Activity files
Activity files contain historical data about your organization's sales activities. Once you import your activity files and assign them to the relevant battle card, you can run coin sort to sort them into your territories.
The sales data you track in your file provides you with valuable insights that you can use when planning and allocating quota.
You can add activity data to Varicent Sales Planning in two ways:
Note
Whichever method you choose, you still need to make sure you data is formatted correctly. See Formatting activity files.
Formatting activity files
Before you get started creating your activity files, make sure you fully understand the file requirements. See Best practices for formatting your data.
Activity files require the following columns:
Important
Column names in activity files aren't required to match the exact spelling in this table because, as part of the upload process, you will have the opportunity to manually match column headers to the appropriate data set. If you've included any custom hierarchies, or fields that rely on historical data, in your planning cycle, you can include a column for these in your activity file.
Column name | Description | Data format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Customer Accounts | Contains the key (unique ID) of a Customer Account hierarchy member. For example, if the sale was made to Big Company Inc., you would include the key that corresponds to the Big Company Inc. hierarchy member. | Text | 12345 |
Geographies | Contains the key (unique ID) of a Geographies hierarchy member. NoteThis field must match the key field from your Geographies hierarchy file exactly. Make sure you use the Geographies hierarchy key format, for example, US::10015. For example, if the sale was made to a company in New York City, you would include the key that corresponds to the New York City hierarchy member. | Text | US::10015 |
Date | Contains the date that the sale took place. | Date | 2022-05-11 |
Sales | Contains the value of the sale. This column can contain numeric values only. Do not include currency symbols or comma thousand separators. NoteWe assume all sales values use your planning cycle's reporting currency. | General | 5000.00 |
Currency Code | Contains a currency code, which identifies the currency used to transact the sale. | Text | USD |
Quota Component | Contains the quota component for the sale, for example Hardware or Software. This field must correspond with a quota component that you added to your planning cycle. This field is case sensitive so make sure to match the spelling and capitalization of your quota component exactly. | Text | Hardware |
Custom hierarchy name | NoteThis column is optional. You do not need to include data in your activity files for custom hierarchies; however, if you do include it, then this column becomes required for matching during the file upload process. Contains the key (unique ID) of a custom hierarchy member. For example, if your organization plans territories by industry, you may include an Industries hierarchy. So, if the sale was made to a company in the Health Services industry, you would include a key that corresponds to the Health Services hierarchy member. | Text | HS001 |
Custom field name | NoteThis column is optional. You do not need to include data in your activity files for custom fields; however, if you do include it, then this column becomes required for matching during the file upload process. Contains the value of the custom field that you added to your battle card quota sheet. If you add a custom field and set the source to historical, this measure relies on data from your activity file. For example, if your organization tracks sales by units sold, you would add a Units Sold custom field with its source set as historical. You would then need to include a Units Sold column in your activity file. This field would contain a numeric value that indicated the number of units sold. | General/Text | 50 |
Sample activity data
Here is an example of activity data. You can use this as a reference when setting up your own files.
Customer Accounts | Geographies | Industry | Date | Sales | Currency Code | Units Sold | Quota Component |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12345 | US::10015 | HS001 | 2022-04-01 | 5000.00 | USD | 300 | Hardware |
12345 | US::10015 | HS001 | 2022-04-01 | 4500.00 | USD | 220 | Hardware |
11223 | US::10016 | ENG02 | 2022-04-01 | 3780.56 | USD | 150 | Hardware |
11223 | CA::N3S | MTG03 | 2022-04-01 | 1800.50 | CAD | 208 | Hardware |
56789 | CA::L5N | MTG03 | 2022-04-01 | 2999.99 | CAD | 305 | Hardware |
98765 | US::95008 | LS004 | 2022-04-01 | 10000.80 | USD | 550 | Hardware |
Importing activity data from CSV files
You import your activity files from the Tables section of the Data page. It's then available as a data table. Once you import your files, you can assign them to the relevant battle card, and then run coin sort to sort your sales activities into your territories.
Before you import your activity data, make sure that you've completed the following tasks:
Import data to your built-in hierarchies and create and import data to any custom hierarchies
Add any custom fields, based on historical data, to the default or battle card quota sheet
Download the activity file template and follow the steps to format your data
On the Planning cycles home page, click the planning cycle to open.
Click the Command center icon
.Under the Admin section, click Integrations.
Click the Mange tables tab.
Click Import.
Click Upload from .csv file.
Drop or upload your pre-formatted CSV file.
Click
Import.Tip
If your file matches the required column headings exactly, we'll automatically match columns and publish your file. If your column headings vary from the required columns' spelling or syntax, you will need to complete steps 9 to 12 to match your columns.
Click Next.
Click Automatch to match the required column headings to the headings in your file.
Manually select the corresponding column header name for any column that was not automatically matched.
Click the drop-down
icon next to a column that hasn't been matched.A list of required columns displays.
Select the column name that corresponds with the data column in your file.
For example, your file may have a column called Accounts, but this data is identified as Customer Accounts in Varicent Sales Planning. In this case, you would match the Customer Accounts required column to the Accounts column in your file.
Repeat steps a an b until all columns are matched.
Click
Import.