Siebel Advisor Administration Guide > Working with Advisor Feature Tables > Process of Creating Advisor Feature Tables >

Analyzing the Problem Before Creating Feature Tables


You analyze the problem by dividing your data into features and selecting default values.

This task is a step in Process of Creating Advisor Feature Tables

First, you must decide which features the user can select.

For example, if your product is a sports car, make a list for each configurable feature. If the sports car comes with manual transmission, the user does not need to make a selection. Therefore, transmission is not a feature.

However, if the user has a choice in exterior color, you need a feature table to hold the possible values for exterior color. For this feature, you might name the feature table EXT_COLOR.

These feature values may also serve as answers to questions in an Advisor application. For example, in response to the question, "What exterior color would you like your car to have?" a user can select from a drop-down list of exterior colors.

Next, you must determine the possible values for each feature. For example, for the exterior color feature, determine what colors are offered. You populate the feature table with these values, for example Red, Black, and Silver.

Next, determine the default value for each feature. For example, you may decide that black will be the most commonly selected value for the exterior color feature.

NOTE:  You can also use Trigger and Target feature tables to determine default values based on previous user selections. For more information, see Creating Trigger and Target Feature Tables.

Your compiled list of features and values for Sports Car might look like this:

Sports Car Features
  • Exterior Color
    • Black (default)
    • Silver
    • Red
  • Interior Color
    • Black (default)
    • Tan
  • Sun Roof
    • No (default)
    • Yes
  • Model
    • Basic (default)
    • Turbo

You use this information when creating your feature tables in the next steps.

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