Introduction:
This blog explains how to overcome issues with standard Accounts search queries when using the business role access context "Territories" for Accounts BO in the SAP Sales Cloud Application.
The access context "Territories" in business roles could be used when the visibility requirements are complex and differs from each and every country in the rollout roadmap, and if the visibility requirements are not aligned with how your sales organization structure are integrated with the back-end ECC or S4 system.
In most scenarios, the Sales Organization structure are configured at country levels. But if the visibility requirements are at each individual business units in the organization rather than the country level, then it is not possible to use the "Sales Organization" access context to satisfy the business unit level visibility requirements. In this case, it is advised to use "Territories" access context so that it gives more flexibility and can satisy complex business unit level access restriction requirements.
The flip side of using "Territories" access context for Accounts BO is that the standard search queries like "My Accounts" & "My Teams Accounts" will show all the Accounts linked with the territory. If one individual business unit has 10,000 accounts and employees are also linked at this territory level, then all 10,000 accounts are visible in all the accounts search queries.
Proposed workarounds
"All Accounts"
This standard search query will show all the accounts that are linked with the business unit level territory. In our example this will show 10,000 accounts.
"My Accounts"
The standard search query "My Accounts" will show again all the accounts that are linked with the business unit level territory. In our example this will show all the 10,000 accounts, as this standard query uses both the account teams & territory teams linkage.
But this is wrong as you would like to see only the Accounts where you are assigned as part of the Account Team. To fix this issue go in to the "Edit Master Layout" and add the field "Responsibility Source" in the Team section of the Accounts advanced search view (screenshot attached below).
Select the entry "Account Team Only" option so that only the account team linkage is considered. This selection completely ignores the accounts - territory linkage and displays only the accounts where the logged-in user is assigned as part of the Account Team.
Save this updated search query as "My Accounts" and remove the standard search query in the master layout.
"My Team's Accounts"
The standard search query "My Team's Accounts" will show again all the accounts that are linked with the business unit level territory. In our example this will show all the 10,000 accounts, as this standard query uses both the account teams & territory teams linkage.
But this is wrong as you would like to see only the Accounts where you or your teammates (coming from the org unit assignments) are assigned as part of the Account Team. To fix this issue go in to the "Edit Master Layout" and add the field "Responsibility Source" in the Team section of the Accounts advanced search view (screenshot attached below).
Select the entry "Account Team Only" option so that only the account team linkage is considered. This selection completely ignores the accounts - territory linkage and displays only the accounts where the logged-in user is assigned as part of the Account Team.
Save this updated search query as "My Team's Accounts" and remove the standard search query in the master layout.
Conclusion
Even when we use the business role access context "Territories" for the Accounts BO, there is a standard workaround available in the SAP Sales Cloud application to overcome the issues with the standard Accounts search queries. There are standard fields which are available in the advanced search options which could really help in differentiating whether the accounts search is dependent on territory teams or the account teams.
This is even more important when the sales personnel & sales managers rely so much on the "My Accounts" and "My Team's Accounts" search view to trigger or monitor any kind of activities/transactions. By using the above workaround the Accounts search queries can be customized as per business needs and requirements.