Profit Center Paths are created in the home office ExecuTrak system. A profit center path consists of a hierarchy of levels with each profit center in the level serving as a "parent" to the level below it and as a "child" to the level above it. The company wide profit center will serve as the top most level in the hierarchy and serve as both parent and child to itself. There are any number of methods you can use when creating paths. One common method is to create paths based on store, district, and region, respectively. Once you have created the path for DataTrak to use for drill down reporting, enter that path as the value of System Parameter 16000. Important: The path you create for DataTrak must contain only retail profit centers.
These paths make it possible for you to consolidate financial information from the bottom of the path up and distribute overhead from the top of the path down. Consider the following example.
In this example, Districts 1, 2, and 3 and region 12 must be designated as profit centers. If no "actual" profit center exists at these levels, you must create dummy profit centers. For example:
Create a "dummy" profit center for District 1 to serve as the parent profit center to profit centers 10, 11, and 12.
Create a "dummy" profit center for District 2 to serve as the parent profit center to profit centers 20, 21, and 22.
Create a "dummy" profit center for District 3 to serve as the parent profit center to profit centers 30, 31, and 32.
Create a "dummy" profit center for Region 12 to serve as the parent profit center to profit centers "district 1", "district 2," and "district 3"
The company wide profit center serves as the parent profit center for profit center "Region 12".
For help on creating profit center paths, consult the ExecuTrak Advanced Financial Online Help system.