Programs: Concepts

A program is a group of activities you want to manage together. You can add any number of activities to a program. You can use programs to:

Design Considerations

To use programs effectively, you should understand the types of activities your organization has and the business needs you want to address. For instance, you can create a program for activities that:

  • Contribute to the completion of a larger event or objective.
  • Have a given type and occur within a given time frame.
  • Support a vertical market.
  • Support a horizontal market.

A single activity can belong to multiple programs.

Example:
You marketed your wireless widgets partially through web-based efforts.

You want to evaluate the total costs of marketing your wireless widgets. So you create a program called Wireless Widgets that includes all activities that support the marketing of that product. Then, you view the rolled-up costs on the Financials tab and the Resources tab of the Wireless Widget program.

You also want to evaluate the costs of all web-based marketing efforts for a time frame. So you create another program called Web-Based Marketing that includes all activities that support web-based marketing for that time frame. Then, you view the rolled-up costs on the Financials tab and the Resources tab of the Web-Based Marketing program.

You can click the Report button to run reports that show your program's key information, such as costs and objectives.

Working with Programs

Key Fields

Which Fields Do I See?

The program you want help with might not have all tabs and fields listed in this file. The tabs and fields available as you manage a program depend on these factors:

  • The application solution sets installed
    For example, if the financial solution sets are not installed, the tabs and fields for financial data are not available. Or, if the marketing planner solution set is not installed, the full organizational objectives capability and the business rules feature are not available.
  • Your access to the financial information for an object
    If you do not have access to an object's financial data, the financial data areas are disabled. Also, any field that contains financial data appears as asterisks (*) on the main page.

Details

Field Description

Program Type

Select a type to determine which extended attributes you can track for the program.

The program types you can use are specific to your application. You create program types in the System Types module in System Tools.

When you select a program type, the page refreshes in order to include that program type's extended attributes.

Classification

Select the classification to establish the relationship between objects in the application. Aprimo also uses the classification to build reports.

You can select any node in the classification. You can edit the classification for a program at any time.

Client

This field appears if you have licensed the agency solution set.

Select the client associated with the program. If you have the appropriate rights, you can access the client information via a link when you view a program.

Brand

This field appears if you have licensed the agency solution set.

Select the brand associated with the client for the program. If you have the appropriate rights, you can access the brand information via a link when you are viewing a program.

Owner

Select the user who is ultimately responsible for implementing the program. When you create a program without using the proposal review process, the application sends an email notifying the program's owner of the new responsibility.

  • You can select any user to be the owner.
  • When a program proposal is approved, the application automatically makes the proposal's owner the owner of the resulting program. You can change this in the resulting program.
  • Object owners automatically appear on the access list with edit rights.

Editing the owner affects the access list.

Note:
The Activity/Program Owner and Administrator Edit Rules system parameter determines who can edit this field.

Begin Date and End Date

Select the dates when work on the program will begin and end.

Additional Fields, Sections, and Tabs

Your system administrator can create additional fields for some objects and make them available for certain system types. Additional fields appear on the Details tab in the Additional Details section or in other sections or on other tabs that the system administrator creates.

For more information about an additional field, section, or tab, contact your system administrator. For more information about additional fields in general, see Additional Fields.

Financials

You use the Financials tab to view the program's forecast and funding account roll-up calculations.

Note:
You cannot edit the values displayed for programs on the Financials tab and the Resources tab. These values are sums of the corresponding values from all activities added to the program.

Funding Account Summary

The Funding Account Summary section displays roll-up calculation information for all funding accounts involved in the program.

Field Description

Funding Account

Select the funding account that funds certain defined costs for the program.

You can use a funding account more than once in an activity and in a program.

Prior Snapshot

This field shows the latest snapshot in the previous period, even if the previous period falls in the previous fiscal year. If no snapshot meets the criteria, this column is empty.

For example, in February, you see data in this column only if January has a snapshot. In January, you see data for December.

Forecast

This field displays the data from the Forecasts tab.

Commitments

This field displays all pending, approved, and closed commitments and totals for the funding accounts.

Pending Invoices

This field displays all invoices and journal vouchers with Pending status and their totals for the funding accounts.

Paid Invoices

This field displays all invoices with Paid status and the journal vouchers with Reconciled status for the funding accounts.

Outstanding Commitments

This field displays the total amount of outstanding commitments for this program for the associated funding accounts. To arrive at the outstanding commitments total, add all commitment items and subtract the amounts of any pending or paid invoices. Then subtract pending and reconciled journal vouchers for the funding accounts on this program.

This field does not track amounts less than zero.

Note:
Because commitment items with Closed status are no longer outstanding, they count as zero toward the outstanding commitments total.

Funding Account

To access the funding account, on the Financials tab, click the funding account name. The Funding Account Details page appears.

Resources

In programs, all values on the Resources tab are the sums of the corresponding values from all activities in the program. You cannot enter resource data for programs.

Note:
If you add an activity proposal to a program, the activity proposal's estimated costs do not roll up to the program. If the activity proposal gets approved and becomes an activity, the estimated costs roll up to the program.

Running Business Rules

You can run business rules to add the correct people to the access list. You can run business rules only for programs you can edit.

Note:
Business rules can only add names to access lists. They never remove names from access lists.

When a program proposal is approved, the application automatically runs business rules to populate the new program's initial access lists. Thereafter, anyone who can edit the object can run business rules for it at any time.

One or more business rules can apply to a program. When you run business rules, all business rules that apply to the program run.

Also, depending on the Automatically Run Business Rules field, business rules might run automatically when you save the program's Details tab. Thereafter, anyone who can edit the object can run business rules for it at any time.

You define business rules in the Business Rules module. All business rules are specific to your marketing organization.

Objectives

Field Description

Objective

Each program can have unique objectives. If existing organizational objectives are not specific enough for your program, specify the exact objectives you need.

For example, the objective of your trade show activity is to generate 1,750 new leads.

Organizational Objectives

Your marketing organization can maintain broad objectives applying to multiple marketing initiatives. You categorize the organizational objectives in the organizational classification hierarchy. This hierarchy defines relationships between objects in Aprimo. Proposals, programs, and activities are also classified using this hierarchy. You specify the program's classification on the Details tab.

To see the organizational objectives defined for a particular level in the hierarchy, use the Classification list to select the level you want to see.

For information about your organization's organizational classifications, see your system administrator. For information about the classification of organizational objectives, see the person who manages the Objectives module.

Organizational Strategies

You can associate an organizational objective with one or more strategies. A strategy identifies the general tactics or approaches you can use to achieve the organizational objective.

For your program, the strategies you can select depend on the organizational objectives you selected.

Content Plans

You can associate programs with content plans.

Targets

Targets represent the program's scope of influence.

The targets you can use are specific to your application. You create targets in the System Types module in System Tools.

Field Description

Regions

Select a geographic area.

Audiences

Select a general group of people who share common characteristics.

Audiences are different from audience members. An audience is a general category of individuals. An audience member is a specific person.

Offerings

Select a product, sale, or promotion.

Access List

The access list limits who can view and who can edit a program. An access list contains names of users and groups, and the level of access they have. At least one user must always be able to edit the program.

See Building Program Access Lists.

Activities

On the Activities tab, you can:

  • Associate activities with the program.
  • View the details of the associated activities.
  • Remove the association between the program and an activity.

See Adding Activities to Programs.