Risks and opportunities are something that we all experience in our everyday lives. For example, how many times have you got into your car in the morning to go to work with your fuel warning light on, but still did the journey anyway, knowing that there might be a slight risk that your car could run out of gas on the way? In the world of business, risks and opportunities are just as commonplace. Even if you don’t realise it at first, you probably already have procedures in place at your company that help to prevent or reduce any risks that may occur, or that make you aware of potential opportunities that could increase your revenue. That’s why we have integrated an application within our rebate management software called the Watchlist app. For over a decade, Enable has helped merchants, buying groups, wholesale distributors and retailers to drive mutually profitable growth with suppliers, whilst improving cash flow and reducing risk. That's why we call it the supplier success platform.

What is the Watchlist app?

The Watchlist app is an optional application within Enable that highlights targeted deals which may be at risk of missing an earnings band if the forecasted spend is not achieved or present an opportunity for proactive spending in order to obtain a higher earnings band. Once enabled, this useful application provides an area where users can access an overview of any deals that guide action, such as proactive spending or accrual revision. The Watchlist app consists of four tabs, let’s dive in and take an in-depth look at each of these.

1.   Risks

The ‘Risks’ tab shows a tile per trading partner which is displayed in descending order of the value of earnings impact for the biggest risk within the trading partner. The spend required is the shortfall in spend which results in the accrual band being narrowly missed which result in an accompanying earnings impact. When a trading partner is expanded, the deal rows within that trading partner will be displayed in descending order of earnings impact. By clicking on a trading partner tile, you will be shown a list of targeted deals.

2.   Opportunities

Within the ‘Opportunities’ tab, there is a tile per trading partner which is displayed in descending order of the value of earnings impact for the biggest opportunity within the trading partner. The earnings impact are the earnings to be gained if the band above the accrual band is reached. The spend required is the additional spend above the forecasted which drives the selection of the accrual band.

By clicking on a trading partner tile, you will be shown a list of that trading partner’s targeted deals in the same way as the ‘Risks’ tab. When a trading partner is expanded, the deal rows within that trading partner are displayed in descending order of the value of the earnings impact. Each deal row has a ‘View bands’ option which displays a view of the deal’s turnover bands where actual (A), accrual (C) and forecast (F) bands are identified.

3.   Download

It is possible for a user to download an Excel spreadsheet containing the watchlist data. Once downloaded, the Excel spreadsheet contains one sheet for risks and one for opportunities. The data is not limited by the display limit set in the ‘Settings’ tab.

4.   Settings

Admin users will have access to the ‘Settings’ tab within the Watchlist app and will be able to change the following settings:

• Display limit

The display limit allows a user to enter a value that will limit the number of trading partners that will be shown in the Watchlist app. This display limit also applies to the ‘My team’s responsibilities’ switch at the right of the screen. If no limit is set, all trading partners will be shown.

• Opportunities threshold

Deals with an earnings impact above the opportunities threshold will have a green background within the ‘Opportunities’ tab. If this threshold is not set, there will be no deal rows with a green background.

• Risk threshold

Deals with an earnings impact below the risk threshold will have a red background within the ‘Risks’ tab. If this threshold is not set, there will be no deal rows with a red background. Please note: users who are not admin users will not be able to view or access the ‘Settings’ tab.So, there you have it – our Watchlist app allows you to find out how your targeted deals could perform, giving you the ability to identify potential risks and opportunities at the click of a button.

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