xMatix Field Sales

xMatix Field Sales plans and records the work of a sales team that visits outlets: planners define recurring beats, each beat produces a dated visit plan for one executive, and the executive works that plan's visits on the mobile app, taking orders, filling checklists and capturing photos at each outlet. Van-sales days add stock carried on a vehicle, and attendance, territory planning and prospecting sit around that daily loop. Orders taken on a visit continue in Sales like any other order.

Overview

A field day has four levels, and each one is created from the one above it:

Four ideas explain most of what you see:

• Plans are copies. A plan keeps the visits it was built with. Changing a beat or its stops changes only the plans created afterwards.
• Only approved stops become visits. A stop proposed from the field (for example a prospect onboarded on the spot) waits for a planner's approval before it appears on future plans.
• Only the assignee executes. Only the executive in Assigned To Resource can start, pause or end a plan. Supervisors can still reassign, reschedule or cancel it.
• Every outcome completes the visit. A visit ended as Productive, Non-productive or Cancelled gets the status Completed. The outcome is recorded in the reason fields, not in the status.

When to use it

Pick the page by the job in front of you:

How xMatix handles it

The life of a field day.

1. The plan appears. When automatic generation is on, a background job creates the plans that are due, by default for today and tomorrow. Each beat gets at most one plan per day, with the status Planned, assigned to the beat's executive or to the person holding the beat's position. A day that already has a plan for that beat is skipped, even when the plan was cancelled.
2. The executive checks in. If the executive's profile requires attendance, the mobile app asks for a check-in before work starts. Depending on the settings, it can require a location near the branch, a selfie, working hours and no leave or holiday. This is separate from starting a visit at an outlet.
3. The plan starts. The executive opens Visit Plans on the phone and chooses Start plan. The plan becomes In Progress.
4. Each visit runs start → tasks → end. Start Visit stamps the start time and the device position. If the phone is further from the outlet than the visit's tolerance, the app warns but still lets the executive start. The executive then works the task cards, including Take Order, and chooses End Visit with an outcome. Everything works offline and syncs when coverage returns.
5. The plan ends. End plan sets the plan to Completed and cancels every visit that is not completed, cancelled or rescheduled.
6. Unfinished work is swept up. By default, an open plan becomes Lapsed 72 hours after its end date, and an open visit is cancelled 48 hours after its planned date.

Van-sales days use a Field Sales run beside the plan. Release Load moves stock from the depot onto the van as an inventory transfer, the executive sells and invoices from the van, and Unload returns what is left and marks the run Reconciled. The van is a storage location, so van stock is always on the books.

Planning work happens on the web. Planners build beats and stops, run route optimization and territory planning, approve proposed stops and transfers, and hand territories over through positions.

Where to find it

Open the Field Sales app from the app launcher. Its web menu, in order:

Settings groups the set-up records:

On the mobile app, the first Field Sales menu item is the Visit Plans hub in place of the web list. It shows your plans as Current, Upcoming and Past, with the current plan on a large card with Continue. Home, Route Planner and Field Sales are web-only; the other menu items appear on both.

Who does what

Prerequisites

• The Field Sales app on your security profile, and access to the records you work with (see Permissions).
• A resource record linked to each executive's user. Without one, an executive cannot be assigned beats or check in.
• Outlets set up as accounts, with a map position if you want the off-site warning, directions and route optimization.
• For the off-site warning and attendance location checks: location sharing allowed on the phone or browser.

Procedure

This is the end-to-end path. Each step links to the page that documents it in full.

Step 1 — Set up the team (administrator)

Create a resource for every executive, with a default branch and business hours. If territories change hands often, set up positions and record who holds each one.

Step 2 — Define the work at the outlet

Build the checklist templates your visits ask, then a visit task template that lists the tasks and activities for each visit, such as the order, the checklist and the photos. Add planograms and shelf products if executives audit shelves, and selling scope rules if executives may sell only some items.

Step 3 — Build the beats

In Field Sales → Visit Routes, create one beat per recurring journey, with its executive, days and task template. Add the outlets as route stops and approve them. To split many outlets across several executives in one go, use territory planning. Optionally optimize each beat's stop order.

Step 4 — Switch on the automation (administrator)

In Setup → Feature Hub → Sales → Settings, Schedulers group, turn on Auto-create Visit Plans from route schedules. Then set the attendance gates on the Mobile App configuration's Check-In tab (see Mobile attendance). Plans start appearing on the next hourly run.

Step 5 — Run the day

The executive checks in, opens today's plan on the phone, selects Start plan and works each visit as described in Complete a visit on mobile. At the end of the day they select End plan.

Step 6 — Review and adjust

Supervisors open plans and visits on the web to see what was done, when and where. Visit Compliance on each plan shows the share of visits completed. Approve the outlets proposed from the field on the beat's stops, and handle availability requests.

Step 7 — Run van days alongside

For executives who sell from stock, create a Field Sales run with its load lines and Van Sales visit plan, release the load in the morning and unload the remainder at day end.

Example

A distributor's field team covers one city with five executives:

1. The administrator creates the five resources with their default branch and working hours, and a task template Standard outlet call with a stock checklist, a shelf photo and Take Order.
2. The planner selects 120 outlets and runs Plan territory on the Route Optimization page for the five executives. Five road-ordered beats are created in one visit route group. The planner gives each beat its days and the task template.
3. The administrator turns on Auto-create Visit Plans from route schedules. With the default lead of one day, the hourly job creates Tuesday's plans on Monday, one per beat that runs on Tuesday.
4. On Tuesday morning each executive checks in, opens Visit Plans, selects Continue and Start plan, and works their outlets. One executive passes a new shop, onboards it from the Nearby to onboard feed, and it is added to the beat as a Proposed stop.
5. In the evening the executives select End plan. Reviewing the day, the supervisor sees that one outlet was closed: its visit shows Completed, with Store closed in Non-Productive Reason. The supervisor then approves the new shop's stop, and it appears on that beat's future plans.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox with a resource linked to your user and two outlet accounts: create a beat for yourself with today's day switched on, add both outlets as approved stops, and give it a task template. Create a visit plan by hand, choose the beat and set today's dates. On the phone, start the plan, start the first visit, end it as Productive, and then select End plan.

Expected result: the plan shows two visits copied from the beat. After End plan, the plan is Completed, the first visit is Completed, the second is Cancelled, and Visit Compliance shows 50.

Quick reference

• Beat → visit plan → visit → tasks and activities.
• A plan is one executive's day; a beat is the recurring template.
• Plans are copies: changing a beat affects only later plans.
• Only approved stops become visits.
• Only the assigned executive can start or end a plan.
• Every visit outcome sets the status to Completed.
• End plan cancels unfinished visits; stale plans lapse after 72 hours by default.
• Automatic plan generation is off until an administrator turns it on.
• The phone works offline; captures sync later.

Permissions

The delivered Sales Executive, Sales Manager, Standard User and System Admin profiles can open the Field Sales app and have full access to beats, visit plans and visits. The Field Sales Setup list is on the Standard User and System Admin profiles. Pages inside the app are granted separately:

Buttons that run server actions, such as Optimise Route on a plan or Plan Territory, need a grant on the profile's Actions tab; each topic page lists its grants. Which plans and visits an executive sees also follows record security: a user linked to a resource sees their own and their team's plans, plus unassigned ones. See Security profiles and Record security.

Configuration

Where each part of Field Sales is configured:

Common questions

Do visit plans appear on their own?

Only after an administrator turns on Auto-create Visit Plans from route schedules. It is off when xMatix is delivered. Once it is on, an hourly job creates one plan per active beat for each scheduled day in the lead window, by default today and tomorrow. Until then, plans are created by hand, from the Route Planner or by van runs. Each beat needs at least one approved stop, and the day must be switched on for the beat.

Does Field Sales work without a network?

Yes. The mobile app keeps the day's plan, visits and templates on the phone. Starting and ending visits, filling checklists, taking photos and taking orders all work offline. Each save waits on the phone and syncs when coverage returns. Administrators can see records that failed to sync under Settings → Mobile Sync Failures. See How offline-first mobile works.

What is the difference between attendance check-in and starting a visit?

Attendance check-in starts your working day and is recorded on your attendance day. Starting a visit happens at each outlet and stamps the visit's start time and location. Your administrator decides whether attendance check-in is required before you can work. A visit start is never blocked by distance: the app only warns you when you are further from the outlet than allowed.

Can I add an outlet that isn't on my beat?

For a one-off call, create a visit by hand and link it to the day's plan. To add the outlet to the beat for good, onboard or propose it from the Nearby to onboard feed on the plan's agenda. It becomes a Proposed stop, and a planner approves it before it appears on future plans. See Prospecting.

Related topics

• Visits and the field day
• Visit plans
• Beats and routes
• The xMatix mobile app
• How offline-first mobile works
• xMatix Field Sales product overview
• Entity reference
• Field Sales — entity reference