Transferring markdown data

The markdown candidate data type is used to determine markdown avoidance cost. This data type is important for the markdown approach. You can factor some costs in, even if they are discounted, to serve as a tie-breaker or to achieve early balancing before a markdown.

About this task

Markdown

This data set includes markdown events at the item or node level including markdown rates that reflect the most up-to-date markdown event data. The data set must be updated if an item is added to the markdown list of a node or if an item is taken off the markdown list of a node.

Artificial Markdown

You can use artificial markdown to avoid markdowns on some items by prioritizing them over other inventory.
  • Familiarize yourself with the following types of inventory that you can prioritize to avoid markdowns:
    • Items that are not sold in stores due to returns or other conditions.
    • Slow-moving items.
    • Slow-moving items.
  • To identify an item for artificial markdown, complete the following steps:
    1. Set the Item markdown status to MKDOWN.
    2. Set the Markdown type for that item to 99.
    3. Provide the Markdown effective end date.

Procedure

  1. To create the markdown .csv files, complete the following steps:
    1. For the file name, use the MKC_[CUSTOMER NAME]_YYYYMMDDHHMISS.csv format.
    2. For the separator, use the comma (,).
    3. Upload multiple .csv files by compressing them into a tar.gz file.
  2. You must follow the order of the fields shown in the data type table by matching the same order for the fields in the column in the CSV file. For example, if Item ID is the first field that is defined in the data type table, it must follow the same order in the column in the CSV file. Review the following fields and descriptions for the markdown calendar data:
    Table 1. Markdown data descriptions
    Sequence Field Name Required Type Description
    1. Item ID Yes STRING This is an item for markdown.
    2. Item UOM No STRING The unit of measure for an item. The valid values are Each, Pallet and Pound. The default unit of measure is Each.
    3. Item class No STRING The class of an item.
    4. Ship node Yes STRING A store or distribution center (DC).
    5. Markdown event ID Yes STRING The event where this markdown belongs.
    6. Markdown item status Yes STRING The item status at this node. Use the following values:
    • CL-TO-ACTIVE
    • CL-TO-ACTIVE-DELETE
    • MKDOWN
    • MKDOWN-DELETE
    • DISCONT (discontinued)
    7. Markdown item retail price No DECIMAL The retail amount at which the item is sold for this markdown. Provide either the markdown price or the markdown percentage.
    8. Markdown effective start date Yes DATE The start date of this markdown for this item-node pair. If this date is an old date, such as 2000-01-01, then it is assumed that this markdown is no longer active.
    9. Markdown percentage No DECIMAL The markdown percentage for the item-node pair. This information is helpful when the TLog data does not contain accurate regular price information. The value must be between 0 and 1.
    10. Markdown type No STRING A type of markdown. Use the following values:
    • Set to 01 for first markdown.
    • Set to 99 for artificial markdown.

    The default value is 01. If the field is not present in the feed, the Optimization service considers the markdown as a first markdown.

    11. Markdown effective end date No STRING The end date for the artificial markdown. This field is required if Markdown type is set as 99 for artificial markdown. If the date is not provided, the item-node pair is considered as invalid.
    12. Markdown currency No STRING This is associated with the markdown cost. This value needs to be in the ISO three letter currency format, such as USD, GBP, or EUR.
  3. Review the following sample .csv file:
    item_id,item_uom,item_class,ship_node,markdown_event_id,markdown_item_status,markdown_item_retail_price,markdown_effective_start_date,markdown_percentage,markdown_type,markdown_effective_end_date,markdown_currency
    20908279,GOOD,EACH,0035,MARK_9,MKDOWN,5.4,2018-07-20,20.56,,,USD
    20908279,GOOD,EACH,0014,MARK_9,MKDOWN,5.4,2018-07-20,10.56,,,USD
    20908279,GOOD,EACH,0037,MARK_9,MKDOWN,5.4,2018-07-20,20.56,,,GBP
    20908279,GOOD,EACH,0039,MARK_9,MKDOWN,5.4,2018-07-20,35.56,,,EUR
    95509519,GOOD,EACH,1054,DPROMO1,CL-TO-ACTIVE,10,2018-03-20,,01,,USD
    95509519,GOOD,EACH,1055,DPROMO2,CL-TO-ACTIVE-DELETE,10,2018-03-20,,99,2018-09-20,USD
    95509519,GOOD,EACH,1056,DPROMO1,MKDOWN-DELETE,10,2018-03-20,,99,2018-09-20,GBP
  4. Compete one of the following steps:
    • Upload a single file to the <Input_Prefix>/UPLOAD/MKC virtual folder on IBM Cloud® Object Storage.
    • Upload all files from a local directory to the <Input_Prefix>/UPLOAD/MKC/ virtual folder on IBM Cloud Object Storage.
  5. Familiarize yourself with the file format, for example:
    • If the original file is called 2024-01-01-10-59-00.0000-3423-Availability.csv, for simplicity, you might call this file <myfilename>.csv.
    • If the data row fails to process, you receive the following error row.csv and the error summary.txt files: The error row.csv file is the original ingestion record that can't be processed. The error summary.txt file provides the reason for the processing failure.
  6. Understand the prefix that is created automatically by Sterling Intelligent Promising to store processed files that are based on the following current states:
    /completed
    All files that completed processing. It is important to clean up the completed files routinely to minimize the storage requirements on IBM Cloud Object Storage.
    /summary
    A data ingestion summary file that describes the error that occurred during execution. This summary file can be used in conjunction with the files that failed to process to help to understand the error code and the reason for failure.

Example

The system generates the following sample of the prefix generated by the data ingestion system:
  • /completed/<Input_Prefix>/sip-mkc/myinput
  • /summary/<Input_Prefix>/sip-mkc/myinput