Customer Hierarchy

Hierarchy Level Definition or Option Example Usage

Global rollup level (this level is Global Customers

Global defined globally and is applicable  Walmart
to all the markets)
 Reporting
 Carrefour
 Global Customer  For non global: Other

Geographic zones (this level is  Americas

Zone defined globally and is applicable  Europe  Reporting
to all the markets)  Asia Pacific

Customer specific country (this  France

 Reporting
Country level is defined locally; it can be  Germany
defined by the markets)  Planning
 Canada

This is how the customer “sees”  Reporting

Corporate  Walmart Stores
itself (this level is defined locally; it  Planning
Customer can be defined by the markets)  Sam’s Club
 Pricing

Some markets may use the  Kroger, Ralph’s, Food4Less  Reporting

different customer’s banners at
Local / Flexible  Safeway, Vons, Tom Thumb  Planning
this level – this level is defined
locally by the markets)  Loblaws Quebec, Loblaws West  Pricing

Only if some markets decide to  Reporting

 West (CA, NV, etc.)
Local / Flexible use geographic regions – this level  Planning
is defined locally by the markets)  Northeast (PA, NJ, etc)
 Pricing

Customer Store or Customer Central Buying location

Sold-to

Customer Hierarchy.pptx
Customer Master
Hierarchy Node
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Customer Hierarchy – Definition and Key Design Principles
Definition Business Requirements Addressed
The customer hierarchy is a hierarchical relationship  Reporting – when a hierarchy structure is provided, it
represented by linking different 'nodes' in a 'Parent-Child' facilitates reporting for account management purposes. It
manner. The customer master records can be attached to allows the selection of account information at different
these nodes to represent the hierarchical relationship levels (from Global to Local).
between the different entities of a customer's organization.
 Planning – supports planning volumes for events (e.g.
promotions) that impact the statistical forecast of products.
The planning against the customer data is usually done
from a number of different angles – e.g. Geographic,
Divisional, Key Account.
 Pricing – allows discounts or rebates to be applied
correctly for a customer organization. When negotiating
deals with a large customer the approach to giving
discounts can be in line with the way the customer
structures their own organization.
Key Design Principles
 The customer hierarchy must support the business from a transactional perspective first and foremost. It also needs to be flexible
to support the global reporting capabilities and the local market’s requirements.
 A clear vision of what is required from a global reporting perspective should be established before defining a customer hierarchy
 The customer hierarchy is influenced by:
 Whether or not it is a Global Customer – Global customers can be defined centrally and be depicted in the hierarchy
through the first two levels (L1 & L2 of the customer hierarchy for Global customer can be set up globally);
 The legal set up of the customer enterprise;
 A mixture of the customers own structures and how we “view” them internally (L1 and L2 are defined globally; L3 to L6 are
defined locally by the markets);
 The customer hierarchy can be defined differently for each Sales Org./ Distribution Channels;

Customer Hierarchy.pptx
 The ‘Sold-to’ will always be linked to a customer hierarchy.
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