Archived accumulator?

[consume]

I've worked at target 5 years now, always salesfloor.. I've asked and no one could really tell me in backroom and I searched the guides, only mentions of it, never a definition ...
What the hell is the accumulator? I understand it has something to do with the stock and it can be damaged by pulling incorrectly.. But.. How does it work etc.. Always been curious.. If you can point me somewhere I missed on the forum I'll delete the thread

 

[consume]

For example, I have a problem with the br not backstocking the truck from pfresh the day it comes.. If they backstock the truck the next day, the system, a term I guess could be accumulator, pulls everything they backstock and it screws my coolers up, yet again... I've read about this subt 9999 and wondering how I do it to keep the crap from coming out if convince the people they decided should be backstocking the truck who don't, to use this so it doesn't just get pulled back out.
I'm also curious if it shows up on a report because I've heard they don't want them to do it, they say the new stl claims " it messes up the accumulator", which I have no real idea wtf is

 

[tgtguy]

I use Subt, when backstocking BS that's been around a day or so...and BS from pog resets.salesplanners. Using subt to BS does take longer ...however, when compared to having to repull the items or burning the batches...its easier to just subt .

I don't know about their being a report showing who uses subt 9999. I do know that some etls, tls, stls etc...don't like it and view it as a bad thing or cheating the system . However, if there wasn't a major issue with the system this wouldn't keep happening. I wish Spot would come up with an option that works just as well as Subt but isn't as time consuming..

 

[consume]

But what is the accumulator?

 

[SFTOnThree]

The accumulator is the count on the sales floor. When a new POG is set, HQ says xx of dcpi xxx-xx-xxxx fit on the plano. When it's scanned through a register (sold, damaged, whatever), the accumulator changes. When it hits pre-set levels, it will trigger CAFs, Auto-Pulls, and orders. Maybe one of the backroom guys no what the trigger levels are, I don't

 

[whippingboy]

Recently our store started backstocking produce items (dressings, juices) into wacos. For example, only six green goodness naked juices will sit on the shelf. Sometimes the backroom pulls will pull more green goodness, even though it won't fit on the shelf. So I have to "reset the accumulator" by using SUBT so green goodness will stop pulling. It's important that I know the green goodness is full (according to plano) on the floor before doing this.

A very basic example. Also, since HQ now orders these juices, it's important to backstock any overages immediately, or HQ will think we need more of the juices and push more to the store. As far as I know, this is how it works.

 

[logisticsismygame]

Every DPCI has a trigger level. As stated before as it gets sold, defected, or QMOS. It will drop automatically as it reaches it's trigger. At certain times of the year corp changes the triggers. For example during 4th Q, instead of a trigger being at 6 they might change it to 4 depending on the popularity of the item. POG resets always jack up the pulls. You can try waiting 24 hrs to backstock the product or just burn the batch until it stops. There is no clean way around it that I have found. 999 resets the accumulator but it only supposed to used by TLs and up. OUTS and research will reset it as well but will again require you to burn the batch.

 

[RetailWorld]

The accumulator is terrible and never works properly. It's old code from the 90's and since nobody really knows how it works everybody has to "work around it" with tricks like staging, subt 9999, stand alone outs, etc.

 

[Produce Queen]

The triggers are percentages. Produce is at 30%. An example of how the accumulator works: strawberries have a pog capacity of 48 so they won't pull any for cafs until 30% sell (14). I think auto fills trigger at a lower % than hourly cafs. Obviously capacities being incorrect is going to adversely impact the pulls.

 

[mrknownothing]

The triggers are percentages. Produce is at 30%. An example of how the accumulator works: strawberries have a pog capacity of 48 so they won't pull any for cafs until 30% sell (14). I think auto fills trigger at a lower % than hourly cafs. Obviously capacities being incorrect is going to adversely impact the pulls.

That and not having accurate scans for instocks due to outstanding re-shop/push/backstock/defectives/QMOS.

 

[Rock Lobster]

I've worked at target 5 years now, always salesfloor.. I've asked and no one could really tell me in backroom and I searched the guides, only mentions of it, never a definition ...
What the hell is the accumulator? I understand it has something to do with the stock and it can be damaged by pulling incorrectly.. But.. How does it work etc.. Always been curious.. If you can point me somewhere I missed on the forum I'll delete the thread

The accumulator is a "server" in every store that keeps counts of everything being sold, defected, and pulled from the stockroom. It works in a series of + and - quantities and takes action based off of certain percentage values tied to each DPCI.

An easy example is something like Paper Towels. Let's say 10 fit on the shelf in the aisle and that is the only location. It is full on the salesfloor so its value is currently set to 0. If one sells, its value increases to +1. If its trigger is set to pull at +7 (or 3 left on the shelf), then it will drop into an autofill to pull those 7 (attempting to decrease the value from +7 to 0 again). When the backroom goes to pull their batch, and they key 7 it is a -7 (Subt or PULL both will do this), and it drops the value to zero again and will stop pulling until more sell. If there are only 5 left in the backroom then it is the +7 - 5 = +2 so it will come up as PUSH on the next trailer when it does come in.

Where this gets tricky is SPs and multi-locs. Let's say that this same Paper Towel is on a focal endcap. It fits 50 on the endcap and 10 still in the home like above. That gives it a total capacity of 60. If you start with it full the value is obviously still 0. But what about when it sells down a ton on a Saturday? You could have values of +45 (so only 15 left) and you need to kill your SP. You break the tie, stock everything into the home, and send the extra 5 to backstock. Just because you broke the tie does NOT mean the accumulator is reset. The value to the item to the accumulator is still +45. That is why an item will pull over and over again. The backroom will pull 5 at 11AM (decrease to +40), 12PM (+35) etc...

This is where Subt9999 comes in. Subtract does just what it sounds like, it subtracts from the accumulator. So that value of +45 can easily be fixed because you are performing -9999 to the accumulator on that DPCI. A value cannot go negative (only go to 0) so you have effectively reset the accumulator.

Furthermore, this is why EXF is not encouraged. EXF is not limited by capacities. So if you EXF 75 of an item you have made the accumulator +75 for it. If you only have 25 in the backroom, there is still +50 lingering around that will keep pulling whenever the item is backstocked. If EXF is used throughout the store, you can have hundreds of DPCI's every week with inflated values.