Why this portal instead of the Excel round
Same file in, same Final Topical SM out. What changes is everything in between: one live copy instead of 30 e-mailed spreadsheets.
What goes wrong with the Excel round today
| Excel round | Here |
|---|---|
| One master file is split per CM, then per seller, then mailed. Versions fork on day one; somebody merges 20 files back by hand. | One copy. Every CM and seller edits the lines they own, in the same place. Nothing to merge. |
| "Which file is the latest?" Nobody knows what changed since they last opened it. | Since you last looked on every home page: what changed, on how many lines, by whom, with a one-click filter to those lines. |
| A seller writes "Y" in the wrong column, or 1,25O with a letter O, and the merge script silently drops it. | Yes / different qty / cannot supply buttons; qty fields only accept numbers; "cannot supply" needs a reason; 5x jumps ask you to double-check. |
| Sellers see CM notes, LY city orders and forecast inputs because the sheet was split from the master. | Sellers see only their own lines and only what they need (proposed qty, stores, LY units of their item). S3P lines and CM internals never leave Amazon. |
| Deadline passes; half the sellers have not replied; you chase by mail and then decide "no reply = aligned" by hand. | Reminders go out automatically before the deadline; at the deadline unanswered lines are recorded as aligned, with that fact in the audit and the export. |
| Why is the qty 112? Open another file, find the projection tab, hope the formula still points at the right cell. | Click ⓘ on any quantity: LY units, stock-out correction, order growth, floor, in plain words. The export carries the same formula live in Excel. |
| Who changed this and when? The file's "modified by" is the last person who saved. | Every change has a name and a time (IST) in the Audit sheet and on each line; Undo for CM edits; conflicts between an uploaded sheet and the portal are shown side by side and you pick. |
| A CM's status is a Slack message: "done, mostly". | Each CM marks review complete; the admin dashboard shows CMs signed off, sellers replied, red items, slowest first. |
What you keep from Excel
- Download / Upload your own lines as a real workbook: sort, filter, fill-down, paste in Excel, upload it back. Reordered or extra columns, title rows and "1,250" are tolerated; changes made in the portal after your download are flagged, not overwritten.
- Sheet view in the browser: click-to-sort, per-column filters, search, footer totals, private notes and ⭐ flags per line, keyboard entry, remembered between visits.
- Bulk actions: "Yes, all cities", one total split by city, copy first city's answer, CM rules such as "accept revisions within ±10%" or "drop lines the seller cannot supply".
- Final Topical SM export in the same 27-column seller-confirmation layout and the 38-column Surabi format, plus Additional ASINs, Summary and Audit sheets. Nothing downstream changes.
- Paste a list of ASINs to propose additions; the portal looks up title, brand, GL and current seller.
Who does what
| Role | Sees | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Now CM | Own lines across all sellers | Review P0/P1 and qty, promote P1s, sign off; decide seller revisions and additions; set auto-accept rules |
| Seller | Own company's P0 lines, once the round opens | Yes / different qty / cannot supply per line or per item; inbound-by-date; propose new ASINs; e-mail receipt |
| Core category | Lines in own GLs, read-only | Suggest qty / priority / removal with a reason; propose ASINs; see what the CM decided and why |
| Admin | Everything | Import Store SM, set phases and deadlines, roster, dashboard, export the Final SM |
Amazon employees sign in with Midway; sellers get a 6-digit e-mail code. Both go through the same roster, so only people the admin has added can see anything.