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Example of Defining Network Compound Products


This example shows how to define a network composed of the following products:

  • Frame Relay Network. The network product.
  • Frame Relay Port. The node product.
  • Frame Relay PVC. The connection product.

This example shows one possible way of defining network compound products. Your method of defining these products may differ, depending on your business model.

To define a network compound product, perform the following tasks:

Defining the Frame Relay Network Product

The Frame Relay Network is the network product for this sample network. All Compound Product rules will be associated with this product.

As the network product, it also allows you to define attributes that apply across the entire network. For example, if the same hardware vendor is used for all the products in the network, you can define it as an attribute of the Frame Relay Network.

To define the frame relay network product

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
  2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Product Name

    Frame Relay Network

    Compound Product

    True

    Network Element Type

    Network

Defining the Frame Relay Port Product

In most cases the Frame Relay Port product should be modeled as an individual customizable product.

NOTE:  Although in most cases the Frame Relay Port product must be modeled as an individual customizable product in order to model valued added services such as reports and installation, it is possible to model the Frame Relay Port product as a simple product and still use the Compound Product Validation Engine.

The attributes of the product may include things like Port Speed, Quality of Service level, and so on. If you have decided to model your nodes as customizable products you must make sure that the attributes that need to be used in cross-product validation rules are associated to the root component.

The sub-components of the product may include products such as Local Access Line and Installation.

To define the frame relay port product

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
  2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Product Name

    Frame Relay Port

    Compound Product

    False

    Network Element Type

    Network Node

  3. If this is a customizable product, set up Configurator rules to define the valid combinations in this product, as described earlier in this section.

Defining the Frame Relay PVC Product

In most cases, the Frame Relay PVC product should be modeled as an individual customizable product.

NOTE:  Although in most cases the Frame Relay PVC product must be modeled as an individual customizable product in order to model valued added services such as reports and installation, it is possible to model the Frame Relay Port product as a simple product and still use the Compound Product Validation Engine.

The attributes of the product may include things like Committed Information Rate (CIR), Diversity, PVC Type (Symmetrical or Asymmetrical).

The subcomponent products may include Installation and value add services such as PVC Reports.

To define the frame relay pvc product

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
  2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Product Name

    Frame Relay PVC

    Compound Product

    False

    Network Element Type

    Network Connection

  3. If this is a customizable product, set-up Configurator rules to define the valid combinations in this product, as described earlier in this section.

Defining Rule Checker Business Services

After you have finished defining individual products, you begin defining the features of the entire compound network product.

First, you specify the rule checker business services used to validate this product. In this example, you use the business services that are provided with network ordering. In other cases, you may create custom business services to validate the network and use them. For more information, see the section about creating custom rule checkers in Product Administration Guide.

To define rule checker business services

  1. In the Products list, click the name of the Frame Relay Network product that you created earlier.
  2. Click the Compound Products view tab.
  3. In the linkbar, click Rules
  4. In the Product Rules list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Sequence

    1

    Business Service

    VORD CPVE Component Cardinality Checker Service

  5. In the Product Rules list, add another new record and complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Sequence

    2

    Business Service

    VORD CPVE Simple Validation Expression Checker Service

    NOTE:  Do not add the following business services: VORD CPVE Validation Service and VORD Projected Asset Cache. These two services are invoked by the VORD Validation (Quote) and VOR Validation (Order) workflow processes or directly by other services. Adding them to this list will result in an error.

Defining Maximum and Minimum Quantities for Network Components

In this example:

  • The compound product is the Frame Relay Network. The compound product must always have a Minimum Quantity of 1 and a Maximum Quantity of 1.
  • The Frame Relay Port product is the node. The definition of a network calls for at least two nodes, because there is no network without at least two nodes. Therefore, a Minimum Quantity of 2 for the Frame Relay Port product is defined.
  • The Frame Relay PVC product - the circuit connecting the two ports - is the connection. Because the two nodes must be connected, a Minimum Quantity of 1 is defined for the Frame Relay PVC product.

Because this network can be as large as the customer wants, within the boundaries of the providers network reach, you do not enter a Maximum Quantity for the Frame Relay Port and Frame Relay PVC products.

Because the Cardinality Checker is a Compound Product Business Service, it operates on the Projected Asset Cache. Therefore, these rules apply across the current Quote, existing Assets, and open Orders on the asset. For example, if a customer had 5 frame relay ports and attempted to disconnect four of them, the validation would display an error message saying the minimum quantity is not met for the Frame Relay Port product.

To define maximum and minimum quantities for network components

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.
  2. In the Products list, click the name of the product that was defined as the compound product for the network (the Frame Relay Network product).
  3. Click the Compound Products view tab.
  4. In the link bar, click Cardinality Rules.

    The Compound Product Cardinality Rules list includes all the products that are valid components of this network.

  5. For each product, enter the appropriate value in the Maximum Quantity and Minimum Quantity fields, as shown in the following table.
    Product
    Minimum Quantity
    Maximum Quantity

    Frame Relay Network

    1

    1

    Frame Relay Port

    2

     

    Frame Relay PVC

    1

     

Defining Error Messages for Compound Product Rules

This example defines an error message used by a rules that validates whether all nodes have service addresses.

To define error messages for compound product rules

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Order Management screen, then the Message Types view.
  2. In the All Message Types list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields, as shown in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Name

    Service Address Error Message

    Title

    Validation that All Nodes Have a Service Address

    Full Text

    [Count] [Product]s are missing Service Addresses

Defining Simple Expression Rules for Compound Products

Finally, you define simple expression rules to validate across the compound product and generate error messages. In this example, the rule checks whether all nodes have a service address and then displays the error message defined in the previous step.

To define simple validation expression rules for compound products

  1. In the Administration - Product screen, in the Compound Products view, in the link bar, click Simple Validation Expression Rules.
  2. In the Compound Products list, add one or more new records and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are shown in the following table.
    Field
    Value

    Seq

    1

    Search Expression

    ([Network Element Type] = "Network Node" AND [Service Address] = "")

    Aggregate Function

    Count

    Group By Fields

    [Product Name]

    Having Expression

    [Count]>0

    Message

    Service Address Error Message

Other Samples of Validation Rules and Messages.

Table 9 includes more samples sample simple expression rules that you could use to validate network ordering. The first column contains the message you enter in the Short Text and Long Text fields the Message Type record. The next four columns values you enter in each Simple Validation Expression Rule record. The last column contains an explanation of what this rule does.

The first row in the table repeats the example given previously. You create the samples in the other rows in the same way you created the previous example: you enter the text of the message in the Message Type record, and then, when you enter values in the Simple Validation Rule record, select the name of the appropriate Message Type record.

Table 9. Samples of Simple Expression Rules
Message Text
Search Expression
Aggregate Function
Group By Fields
Having Expression
Explanation

[Count] [Product]s are missing Service Addresses

([Network Element Type] = "Network Node" AND [Service Address] = "")

Count

[Product Name]

[Count]>0

 

Validates that all Nodes have a Service Address.

[Count] [Product] are missing a "Service Address" and/or a "To Service Address "

([Network Element Type] = "Network Connection" AND (([Service Address] = "") OR ([To Service Address] = "")))

Count

[Product Name]

[Count]>0

Validates that all Connections have a Service Address associated with each end of the connection.

[Product] at [Service Address] must have a different "To Service Address "

([Network Element Type] = "Network Connection" AND ([Service Address] = [To Service Address]))

 

 

 

Validates that the Addresses for each end of a connection are different.

[Count] [Product] are missing a From Node and/or To Node

([Network Element Type] = "Network Connection" AND ([Node] = "" OR [To Node] = ""))

Count

[Product Name]

[Count]>0

Validates that all connections have a node associated with each end of the connection.

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