Skip to content

FousInsights C3M

Check your Insights C3M scan files through an API

Read week ending dates in View Submitted Files, the Validation Name errors from the Error Store List and your stores' Retail Account Numbers with one API call each. A workflow checks each week's files after Saturday's close and emails you the stores to fix.

Start building freeBook a demo

Works with your own Insights C3M account. Fous is an independent product.

What you can build on Insights C3M

  • Check submitted scan files

    Build this

    Reads View Submitted Files for the Sales Cycle you pick: each week ending date and whether it carries the red error icon.

    Takes
    Sales Cycle (optional, latest by default)
    Returns
    Account number, sales cycle, week ending date, has errors

  • Get the error store list

    Build this

    Downloads the list from Download Error Store List Here in View Submitted Files and returns each location's errors from the Validation Name column.

    Takes
    Sales Cycle, week ending date
    Returns
    Store, week ending date, validation names

  • Get store details from Price Promotions

    Build this

    Opens My Reporting Center, then View Price Promotions, exports Store Details and reads the PM USA Store Level Detail sheet.

    Takes
    Nothing
    Returns
    Retail account number and the other store-level columns of the sheet

Automate Insights C3M with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

  • Weekly scan file errors, store by store

    Build this
    Starts
    Every Monday at 10:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Check submitted scan files in the latest Sales Cycle.
    Step 2
    Keep the week ending dates marked with the red error icon, and stop if there are none.
    Step 3
    For each of them, get the error store list.
    Step 4
    Email you each store with its week ending date and validation names.

  • New validation errors, posted to your support queue

    Build this
    Starts
    Every weekday at 9:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Check submitted scan files and take the latest week ending date with the red error icon.
    Step 2
    Get the error store list for that week.
    Step 3
    Keep the store and validation name pairs that were not there on the last run.
    Step 4
    Post each one to your ticketing or back-office webhook.

  • Retail Account Numbers kept in step with your store list

    Build this
    Starts
    On the 1st of every month at 8:00 Eastern Time
    Step 1
    Get the store details from the Price Promotions Store Details export.
    Step 2
    Keep the stores whose Retail Account Number changed or appeared since the last run.
    Step 3
    Post them to the webhook of your back office or scan data setup.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Check submitted scan files” would look like.

Example request
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "insightsc3m.com/check_submitted_scan_files",
    "input": {
      "sales_cycle": "latest"
    }
  }'
Example response
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "account_number": "024680",
    "sales_cycle": "2026-10-04 to 2026-12-26",
    "weeks": [
      {
        "week_ending_date": "2026-11-07",
        "has_errors": true
      },
      {
        "week_ending_date": "2026-10-31",
        "has_errors": false
      },
      {
        "week_ending_date": "2026-10-24",
        "has_errors": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

Insights C3M’s own options

Insights C3M is AGDC's website for participating retailers and wholesalers: payment information for up to 18 months, Price Promotions and Product Promotions, and for wholesalers invoice reconciliation and Line Item Numbers tied to UPCs. Its sign-in page links to no API or developer documentation. Weekly scan data goes to Altria as a file, and Insights C3M shows how it was received.

OptionWhat it coversWhat it takes
Weekly scan data filesTransaction-level tobacco sales in AGDC's pipe-delimited text format, one file per week ending date, sent by your back office or scan data provider.A Management Account Number or Retail Control Number from your AGDC representative, and a back office that produces the file.
Exports on the sitePrice Promotions export to a Store Details file, and the Error Store List download in View Submitted Files.A signed-in Insights C3M account.
Insights C3M by handPayment information for up to 18 months, Price Promotions and Product Promotions, View Submitted Files for the 3 latest sales cycles.An account created with an Authentication Code from your AGDC representative or the Service Center.

Read on November 12, 2026: Insights C3M sign-in and sign-up page.

Signing in to Insights C3M

Insights C3M signs you in with a username and password. To create the account you first need an Authentication Code from your AGDC representative or the Service Center, with separate sign-up for retailers and wholesalers. With Fous you sign in once through Insights C3M's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and an expired session is signed back in.

Worth knowing

Only the 3 latest sales cycles
View Submitted Files shows the 3 latest sales cycles. For older weeks you ask Altria Customer Support, so a check that emails you each week's errors keeps them past that window.
Errors are listed per location
The Error Store List has one row per location. When a location has more than one error, the Validation Name column separates them with semicolons.
Submissions are capped
The Submission Cap is the number of weeks in the promotion period multiplied by 2. Going over it means no Scan Data Promotional Fund payment for that period.
Weeks end on Saturday
A file whose week ending date is not a Saturday fails validation with error ID-5-2-3. A store open all 7 days of a week should report all 7 of them.

More in Food service, restaurants and alcohol

Other industries: Absa Access, Moneris Merchant Direct, SIPP Online, MCA21, Cvent Supplier Network, Declaración en Línea (F.931).

Frequently asked questions

Not one that it documents. Its sign-in page links to no API or developer documentation. Scan data reaches Altria as a weekly pipe-delimited file from your back office or scan data provider, and Insights C3M shows how those files were received, with exports of the Error Store List and Price Promotions store details.

In View Submitted Files on Insights C3M. Choose the Sales Cycle, look for weeks with the red error icon and click Download Error Store List Here. The Validation Name column names each error, for example a missing Multi-Pack Y indicator or a missing loyalty promotion code.

In the Price Promotions export. Go to My Reporting Center, View Price Promotions, Export as..., choose Store Details, and open the PM USA Store Level Detail sheet: column A is the Retail Account Number. Your Account Number is shown at the top right of the home page.

Ask your AGDC representative or the Service Center for an Authentication Code, then use Retailer Sign Up or Wholesaler Sign Up on the sign-in page. Without the code you cannot sign up.

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own Insights C3M account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Put Insights C3M behind an API call

Describe one job in Studio and see the method it builds, with 100 credits a month and no credit card, or book a demo and bring the sites your team signs in to.

Start building freeBook a demo

Read nextSGWS ProofProvimyCokeAbsa AccessHow methods workHow workflows run

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of Insights C3M (Altria Group Distribution Company). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.