How do I set up a distributorship in my Beacon environment?

Setting up distributorships in Beacon will help your users to manage their cases and inventory as a team, but it's important to understand how distributors work in Beacon. 

Key Information on Distributorships in Beacon

1. Each distributor group in Beacon is linked by one distributor account. Meaning, at this time distributorships in Beacon exist as a relationship between a group of sales reps and one Distributor. You may not have two or more co-distributors manage the same group. 
2. Distributor groups are set up by linking sales reps with a distributor who manages them. The distributor will be able to view and interact with the cases of the sales reps connected to them and pull reports on their activity. 
3. Distributors may share their inventory with their sales reps, if the setting is enabled in the Distributor User Settings. 
4. Distributors and Sales Reps may both be overseen by Regional Managers, but it is important to understand that this is region-based. Regional managers have visibility and some control over the users assigned to their regions, but this is not a 1-to-1 relationship between a distributor and a regional manager. In other words, any sales users or distributors with the assigned region will be included. 
5. Consider carefully who should be given the distributor account within the distributorship. It may seem obvious to give the distributor account to the distributor principal, but if a back-office person or customer service representative will be entering cases on behalf of all of the sales reps in the distributorship, then it may make sense to make them the distributor 

How to Set Up a Distributorship

1. Create the Distributor Account and Sales User Accounts, learn how here. Be sure about the roles and email addresses before creating accounts, because these cannot be changed after the user has been created. 
   1. In the event that an office administrator needs full distributor permissions to enter cases on behalf of all sales reps, we recommend creating the distributor account using a general company email account. That way, if the person in that role changes, it will not require a complete reconfiguration of the distributorship in Beacon and will preserve continuity of data. Additionally, if a general company email is used, this gives the distributor principal ultimate control over the Beacon distributor account as the owner of the email domain. 
   2. Remember there can be only one distributor account, the user with this account role will be able to view and take action on all cases and inventory belonging to the assigned sales users. Consider this choice carefully, because roles and email addresses of user accounts may not be changed. 
2. Assign Sales Users to your Distributor in the Distributor's User Detail Screen. 
3. Complete all other user setup steps, such as assigning directory records and marking the users "Training Complete". 
4. Consider enabling shared inventory so the sales reps can use inventory in the Distributor's custody in their cases. 
   1. This setting reduces the administrative load on users by eliminating the need for inter-field transfers when inventory is being passed between reps or taken from a shared warehouse. 
   2. If this setting is enabled, it is recommended to transfer inventory only to the Distributor account, unless the inventory should only be used by a certain user. 
5. Once the distributor group has been set up fully and you've transferred them inventory, you can give your users access to their accounts. 
6. Learn more about what distributors can do and how to enter cases.