Siebel Communications Guide: Siebel Innovation Pack 2017 July 2017
Siebel Communications Guide: Siebel Innovation Pack 2017 July 2017
Siebel Communications Guide: Siebel Innovation Pack 2017 July 2017
Guide
Siebel Innovation Pack 2017
July 2017
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Index
1 What’s New in This Release
Siebel Communications allows user access to customer data residing in other applications. Using
Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI) functionality, it integrates with billing,
operations support systems (OSSs), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.
Oracle’s Siebel Business Applications are designed to work together to provide an integrated
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. Siebel Communications allows media and
communications companies to implement Siebel modules that include sales, service, and marketing
functionality. These modules include Oracle’s Siebel Sales, Oracle’s Siebel Service, Oracle’s Siebel
Call Center, Oracle’s Siebel Field Service, and Oracle’s Siebel Customer Order Management.
Oracle’s Siebel Anywhere product allows the Siebel system administrator to apply upgrades to
Developer Web Clients, Mobile Web Clients, and Siebel Servers.
Table 1. Siebel Communications and Siebel Media Solutions for Key Business Issues
Account and Premises ■ Management of accounts through multilevel account hierarchies that
management are based on complex account relationships
Audit trail ■ Creation of a history of all the changes that have been made to
various kinds of information
■ Records show who has accessed an item, what operation has been
performed, when it was performed, and how the value was changed
Table 1. Siebel Communications and Siebel Media Solutions for Key Business Issues
Customer acquisition ■ Analytical tools for segmenting prospects and developing targeted
campaigns
■ Call scripting (providing text that uses proactive selling and retention
techniques for employees to use when speaking with customers)
Customer and partner ■ Oracle’s Siebel Partner Relationship Management, which allows your
applications company to turn channel partners into an extended, virtual sales and
service organization through the Internet
■ Sales tools that increase sales effectiveness and maximize time spent
building relationships
Table 1. Siebel Communications and Siebel Media Solutions for Key Business Issues
Pricing management ■ A set of tools for defining pricing adjustments and the conditions
under which they are applied
Third-party and legacy ■ Prebuilt Web services that provide interfaces to leading Operating
integration System Software (OSS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
applications
Table 1. Siebel Communications and Siebel Media Solutions for Key Business Issues
Trouble ticket and ■ A means of logging, assigning, managing, and resolving customers’
service request problems, including network problems or outages affecting customers
management
■ Online solutions search capability
Upselling and cross- ■ Scripting engine that identifies upsell and cross-sell opportunities with
selling every customer contact
NOTE: This guide documents Siebel Communications with the optional modules installed. In
addition, the Sample database includes data for optional modules. If your installation does not
include some of these modules, then your software interface differs from that described in some
topics of this guide.
The exact configuration of Siebel Communications and Siebel Media screens and views depends on
your company’s configuration of the application. For introductory information about using the Siebel
Communications and Siebel Media interfaces, see Siebel Fundamentals.
NOTE: The procedures in this guide assume that you do not use left-hand navigation. However, you
can set up left-hand navigation. For more information about left-hand navigation and about
implementing it, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.
Accounts Create, view, and update accounts. Set up See Chapter 3, “Accounts in Siebel
and maintain account hierarchies. Define Communications”, Chapter 4,
and maintain account profile information. “Profiles in Siebel Communications”,
Query customer bills. Record bill and Chapter 10, “Billing in Siebel
payments, repayment plans, and Communications.”
adjustments.
Agreements Create, generate, modify, approve, and See Chapter 6, “Agreements and
track agreements. Entitlements in Siebel
Communications.”
Assets Manage information about products sold to See Siebel Field Service Guide
accounts.
Audit Trail Creates a history of the changes that have See Siebel Applications
been made in Siebel Communications and Administration Guide
Oracle’s Siebel Media.
Briefings Gather and format information from a See Siebel Briefings Administration
number of different sources, both inside Guide
and outside your company, including the
World Wide Web.
Calendar Create and display activities (including to- See Siebel Fundamentals
do activities) and share calendar
information with co-workers.
Contacts Record and track business and personal See Chapter 5, “Contacts in Siebel
contact information associated with an Communications.”
account, an opportunity, a trouble ticket,
or service request.
Credit Manage and monitor customer credit See Chapter 13, “Credit
Management issues. Share data with third-party credit Management in Siebel
management applications. Communications.”
Forecasts Create business forecasts that are based See Siebel Applications
on opportunities or products. Administration Guide
Fraud Manage and monitor customer fraud See Chapter 14, “Fraud
Management issues. Share data with third-party fraud Management in Siebel
management applications. Communications.”
Orders Create sales orders and track their status. See Siebel Order Management
Generate order summaries. Guide and Siebel Order
Management Guide Addendum for
Communications
Premises Create and maintain premises. Track See Chapter 7, “Premises in Siebel
service points, customer premises Communications.”
equipment, and meters associated with a
premises.
Products Display products, product lines, product See Siebel Order Management
features, and price lists. Guide and Siebel Order
Management Guide Addendum for
Communications
Quotes Create, view, and update quotes. Update See Siebel Order Management
opportunities and configure solutions for Guide and Siebel Order
quotes. Management Guide Addendum for
Communications
Service Create, display, and update customer See Chapter 12, “Service Requests
Requests requests for information about or and Trouble Tickets in Siebel
assistance with products or services. Communications.”
Solutions Search, organize, and add to a knowledge See Siebel Field Service Guide
base of answers to service requests and
trouble tickets.
Trouble Tickets Create, display, and update customer See Chapter 12, “Service Requests
requests for information about or and Trouble Tickets in Siebel
assistance with products or services. Communications.”
Work Orders Manage the work components associated See Chapter 11, “Work Orders in
with activating or turning off service for a Siebel Communications.”
customer.
Oracle® Communications Process Integration Packs (PIPs) are prebuilt packaged process
integrations between Siebel Communications and Oracle® Communications Billing and Revenue
Management, and are based on Oracle Application Integration Architecture.
Administrators can implement the following PIPs to integrate Siebel Communications with an
application for managing billing and revenue, such as Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management:
The following topics provide additional information about integrating Siebel Communications with an
application for managing billing and revenue:
For more information about the PIPs described in this topic and other PIPs, visit the Industry-Specific
PIPs Web page at
http://aia.oraclecorp.com/products/indspc.html
Additionally, the following Oracle Application Integration Architecture for Communications guides,
which you can access on the Oracle Technology Network, are available for these PIPs:
NOTE: To allow these integrations, your company must purchase the CME Billing Management option
in Siebel Communications (which exposes billing and revenue management views), required Oracle
PIPs, and Oracle Application Integration Architecture licenses.
■ Product and price synchronization between Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management and Siebel CRM.
■ Customer synchronization between Siebel CRM and Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management. This synchronization includes creating new customers and updating existing
customers.
■ Integrated order management. This integration includes processing sales orders, initiating billing
on fulfilled services, creating CRM assets, and updating CRM assets.
■ Process Integration for Customer Management. This process integration allows the
synchronization of customer information between Siebel CRM and Oracle Communications Billing
and Revenue Management. The Process Integration for Customer Management provides the
following integration flows:
■ Update Customer Account. This integration flow updates accounts from Siebel CRM to
Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
■ Integrated Billing Management. This process integration integrates the billing management
process between Siebel CRM and Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. The
allows Siebel CRM to be used as the single interface to access all customer-related information,
including data that is mastered and maintained within Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management. It includes support for the following key processes to be performed from
Siebel CRM:
■ Capture payments for an invoice and send them to Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management for processing.
■ Capture new adjustment requests and send them to Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management for processing.
■ For the account in the order header, the following conditions are satisfied:
■ The Account Class field must have a value Customer, Service, or Billing.
■ The price list in the order header must be the same price list that the Oracle Communications
Billing and Revenue Management application uses.
■ Service Account
■ Billing Account
■ Billing Profile
NOTE: A billing profile is successfully passed to the billing application if the billing profile
satisfies some conditions. For more information about these conditions, see “About Billing
Profiles in Siebel Communications” on page 97.
You can create service bundles. To create a service bundle, select Service Bundle in the Billing Type
field for the bundle. Other examples of values for the Billing Type field include: Discount, Event,
Item, and Subscription. A service bundle can include the following content:
■ Simple products. If a product is available in one form and does not include other products that
you can configure for it, then the product is a simple product. Simple products have the billing
service type of the parent service bundle.
■ Customizable products. If a product can include other product components that you can
configure for it, then the product is a customizable product (or complex product). A customizable
product can include simple products, other customizable products, service bundles, and non-
billing products. Customizable products have the billing service type of the parent service bundle.
■ Nested service bundles. If a parent service bundle contains a child service bundle, then the
child service bundle is a nested service bundle. Child service bundles can have a different billing
service type from the parent service bundle.
■ Non-billing products. If a product is not billed to the customer, then the product is a non-billing
product. Non-billing products do not have a billing service type and can be part of an installed
asset. These products exist only in Oracle’s Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
application and are not passed to the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
application.
To see the products in a bundle, navigate to Administration - Product screen, Products view, select
the product bundle, and click the Bundle Product view tab. A service bundle for mobile phone service
might include the following items:
■ Rate plans (for example, Main Line 1, Main Line 2, and an add-on line)
■ Activation fees
■ Usage fees
■ Discounts (for example, 50% off the first 3 months and a free minutes discount)
■ SMS (Short Message Service) for text messaging. This service might include rate plans (for
example, SMS Basic and SMS Unlimited)
In this example, the activation fees and usage fees are simple products, the rate plans, features,
and discounts are customizable products, and the SMS is a nested service bundle.
■ /service/telco/gsm/telephony
■ /service/telco/gsm/sms
■ /service/telephony
■ /service/ip
■ /account
To see the Billing Type field and the Billing Service Type field for a service bundle or a product in
that bundle, navigate to the Administration - Product screen, Products view, and select the record
for a service bundle or a product in that bundle. Expand the form in the Detail view. The Billing Type
field and the Billing Service Type field appear in the Logistics section of the form. After products are
synchronized, do not change the values in these fields.
Although Siebel Communications provides no validation rules, all product components under a
service bundle must have the billing account, service account, and billing profile of the root product
in that service bundle. The billing account, service account, and billing profile fields are associated
with the line items in an order and are populated when a user creates an order.
If you modify, disconnect, suspend, resume, or transfer a service item that relates to a parent
service bundle, or if you upgrade or downgrade a promotion for a service item that relates to a parent
service bundle, then multiple service charges can be automatically created if the parent service
bundle includes child service bundles to which service charges apply.
If a service bundle status is updated, then the statuses of the product components in a service bundle
are updated. If a customizable product that contains a service bundle is updated, then the status of
the service bundle is updated. The SIS OM Order Line Item Update Main workflow updates the status
field of order line items, but administrators can configure this workflow to update other fields.
A simple service bundle combines a service bundle and a billing product into a single Siebel CRM
product. Combining two products in one can simplify the product hierarchy of a service bundle.
Additionally, synchronizing an already-created subscription product from Oracle Communications
Billing and Revenue Management minimizes the manual setup steps for a service bundle in Siebel
Communications.
A simple service bundle can include only products of billing type Event as components. These event
products are synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. For
example, a simple service bundle called Internet Service might have a component event product
called Internet Activation.
A simple service bundle can be a simple product or a complex product. A simple service bundle that
is a simple product represents a single-event product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management. A simple service bundle that is a complex product represents a multiple-event product
in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
In Siebel Communications, a simple service bundle can be a root-level product, can be nested in
another service bundle, or can be nested in a complex product.
On the left, under Service Bundle, the item labeled SB and shaded in blue represents a service bundle
manually created in Siebel CRM, with its Billing Type set to Service Bundle. Items labeled BC and
shaded in yellow represent service bundle component products synchronized from Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management. The Internet Access Service bundle is mapped to
the Internet - MCF product, and the Internet - MCF product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
On the right, under Simple Service Bundle, the item labeled SI and shaded in pink represents a
subscription product synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management,
with its Service Instance flag set to Y. Items labeled BC and shaded in yellow represent service
bundle component products synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management. The Internet - MCF product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle Communications
Billing and Revenue Management.
In the service bundle, certain features are set up as multiple nested products. For example, Internet
Email might be two products, a service bundle product manually configured in Siebel CRM, with an
associated component product synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management. By contrast, in the simple service bundle, the corresponding features are set up as
single products. For example, Internet Email might be one product, a subscription product
synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, then flagged as a
service instance in Siebel CRM.
■ A product that has pending quotes, orders, or assets in the Siebel application or in Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management cannot be converted to a simple service
bundle.
■ You cannot manually add any items, such as billing products, discounts, special rating products,
or other service bundles, to a simple service bundle. The only components a simple service
bundle can include are products of billing type Event that are synchronized from Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
■ Disconnecting a simple service bundle disconnects both the service instance and the product in
Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. This disconnection means that you
cannot upgrade to or downgrade from one simple service bundle to another while retaining the
same service instance.
■ In a simple service bundle, the service account, billing profile, and billing account must be the
same account.
■ Service and product instances. A simple service bundle is a subscription product and a service
product at the same time. Therefore, when an order for a simple service bundle is processed in
Siebel Communications, the integration creates both a service instance and a purchased product
instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. If the service is purchased
in the context of a promotion, then the product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management is associated with the simple service bundle instance.
■ Quantity. If a simple service bundle line item has a quantity of more than one, then that
quantity applies only to the product purchase. Thus, a simple service bundle line item creates a
single service instance and a purchased product instance with a quantity as specified on the order
line.
■ Billing types. The simple service bundle functionality supports both single-phase billing, in
which both initiation and billing occur in one call to the billing application, and two-phase billing,
in which initiation and fulfillment occur in separate calls to the billing application.
■ Suspend and resume. Suspending or resuming the asset representing a simple service bundle
suspends or resumes the service and product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management.
■ Disconnect. Disconnecting the asset representing a simple service bundle cancels the service
and product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
NOTE: When using a simple service bundle, it is not possible to cancel the product without
canceling the service.
■ Transfer. Transferring the asset representing a simple service bundle in Siebel Communications
(that is, performing a move-add or move-delete operation) results in an adjustment to the cross-
reference in Oracle Application Integration Architecture for both the service instance and the
purchased product instance.
■ Service update. Updates the service instance attributes (for example, Service ID, Billing
Account, Billing Profile) in the asset representing the simple service bundle result in the same
updates to the service instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
■ Product update. Updates to product attributes (for example, pricing changes and promotion
references) on the asset representing the simple service bundle result in the same updates to
the purchased product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
This update includes changes to billing dates as part of two-phase billing.
■ One-time charge. If a one-time charge is defined and applied for a move, add, change, and
delete (MACD) action in Siebel Communications, then the charge is applied in Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management to the balance group for the service instance.
3 In the Detail form, query for products with a Billing Type field value of Subscription (that is,
subscription products) that have been created in and synchronized from Oracle Communications
Billing and Revenue Management.
Field Comments
Service Select this check box to identify a subscription product as a simple service
Instance bundle. You can select this field only for a product that has a Billing Type
field value of Subscription.
After pending orders or assets reference a product, you cannot change the
value of this field for that product.
The Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application recognizes the product
as a simple service bundle and adds event products as child components. When the simple
service bundle is synchronized with Siebel Communications again, the event items appear as line
items in the simple service bundle.
NOTE: In Siebel CRM, you cannot add child components to a product with Billing Type set to
Subscription and Service Instance set to Y. Synchronization with Oracle Communications Billing
and Revenue Management adds child products with Billing Type set to Event.
CAUTION: Do not try to make a subscription product created in Siebel CRM into a simple service
bundle by setting its Service Instance flag to Y. Doing so can cause unexpected and unwanted
behavior. Oracle Application Integration Architecture does not create a cross-reference to that
product on the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management side, or synchronize
that product with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
3 In the Detail form, query for products with a Billing Type field value of Subscription and the
Service Instance field selected.
4 Find and select the simple service bundle product with the event items you want to view.
The Specific Products list displays the event items associated with the selected simple service
bundle.
■ When only one billing product is applicable for a given service, set up the service as a simple
service bundle. This restriction applies because a service with a single billing product does not
have any associated service-level billing discounts, nor does a need exist to switch from one
product variant to another while retaining the same service. Additionally, this product does not
need a special rating.
■ A product that is defined as a simple service bundle cannot be changed to a service bundle.
Conversely, a product that is defined as a service bundle cannot be changed to a simple service
bundle. Such changes adversely affect the processing of change orders for existing assets. If a
change to the product bundling requirements necessitates changing a service bundle to a simple
service bundle, or the other way around, then you must define another product in Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management, synchronize it with Siebel CRM, and configure
it differently.
■ Because a single asset represents both the service instance and the billing product, you cannot
upgrade a customer from a service modelled as a simple service bundle to a service modelled as
a service bundle, while retaining the same service instance. You must perform the upgrade
through a service cancellation and repurchase.
2 Query for the Oracle Application Integration Architecture integration system preferences, and set
the appropriate value for each.
Oracle Application Integration Architecture integration system preferences are described in the
follow table.
System
Preference Comments
Cancel Error Mode Controls the behavior when an order that has future-dated line items is
cancelled. Those future-dated line items are affected by the cancellation
of this order. Values are as follows:
Validate Due Date Controls the behavior of the pop-up applet that prompts for the Due Date
for change orders such as Modify, Disconnect, Suspend, and Resume.
Values are as follows:
Enable AIA Comms Controls whether to enable the Oracle Application Integration
Architecture Communications integration features. Values are as follows:
Enable AIA Testing Controls whether to enable the Oracle Application Integration
Architecture Communications integration testing features. Values are as
follows:
System
Preference Comments
AIA Order Backup XML files are available on the specified path, with file names in the form
Path OrderNumber_RevisionNumber.xml. The files can be sorted by Date
Modified. Enabled only if the Enable AIA Testing system preference is set
to TRUE. Value is as follows:
/export/home/qa1/orderbackup/
The Workspace Release Flag system preference has the following values:
In this case, a user can set the Product Release Flag of an individual
product to Y to release that specific product, and all the other
products in the same payload are not released.
Enable AIA MDM Enables or disables the MDM (Master Data Management) PIP. Default
value is set to FALSE. To enable the MDM PIP, you must change this
system preference value to TRUE and restart the Siebel Server.
System
Preference Comments
Enable AIA Enables or disables the Order-to-Cash PIP. Default value is set to FALSE.
OrderToCash To enable the Order-to-Cash PIP, you must change this system preference
value to TRUE and restart the Siebel Server.
CAUTION: It is recommended that you not set the Enable AIA Comms
and Enable AIA OrderToCash system preferences to TRUE in the same
Siebel CRM instance. Interoperability of Siebel Communications PIPs
(Order-to-Bill and Agent Assisted Billing Care) with the Order-to-Cash PIP
is not tested or supported by Oracle.
AIA Version Specifies the version of Oracle Application Integration Architecture with
which to integrate your Siebel application. The default and supported
value is 2.5.1 (for Oracle Application Integration Architecture Version
2.5.1).
CAUTION: If you select any value that is not listed above, then the
application might not function as expected.
For more information about system preferences, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
2 In the employees list, select the record for the employee who you want to set up as an integration
user.
3 Select the check box in the Integration User Flag field for this employee.
Table 3 shows the component groups that must be enabled for order creation. Also, verify that the
Application Object Manager component is started.
■ Query for the following groups: Eligibility & Comp, Asset Based Ordering, Pricer, eSales,
Product Promotions, Configurator, C/OM UI Processes, CUT eSales (for SIA, not for HOR),
Product Recommendations.
a In each of the following workflows, change the UTCCanonical process property value from N to
Y using Siebel Tools:
2 Confirm that the workflows listed in the following table are active.
ABO Bulk Request - Clear Exception Process Workflow ABO Bulk Request
ABO Bulk Request - Parallel Sub Process Workflow ABO Bulk Request
ABO Bulk Request - Prepare Action Set Sub-Process Workflow ABO Bulk Request
ABO Bulk Request Add Item Customize Process ABO Bulk Request
SIS OM Suspend / Resume Products & Services Process SIS OM Base Architecture
3 Check the status of each workflow process listed in Step 1. If it is In-Progress, then make it
Completed by deploying the workflow process. If the import of any of the workflows fails, then
manually activate them within the Siebel application by performing the following steps:
b Navigate to the Administration - Business Process screen, Workflow Deployment, and then the
Repository Workflow Processes view.
c Query for the workflow processes and activate them by selecting them and clicking Activate.
NOTE: It is recommended that you reload the runtime events after activating the workflows.
3 In the Workflow Processes list, select SIS OM Add Service Charge Sub-Process.
Siebel Tools displays the following input parameters for the step:
AQ has been implemented for the following outbound Web services in this release:
■ Submit Order
■ Adjustment
The following topics contain information about how to implement AQ in your Siebel application and
more detailed information about the outbound Web services listed above.
4 Navigate to the Profiles view, then the Special Rating Profile subview.
5 Query for the target special rating list and click Synchronize.
The Synchronize button invokes the SWI Special Rating List - Synchronize Process workflow
using the Named Method Business Component user property.
The SWI Special Rating - Synchronize Process workflow is a new workflow created for the AIA Comm
2.4 release. It is invoked through the Synchronize button, which is available in the Special Rating
list applet (Navigate to the Accounts screen, Accounts List, Profiles, and then the Special Rating
Profile view). The workflow contains the steps to query for and synchronize the updated Special
Rating List with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management by calling the Proxy
Business Service, as detailed below.
Start > (Connector 0) > Query Special Rating List > Synchronize > Update List Synch Date > Update
Items Synch Date > End 0
Note the following information about the SWISpecialRatingList outbound Web service:
This Web service is used to send the Updated/Modified Special Rating List details to Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management for synchronizing when the user clicks the
Synchronize button in the Special Rating list applet.
This AQ and connection factories are created in FMW and the same URI must be used in outbound
Web service target address.
■ Transport: JMS
NOTE: If FMW 11g is used, then the example of the address is as follows:
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SPECIALRATINGJMSQ@jms/aia/COMMS_SPECIALRATINGLIST_CONSUMER
Use the following procedure to initiate the Submit Order outbound service.
4 Click Submit.
Note the following information about the SWISubmitOrder outbound Web service:
Use this Web service to submit orders into the queue. This AQ and connection factories are created
in FMW and the same URI must be used in outbound Web service target address.
■ Transport: JMS
NOTE: If FMW 11g is used, then the example of the address is as follows:
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SALESORDERJMSQUEUE@jms/aia/COMMS_SUBMITORDER_CONSUMER
3 Click Submit.
2 If the adjustment request is not approved, then it changes the status of the request to Pending,
and terminates.
3 If the adjustment request is approved, then it reads the enterprise details, such as the enterprise
server name, language, and locale.
6 Updates the Siebel database for the Adjustment Record to reflect the status as Submitted.
Use this Web service to Submit Adjustment Request into the queue. This AQ and connection factories
are created in FMW and the same URL must be used in outbound Web service target address.
■ Transport: JMS
NOTE: If FMW 11g is used, then the example of the address is as follows:
jms://jms/aia/AIA_CMUREQADJIOJMSQUEUE@jms/aia/COMMS_ADJUSTMENT_CONSUMER
NOTE: Paths in this procedure assume you are running the Siebel Server on the Windows operating
system. They must be modified whether the Siebel Server is running on a UNIX operating system.
http://download.oracle.com/otn/java/oc4j/101330/oc4j_extended_101330.zip
2 Copy Siebel.jar and SiebelJI_enu to D:\JMS folder, these jar files can be found in Siebel Server
installation directory\classes folder
3 Copy jndi.jar file from FMW to D:\JMS\j2ee\home\lib folder.
5 Create a file with name jndi.properties with following details in the path D:\JMS:
java.naming.factory.initial=com.evermind.server.rmi.RMIInitialContextFactory
java.naming.security.principal=anonymous
For example:
java.naming.factory.initial=com.evermind.server.rmi.RMIInitialContextFactory
java.naming.provider.url=opmn:ormi:// 152.68.240.154:6009:oc4j_soa
java.naming.security.principal=anonymous
Make sure that there are no extra spaces in the jndi.properties file.
6 Create a Named Subsystem in the Siebel application through the server management by
completing the following steps:
a Connect to the server manager from the command prompt from the bin directory of the Siebel
installed folder with the following command.
b Run the following command to create the named subsystem and add the jar file into the class
path.
For the UNIX environment the CLASSPATH is separated by : (colon). For the Windows
environment it is separated by ; (semicolon). So, the above command for UNIX environment
follows:
qa1/JMS/j2ee/home/lib/javax77.jar:/export/home/qa1/JMS/lib/dms.jar:/export/
home/qa1/JMS/opmn/lib/optic.jar:/export/home/qa1/JMS/j2ee/home/lib/ejb.jar:.,
VMOPTIONS= /export/home/qa2/JMS/log/jms.log
Make sure that the path is correct for all the files and that the CLASSPATH ends with a . (dot).
Replace qa2 with the appropriate folder name.
7 Log in to the Siebel application and navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen,
Enterprises, and then the Profile Configuration view, and complete the following steps:
a Query for the Profile with Alias Name JAVA in the profile list and make sure the parameters are
correct.
b For the Windows environment, edit the value of VMOPTIONS to:
-Djms.log=D:\JMS\log\jms.log
Make sure that the JMS/log folder exists and has the write permission.
NOTE: For more information, see the Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
documentation on the Siebel Bookshelf.
Use the following procedure to configure corresponding Web services for AQ.
Queues must have been created as part of Oracle Application Integration Architecture
installation. Refer the queue name in this step.
3 To locate the Connection Factory Name, log in to Application Server control, and navigate to
oc4j_soa ' Administration, then Database Persistence.
Example: jms://java:comp/resource/AIA_JMS_RP/Queues/
AIA_SALESORDERJMSQUEUE@java:comp/resource/AIA_JMS_RP/QueueConnectionFactories/QCF
5 If you are using the Communications PIP or the Order-To-Cash PIP, then proceed to one of the
following steps:
■ SWICreateAdjustment
jms://java:comp/resource/AIA_JMS_RP/Queues/AIA_CMUREQADJIOJMSQUEUE@java:comp/
resource/AIA_JMS_RP/QueueConnectionFactories/QCF
jms://jms/aia/AIA_CMUREQADJIOJMSQUEUE@jms/aia/COMMS_ADJUSTMENT_CONSUMER
■ SWISpecialRatingList
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SPECIALRATINGJMSQ@jms/aia/COMMS_SPECIALRATINGLIST_CONSUMER
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SPECIALRATINGJMSQ@jms/aia/COMMS_SPECIALRATINGLIST_CONSUMER
■ SWISubmitOrder
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SALESORDERJMSQUEUE@jms/aia/COMMS_SUBMITORDER_CONSUMER
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SALESORDERJMSQUEUE@jms/aia/COMMS_SUBMITORDER_CONSUMER
■ SWISubmitOrder_o2c
jms://java:comp/resource/DBConnect/Queues/JMSUSER.AIA_QUOTEJMSQUEUE@java:comp/
resource/DBConnect/QueueConnectionFactories/QCF
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SiebelSalesOrderJMSQueue@jms/aia/AIASiebelCF
■ SWISubmitQuote_o2c
jms://java:comp/resource/DBConnect/Queues/JMSUSER.AIA_QUOTEJMSQUEUE@java:comp/
resource/DBConnect/QueueConnectionFactories/QCF
jms://jms/aia/AIA_SiebelQuoteJMSQueue@jms/aia/AIASiebelCF
NOTE: Paths in this procedure assume you are running the Siebel Server on the Windows operating
system. They must be modified if the Siebel Server is running on a UNIX operating system.
siebel installation\ses\siebsrvr\classes
4 Copy the wlfullclient.jar, Siebel.jar and SiebelJI_enu.jar to the directory D:\JMS. If this directory
does not exist, then create it.
java.naming.factory.initial=weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory
java.naming.provider.url=t3://FMW_HOST:SOA_PORT
java.naming.security.principal=UserName
java.naming.security.credentials=Password
java.naming.provider.url=http://FMW_HOST:PROXY_PORT
6 Create the JAVA Subsystem using the Siebel Web application as follows:
a Connect to the server manager from the bin directory of the Siebel installed folder by entering
the following command from the command prompt:
For example:
c Add parameters with the aliases CLASSPATH, DLL, and VMOPTIONS, as described in the tables
that follow.
The following table specifies the Name, Data Type, and Value values to enter for the
parameters with aliases CLASSPATH, DLL, and VMOPTIONS.
The following table specifies the Scope, Type, Description, and Visibility values to enter for
the parameters with aliases CLASSPATH, DLL, and VMOPTIONS.
7 Create the Simulator (with the service name: EAI JMS Transport and Method name: CheckAll).
8 In the Input Argument Section, create Test Case 1 with the values in the following table.
2 Navigate to the Administration - Web Service screen, then the Outbound Web Services view.
4 Navigate to the Service Ports list applet and change the URI given by the ABS team.
5 Query for *JMS* and *Sync* and change the URI as follows:
NOTE: If FMW 11g is used for integration, then a complete change of address is required. For
example:
http://sdchs20n513.corp.siebel.com/eai_enu/
start.swe?SWEExtSource=WebService&SWEExtCmd=Execute&WSSOAP=1
<soapenv:Header>
<ns1:SessionType xmlns:ns1="http://siebel.com/webservices">none</ns1:SessionType>
<ns2:UsernameToken xmlns:ns2="http://siebel.com/webservices">SADMIN</
ns2:UsernameToken>
<ns3:PasswordText xmlns:ns3="http://siebel.com/webservices">MSSQL</
ns3:PasswordText>
</soapenv:Header>
To configure FMW URLs for the inbound Web services, follow this procedure.
2 In the middle Inbound Service Ports list applet, change the address to the following:
http://localhost/eai_lang/
start.swe?SWEExtSource=WebService&SWEExtCmd=Execute&WSSOAP=1
NOTE: Replace the string localhost, lang with the correct information from your Web server.
For more information, see the Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) guides.
2 Make a copy of the Workflow Monitor Agent and change the name to Workflow Monitor Agent
SWI.
4 Under Component Parameters, query for Group Name and change the Group Name to SWI
Customer Update Policy Grp in the Component Parameter applet.
Workflow Monitor Agent has a parameter called 'Default Tasks' which has been hidden and is
available only to advanced users.
2 In the top Siebel Servers applet, select the server on which you want to modify the parameter.
3 Under the Component subtab, query for the Server Manager component.
4 Under the Component Parameter subtab, query for 'Show Advanced Objects'.
NOTE: You must log out from the current user session and log back in to the application in order
for the parameter to take effect.
2 Select Tasks.
3 Query for the WorkMonSWI task and start it. You can also use Server Manager to start the task.
After about five minutes, check for log details for the task for the new workflow monitor component
Workflow Monitor Agent SWI by navigating to the Administration - Server Management screen, then
the Tasks view.
If there are errors, then check to see whether all configurations have been properly performed.
3 Change the values in the Language-Independent Code column to define the new mapping
according to following table.
Low 6
Medium 4
High 2
Urgent 0
2 Search for the SWI Admin ISS Product Definition and SWI ISS Promotion integration objects.
4 In each of the integration objects, navigate to the Integration Object UserProperty and set the
value of DisableUserKeyCache to Y.
NOTE: DisableUserKeyCache is set to N by default because of known performance issues. For more
information, see the Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) guides.
SessionTimeout = 300
SessionTokenTimeout = 15
SessionTokenMaxAge = 2880
SWSENoSessInPref = TRUE
2 Query for the corresponding object manager for the application (such as htimObjMgr_enu for
application HTIM).
3 Query for the Order Management - Enable Asset Based Ordering parameter in the parameter list
for the component, and set the value to False.
1 Organization Manual
4 Products EIM
5 Pricelist EIM
6 Customers EIM
7 Assets EIM
Before you begin the EIM import, note the following points:
■ Make sure that the Siebel EIM component is online and is running properly. (Navigate to the
Administration - Server Configuration or Administration - Server Management screen.)
■ To avoid data loss, do not restart the Siebel Server while the EIM job is running.
■ After you have completed the data load for one country, make backup copies of the EIM log files,
for status verification. These log files are located in the siebsrvr/logs directory.
2 Make sure that the Enterprise Integration Manager component within the Workflow Management
component group is also active and online.
4 Make sure that the Enterprise Application Integration Component Group is enabled.
Setting Up Organizations
Use the following procedure to set up organizations.
To set up organizations
1 Navigate to the Administration - Group screen, then the Organizations view.
NOTE: Enter information into the Organization Name field but leave the Site field blank.
NOTE: Make sure that the inventory location is associated with the correct location.
Product Product.ifb
Pricelist Pricelist.ifb
Customer Customer.ifb
Asset Asset.ifb
2 Make sure that the SESSION SQL statement of the [UPDATE ACCOUNT NUMBER] section of the
Customer Ifb file is modified to reflect the working instance:
Also, consider the same for the [UPDATE INTEGRATION ID] section of the Pricelist.ifb file:
For Pricelist.ifb, comment the second process using a terminate symbol (so that it becomes
inactive and only the first process is executed) as follows:
TYPE = SHELL
After EIM imports all of the pricelist data and the Integration Id is populated, the administrator
needs to run another ODI API to populate the cross-reference database. Then, the administrator
needs to run EIM again to nullify integ_id. The format of the IFB file for the second run follows:
TYPE = SHELL
All the job parameters must remain the same for both of the runs.
3 Log in to the application with administrator credentials to be able to access the Server
Management screen.
4 Navigate to the Administration - Server Management screen, then the Jobs view.
5 Create a new record, and select Enterprise Integration Mgr in the Component/Job field.
■ Error Flags = 1
■ Trace Flags = 1
9 Check the status in the EIM table by executing the SQL statements that follow. In each case,
make sure that the status is IMPORTED.
Products
Product Header:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Product Details:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Product-Inventory Locations:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Pricelists
In this case since the same set of records are processed twice by the two separate sections of the
IFB file: one meant for importing the Pricelist Records and other meant for updating the Integration
Id to NULL, you get the DUP_REC_EXISTS status in the EIM tables.
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Customers
Address:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Account:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Account Details:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Customer:
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT
Assets
There are two sections in the IFB file: For Importing Assets and For Updating the Parent Assets.
GROUP BY IF_ROW_STAT,IF_ROW_BATCH_NUM
3 Navigate to the Siebsrvr\log directory, and query for the log file using the task number. The
log file contains details about every level of processing and information about any errors.
2 Navigate to the Administration - Business Process screen, then Repository workflow process, and
complete the following steps:
a In the top applet Query for the workflows imported above and activate them.
b Make sure they are in active state by querying in the bottom applet.
3 Navigate to the Administration Runtime Events screen, then the Events view, click the menu
button, and select Reload Runtime Events.
4 Navigate to the Administration - Integration screen, then the WI Symbolic URL List view, and
complete the following steps:
c Select Symbolic URL Administration and add new record in the top applet with the following
values:
❏ Name: OracleCfgURL (Note: This symbolic name is very important because server side
business component code relies on this name)
❏ URL: http://OracleConfigurator/OA_HTML/CfgSebl.jsp
❏ Name: InitMessage
❏ Name: PostRequest
Complete the following two steps to set up the SSO login into Oracle Applications. The SSO
login is the preferred style to access Oracle Applications. If the SSO login is not set up, then
the Siebel end user must know and enter Oracle login credentials at the login page.
e For the next two arguments enter the values for Argument Value as specified. UserLoginId and
UserLoginPassword are function names used by Siebel SSO. These functions look up the Oracle
login credentials for the current Siebel User. Putting anything else in requires that you log in to
an Oracle Applications for Configurator session.
f Continue to add arguments to the same URL with the following values:
❏ Name: username
❏ Name: password
h Select SSO Systems Admin List and add a record in the top applet with the following values:
i In the bottom applet SSO System Users add records for the Siebel users who invoke Oracle
Configurator. The Siebel usernames are paired with Oracle login credentials. An example follows:
❏ Siebel Login Name: sadmin
❏ Password: welcome
5 Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, Servers, and then the Components
view. Select the eCommunications Object Manager (ENU) component and select the Order
Management - Enable Asset Based Ordering parameter and set this value to False to call Oracle
Configurator instead calling Siebel Configurator.
Select the HTIM Object Manager (ENU) component and select the Order Management - Enable
Asset Based Ordering parameter and set this value to False to call Oracle Configurator instead
of calling Siebel Configurator.
■ Goto*
■ PSP*
■ Product Compatibility*
■ Product Eligibility*
■ Product Reco*
■ *Pric*
■ Config*
■ Check*
These workflows are not workflows that were introduced as part of Oracle Configurator
integration, but are existing ones.
Forms starts up, and the form page appears. If not, then navigate to the form.
■ Siebel Quote Integration |SEBLQ | DUMMY_TOP | Provides integration between Siebel Quote
and Oracle Configurator
■ Siebel Order Entry Integration | SEBLO | DUMMY_TOP | Provides integration between Siebel
Order Entry and Oracle Configurator
The new applications now must be added to Oracle Configurator Publication Applicability list.
This step runs a concurrent program. After the program runs, these new applications are
available during model publication.
See the Oracle documentation for Configurator for the entire process of developing models for calling
applications.
2 Navigate to the Administration- Web Services screen, then the Outbound Web Services view.
NOTE: The preceding steps apply to seed data. Perform them when exporting the seed data.
5 Change the IP Address on the Service Ports (middle applet) for each of the above Web Services.
2 For the following Data Maps, add three columns (External Configurator Reference 1, External
Configurator Reference 2, and External Configurator Reference 3) to both the Source and the
Destination Column in Data Map Field section for the Data Map Component specified in the
parenthesis:
NOTE: The folder D:\19924 has been suggested here, but if you have installed the application
someplace else, then make sure that you refer to the eapps.cfg file in your installation.
CAUTION: Do not use Wordpad because incorrect characters are added to the file.
2 By locking the signal and clicking the Workspace, change the following signal sequences and
release the signal.
For the CalculateShippingAndTax signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the CreditCardAuthentication signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the RunCreditCheck signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the ATPInquire signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the ATPInquireAll signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the Customize signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
For the QuotesAndOrdersValidate signal, modify the sequence records in the following table.
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
Service
Service Name Type Seq. Condition Active Mode
2 Extend its activation date until 2020 (leave day and month as sysdate).
a Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the Data Map Administration view and
query for a Data Map Object of ReviseOrder, a Data Map Component of Header, and a Data Map
Field of Back Office Process Status.
b Inactive this field map by selecting the Inactive check box.
To leverage the dynamic pricing procedure, customers have to perform following changes to the
existing repository.
The Siebel pricing module is available in multiple licensing modes and each mode is associated with
either the 'Basic Pricing Procedure' or the 'Dynamic Pricing Procedure'.
■ This procedure mimics the basic Siebel Pricer functionality that was available in Siebel version
7.7 applications.
■ Basic Siebel Pricer functionality includes list price, volume discounts, and service pricing.
■ It leverages the variable maps that do not contain the XA child variable maps.
■ This procedure provides the complete pricing capabilities such as attribute pricing, promotions,
aggregate discounts, and so forth.
■ It leverages the variable maps that contain the XA child variable maps.
■ It is available only to those customers that have the 'Dynamic Pricer' license.
2 If you are running Siebel applications versions earlier than 8.1.1, then you must manually modify
the signals.
■ Make sure that the Siebel EIM component is online and running properly. Navigate to the
Administration - Server Configuration and Administration - Server Management screens.
■ To avoid data loss, do not restart the Siebel Server while the EIM job is running.
■ After you have completed loading data for one country, make a backup copy of the EIM log files
for status verification. (These log files are located under siebsrvr/logs.)
Use the following procedure to execute the EIM job to create and update credit alerts.
NOTE: If the Order-to-Cash PIP is enabled, then the Asset-Based Ordering parameter for the
corresponding object manager for the application has to be set to False.
This topic describes the integration user setup process. A new flag has been introduced to identify
an integration user (needed while integration testing). This user credential needs to be configured
(on the Oracle Application Integration Architecture side) for the Siebel Inbound Web services call
from the Oracle Application Integration Architecture side to avoid the boomerang effect.
Configuring the Email Notification for the Product Class and Attribute
Query Feature
Users to whom emails must be sent must be added to the user list.
3 Add the email address in the contact information of the child applet.
4 Navigate to the Administration - Group screen, then the User Lists view.
5 Query for the SCE Users user list. If it does not appear, then create it.
For instance:
or
The following three run-time events use the action set described above.
■ Description: [Description]
■ Type: [Type]
2 Create a Notepad file called Class_Template.txt and add the following values:
■ Description: [Description]
■ Type: [Type]
3 Create a Notepad file called attr_email_notification_template.txt and add the following values:
4 Create a Notepad file called class_email_notification_template.txt and add the following values:
5 Navigate to the Administration - Communication screen, All Templates, and then the Template
Items view.
6 Query for Workspace Attribute Defn Template, and complete the following steps:
a In the Template Items view, attach the Attribute_Template.txt file created in Step 1 in the
template item.
b Select ISS Joint Workspace VOD Pick BusComp from Iteration Child Business Component.
c Select the Substitute Values and Message Body check boxes, and save the template Item.
7 Query for Workspace Product Class Defn Template, and complete the following steps:
a In the Template Items view, attach the Class_Template.txt file created in Step 2 in the template
item.
b Select ISS Joint Workspace VOD Pick BusComp from the Iteration Child Business Component.
c Select the Substitute Values and Message Body check boxes, and save the template Item.
8 Query for Attribute Defn Template, and complete the following steps:
a In the Template Items view, attach the attr_email_notification_template.txt file created in Step 3
in the template item.
b Select SWI Attribute Versions BusComp (Notify) from the Iteration Child Business Component.
c Select the Substitute Values and Message Body check boxes, and save the template item.
9 Query for Product Class Template, and complete the following steps:
c Select the Substitute Values and Message Body check boxes, and save the template item.
The communication template names are added in the user properties of the business
components in the following table.
Add SMTP Server Name, From Email Address, and POP Server Details
The SMTP Server name, From Email Address, and POP server details are added in the Communication
profile. Use the following procedure to add the SMTP server name, From Email Address, and POP
server details.
To change the SMTP Server name, From Email Address, and POP server details
1 Navigate to the Administration - Communications screen, then the Communications Drivers and
Profiles view.
2 Query for the Internet SMTP/POP3 Server communication driver, and if it does not exist, then
create it, using the following values:
■ Outbound: Yes
3 Query for Default SMTP in child applet. If it does not exist, then create it.
4 Change the SMTP and POP Server details in the grandchild applet, using the following values:
The communication profile is added in the user properties of the business components in the
following table.
NOTE: The Class attributes names and the attribute definition names must be identical.
c For the TBO Discount products synced from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management, change the Structure type to Customizable and the Product Type to Time Based
Offer, and associate the above TBO class to this product.
a Navigate to Server Management, and then Jobs, and create a new Job as follows:
❏ Select Repeating as Y.
c Select Name as Workflow Process Name and specify the Value of SWI Asset Status Update.
d In Data Map Field, add the fields to be copied during revision (such as Service End Date, Service
Start Date, and Due Date).
The business service name must be specified as the value for the Business Service Query Access
List server component parameter.
For example, if the server component is eCommunications Object Manager (ENU), then go to its
parameters and query for Name of Business Service Query Access List and add Value of CMU
External Integration Service. Then, the server component can be restarted to take effect after
the change in the component parameter value.
2 Query for the following workflow policies and remove the Expiration date:
■ SWI Account Address Sync Policy
By default, the Workspace Release Flag user preference is set to N. If you want to release products
into the Siebel application automatically, then you must change this preference.
2 Query for 'Workspace Release Flag', set the value to N, and restart the server.
This chapter defines some basic concepts about accounts. It also provides the procedures for setting
up account hierarchies and updating account information. It includes the following topics:
■ “Monitoring Infrastructure, Equipment, and Usage in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 87
An account is any external organization with which your company does business. It negotiates
agreements, receives service and bills, and raises trouble tickets. An account is usually the central
entity of a Siebel CRM implementation. After adding accounts in Siebel Communications, end users
at your company contribute information for tracking customer service, processing requests, viewing
agreements, and so on.
Account Hierarchy
A single account for each customer probably meets your company’s needs to track the accounts of
residential customers. However, for large commercial clients, end users can build an account
hierarchy. An account hierarchy is a multilevel structure reflecting parent-child relationships within
the organization.
Within a complex account hierarchy, an account usually represents one of the following entities:
■ A division in an organization
■ An entire organization
Hierarchies can accommodate subsidiaries and complex organizations that have, for example, a
world headquarters, multiple regional headquarters, and many branch locations, each with its own
service and billing requirements.
This multiple-level structure supports a top-down view of the customer. Separate child accounts can
be used to designate which information pertains to one subsidiary or another within the organization.
■ It allows you to maintain customer information, such as address and contact name at each point
in the hierarchy.
■ It allows you to create and maintain aggregation points and to support complex discounting
methods.
Account Classes
An account class is a method for classifying an account according to its position and role in an
account hierarchy. When setting up the hierarchy, end users define parent-child relationships among
the accounts. Then they designate which account class applies to each new account, according to
your customer’s requirements and organizational structure.
For example, with communications companies, it is common for the service to be delivered to one
subsidiary while bills get sent to another subsidiary. Separate accounts are created for each
subsidiary, one with the account class service and the other with the account class billing to reflect
their different functions. An account given the account class service generally stores service item
information and allows end users to analyze the customer’s usage or orders. An account given the
account class billing generally stores information for the financial transaction or invoice.
Siebel Communications does not restrict parent-child associations by using the account class. Any
class can be a child of any other class. For example, a customer account can be placed anywhere in
the hierarchy, and a billing account can be the parent or the child of a service account. To enforce
hierarchy rules by using the account class, you must set them up through state models. For more
information about state models, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
■ Customer Class. An account with this class represents the actual customer, person, or
organization that is receiving service. A customer account includes basic customer information,
such as the company name and headquarters address. It can receive both service and bills.
■ Service Aggregator Class. An account with this class receives aggregate usage details for all
of its subsidiary accounts. It can be anywhere in the account hierarchy. It allows you to generate
and view multiple service accounts that share some specifications.
Implementation example: A company has three offices in different states, and each office
receives a wired phone service and a mobile phone service. Each office can have both services
set up as separate service accounts, with each office set up as a service aggregate account for
the services.
■ Service Class. An account with this class receives service, but not bills. In the account hierarchy,
it is the account level at which the physical delivery of the service or product occurs. It can
represent a person or organization with multiple service addresses.
■ Billing Aggregator Class. An account with this class receives aggregate billing details for all of
its subsidiary accounts. It can be anywhere in the account hierarchy. It allows you to generate
and view multiple billing accounts that have some of the same specifications. It can be set up to
bill the customer by using certain requests, such as creating bills for the different services and
rolling those separate billing statements into a billing aggregate account. It also allows you to
create and maintain billing aggregation points and to support complex discounting methods. It
receives and aggregates bills.
Implementation example: A company has offices in different states, and each office receives
services two different services: broadband TV and broadband Internet. Each office can have both
services set up as separate billing accounts, and each office can be set up as a billing aggregate
account for the services. Then the corporate headquarters can be set up as a billing aggregate
for the three offices and a single payment can be made for the services.
■ Billing Class. An account with this class is used to invoice the customer for products and
services. In the account hierarchy, it is the account level at which the financial transactions for
the service or product occur. It shows the collection of all charges applied to a customer in a
given time frame for which the customer must submit payment.
Siebel Communications displays the following information that is based on the account class:
■ The Service Account and Billing Account Explorers filter on account class.
■ In the Quotes and Order Entry views, only those accounts with the appropriate account class
appear in the dialog box for association.
NOTE: You can set up additional account classes or rename the default classes. However, when
renaming, be careful to also rename the explorers because they filter accounts on class names. For
information about modifying account classes, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Role Description
■ Creates accounts for new customers, including the required key information
for an account.
Sales representative
■ Creates accounts for new customers, including the required key information
for an account.
A customer service representative (CSR) receives a call from a prospective customer. The inbound
call is arbitrarily routed to the CSR, since IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is unable to locate the
account.
The caller explains that he is the owner and CEO of a small company that develops specialized
software for the high-tech industry. He wants to use the CSR’s company as its sole provider.
The CSR first verifies that no account currently exists for the caller and then gathers the following
information about the caller’s company:
■ All services for the Northern England offices (Newcastle and York) are to be billed on a single
invoice. However, each location is to receive a statement.
■ The caller wants a discount that is based on all the services he has at all three locations, and he
wants to receive a statement for all services.
Using this hierarchy, the CSR must set up the following information to establish service for the caller:
■ Two billing accounts (one for Northern England and one for Birmingham)
■ Three service accounts (one for Newcastle, one for York, and one for Birmingham)
■ One billing aggregator account for both billing accounts so that a complete statement can be
invoiced
Next, the CSR receives a call from a customer who wants to add broadband Internet service to his
account. The CSR accesses the customer’s account and updates the information. While on the phone
with the customer, the CSR checks the existing infrastructure to verify that the service is available
in the customer’s neighborhood.
Figure 4 shows the sequence of procedures an end user might perform to manage accounts.
External organizations appear in the dialog box that appears when an end user enters a value in an
external organization field. Table 5 lists some fields for external organizations.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Account Team Select the user ID of the team for the account. This field determines who
can access information about the account.
Field Comments
Account Class Select the class for the account. Account classes distinguish an account
within an account hierarchy when dividing accounts into billing or service
accounts. The Billing Account Explorer and Service Account Explorer views
filter using this field. Also, account classes determine the accounts available
for association in the Quotes and Entry views.
Address Select the addresses for the account. You can also enter a new address for
the account. In the Account Addresses dialog box, the Premise check box
indicates when the address is a premises.
Good Standing Select this check box to indicate when the account is centrally blocked and
certain activities cannot be performed for it. This field is not the same as
the status of the account.
Synonyms Select other names for the account. This field allows you to refer to accounts
(and their sites) in the way that you prefer. For example, an account named
A/B Products, Inc., might have the following synonyms: AB, A/B, and AB
Products.
Lock Select this check box if you do not want Assignment Manager to run for the
Assignment account. If you do not select this check box, then Assignment Manager can
reassign the account to another team according to the account territory. For
example, if you want to allow the same account manager to handle a
commercial account with three different locations, then even though two of
the locations are in another account manager’s territory, do not select this
check box.
NOTE: For mergers or acquisitions, end users can move the entire hierarchy under a new account.
Be sure to associate the new parent account at the top level. The new parent ID automatically
cascades to its child accounts, reflecting the change. For more information, see “Changing a Parent-
Child Account Relationship” on page 84.
2 Add a record for each child account, and complete the necessary fields.
■ To review the hierarchy for billing or service accounts, navigate to Billing Account Explorer
view or the Service Account Explorer view, and then expand the subfolders in the explorer
tree.
The explorer view contains only those accounts for the designated account class, including
corresponding aggregator accounts.
■ To review all account hierarchies, navigate to the Account Management view, and then
expand the subfolders in the explorer tree.
The explorer view displays accounts under the subfolders Accounts (shows all child accounts,
regardless of class), Billing Accounts, and Service Accounts.
4 Scroll down to view the organization chart showing the account hierarchy.
4 Scroll down and select Account Org Hierarchy from the Show drop-down list.
Most views allow end users to record interactions with a customer and to update the customer’s
information. The functionality available to end users depends on the end user access rights.
From all views, end users can access information about billing, service, quotes, agreements,
contacts, and so on.
■ Customer portal view (call center agent). While talking to the customer, call center agents
generally need an overview of a customer’s account. The customer portal view allows them to
access the most commonly needed information in a compact presentation.
■ Account views (sales representative). Sales representatives access the same account
information as call center agents, but they might do it through the Account views. Each view
displays a specific piece of account information. For example, while preparing a report, a sales
representative might want to review the usage details or order history for an account. The sales
representative does not need the account overview information available in the customer portal
because the representative is normally not talking to the customer on the telephone while
reviewing information for the report.
The Customer Portal view appears with several lists and forms summarizing the account
information.
3 Expand the folders and select the specific agreement or subagreement to view.
NOTE: End users can also view the usage detail information or add telecommunications-related
infrastructure information through the Premises screen. The decision to add equipment or
infrastructure information to a premises or account might depend on whether the equipment is likely
to remain attached to the premises independently of the account currently receiving utility service
at that premises.
A list of services appears with usage history beneath it. The history displays period-by-period or
monthly usage information about the account and service you select.
5 In the Usage History list, select the type of usage information you want to view from the drop-
down list.
All options except Usage History and Usage Information display the information in charts.
In the Equipment list, record and view items supplied by your company, and in the Other Equipment
list, record and view items supplied by other companies, including competitors and alliance partners.
You can also use these lists to record information about the equipment your customers own or plan
to acquire For instance, if your company offers digital service to high-end digital set-top boxes, you
might record information about the premises equipment currently installed at a large apartment
building or the future wiring needs of a developer.
If you create separate service accounts for customers with multiple locations, then you can associate
installed and planned equipment for a location with its corresponding service account. If you use a
single account to represent a customer with multiple locations, then associate the installed and
planned equipment for each of the customers’ various locations with the one account for that
customer.
4 In the Equipment or Other Equipment list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Product Select the product for the equipment. The value you select in the Type field
determines the values available for selection in this field. Most of the other
fields are populated automatically with data about the product you select.
Install Date Select the date and time when the equipment was installed, or the date and
time when the customer plans to purchase the equipment.
In the Infrastructure list, you record information or attributes for the telecommunications-related
infrastructure at the sites to which you provide services. This information can be important at large
industrial or commercial sites such as factories, warehouses, and office buildings.
If you use multiple service accounts to represent a customer with multiple locations, then associate
infrastructure items at each location with its corresponding service account. If you use a single
account to represent a customer with multiple locations, then associate the infrastructure items at
all the customer’s locations with the one account for that customer.
4 In the Infrastructure list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Attribute Select the attribute of the infrastructure item. The value you select in the Service
Type field determines the values available for selection in this field.
This chapter explains some basic concepts regarding profiles and includes procedures for creating
them. It also describes the interrelationship among profiles, business functions, and back-office
applications. It includes the following topics:
■ “Creating and Updating an Address Profile in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 105
■ “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on page 106
A profile stores information required to perform a business function. For example, a billing profile
contains the information needed to invoice the customer for products and services.
Profile Types
Table 6 describes the account profiles available within Siebel Communications.
Profile Comments
Address Profile and Allows for validation of an address against a master street address guide
MSAG Profile (MSAG) data source or other external database.This validation helps
provide an accurate address in the format needed for external
applications, such as an Emergency 911 database. You can also use the
MSAG Profile as an example for creating other profiles relevant to your
company.
Billing Profile Captures the bill run characteristics needed to invoice the customer for
products and services. It is generally associated with a billing account. An
account has one billing profile that can be used in multiple billing
applications to produce a bill for the account.
Exemption Profile Contains the specific information related to any subsidies and exemptions
for which the customer may be eligible, tracks when a subsidy or
exemption takes place, and records the receipt of supporting information.
Financial Profile Contains information used to perform a credit check on the customer.
Fraud Profile Contains information about the fraud status of an account. It allows end
users to set fraud thresholds that, when exceeded, trigger a fraud alert.
Loyalty Profile Contains information needed to predict customer churn, estimate debt
risk, and identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities. When integrated with
a third-party predictive modeling package, it displays scores generated by
that software.
Statement Profile Records billing statement preferences, including number of copies, media,
and contact requesting the statement.
NOTE: The order management module no longer uses the Service Profile view. If you used the
Service Profile view in the 6.x or earlier versions of Siebel Communications, then you want to use
the new MSAG Profile view instead.
Position Description
■ Creates profiles for new customers, modifies and adds profiles for existing
customers.
■ Creates profiles for new customers, modifies and adds profiles for existing
customers.
For a new customer, the customer service representative (CSR) has already created an account
hierarchy, added a contact for the account, and entered an address for the account. This scenario
continues the “Scenario for Using Accounts in Siebel Communications” on page 79.
Now, for each service account in the hierarchy, the CSR wants to validate its address against the
MSAG (master street address guide) database or a similar external database. This validation
guarantees that the proper address format is sent to the Emergency 911 database when the service
is provisioned.
After submitting each new address for validation, the CSR chooses the correct match from the list
the database sends back. She checks to see that the validated field has been automatically updated
to indicate the procedure was completed.
Next the CSR creates unique profiles associated with individual accounts. Each profile stores
information necessary to perform a business function.
Starting with the top-level parent account, the CSR creates a financial profile and a statement profile
as follows:
■ The CSR creates a financial profile for the top-level parent account because the customer’s
company has financial responsibility for all its accounts. The financial profile includes all
necessary information to perform a credit check on the company.
■ The CSR also creates a statement profile for the top-level account because the customer wants
to receive a statement at the corporate level that summarizes all charges for products and
services.
The statement profile contains information, such as the address, number of copies of the
statement required, statement media type, frequency of statement, contact person, and so on.
Each statement profile is given a unique identifier within the CSR’s company’s billing application.
All the profile information is required by the billing application so that the statement can be
processed.
The CSR then moves on to the billing subaccounts in the hierarchy and creates separate billing
profiles for those subaccounts. Each billing profile stores information, such as the mailing address,
contact, billing frequency, and debit or credit card data for that account.
She then creates statement profiles for several subaccounts so that those offices can receive
informational statements for the amount of service used.
Next she creates an exemptions profile when subsidy and tax exemption information applies. For
example, a charitable organization has a tax exemption status. Exemption profiles can be created
for any level of the account hierarchy and are usually part of the initial account setup. They contain
information that can also be passed to the billing application.
Then she creates a site profile for each service account, which specifies how many floors the site has,
where equipment is located within the site, and so on.
Figure 5 shows the accounts and profiles needed for the customer’s account hierarchy in the business
scenario.
NOTE: Siebel Communications does not restrict how end users build hierarchies. If you want to
enforce certain rules, then you must set the rules up within Siebel Business Applications. This
diagram shows one recommended use of profiles for specific account classes.
Figure 6 summarizes the interrelationship among accounts, profiles, and back-office applications in
the business scenario.
NOTE: For simple residential customer accounts (those not separated into billing and service
accounts), all profiles are directly associated with the customer account and not with subaccounts
as shown in Figure 6 on page 96.
Topics in this chapter describe the various profiles you can create using the procedure in this topic
and the unique fields required for each.
NOTE: This topic pertains to all profiles except Address (MSAG) Profiles. For information about
working with MSAG profiles, see “Creating and Updating an Address Profile in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 105.
5 In the forms or lists that appear for that specific profile, update the information.
A billing profile is generally associated with a billing account and can represent the legally binding
agreement between the customer and the service provider. A billing profile might contain information
synchronized from an external billing application.
End users can associate more than one billing profile with an account, but they must choose one
billing profile as the primary billing profile.
When Siebel Communications is integrated with a third-party billing application through Oracle
Application Integration Architecture, a billing profile record is successfully passed to the billing
application if the contact and address fields for the record contain data and if the payment method
field for the record is Credit Card, Automatic Debit, or Bill Me. Additionally, if the payment method
is Credit Card, the billing profile record is successfully passed to the billing application only if the
Name, Credit Card #, and Exp fields in the Credit Card Payment form contain data. If the payment
method is Automatic Debit, the billing profile record is successfully passed to the billing application
only if the Account # and Routing # fields in the Automatic Debit form contain data.
After billing profiles are created, end users can select any billing profile for the account that is
associated with a quote, a quote line item, an order, or an order line item (and, through an order line
item, with an asset). For more information about Oracle Application Integration Architecture, see
“About Prebuilt Integration with Siebel Communications” on page 20.
2 In the Accounts list, click the Name field for the account.
Alternatively, you can display the Billing Profile list if you navigate to the Billing Data
Administration screen, then the Profiles view, select an account in the Billing Accounts list, and
click the Billing Profile view tab.
5 Enter data about the profile for the account in the Billing Profile list fields.
Field Comments
Primary Select this field to indicate that this profile is the most commonly
applicable profile for the customer. Each account can have only one
primary profile.
Frequency The interval in which you bill the customer for service. All of the billing
profiles for an account must have the same value in the this field. If you
create a billing profile with a different value in this field than the other
billing profiles for the account, the billing profile is not successfully
passed to the billing application.
Payment Type Select Postpaid if the customer pays after using the service. Select
Prepaid if the customer pays before using the service. If you select
Prepaid, the Top Up Preference form displays below the Billing Profile list.
See Step 8 to enter account replenishment details in this form.
Field Comments
Payment Method The value in this field determines the fields available in the form for
payment details.
Email Bill To The email address to which the customer bill is sent.
Auto Top-Up Select this check box to indicate that the account is automatically
replenished when the account balance decreases to a threshold amount
that you specify.
6 If you select Credit Card in the Payment Method field, enter credit card details for the account in
the Credit Card Payment form that appears below the Billing Profile list.
Field Comments
Blocked After you use an external system to verify a card, select this field if you
discover that the card is blocked.
Blocked Reason The reason the card is blocked. This reason applies only to the card in the
Payment Details view, not to other customer cards.
7 If you select a payment method other than Credit Card in the Payment Method field, enter
payment method details for the account in the Automatic Debt form that appears below the
Billing Profile list.
8 If you select Prepaid in the Payment Type field, enter replenishment details for the account in
the Top Up Preference form that appears below the Billing Profile list.
Field Comments
Top-Up Amount When the account is replenished, the amount by which to replenish the
account.
U/M The unit of measure for the top-up amount (for example, minutes or
currency).
Threshold Amount When the account balance decreases to this amount, the account is
replenished.
Field Comments
Threshold UOM The unit of measure for the threshold amount (for example, minutes or
currency).
SMS Notification Check this box to notify the contact for the account when the account is
replenished.
If you select the Auto Top-Up check box in Step 5, this field value has no
effect because the account is automatically replenished when the account
balance decreases to the threshold amount.
The customer profile allows end users to capture relevant customer information, such as financial
and sales information about the customer, and to record information about the customer’s partners
and competitors.
DIRECTORY Status Select from the Status drop-down list and the
ASSISTANCE Effective Date Effective Date calendar.
TEL-ASSISTANCE Requested Select from the Status drop-down list and the
Status Effective Date calendar.
Social Security
Number
Effective Date
Table 9 describes some fields in the Financial Profiles form. However, different fields can appear
according to the value you select in Account Type field of the account record.
PROFILE Contact Last Name and Contact for the account. When you create a new
First Name record, this field is automatically populated with
the name of the contact in the Primary Contact
field of the account record.
Tax Profile Code Code from standard tax categories that classify
companies according to their tax aspects. This
information is stored in an external billing
application or an external credit and tax
application.
NOTE: Credit check data for an incorporated business or an individual includes business name,
billing address, corporate ID, and tax ID. For an unincorporated business, credit check data includes
name, social security number, and driver’s license.
For more information about creating a profile, see “Creating and Updating a Profile in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 97.
The financial profile information is sent to an external application that reports a credit rating.
Field Comments
Max Number of Calls Maximum number of calls that the customer can make in a given
period.
Daily Threshold Threshold limit for the calls the customer can make in a day.
Domestic Threshold Threshold limit for the domestic calls the customer can make.
International Threshold Threshold limit for the international calls the customer can
make.
Sensitive Number Threshold Threshold limit for calls that the customer can make to sensitive
numbers. Sensitive numbers might include high-priced calls,
such as calls to 900 numbers.
Overflow Value Overflow allowed for the threshold limits in the Calculator,
expressed as a percentage.
The Loyalty Profile view also contains key data used as input to a predictive modeling application.
Some data, while residing in the Loyalty Profile view, is not generated from within the Siebel
applications. A marketing administrator can develop loyalty and retention campaigns by using these
predictive scores.
Table 11 describes some fields in the Site Profiles form. To access all fields, click the show more
button in the form.
Field Comments
Servicing Company Service company or local distribution company that provides the service.
Supply Indicates wether the site is inside or outside your company’s standard
Characteristics service territory.
Some fields in the Statement Profile form are described in Table 12.
Field Comments
To guarantee proper formatting, the address needs to be validated against a back-office data source.
In Siebel Business Applications, Address Profiles allow multiple formats of one address to be stored.
The MSAG (master street address guide) format is available with the shipped product, but other
formats can be added using Siebel Tools. When setting up additional formats, use the MSAG Profile
as an example.
Obtaining the proper address format is important in performing the following key business
processes:
■ Determining the existing services and service provider at the address. This could be a simple
confirmation, although in the case of wireline service moves, a variety of service information can
be returned or exchanged between systems.
Each address profile format requires an external data source for validation. Your company can either
own the data outright or subscribe to a service that provides the data.
NOTE: The MSAG format adheres to the Local Service Order Guidelines (LSOG) v5 specification.
After validating an address, end users can change some address fields. To edit those fields, end users
must revalidate the address.
Validating an Address
To validate an address, follow this procedure.
To validate an address
1 Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
The Address list appears with the MSAG Profile form beneath it. The Address list shows all of the
addresses associated with the account.
5 Scroll down to the MSAG Profile form, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
If the address validation is integrated with an external data source, then selecting Y begins a
search for possible addresses.
NOTE: This behavior differs from the default behavior of the shipped product, which supports
manual address validation. In the manual state, selecting Y marks the MSAG Profile as validated.
7 In the dialog box containing addresses, select the address that matches the customer’s address.
After the address is validated, the MSAG profile becomes read-only with the exception of the
Access Instruction and Descriptive Location fields. To update the profile, you must revalidate the
address.
Revalidating an Address
To revalidate an address, follow this procedure.
To revalidate an address
■ Follow the procedure for validating an address, but click ReValidate after Step 4 on page 106
before continuing with the procedure.
A special rating list’s billing considerations are determined by special rating rules or discounts defined
in the external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application. These rules can
also apply to non-voice services such as text messaging. The Special Ratings feature in Siebel
Communications takes advantage of the Extended Ratings Attribute feature in Oracle
Communications Billing and Revenue Management. For more information about the Extended Ratings
Attribute feature of Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, consult the
documentation for your Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management system.
A special rating profile is a collection of special rating lists defined for an account. These lists contain
phone numbers that are included in each special rating list, and assets that are defined for the phone
numbers. Under an account’s special rating profile, you can create multiple special rating lists, each
with multiple list items.
A special rating product is the service to which a customer can subscribe in order to associate a
designated special rating list with the appropriate service. For example, a special rating product
named, My Social Circle, might define a friends and family plan, and might require a special rating
list that captures the phone numbers for the plan. For more information about special rating
products, see “Setting Up Special Rating Products in Siebel Communications” on page 107.
A special rating product can be associated with a special rating list in a quote line item or a sales
order line item. You can associate a special rating list only with a special rating product line item. For
more information about adding special rating lists and special rating products to a quote or sales
order, see the chapter on employee asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide
To manage special rating products, special rating lists, and special rating list items in Siebel
Communications, perform the following tasks:
■ “Modifying Special Rating Lists in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 111
■ “Changing the Association of Special Rating Lists in Siebel Communications” on page 111
Special rating products allow special ratings by using lists provided in the external billing system. It
is important to make sure that the name of a special rating product in Siebel CRM matches the
corresponding Friend and Family ERA provisioning tag in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management.
You can define product rules for a special rating product in Siebel Communications, such as eligibility
and promotion constraints. You can also define pricing policies in Siebel Communications.
You can add a special rating product to a service bundle. For example, if Favorite Call List and
Favorite Text List are special rating products, they can be grouped in a service bundle named Mobile
Service. For more information about service bundles, see “About Service Bundles” on page 23.
A special rating product can be associated with a special rating list in a quote line item or a sales
order line item. You can associate a special rating list only with a special rating product line item. For
more information about special rating lists, see “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and
Products (End User)” on page 106. For more information about adding special rating lists and special
rating products to a quote or a sales order, see the chapter on employee asset-based ordering in
Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
The following procedure describes how to set up a special rating product. For more information about
setting up a product, see the chapter on basic product administration in Siebel Product
Administration Guide.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on
page 106.
2 In the Products list, add a new record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Name The value in this field must match the corresponding Friend and
Family ERA provisioning tag in the external Oracle Communications
Billing and Revenue Management application.
Special Rating Max The maximum number of items that the special rating product can
Items include. For example, you might define a Friends and Family plan that
can include a maximum of six phone numbers.
NOTE: The Special Rating Max Items field is editable only if the value
of the Billing Type field is Special Rating.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on
page 106.
2 Select the account for which you want to create a special rating profile, and click the link in the
Name field.
3 Click the Profiles view tab, then click the Special Rating Profile subview tab.
4 Create a new record in the Special Rating Profile list, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Primary Select to designate the primary profile in the list. The first record
created is selected by default.
List Name Enter an external name for the list, for example, My Top 5 Personal
Numbers.
Last Sync Date System-generated and read only. Date and time when the list was last
synchronized with the external Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management application.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on
page 106.
2 Select the account for which you want to add special rating list items, and click the link in the
Name field.
3 Click the Profiles view tab, then click the Special Rating Profile subview tab.
4 In the Special Rating Profile list, select the special rating list to which you want to add list items.
6 Create a new record for a phone number, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Phone Number Enter a phone number, including the area code and the extension, if
applicable.
Inactive Select this field to deactivate the item. When the item is deactivated,
it becomes read-only.
Last Sync Date System-generated and read only. Date and time when the item was
last synchronized with the external Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management application.
NOTE: Synchronization includes only active items; that is, items with
End Date set to null. Hence, different list items might have different
Last Synchronized dates.
7 View the assets associated with the selected Special Rating List item.
The Associated Assets list is read-only and displays active assets (that is, assets whose Status
is not Inactive) that are currently associated with the selected special rating list item. Some fields
are described in the following table.
Field Comments
Asset Name of the asset; that is, the name of the selected list item
product
Special Rating Max Items Maximum number of items for the asset product or list product
Root Asset Service Id Service ID of the root asset, for example, 650 123 1234
Parent Asset Product name of the parent asset, for example, Mobile Voice
Parent Asset Service Id Service ID of the parent asset, for example, 650 123 1234
8 Repeat Step 6 and Step 7 for each phone number that you want to add to the special rating list.
9 On the Special Rating Profile tab, click Synchronize to update the selected special rating profile
and its associated special rating list in the external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management application.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on
page 106.
2 Select the account for which you want to modify a special rating profile, and click the link in the
Name field.
3 Click the Profiles view tab, and then click the Special Rating Profile subview tab.
4 In the Special Rating Profile view, select the special rating list for which you want to modify
special rating list items.
5 Scroll down to the Items list, and select the special rating list item that you want to modify.
6 Modify the special rating list item by performing one of the following actions:
When the Inactivate field is selected, the item becomes read-only. However, the Inactive flag
for the item is still enabled. You can reactivate the item later.
■ You cannot add more list items than the maximum number of items defined for the associated
special rating product. For more information about special rating product definitions, see
“Setting Up Special Rating Products in Siebel Communications” on page 107.
■ You cannot modify a list if one or more in-flight orders (sales order line items that are not
Cancelled or Complete) are associated with the list. This restriction prevents data
mismatches between the list instances and the list profile.
7 In the Special Rating Profile list, click Synchronize to update the selected special rating list and
its associated list items in the external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
application.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Special Rating Profiles, Lists, and Products (End User)” on
page 106.
2 Select the account for which you want to modify a special rating list, and click the link in the
Name field.
4 On the Installed Assets list, select the asset associated with the special rating list item whose
association you want to change.
5 Click Modify.
Siebel Communications displays a Special Rating Profile list associated with the selected asset
and prompts you to create a new quote or sales order.
6 In the Line Items list, change the Special Rating list to a different list.
Siebel Communications changes the Action Code of the line item (list product) to Update.
This chapter discusses contact management and includes procedures for contact management. It
includes the following topics:
■ “Associating a Contact with a Trouble Ticket in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 116
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Contact Management in Siebel Communications” on page 116
Customer service representatives and field service representatives are examples of end users who
might use contact management functions.
End users can use Siebel Communications to complete the following tasks:
■ View information about trouble tickets and service requests that are associated with a contact.
A call center agent receives a call from a customer with a service problem. The agent verifies that
the caller is already registered as a contact by using a query on the contact’s name. The agent adds
information to the customer’s contact profile and provides the needed service by creating a trouble
ticket without leaving the Contacts screen. The agent then logs the activity. During the call, the
customer states an interest in purchasing a particular product, so the agent associates an
opportunity with the contact. After the call, the agent sends a follow-up email to the customer to
verify that the action was taken.
Figure 7 shows the sequence of procedures that an end user might follow to manage contacts.
End users can view all contact records that they create. If an end user adds a contact to an account
or opportunity and that account or opportunity has an associated sales team, then members of the
sales team can also view the contact. In a contact record, a sales team is also known as a contact
access list.
2 Add a new record to the Contacts list, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the
More Info form.
3 In the Account field, select one or more accounts in the dialog box.
If multiple accounts are associated with this contact, then designate one account as the primary
account by selecting the Primary field for that account.
4 In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
4 In the Trouble Tickets list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
NOTE: If status value of the trouble ticket is Closed, then you cannot change some field values
in this view. To change these field values, drill down on the ticket ID of the trouble ticket, and in
the Trouble Ticket Detail form, change the status value of the trouble ticket to Open or Pending.
Contact Correspondence
End users can use Siebel Communications to send email to a contact. If an email application and
Oracle’s Siebel Office are installed, then the message content can be automatically generated. For
more information, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
This chapter describes agreements and entitlements, and provides procedures for managing them.
It includes the following topics:
■ “Scenarios for Using Agreements and Entitlements in Siebel Communications” on page 119
■ “Setting Up Templates for the Auto Document Feature of Siebel Communications” on page 122
■ “Adding Agreement Terms and Generating Totals in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 124
■ “Creating and Printing an Agreement Document in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 125
■ “Associating an Agreement with an Order in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 126
■ “Associating an Agreement with a Service Item in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 126
■ “Viewing Agreement Details in the Explorer in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 127
This topic defines agreements and entitlements and discusses the relationship between them. For
more information about agreements and entitlements, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide
and Siebel Field Service Guide.
Agreements
An agreement is a legally binding document that defines the obligations to offer, provide, or produce
specific products or services over a set period of time for a specific amount of money. A sale might
require an agreement to detail and document the sale transaction.
Siebel Communications can manage complex commercial agreements and simple residential
agreements. Complex agreement can have multiple levels, each with different terms, conditions, and
discounts.
An agreement must be associated with one contact or at least one account. However, agreements
can be associated with multiple accounts.
Entitlements
An entitlement defines the level of support to which a customer is entitled. Examples of entitlements
include response time metrics and service level metrics. A metric is a type of provision (for example,
response time) combined with a value for that provision (for example, 2 hours). Entitlements are
associated with customers through their service-level agreements. For more information, see “Types
of Agreements” on page 118.
■ The accounts and contacts associated with agreements might be different from the accounts and
contacts associated with an entitlement.
An agreement that is associated with an entitlement can specify that all contacts or products must
receive support under the entitlement. This specification provides blanket contact service
agreements and blanket product service agreements.
Types of Agreements
Many different types of agreements can be created in Siebel Communications, including contracts,
sales agreements, service agreements, service level agreements, master service agreements, work
orders, profiles, letters of understanding, letters of intent, nondisclosure agreements, subcontractor
work orders, price protections, and support renewals. Some types of agreements are defined as
follows:
■ A contract is an agreement that typically covers an ongoing relationship between a vendor and
a customer. A contract states what a vendor is contractually bound to provide to a customer and
what a customer is contractually bound to purchase from a vendor. This type of agreement is
legally binding and might specify such things as products, services, discounts, terms, and
entitlements.
■ A sales agreement is an agreement that is typically related to a specific sale. This type of
agreement specifies such things as base price, discounts, special rates, rentals or leasing, and
financing.
■ A service agreement is a type of agreement that defines a service relationship. It spells out a
customer’s rights to receive service, including the price, service level, support requirements,
maintenance, and warranty. Service agreements have specific components that include:
■ Service Calendars. Specify the days and hours during which service are provided (for
example, Monday to Friday and 9 to 5).
■ Quotas. Specify the amounts of service the customer can receive (for example, number of
phone calls allowed, number of on-site visits allowed, and so forth).
■ Entitlements. Specify the accounts, contacts, and products that are covered, as well as the
metrics being used.
■ A service level agreement (also referred to as an SLA or a service support level) is a type of
service agreement that defines a customer’s entitlements and assets. A service level is a
quantitative measurement that is usually expressed as a percentage. For example, a service level
might be the percentage of parts received on time out of those requested, the percentage of
asset uptime, or the percentage of problems fixed within a required time frame. A service level
agreement can also be part of a larger service agreement.
End users can create parent-child relationships among agreements. If, for example, a large
commercial account requires a master agreement and one or more subagreements, then end users
can designate the main agreement as a master agreement and generate its associated
subagreements. The master agreement is the parent agreement for the subagreements.
Data from which to build agreements comes from the agreement library in Siebel Communications.
An agreement library is a data repository developed by your company’s sales and legal organizations.
It includes information such as recommended and required text for agreement sections, answers to
agreement questions, sample cover letters, and sample executive summaries.
After reviewing several proposals and discussing different offerings and services, the company’s
owner has accepted the account manager’s most recent proposal and has requested a service
agreement for the current quote.
First, the account manager creates an agreement record with basic information such as account
name, effective date, and a general description of products and services to be covered. He next
selects the appropriate terms to add to the agreement and specifies contacts for this agreement.
Next, he creates an order. When the order is created, Siebel Communications associates the new
service with the agreement.
The account manager then uses Siebel Communications to generate a physical service agreement.
Using a predefined agreement template that the account manager selects, Siebel Communications
automatically assembles sections from the agreement library and adds the information the account
manager entered for the agreement record and its associated terms and contacts. Siebel
Communications then places the text in a Microsoft Word document. If necessary, the account
manager can manually edit the Word document to personalize it for the customer.
Finally, the account manager prints the finished service agreement for the owner’s approval and
signature.
Figure 8 shows the sequence of procedures that might be used to manage commercial agreements.
The dealer then creates the order in Siebel Communications. When the order is created, Siebel
Communications associates the new service for the daughter with the mother's agreement. When
the order is complete, Siebel Communications automatically updates the agreement with the new
service. Finally, Siebel Communications issues requests to the appropriate back-office applications
to provision the daughter's new mobile service.
Figure 9 shows the sequence of procedures that might be used to manage residential agreements.
2 In the Business Objects list, add a record for the mapping information.
Field Comments
Default Select this check box if you want to designate this template as the
default template.
Field Comments
3 In the Template drop-down list, verify that the template appears as an option.
To add an agreement
1 Navigate to the Agreements screen, then the Agreement List view.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Account Select the name of the account that the agreement covers. If multiple
accounts are associated with the agreement, then the primary account
is visible in the form.
Valid Select this check box to indicate that the agreement is valid. This check
box is selected when entitlements are considered and when preventive
maintenance actions are initiated.
Start Select the date and time that agreement becomes effective.
End Select the date and time that the agreement expires.
Field Comments
Approver Select the user ID of the member of the agreement team who is
authorized to approve the agreement.
Revision Displays the revision number of the agreement. The value is set to 1
when you create an agreement and is increased when you revise the
agreement.
Service Select this check box to indicates that the agreement is a service
agreement.
Effective Select the date and time that the agreement becomes effective. This
field is for information only.
Parent Select the parent agreement for the agreement. If the agreement is a
subagreement or child agreement, then this field identifies the master
or parent agreement.
Vendor Select the name of vendor who originally sold the agreement.
The agreement totals in the Total form are calculated automatically. The Products field and
Services field amounts equal the Total Extended Price for Products and the Total Extended Price
for Services, respectively. The Total field shows the total price for the shipment.
NOTE: If you receive an error message about a template, then check the template setup. For
more information, see “Setting Up Templates for the Auto Document Feature of Siebel
Communications” on page 122.
Field Comments
The standard agreement sections are assembled into a Microsoft Word document according
to the template you select, and specific information from the current agreement record is
inserted into the document. A Microsoft Word application window appears showing the draft
agreement.
d Edit and print the Word document as necessary, and then save it.
2 Add a new record to the list, and complete the necessary fields.
To access more fields, click the show more button in the form.
3 In the Agreement Name field, select an agreement in the dialog box, and click Submit.
3 Click the Line Items view tab, and complete the following steps in the Line Items view:
a In the Line Items list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields for the service to order.
b In the Product field, select a product.
NOTE: The dialog box contains only those products with the Track as Asset field selected in
the Administration - Product screen, More Info view.
d In the Line Item Detail form, select an agreement in the Agreement Name field.
4 Click the Orders view tab, and complete the following steps in the Orders view:
c Click Submit to submit the order and change its Status field value to Open.
When end users revise an agreement, Siebel Communications preserves a record of each earlier
version of that agreement. Consequently, revision records allow you to track the history of any
agreement. The original agreement is saved as revision 1. When an agreement is revised, the
following actions occur:
■ The agreement name in the Name field is changed to name (.x) where x is the revision number.
To revise an agreement
1 Navigate to the Agreements screen, then the Agreement List view.
A data document appears for each of the parent-level agreements your company has with its
customers.
Subfolders appear for the selected agreement’s associated agreements, entitlements, activities,
notes, and products and services.
The individual records appear as a series of data documents below the subfolder and as rows in
the list.
4 Select a record.
This chapter explains the concept of a premises and describes procedures you can use to manage
the creation and maintenance of premises records. It also describes typical procedures that end
users might use when working with premises records. It includes the following topics:
■ “Associating an Activity with a Premises in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 134
■ “Viewing Service Point Information in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 135
■ “Viewing Service Requests for a Premises in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 136
■ “Adding a Service Request for a Premises in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 136
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Premises Management in Siebel Communications” on page 138
A premises is an address that identifies a physical location, such as a building, apartment, land
parcel, and so on, to which communications services can be delivered. In Siebel Communications, a
premises acts as a grouping of service points.
A premises record stores the address of a building, apartment, or land parcel to which your company
offers communications services. Siebel Communications also stores nonservice addresses that are
associated with particular customers, such as billing addresses outside the company’s service
territory. Nonservice account addresses have a variety of uses, but premises records are specifically
used to track addresses at which a company might offer services. Premises records are never deleted
and can therefore be used to track asset and service usage even if the premises becomes
unoccupied.
Premises records also track service points. A service point is an asset that is installed at a particular
service location and represents a network delivery point, such as a phone jack. For more information
about setting up an asset, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
Premises information can be imported into Siebel Communications either periodically in batches,
using Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager, or through real-time integration with a third-party
application. Premises information can also be entered manually.
Every instance of a service delivered to a particular premises needs a unique identifier, called a
service item identifier. Most services are provided through a physical network connection; for
example, phone service is connected to a phone jack, and a data access line is connected to a port
on a switch. With physical network connections, the Service Point is used as the service item
identifier. Some services, such as cellular phone services, do not require a physical network
connection. In these cases, a logical identifier, such as a telephone number or IP address, is used as
the service item identifier. Typically this identifier is automatically assigned by an external system.
A customer calls your company to set up telephone service at a new house. The customer service
representative (CSR) who accepts the call creates an account for the customer and orders the service
and service point (phone jack). The ordering process initiates an activity that directs field service
engineers to the site. The field service engineers then connect the house to the telephone network,
creating a service point for the phone jack.
A field service operations manager changes the status of the account address record to a premises
in Siebel Communications. She also associates the service point with the premises. In addition, she
enters some information related to the premises as a note and then associates an electronic file,
which contains a hookup wiring schematic, with the premises. Finally, the field service operations
manager creates an activity to notify the network planning department that the local network needs
maintenance.
Six months after the occupant moves in to the house, she calls to report static on the telephone line.
The CSR who accepts the call first verifies the caller and the caller’s location. Before creating a
service request, he views general information about the premises and looks to see if there are any
existing service requests associated with the premises. The CSR notes that static has been reported
several times before and creates a service request documenting the repeated problem.
Figure 10 shows the sequence of procedures that might be used to set up a residential premises.
Figure 11 shows the sequence of procedures that might be used to maintain a residential premises.
■ You can add a premises record before the customer who occupies a premises is known. In this
case, there is no existing customer account with which to associate the premises. When a
customer moves into the premises and requests service, the association is made automatically
when the premises is added to the account addresses.
■ If an account for the customer who occupies a new premises is known, then a new address is
added to the account addresses. After the address is validated as a premises, the address is
flagged as a premises by an administrator.
The All Premises list appears with the More Info form beneath it.
Field Comments
Read Route Type the name of the meter reading route to which the premises belongs.
Read Sequence Type a number that identifies the sequence in which the meters at the
premises are read.
Bill Group Select the ID of the billing application batch or group to which the premises
belongs.
The Addresses list appears with the Address form beneath it.
3 In the Address form, select the check box for the Premise field.
The All Premises list appears with the More Info form beneath it.
5 In the list, select the new premises, and complete the necessary fields in the form.
For more information about some fields, see the table in “Creating a Premises Before the Account
Exists” on page 132.
The Service Points dialog box appears with a list of service points that are not associated with
any premises.
5 In the dialog box, select an existing service point or create a new service point.
Field Comments
Removal Date Select the date and time when the service point is removed from the
premises.
Product Select a product for the service point. Only products for which the value in
the product Type field is Service Point and for which the product Service Type
field is not null are available for selection.
■ Communicate procedures related to a premises that other members of the organization must
perform.
4 In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
To look up a premises
1 Navigate to the Premises screen, then the Premises List view.
For more information about some fields, see the table in “Creating a Premises Before the Account
Exists” on page 132.
The Meter Points list displays service point information for that premises. Some fields are
described in the following table.
Field Comments
Service Type Displays the service type for the product that you
select.
NOTE: Usage data can reside in an external data repository and be viewed in Siebel Communications
if that type of integration is set up.
4 In the Meter Points list, drill down on the service point of a record.
6 In the Usage History list, select the information you want to view from the drop-down list.
The upper list displays accounts and the lower list displays service requests.
6 To view more information about the service request, drill down on the service request number of
the service request.
The upper list displays accounts and the lower list displays service requests.
5 In the lower list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Severity Select a value for the severity of the service request or its impact to the
customer. The severity does not have to be the same as the priority.
Priority Select a value to prioritize the service request. This field describes the
importance of the service request. The priority does not have to be the same as
the severity.
Owner Select the user ID of the person handling the service request.
The upper list displays accounts and the lower list displays infrastructure.
5 In the lower Infrastructure list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Attribute Select the attribute of the infrastructure item. The value you select in the Service
Type field determines the values available for selection in this field.
Owner Select the name of the customer or account that owns the infrastructure item.
Caller Verification
When receiving an inbound call, end users first verify and locate the caller. For more information
about verifying and locating a caller, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Customer Accounts
When a new customer requests service from your company, end users must create an account for
the customer. For more information about creating a customer account, see Chapter 3, “Accounts in
Siebel Communications.”
Sales Orders
When a customer requests a new service, end users must create a sales order. For more information
about creating a sales order, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
This chapter describes how to create, track, and manage assets in Siebel Communications. It
includes the following topics:
■ “Associating Related Assets with a Primary Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 142
■ “Viewing Hierarchical Information for an Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 142
■ “Creating a Transaction for an Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 143
■ “Viewing Components Associated with an Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 143
■ “Adding a Service Request Associated with an Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 144
■ “Adding a Change Request to an Asset in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 144
■ “Viewing Service Points and Services in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 145
Asset data is stored in records that can be created, associated with other records, revised, examined,
and printed. Asset records are used by customer service representatives (CSRs), field service
representatives, service managers, account managers, support renewal agents, and contract
administrators. The procedures described in this chapter are primarily used by customer service
representatives. For more information about assets, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
Siebel Communications uses both the asset number and product name to track the asset. It is the
combination of these two fields that makes an asset unique within Siebel applications. Therefore, the
same asset number can be shared by different products. For example, a phone jack and a DSL
connection can have the same asset number for different products.
Asset management and tracking are important parts of help desk applications and field service
applications. Siebel Communications tracks purchases, allows you to create an asset before
purchase, and allows you to track the asset’s location. The location of serialized products and product
components, is recorded, and the movement of these assets from inventory locations to customers
or employees is tracked. Assets cannot be deleted, so even inactive services remain in the dialog
boxes for selection.
End users can use these methods to create or modify assets in the following ways:
■ Manually in the Activity Part Tracker view, provided the product is serialized. This task is typically
done by a field service agent. For more information, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
■ Automatically using the Siebel Communications application’s order management process. For
more information, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
New or modified asset records can also be automatically received from an integrated third-party
asset management application. For more information, see Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager
Administration Guide.
A CSR processes an order for a telecommunications service, which creates an asset for the root
service and each component. The customer requests a backup order, for which the CSR creates an
asset. The CSR associates the backup asset with the customer’s service as a related asset.
At a later time, the customer calls to report a product failure. Noticing that the service has
components, the CSR views their details to identify the failed component.
The CSR reviews the history of services for the asset and sees nothing out of the ordinary. The CSR
creates a service request for the problem and associates it with the asset component.
A few weeks later, the customer calls again with a suggestion for improving the service. The CSR
enters a change request and associates it with the customer’s asset.
For another customer, the billing application shows an exception (usage data beyond the normal
range). This alerts the CSR, who contacts the customer to verify the usage before determining if the
service should be suspended.
Figure 12 summarizes the sequence an end user might use to manage asset information in Siebel
Communications:
NOTE: Assets can also be created through the order management module. For more information,
see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
To create an asset
1 Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List view.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Asset # Displays an asset number that is automatically generated. This field accepts any
string that includes 100 or fewer characters.
Serial # Displays the serial number for the service point or the service ID from the order.
5 In the Relationships list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
When you click the asset name in the explorer tree, the Assets list highlights the asset selected
in the explorer and displays further details on the right side of the view. The fields are the same
as the fields in the Assets list in the All Assets or My Assets view.
5 In the Transactions list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Asset # Select the number of the subasset (component) associated with the
transaction (for example, the part installed in the main asset).
NOTE: Components are automatically added, as appropriate, when you add some transactions in the
Transactions view.
5 In the Service Requests list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Owner Select the user ID of the owners of the service request. You can select
multiple owners.
5 In the Change Requests list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Owner Select the user ID of the person assigned to deal with the change request.
Area Select the general product area associated with the change request.
Subarea Select the type of product associated with the change request.
Substatus Displays the substatus of the change request. This field indicates whether the
change request is assigned to an employee for resolution.
Services are associated with service points when a CSR submits a New or Modify order for a service.
When a CSR submits a Disconnect order, the service is made inactive. For more information about
the employee use of order management, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for
Communications.
5 To see various types of usage information for a service, complete the following steps:
b In the Usage History view, select an option from the drop-down list.
This chapter explains procedures for creating and managing opportunities in Siebel Communications.
It includes the following topics:
■ “Associating an Account with an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 150
■ “Associating a Product with an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 150
■ “Creating a Quote for an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 151
■ “Creating a Profile for an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 152
■ “Associating a Site with an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 153
■ “Associating a Partner with an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 153
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Opportunity Management in Siebel Communications” on page 154
■ View a list of all opportunities in the database or only those opportunities specifically assigned
to them.
■ Track the status of an opportunity through the sales cycle, from creation to closure.
■ Update information about opportunities as they move through the sales cycle.
■ Use opportunity profiles to record additional information and review customer responses to
predefined questions.
Administrators involved with opportunities benefit from reading this chapter. It describes how your
CSRs create and update opportunities. After becoming familiar with the end-user procedures, you
can customize the software to fit your company’s needs.
For information about hierarchical products or multiple price types with recurring and nonrecurring
fees, see the following guides:
While attending a trade show, a sales representative meets the director of a small company, who
expresses interest in purchasing several products from the sales representative’s company. She asks
the prospective customer to complete a form and assures him that she will contact him with specific
product pricing.
Back at her office, the sales representative creates a new account and enters contact information in
Siebel Communications. Then she creates a new opportunity and associates it with this new account.
As part of the opportunity description, she indicates the probability for the sale, estimates the
potential revenue for the sale, and designates the stage of the sale.
Next she associates products with the opportunity and specifies product information, such as the
product type, quantity, and pricing.
To evaluate some preliminary quotes for the prospective customer, she creates several quotes. For
products containing subproducts, she selects the top-level product name to ensure proper revenue
calculations. She also reviews setup fees and recurring fees for the products.
She calls the prospective customer to set up a meeting to go over her quotes. During that
conversation, she determines that he might also be interested in another product that her company
offers. She updates the product information and notices that the additional product triggered an
overall discount generated by the rules established through Siebel Communications.
The prospective customer also mentions that his company is expanding to an additional location. The
sales representative enters that location as a related site for the same opportunity.
After confirming the meeting for the next day, she hangs up and continues her preparations for the
meeting. While doing so, it occurs to her that another customer might be able to take advantage of
the same discount. She enters that customer account as a partner for the opportunity.
Figure 13 summarizes the sequence an end user might use with opportunities in Siebel
Communications:
To create an opportunity
1 Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List view.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Revenue Type the expected revenue for the opportunity in specific currency.
Sales Team Select the user ID for the sales team of the opportunity.
Primary Displays your use ID for the opportunity because you create the
opportunity. Only managers can change this field for a sales team member.
Channel Select the distribution strategy in your organization for the opportunity.
Expected Value Displays the expected value for the opportunity when you populate the
Probability % and Revenue fields.
Source Select the source of the data. The Source Type field reflects the source type
associated with this selection.
4 In the Products list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
■ In the Product Administration view, the number of occurrences must be greater than 0 for the
product. For more information, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
■ In the Price List list of the Quotes screen, all products end users can associate with the
opportunity or quote must be defined as Price List line items.
■ In the Line Items view of the Quotes screen, the Extended Price of the quote line item must be
more than 0.
■ In the Quotes list of the Opportunities screen, the Price List must be selected. For more
information, see “Associating a Product with an Opportunity in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 150.
If these conditions are not met, then Siebel Communications cannot generate revenue line items for
the Opportunity. The revenue is note accurate until a quote is configured and the opportunity is
updated from it.
b In the Price List field, select a price list, and complete the necessary fields for the new quote.
The Quote form appears with the Line Items view beneath it.
5 In the Line Items list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Extended Net Displays the extended net price. This field is calculated by multiplying the net
Price price by the quantity.
MRC Subtotal Displays the total monthly recurring charges for the line item.
NRC Subtotal Displays the total nonrecurring charge for the line item.
UoM Displays the unit of measure for the line item. This field value depends on the
price type. For a one-time fee, the value is for each unit. For recurring fees,
the value is for a time period, such as for each month or for each quarter.
b To adjust a discount, edit the field values in the Pricing Details section of the form.
For more information about line item details, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum
for Communications.
Revenue line items are added to the opportunity for every one-time or recurring charge in every
product.
After answering the questions, end users can later analyze the information. For example, they can
use charts to see which opportunities qualify as part of their target market or they can use queries
to find opportunities that match specific criteria.
For an account to appear in the list of partners, it must have a check mark for the Partner field in its
account form.
The dialog box lists only accounts that have the Partner field selected in the Accounts screen,
More Info view.
This chapter describes the procedures for handling customer inquiries about their invoices. It
includes the following topics:
■ “Generating Credit, Fraud, and Usage Information in Siebel Communications” on page 158
■ “Process of Entering Payment Against an Outstanding Balance in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 172
■ “Process of Making Payment Arrangements in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 187
Administrators involved with billing benefit from reading this chapter. It describes how your CSRs
access billing information and update billing accounts. After becoming familiar with the end-user
procedures, you can customize the software to fit your company’s needs.
Billing processes are integrated with an external billing application that Siebel Communications
accesses to retrieve information, such as the customer’s last statement. That information is stored
temporarily in Siebel database tables.
Performance of the billing screens depends on both the configuration and speed of retrieval from the
external billing application. Configurators can set up Siebel Communications so that all messages are
sent and received from the back-office application in real-time or batch mode. The results of these
messages can also be stored in Siebel Communications database tables, allowing CSRs to resolve
them in real-time.
Your company is responsible for performing the integration of Siebel Communications with billing
applications. For more information, see Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. For
information about setting up profiles that are used to run credit ratings, record billing preferences,
or store tax exemption information, see “Profiles in Siebel Communications” on page 91.
A CSR at a telecommunications company receives a call from a business customer. The customer has
just received his December invoice for mobile services and believes that his company was
overcharged for international phone calls.
The CSR verifies the caller's identity and then accesses the customer's billing information, primarily
maintained in an external billing system. With the Siebel front-office system, the CSR can access
billing information as if it were stored locally.
The customer has a specific question about various international calls in his December invoice. The
CSR looks at a list of recent invoices and finds the December statement. She brings up an image of
the invoice and notices that the customer has been charged $300 for international calls.
The CSR wants to discuss the individual international calls to confirm the company made these calls.
She first retrieves the customer's billing details information for the December billing period. She then
sorts the calls by rate plan (that is, international) and informs the customer that all calls were made
to the same number in Frankfurt, Germany. She also checks to see the other invoices for other
months, and sees if this international calling pattern is consistent. It is not. The customer realizes
that an employee has been making calls without the customer's knowledge.
The CSR mentions to him that he can request a block placed on his account for all international calls
by creating a fraud profile for his account. The customer asks to check his calls for the current month
to make sure that there will not be unexpected surprises in the next month's invoice. The CSR
reviews the unbilled charges and reports that there are no unusual charges.
While looking at the invoice details, however, she notices that the customer is being charged a city
tax, from which his company is exempt. The customer has been paying this amount for the last few
months. To reimburse him for the error, she can enter an adjustment request against either the entire
invoice or specifically against a line item in that invoice. She decides to associate the request with
the invoice line item in this case.
She enters the amount of the tax and explains the reason for the request. She then submits the
adjustment for processing by the external billing application. If it is accepted, then this adjustment
amount is credited immediately to the balance of the account of the customer and is printed on the
customer’s next invoice.
Before she forgets, she accesses the customer's exemption profile and makes a note that he is
exempt from city tax, so that he is not incorrectly charged in the future.
The customer also wants to pay his outstanding balance. The CSR finds the most recent invoice,
which is for the month of January. She creates a payment against the invoice, enters the customer's
credit card information, and submits the payment for processing by the external billing application.
Before hanging up, the customer has one last request. He wants to start receiving invoices by email.
The CSR goes to his billing profile, selects the appropriate Bill Media, and enters his email address.
The customer thanks him for his time and hangs up.
After lunch, the CSR receives a phone call from another customer, who needs to arrange a payment
plan. His recent invoice was considerably higher than normal, so he wants to spread out the payment
over the next three months. After the CSR verifies that his credit is still good, she enters the payment
arrangement request and notes the special circumstances. The external billing application processes
the request and approves it in a few moments. The CSR informs the customer that his request has
been accepted and that he can see that additional amount in the next three invoices.
Figure 14 summarizes the sequence of procedures an end user might use to update billing
information in Siebel Communications:
CAUTION: Siebel Communications billing administration views are part of the Billing Management
option. Exclusively for testing purposes, these views are used to simulate an external billing
application and therefore must not be used in a production environment. For this reason, they are
not part of release documentation.
2 In the Billing Accounts list, drill down on the name of the account.
3 Click the Credit Alerts, Fraud Alerts, or Usage Detail view tabs.
4 In the appropriate list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
2 In the Host Administration list, select the host with a value of BillStatementHost in the Virtual
Name field.
3 In the Name field for this host, enter the name of your invoice host.
NOTE: BillStatement is the name of the control defined in Siebel Tools. For more information,
see Using Siebel Tools.
Field Comments
Host Name Select the name of the invoice host that you enter in Step 3.
Fixup Name Select the fix up name. A value of InsideApplet displays the image in the
current applet. A value of OutsideApplication displays the image in a new
pop-up window.
The invoice image is now obtained from the Bill Statement URL.
2 In the Host Administration list, select the host with a value of wccserver in the Virtual Name field.
3 In the Name field for this host, enter the name of your invoice host.
a Select the record with a value of WCC Invoice Popup Applet in the Name field.
NOTE: WCC Invoice Popup Applet is the name of the control defined in Siebel Tools. For more
information, see Using Siebel Tools.
Field Comments
Host Name Select the name of the invoice host that you enter in Step 3.
c Change the values for the records in the Symbolic URL Arguments list to accommodate your WCC
host.
For example, if the user ID and password for the WCC host are the same as the user ID and
password for the Siebel application, then change the Argument Value field from UserLoginid
to UserSiebelLoginid for the record with a value of j_username in the Name field, and change
the Argument Value field from UserLoginPassword to UserSiebelLoginPassword for the record
with a value of j_password in the Name field.
If the user ID and password for the WCC host are different from the user ID and password
for the Siebel application, then complete Step 6.
d Repeat Step a through Step c for the record with a value of WCC Invoice Popup Applet_Demo in
the Name field.
6 If the user ID and password for the WCC host are different from the user ID and password for
the Siebel application, then complete the following steps so that end users do not have to enter
these credentials a second time:
a Navigate to the Administration - Integration screen, then the SSO Systems Admin List view.
b In the SSO Systems Administration list, add a record, and complete the fields in the following
table.
Field Comments
Symbolic URL Name Select WCC Invoice Popup Applet or WCC Invoice Popup
Applet_Demo.
c In the SSO System Users list, add a record, and complete the fields in the following table.
Field Comments
Siebel Login Name Select the user ID for the Siebel application.
Most views allow end users to record interactions with a customer and to update the customer’s
information. The functionality available to end users depends on the end user access rights. From
these views, end users can access information about billing, such as the account balance, invoice
history, payment history, and adjustment history.
NOTE: The procedures described in this chapter contain the most frequently used method for
performing each task, including the view to access, but other methods might exist.
End-User Views
The end-user views follow:
■ Billing Portal view (call center agent). The Billing Portal view summarizes the billing
information that a call center agent most likely needs to review while talking to a customer. It
also makes it easy for call center agents to handle the most common transactions associated with
invoices.
The Billing Portal view serves as a starting point for most customer inquiries. Among other tasks,
the Billing Portal views allow call center agents to complete the following tasks:
■ Review the account status, such as the balance, delinquency information, and pending
financial transactions (credit and debit) that have not yet been applied to the balance.
■ View the most recent invoices of a customer and access detailed information about an
invoice.
This history is useful if customers claim that they have already made a payment and that the
balance is not correct.
■ Access the usage history of different services that the customer has so that unexpected hikes
can be explained to the customer.
Views Description
Account Displays account information that corresponds to the Accounts screen, More
Info view. End users can edit this information.
Account Balance Displays balance information for the account. Retrieves this information
from an external billing application. Information is read-only.
Refresh button. Updates the information with the most current data.
Invoice History Displays information from the Invoices screen. Information is read-only.
Payment History Displays the payment history for the account. Information is read-only.
Views Description
Adjustment Displays a subset of the information from the Invoices screen, Adjustment
History Requests view. Information is read-only.
Additional Info Billing Profile hyperlink. Navigates to the Accounts screen, Profiles view,
Billing Profile form.
Usage Detail hyperlink. Navigates to the Accounts More Info form, Usage
Detail view.
■ Invoices views (call center agent). The Invoices views allow call center agents to view all bill
details. These views are generally accessed to reply to customer complaints regarding a specific
charge on the bill. The Invoices views also allow call center agents to start transactions, such as
adjusting an invoice, recording a payment against the invoice, requesting a bill duplicate.
The Start Date and End Date fields of the Billing Profile screen are of UTC Date Time type, and send
the values selected by users in UTC format (ISO Standard). The UTCCanonical user property, when
set to Y, enables the feature that converts the date and time values to UTC format.
End users can access the most recent invoice or retrieve past invoices. They can view invoice details,
such as line items, after selecting the invoice. In addition, they can view the image of an already-
sent invoice bill in HTML format.
End users can navigate to the billing profile portal to view details about a billing profile. These details
include balance groups, unbilled usage, bills, payments, and adjustments. You can return to the
billing profile portal from the views accessed through the portal by clicking the Billing Profile link at
the top of the view.
NOTE: Some customers have a consolidated billing account for a number of service items. Siebel
Communications allows end users to view charges associated with a billing account, service account,
or parent account. For more information about accounts and subaccounts, see Chapter 3, “Accounts
in Siebel Communications.”
To access billing information through the Billing Portal view, follow this procedure.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 In the Accounts list, click the Name field for the account.
■ Scroll to the Billing Profile list, and click the link in the Name field of the appropriate billing
profile.
The service account is set to the paying account. The Profile Portal view shows all ordered
usage of the assets of the paying account, along with rolled-up amounts for usage by
nonpaying child accounts of the paying account, if any, for that billing profile.
■ Scroll to the Installed Assets list, and click the link in the Billing Profile field of the appropriate
asset.
The service account is set to the paying account. The Profile Portal view shows all ordered
usage of the assets of the paying account, along with rolled-up amounts for usage by
nonpaying child accounts of the paying account, if any, for that billing profile.
■ Scroll to the Billing Items list, and click the link in the Billing Profile field of the appropriate
billing item.
The service account is set to the account for which the current billing item was ordered, which
might be either a paying account or a nonpaying child account. Consequently, if you want to
display usage for the account currently displayed in the Account Summary view, then make
sure to drill down on the Billing Profile field of a billing item ordered for that current account.
❏ For a paying account, the Profile Portal view shows all ordered usage of the assets of the
paying account, along with rolled-up amounts for usage by nonpaying child accounts of
the paying account, if any, for that billing profile.
❏ For a nonpaying child account, the Profile Portal view shows all ordered usage of the
assets of the nonpaying child account only, for that billing profile.
The billing Profile Portal view displays forms for the billing profile details and the billing profile
balance summary. View tabs for Balance Group, Unbilled Usage, Bills, Payments, and
Adjustments appear below the forms. The Balance Group view tab displays a list of balance
groups for the billing profile. Except for the Adjustments view, these views use virtual business
components to bring real-time data from the external Billing and Revenue Management
application.
4 In the Balance Summary form, click Refresh to retrieve up-to-date data from the billing
application.
■ 1000 free minutes applicable to all the phone lines in a family plan.
■ 1 frequent flyer mile for each minute of time on any phone line in a family plan.
■ 100 Short Message Services (SMS) applicable to mobile and wire line services.
A balance group can have a single currency balance and multiple noncurrency balances (for example,
the balance of unused phone minutes). Though customers are generally not aware of balance groups
in a bundle, they understand how resources are applicable to the services within a bundle.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
3 To view the currency and noncurrency balances as well as the services for a group, select that
group in the Balance Group list and scroll down to the Balance list and to the Services list.
4 To view validity details for a balance, select that balance in the Balance listing.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 Click the Unbilled Usage view tab to display a list of service charges that the company has not
yet billed for the billing profile.
4 To see rolled-up totals of unbilled service charges for this account (and its nonpaying child
accounts, if any), view the fields of the Balance Summary form in the upper right of the view.
5 To view the item charges for a service charge, select that service charge from the Service
Charges list and scroll down to the Item Charges list.
6 To view the events for an item charge, click the Net Amount field for that item charge.
7 To find specific events in the Event Details list, click Search, enter search criteria, and click Go.
8 To view noncurrency balance totals for an event, select an event for which the Non-Currency check
box is selected, click View Detail, and scroll down to the Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list.
The Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list is populated with the noncurrency balance totals
for the event.
NOTE: If the Non-Currency check box is not selected, noncurrency balances are not available for
the event, and the View Detail button is disabled.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
4 Click the Bill Number field for a bill that you want to view.
The Bill Details form for the bill displays and a list of service charges for that bill displays in the
Service Charges view tab.
5 To view a list of payments for the bill, click the Payments view tab.
6 To view a list of adjustment request items for the bill, click the A/R Items view tab.
7 To view the list of service charges for the bill, click the Service Charges view tab.
a To view the item charges for a service charge, select that service charge from the Service
Charges list and scroll down to the Item Charges list.
b To view the events for an item charge, click the Net Amount field for that item charge.
c To find specific events in the Event Details list, click Search, enter search criteria, and click Go.
d To view noncurrency balance totals for an event, select an event for which the Non-Currency
check box is selected, click View Detail, and scroll down to the Non-Currency Balance Impacts
for Event list.
The Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list is populated with the noncurrency balance
totals for the event.
NOTE: If the Non-Currency check box is not selected, noncurrency balances are not available
for the event, and the View Detail button is disabled.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 Click the Payments view tab to display a list of payments for the billing profile.
4 To find specific payments in the Payments list, click Search, enter search criteria, and click Go.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 Click the Adjustments view tab to display a list of adjustment requests for the billing profile and
scroll down to the Line Items list.
3 To view the line items for an adjustment request, select that adjustment request in the
Adjustment Requests list.
To look up the balance of a nonpaying service account at the request of the user of that account,
follow this procedure.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
2 Find the account whose nonpaying service account balance you want to view.
5 In the Installed Assets list, locate the service for which you want to retrieve the balance.
The Billing Profile screen, Balance Group view appears. The integration retrieves the billing
profile of the nonpaying service account and displays it in this view.
7 To view the bills associated with the displayed nonpaying service account, click the Bills view tab.
To look up the balance of a nonpaying service account at the request of the payer of that account,
follow this procedure.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
To look up the balance of a nonpaying service account from the paying account
1 Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the Accounts List view.
5 In the Billing Items list, locate the service for which you want to retrieve the balance.
The Billing Profile Summary screen displays the billing details of the selected service account.
The Service Account field in the Billing Profile form is set to the service account of the service,
and the billing information corresponds to the combination of the billing profile and the service
account.
Viewing Invoices
Use the procedures in this topic to access and view billing information in invoices.
This task is a step in “Process of Accessing or Updating Billing Information in Siebel Communications
(End User)” on page 163.
The Invoices list displays the bills that are generated by an external application. The information
in the Invoices list (header information) is generally stored in the Siebel database. However, due
to the large volume of data, it is not recommended that your company store the Invoice Line
Item information in the Siebel database, but instead access that data in real time through
integration.
NOTE: When you select All Invoices from the Show drop-down list, the Invoices list displays all
invoices, including external invoices.
3 In the Invoices list, perform a query in the Bill To Account field for the account name.
The Invoices list displays all invoices for that account, sorted by invoice number.
4 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice you want to view.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The Invoices form appears with the Line Items list beneath it.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The invoice image appears in the Invoice Image view if the administrator sets up the integration
between the Bill Statement host and the Siebel application. For more information, see “Setting
Up the Invoice Image Feature in Siebel Communications” on page 159.
For information on the billing profile, see “Accessing Billing Information” on page 164.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
4 In the Bills list, select the record for the invoice image that you want to view, and click View
Invoice.
If the user ID and password for the Web Center Content (WCC) host are the same as the user
ID and password for the Siebel application, then the invoice image appears in a separate dialog
box if the administrator sets up the integration between the WCC host and the Siebel application.
For more information, see “Setting Up the Invoice Image Feature in Siebel Communications” on
page 159.
5 If the user ID and password for the WCC host are different from the user ID and password for
the Siebel application, then you must complete the following steps to view the invoice image:
a In the dialog box that appears, enter your login credentials, and click Sign In.
6 If you want to view another invoice image, then select the record for that invoice image in the
Bills list, and click View Invoice again.
For the high-interactivity client, the invoice image appears in a second dialog box. For the Open
UI client, the second invoice image replaces the invoice image in the first dialog box.
The Invoice History list displays the most current records for the invoice. If the information does
not appear in the Invoice History list, then perform a query to access the correct records.
5 In the Line Items list, click the view tab for the information you want to view.
This task is a step in “Process of Entering Payment Against an Outstanding Balance in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 172.
The Payments list appears with the account information for the new record.
Field Comments
Field Comments
Payment Displays the payment amount by using the account and account balance. The
Amount Status field must be Open to enter the amount. Otherwise, this field is read-
only.
Status Displays a status value of Open. You can change this value to a value other
than Submitted.
The available fields depend on the Payment Method selection you make as follows:
Field Comments
Account Holder Type the name under which the customer’s bank account is
Name registered.
Bank Branch Type the reference number of the specific branch of the customer’s
bank.
■ Reference. Captures payment details at a third-party location, such as post offices or banks.
Field Comments
8 Click Submit.
This task is a step in “Process of Entering Payment Against an Outstanding Balance in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 172.
A new record is created with the payment number, amount, date, and status already populated.
4 Complete Step 5 and the remaining steps of “Recording Account-Level Payments” on page 172.
NOTE: You can also begin this procedure from the Billing Portal view. For information, see Table 13
on page 162.
The CME Payments view of the Payments screen appears with the Payment Detail form beneath
it.
6 In the Payments list, drill down on the payment number of the payment again.
7 In the Invoices list, enter the amount that you want to apply to each invoice in the Payment
Amount field.
This task is a step in “Process of Entering Payment Against an Outstanding Balance in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 172.
2 Click the Payments view tab to display a list of payments for the billing profile.
4 Enter an amount in the Payment Amount field, and select the One-Time Payment check box.
■ If you select Credit Card, enter details in the Credit Card area of the screen.
■ If you select Automatic Debit, enter details in the Bank Account area of the screen.
A payment confirmation number displays. When the billing application processes the payment,
the payment is included in the payments list.
When end users enter a payment for a bill, the billing application applies that payment to the bill. To
enter payments for a bill, complete the steps in the following procedure.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
3 Click the Bill Number field for the bill that you want to pay.
4 Click the Payments view tab to display a list of payments for the bill.
6 Enter an amount in the Payment Amount field, and select the One-Time Payment check box.
■ If you select Credit Card, enter details in the Credit Card area of the screen.
■ If you select Automatic Debit, enter details in the Bank Account area of the screen.
A payment confirmation number displays. When the billing application processes the payment,
the payment is included in the payments list.
This task is a step in “Process of Entering Payment Against an Outstanding Balance in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 172.
The Payment History list displays the most current records for the account.
The Usage Detail list appears with the Usage History list beneath it.
6 In the Usage History list, select the data you want to view from the drop-down list.
NOTE: You can also begin this procedure from the Billing Portal view. For information, see Table 13
on page 162.
The Unbilled Charges view displays the charges incurred since the last invoice.
Field Comments
Next Invoice Date Displays the date the next statement is generated.
Recurring Charges Displays the recurring charges for the current period.
NonRecurrng Charges Displays the nonrecurring charges for the current period.
Surcharges Displays the taxes and surcharges for the current period.
Total Charges Displays the total unbilled charges for the current period. The
formula follows: Recurring charges plus nonrecurring charges plus
surcharges equal to total charges.
NOTE: End users can also begin this procedure from the Billing Portal view. For information, see
Table 13 on page 162.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Adjustments in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 177.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
6 Complete any necessary information, such as the reason for the adjustment, and click Submit.
The request is processed, and the fields are populated with the results.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The Adjustment Request form appears with the Line Items list beneath it. The Status fields
default to Open and the Type fields default to Credit. The list displays a history of adjustment
requests.
5 Select the line item you want to adjust, and click Adjust.
6 Complete any necessary information, such as the reason for the adjustment, and click Submit.
The request is processed, and the fields are populated with the results.
The level of your selection in the bill detail determines the invoice lines that display when you create
adjustments. For example, if you select an entire bill, no invoice lines display. If you select item
charges for usage charges and balance forward charges on a bill, an invoice line for usage charges
displays, and an invoice line for balance forward charges displays. If you select two phone call events
for a usage item charge, an invoice line displays for each of the two phone calls. If you select a
balance total for an event, a single invoice line displays for that balance total.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Adjustments in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 177.
To create adjustments for an entire bill, complete the steps in the following procedure.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
3 Click the Bill Number field for the bill that you want to adjust.
The Bill Details form for the bill displays and a list of service charges for that bill displays in the
Service Charges view tab.
The Billing Adjustments screen displays showing the form to create an adjustment request with
some fields populated and showing the Line Items view tab with no invoice lines.
Field Comments
Status Description Read only. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
populates this field with a reason for an adjustment not being posted,
if such a case arises.
Request Amount Amount for which you want to adjust the bill. Defaults to 0.
Approved Amount Read only. Amount approved for the adjustment to the bill. Defaults
to 0. After you click Submit and the billing application processes the
adjustment request, the portion of the Request Amount that the billing
application approves appears in this field.
Field Comments
Reason for Request Reason for the adjustment request; for example, Billing Error, Partner
Code, Special Credit, or Other.
Approval Date Read only. Date on which the billing application approves the
adjustment. You cannot enter data in this field.
Request Percentage Percentage by which you want to adjust the bill. If the Request
Amount field contains a value, do not enter a percentage in this field.
Approved Percentage Read only. Portion of the Request Percentage that the billing
application approves. After you click Submit and the billing application
processes the adjustment request, the percentage of the Request
Amount that the billing application approves appears in this field.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
To create adjustments for the item charges on a bill, complete the steps in the following procedure.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
3 Click the Bill Number field for the bill that you want to adjust.
The Bill Details form for the bill displays and a list of service charges for that bill displays in the
Service Charges view tab.
4 Select the appropriate service charge from the Service Charges list and scroll down to the Item
Charges list.
5 Select the item charges and click Adjust in the Item Charges list.
The Billing Adjustments screen displays showing the form to create an adjustment request with
some fields populated and showing the Line Items view tab with invoice lines for the item charges
that you select.
NOTE: You can delete existing line items, but you cannot add more line items.
Field Comments
Original Amount The original amount of the item charge. This field is automatically
populated with the amount in the Charge field in the Item Charges list.
You cannot change this amount.
Request Amount Amount for which you want to adjust the bill. Defaults to 0.
Approved Amount Read only. Amount approved for the adjustment to the bill. Defaults
to 0. After you click Submit and the billing application processes the
adjustment request, the portion of the Request Amount that the billing
application approves appears in this field.
Status The status of the adjustment. The value in this field is automatically
changed when the billing application processes the adjustment.
Sub Status Read only. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
populates this field with additional information about the Adjustment
being posted or not posted.
Status Description Read only. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
populates this field with additional information about the Adjustment
being posted or not posted.
Adjustment Type The type of adjustment (for example, Credit, Cash, and Debit).
Reason The reason for the adjustment request (for example, Billing Error,
Partner Code, Special Credit, and Other).
7 Click Refresh Total to see the cumulative effect of the adjustment line items in the Request
Amount field of the form for the adjustment request.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
To create adjustments for the events on a bill, complete the steps in the following procedure.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
3 Click the Bill Number field for the bill that you want to adjust.
The Bill Details form for the bill displays and a list of service charges for that bill displays in the
Service Charges view tab.
4 Select the appropriate service charge from the Service Charges list and scroll down to the Item
Charges list.
5 Click the Net Amount field for the appropriate item charge.
6 Select the events, and click Adjust in the Event Details list.
The Billing Adjustments screen displays showing the form to create an adjustment request with
some fields populated and showing the Line Items view tab with invoice lines for the events that
you select.
NOTE: You can delete existing line items, but you cannot add more line items.
Field Comments
Original Amount The original amount of the event. This field is automatically populated
with the amount in the Charge field in the Event Details list. You cannot
change this amount.
Request Amount Amount for which you want to adjust the bill. This field displays 0 (zero)
by default.
Approved Amount Read only. Amount approved for the adjustment to the bill. This field
displays 0 (zero) by default. After you click Submit and the billing
application processes the adjustment request, the portion of the
Request Amount that the billing application approves appears in this
field.
Request Description If necessary, enter additional comments about the adjustment request.
Status The status of the adjustment. The value in this field is automatically
changed when the billing application processes the adjustment.
Adjustment Type The type of adjustment (for example, Credit, Cash, and Debit).
Reason The reason for the adjustment request (for example, Billing Error,
Partner Code, Special Credit, and Other).
8 Click Refresh Total to see the cumulative effect of the adjustment line items in the Request
Amount field of the form for the adjustment request.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
To create adjustments for the balance totals that are associated with a bill, complete the steps in the
following procedure.
2 Click the Bills view tab to display a list of bills for the billing profile.
3 Click the Bill Number field for the bill that you want to adjust.
The Bill Details form for the bill displays and a list of service charges for that bill displays in the
Service Charges view tab.
4 Select the appropriate service charge from the Service Charges list and scroll down to the Item
Charges list.
5 Click the Net Amount field for the appropriate item charge.
6 Select an event for which the Non-Currency check box is selected, click View Detail, and scroll
down to the Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list.
The Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list is populated with the noncurrency balance
totals for the event.
NOTE: If the Non-Currency check box is not selected, noncurrency balances are not available for
the event, and the View Detail button is disabled.
7 Select a balance and click Adjust in the Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list.
The Billing Adjustments screen displays showing the form to create an adjustment request with
some fields populated and showing the Line Items view tab with an invoice line for the
noncurrency balance total that you select.
NOTE: You can delete existing line items, but you cannot add more line items.
8 Enter adjustment details in the fields for the invoice line item.
Field Comments
Request Value The value by which you want to adjust the balance total. This field is
automatically populated with the value in the After AR Actions field in
the Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list, but you can change
this value. If you enter a percentage in the Request Percentage field,
you must clear this field.
Approved Value This field is automatically populated with the amount in the After A/R
Actions field in the Non-Currency Balance Impacts for Event list, and
you cannot enter data in this field. If you change the Request Value
field, this field displays the value in the Request Value field. After you
click the Submit button, and the billing application processes the
adjustment request, the portion of the request value that the billing
application approves displays in this field.
Status The status of the adjustment. The value in this field is automatically
changed when the billing application processes the adjustment.
Request Percentage The percentage by which you want to adjust the balance total. If the
Request Value field contains data, do not enter a percentage in this
field.
Adjustment Type The type of adjustment (for example, Credit, Cash, and Debit).
Reason The reason for the adjustment request (for example, Billing Error,
Partner Code, Special Credit, and Other).
Approved Percentage The portion of the request percentage that the billing application
approves. You cannot enter data in this field. The billing application
processes the adjustment request after you click the Submit button.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
2 Click the Unbilled Usage view tab to display a list of service charges that the company has not
yet billed for the billing profile.
4 To view the item charges for a service charge, select that service charge from the Service
Charges list and scroll down to the Item Charges list.
5 To view the events for an item charge, click the Net Amount field for that item charge.
6 To find specific events in the Event Details list, click Search, enter search criteria, and click Go.
7 Select the event representing the unbilled usage to be adjusted, and click Adjust.
■ On the Invoice Adjustment view, Siebel Communications creates an invoice to track the
adjustment. The invoice contains the Bill Number.
■ In the Billing Profile Adjustments view, Siebel Communications creates a record for the
adjustment. This adjustment record likewise contains the Bill Number.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
2 In the Installed Assets list, find the asset (for example, Mobile Service) associated with the child
account for which you want to create an adjustment for unbilled usage.
Siebel Communications displays the Billing Profile screen, Balance Group view. The integration
retrieves and displays the billing profile of the nonpaying account.
4 Click the Unbilled Usage tab and review the service charges.
5 Click the Item charges to review the currency and noncurrency event details.
6 Select the event representing the unbilled usage to be adjusted, and click Adjust.
■ An invoice is created to track the adjustment. The invoice contains the Bill Number. (The
external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application tracks unbilled
events in the bill with a status of Open.)
■ A list item is created in the Billing Profile view’s Adjustments list. This list item likewise
includes the Bill Number.
The adjustment record becomes read-only, and its Status changes to Submitted. When the
response message comes back from the external billing application, it updates the Status to
either Posted (indicating that the adjustment succeeded) or Not Posted (indicating that the
adjustment failed).
End users can view the request outcome and the history of adjustment requests.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Adjustments in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 177.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The Invoices form appears with the view tabs beneath it.
The fields in this list show the response of external billing application to the bill repayment plan
request. The Status field is updated automatically.
The Adjustment Requests list displays all of the adjustment requests for the account.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Adjustments in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 177.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The Invoices form appears with the view tabs beneath it.
6 In the Customer Decision field, select information to indicate the customer’s decision to accept
or reject the outcome terms.
NOTE: If your company does not require a customer decision regarding a bill adjustment
outcome, then the customer decision fields might be unavailable.
This task is a step in “Process of Making Payment Arrangements in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 187.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
5 In the Payment Arrangements list, add a record, and complete the fields as necessary.
Field Comments
Installment Amount Displays the installment amount. This amount is calculated as follows:
Amount owed divided by the number of installments.
The external billing application processes the request and populates the Payment Arrangements
Outcome form at the bottom of the screen.
This task is a step in “Process of Making Payment Arrangements in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 187.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
The Invoices form appears with the view tabs beneath it.
5 Scroll down to the Payment Arrangements Outcome form to review the response of the external
billing application to the bill repayment plan request.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
6 If the information does not appear in the Payment Arrangements list, then perform a query to
access the correct records.
This task is a step in “Process of Making Payment Arrangements in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 187.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
5 Scroll down to the Payment Arrangements Outcome form, and select a value in the Customer
Decision field to indicate the customer’s decision to accept or reject the terms.
NOTE: If your company does not require a customer decision regarding a bill repayment plan
outcome, then the customer decision fields might be unavailable.
3 In the Invoices list, drill down on the invoice number of the invoice.
5 In the Duplicate Request list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Street Select the address to which to send the duplicate bill. The City, State, Zip, and
Address Country fields are automatically populated when you select the address.
6 To send the invoice to a different mailing address, complete the following steps:
a In the Duplicate Request list, select Duplicate Bill Request Detail from the drop-down list.
Caller Verification
When receiving an inbound call, end users first verify and find the caller. For more information about
caller verification, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
This chapter provides procedures for creating and managing work orders in Siebel Communications.
It includes the following topics:
■ “Adding an Activity to a Work Order in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 195
■ “Creating Work Order Line Items in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 196
■ “Adding Work Order Terms in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 197
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Work Order Management in Siebel Communications” on page 198
By creating and tracking work orders separately, you can access the status of a sales order. This
status is important because work orders are executed by back-office applications, such as the
provisioning system. Tracking the status of an order gives you up-to-date access to the information
related to the order and can therefore convey it to a customer at any time, either through inbound
contact or through outbound workflow-initiated activities.
The Communications Work Orders module works in conjunction with the Communications Order
Processing module. It uses much of the work conducted during the order process and provides
screens that allow you to manage work orders.
A customer service representative (CSR) has just completed an order for a customer, requiring three
mobile phones, two pagers, an Internet connection, and an addition to their local service (voice
mail). The order that the CSR created contains at least seven line items: one for each of the mobile
phones, two for pagers, one for the Internet connection, and one for the local service. The CSR has
given a quote for the order to the customer, who has accepted it and asked that the order be placed.
In the Order Line Items view, the CSR submits the order to the provisioning system. Since your
company is a reseller of communications services (in this example), the action of submitting the
order creates three work orders. A service provider applies to each of the line items. The following
list shows the work order allocation:
The work orders were created for the service provider for each of the line items associated with the
order. In this example, there are three unique providers: a mobile services provider, an Internet
service provider, and the local phone service provider. The work order is separated into three
separate work orders, which are then submitted to the various providers for activation.
A week later, the customer calls to check on the status of his order because he has not received his
equipment. His call is directed to a different CSR, who is able to search through his company account
to find any open orders. When the CSR has found the most recent order, he can use the hyperlink to
find the specific work orders associated with the order. When he does this, he notices that each of
the work orders is complete, except the one for the mobile phones and pagers. When he drills down
into that order, he finds some notes and activities indicating that the particular pager ordered by the
customer is on back-order. The estimated delivery date is two days from now. The CSR adds an
activity to the work order to indicate that the customer wants to be notified by email when the status
of the order has changed to complete.
Figure 15 shows the sequence of procedures that an end user might follow to manage work orders.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Account Select the master account for the work order. The field for the account
number is automatically populated when you select a value in this field.
Last Name Select the name of the contact for the work order.
Order Select the sales order associated with the work order.
■ Communicate procedures related to a work order that other members of the organization must
perform.
4 In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
5 In the Line Detail form, add a record, and complete the necessary fields. To access more fields,
click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Product Select the product. When you select a product, you select a line item
from the associated service order. The Action, Due, UoM, Start Price,
and Status fields are automatically populated with the information from
the Order Line Item view.
Ship to Last Name Select the name of an existing contact or add a new contact. When you
select a contact, the Ship to First Name, Address, City, State, ZIP, and
Country fields in the Order Line Item view are automatically populated.
4 In the Line Item Actions list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Payment Terms Select the terms for how the customer pays.
Freight Terms Select the terms for how to ship the order.
This chapter describes the procedures for initiating and managing service requests and trouble
tickets in Siebel Communications. It includes the following topics:
■ “About Service Requests and Trouble Tickets in Siebel Communications” on page 199
■ “Scenario for Using Service Requests and Trouble Tickets in Siebel Communications” on page 201
■ “Setting Up Service Requests and Trouble Tickets in Siebel Communications” on page 202
■ “Creating a Trouble Ticket Record in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 203
■ “Associating Parent and Child Trouble Tickets in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 204
■ “Using the Customer Satisfaction Survey in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 208
■ “Analyzing Trouble Tickets Data in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 209
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Trouble Ticket Management in Siebel Communications” on page 209
Service requests and trouble tickets are database records that are used to manage problems with
equipment or general requests for service. This chapter is mostly about trouble tickets, but it also
explains the differences between trouble tickets and service requests and tells you where you can
find more information about service requests. The following information is included in this chapter:
■ This chapter guides you in setting up features that help to automate trouble ticket management.
■ This chapter describes procedures typically used by end users to create, monitor, and close
trouble tickets.
■ This chapter describes procedures that you can use for overall management of trouble tickets.
Service requests and trouble tickets perform similar functions. The main differences follow:
■ Trouble tickets are typically used to record and track problems with the functioning of services
and networks, while service requests are typically used to record and track general customer
problems and requests. Examples of general problems and requests are billing problems,
requests for new equipment, and requests for billing statements.
Service requests and trouble tickets are managed through the Service Requests and Trouble Tickets
screens.
■ A customer calls the call center to report a problem with the phone line.
■ Agents can reassign service requests and trouble tickets to other groups or individuals for
resolution. Alternatively, agents can break a service request or trouble ticket down into different
activities, which can be assigned to different owners. In this case, the agent can monitor
progress towards completion of the activities and close the service request or trouble ticket.
■ Automated network communications management applications that are integrated with Siebel
Communications.
A customer service representative (CSR) receives a call from the owner of a software company. He
is phoning from his mobile phone and explains that he has no dial tone on his office phone. The CSR
verifies the customer’s service configuration and identifies the specific phone line to which he is
referring.
The CSR creates a trouble ticket and attempts to use the problem resolution capabilities in Siebel
Communications to resolve the customer’s problem. The CSR is unable to solve the problem and
passes the trouble ticket to the Network Services Group. The CSR ends the call and creates a follow-
up activity on the trouble ticket.
Two minutes later, the CSR receives a broadcast message indicating that there is a circuit break that
is affecting customers in a particular exchange. The CSR looks up the network-reported problem for
the circuit outage and finds the specific trouble ticket. The trouble ticket details indicate that a
construction crew sliced through a cable that carries network traffic for the exchange. The estimated
repair time is five hours.
The CSR performs a search in Siebel Communications to find all open trouble tickets that have a
service item equivalent to the affected exchange. The search produces a list of 15 trouble tickets,
including the network-reported trouble ticket.
The CSR associates each of the 14 customer-reported trouble tickets with the one network-reported
trouble ticket for the following reasons:
■ Your company’s Siebel administrator has configured the Siebel applications so that all the
customer-reported troubles are resolved when the network-reported trouble is resolved.
The CSR assigns the network trouble ticket for the cable break to a technician in the Repair and
Maintenance department and receives a message from the on-site maintenance crew that the cable
has been repaired and tested and is fully operational. The technician creates a series of notes in the
network trouble ticket, indicating the resolution, and closes the trouble ticket.
When the technician closes the parent trouble ticket, the child trouble tickets are not automatically
closed since it may be necessary to verify that each customer’s problem has been fixed. Because
your administrator has configured it to do so, Siebel Communications determines that the trouble
ticket for the customer described above can be closed. It then sends a text message to the
customer’s mobile phone notifying him of the resolution.
At the end of the day, the manager examines all of the trouble tickets generated that day.
Figure 16 shows the sequence of procedures that end users might follow to manage trouble tickets.
■ You can use Oracle’s Siebel SmartScript to provide scripts that guide CSRs as they collect
information about trouble tickets. For more information about creating scripts, see Siebel
SmartScript Administration Guide.
■ CSRs or other qualified personnel can manually assign ownership of a trouble ticket to
themselves, to another employee, or to a group. With the appropriate setup, Oracle’s Siebel
Assignment Manager can be used to give the CSR the option of automating the assignment.
For more information about setting up Siebel Assignment Manager (including rules, criteria,
workload, employees, positions, and territories), see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration
Guide.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Ref # Type the reference number An external application can identify the trouble
ticket by using this number.
Last Name Select the last name of the person reporting the problem.
Owner Select the user ID of the person or group responsible for resolving the trouble
ticket (for example, an end user, another service representative, or a service
group).
■ Batch assignment. Siebel Assignment Manager can assign many trouble tickets at a scheduled
time. For more information, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.
■ Dynamic assignment. Siebel Assignment Manager can automatically assign trouble tickets at
preset intervals. For more information, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.
■ Interactive assignment. Siebel Assignment Manager is invoked manually from the menu
button in the More Info view, as described in the next procedure.
■ Manual assignment. Users select the owner in the Trouble Tickets screen, as described in the
next procedure.
3 In the More Info form, click the show more button, and then perform one of the following steps:
■ To assign a trouble ticket using Oracle’s Siebel Assignment Manager, click the menu button,
select Assign, and then select a person.
■ To manually assign a trouble ticket to a person, select a person in the Owner field.
■ To manually assign a trouble ticket to a group, select a group in the Group field.
End users can group many child trouble tickets under one parent trouble ticket. Grouping several
trouble tickets under one parent can be useful for managing a single network problem that results
in calls from many customers.
NOTE: A list of children of a selected trouble ticket appears in the Related Trouble Tickets view.
The Trouble Ticket Details form appears with the Parent Trouble Tickets list beneath it.
5 In the Add Trouble Tickets dialog box, select one or more parent trouble tickets.
4 In the More Info form, click the show more button to access more fields.
NOTE: For information about determining how this dialog box is populated, see Siebel Field
Service Guide.
The Due Date field is automatically populated with the appropriate time period. For instance, if
the customer is entitled to have a problem fixed within two hours, then the Due Date field reflects
this time period.
When an order is submitted from a Siebel CRM application for fulfillment, the order may fail either
in Oracle Application Integration Architecture, the fulfillment system, or the provisioning system.
Information about the order failure is sent by way of the integration to Siebel Communications, and
a trouble ticket is created with order failure information. Siebel Communications users work the order
failure-generated trouble ticket normally to correct the issue. Correcting the issue might involve
resubmitting the order in the fulfillment system, or revising and resubmitting the order from Siebel
CRM. After the issue is corrected, the trouble ticket can be closed automatically from the fulfillment
system or manually in Siebel Communications.
NOTE: If multiple order failures are associated with the same batch or bulk order, the fulfillment
system might generate a single consolidated trouble ticket for all the order failures from that batch
or bulk order. For more information about processing order failures, see the chapter on employee
asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
To view fallout orders associated with a trouble ticket, follow this procedure.
2 From the Saved Queries drop-down list, select Order Failure Trouble Tickets.
The view displays a list of trouble tickets created for order failures.
3 Identify the trouble ticket associated with the fallout order that you want to view, and click the
link in its Ticket Id field.
5 In the Order Failure Information list, view the fallout order information associated with the
current trouble ticket.
Field Comments
Order Line Item Id Order line item ID code generated by the fulfillment system.
Application Error Code Error code from the external fulfillment system (if any).
Global Error Code Maps the application error code to a standardized error code
that can be used to map to recovery procedures.
System of Failure Application in which the order failed. This field maps to the
common Oracle Application Integration Architecture identifier
for the application in which the order failure occurred.
Solutions Defined
In Siebel Communications, the term solution specifically means a record in the Siebel
Communications database that includes a description of how a previous trouble ticket was resolved
or how an anticipated future trouble ticket can be resolved. The word solution is also used in general
terms to mean an answer to a problem.
Further Information
End users can review and create solutions for trouble tickets using the same methods used to review
and create solutions for service requests. For more information about working with solutions, see
Siebel Field Service Guide.
4 In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
4 In the More Info form, select a value of Closed in the Status field.
NOTE: When you save or click outside the record, the Sub-Status field changes to Resolved and
the Date Closed field reflects the current time and date.
As part of closing a trouble ticket, end users can conduct a customer survey in person, or they can
use the Correspondence screen to send a letter and survey to the originator of a trouble ticket. When
they mail a survey, an activity is automatically generated for the mailing. For information about using
the Correspondence screen to send out customer satisfaction surveys, see Siebel Applications
Administration Guide.
5 Ask each of the questions on the Survey form and record the customer’s answer for each field.
Customer Verification
When a customer telephones a call or service center, end users must verify whether the person is an
existing or new customer. End users navigate to the Accounts or Contacts screen and perform a query
of information about the customer, such as the last name, social security number, and so on. If
information about the customer is available, then end users can review the requests that have
already been entered for the customer. If no information about the customer is available, then end
users can enter the customer information. For more information about accounts and contacts, see
Chapter 3, “Accounts in Siebel Communications,” and Chapter 5, “Contacts in Siebel Communications.”
Entitlement Verification
When creating a trouble ticket, verify the type of service agreement and entitlements connected with
it. For more information about service agreements and entitlements see Chapter 6, “Agreements and
Entitlements in Siebel Communications.”
This chapter describes the procedures for managing and closing credit alerts. It also describes how
to create account adjustments and set up payment plans. It includes the following topics:
■ “Reviewing and Adding a Credit Alert in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 215
■ “Adding an Activity to a Credit Alert in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 217
■ “Contacting the Customer About a Credit Alert (End User)” on page 217
■ “Entering Payments for Credit Alerts in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 218
■ “Process of Creating Account Adjustments or Payment Plans in Siebel Communications (End User)”
on page 218
■ “Closing a Credit Alert Manually in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 227
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Credit Management in Siebel Communications” on page 227
If customers are late in paying their bills or have not paid their bills in full, then their accounts are
flagged by the third-party credit application. The rules for detecting late payment or nonpayment are
defined in the credit application. Siebel Communications can interpret late payment or nonpayment
messages that the credit application generates.
As a basis for credit management, Siebel Communications provides information in the form of credit
alerts. A credit alert is a Siebel Communications credit record that can be generated by messages
from a back-office credit management application when a customer breaches a credit threshold. It
can also be generated manually by a customer request or by the initiative of a customer service
representative (CSR). Credit alerts can be resolved through a variety of means, such as customer
payment of the outstanding amount, adjustments to a customer account to correct an erroneous
billing, and an agreement with a customer for a payment arrangement plan.
When Siebel Communications is linked with the external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management application through Oracle Application Integration Architecture, credit management
works as shown in Figure 17.
1 The external Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application identifies that
a customer is in Collections.
2 In Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, a daily batch creates a payload, and
and puts the payload in a queue in the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
Advanced Queuing facility (AQ).
4 The SyncCollectionAction job reads the AQ and populates the EIM_ACCNT_PROF and
EIM_ALERT_CUT tables, which are Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) tables
for loading data into Siebel CRM.
5 A Siebel administrator runs an EIM job to load the credit alerts into the S_INV_PROF and
S_ALERT_CUT tables, which are Siebel base tables that receive credit alert data from the EIM
tables and display that data in Siebel CRM.
6 A Customer Service Representative (CSR) using Oracle’s Siebel Call Center works on the credit
alert by calling the customer and making payment arrangements. When the credit alert status is
changed to Closed, the CSR synchronizes the status to Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management.
7 Oracle Application Integration Architecture middleware updates the collection action status in
Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
■ Credit Alerts. Generates credit alerts when external credit management applications send
information about changes in the credit situation of a customer. Provides the ability to send
updated credit alert information back to the external credit management applications.
■ Activities. Generates activities associated with a credit alert. Also allows you to add activities
for a credit alert.
■ Payments. Allows you to send customer payments to the credit management application in
response to a credit alert.
■ Account Adjustments. Allows you to send requests to the credit management application for
adjustments to a customer account when a credit alert is in error. Displays the responses of the
credit management application to these requests.
■ Payment Arrangements. Allows you to send requests to the credit management application for
payment arrangement plans in response to a credit alert. Displays the responses of the credit
management application to these requests.
In addition, Siebel Communications provides the following credit management requirements in other
modules:
■ Credit Rating. Displays the customer’s credit rating details, including credit score, source, and
date. For more information, see “About Financial Profiles in Siebel Communications” on page 101.
■ Billing Information. Displays customer billing information you might need to resolve a credit
alert.
CSRs use Credit Management functionality to manage and monitor customer credit issues. They are
responsible for reviewing with the customer all account information and credit issues, as well as
answering billing inquiries, suggesting payment arrangement plans, and making account
adjustments.
Customer service supervisors use Credit Management functionality to determine whether a CSR is
allowed to request credit adjustments on a customer’s account, set up payment arrangement plans,
and maintain billing profiles.
A CSR is responsible for handling credit queries for all of your small and medium-sized customers.
A business customer has a contract for mobile subscriptions for its employees. The owner usually
pays the bill on time. However, the latest bill for the mobile services is overdue by 18 days.
This nonpayment is automatically detected by the company’s accounts receivable application and is
forwarded to the credit management application, which then forwards a nonpayment message to
Siebel Communications. The message causes Siebel Communications to create a credit alert.
Siebel Communications then generates an activity to contact the owner and sets the account status
appropriately. The credit alert appears in the customer service supervisor's queue by default, and
the supervisor assigns the credit alert to the CSR.
The CSR examines the credit alert and reviews the billing information needed to handle any customer
questions. She also checks for all credit alerts raised against the customer’s account in the last 12
months to see whether there is a history of delinquency. This credit alert is the first credit alert
against the customer’s account. The CSR then checks the customer's credit rating, which is
acceptable.
The CSR looks up contact information for the customer in Siebel Communications and telephones the
owner, who is listed as the primary contact for the customer account. The owner apologizes for the
delay in payment of the bill and explains that the company has experienced a temporary cash flow
problem. The owner asks what options are available. The CSR informs the owner that he can either
delay the payment of the bill or request a payment arrangement plan. The owner asks to repay the
outstanding bill in three installments.
The CSR enters the required information into Siebel Communications, sets the credit alert’s Status
to Pending, and records the details of the conversation in the Comments field.
Siebel Communications transmits this information to the credit management application. The credit
management application processes the request overnight and responds with an update to the credit
alert. The next day, the CSR checks for all open and pending credit alerts assigned to them. The CSR
notices that the customer’s payment arrangement request has been approved.
The CSR contacts the owner and informs him of the outcome. The CSR then writes a letter confirming
the details of the payment arrangement plan, and attaches the letter to the credit alert. Then the
CSR updates the Action Type of the credit alert to Payment Arrangement Agreed.
Figure 18 shows the sequence a CSR might use to process a customer credit alert.
End users can use the All Credit Alerts view or the My Credit Alerts view to see external credit alerts,
which originate from your company’s external credit management application. They can limit the list
by selecting a predefined query. Siebel Communications includes the queries All, Closed, Open and
Unassigned Alerts.
End users can also use these views to create internal credit alerts for preemptive measures. These
alerts can record situations such as the likelihood of a delayed customer payment. If they have
permission to do so, then end users can create a credit alert and a corresponding payment
arrangement plan record.
When contacted regarding a credit problem, a customer might want you to query the billing account.
For example, the customer might believe that the bill is incorrect. Therefore, end users might want
to refer to the customer billing data to deal with the customer contact. For more information, see
Chapter 10, “Billing in Siebel Communications.”
Credit alerts can be created manually in Siebel Communications, or imported as a batch from a third-
party credit management application, such as Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management by way of an EIM job. These tasks are described in the procedures that follow.
2 Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access
more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Field Comments
Created On Displays the date and time when you create the credit alert.
Priority Select the priority of the action to perform in response to the credit alert.
Action Type Select the type of action to perform in relation to a credit alert. This field
might generate or require one or more activities.
Owner Select the name of the person to whom the credit alert is assigned.
Invoice # Select the invoice number associated with the credit alert.
Alert # Displays a unique identifier for the credit alert, which might be generated
within Siebel Communications.
Account # Displays the account number associated with the credit alert.
Source Displays a value that indicates when the alert was generated externally
by a credit management application or internally by a CSR.
Parameter Value
Error Flags 1
Trace Flags 1
On successful completion of this job, credit alerts are created in Siebel Communications. For each
credit alert with a substatus of Entered Collections, Siebel Communications changes the billing
profile status of the associated account to yellow. After the account exits from Collections, a new
credit alert is created by the external application with a substatus of Exited Collections. When
Siebel Communications receives this credit alert, the billing profile status of the associated
account is changed to green. For more information about running EIM to import data from
external applications, see the chapter on importing data in Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager
Administration Guide.
NOTE: The Sub Status field of the credit alert is read-only in Siebel CRM and can be populated
only by the external application. Similarly, the status color of the billing profile can be changed
only by the external application.
4 In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
2 Locate the credit alert for which you want to record a payment.
6 In the Capture New Payment dialog box, complete the fields as needed.
7 Click Submit.
Siebel Communications displays the payment record in the Payments list and submits the
payment to the billing application.
Another customer might be facing financial difficulties and is unable to meet obligations to pay for
services. Such a customer might request a payment arrangement plan with installments or a deferral
of payment. In response, your company can approve the request, reject the request, or propose its
own terms. The response might depend on factors such as corporate policy, customer credit history
or credit-worthiness, and length of the customer’s association with your company. A payment
arrangement plan is associated with a credit alert because it might resolve a customer credit issue.
The customer request is sent to the back-office credit management application for approval. The
customer request can be approved in full, rejected entirely, or modified with new terms. The credit
management application then sends the outcome back to Siebel Communications.
NOTE: You can request either an installment plan or a payment deferral. For a deferral request,
specify one installment to be paid at a future date.
To create account adjustments and payment plans, perform the following tasks:
3 “Recording Customer Decisions About Account Adjustments or Payment Plans” on page 222
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Account Adjustments or Payment Plans in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 218.
NOTE: It is possible to submit multiple account adjustment requests for a single account. However,
this situation is not typical.
4 In the Account Adjustments list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Date Select the date and time the request of the adjustment. This field defaults to
current date and time.
Amount Type the amount of the adjustment. This field defaults to amount owed on the
credit alert.
Field Comments
Status Select the status of the request. This field defaults to a value of Open.
4 In the Payment Arrangements form, select Payment Arrangement Details from the Show drop-
down list.
5 In the Payment Arrangement Details form, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Field Comments
Original Due Date Select the original due date for payment.
Plan Start Date Select the start date of the payment arrangement plan.
Plan End Date Select the end date of the payment arrangement plan. For a
single-payment deferral plan, use the same date for both the start
date and the end date.
4 In the Payment Arrangements form, select Payment Arrangements from the Show drop-down
list.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Account Adjustments or Payment Plans in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 218.
4 In the Account Adjustments list, review the response of the credit management application to
the adjustment request, specifically the Status, Amount Approved, and Approval Description
fields.
4 Scroll down to the Payment Arrangements Outcome form to view the response of the credit
management application to the adjustment request.
Field Comments
Installment Amount Displays the payment amount for each installment. This amount
can apply to a single payment or multiple installments.
Interest Charge Displays the Interest owed on the payment arrangement plan.
This amount is calculated by the back-office application.
Status Displays the outcome of the request for the payment arrangement
plan.
Total Amount Due Displays the total owed, including accrued interest.
This task is a step in “Process of Creating Account Adjustments or Payment Plans in Siebel
Communications (End User)” on page 218.
4 In the Account Adjustments list, enter information in the Customer Decision and Customer
Decision Date fields.
NOTE: If your company’s policy does not require a customer decision regarding an account
adjustment outcome, then the customer decision fields might not appear in Siebel
Communications.
5 If the customer rejects the outcome, then discuss the options again and submit another request.
4 Scroll down to the Payment Arrangements Outcome form, and enter information in the Customer
Decision and Customer Decision Date fields.
NOTE: If your company’s policy does not require a customer decision regarding an account
adjustment outcome, then the customer decision fields might not appear in Siebel
Communications.
5 If the customer rejects the outcome, then discuss the options again and submit another request.
■ The external application identifies bills that are past the due date and require collection. The
external application transmits a notification that becomes a credit alert in Siebel
Communications.
■ When an account enters collections in the external application, its Billing Profile status changes
from green to yellow. Collection actions are performed, and billing statuses are updated in Siebel
Communications automatically by the external application. When the account exits from
collection, the billing profile status changes from yellow back to green.
NOTE: The billing profile status of an account can be updated automatically only by the external
application and cannot be changed manually in Siebel CRM.
■ Billing statuses that have been updated in Siebel Communications are then synchronized with
and updated in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
You can update collection actions by changing the status of credit alerts. To view and update
collection actions, follow this procedure.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Collections in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 223.
The Credit Alerts list shows only those credit alerts that are associated with collection actions.
3 Select the credit alert that is associated with the collection action whose status you want to
update.
Field Comments
Action Type Type of action to be performed in relation to a credit alert. The action type
might generate or require one or more activities. If the current credit
alert is associated with a collection action (that is, if its status is Open),
this field will have one of the following values:
■ No Action
■ No Action - Write-off
■ Courtesy Phone Call
■ Suspend Services
■ Terminate Services
As collection actions are completed, you can change the value to another
value on this list.
Billing Profile ID Identifier code for the account billing profile with which this credit alert is
associated. Read-only when credit alert is created in the external billing
system.
Sub Status Read only. If the current credit alert is associated with a collection action
(that is, if its status is Open), this field displays one of the following
values:
■ Entered Collections
■ Exited Collections
The associated collection action is updated in the external Oracle Communications Billing and
Revenue Management application.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Collections in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 223.
The Credit Alerts list shows only those credit alerts that are associated with collection actions.
3 Select the credit alert that is associated with the collection action for which you want to process
a payment.
7 Complete the Payment Date, Payment Method, and Payment Amount fields.
8 Click Submit.
This task is a step in “Process of Managing Collections in Siebel Communications (End User)” on
page 223.
The Credit Alerts list shows only those credit alerts that are associated with collection actions.
3 Select the credit alert that is associated with the collection action that you want to close.
Siebel Communications sends the closing actions to the external Oracle Communications Billing
and Revenue Management application through the integration. When the account exits from
collection in the external application, the external application sends a credit alert update with a
substatus of Exited Collections and updates the associated billing profile from yellow to green.
CAUTION: Do not use this procedure if your Siebel CRM application is integrated with an external
system. If you close a credit alert manually in Siebel Communications, that credit alert might remain
open in the external application and cause a data mismatch. In an integrated environment, always
allow credit alerts to be closed automatically by the external application. For more information about
automatic credit alert updates, see “Process of Managing Collections in Siebel Communications (End
User)” on page 223.
This chapter describes the procedures for managing and responding to fraud alerts. It includes the
following topics:
■ “About Following Up with the Customer for a Fraud Alert” on page 233
■ “Updating the Fraud Alert in Siebel Communications (End User)” on page 234
■ “Additional End-User Tasks for Fraud Management in Siebel Communications” on page 234
■ Stolen phones
■ Bills returned in the mail with a claim that the customer is not at that address.
Fraud can be identified in various ways. For example, a consumer might identify fraud on a bill,
noting charges for services that were not requested or used. Alternatively, a service provider might
identify irregular calling patterns that can indicate fraud.
Traditionally, companies have used legacy fraud management applications to identify and manage
fraud. The fraud management process involves fraud alerts, warnings that a fraud might have been
committed, which are generated by the fraud management application from an analysis of calling
details. For example, an alert may be generated if the system detects calls originating from two
different cities within a short time period. A common way to commit such a fraud is by cloning,
illegally modifying a handset chip to send an identification signal for another, legal phone. This allows
the owner of the illegal handset to make phone calls on the legal phone owner's account.
A fraud alert can also be generated by a breach of a fraud threshold. A fraud threshold is a value
which, when exceeded, produces a fraud alert. For example, a customer may have a threshold limit
of $250.00 per day for domestic calls.
The back-office application issues a fraud alert by placing the customer on a fraud list, a list of
customer accounts that are suspected of or confirmed for fraud. The back-office application might
generate multiple lists, classified by categories in descending order of the likelihood of fraud.
A back-office fraud management application usually has a front-office component, which is used to
manage customer interactions related to fraud. Siebel Communications functions as the front-office
application for managing fraud. Your company’s back-office fraud management applications send
fraud lists to Siebel Communications for follow-up. Customer service representatives (CSRs) go
through the lists and contact the customers to check if they made the calls that are the cause of the
fraud alerts.
Fraud alerts indicate the type of fraud that might have occurred. For example, Exceeds Threshold is
a fraud alert type that indicates that a predefined limit has been exceeded. Another fraud alert type,
Stolen Handset, indicates that a customer's mobile phone has been stolen.
To help you resolve cases of suspected or obvious fraud, Siebel Communications allows you to view
fraud lists, fraud alerts, fraud-related background information about accounts, and the history of
fraud-related activities for an account.
A CSR is responsible for handling fraud issues for all of your small and medium-sized customers. A
business customer has a contract for mobile subscriptions for the firm’s employees. The owner is one
of the mobile subscribers and is based in Rome.
The CSRs fraud management system notices that calls from the owner’s mobile phone have
originated in San Francisco and Los Angeles within a span of a few minutes. This can only happen
when a mobile phone has been cloned. The fraud management system generates a fraud alert for
the customer’s account, with the fraud level set to Certain, the fraud type set to Invalid Calls, and
fraud event set to Simultaneous Calls. The fraud management system also suspends the customer’s
account pending customer confirmation. The fraud message and the associated call detail records
(CDRs) are forwarded to Siebel Communications. The fraud system creates the alert and flags the
account. Through integration with the third-party system, the fraud data is sent to the CSR’s Siebel
application, and the account is flagged as fraudulent. The Siebel application creates a fraud alert and
fraud alert details and updates the customer account with the fraud level.
Siebel Communications has been configured to generate an activity to contact the customer. The
fraud alert appears in the customer service supervisor's queue by default, and the supervisor assigns
the fraud alert to the CSR, who then examines the fraud alert and associated fraud alert details. The
CSR also checks for any other fraud alerts raised against the customer’s account in the last 12
months to see if there is a history of fraud. This turns out to be the first fraud alert against this
customer’s account.
The CSR looks up contact information for the customer in Siebel Communications and telephones the
owner, who is listed as the primary contact for the customer account. The owner mentions that he
has not been to Los Angeles for more than two years, and is certain that the phone has been in his
control during this period. The CSR informs him that there may have been a fraudulent use of his
telephone number, and that the CSR will need to provide him with another telephone number. The
customer agrees to take his handset to the nearest dealer who will help him with this process. The
CSR updates the fraud alert's status and attaches appropriate comments.
Siebel Communications transmits this information to the fraud management system. The CSR’s fraud
management department then starts its formal investigation.
In the course of investigating fraud, end users review the fraud alert to determine the type of fraud
that might have occurred. End users then discuss the fraud alert details, which contain the specific
data alleged to be fraudulent, with the customer.
Field Comments
Fraud Event Displays the condition that indicates suspected fraud. The value in this
field depends on the value in the Fraud Type field.
Threshold Overflow Displays the quantity by which the account’s threshold level is
exceeded.
Owner Displays the primary person assigned to this account for fraud
management purposes. This person is responsible for customer
follow-up to determine whether fraud occurred.
An Account form appears with the Event Details list beneath it. The Event Details list displays
detailed information about the selected alert. This information typically includes the call detail
records associated with the suspected fraudulent calls. Some fraud alerts (for example, Stolen
Handset) might have no associated fraud alert details.
Some fields in the Event Details list are described in the following table.
Field Comments
Number Location Displays the geographical location of the number dialed in a suspected
fraudulent call.
Rate Displays the name of the rate plan used to calculate the charge (for
example, Peak, Off-Peak, Standard, Economy, or International).
Charge Displays the charges for the service from the Charge dialog box.
If repeated attempts to contact the customer fail, then end users can disconnect the customer’s
service. Your company can configure Siebel Communications to send a message to this effect to the
back-office application. Workflow Manager or a VB script might be used for this configuration.
3 In the Fraud Account Profile form, change one or more of the fields.
For information about the fields in the Fraud Account Profile form, see Chapter 4, “Profiles in
Siebel Communications.”
Disconnecting Service
If necessary, end users can disconnect a customer’s service because of the nature of the alert, a
discussion with the customer, failure to contact the customer, or the company’s policy. Depending on
the severity of the alert, part or all of the customer’s services (for example, international dialing)
might already have been disconnected by the back-office application.
If your company has configured the Fraud Activities types to include Service Disconnect, then end
users can add this activity to a fraud alert. For information about disconnecting a service, see Siebel
Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.
This chapter explains integration using prebuilt sample workflows that might be provided with your
Siebel application or that might be available on request. It includes the following topics:
■ Prebuilt workflows. Some prebuilt workflow processes are included in the sample database
distributed with Siebel Communications, along with prebuilt integration objects in the Siebel
Tools repository. If a workflow process mentioned in this chapter is not in your Siebel
application’s sample database, then it might be available on request. For help with requesting a
workflow process, contact your Oracle sales representative to request assistance from Oracle's
Professional Services.
■ Manual integration. Your company can automate the integration between Siebel
Communications and other applications manually. To automate the integration between Siebel
Communications and other applications manually, you normally use both Oracle’s Siebel Business
Process Designer and Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI).
NOTE: Triggers for some business processes (for example, a button-push or workflow policy) are
defined during implementation of the workflow process.
■ Information about how sample integration workflow processes can be used to automate or
partially automate a business process.
■ Descriptions of sample integration workflow processes that are available in the Siebel
Communications sample database.
■ Details of sample workflow processes to help you understand how a workflow process is set up.
Refer to these samples when you design your own integration workflow processes.
You can automate business processes using workflow processes in combination with Business
Process Administration. This chapter does not give detailed information about Business Process
Administration or application integration in general. For information about these topics, see Siebel
Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide and the Siebel Enterprise Application Integration
(Siebel EAI) guides, available on the Siebel Bookshelf.
NOTE: The integration workflow processes discussed in this chapter are not Application Services
Interfaces (ASIs), although they serve a similar function.
Siebel EAI. Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI) is a set of tools, technologies, and
prebuilt functional integrations that facilitate application integration. It supports message-based
integration with external applications. Using Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Application Integration
(Siebel EAI) module, a service provider can connect Siebel Communications directly to another
application within the operational support architecture or connect to a hub or queue. This process
allows middleware vendors to build their own Siebel-to-third-party connectors.
Integration Objects. Integration objects define the content of the messages that are initiated or
received by Siebel Communications. They are based on business objects. The repository stores both
integration objects and the mapping between business objects and integration objects.
Business Services. Business services act on objects to move data, convert data formats, and
perform calculations. The Siebel Communications repository contains some business services that
specifically help with integration tasks. You can also build your own in Siebel Tools (at design time)
or in the Siebel Web client (at run time).
Workflow Processes. Workflow processes are sequences of steps that are used by Business
Process Administration to automate a business function. Workflow process steps call business
services that perform the procedures needed to perform a business process.
NOTE: This process describes the exchange of phone number data. It is assumed that the phone
number data are stored as Assets in the Siebel database. This process can be applied to any Asset
data.
NOTE: This process describes the exchange of phone number data. It is assumed that the phone
number data are stored as Assets in the Siebel database. This process can be applied to any Asset
data.
NOTE: This process describes the exchange of phone number data. It is assumed that the phone
number data are stored as Assets in the Siebel database. This process can be applied to any Asset
data.
NOTE: Sample workflows must be imported into your database. For information about importing
these workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
Some workflow process steps call other workflow processes. For example, the first step of the CUT
Send Account Data workflow process calls the CUT Get Account Data workflow process. In this
example, the CUT Get Account Data workflow process is a subprocess of the CUT Send Account Data
workflow process.
Some sample workflow processes communicate using the EAI MQSeries Transport business service.
If your company does not use MQ Series, then you can replace the appropriate step with one that
uses either a custom transport business service, the provided HTTP business service, or the provided
XML file business service. Business services are located in the Oracle’s Siebel Tools repository and
are available for use when defining workflow processes.
NOTE: The Integration Object mentioned in this topic is specified in XML. It is not specified as a
Business Service Input Argument.
1 Get Account Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Account Data subprocess. For more
information, see “CUT Get Account Data Workflow” on page 238.
2 Send Account Data. This step invokes the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
1 Get Account Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business service
and the CUT Sample Account IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Account Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Account. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service.
1 Get Service Profile Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Service Profile Data subprocess. For
more information, see “CUT Get Service Profile Data Workflow” on page 239.
2 Send Service Profile Data. This step uses the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
NOTE: A service profile contains the same information in the Installed Assets view of the Accounts
screen.
1 Get Service Profile Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service and the CUT Sample Service Profile IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Service Profile Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Service Profile. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
1 Get Sales Order Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Sales Order Data subprocess. For more
information, see “CUT Get Sales Order Data Workflow” on page 240.
2 Send Sales Order Data. This step uses the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
1 Get Sales Order Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service and the CUT Sample Sales Order IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Sales Order Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Sales Order. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
1 Get Work Order Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Work Order Data subprocess. For more
information, see “CUT Get Work Order Data Workflow” on page 241.
2 Send Work Order Data. This step uses the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
1 Get Work Order Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service and the CUT Sample Work Order IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Work Order Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Work Order. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
NOTE: Customers have different requirements, and only certain types of trouble tickets must be sent
to back-office applications. Some trouble tickets can be managed entirely within Siebel
Communications. The supporting integration process is designed for trouble tickets that are sent to
the back office. During implementation of a workflow process, the trigger must be implemented in
such a way that the workflow process is invoked only for trouble tickets that are sent to the back
office.
1 Get Trouble Ticket Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Trouble Ticket Data subprocess. For
more information, see “CUT Get Trouble Ticket Data Workflow” on page 242.
2 Send Trouble Ticket Data. This step uses the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
1 Get Trouble Ticket Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service and the CUT Sample Trouble Ticket IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Trouble Ticket Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Trouble Ticket. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
1 Receive Fraud Alert Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Fraud Alert. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
1 Receive Credit Alert Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Trouble Ticket. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
1 Get Phone Number Data. This step invokes the CUT Get Phone Number Data subprocess. For
more information, see “CUT Get Phone Number Data Workflow” on page 243.
2 Send Phone Number Data. This step uses the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service.
1 Get Phone Number Data. This step uses the Query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service and the CUT Sample Asset IO.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the EAI XML Converter business service.
1 Receive Phone Number Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries
Server Transport business service.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Hierarchy method of the
EAI XML Converter business service.
3 Update Phone Number. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter
business service.
This sample workflow process sends an XML string, created from an account record, to an IBM
MQSeries queue. For more information about profiles, see Chapter 4, “Profiles in Siebel
Communications.”
1 Get Account Data. This step invokes the Get Account Data subprocess. For more information
about this workflow, see “Sample Integration Workflow: CUT Get Account Data” on page 245.
2 Send Account Data. This step invokes the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service to
put the XML message onto the MQSeries queue, called Employee. The message is represented
by the Message Text argument.
The Queue Manager Name and Physical Queue Name are defined during the MQSeries setup. The
Account XML message is sent to the queue specified by the Physical Queue Name property, which
is managed by the queue manager specified in the Queue Manager Name property.
■ Error Message
■ Error Code
■ Object Id
The CUT Send Account Data workflow has the following additional properties:
■ Account XML. Specifies the Siebel object that has been converted to XML.
■ Input: Siebel Int Object Name. Specifies the input Integration Object used in send workflows.
■ Process Instance Id. Specifies the process instance and is automatically populated when a
process is executed and persistence is enabled.
1 Get Account Data. This step uses the query method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business service
to get an instance of an account record from the Siebel database. The CUT Sample Account IO
describes the structure of the Account business object and was created using the Integration
Object Builder. The other part of the query criteria is the Object Id, which is a process property
that contains the row ID for the account in the sample DB.
NOTE: The CUT Sample Account IO value is actually specified as a process property that is used
as the input argument for the process step.
2 Convert to XML. This step uses the Integration Object Hierarchy to XML Document method of
the Siebel EAI XML Converter business service to convert the outbound Siebel Message to XML
and store it in the Account XML output argument.
This sample workflow process receives an XML string from an IBM MQSeries queue and updates the
Account instance in the Siebel database.
1 Receive Account Update. This step uses the Receive method of the EAI MQSeries Server
Transport business service to retrieve the inbound message from the Account physical queue.
This queue is named in the Physical Queue Name argument.
In this case, the output from the receive step is put into the Account XML process property. The
assumption is that the inbound message is already in XML format.
2 Convert to Internal. This step uses the XML Document to Integration Object Hierarchy method
of the Siebel EAI XML Converter business service to convert the inbound message to the Siebel
business object format.
The output argument from this step is stored in the Account Message process property, in the
Siebel Message format.
3 Update Account. This step uses the Insert or Update method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business
service to perform the updating task. The EAI Siebel Adapter business service checks the Siebel
database for an Account record that matches the current instance of Account in the Account
Message property, and completes the following actions:
■ If an Account record matching the current instance does not appear in the database, then
the adapter inserts the record into the database.
■ If an Account record in the database matches the current instance, then the adapter updates
the record with the instance.
The CUT Receive Account Data workflow process has the following additional properties:
■ Account Message. Contains the object in its Siebel Communications hierarchical format when
converted. It must be in this format before it can be inserted or updated in Siebel
Communications.
■ Account XML. Specifies the Siebel object that has been converted to XML.
■ Process Instance Id. Specifies the process instance and is automatically populated when a
process is executed and persistence is enabled.
A user initiates this workflow by creating an account record or by changing any field in the business
component for an account record in the Siebel CRM application.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Reads the enterprise details, such as the enterprise server name,
language, and locale.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the enterprise details as part of the request message.
4 Account Update Web Service. Calls an asynchronous proxy Web service to send the account
details to the billing application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
A user initiates this workflow by creating an address record or by changing any field for the business
component for an address record in the Siebel CRM application.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Reads the enterprise details, such as the enterprise server name,
language, and locale.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the enterprise details as part of the request message.
4 Address Update Web Service. Calls an asynchronous proxy Web service to send the address
details to the billing application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
A user initiates this workflow by creating a contact record or by changing any field for the business
component for a contact record in the Siebel CRM application.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Reads the enterprise details, such as the enterprise server name,
language, and locale.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the enterprise details as part of the request message.
4 Contact Update Web Service. Calls an asynchronous proxy Web service to send the contact
details to the billing application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
A user initiates this workflow by creating a billing profile record or by changing any field for the
business component for a billing profile record in the Siebel CRM application.
1 Query Billing Profile. Queries for the updated billing profile details.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Reads the enterprise details, such as the enterprise server name,
language, and locale.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the enterprise details as part of the request message.
4 Billing Profile Update Web Service. Calls an asynchronous proxy Web service to send the
billing profile details to the billing application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
1 Query Customer Party. Queries for the Account Id of an account in which a change has been
made. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the
UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y,
then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical
format.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets details about Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the
language and locale details.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the Siebel Enterprise Server details, such as the language and
locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
5 Set Error Msg. If an error occurs in the previous step, then this step displays an error message.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
1 Query Address. Queries for the Address Id of an address in which a change has been made.
Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical
process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y, then the query
returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical format.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language and locale details
for the server.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the Siebel Enterprise Server details, such as the language and
locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
5 Set Error Msg. If an error occurs in the previous step, then this step displays an error message.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
1 Query Contact. Queries for the Contact Id of a contact in which a change has been made.
Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical
process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y, then the query
returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical format.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the language and locale details for the Siebel Enterprise Server.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the Siebel Enterprise Server details, such as the language and
locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
5 Set Error Msg. If an error occurs in the previous step, then this step displays an error message.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
1 Query Billing Profile. Queries for the Billing Profile Id of a billing profile in which a change has
been made. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the
UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y,
then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical
format.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the language and locale details for the Siebel Enterprise Server.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the Siebel Enterprise Server details, such as the language and
locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
4 Billing Profile Update Web Service. Calls the aggregatebpevent method of the
SyncCustomerSiebelEventAggregator business service and updates the customer party. If the
response received contains an error, then the workflow proceeds to the Set Error Msg step.
5 Set Error Msg. If an error occurs in the previous step, then this step displays an error message.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
This workflow is called when a user clicks the Synchronize button in the Accounts Screen, Profiles
view, Special Rating Profile subview, and then Special Rating List applet.
1 Query Special Rating List. Queries the modified Special Rating list details with Special Rating
list ID and active Special Rating list items. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter
for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If
the value passed is Y, then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME
in UTC Canonical format.
2 Synchronize. Synchronizes the special rating details through an outbound Web service call.
3 Update List Synch Date. Updates the value of the Last Synchronized Date field to the current
timestamp for the updated special rating list.
4 Update Items Synch Date. Updates the value of the Last Synchronized Date field as the current
timestamp for each of the updated special rating list items.
SWIAdjustmentStatusUpdate
This workflow updates the status, substatus, and description of an adjustment record that is sent by
a billing application.
■ EAI Update. Updates the Status, Sub Status, and Status Description fields of an adjustment
record. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the
UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y,
then any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in the payload must be in UTCCanonical format.
While writing these fields to the business component, these fields are converted to the locale-
specific date and time.
A user initiates this workflow by changing the status of a credit alert to Closed, and clicking the Synch
Status button.
NOTE: The Synch Status button is enabled only when a credit alert is created by a third-party
application. Consequently, this workflow can be called only when the credit alert’s Integration ID is
not NULL.
1 Query Credit Alert. Queries the Siebel database for the credit alert ID. Derives the value of the
UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The default
value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y, then the query returns data for any field of
the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical format.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the parameters for the existing details from the server, such as
the name, language, and locale, to add to the request message in the outbound Web service.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Adds the enterprise server parameters to the request message.
4 Credit Alert Update Web Service. Synchronizes the credit alert status with the external
application.
■ When the user clicks the Name field of a billing profile in the Billing Profile list of the Account
Summary view.
■ When the user accesses or navigates to the following views in the billing profile portal:
■ Balance Group
■ Unbilled Usage
■ Bills
■ Payments
1 Get Custom Attributes. Reads the enterprise details, such as the Siebel Enterprise Server
name, language, and locale.
2 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the enterprise details as part of the request message.
a Calls the appropriate proxy business service as determined by the input that is passed to the
business service.
b Calls the WSDL file on the integration server to get the response in Siebel Message format. In
Oracle Application Integration Architecture 2.5, the workflow passes the Proxy BS Fault input
argument for customized fault handling. If there is a fault, then the business service returns the
fault code, a summary, and a detail in the output argument.
NOTE: You must create the proxy business services that this workflow calls. Also, for the virtual
business components (VBCs) that use these services, you must configure the user properties.
4 UpdateVBCRec. Retrieves the data from the Siebel message and stores the data in the property
set.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
The business service names depend on the Name tags in the WSDL file that you generate when you
create the proxy business services.
CMUInvoiceAdjustmentWF
This workflow creates appropriate adjustment request detail when a user adjusts an entire bill.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for an entire bill.
1 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check if the bill exists in the
Siebel database. If the bill does not exist, then it creates the bill header. For more information,
see “CMUInvoiceQueryWF Workflow” on page 262.
2 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment request header, and defaults the Request
Amount and the Approved Amount to 0. The Bill Number is populated with the Bill Number of the
bill on which the adjustment is being made. The Adjustment Class is set to Billed for all
adjustments made on the bill, whether at the item, event, or bill level.
3 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the adjustment view. For more information, see “CMU Adjustment View Sub Process Workflow”
on page 268.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
CMUInvoiceQueryWF
This workflow finds a particular bill in the Siebel database.
■ CMUInvoiceAdjustmentWF
■ CMUItemChargeAdjustmentWF
■ CMUEventDetailsAdjustmentWF
■ CMUBalanceDetailsEventAdjustmentWF
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the step in this workflow that
calls a business service method.
CMUItemChargeAdjustmentWF
This workflow creates appropriate adjustment request detail when a user adjusts bill item charges.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for item charges relating to a bill.
1 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check if the bill exists in the
Siebel database. If the bill does not exist, then it creates the bill header. For more information,
see “CMUInvoiceQueryWF Workflow” on page 262.
2 Create Invoice Line Item. Calls the CMUItemChargeQueryWF workflow to check if the item
charge exists in the Siebel database. If the item charge does not exist, then creates the bill line
item. For more information, see “CMUItemChargeQueryWF Workflow” on page 264.
3 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment request header and populates some of the
header fields.
4 Create Adjustment Line Item. Creates the adjustment request header, and defaults the
Request Amount and the Approved Amount to 0. The Bill Number is populated with the Bill
Number of the bill on which the adjustment is being made. The Adjustment Class is set to Billed
for all adjustments made on the bill, whether at the item, event, or bill level.
5 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the adjustment view. For more information, see “CMU Adjustment View Sub Process Workflow”
on page 268.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
CMUItemChargeQueryWF
This workflow finds a particular item charge in the Siebel database.
■ CMUItemChargeAdjustmentWF
■ CMUEventDetailsAdjustmentWF
■ CMUBalanceDetailsEventAdjustmentWF
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the step in this workflow that
calls a business service method.
CMUEventDetailsAdjustmentWF
This workflow creates appropriate adjustment request detail when a user adjusts bill events.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for events relating to a bill.
1 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check if the bill exists in the
Siebel database. If the bill does not exist, then it creates the bill header. For more information,
see “CMUInvoiceQueryWF Workflow” on page 262.
2 Create Invoice Line Item. Calls the CMUItemChargeQueryWF workflow to check if the item
charge exists in the Siebel database. If the item charge does not exist, then creates the bill line
item. For more information, see “CMUItemChargeQueryWF Workflow” on page 264.
3 Create Invoice Details. Calls the CMUEventDetailsQueryWF workflow to check if the bill event
detail exists in the Siebel database. If the bill event detail does not exist, then creates the bill
event detail. For more information, see “CMUEventDetailsQueryWF” on page 266.
4 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment request header and populates some of the
header fields.
5 Create Adjustment Line Item. Creates the adjustment request line item, and defaults the
Request Amount and the Approved Amount to 0.
6 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the adjustment view. For more information, see “CMU Adjustment View Sub Process Workflow”
on page 268.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
CMUEventDetailsQueryWF
This workflow finds a particular event in the Siebel database.
■ CMUEventDetailsAdjustmentWF
■ CMUBalanceDetailsEventAdjustmentWF
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the step in this workflow that
calls a business service method.
CMUBalanceDetailsEventAdjustmentWF
This workflow creates appropriate adjustment request detail when a user adjusts a resource balance.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for a resource balance total relating to
events.
1 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check if the bill exists in the
Siebel database. If the bill does not exist, then it creates the bill header. For more information,
see “CMUInvoiceQueryWF Workflow” on page 262.
2 Create Invoice Line Item. Calls the CMUItemChargeQueryWF workflow to check if the item
charge exists in the Siebel database. If the item charge does not exist, then creates the bill line
item. For more information, see “CMUItemChargeQueryWF Workflow” on page 264.
3 Create Invoice Details. Calls the CMUEventDetailsQueryWF workflow to check if the bill event
detail exists in the Siebel database. If the bill event detail does not exist, then creates the bill
event detail. For more information, see “CMUEventDetailsQueryWF” on page 266.
4 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment request header and populates some of the
header fields.
5 Create Adjustment Line Item. Creates the adjustment request line item, and defaults the
Request Value and the Approved Value to 0.
6 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the adjustment view. For more information, see “CMU Adjustment View Sub Process Workflow”
on page 268.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
■ CMUInvoiceAdjustmentWF
■ CMUItemChargeAdjustmentWF
■ CMUEventDetailsAdjustmentWF
■ CMUBalanceDetailsEventAdjustmentWF
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Submit button on the Billing Adjustments screen.
1 Query Adjustment. Queries the Siebel database for the adjustment request to be submitted to
the external application. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step
from the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value
passed is Y, then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC
Canonical format.
2 Is Approved. Checks whether the adjustment is approved in the Siebel application, and goes to
the following steps:
■ Change Status to Pending. If the adjustment request is not approved, then it changes the
status of the adjustment record to Pending and ends the workflow.
■ Get EnterpriseServer Param. If the adjustment request is approved, then it gets the
parameters from the existing server, such as the enterprise server name, language, and
locale, to add to the adjustment request message in the outbound Web service, and then it
proceeds to the next step.
4 Adjustment Submit Outbound WS. Calls the SWICreateAdjustment outbound Web service,
which sends a request to create an adjustment in the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue
Management AQ (Advanced Queue).
5 Change Status to Submitted. Changes the status of the adjustment record to Submitted.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
CMUUnbilledEventAdjustmentWF Workflow
This workflow processes an unbilled event adjustment.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for events relating to a bill.
1 Read AIA Comm Pref. Reads the system preference to determine whether Oracle Application
Integration Architecture is enabled.
2 Do Adjustments? Checks whether there are unbilled event adjustments to process. If there are,
then proceeds with the workflow. If there are not, then stops the workflow.
3 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check whether the unbilled
adjustment exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled adjustment does not exist, then it
creates the unbilled invoice header. For more information, see “CMUInvoiceQueryWF” on
page 261.
4 Create Invoice Line Item. Calls the CMUItemChargeQueryWF workflow to check whether the
unbilled item charge exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled item charge does not exist,
then it creates the unbilled invoice item. For more information, see “CMUItemChargeQueryWF” on
page 264.
5 Create Invoice Details. Calls the CMUEventDetailsQueryWF workflow to check whether the
unbilled item detail exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled item detail does not exist, then
it creates the unbilled invoice item details. For more information, see “CMUEventDetailsQueryWF”
on page 266.
6 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment header for the unbilled event, and
populates some of the header fields.
7 Create Adjustment Line Item. Creates the adjustment line item for the unbilled event.
Defaults the Request Amount and the Approved Amount to 0. The Adjustment Class is set to
Unbilled. The Bill Number remains blank in case of an unbilled adjustment.
8 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the Billing Adjustments screen, External Line Items view. For more information, see “CMU
Adjustment View Sub Process” on page 268.
CMUUnbilledNonCurrencyEventAdjustmentWF
Workflow
This workflow processes an unbilled noncurrency event adjustment.
A user initiates this workflow by clicking the Adjust button for a resource balance total relating to
unbilled events.
1 Read AIA Comm Pref. Reads the system preference to determine whether Oracle Application
Integration Architecture is enabled.
3 Create Invoice Header. Calls the CMUInvoiceQueryWF workflow to check whether the unbilled
adjustment exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled adjustment does not exist, then this
workflow step creates the unbilled invoice header. For more information, see
“CMUInvoiceQueryWF” on page 261.
4 Create Invoice Line Item. Calls the CMUItemChargeQueryWF workflow to check whether the
unbilled item charge exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled item charge does not exist,
then this workflow step creates the unbilled invoice item. For more information, see
“CMUItemChargeQueryWF” on page 264.
5 Create Invoice Details. Calls the CMUEventDetailsQueryWF workflow to check whether the
unbilled item detail exists in the Siebel database. If the unbilled item detail does not exist, then
this workflow step creates the unbilled invoice item details. For more information, see
“CMUEventDetailsQueryWF” on page 266.
6 Create Adjustment Header. Creates the adjustment header for the unbilled noncurrency
event, and populates some of the header fields.
7 Create Adjustment Line Item. Creates the adjustment line item for the unbilled noncurrency
event. Defaults the Request Value and Approved Value fields to 0.
8 Goto Adjustment View Sub Process. Calls the CMU Adjustment View Sub Process to navigate
to the Billing Adjustments screen, External Line Items view. For more information, see “CMU
Adjustment View Sub Process” on page 268.
1 Check Req Field. Checks if the required field values are entered in the popup applet SWI Match
Account List Applet before sending a request to external application to query the account details.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, for the Siebel Server.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message to make an outbound service call.
4 Proxy Business Service. Makes an outbound Web service call, validates the response message,
and checks for service errors.
5 UpdateVBCRec. Updates the virtual business component, SWI Match Account VBC, to display
the queried accounts in the popup applet SWI Match Account List Applet.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
1 Check Req Field. Checks if the required field values are entered in the popup applet, SWI Match
Contact List Applet, before sending a request to an external application to query the contact
details.
2 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, for the Siebel Server.
3 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message to make an outbound service call.
4 Proxy Business Service. Makes an outbound service call, validates the response message, and
checks for service errors.
5 UpdateVBCRec. Updates the virtual business component, SWI Match Contact VBC, to display
the queried accounts in the popup applet, SWI Match Contact List Applet.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
Figure 48 shows the SWI External Customer Req Integration Process workflow.
1 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, for the Siebel Server.
2 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message that is sent to make an outbound service call.
3 Proxy Business Service. Makes an outbound service call, validates the response message, and
checks for service errors.
4 Add Siebel Message. Updates the virtual business component, SWI Match Account VBC, to
display the queried accounts in the popup applet, SWI Match Account List Applet.
5 Retrieve Field Value. Retrieves the Account Id from the external application to verify if the
account successfully synchronized with the Siebel Business Application from Oracle.
6 Customer Synced? Checks if the Account Id returned from the previous step is NULL. If Account
Id is NULL, then the account is not synchronized. If Account Id is not NULL, then the account is
synchronized.
7 Close Popup. Closes the popup applet, SWI Match Account List Applet.
8 Refresh View. Queries the account business component with the Account Id returned by the
outbound service call and refreshes the view to display only the synchronized account details in
the Accounts view.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
Figure 49 shows the SWI External Contact Req Integration Process workflow.
1 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, for the Siebel Server.
2 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message to make an outbound service call.
3 Proxy Business Service. Makes an outbound service call, validates the response message, and
checks for service errors.
4 Add Siebel Message. Updates the virtual business component, SWI Match Contact VBC, to
display the queried accounts in the popup applet, SWI Match Contact List Applet.
5 Retrieve Field Value. Retrieves the Contact Id from the Oracle Application Integration
Architecture response message to verify if the contact successfully synchronized with the Siebel
application.
6 Customer Synced? Checks if the Contact Id returned from the previous step is NULL. If Contact
Id is NULL, then the contact is not synchronized successfully. If Contact Id is not NULL, then the
contact is synchronized successfully.
7 Close Popup. Closes the popup applet, SWI Match Contact List Applet.
8 Refresh View. Queries the Account business component with the Contact Id that is returned by
the external application, then refreshes the view to display only the synchronized account details
in the Accounts view.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
Figure 50 shows the SWI External Account Request Sync Process workflow.
1 Generate Template. Generates a template to query the contact details, which contain only the
required fields, such as Account Id to make an outbound Web service call.
2 EAI UI Data Adapter. Fills the template generated in the previous step with the account
information that is used to make an outbound Web service call to synchronize the account with
the Siebel application. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from
the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed
is Y, then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical
format.
3 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language,
and locale values, for the Siebel Server.
4 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
5 External Sync Service. Makes an outbound Web service call to synchronize the account details
from the external application with the Siebel application.
6 Display Error. Retrieves the error message, if there is any during the outbound Web service call,
and displays it in the Siebel application.
7 Retrieve Field Value. Retrieves the Account Id from the Web service response message to
verify if the account successfully synchronized with the Siebel application.
8 Field Value Present. Checks if the Account Id returned from the previous step is NULL. If the
Account Id is NULL, then the account is not synchronized. If the Account Id is not NULL, then the
account is synchronized.
9 Refresh UI. If the account synchronized successfully, then this step refreshes the Account view
so that the synchronized account is included in the Siebel application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
Figure 51 shows the SWI External Contact Request Sync Process workflow.
1 Generate Template. Generates a template to query the contact details, which contain only the
required fields to make an outbound Web service call, such as Contact Id.
2 EAI UI Data Adapter. Fills the template generated in the previous step with the contact
information used to make an outbound Web service call to synchronize the contact with the
Siebel application. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the
UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y,
then the query returns data for any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical
format.
3 Get Custom Attributes. Gets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, to be used by the Siebel Server.
4 Set Custom Attributes. Sets the details of the Siebel Enterprise Server, such as the language
and locale values, in the request message to make an outbound Web service call.
5 External Sync Service. Makes an outbound Web service call to synchronize the account details
from the external application with the Siebel application.
6 Display Error. Retrieves the error message from the Web service call, if any, and displays it in
the Siebel application.
7 Retrieve Field Value. Retrieves the Contact Id from the Web service call response message to
determine whether the contact successfully synchronized with the Siebel application.
8 Field Value Present. Checks if the Contact Id returned from the previous step is NULL. If yes,
then the contact is not synchronized. If no, then the contact is synchronized.
9 Refresh UI. If the Contact is synchronized, then this step refreshes the Contact view so the
synchronized contact appears in the Siebel client.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
SWISendPaymentAuthorization Workflow
This workflow checks if this payment record is valid for the customer. The operator creates a new
payment record as a credit card payment and fills all requested fields. This workflow is called when
a user clicks the Authorize button.
3 Query Payments. Queries the payment details from the Payments business component.
4 Query IO w/ right Payment. Queries the Siebel database for the correct set of payment details
and prepares the Siebel XML file for transmission. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input
parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this
property is N. If the value passed is Y, then the query returns data for any field of the type
DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical format.
5 Get AIA Parameters. Gets the Siebel Enterprise Server details and other parameters.
6 Set AIA Parameters. Formats the parameters into Siebel message format.
7 Call WS. Calls the outbound Web service and sends the payload.
8 Handle Fault. If an error occurs in the prior step, then this step displays an error message.
9 Update Payments. Updates the payment details. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical input
parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this
property is N. If the value passed is Y, then any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in the
payload must be in UTCCanonical format. While writing these fields into the business component,
these fields are converted to the locale-specific date and time.
10 Refresh. Refreshes the applet so the synchronized information appears in the Siebel application.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.
SWISendCreditCheck Workflow
This workflow determines whether the Purchase Order method is a valid payment. It is called when
the user clicks the Credit Check button.
1 Query Payments. Queries payment details from the Payments business component.
2 Query By Example. Runs a query to obtain the correct set of payment details. Derives the value
of the UTCCanonical input parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The
default value of this property is N. If the value passed is Y, then the query returns data for any
field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in UTC Canonical format.
3 Get AIA Parameters. Gets Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Server details and other parameters.
4 Set AIA Parameters. Formats the parameters into Siebel message format.
5 Call WS Credit Check. Calls the outbound Web service and sends the payload.
6 Set Err Msg. If an error occurs in the previous step, then this step displays an error message.
7 Update Status. Updates credit check details received. Derives the value of the UTCCanonical
input parameter for this step from the UTCCanonical process property. The default value of this
property is N. If the value passed is Y, then any field of the type DTYPE_UTCDATETIME in the
payload must be in UTCCanonical format. While writing these fields into the business component,
these fields are converted to the locale-specific date and time.
8 Refresh. This step refreshes the applet so the synchronized information appears in the Siebel
client.
Associated Business Service Methods. The following table shows the steps in this workflow that
call business service methods.