Ecosystem Relationship Management (ERM) is designed to manage and improve the efficiency of order acknowledgements, shipments, and invoicing through document-specific Service Level Agreements (SLA). While ERM uses out-of-the-box (OOTB) metrics to help maintain compliance with operational mandates, integration compliance, and trading partner agreements, there are also configurable fallback settings that are applied if the OOTB metrics cannot be applied, for example, when values expected by OOTB metrics are not present in the documents being processed. 

In addition, you can configure custom metrics where you select the document, directions, responses, and different time-based conditions and details to set up event-based and partner-specific SLAs around response time or expected message volume. 

For both OOTB metrics and custom metrics, you can configure notifications to be triggered when SLAs are at risk or are missed. 

Configuring ERM

You configure ERM by selecting metrics from the available ERM modules or creating custom metrics or both. For information about ERM modules, see Retailer Relationship Manager - Overview.

Configuring ERM Modules

SLA entries are created on the Network > Partners pages. 

1. Go to Network > Partners.
2. Select your partner and then click ERM.
3. Click Add Metric or click the Add button.
4. Toggle one or more of the metrics on or off and click Done.
5. The selected metrics are displayed.
6. If necessary, specify settings to be used if CIC cannot determine from the document in question what the SLA values should be. Click the pencil icon.

7. Specify fallback settings for your metric.

   See the following table for possible fallback settings. Note that not all fallback settings are available for all metrics. 

   Setting	Description
   Respond within	Specify the number of minutes, hours, days or weeks within which a response must be made in order to meet the SLA.
   Only apply	Specify how business days and holidays should affect the SLA. See Business Hours and Holidays for more information.
   Reset Expected Time Interval for Updates	Select this checkbox to reset the SLAs time interval if an update trigger document is received.
   Mark at Risk	Specify if this item should be marked as at risk and under what circumstances. If you have notifications enabled, this setting will determine when notifications are generated. See Enabling Notifications

Creating Custom Metrics

Custom metrics in ERM (Ecosystem Relationship Manager) are adjustable guidelines that help monitor and verify critical processes like order acknowledgments, shipments, and invoicing using time- or volume-based parameters. 

1. Click Add Metric and select the type of metric you want to create from the drop down menu. 

   

2. Choose Expected Volume or Response Time. See ERM Custom Metrics for more information.

Enabling Notifications in ERM

Notifications in ERM are designed to keep users informed about key events and actions related to their business processes. To receive notifications, users must be registered in CIC. Notifications can also be sent to distribution lists, such as an EDI team, by creating a CIC user with the distribution list as the email address for the account.

Notifications are managed based on the user and can be configured via their CIC account notification settings. Users have the ability to configure their account notification preferences to notify them when there has been a missed commitment.

For more information about Notifications, see Enabling Notifications. 

1. Go to Admin > My Profile > Notifications tab.
2. Toggle the notifications on or off as necessary.

   

3. Click Save.

Viewing Response Time SLA Status and Warnings in the Cockpit

A Response Time SLA can have the following status levels:

• At Risk
• Missed
• Met
• Pending

These statuses are represented by SLA badges and are displayed per message on the Messages page in Tile View, List View, and Detail View.

Tile View

The example here shows how badges appear on individual messages in Tile View.

List View

The List View contains a column that shows SLAs (Pending, At Risk, Missed, Met).

Detail View

In addition to badges, the Detail View contains more detailed information about each message's SLA, if any.

This PO acknowledgment has been received on time.

In this one, note that there is a warning.

In case the SLA is missed, this is how it displays.