D2D OEC Subscription Agreement

[scotstrong]

And we get to pay a monthly fee for this "privilege"

[David Cates]

Above and beyond all of the data integration issues, is the service being provided valuable to dealers?

Not being facetious, just curious if dealers / part managers think this product will benefit them.

Is there a cost associated with providing the data or having access to the data provided by others?

[jdpetey]

MFR controlled inventories? Can anyone say SATURN? GM?

[Chuck Hartle]

There always has to be a "stick in the mud". I have purposely held back from replying to this until now to see what the reactions were going to be. While almost every comment out here has some validity, there are some things to consider when you look at what is going on.

As a Vendor who dials into dealerships every day, there is one thing that the agreement should have in it. It should be in plain english that the data being pulled belongs to the said dealer and that the specific use is for a parts locator link exclusively. Any other use of the data collected is strictly forbidden without the express written consent of said dealer. Without this, I would definitely FTP my files to them.

We have been through a couple of these contracts working with the Manufacturer and this was "CLEARLY" spelled out in the agreement. The data that we collected was allowed to be used in only several specific manners and that was it, period! Any other use of the data in a manner not in the spirit for which it was supposed to be used would have meant that the dealer could sue us and own us.

It is very important to show caution when allowing anyone to access your system and any data. I have a partner who is in the data collection business for service reminders and he has dialed into as many as 5,000 dealerships in a month to pull customer information for service reminders. These contracts are very specific and very narrow when it comes to what they have access to and what can be pulled.

However, there can be some real benefits to this information sharing with D2D. For instance, Chrysler is now polling their participating dealerships on a nightly basis to pull inventory numbers and their D2D (which I believe OE Connection is the data collection provider too) and they are "Stock Netting" obsolete inventories from around the country and having dealerships sell it from one to another.

We have over 25 Chrysler stores that we work with and we have seen some incredible movement in idle capital reduction in just several months. The dealers get a notification through their GPOP screen and they have approximately 2 hours to accept the sale. They sell the part at dealer net and the part is gone. As just a sample, there was a dealer with a $150K inventory and $30K in idle capital. He has sold just under $6K of it in 4 months under this program.

I guess the point I am trying to make here is to be cautious for sure, but also be optimistic that this type of "information sharing" will be used in a positive manner that is of great benefit to both the Mfg. and the Dealer. Why would DaimlerChrysler even attempt to do this for it's dealer body? Think supply chain management here! If DaimlerChrysler can sell dealer's idle capital back and forth to each other, imagine the impact this could have on their return centers and labor to restock or purge these parts and the reduction of ordering from vendors when their own dealer body has the inventory already. In this scenario, both the Manufacturer and the Dealer are benefitting.

And, remember, you OWN the data, and if the contract isn't clear about the fact you OWN it and what they specifically are going to do with it, then by all means, FTP the file and control the data yourself. Information sharing can be a very powerful tool as we move forward and both sides can benefit from it, but not if it is going to be used as a "whipping" stick against the dealer.

Chuck Hartle'

[Service 1]

Chuck,
As previously stated on this string, the D2D contract is as one sided a contract as I have ever seen. To make matters worse the signature page is transmitted via email, thus making it impossible to "line out" any questionable clauses in the contract.
Both my APM and her boss were horribly offended that I would ever suggest that our store wanted to keep as many people out of our database as possible. After all, as you said we "own" our database unless of course you signed up with OEConnection.
I am thankful that we have been allowed to FTP our data even though the contract does not even hint that FTP is within it's limits.

[jdaniel]

The concerns about data security are valid, but I want to echo Chuck's comments about moving dead Chrysler stock via D2D, our Jeep/Chrysler store has moved a several dozen obsolete (to us) parts and had several backorders filled by the D2D system in the few weeks we've been on it. Take care of your information, but don't discount the opportunities.
As far as data security, when was the last time anyone reviewed the logs to see what users are accessing your systems locally, by modem and internet/VPN? How about finding the interesting ones and seeing what they are doing and for how long?
I'm concerned about those users we allow to access our data, but at least we know who they are...

------------------
Jack Daniel, MCSE+I, CCNA
Systems Admin
South Shore Imported Cars

[This message has been edited by jdaniel (edited 11-06-2002).]