A Look at Dell's Wall, And How it Will Work

"The Wall" (our name) is the Dell partner portal, developed by Dell with the assistance of Salesforce.com, and it goes live with the Round Rock, Texas-based company's formal channel program launch. CRN Test Center engineers looked at a sandbox copy of Dell's Deal Registration partner portal. After navigating and testing the Deal Registration portal, we carefully examined the internals of the partner deal evaluation system.

Why is this a critical piece of the puzzle? Because this is where partners will submit deals to Dell for registration and where those deals -- with sensitive customer data -- will enter a workflow involving Dell executives that will lead to approval or rejection. We wanted to know whether the technology is in place to protect that data and, if so, exactly how it works.

Based on the two evaluations, we conclude that the portal implementation and Dell's backend deal evaluation system follows sound guidelines in the way it separates user access and data. We're giving it our thumbs up for good design and thorough data oversight.

Here's what we found:

Deal Registration Partner portal, what partners can expect to see:

As far as usability goes, the Dell Deal Registration portal is right on the money. The site is as intuitive as navigating through Amazon.com, so no partner training is required. From the main page, partners can view opportunities, register new deals, check their performance profiles and track the approval process, as well as send emails to approval managers at Dell. The portal has many customizable views that partners can use to quickly sort and find information on active deals. Partners also can create any list views they want.

According to Dell, registered resellers will only be able to see their own information. Only after a deal is submitted does it go to a dedicated Dell partner group. The application is developed to open solution provider data to Dell channel executives only, and away from the eyes of anyone in Dell's direct sales organization. The Partner Relationship Management application works to keep customer information -- a customer's name, what products they want to buy, how much they want to spend, contact information and the like -- in front of Dell channel executives only. Direct sales representatives are not given permission within the application to view that data.

Though impossible to prove whether the partner data is truly separated from a human standpoint, the Salesforce.com PRM application does a sound, technical job at hiding data at the field level.

Dell chose to use field level security on all relevant customer and partner data, and added a red bar on required field groups so that partners can see what's required by Dell's channel sales group. However, no where in a deal record did engineers see that the information will not be shared. A small note on the main page states that end user information will not be shared with Dell's direct sales team. The fact that the note is in small print and is not shown on each record before submission will make some partner nervous.

(Memo to Dell: Please make this note in larger print on the main page and add it to each record in bold letters, so that partners can see it much more clearly before submitting deals.)

After submitting a deal, partners receive an email with the deal registration number and the deal information. According to Dell, the data itself is transferred using SSL -- which encrypts it. The record is immediately locked and a Dell channel sales representative receives an email with the information and needs to act on it within 24 hours. The record remains locked during the approval stage.

Dell made its master product list available in the Deal Registration portal, so that partners can shop without having to navigate between sites. Dell provides a bare bones shopping experience because product information is missing. One positive feature to note, though: The master product list is searchable by product code, product name and category.

The Deal Registration portal supports internationalization and multiple currencies. More importantly, Salesforce.com's internationalization features do not affect partners' backend databases. By maintaining one system, partners can create deal registrations that are product and campaign specific, and partner program specific for locations around the world without having to merge data sets from multiple locations.

Because every field in Salesforce.com is customizable, Dell IT administrators can create any rule and data validation it wants in minutes. Dell told CMP engineers that the Deal Registration site is still evolving. In the future, the company plans to add additional features and tools that can benefit partners and make the user experience easier.

Next: Dell's partner deal evaluation system, a brick by brick look at "The Wall"
Dell's partner deal evaluation system, a brick by brick look at "The Wall"

From an approver's perspective, Dell's indirect sales workflow is fully integrated with the Deal Registration portal. Changes made to a record by Dell channel sales approvers are immediately seen by partners. Dell made it clear to CMP Channel engineers that the data is secured based on field-level access and every transaction is recorded. Every change the system gets a date and time stamp. Approvers can produce full audit trails for every transaction deal, so solution providers can see at every step in the process who is looking over their information.

Upon opening a deal record, engineers found that the account name is blanked out because we didn't have manager credentials. This is a good example of having field level security on the same record. It simplifies the workflow process and ensures that only approvers with the right credential can view the entire record.

Dell's partner system uses time-based workflows for the deal approval process. After registering a deal, Dell has a set of rules for handling the partner information within a period of time. The rules vary on product, location, deal size, and the like. Time based workflow helps partners stay focused on deals by receiving reminders throughout the deal cycle. Partners also can receive other informational messages throughout the process. CRN engineers found that the process creates transparency between partners and the Dell channel sales team, while locking out Dell's direct sales team.

Dell's partner deal evaluation system comes with a "Find Duplicates" feature to help approvers eliminate potential conflicts between partners entering the same deals multiple times. Finding duplications is an important step in the workflow because it ensures that deals are processed smoothly through Dell's system. The criteria on duplication is based on end user account name, city and other key account data.

The search produces results based on words that sound alike. Engineers did not test the accuracy of the search engine, so we don't know the exact logic used in identifying words that sound alike. Partners shouldn't expect to see problems unless approvers and managers get sloppy at finding duplication.

A feature called "Connections" in the system allows Dell to work with partners that are Salesforce.com customers. Solution providers with Salesforce.com accounts do not have to register at the deal site. Partners can simply select Dell as one of their vendors. Dell created a rule to share opportunities with these partners as well -- a feature but not a primary, driving force behind the portal.

Dell's direct sales team also can take advantage of the same system, even without having access to partner records. Dell's direct sales group can send solution providers deals that fall below a certain threshold. The only information they need is the solution provider contact, expertise and territory they cover. For instance, Dell's direct sales folks can find partners that might be willing to cover small accounts. Keep in mind that Salesforce.com's data silo is based on field-level security, so direct sales folks won't be able to view any critical data, even if they are given access to solution provider contact information. Dell's new commitment to partners must guarantee that fields are locked down properly and deal records are invisible to the direct sales group.

As long as Dell maintains the decision making process transparent in the system, partners shouldn't see their deals go awry. From a pure technical perspective, engineers could not identify any flaws that could present a problem to partners.