUARY, when we
    went back and looked at what we, the sales support folks, entered
    into the system in feb., we came up with 123.5 hours, since 2.1 mm
    is approximately 321.5 hours, I'm at a loss to explain where the extra
    200 hours came from.  SBS IS BROKEN! Or else someone or something 
    is padding the hours in order to cover 'overhead' (which I don't
    use, no 'secretary' etc...).  We should turn it off and redevelop
    it using our customers models to do so.  (You would be suprised at
    what customers do with ALL-IN-1 applications in the areas of sales/
    sales  support effort tracking...)
    
    The current situation is intolerable, I don't care WHOSE 'sensitive
    nerves' get twitched!!!!!!

    You might want to have the CAM run the report that shows who charged
    what time to his account.  The reports that you get from SBS will only
    cover your unit(s).  We have seen some unknown names charging time to
    some of our accounts.
    
    Based on our experience, I would expect your 120 hours of account time
    to result in about 150 - 180 hours of time billed to the account
    (extra due to overhead ie. vacation, holiday, training, unit
    manager...).
    
    From my explorations I have not found that SBS is broken but there are
    some mysteries in the connections between SBS and the account reporting
    system (where the CAMs reports come from).
    
    Peter Dillard

    I might be able to offer some insight where these numbers come from -
    numbers charged to a customer from completely out of the blue
    someplace in another part of the country.  
    
    Here's an example of how it happens:  A couple years ago, back in the
    days before people made real business decisions from SBS, I did some
    work for an electric utility power pool called MAIN, in the Chicago
    area.  I tried to report my time to MAIN and I searched all over SBS to
    try and find something close.  The best I could find was something to
    do with the  state of Maine.  Not even related, but the characters were
    close and SBS validated it in the data entry fields.  I put a comment in 
    the bottom field explaining the whole thing.
    
    Now, get this - I live in Minnesota, did some work for MAIN in Chicago,
    and charged the time to somewhere in the state of MAINE.
    
    To this day, when I report SBS time, I try to do the best I can.  But I
    also have to fill in fields with stuff this crazy system will accept. 
    For example, it doesn't like "3M" or "3 M", or "Minnesota Mining and
    Manufacturing", or anything else I can think of that's close.  So any
    time spent with 3M usually ends up as "ALL OTHER CENTRAL", or somewhere
    with the State of Minnesota, depending on which data entry field I'm
    stuck on at the time.
    
    This actually works out well for me because I'm not supposed to charge
    time to 3M anyway.  And, since I can't find 3M in the system, I end up
    not charging anything to it - unless I can remember one of the 6 digit
    codes that means "3M" to the system.  So the 3M CAM doesn't get billed 
    for much of my sales support time.  
    
    Group Health, Inc. is another example.  This is a large HMO in
    Minnesota.  Now, I am supposed to charge lots of time to Group Health
    Inc.  The system has about a whole screenfull of Group Health
    whatever's.  I usually pick the top one from the list.  I have no idea
    if this is my "real" Group Health, or if it is some insurance company
    in Puerto Rico or Alaska or someplace.  Or maybe my "real" Minnesota 
    Group Health has a zillion entries in the system.  Beats the heck out
    of me!
    
    How many sales support people are there in the USA?  I'll bet more than
    1000.  Multiply what I do times every sales support person in the USA. 
    The result is chaos.
    
    To their credit, our local management team realizes the current system 
    is a mess.  So we plan to consolidate all the SBS data entry with one
    person.  All of us will fill out sheets that list our time, the
    customer, and sales rep for everything we do.  We will give these to
    the person in charge of SBS data entry, and she will interpret the
    numbers and enter them into the system.
    
    This is controversial because there are evidently guidelines on what
    percentages of our time should be charged to which categories.  Look in
    the HUMANE::DIGITAL notesfile, number 1797.*, for a long discussion on
    that subject.
    
    In defense of our local management, this is the best they can do to
    cope with this situation.
    
    The problem is, SBS data entry and reporting consumed a full time
    person in our office until 3 years ago when it was decided we would all
    do our own data entry.  Now, the data entry burden will shift from us
    back to a single person again.  And I am afraid we will again consume a
    full time person just to report how we spend our time.
    
    - Greg Scott

    It's not surprising that many, and I mean MANY, accounts find time
    charged to them out of the blue. One day I got so frustrated trying to
    get my time in that I started doing Gold L's for certain fields. After
    awhile I found out that I could really do some wierd stuff.
    
    For example, I once put 8 hours in for an account in Rochester, MN, and
    charged it to a sales rep who retired 9 months earlier, and used a
    customer number associated with Arizona State University - the alma
    matta of the current sales rep of the account in Rochester. I defy
    anyone to tell me who REALLY got charged that 8 hours.
    
    Gene Haag

The reason SBS will NEVER get fixed is that no one has ever organized
the requirments for what is is supposed to do.  A few months ago I
attended a meeting being presented by IS to discuss problems with SBS.
Unfortunately different organizations want different things from SBS.
For example some groups want billing information, some groups want to
find out how much time is being spent on particular accounts, some
groups want to find out utilization rates.

To meet the requirements of all the different groups would require a
system of great sophistication, which obviously SBS is not.  We have a
system that has a terrible user interface, loses data, is horribly
slow, and whose input varies depending upon what the powers-at-be say
they want to see.  The truely scary  thing is that there actually are
people in this company who are using SBS reports to make business
decisions.

Anyone who has had to any of our other information systems knows that
SBS is not unique.  Digital's internal IS systems are a mess.  I have
heard stories from marketing people along the lines of "We have DECbang
program targeted towards our VAX 10,000 customers.  The only problem is
we can't find out from IS who has actually bought a VAX 10,000 so we can
send a mailing."

So what's to be done about it?   My suggestion is that we do away with
IS altogether.  Since we have a field organization that is supposed to
provide complex system management, solutions architecture, systems
integration, and software development to major corporations why not
practice on Digital?

So what's the major defect in my logic?  Taking Digital IS and changing
it's name to Digital Services doesn't accomplish anything.  We have come
full circle back to the single biggest problem within Digital:
ISOLATION.  How many people working on SBS (developing, planning, or
managing) have worked in any of the organizations that use it?  I bet
you few, if any.

Many major companies make a concerted effort to rotate their personnel
to different areas of the corporation.  For example, last week I was
talking with the wife a a sales rep. for another company who was being
transfered for a two year tour in the corporate HQ.  We have no such
program going on.  In fact we do as much as possible to discourage it.
How many times have I heard sales folks tell me about a intesting job
that saw posted in marketing...unfortunately there was no relocation so
for all practical purposes it is only available to folks already in GMA.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has worked with an industry focused
engineering programs that went down nowhere because the engineers
sitting hundreds of miles away from the industry did what was
interesting/technically correct but could not be sold becuase of lack of
value to the customer?  Is it any wonder that Digital has been a failure
at developing applications when we have almost all of our Engineering
spends its entire career in one tiny part of the country?  Is it any
wonder that our best known successful application, ALL-IN-ONE, did not
come out of that environment.  (Yes, I do know that there have been
unsucessful attempts at setting up industry related engineering outside
of GMA. I also know that the siting these groups has sometimes been the
result of personal reasons of managers than good business sense.) 

Think of the value of having people who have run Digital's IS
developing solutions for customers...or having people who have developed
solutions for customers do the same for Digital?  Think of the
applications we might come up with if folks from Engineering spent tours
of duty in the field or even among different engineering groups.  Think
of the advantage of having marketing or engineering folks in the same
building as real sales reps.  People could learn about real life
problems in real time.

We hear about how the 90's are going to be the decade of the small
company.  Well this is the big difference between a small company and a
large company.  In a small company the sales reps, the managers, the
engineers, and the marketing folks are all in one place where they can
communicate (and visit customers).  As the company groups people move
around to different areas.  

We are not going to be able to make SBS work without being able to put
together industry and engineering experience in one place.  If we can't
put a solution together for Digital we can't expect to put one together
for our customers.

By the way, wouldn't having internal delivery organizations devlop internal
systems be a good way to keep them busy and in practice during hard
times. 

I relenquish the soap box.

John

>> they want to see.  The truely scary  thing is that there actually are
>> people in this company who are using SBS reports to make business
>> decisions.

BINGO!!! And a lot of very good and needed people could unnecessarily lose 
their jobs/careers with Digital as the bean counters count on. 

Gene.
    

    re: Replacing/renaming IM&T to Digital Services;
    
    SBS has nothing to do with the IC's reality because it's requirements 	
    are not set by IC's. Don't blame IM&T. They correctly implement what
    they are *paid* to implement, just like Digital Services would. Those
    doing the paying set the reequirements.
    
    I don't know. It seems to me that somebody(s), somewhere(s), are trying
    to use SBS *instead* of managing. I mean, shouldn't a first-level
    manager be able to describe and competently discuss the activities of
    their IC's? As opposed to printing a report out of SBS and reading it
    aloud to their managers-to-the-nth-power?
    
    And, what use has a fourth level manager for a report of how, to the
    nearest minute, IC's are spending their time? Even if SBS were perfect,
    what possible use is this information to anyone? The first level
    manager already knows (or should). Upper level managers hired the first
    level manager to, well, *manage* the IC's, right? 
    
    So what problems are SBS and SBS-related directives trying to solve?
    Are IC's lying? Are n-level managers not planning, directing,
    monitoring and controlling their reports as directed by n+1-level
    managers? If these are the problems, will they be solved by making IC's
    be more creative in reporting their time to SBS? 
    

    
    	Re:  Last few re: SBS and other Misinformation Systems
    
    	This situation is the unfortunate result of our corporate culture
    which is based on RELATIONSHIPS rather than reason.  We do NOT run this
    company 'by-the-numbers', instead programs get approved based on
    presentations, budgets are approved based on who you know, assignments
    to management positions are based on loyalty, etc.  No-one gets
    measured by the actual results their program(s) produce, otherwise most
    of the program managers would be replaced after their first product
    review.  This allows multiple groups within DEC to claim credit for the
    same sale, each claiming that their efforts leveraged the result.
    
    	In this environment, it's Impossible to create an accurate
    Information System since the people in power don't WANT to be measured! 
    This will hopefully change as NMS matures.  Someone at the end of this
    FY is going to be held to task if we continue to lose money.  With any
    luck, only those programs/managers that actually lost money will be
    cut.  But keep in mind that the first numbers used for production costs
    came out of the OLD system and have little basis in fact (we flat don't
    know what the Total production cost is! :^(
    
    	How we proceed into FY93 will be the turning point for DEC.  Either
    we continue the old system (and go down hill) or we turn this company
    around!
    
    Jerry
    
    

Hello Sales & Support Noters.  I'm the IM&T Group Manager for Digital Services
Projects & Consulting businesses, and for Sales Support.  The SBS application,
which has been getting the heat in this note falls in my application portfolio.

In the spirit of open communications, which I believe is the goal of this
conference, I've attached a short status report on SBS direction that was
put together in response to some of the discussion happening here.  

We, in IM&T, care about the quality of our products, and the opinions
of our user base.  

Dave Doxey
US Digital Services IM&T
Call me with questions or comments:  DTN 297-3826




SBS Status Report for Notes File People
---------------------------------------


  The main reason that SBS isn't simply "shut down - now" is that it processes
  all of the customer orders and invoices for a major portion of the Projects
  and Consulting businesses in Digital Services.  

  SBS also collects effort and expenses used to feed a number of internal
  business processes, including New Management System, general ledger labor
  accounting, and various Sales & Service cross-charging processes.  It does
  a very good job of managing a very complex set of data and passing it on
  to the various accounting and reporting systems.  The SBS tool is old, and
  not very user friendly, but it works.  Quality of data that people entry
  determines the value of data coming out.

  We, in IM&T, are trying very hard to replace SBS.  We have limited resources
  and must continue to keep the business running while we build for the future.
  Business support from Sales Support management is excellent.  Digital
  Services business support has been slower in coming, as forming the new
  organization and business practices are a higher priority.

  Following is a brief walk through of major SBS functions, with a look at 
  current plans for improvement.  It's meant only to respond to some of the 
  flames in this Notes conference, and to help you understand what we're 
  planning on doing.

Order Fulfillment & Invoicing

  Most critical function, as it's on the customer order fulfillment and
  revenue path for the corporation.  Must conform to thousands of policies,
  procedures, audit requirements, and financial accounting rules.  Key on the 
  journey to the replacement of SBS is providing for order fulfillment and 
  invoicing elsewhere.  Toward this goal, we will simplify and move order 
  and invoice functionality to the Order systems (FOCUS, Single Invoice, etc.)

Labor and Activity Tracking & Reporting

  There are different needs for Sales Support and Digital Services.  Sales 
  Support needs to track activity by customer and account.  Digital Services 
  needs to track labor for billable projects, and to forecast activity by line
  of business.

  Sales Support Activity 

  Plans are to implement a new, simpler, system for Sales Support, linked
  to Sales effort systems, and completely separate from Digital Services
  and SBS.  This will be done in two phases, the first of which is nearing
  completion, and will provide a Sales Support front-end application which
  is easier to use, and feeds it's data to SBS.  This is intended as a very
  short term effort, aimed at reducing the time and inconvenience of Sales
  Support SBS use for activity data entry.   Phase two will provide a
  total disconnect from SBS, and be a client-server system, with both VT
  and MS Windows clients, connected to a VMS server.  Sales Support recently
  received the first IM&T application to use MS Windows. It's a regional
  Executive Information System, replacing SBS reporting - but using SBS data.

  Digital Services Labor
 
  Collection of labor for Digital Services billable work will be simplified,
  and tied to a larger, SI driven, CPR/PAARS effort to organize and streamline 
  project and program management and accounting.

Forecasting and Opportunity Management

  Initially envisioned as a core for budgeting and forecasting for the EIS
  business, this functionality of the original SBS system no longer used to 
  it's design potential, due to major business process changes, and lack of 
  focus on SBS by business management.  Digital Services has another system 
  (BSS), which will be enhanced to provide this functionality.  BSS will be 
  linked to SBS labor and ordering capabilities.  Components of BSS and SBS 
  will be combined and enhanced to form the nucleus of single a new system.

Project/Program Registration

  Again, a process that is underutilized in the current SBS implementation.
  This is being totally replaced by the CPR/PAARS effort led by SI.  CPR will
  provide consistent Program/Project/Activity registration and identification
  across the corporation, and support it with accounting processes, budgeting,
  forecasting, and reporting.  This will eliminate the need for much of the
  project structure overhead in SBS.   Project management capabilities of SBS
  will be replaces with automated linkages to MTT supported project management
  tools.  All of this work is being led by business and technical people
  who have Field experience at Digital, and have been brought in specifically
  to design this process and system.


Skills & Training

  SBS also provides for reporting of employee skills and training.  Use of
  this capability varies by organization.  General feeling is that this 
  capability is needed, but that current SBS capabilities need improvement.
  Skills is being looked at by several business teams and task forces.  With
  luck, we will be able to get agreement on needed functionality and buy or
  build appropriate support software.

Technology

  The technical architecture for these systems is based upon a client-server
  model, with VMS based servers supporting PC-based clients (MS Windows) and
  VT Terminals (VMS clients).  We are tied in with the various efforts which
  will roll out PC's to Sales & Services field people.

IM&T Resources

  SBS has been in "maintenance-only" mode for about a year.  The only changes
  being made are to support required business process changes, to fix 
  significant bugs, or to improve response time wherever possible.

  There are generally one or two developers supporting SBS (contrary to
  popular belief that we're spending heavily on SBS).  We are, however,
  investing in CPR, BSS, and the new Sales Support system. These will form
  the next generation of field applications.

  Realize that downsizing at Digital hit IM&T first, and hit very
  hard.  The IM&T group that supports the application portfolio in which
  SBS resides was reduced by 50% in FY91.  During FY92, the formation of
  Digital Services from Customer Services and EIS caused a real challenge to
  the supporting applications due to the coming together of some very different
  business models, and the definition of many new policies & practices.

Want to help?

  Suggestions are welcome on improving the process.  Suggesting that we
  simply turn off SBS doesn't help much (we're trying).  Complaining to
  IM&T about metrics, job planning, etc. doesn't help either.  Tell us
  how you'd like to use a system.  Will you have access to a PC?  Will it
  be on the net or dialup?  Will you enter your own hours, or use an
  administrative person or secretary to do entry?  What features do you
  like or dislike with current systems (not just SBS).  Etc.  etc...  You
  get the idea - What would you ask your customer when upgrading their systems?

Here are some forums where you can really let loose with ideas & opinions, and
go on record indicating how to improve the applications.  Perhaps the business
process folks will start one to work on improving the underlying processes.

SBS Notes file:   USDEV::USEIS_SBS

ATS (New Sales Support System) Notes file:  USDEV::ATS  (just getting started)


- end -

    First off, thank you VERY MUCH!  It is heartening that we are being 
    listened to, and that you DO have a plan to make things better.  I
    think most of us realize (at least those who have worked in EIS) that
    SBS cannot simply be shut down.  We ARE venting a large amount of 
    frustration and anger that things haven't gotten better faster.
    
    What I hope has come out of this is the realization (by upper
    management, and also middle management), that SBS numbers for sales 
    support will need to be taken 'with a grain of salt' and should not be
    used as the be-all/end-all authority for people (NOT RESOURCE)
    utilization/allocation.  I'll post my inprovement suggestions in the 
    notesfiles mentioned.
    
    Again, thanx.... Ds.

Re. .20

Dave,

Thank you very much for the response. I applaud your efforts.

I can only speak for that portion of SBS that affects me. It's all I have
experience with. And that portion is the time accumulation and reporting for
sales support people (not resources). There are two sad facts about that 
portion of the system that has a lot of people scared and shouting to 
"shut it down".

  1. The numbers are not reflective of what sales support people do day in
     and day out. We have sent that message to our management on MANY
     occasions. You stated that the system is only a good as the numbers
     fed into it. I didn't see any mention in your note about adressing
     this problem. We need to. It's very important.

  2. Everytime the topic of SBS time accumulation and reporting comes up
     in our meetings with management it is stressed that people ARE making
     business decisions based on these numbers. That's exactly what we tell
     them they must not do. I know there's nothing you can do about that.
     Like Dave said in -.1, management must take "with a grain of salt" the
     validity of those numbers. My fear is they are not, people will be
     hurt, and careers severely affected.

The total cost of this portion of SBS to the corporation is quite high. A
lot of time is spent entering the numbers. And God only knows how many
levels of management spend countless hours in meetings analyzing the numbers.
It's a pity we can't put a total dollar figure on all that activity. 
Because if we could, it just might be worth the effort to convince management
to "just shut down" that portion of SBS and channel the money to you so that
you can speed up the SBS enhancements and get more people working on it. That
alone would be an enormous morale booster to those of us being affected by
this system.

Again. Thanks for your response.

Gene.

    
    RE: .20
    
    Thanks, Dave, that was an excellent response to the users.  Most of us
    have little idea about the extent of the system.  We just deal with the
    UI and complain.
    
    	You asked for suggestions, here's mine:
    
    	It appears that the 'system' is too big, that it tries to do lots
    of interelated things with a monolithic approach - hence you can't shut
    it down.  
    
    	How much analysis has been down on modularizing the system,
    for example, Order Fulfillment is done during/after order placement
    while Forecasting and Opportunity Management are done before this
    happens.  Similarly Skills & Training _should_ be managed at the
    Personnel-Account/Program Management level while Labor & Activity
    Tracking/Reporting are done at the lower/middle levels. 
    
    	 Has any attempt been made to divide the functions horizontally 
    and vertically so that you could 'fix' one part and replace it without 
    shutting down everything?  This approach could also help with the
    determination of where Sales, Sales Support, Digital Services and Order
    Fulfillment overlap.  The areas where they don't should be custom to
    their needs while the overlaps must satisfy both, obviously.
    
    	Have any of our Consulting Tools (TOP-Map, RAMS, IEM, etc.) been
    utilized?  How about consulting groups such as Management Sciences or
    the FABS group in SI?  
    
    	I believe that we, as a corporation, have the ability and the tools 
    to improve our internal processes and that we have the obligation to help 
    save this company.  If we keep bickering and saying it's someone else's 
    problem, we'll ALL be on the street. 
    
    	Let's get some teamwork going to help solve this, we can work out the
    budgets later.
     
    	Now, what can I do to help you?
    
    Jerry
    BBG in Seattle

RE: .20

The problem is that no one has decided what our business problems our
information IS systems supposed to solve.  The lessons taugh in
laboratory exercises for any emperical science would be of value here. 

What is SBS supposed to measure for a sales support person?  The answer
you'd most likely get is that SBS is supposed to measure the a
specialist spends on each account and activity so the management can see
what the staff is actually doing.  SBS IS ALSO USED TO MEASURE SOFTWARE
SPECIALISTS AS WELL!!!!  SBS proves Heisenberg was right.  Just as you
can't measure position and momentum in the same experiment you cannot
use the same system to measure Sales Support Activities and Sales
Support Specialist Performance as well.

What SBS actually measures is one's skill in entering SBS data.  When
SBS is used to measure Sales Support Activities its accuracy is related
to some uncertainty principle. (dx * dp > h)  In other words the better
people get at making their SBS look good the more inaccurate the data
from SBS becomes for determining what people are actually doing.

Most everyone in the trenches remembers the blatent cheating that went
on with the customer satisfaction surveys.  Parading a specialist in
front of a customer and telling them that if they did not give Digital
perfect customer satisifaction score then they were going to give the
specialst a bad review may have generated a higher than normal number of
10s but it certainly did not measure customer satisfaction.  Entering
SBS time has become a skill just as "managing" customer satisfaction
scores was.

This problem cannot be solved by improving SBS or building a new
information system.  The fact that SBS is a terrible to use is just a
symptom of an even darker problem that lies underneath.  Digital has an
obsession with counting things.  You can count dollars.  You can count
system shipments.  You cannot count customer satisfaction.  You cannot
count sales support contributions towards sales.  (You can count
integers and you can count rational numbers but you can't count real
numbers). 

John

re: .20

>                         -< IM&T Status Update on SBS >-
>
>Want to help?
>
>  Suggestions are welcome on improving the process.  Suggesting that we
>  simply turn off SBS doesn't help much (we're trying).  Complaining to
>  IM&T about metrics, job planning, etc. doesn't help either.  Tell us
>  how you'd like to use a system.  Will you have access to a PC?  Will it
>  be on the net or dialup?  Will you enter your own hours, or use an
>  administrative person or secretary to do entry?  What features do you
>  like or dislike with current systems (not just SBS).  Etc.  etc...  You
>  get the idea - What would you ask your customer when upgrading their systems?
>

	Access to a PC?  Sometimes.
	On the net?  Sometimes.
	Dial-up?  Sometimes.
	Enter own time?  Sometimes.
	Admin enter time?  Sometimes.

Given past history, all these permutations are possible and likely!

I'm the Planning & Operations Managers for U.S. Sales Support and report 
to Bob Schmitt, the manager of U.S. Sales Support.  I and other members 
of Bob's staff monitor this notes conference to learn more about what's 
on the Field's mind and to address issues such as those being raised 
about Personal Performance Plans and SBS/NMS.

After reading the comments and responses around this topic, it's 
apparent that I need to address both of these areas.  If after reading 
the following, you have additional questions or issues to discuss, 
please feel free to post your issues or give me a call at DTN 297-3845. 

Personal Performance Plans (PPPs) 
---------------------------------
  
In the next reply to this note, I've attached a copy of one of the 
communications which was sent to Sales Support managers early this 
fiscal year.  It covers the guidelines that were established for use of 
the PPPs by Sales Support.  There were several clarifying communications 
sent after this one, but it's correct at the 95%+ level.  I won't 
re-cover all that is addressed in this memo, but rather just emphasize 
the important points.

PPPs were intended to be an extension of the Personal Performance & 
Appraisal Documents that have been used by Sales Support and EIS in 
previous years.  Compare them and you'll see only small differences in 
the performance areas addressed.  Both have a combination of individual 
and team quantitative financial goals, as well as qualitative goals 
associated with business development, customer satisfaction, and 
professional development. 

Several of the issues PPPs were intended to address are :

    Provide a common goaling mechanism for all members of the account 
    selling team, i.e. Sales, System Sales Support, & Services Sales 
    Support, that would drive integrated, supportive behavior between 
    all members of this selling team.

    Provide a framework for common recognition programs designed to 
    reward both the individuals and teams who contributed to Digital's
    success.

This year's PPPs did introduce a change for both Sales and Sales Support 
from previous years.  For Sales, the more qualitative and subjectively 
measured second page of business, customer, cost reduction, and 
professional development commitments, represented a commitment to 
measuring more than just "the numbers" in determining eligibility for 
recognition.

For Sales Support, the change was from the two-tiered criteria used for 
DECsupport 100 last year, (some people accepted measurable financial 
goals while others were subjectively chosen), to a requirement for 
measurable financial goals for all.  This change was consciously made to 
help focus us, as members of the selling team, on activities which 
achieve results.  The inherent difficulty in measuring the results of 
our Sales Support efforts, was recognized through guidelines which 
allowed for a variety of measurement vehicles.   These included but were 
not limited to "shadow" certs of accounts and account sets supported, % 
of Sales Reps supported achieving DEC100, or % of assigned projects 
closed.  Other criteria that could be agreed to by PSSMs and Account 
Group Managers were also acceptable. 

The industry and expertise assignments several people mentioned were 
also never intended to be "goals" or measurement criteria.  These along 
with other information in the header of the PPP were only intended to 
provide "profile" type information for the entire account selling team 
which did not exist for all elsewhere. 

Finally, PPPs for Sales Support were not intended to represent the tool 
for a complete performance review.  They established the recognition 
goals for FY93 whose achievement would certainly be a part of any 
review, but managers were expected to use this as part of an overall 
assessment of performance which would include other factors as well.



Activity Reporting : SBS/NMS
============================

I couldn't agree with you more that SBS is an abomination of a system. 
I used it for seven years myself as a Field SWS Manager and cursed it 
a good portion of that time, though I did learn how to use it to get 
the job done, be it delivery or Sales Support.

Perhaps my punishment for having cursed it so much was having it handed 
to me about a year ago as a problem to fix.   Progress has been slower 
than needed but changes have been happening in the back room which you 
should soon see. 

Given that people are both our most valuable and most expensive 
resource,  it's important that some understanding of how they are being 
utilized and what impact they are having be known.  Business decisions 
about the utilization of a 2400+ System Sales Support organization 
should probably not be made based upon anecdotal information. For this 
reason, we plan on continuing to utilize an activity tracking system, 
but we must have one which is significantly less complex, easier to use, 
and more responsive. 

To get us to this end, a three step process is being utilized.  

    Upgrade the computing platforms that the current SBS systems run
    on.  By throwing hardware at the current system,  some short term 
    relief from some of the sluggishness of the system can be 
    realized.  Upgrades have been completed in the Central, South, and 
    West and are planned in the East.  If you are still experiencing 
    non-responsiveness that you believe is network or platform related 
    let me know.

    Improve the user interface of the existing system.  A new, Sales
    Support oriented user interface has been developed, field tested
    in parts of the South, and is currently being installed across the
    U.S. Known as the Sales Support ATS, Activity Tracking System, it
    provides a spreadsheet-like screen which allows you to copy
    previous activity records and update them with new activity times
    and codes, eliminating the need to re-locate customer codes or
    sales rep badge numbers.  All Sales Support personnel should have
    access to this new module by April 6th.  Field test users have
    indicated that it is easy to learn and significantly simplifies
    much of their data entry; however, it is intended only as a 
    temporary solution. 
    
    Design and implement a new system better suited to Sales Support's
    needs.  One of the advantages of Sales Support's move to Sales is
    our ability to define and provide for our needs independently of
    the services organization.  Our system must still provide for the
    flow of effort and expense between the Sales and Services
    organizations, but it can be much more tailored to our needs and
    less encumbered with the order processing and billing functions
    that are currently an integral part of SBS.   A first draft of the
    business requirements of this new system has been developed and is
    being reviewed by a cross section of Field users.   The
    implementation of this new system will be based on a client/server
    architecture that will provide for input from PCs and workstations
    as well as the traditional terminal devices. 
    

Many of the comments in this topic concerned the use of activity 
information by managers for local and NMS reporting.  I've attached as a 
reply to this note, a detailed explanation that was provided to PSSMs 
and Account Managers last fall which will give you more information than 
you probably ever wanted to know about how the system works. 

The key concepts are simple however.  All we ask of specialists and 
consultants is to tell us what you actually did via SBS.  When the 
effort was significantly related to the support of a customer, we ask 
you to tell us which customer it was for.  

Information from this "raw time" data, such as actual hours, (40+ if 
reported), of support by account and support by Sales Rep has been 
provided to managers through a set of field defined SBS reports for many 
years.  This information is available to Sales Support managers to be 
used in local resource planning, to quantify support levels, and/or 
assist in identifying where an individual had spent their time during 
the last review period. In the past some managers chose to use this 
information while others did not.

However, with the introduction of the New Management System, much 
greater focus has been placed on this information.  As you know, a basic 
goal of NMS is to allow us to make better decisions about how to run our 
business at a more local level based upon a better understanding of what 
revenues and costs are associated with each major account or set of 
smaller accounts.  Sales Support effort is both a significant 
contributor to the financial results obtained in an account and to the 
overall expenses incurred in obtaining those results.

We chose to use the information already being obtained from you via SBS 
as the most expedient way of measuring the effort/cost of Sales Support 
in an account.  NMS uses the "raw time" from SBS, (could be 40 hrs a 
week or 60 hours a week), to allocate the cost, (based on local Account 
Group cost/person), back to the customers that you said you supported.   
To do this, it does normalize to standard person/months and 
proportionately spread the non-customer specific time such as admin, 
vacation, and training back to those same customers.  Remember, we are 
only trying to associate effort/cost with accounts not bill Sales.  We 
are part of Sales and are paid for by them whether we're used or not. 

Given all of this, there are no "right" numbers that Sales or Sales 
Support managers are being told to manage to.  In some cases, the 
increased focus on the NMS information provided about Sales Support 
effort deployment has shown us that individuals and organizations are 
not telling us what customers they are supporting but rather are using 
defaults or other inaccurate methods to report time to SBS.  In other 
cases, though accurate, the admin time reported to accounts has seemed 
high and this has led to meaningful discussions between Sales and Sales 
Support management about how to better utilize your time.  Reporting of 
admin time to account managers is also helping to educate them on the 
realities of budgeting for the total amount of Sales Support needed as 
they do for Sales Reps.  

At no time should you or any manager "cook the numbers".  This will
accomplish nothing for anyone.   In the end, Sales Support deployment
decisions should still be based upon good judgment about where to
best utilize our scarce resources.  NMS effort reporting will simply
show us the results of that deployment. 

A final issue that was mentioned in passing was the Sales Support 
Activity Survey that some field personnel were recently asked to 
participate in.  The comments in this topic together with our own 
understanding of the limitations of our current system confirm the 
believe that we cannot depend upon SBS dependent information.  Given 
that, we chose to develop another set of data points based upon a sample 
of our Sales Support population.  This method also has its limitations, 
but we hope to combine the two approaches to give us a more accurate 
view of where we spend our time so that we can improve the effectiveness 
of the entire Sales Support organization.

There's a lot of words here, but a lot of issues have been raised.  Once 
again, if you'd like to discuss any of these issues in more detail, 
give me a call at DTN 297-3845.

Regards ...

    
    The following memo should be read in conjuction with 87.26 to better
    understand how PPPs are intended to be used by Sales Support personnel.
    


                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     22-Jul-1991 03:31pm EST
                                        From:     Margot Walthall @MRO
                                                  WALTHALL.MARGOT
                                        Dept:     Sales Support Planning/Program
                                        Tel No:   (508) 467-3838

TO: See Below

Subject: FY92 Personal Performance Plans for Sys Sales Spec and PSSMs           

Attached, for your information and for distribution within your
organization, is a document describing the FY92 Personal Performance
Planning Process for Systems Sales Specialists and PSSMs who
are members of the Sales Support organization.

Included is an overall description of the process, an outline
of the PPP components and their application and four example 
PPPs (three for systems sales specialists and one for a PSSM).
These materials are meant to supplement the information previously
distributed (electronic and printed copies of PPP and Recognition
Pamphlets) which was directed at all members of the Account Selling 
Team Organization.   


Regards,


    
                              U.S. SALES SUPPORT
    
                     PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLANNING PROCESS
    
    Systems Sales Specialists, Application Integration Executives (AIEs) 
    and  Sales Support PSST (Specialty) Managers will participate in the 
    Personal Performance Planning (PPP) goaling process developed for use 
    by all members of the account selling teams.  Each individual's and 
    team's performance against established PPP goals will be used to 
    determine achievement of DEC100 and TEAM100 awards and to determine 
    eligibility for participation in Circle of Excellence (COE).
    
    In past years, U.S. Sales Support implemented a comprehensive 
    Performance Management Program designed specifically for all individual 
    contributors and managers in our organization.  This program 
    encompassed Performance Planning, Performance Appraisal, Salary 
    Evaluation and Award/Recognition Programs Nomination and utilized a 
    single Performance Planning and Appraisal (PPA) document as the 
    foundation for this broad set of objectives.  
    
    In FY92, we will continue to provide managers with the PPA to assist 
    them, as needed, with building comprehensive performance and appraisal 
    plans.   However, it will be made fully consistent in nomenclature and 
    structure with the Personal Performance Planning (PPP) to ensure that 
    these plans can be used as integrated tools for performance management 
    and recognition.
    
    The Personal Performance Plan (PPP) may be viewed as a subset of the 
    PPA which documents an individual's priority performance goals that 
    will be used to determine recognition program achievement.  Other parts 
    of the PPA can be used to extend the goaling and evaluation process to 
    cover detailed training objectives (through the use of the Personalized 
    Training Plan--PTP) and to provide a structured methodology for 
    performance appraisals and salary reviews.  The latter can be 
    accomplished though the use of weighting schemes and point evaluation 
    methods to develop an overall performance weighting for an individual.  
    The PPA also contains a "General Skills Coaching Guide" which can be 
    used to identify critical skills for an individual and to define 
    professional and personal development goals to strengthen skill areas. 
    
    Use of the Personal Performance Plan (PPP) is required for all systems 
    sales specialists, AIEs and PSSMs.  Use of any of the additional 
    elements within the FY92 Personal Planning and Appraisal (PPA) document 
    will be the decision of local management.  Personal Performance Plans 
    should be completed within three weeks of the finalization of the Sales 
    organization's PPPs (targeted for July 12th).
    
    We are also exploring the use of the PEGASYS and SIDB systems to 
    automate Sales Support employee demographic information, collection of 
    PPP quantitative goals, and posting of quantitative results against the 
    goals, wherever possible. 

    Attached are all the supporting materials required to complete the 
    Personal Performance Plans (PPP) for all Systems Sales Specialists 
    and PSSM who are aligned with the Sales Support organization. Included 
    is a short document covering team assignment, assignment of 
    quantitative and qualitative goals and the overall goal-setting
    process. In addition, we've included four (4) example PPPs for
    Sales Support :
    
        ---Systems Sales Specialist Aligned with an Account
        ---Systems Sales Specialist Aligned with an Account Set 
        ---Systems Sales Specialist on a Specialty Team that may
           cross accounts or account sets
        ---PSSM who is a member of the Sales Support organization 
    
    The target date for release of the broad-based Sales Support 
    Performance Management Package which includes the comprehensive PPA is 
    August 8.  At that time, we also plan to communicate the approach for 
    use of PEGASYS and SIDB to automatically collect and report the goals 
    and actuals.   

                              U.S. SALES SUPPORT
     
                         PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLANNING
                      FOR SYSTEMS SALES SPECIALISTS AND PSSMS
    
    Team Selection and Assignment of Team Goals :
    
    Systems sales specialists should be assigned to appropriate account, 
    account set or specialty teams by looking at the technical support work 
    they perform on behalf of the accounts organization. Those specialists 
    and AIEs who spend greater than 50% of their effort with a single 
    account should be assigned to that account team. Others who support 
    multiple accounts within a single account set should be assigned to the 
    account set team. Systems sales specialists who typically have 
    applications or technology expertise required by accounts in multiple 
    sets should be assigned to specialty teams.
    
    All cross-functional members of a team share the same quantitative and 
    qualitative team goals. These are the evaluation criteria for achieving 
    
    TEAM 100 recognition.  Please see the generic Personal Performance Plan
    summary (distributed electronically on 7/1/91 and in printed pamphlet
    form on 7/15/91) for further discussion of the team assignment and
    goal-setting process. 
    
    Assignment of Individual Quantitative Goals :
    
    There is significant flexibility in assigning each systems sales 
    specialist to an appropriate quantitative target, consistent with 
    the type of technical support he/she performs and with his/her 
    affiliation with the accounts organization structure.  For many
    individual contributors, this goal is expressed in "percentage terms," 
    to recognize the fact that systems sales specialists as "team members"
    cannot be expected to ensure the success of all members of the team.  
    Please see the the matrix on the next page for examples of this.
    
    The matrix on the next page outlines approaches to team assignment, 
    team goaling and assignment of individual quantitative goals for 
    systems sales specialists and managers.
    
    Assignment of Individual Qualitative Goals :
    
    Each systems sales specialist, AIE and PSSM should also be assigned a 
    minimum of two goals in each of the categories shown on the second page 
    of the Personal Performance Plan (Business Generation, Cost Reduction,
    Customer Focus, Professional/Personal Development, Other).  These 
    should be aggressive targets and expressed in measurable terms, so 
    that the evaluation criteria are understood by the manager and 
    employee.
    
    Examples of possible generic goal types by category are provided in the 
    attached.  Refer to the sample PPPs for specific examples for the
    various types of systems sales specialists (as defined by their
    relationship to the accounts organization).

    Personal Performance Plans for PSSMs :
    
    Consistent with approach to be used in establishing PPPs for Sales 
    Managers, PSSMs should use the PPP format designed for managers. 
    The Management Excellence goal defines the percent of PSSM direct 
    reports who need to achieve BOTH their individual quantitative and 
    qualitative goals.
    
    Quantitative goals for PSSMs should generally represent the collective
    dollar goals of the individual contributor sales specialists (product 
    sales specialists, systems sales specialists, CS and EIS sales 
    specialists, as appropriate) reporting to the PSSM.  An example
    of this is :  total certs goals for three specified account 
    sets, for the PSSM whose people align with those three account sets. 
    
    Process for Completing Personal Performance Plans (PPP) :
    
    The FY92 organizational design being implemented to support the
    red and blue line account needs in your geography will influence
    the approach your AGMg will take to defining the process for
    completing the PPPs for systems sales specialists and PSSMs.
    
    Because the systems sales specialist and PSSM goals will tend
    to be derived from the account and account set goals of the 
    salespeople they support (especially the quantitative goals),
    we are recommending the target for PPP completion for Sales
    Support be two to three weeks after the sales organization's
    completion of the PPPs.  
    
    The principal contact for support across the accounts organization
    is the Measurements Coordinator assigned by your AVP. Additional 
    support is available from the Sales Support Development Manager 
    (formerly called Regional Sales Support Managers) aligned with your 
    V.P. or from Elden Saathoff @MRO, U.S. Sales Support Planning Manager.  
    
    
    



                               PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (PPP)    
                               SYSTEMS SALES SPECIALIST AND PSSM    
                               TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL QUANTITATIVE GOALS


System Sales Specialist:       Team Type	   Team Goal		     Individual's Quantitative Goal

1.  Account - aligned	       Account		   Margin $ and %      	     Any of the following types of examples 
    			       			   			     may be appropriate for any of the 
    			       			          		     systems Sales Specialist Account/ 

2.  Account - set aligned      Account Set	   Either		     Alignments:			      
    			       (usually 	   margin $ and %      	     Total $  example: $.x M in Certs or
    			       entire  		   for 1 or more       	     Ships (Channels)	in a specified        
    			       Sales Unit)	   P&LS or Certs	     app/tech area or a few specified                  
    			       			   and expenses for	     app/tech areas (e.g. $1.8M in Imaging
    			       			   entire unit		     Certs from Acct Group 124)
    			       			   		     OR   
3.  Aligned with multiple      Specialty	   Typically total     	     Total units examples: X of Y pipeline
    sets or multiple	       			   certs for all     	     opportunities of a given app/tech type
    accounts that cross sets       		   account sets      	     close in FY92 for Account Set
    			       			   as appropriate    	     (e.g. 6 of 8 pipeline opportunities in
    			       			   (may be a subset  	     mfg. app. for the Dupont Acct Grp close 	            
    			       			   of the Acct 	     	     in FY92).	
    			       			   Group's total)
    			       			   		     OR
    			       			   		     	     X of Y Sales reps supported in account 
    			       			   		     	     set XYZ make their quantitative goals,  
    			       			          	     	     (e.g. 7 of 10 (70%) of Sales Reps 
    			       			   		     	     supported in the Telecomm IV acct unit
    			       			   		     	     make their certs goals in FY92.)
    			       			   		     OR	       		      					      
    			       			          	     	     Product Sales of X units across the 
    			       			   		     	     account group, (e.g. Workstation Sales
    			       			   		     	     of 400 Units across the Acct Grp.)



PSSM:

Aligned with multiple	       Specialty	   Typically total   	     Typically total certs or ships for 
sets or multiple accounts      			   certs for all       	     the account sets and/or accounts your 
that cross sets		       			   account sets	     	     PSST unit supports (i.e. may be 
    			       			   as appropriate    	     subset of total account group certs 
    			                           (may be subset    	     or ships).		              
    			       			   of acct group's           		  
    			       			   total)


                        PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (PPP)
                      EXAMPLES OF GOAL TYPES BY CATEGORY
                      SYSTEMS SALES SPECIALISTS AND PSSMS
    
    Business Generation:
    
    o New Accounts/Projects in specified application or technology areas
    
    o SI Project Wins
    
    o Product/Service Targets
    
    o Proposal Development
    
    
    Cost Reduction:
    
    o Optimization of support resource usage (e.g. Local Support,
      Resource centers, Remote Sales Support, Benchmark Resources, 
      Demo Centers, etc.) through careful management on behalf of 
      account managers
    
    o Personal travel expense reductions through better advance planning
    
    o Organization of specific multi-customer events (seminars, DECdays) 
      aimed at productivity improvements resulting in decreased "Cost of   
      Sales" 
    
    Customer Focus:
    
    o Project management (on behalf of account manager) on key sales
      opportunity requiring technical expertise
    
    o Reference Account development in specified application and technology       
      areas
    
    o Influence with key technical resources and/or IS executives at       
      account
    
    
    Professional/Personal Development:
    
    o Achievement of defined level of technical expertise (e.g. Partners     
      status) in a particular application or technology area
    
    o Participation in a Focused Technical College or seminar in a
      particular application or technology area
    
    o Mentoring of other systems sales specialists/cross-team training 
    
    o Coordination, development and delivery of seminars, DECdays,     
      technology overviews
    
    Other:
    
    o "Client" goals shared with other members of account teams
    
    o Leadership in resource planning meetings
    
    o Effort reporting commitments (SBS accuracy by account)
    
    o Utilization of on-line tools like VTX, NOTES, Distributed
      Proposal Database System (DPDS), Personalized Communications
      System (PCS), as appropriate (could alternately be considered as 
      a Cost Reduction goal)  
    
    o Participation in cross-functional task forces (e.g. PACESETTERS)


				ACCOUNT SELLING TEAM
                           PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (Individual)
                                      FY92

	EXAMPLE: SYSTEM SALES SPECIALIST ALIGNED with an ACCOUNT
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+--------+
| Name                                | Badge                        |Date    |
|      JANE TABOR                     |        207643		     | 6/12/91|
 -------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Account (Set)                       | Location                   Code       |
|      CONSOLIDATED FOODS             |        CHICAGO                        |
+-------------------------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| Job Code                   Title                     |Function              |
|      52 AE               SOFTWARE CONSULTANT I       | SYSTEMS SALES SPEC.  |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Industry               % | Industry                % | Job Specialty        |
|      PROCESS MFG    100  |                           | ULTRIX               |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Team Type                        Name                            Code       |
|      ACCOUNT              CONSOLIDATED FOODS                   94321X       |      
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Eligibility:                                                                |
|              TEAM100, DEC100, COE 	                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|                           MARGIN               ORDERS    EXPENSES           |
|                +----$----+----%----+      +---------+----------+            |
| TEAM GOAL #1   |  1.5M   | 9.5     |      |         |          |            |
|                +---------+---------+      +---------+----------+            |
|                                                                             |
|                      	                                                      |
| TEAM GOAL #2  Expand Digital's Presence into Confections and Frozen Foods   |
|                                                                             |                      
|               Divisions with Key Orders in FY92                             |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SECTION 1:  QUANTITATIVE                                                    |
|                                                                             |
|    Individual Goal                                                          |
|                      	                                                      |
| TOTAL   +---------+                                                         |
| DOLLARS |         |   of:  ____________________              	              | 
|         +---------+                                                         |
|                                                                             |
|   OR                                                                        |
|                                                                             |
| TOTAL   +---------+  	                                                      |
| UNITS   | 80%     |   of:  Sales Reps Supported (4 of 5) Achieve Their      |
|         +---------+        Quantitative Goals                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                  |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:   |
|                           |                           |                     |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+

                                      -2-




     PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN:  COMMITMENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL MEMBER ON TEAM


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+                                                                              
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 2:   BUSINESS GENERATION                                           |
|                                                                            |
|      o  Drive Proposal Development for Marketing / Distribution System for |
|         Frozen Foods Division that leads to 1.5M win                       |
|      o  Act as Key Technical Consultant Support to Program Manager on SI   |
|         Opportunity in Beverage Products Division                          |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 3:   COST REDUCTION                                                |
|                                                                            |
|      o  Increase Efficiency of Account's use of ACTs/demo facilities and   |
|         Resource Center Specialists thru Careful Planning and Scheduling   |
|         on Behalf of Account Manager                                       |
|      o  Work with Acct Mgr to Define systems performance evaluation 	     |
|	  techniques that can provide reliable predictive results in Beverage|                                
|	  Products opportunity in lieu of a benchmark.                       |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 4:   CUSTOMER FOCUS                                                |
|                                                                            |
|      o  Develop Reference Site Potential for Sales & Marketing Application |
|         Sold to Confections Division                                       |
|      o  Present Comprehensive Digital Technical Overview to IS Director &  |
|         Staff                                                              |
|      o  Develop Contacts with 5 Key Technical Advisors in Frozen Foods     |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 5:    PROFESSIONAL / PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT                          |
|                                                                            |
|      o  Design, Coordinate & Deliver Ultrix Seminar for Acct that can be   |
|         Replicated Across Account Group                                    |
|      o  Attend Ultrix Technical College to Attain Partner Level Proficiency|
|         in this Speciality                                                 |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 6:    OTHER                                                        |
|                                                                            |
|      o  Drive Monthly Systems Sales Specialist Needs Planning Meetings with|
|         Account Manager and Reps.                                          |
|      o  Ensure all personal Sales Support effort is accurately reported to |                                                                            
|         SBS System.                                                        |                                                                   |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                 |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:  |
|                           |                           |                    |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+

                              ACCOUNT SELLING TEAM
                           PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (Individual)
                                      FY92

	EXAMPLE: SYSTEM SALES SPECIALIST ALIGNED with an ACCOUNT SET
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+--------+
| Name                                | Badge                        |Date    |
|     Bob Lynch                       |      40342                   |6/12/91 |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Account (Set)                       | Location                   Code       |
|  Manufacturing Set (Unit Cost Ctr)  |      Dallas                     SCA   |
+-------------------------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| Job Code                   Title                     |Function              |
|  52 AF                  Software Consultant II       |   System Sales Spec. |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Industry               % | Industry                % | Job Specialty        |
|   Manufacturing      70  |       Chemical        30  | Manufacturing Applic.|
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Team Type                        Name                            Code       |
|   Account Set     Mfg Set (Entire Sales Unit All Booking Ctrs) RBC123X      |      
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Eligibility:                                                                |
|              TEAM100, DEC100, COE                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|                           MARGIN               ORDERS    EXPENSES           |
|                +----$----+----%----+      +---------+----------+            |
| TEAM GOAL #1   |         |         |      | 12.4 M  |  1.4 M   |            |
|                +---------+---------+      +---------+----------+            |
|                                                                             |
|                      	                                                      |
| TEAM GOAL #2  Secure 500+K wins at 3 new Manufacturing firms in FY92        |
|                                                                             |                      
|              ____________________________________________________________   |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SECTION 1:  QUANTITATIVE                                                    |
|                                                                             |
|    Individual Goal                                                          |
|                      	                                                      |
| TOTAL   +---------+                                                         |
| DOLLARS |         |   of:  ____________________              	              | 
|         +---------+                                                         |
|                                                                             |
|   OR                                                                        |
|                                                                             |
| TOTAL   +---------+  	                                                      |
| UNITS   | 5 of 7  |   of:  $500+K Pipeline Opportunities in Mfg.            |
|         +---------+        Application as of 7/1/91 close in FY92           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                  |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:   |
|                           |                           |                     |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+


                                      -2-



     PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN:  COMMITMENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL MEMBER ON TEAM


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+                                                                              
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 2:   BUSINESS GENERATION                                           |
|      o  Close 2 MRP II Opportunities of $500 K each                        |
|      o  Develop close working relationship with 3 Digital manufacturing    |
|         partners who may be key influences in buy decisions in Account     | 
|         Set                                                                |
| SECTION 3:   COST REDUCTION                                                |
|      o  Manage ACT usage and Resource Ctr requests for account set to      |
|         ensure optimal return on resources                                 |
|      o  Reduce personal travel expense by 10% from FY91 through better     |
|         advance planning for airfare & other travel-related expenses       |
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 4:    CUSTOMER FOCUS                                               |
|      o  Develop excellent working relationship with 2 senior consulting    |
|         engineers at 123 mfg to influence enterprise-wide CIM strategy     |
|      o  Achieve reference site status for new Inventory System to be       |         
|         installed at JIT Manufacturing                                     |
| SECTION 5:    PROFESSIONAL / PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT                          |
|      o  Develop NAS expertise thru attendance at technical seminar         |
|      o  Assume responsibility for organizing and managing quarterly        |         
|         DECdays/presenting CIM specialty seminars to customer base         |
| SECTION 6:    OTHER                                                        |
|      o  Train Sales Reps in Account Set to deliver Intro to CIM            |
|         presentation to their accounts                                     |
|      o  Serve as Account Group's Individual contributor participator to   |
|         PACESETTER Productivity forum; solicit comments / information from |
|         peers wherever appropriate                                         |
|      o  Team with Customer  Svs Sales Spec to influence major opportunity  |
|         in facility mgmt area at New Venture Manufacturing                 |
|      o  Ensure all personnel effort is accurately reported, by account,    |
|         to SBS System                                                      |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                 |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:  |
|                           |                           |                    |


                              ACCOUNT SELLING TEAM
                           PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (Individual)
                                      FY92

     EXAMPLE:  SYSTEMS SALES SPECIALIST MEMBER of SPECIALTY TEAM SUPPORTING
               MULTIPLE SETS     
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+--------+
| Name                                | Badge                        |Date    |
|     Steven Lee                      |     143919                   | 6/12/91|
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Account (Set)                       | Location                   Code       |
|     Pennsylvania PSST Team          |     Blue Bell, PA          SOU        |
+-------------------------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| Job Code                   Title                     |Function              |
|     52 AE                 Software Consultant I      | Systems Sales Spec   |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Industry               % | Industry                % | Job Specialty        |
|              NA          |               NA          | Imaging Technology   |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Team Type                        Name                            Code       |
|             Specialty         Pennsylvania PSST                 765432      |      
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Eligibility:                                                                |
|              TEAM100, DEC100, COE 					      |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|                           MARGIN               ORDERS    EXPENSES           |
|                +----$----+----%----+      +---------+----------+            |
| TEAM GOAL #1   |         |         |      |  77.8M  |  10.3M   |            |
|                +---------+---------+      +---------+----------+            |
|                                                                             |
|                      	                                                      |
| TEAM GOAL #2 Generate 6 new Accounts through Certs of $500 K each           |
|                                                                             |                      
|              ____________________________________________________________   |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SECTION 1:  QUANTITATIVE                                                    |
|                                                                             |
|    Individual Goal                                                          |
|                      	                                                      |
| TOTAL   +---------+                                                         |
| DOLLARS | 4.5 M   |   of:  Imaging System Certs across Account Group        | 
|         +---------+                                                         |
|                                                                             |
|   OR                                                                        |
|                                                                             |
| TOTAL   +---------+  	                                                      |
| UNITS   |         |   of:  ____________________                             |
|         +---------+                                                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                  |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:   |
|                           |                           |                     |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+


                                      -2-



     PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN:  COMMITMENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL MEMBER ON TEAM


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+                                                                              
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 2:   BUSINESS GENERATION                                           |
|	o  Co-develop MIS Account Strategy at ABC, Inc. with Acct Mgr to     | 
|          Recognize 1.5 M Sales by end of FY92                              |
|       o  Influence Imaging Business Potential across Acct Group through    |
|          Proposal Development of 3-4 separate proposals to key Imaging     |
|	   Prospects	                                                     |
| SECTION 3:   COST REDUCTION                                                |
|	                                                                     |
|       o  Conduct Quarterly "Introduction to Digital" Technical Seminars    |
|          for New Accounts Across Account Group                             |
|       o  Act as Resource Coordinator on behalf of PSSM to optimize use of  |
|          local resources before involving other escalation processes       |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 4:    CUSTOMER FOCUS                                               |
|                                                                            |
|       o  Present and/or Demonstrate our Imaging Strategy and Product       |
|          offering to 10 Different Accounts in FY92                         |
|       o  Work with Imaging Marketing Unit to Design a Customer Executive   |
|          seminar in Imaging directions and opportunities                   |
|                                                                            |
|                                                                            |
| SECTION 5:    PROFESSIONAL / PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT                          |
|       o  Organize & Develop an Imaging Seminar to be Offered to all Accts. |
|          across Account Group                                              |
|       o  Participate in Focused Technical College in Ultrix and/or Imaging |
|          to build Technical Expertise                                      |
|       o  Mentor Jim Johnson, new Systems Sales Specialist, in presentation |
|          skills & general Technical selling techniques                     |
| SECTION 6:    OTHER                                                        |
|       o  Work with EIS Program Manager to Develop Strategy & framework for |
|          Major SI Proposal to Global Pharmaceuticals, Inc.                 |
|       o  Achieve a Personal Score of 8.5 on Local Sales Satisfaction       |
|          Survey                                                            |
|       o  Ensure all personal effort is accurately reported by acct, to SBS |
|                                                                            |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                 |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+
|Individual:                |Account Mgr:               |Account Group Mgr:  |
|                           |                           |                    |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+
+---------------------------+---------------------------+--------------------+


                              ACCOUNT SELLING TEAM
                           PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (Manager)
                                      FY92
    PSSM
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+--------+
| Name                                | Badge                        |Date    |
|     Marilyn Stone                   |        142011                |6/12/91 |
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Account (Set)                       | Location                   Code       |
|  North Texas/Oklahoma PSST          |  Dallas                      SCA      |
+-------------------------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| Job Code                   Title                     |Function              |
|  52 AM               System Sales Manager I          |System Sales          |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Industry               % | Industry                % | Job Specialty        |
|              NA          |                NA         |   PSSM               |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+
| Team Type                            Name                       Code        |
|   Speciality                  North Texas/Oklahoma PSST          123456     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Eligibility                                                                 |
|               Team 100, DEC 100, COE                                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                           MARGIN              ORDERS    EXPENSES            |
|                    +----$----+----%----+   +----------+----------+          |                     
|   TEAM GOAL #1     |         |         |   | 80.0 M   |  13.2    |          |                     
|                    +---------+---------+   +---------+-----------+          |
|                      	                                                      |
|   TEAM GOAL #2   Generate 4 new million $ Accounts across Account Group     |
|                                                                             |
|                  _________________________________________________________  |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SECTION 1: MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE                                            |
|                                                                             |
| Percent of Direct Report Achieving Personal Performance Plan  70%           |                                                                             
|                      	                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SECTION 2:  QUANTITATIVE (List each account separately)                     |
|                                                                             |
| A. ACCOUNT ___________________________ Margin $__________ Margin %_________ |   
|                                                                             |
|    AMID #  ______________________                                           |  
|                                                                             |
|          AND/OR                                                             |
|                      	                                                      |
| B. TOTAL ORDERS  +------------+  TOTAL EXPENSES +--------------+            |
|                  |  35.5 M    |                 |  1.8 M       |            |
|                  +------------+                 +--------------+            |
|                      	                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                  |
+-----------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+
|Account Mgr            |Account Group  Mgr      |Account Vice-President      |
|                       |                        |                            |                           
+-----------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+



                                      -2-

PERSONAL PERFORMANCE PLAN:  COMMITMENTS FOR MANAGER

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
| SECTION 3:   BUSINESS GENERATION                                            |
|      o  Drive new services business opportunities to augment the revenue    |
|         base by $10 M in FY92 across the 3 acct sets the PSST team supports |
|      o  Win 2 VAX 9000 System Sales within account sets the unit supports   |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
| SECTION 4:   COST REDUCTION                                                 |
|                                                                             |																						       	
|      o  Organize workshop on productivity & expense mgmt for all members of |
|         PSST team to define methods/techniques that can be shared by all    |
|         members of the team                                                 |
|      o  Reduce Unit's travel expense by 10% over last year through better   |
|         management of advance bookings and special fares                    |                                                                                    |
|                                                                             |
| SECTION 5:   CUSTOMER FOCUS                                                 |
|      o  Conduct customer satisfaction visits with 5 major accounts          |
|         specified by the AGM with the goal of improving our technical       |
|         responsiveness in critical situations                               |
|      o  Ensure that all systems Sales Specialists in my organization have   |
|         developed and submitted to Reference Exchange 2 referenceable wins  |
|         in their appropriate application/technology specialization          |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
| SECTION 6:   PROFESSIONAL / PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT                            |
|                                                                             |
|      o  Develop PTP (Personal Training Plans) for all members of PSST team  |
|         by 10/1/91                                                          |
|      o  Develop personal expertise in Program/Project Mgmt techniques in    |
|         preparation for possible program management position with large     |
|         account                                                             |
|                                                                             |
|                                                                             |
| SECTION 7:   OTHER                                                          |
|      o  Train all Cross-functional PSST employees in Account Group in the   |
|         New Mgmt System (NMS) principles and basics behind the Account P&Ls |
|      o  Conduct quarterly planning sessions with all AM and AMs that PSST   |
|         supports                                                            |
|      o  Ensure that my SSS accurately report effort by acct via SBS so that |
|         my specialty team drives correct SSS results into NMS P&Ls          |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|SIGNATURES:                                                                  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+
|Account Mgr            |Account Group  Mgr         |Account Vice-President   |
|                       |                           |                         |
+-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+

    The following memo should be read in conjuction with 87.26 to better
    understand how SBS is used to provide Sales Support effort and expense
    information to account P&Ls as part of the New Management System.
    




                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     08-Nov-1991 02:54pm EST
                                        From:     SALES COMMUNICATIONS
                                                  NOTIFICATION AT A1 at SALES at MRO
                                        Dept:     NOTIFICATION
                                        Tel No:   297-2318

TO: See Below

Subject: SBS EFFORT REPORTING & NMS P&Ls - INFORMATION FOR PSSMs                


Management Notification #135 - From  ELDEN SAATHOFF, DTN 264-5662, @MRO
==========================================================================

System Sales Specialists' effort is an important component of the expenses 
which are used to measure our business activity within each account. 
Ultimately, all Account Group Sales Support expense is allocated back to 
the P & L statement provided for each account recognized by the New 
Management System.  This makes one of your traditional responsibility for 
ensuring accurate reporting of System Sales Specialist time using SBS, even 
more important today.

The attached information package, including a Q&A, is intended to provide 
you with guidelines for accurate, consistent entry of time as well as an 
understanding of how SBS time is processed and then reported as effort and 
expense to the Account P&Ls.  You can use this information to educate both 
your System Sales Specialists and the Account Managers you support. We will 
also be sending a one page description of the process directly to account 
managers, with copies to you.

If you require additional information, you should contact your System Sales 
Development Manager (formerly called Regional Sales Support Manager) or 
your SBS Business Representative found in your regional SBS Processing 
Center.

For questions which cannot be resolved through these channels, contact me 
directly via electronic mail, Elden Saathoff @MRO, or at DTN 297-3845.


Elden Saathoff, Manager
U.S. Sales Support
Planning & Operations


                         SBS EFFORT REPORTING & NMS P&Ls
    
                            INFORMATION FOR PSSMs


I. SALES SUPPORT EFFORT TRACKING

USE OF SBS TO REPORT SALES SUPPORT EFFORT

o All Sales Support specialists and managers must report their effort using 
  SBS.  Sales Support personnel must not use ETS and Sales personnel must 
  not use SBS.  A single effort reporting system for all members of the 
  account team is being considered, but currently dual systems must be 
  utilized in order to accurately report both fiscal (cost center) and New 
  Management System (NMS Account P&L) expenses.

REPORTING DIRECT CUSTOMER TIME
    
o To ensure accurate reporting to NMS Account P&Ls, Sales Support personnel 
  should report all direct time, (100-600 series activity codes), to the 
  following "customer" categories: 
    
  A. Specific Customer ID
    
     Whenever a site-level Customer ID is known and found in SBS, it should 
     be used for entering effort.  These customer IDs roll up to Account 
     Master IDs (AMIDs) which are the basic reporting unit for NMS Account 
     P&Ls.  Entering effort against the correct Customer ID ensures that 
     the correct Account P&L will be charged.
    
  B. Account Set Other AMID
    
     If a Customer ID cannot be found in SBS, (this happens if the customer 
     has not done business with us in the past), then effort should be 
     entered against a special Account Set Other AMID which has been set up 
     for each Account Set in every Account Group.  In most cases you should 
     use the Account Set Other AMID associated with the Sales Rep for which 
     the effort was done.  These AMIDs have been set up using the following 
     format which assists you in locating them in SBS:
    
       		     Format: AO-XXXX YYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    
       		     Where    XXXX  = Sout    For Southern 
                     YY... = Account Group Name
                     ZZ... = Account Set Name
    
       		     For example: AO-SOUT MID-SOUTH  NEW ORLEANS SET
    
    
  C. Multi-Customer Event AMID
    
     For effort which was done in support of multiple customers, one of the 
     valid multi-customer AMIDs such as TAPESTRY SEMINAR or SPECIAL 
     TECHNICAL SEMINAR/DECDAYS which are found in SBS should be used.    

REPORTING TRAINING TIME
 
  
o Training should be reported using an appropriate "Support task type" and 
  activity code (710 or 730).

    
REPORTING INDIRECT (ADMIN/VACATION) TIME 

o Indirect effort (e.g. admin time, holiday, sick, vacation) should be 
  reported using an appropriate "Overhead task type" and activity code from 
  the 700 series.

TIME REPORTING FOR PSSMs

o If a PSSM can identify major time spent on an account, that time should 
  be reported to a specific Customer ID or Account Set Other AMID.  The 
  alternative is to report all or most time as administrative time (i.e. 
  indirect) which will then be apportioned to accounts as described above.

APPROVAL OF AND REPORTING OF SALES SUPPORT WINDFALL    
   
o Increased emphasis on managing the cost of sales in FY92 and on managing 
  Account P&Ls across the accounts organization, make it critical for PSSMs 
  to actively manage the delivery of all Sales Support effort provided to 
  the accounts they support. Therefore, PSSMs must take responsibility for 
  determining if using EIS Personnel for Account System Sales Support 
  ("Windfall") is the "best" manner of providing for the account's need. 
  PSSMs should approve all "windfall" IN ADVANCE of EIS providing the 
  support.

  After approval for Windfall has been obtained from the PSSM and the 
  support has been provided by the EIS provider, the effort should be 
  reported in SBS using a Sales Support task, the appropriate customer/AMID 
  account, and an APPROPRIATE Sales Support name/ badge/cc as the requester 
  (in lieu of the Sales Rep name/badge/cc      combination which is used 
  for non-windfall sales support effort). THE TIME NEEDS TO BE LOGGED 
  AGAINST THE NAME OF A PSSM OR SALES SUPPORT SPECIALIST/CONSULTANT WHO IS 
  IN A SALES SUPPORT COST CENTER, NOT A SALES COST CENTER as it is this 
  badge/cost center combination that will cause a j.v. to automatically 
  transfer fiscal expenses from an EIS cost center to the Sales Support 
  cost center. If the time is logged against the name of someone belonging 
  to a Sales cost center, the j.v. will not be processed and thus the EIS 
  cost center will not be relieved of the expense. 



II. EFFORT PROCESSING FOR ACCOUNT P & Ls


NORMALIZATION OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT TIME                                  

o Actual time for each individual's weekly activity should be entered; 
  however, all actuals are NORMALIZED to 160 hours (4 week) or 200 hours (5 
  week) at month end for NMS Account P&L reporting.  SBS assigns a priority 
  to direct time in the normalization process. If direct hours (activity 
  codes 1XX - 6XX) total more than 160 or 200 hours, then indirect hours 
  (activity codes 7XX) are discarded and the direct time only normalized.  
  If not, then the indirect time is normalized to make up the difference 
  between the direct total and the monthly total. 
    
  We understand the impact of this.  It provides accurate cost accounting 
  for the Account P&Ls, (you can't charge more than it costs you), but 
  sometimes obscures the actual effort which was supplied.  
    
  PSSMs can review local effort reports on the AICs which give you the 
  un-normalized view of how your people are spending their time and educate 
  your account managers on the value that they are receiving for the effort 
  which they are charged.  Recognize that the AIC effort reports are most 
  useful at the time of "manpower close," i.e. as a verification step for 
  PSSMs before the system passes the data to U.S. systems.  Since these 
  reports show only direct raw hours, they don't tell the whole story for 
  account managers.  The impact of normalization and the spreading of 
  indirect time and multi-customer effort is often very significant and can 
  sometimes result in total effort that is much larger than direct-only 
  effort--especially during a month when holiday/vacation and/or training 
  activities are significant.              

    
SPREADING OF INDIRECT EFFORT TO ACCOUNTS

o There are two types of activity which are "spread" to accounts indirectly 
  (after normalization is performed on the raw hours) through the 
  processing of the U.S.-wide data : 
    
       	  Training and Indirect time (700 series activity codes including 
          meetings, vacation, training, admin time etc.)
    
       	  Multi-customer time (100-600 series activities reported to 
          multi-customer event AMIDs) 
    
  Time in these categories is charged to accounts using the following 
  "spreading rules":
    
   +  INDIRECT time is spread to all accounts which have had time reported 
      to them by specialists within the Sales Support cost center.  
      Spreading occurs at month end and is done in proportion to the amount 
      of direct time reported to each account.  This ensures that indirect 
      time is charged to all accounts supported during the month whether or 
      not they belong to the blueline Account Group.
    
    + MULTI CUSTOMER EVENT time is spread to only those accounts which 
      belong to the blueline Account Group associated with the Sales Rep or 
      Manager whose badge number was entered for the MULTI CUSTOMER EVENT 
      activity.  This spreading also occurs at month end and is done in 
      proportion to the amount of direct time reported to each account.  
      This ensures that MULTI CUSTOMER EVENT time is charged to only those 
      accounts within the "requesting" salesperson/ manager's account 
      group. 

  The spreading of indirect and multi-customer effort can be difficult to 
  explain to account managers who tend to think of Sales Support effort as 
  direct customer time only (i.e. the 6 days John Jones spent at my account 
  this month). Indirect and multi-customer effort allocations "burden" the 
  direct effort with the appropriate overhead activity so that Account 
  Managers are accountable for the fully loaded cost of the field resources 
  they use.  This is consistent with the way Sales and Support resources 
  are budgeted and the manner in which Sales effort is reported and charged 
  to Account P&Ls. 
       
  As noted above, the spreading of indirect/multi-customer time to accounts 
  can have significant impact.  Alternative methods are being considered to 
  help make this more apparent to account managers; however there are no 
  plans to change the charging methodology this year.

SALES SUPPORT EXPENSE (COST PER PERSON) 

o Sales Support Expense on the NMS P&Ls for Q1 was charged using a U.S. 
  average cost per person (CPP) of $ 117 K per annum.  The expense 
  calculations will change to reflect the use of local, blueline,       
  BUDGETED cost per person rates from October FY92 forward.  
      
  Each Blueline account group has its own unique Sales Support CPP rate 
  which will have been approved via the budget process.  It represents the 
  average CPP rate of all Sales Support cost centers in the account group 
  ,as budgeted on the cross-functional expense system (USES), PLUS the 
  regional allocation for admin expenses PLUS an allocation for Circle of 
  e+Excellence. Thus the CPP is a "fully-loaded" rate.  This approach 
  ensures that NMS results closely approximate the actual cost of providing 
  support to each of our accounts.  It is consistent with the way Account 
  Managers are charged for the selling effort to their accounts. 

  Account managers who receive Sales Support effort from multiple cost 
  centers (and belonging to more than one blueline account group) will 
  begin to see NMS rates vary based on local budgets, beginning with the 
  October results.  

  Because we are using budgeted rates for NMS management reporting rather 
  than rates derived from actual period expenses, there will be a small 
  variance (+ or -) between fiscal Sales Support cost center expenses and 
  the amount "reported" to the NMS P&Ls.

     
WINDFALL AND REVERSE WINDFALL EFFORT AND EXPENSE   

o Windfall is "reported" to a NMS Account P&L when an EIS delivery person 
  reports activity to a Sales Support Task and Expense Code using the same 
  methods described above.  
    
o Windfall is "charged" to the fiscal system, i.e. the Sales Support cost 
  center, (as previously documented) to ensure that we MANAGE this actual 
  expense on behalf of the Accounts organization.  Automated j.v.s are 
  processed monthly to move windfall expense out of EIS cost centers into 
  the appropriate Sales Support cost center designated during effort entry.  
  
o Windfall for Q1 was "charged" ( fiscal transfer of expenses though 
  automated j.v.s) and reported to the NMS P&Ls at the U.S. average rate of 
  $117K cost per person.  Reverse windfall (Sales Support doing PSS 
  delivery work) was also "charged" to PSS in Q1 using the $117K CPP rate.  
  In Q2, we begin to use unique budgeted CPP rates (including the regional 
  admin allocation) for each EIS District for windfall and unique rates for 
  each Blue Line Account Group for reverse windfall.




III. SALES SUPPORT EFFORT/EXPENSE REPORTS


LOCAL AIC REPORTS (RAW EFFORT REPORTS )
    
o You can look at un-normalized time using the effort reports which can be 
  generated via the your local SBS system or the AIC reporting system.  
  These reports can continue to assist you in understanding how your 
  systems sales specialists spend their actual time each month (including 
  "overtime"). These reports are also useful at the time of the monthly 
  close for effort verification purposes.
       
  Care should be taken with these reports as they DO NOT show normalized 
  time, nor do they spread indirect and multi-customer effort back to the 
  accounts.  These reports cannot effectively be used to provide detail to 
  Account Managers who have questions about Sales Support effort charges to 
  their Account P&Ls. You must use the reports available on the Country 
  Reporting System (described below) for this purpose.  Remember, Account 
  P&Ls are UPDATED MONTHLY, after all SBS effort is CONSOLIDATED, THE DATA 
  NORMALIZED AND SPREAD TO ACCOUNTS.
    
COUNTRY REPORTING SYSTEM  (SALES SUPPORT NORMALIZED EFFORT ACCOUNT REPORTS)    
  
   
o The Country Reporting System (CRS), located in MRO on the IMSHUB system, 
  provides the user with access to several Sales Support Effort/Expense 
  Reports that back-up the "charges" to the NMS Account P&Ls.  Reports are 
  available showing the Redline view (by Account AMID, by Customer) of 
  Account Effort, as well as the Blueline view (by Customer within Blueline 
  Account Set within Blueline Account Group) of the Accounts organization.

  A short summary of the key reports available thru the CRS is provided 
  below :


REDLINE CRS REPORTS :


Report #       Report Name                 Description
 
524	Effort/Expense by Acct Inquiry   Allows user to specify one or
                                         more AMID # and see current month,                                         
                                         QTD and YTD effort for all 
                                         customer IDS rolling to that AMID. 
                                         Report shows SS effort and expense  
                                         by account set by customer code. 
                                         User: AM, PSSM, Finance
					 Selection: AMID ID # (up to 20)

533    Effort/Expense by Acct Inquiry    Detailed version of the 524 report
       with Specialist Detail            showing specialist detail.  Note
                                         this report is for a specified 
                                         fiscal month.  
                                         User: AM, PSSM, Finance 
					 Selection: AMID ID (up to 20) and 
					 fiscal month


BLUELINE CRS REPORTS :

Report #       Report Name                 Description

127	 Effort/Expense by Acct/Spec     Allows PSSM/AM to see detail 
         within Account Set within       on which specialists provided
         Account Group                   support to a given customer within
                                         a blue line account set in a given
                                         month. Also shows all indirect/
                                         multi-customer effort apportioned
                                         to the customer for that month.
                                         Most detailed back-up for NMS
                                         'charges.'   

                                         User: PSSM, AM 
					 Selection: Acct Set or Acct Grp 
                                         and Fiscal Month.  
                                         

526     Effort/Expense--Direct, Multi    Shows direct SS effort by customer
        customer and Indir by Acct Grp   code within an account set and
        by Acct Set by Customer          apportions the appropriate amount 
                                         of MCE/indirect time to these 
                                         customers. (similar to 127 report, 
                                         but does not contain specialist 
                                         detail). Provides current month, 
                                         QTD and YTD detail.

                                         User: PSSM, AM, AGM  
					 Selection: Acct Set or Acct Grp

525    Effort/Expense by Acct Grp by     Shows total effort by customer 
                                         within Account Set By Account Set        
                                         account set within an account 
                                         group (similar to 526 report, but 
                                         does not contain direct, MCE and 
                                         indirect detail). Provides current 
                                         month, QTD, YTD Detail.                                                                             
                                         
                                         User : PSSM, AGM, Finance 
                                         Selection: Acct Set or Acct Group   
                                         
 
  We will continue to enhance the reporting capabilities for both Redline 
  and Blueline views and solicit your suggestions and ideas. 
  
  We will be providing all PSSMs with an account on the CRS--IMSHUB system 
  and will be forwarding user documentation next week. 

SALES SUPPORT REPORTS VIA ACCOUNT WORKBENCH

o The ACCOUNT MANAGER WORKBENCH contains to a top level effort report 
  created from consolidated effort data (normalized, spread data). This 
  enables an account manager to see the total Sales Support effort reported 
  to his account each month (the amount of effort charged to his P&L).

  We are working to add the 524 Account Inquiry (QTD and YTD summary)       
  Report and the 533 Account Inquiry with Specialist Detail (monthly view) 
  to the Account Manager's AMI (Account Management Information) menu on the 
  Workbench.
       
    




                          SALES SUPPORT EFFORT REPORTING   
                                QUESTION & ANSWERS


I am a System Sales Specialist who works directly for an Account Set 
Manager, should I report my time to ETS instead of SBS?

    Your function determines which system you should use to report effort. 
    All Systems Sales Specialists  and PSSMs (52 series job codes) must 
    report to SBS.   All Sales people (48 series job codes) use ETS.

Why did the budget instructions specify that all sales specialists and 
PSSMs should be in sales support cost centers, not sales cost centers ?
  
    This is critical for a variety of reasons.  We need to maintain the 
    separateness of sales support expenses to consistently analyze the cost 
    of support over time (yield analysis, cost of books, cost per person).  
    Separate cost centers also allow us to work the windfall-reverse 
    windfall j.v. transfers to cleanly charge actuals to the correct fiscal 
    P & L.   In addition, our effort/expense charging methodology for NMS 
    only looks at those people in Sales Support cost centers when effort is 
    charged to accounts.

I am confused about the difference between sales support expense that shows 
up in my cost center and the NMS "charges" to account P & Ls.  What j.v.s 
actually take place ?

    All ACTUAL expenses for Sales Support that are managed thru the Account 
    Group organization are FISCALLY charged through sales support cost 
    centers.  These expenses include those for system sales specialists and 
    PSSMs in sales support cost centers rolling to an Account Group and 
    also "windfall" expense that occurs through automated j.v.s from 
    Digital Services Accounts Organization(formerly PSS) to Sales Support 
    cost centers.  Automated j.v.s for sales support effort that is 
    provided through a Digital Services (PSS) resource only occur when the 
    PSS person reports his Sales Support effort to SBS using an appropriate 
    Sales Support name (usually a PSSM, but sometimes a specialist) that 
    links the effort to an appropriate Sales Support cost center.  

    The NMS P & Ls are a way of translating our traditional geography-based 
    views of the product and services businesses (revenue and expense) into 
    account terms.  This is MANAGEMENT REPORTING only.  We're not actually 
    moving expenses around, but merely restating the traditional P &Ls for 
    the Products and Services businesses into Account terms, so that we can 
    evaluate each account in terms of revenue and expenses. 

    The NMS P & Ls contain a line called "Sales Specialist Expense." 
    Systems Specialist effort is reported to this line on the P&Ls.  In 
    addition, Customer Services Sales Specialist effort is also "reported" 
    to that line (currently using a % of gross revenue by line of business 
    methodology). Account managers can separate the two by running a 
    Reconciliation report on the Account Workbench.  The CRS reports, which 
    you as a PSSM can access, (particularly #524 and #533) provide detailed 
    back-up for the system specialist expense being "reported" to each 
    account P&L. 

    The net is that the only j.v.s (fiscal transfers of expenses) that are 
    occurring automatically in FY92 are from PSS to SS cost centers for 
    windfall effort and from SS cost centers to PSS for reverse windfall 
    (Sales support performing PSS).					   

How important is choosing the right activity code (1xx - 7xx) when entering 
SBS effort ?

    Differentiating between direct effort (1xx - 6xx) and admin (7xx) is 
    critical because it impacts Account P&L accuracy. The 7xx time is 
    apportioned back to accounts based on how the direct effort was charged 
    (as described in previous section). 

    Differentiating between categories of direct effort (1xx - 6xx) is 
    important because this information gives Sales & Sales Support senior 
    management a view of what field Sales support specialist spend their 
    time doing. 

    Differentiating within a category (e.g. 30x - 39x) is provided 
    primarily for local use.


What impact does mis-reporting my time have on NMS P & Ls ? If I mistakenly 
report my time as indirect, rather than assigning it to an account, does 
that cause any problems for the NMS  P&Ls ? 
    
    Yes, this causes distortion in the overhead/indirect effort and expense 
    flowing to account managers whose Sales Support direct effort is 
    correctly reported to the system.  The effect of someone mistakenly 
    reporting their time as indirect (versus to a customer) is to increase 
    the overall amount of overhead/indirect time that is distributed back 
    to the other accounts who reported direct time.

    WE CURRENTLY HAVE NO DATA CORRECTION CAPABILITY AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE 
    MANPOWER MONTH.  IT IS CRITICAL THAT ANY TIME ENTRY ERRORS BE NOTED AND 
    CORRECTED PRIOR TO MANPOWER CLOSE.  PSSMs (or Account Managers where 
    System Sales Specialists report directly to AMs) ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 
    DATA QUALITY OF THEIR SPECIALISTS AND FOR THE MANPOWER CLOSE.  

What if one of my specialists does not report sufficient time for a given 
manpower month ?

    If a full time person reports insufficient time (e.g. 120 hours in a 
    160 hour month), SBS will "fill" the person's time with unreported 
    hours which show up as indirect effort by the system. This will result 
    in greater indirect time being charged to accounts than appropriate if 
    the "fill" time actually included direct account support activities.

Some of my account manager's say we are reporting time to the wrong sales 
unit/account set (i.e. a sales unit/account set where they have no sales 
effort).

    Rather than force our systems specialists/PSSMs to memorize which cost 
    centers each sales rep they support belongs to, we have them enter the 
    sales requester, i.e. the sales rep name/badge combination and rely on 
    the current version of the Personnel Master File (PMF) to supply the 
    correct sales unit.  If an Employee Data Change form for a Sales 
    employee who changes cost centers has not been processed yet, it will 
    appear that the effort is being "charged" to the wrong unit. Since we 
    roll up account effort "charges" using AMID (i.e. effort charged to 
    customer codes belong to a given AMID), there is no practical negative 
    effect from this.  The NMS reporting is still correct.
         

Which customer should I report my time to if I am unable to find a customer 
number for it in SBS?

    Use SBS A & Gold-L option to attempt to find customer ID if not known.

    Use SBS O & Gold-L option to find the Account Set "OTher" ID of the 
    Sales Rep who requested the support.

    If still not sure, ask the Account Manager/Account Set Manager where 
    the Sales Reps time is reported and use the same identifier.

    Sales Managers may request new AMID and customer number assignments 
    through HQ Sales if desired.


If an account has multiple customer numbers, (usually multiple buying 
locations), does it matter which location is chosen?
   
    Get the correct customer name, city, and zip, wherever possible.

    Absolute precision, in terms of the site-level specification should not 
    be the object in time-reporting. In some cases, there may be nothing 
    that distinguishes one "customer name" from another except a unique 
    P.O. Box ( customer name, street address, city, state, zip may all be 
    identical). As long an effort is made to assign the time to a site that 
    is approximately correct (e.g. customer name and city make sense given 
    who the support was provided for), the detail available through the 
    reports should allow account managers and PSSMs to have a conversation 
    about the support provided.  

    For example, if I am supporting Kidder Peabody, a financial services 
    company owned by General Electric, and the business is in NY City, then 
    I should at least try to assign the time to a customer named "Kidder 
    Peabody" with a city or zip that is correct.

    NMS P&Ls exist at the AMID level and effort reported to any customer ID 
    associated with an AMID will be reported correctly.  


My specialists aren't sure which "AO-Other" account set to enter time 
against.  The names aren't always clear.

    Ask the Account Set Managers which to use.  They are using the same IDs 
    to enter effort for their Sales Reps. All "Account Set Other" names are 
    assigned using the following logic :

    
      	 Format: AO-XXXX YYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
    
      	 Where      XXXX   = Sout    For Southern 
                     YY... = Account Group Name
                     ZZ... = Account Set Name
    
         For example: AO-SOUT MID-SOUTH  NEW ORLEANS SET
    


Why are there no "AO-Other" IDs for accounts in the Industry Portfolios, 
(i.e. A/E/T, Finance/Media, Petrochem, etc.)

    To date, Sales has determined that all accounts assigned to these 
    portfolios should have an assigned AMID.   If you belong to an Industry 
    Portfolio and are asked to provide support to any an account without an 
    AMID, your Sales Account Manager should tell you which account to 
    charge the time against.

 
What if one of my specialists provides support at the request of a Sales 
Rep who belongs to a Product Specialty Selling Team and the customer ID is 
not found in SBS? 

    Use the "AO-Other" for the Account Set which will receive the certs & 
    revenue from sales to this account.
     
When should I use a multi-customer event ID for effort reporting?

    When the effort benefits multiple customers, it should be assigned to a 
    multi-customer event name (in lieu of a specific customer). Examples of 
    this include DECdays, Tapestry Seminars, Special Marketing Events, etc.


Why do we normalize each month's activity to 160 or 200 hrs rather than 
charge the Account P&Ls for the actual hours delivered?

    This approach allows us to "report " to accounts approximately the 
    actual costs we incur in maintaining the field Sales Support 
    organization.  We wouldn't have an accurate "costing" system if we 
    allocated more or less expenses than were incurred. This is consistent 
    with the approach used to assign direct selling expense to accounts.

    Local SBS reports, (SRS038,039,040,127,102 and PRO104-120) can be used 
    by PSSMs and Account Mgrs to track and review actual hours. 

Why is admin time "spread" and charged to the Account P&Ls?
    
    The ETS system which Sales uses doesn't distinguish between direct and 
    indirect time--total time is reported to accounts and no spreading of 
    indirect effort needs to be done. SBS records Sales Support effort in 
    much greater detail.  Thus indirect and training effort by specialists 
    within a Sales Support cost center must be spread to the accounts that 
    cost center supported in a given month in proportion to how the direct 
    time is reported.
 
Why is admin time "spread" differently than Multi-customer event time?

    Indirect and training time is accumulated based on Sales Support cost 
    center providing the support and distributed proportionately to all 
    accounts that systems specialist cost center supported in a given 
    month, whether they are located within that blue line account group or 
    not.  This allows a fair amount of overhead burden to be passed to 
    account groups that may borrow support resources from outside their 
    account group.

    Multi-customer time is accumulated at the Level 2 Manager level ( based 
    on the blue line account group the sales rep/manager belongs to) and 
    spread back proportionately to all accounts within that account group 
    that have direct time for the month.  This makes sense, because 
    multi-customer events typically benefit a set of customers who have 
    something in common based on their geographic proximity or industry.

How should PSSMs report their time?

    Consistently within each blue line Account Group according to one of 
    the following methods:

    (a) All time to 7xx (indirect) - will be spread back to all accounts 
    receiving direct effort; easiest but may not best reflect which 
    accounts directly benefited from your services in a given month 
         
    or 

    (b)Direct time to specific accounts, remainder to 7xx - more accurate 
    but must be done by all PSSMs in account group to avoid unfairly 
    burdening accounts which receive direct time from PSSMs. 

What Cost Per Person is used for costing Sales Support effort and how is it 
determined?								   

    During Q1 we used a U.S. average CPP rate of $ 117 K per annum. In Q2, 
    we will move to Blueline budgeted rates (a unique rate for each 
    Blueline account group and for each EIS District which may provide 
    Sales Support windfall) that are derived from the Expense System (USES) 
    approved cost center budgets (and adjusted for the regional admin 
    allocation).  The use of "local" rates will allow us to more closely 
    approximate the actual cost of support for each account depending on 
    where the resources are sourced. 

Why do we use the PSSMs badge number as the requester when a PSS delivery 
specialist enters Sales Support time into SBS?
  
    This ensures that the Account Manager who borrows EIS resources to 
    perform Sales Support work has proper "blueline" management control 
    through the PSSM who approves the work on the Account Manager's behalf. 
    
     
    Windfall effort/expense is automatically j.v.ed into the Sales Support 
    cost center of the PSSM who approved the support on behalf of the 
    Account Manager.  The expense becomes part of the fiscal Cost of Sales 
    (note: the Account Manager also sees the impact of this expense as it 
    is also "reported" too his Sales Support effort that feeds into the NMS 
    P&L.)
        
What if there is no Sales Support PSSM in the account group?

    In this case, windfall approval should be obtained from the Account Set 
    Manager responsible for the account and the time should be logged 
    against the badge number of a specialist in the correct  Sales Support 
    cost center so that the expense transfer (j.v.) from the EIS cost 
    center is made to the correct Sales Support cost center. 

==========================================================================
To:  Product Sales Specialist Managers
CC:  Account Group Managers
     SSDMs

To update your Personalized Communications Profile send ALL-IN-1 mail to 
Segmentation @MRO or VAXmail:  SALES::NSP.
===========================================================================

	Interesting reading ...

	the first memo addressed as:

Subject: FY92 Personal Performance Plans for Sys Sales Spec and PSSMs

	and dated in July of 1991, I had seen before.  I remember spending
	several hours reading that thing and trying to understand all the
	PPP, PTA, PPA, SOL, and every other acronym sprinkled liberally
	through the document.  (Introducing so many acronyms in a document
	makes it next to impossible to understand as you can't remember
	what any of them stand for after encountering about the fourth
	one in as many sentences.)  This was the only document given to
	us `explaining' how to fill PPPs out.  I am not exagerating when
	I say that I spent several hours trying to figure this out, as I
	thought it was important.  To make matters worse, my PSSM couldn't
	answer the questions I had, either.

	Suggestion:  next time make a concise, understandable document
	to explain things that are going to be used to measure an
	individual.  Give it to some real people that will be affected
	by it and who have not had any input into it (there should be a
	few of these to chose from) and see if they can understand it.  If
	not, rewrite it until a new group can understand it.  (Hopefully,
	it should not requires 10 pages to explain.  If it does, the
	procedure is too complicated to be readily implemented and
	understood.)

	The second document I never saw before.  It helps me understand
	some of how the numbers from SBS are *supposed* to be used.
	However, as with any system, this is not the way that it has
	rolled out throughout the organization.  `Cooking' the numbers
	seems (i may be mistaken) to be the goal.  When we are told to
	put "no more than 2 hours per week to Admin time" (direct quote),
	it obviously is not trying to really capture what is going on.
	It is noted as a problem, and I concur, that the method used to
	`normalize' the overtime hours worked is not an effective way to
	measure true effort.  It only normalizes cost.  Account managers
	will budget according to cost, not according to hours.  They
	should be given the actual hours worked on their account so they
	can budget for effort.

tgc

We have an open req for an IM&T manager to address the projects & consulting
business systems portfolio (includes BSS,SBS,management reporting & others)

See jobs conference (WARIOR::JOBS), note # 3674.

    
    	It suddenly occurred to me while reading this Req:
    
    	Why do we have separate Job Codes for IM&T?  Are their SW
    requirements _so_ different that skills must be learned separately from
    the 'rest of the world'?  Do people progress horizontally or vertically
    within this set of job codes?  What is the mix between insiders and
    'outsiders' within IM&T?  Or is that the problem?