All parties are involved in this unit. For every brick-and-mortar Retailer, Store Operations is at the heart of the enterprise. A wide range of processes ensures that merchandise is available for sales during opening hours, with excellent customer service. Specific apps are available to support the store manager, and the store associate roles. Note: The Store Operations apps require the user assignment to a specific store. Activities in the store include merchandising functions such as ordering and receiving goods, inventory management including physical inventory, and consumer/customer sales via point-of-sale systems (POS) and sales orders. Store connectivity comprises outbound and inbound message transfer between the retailer's central system(s) and the store's POS system. For example, the POS systems are regularly updated with article and price information so they are ready to handle sales transactions, and in turn, for example sales and goods receipt/movement data is transferred from the store to the central systems.
The 4 solution processes shown in the figure, Overview: Store Operations, are the starting point to cover the wide range of available applications for store operations. The solution process 5FY, covered in this lesson, explains how the ordering and receiving apps are used. Solution process, 5FW, mainly looks at the store manager role. The manager assigns the store associates to the store, determines the picking sequence for click-and-collect or click-and-reserve customer orders, and uses the My Store Overview app for the real-time monitoring of current store processes. The Look Up Retail Products and Print Labels apps, covered in solution process 3HQ, are essential in the daily work of store associates. To connect store sales and online commerce, solution process 5FZ for example introduces the click-and-collect scenario.
Each solution process represents a lesson in this unit, and can be completed individually.
This lesson covers the solution process My Store Management (5FW).
In the retail industry, specific terms differ from the standard terms used in other lines of business. The following terms are used synonymously in this document:
| Standard Terms in Lines of Business | SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Retail, Fashion, and Vertical Business |
|---|---|
| Material, Product | Article |
| Material group, Product group | Merchandise category |
| Plant, Location | Site |
Store associates and managers execute processes differently than employees working in the headquarters. Complex user interfaces aren't an option for in-store processes because of costly training and higher turnover rates of store personnel. The SAP Fiori apps in this scope item are user-friendly, self-explanatory, and streamlined for in-store processes.
A dashboard that contains the most important KPIs for efficient day-to-day operations supports store associates and managers. The dashboard can be configured to exactly meet their needs.
Furthermore, store managers can maintain necessary information required to run and manage processes and people in their store.
Solution Process 5FW introduces three apps which are assigned to the store manager role: Assign Associates to Stores, Maintain Picking Sequence, and My Store Overview. Additionally, the My Store Assignment app, which is used by store associates, is mentioned briefly. It was already introduced in the previous lesson of this unit, which covers the Solution Process In-Store Purchase Order Management (5FY).
Assign Associates to Stores
As a prerequisite for using the Store Operations apps, the users have to be assigned as follows:
To the In-Store Merchandise and Inventory Management roles (Store Associate, Store Manager)
- To their store
The store manager uses the Assign Associates to Stores (F4334) app to assign to, and unassign store associates from their store. When you access the app, the system shows all stores, sorted by their description. To find a specific store in the list, you can either scroll down to that store, or use the search field to search for stores by key or description. To just enter part of the key or description is fine, too. For example, as shown in the figure below, Assign Associates to Stores (1), by entering "174" in the search field, the system brings up all stores with that string in either the key or description. The user in our example is assigned to store 1740, as per the Assigned to Me indicator.
Furthermore, for each store, the app provides a clear overview of the users currently assigned to a store. As shown in figure, Assign Associates to Stores (2), you just click the store (anywhere in the line), and the assigned users are displayed on the right. Here, the store manager can choose Assign to add a specific user, or select one or more of the assigned users, and choose Unassign. You can easily switch between stores by choosing (clicking) another store on the left.
As already mentioned in solution process In-Store Purchase Order Management (5FY), the employee (user) - store assignment is usually done centrally, or by the store manager. However, it can be done by the individual user via the SAP Fiori app My Store Assignment (F4334). With this app, store associates can check their own, current store assignment, but also re-assign themselves to another store. Accordingly, this app is particularly useful for store employees who regularly work in different stores (such as stand-by employees).
The figure, My Store Assignment, shows that the user is currently assigned to store 1740. To change the assignment, the new store can be searched for, or - using the scroll bar - found in the list, which displays all stores sorted by the description. Selecting the new store then activates the Assign Me option.
The My Store Assignment app is a variation of the Assign Associates to Stores app. They have the same app ID, F4334. In the target mapping, the assigned semantic object/action decides which tile must be triggered based on the logged in user: This is the Assign Associates to Stores tile for a store manager, and the My Store Assignment tile for a store associate. You can find further info in the SAP Fiori App Reference Library.
Maintain Picking Sequence
The store manager app Maintain Picking Sequence (F4711) relates to the cross-channel process, where customers order online, and pick up their items in the store. Various terms are used to describe these scenarios, such as click-and-collect, click-and-reserve, online / omnichannel order fulfillment process, or BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store). In these scenarios, described in solution process, Omnichannel Order Fulfillment for Retail (5FZ), the store associate picks the articles, which the customer ordered online, on the shop floor. To optimize the picking route in the store, the store manager can determine the sequence in which the items appear in the Process Picking Request app, by defining the sequence of the merchandise categories.
The merchandise categories should be sorted in the sequence, in which the products occur on the shop floor, to make it easier for the store associate to execute the picking task. This increases efficiency, as it minimizes the route an employee has to take during picking. It is not mandatory to maintain the picking sequence, but recommended.
Note
If no explicit picking sequence is set using the Maintain Picking Sequence app, then the Process Picking Request app applies the item sequence in the relevant sales order: Sorting is done according to the product's merchandise category (MC), as they appear in the sales order. Furthermore, if several products in a sales order belong to the same merchandise category, then they will be clubbed together in the Process Picking Request app at the sequence where the MC first appeared.
In the figure, Maintain Picking Sequence, you see the current sorting of the merchandise categories for store 1740. To change the sorting, you choose Download Picking Sequence. This saves an .xls file, as shown in the figure. Once the new sequence is set, you can easily upload the .xls file by choosing Upload Picking Sequence.
My Store Overview
The My Store Overview (F4674) app enables store managers to monitor and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) of stores such as promotions, goods receipts, and sales performance. Specifically, this information and features are available: Current Promotions, Sales Performance, Goods Receipts Today, My Store, Overdue Goods Receipts, Quick Links, Upcoming Goods Receipts, and Upcoming Promotions.
The app provides a good overview of all this data at first sight, right upon opening the app. The user may individually arrange the cards in that app according to personal preference. However, the app then also allows to navigate to the various apps. For example, clicking the Goods Receipt Today card, opens the Receive Products app so the task can be executed right away. Also, clicking a promotion number in the Current or Upcoming Promotions tiles, opens the Retail Promotion app so you can look up further details of the promotion. The Quick Links card contains links to further apps, such as the Look Up Retail Products, or Transfer Products app.
Summary
