Table 7. Siebel eAuction Version 7 Features
Feature
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Where to Find Information
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Multichannel Integration
With eAuction version 7, the auction application is integrated with Siebel eBusiness applications. This is different from the legacy OSA and DPT products that existed in their own framework separate from other systems that managed customer information. This integration allows you to manage all customer data, whether it be from an auction or some other transaction format, in one centralized manner. You can now offer both fixed and dynamic pricing, and you can consistently manage the customer relationship across all channels of interaction. The information learned about customers during the course of an auction can help you better understand such variables as product demand and price sensitivity. Using Siebel Marketing, you can make use of this and other customer data.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
For information on Siebel Marketing, see Siebel Marketing Guide.
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Integrated Catalog Administration
The integration of eAuction version 7 with Siebel eBusiness applications allows you to maintain and control product catalogs in a sole location, decreasing the burden associated with catalog management as well as minimizing the risk of inconsistencies across applications. The product catalog used to present products for eAuction version 7 can be shared with Siebel eSales and Siebel Call Center. This centralized source for catalog information not only streamlines administration and maintenance but also improves the customer's experience by making sure that the information received is consistent and accurate across any sales channel.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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Content Management
Siebel eContent Management has been added to the core infrastructure of all Siebel applications, allowing you to publish product content consistently and accurately across all sales channels, decreasing time-to-market. By upgrading to eAuction version 7, you can use the new content management features, improving your administration and maintenance of Siebel eAuction. eContent Management 7 features include:
- Delegated catalog content creation. Business users and product experts can act as content creators.
- Easy integration with third-party content. You can import and manage external sources of content, such as information from partners.
- Project management. Administrators can better manage changes.
- Staging. Allows content to be posted to a preproduction environment for review prior to posting.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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Distributed Catalog Administration
Often, the need for catalog administration reaches beyond your internal experts, expanding to include resellers, channel partners or other third-party vendors. Using distributed catalog administration and a partner extranet, vendor organizations can administer portions of the product catalog, defining products, creating offers, categorizing products, or submitting their latest catalog content using Siebel EAI. Because of Siebel's access control system, vendors can access only those portions of the catalog for which they provide input, or over which they have authority. This feature is especially important for OSA or DPT customers that have created online marketplaces.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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Integration with eSales Online Order Functionality
Rather than having to connect to some external online ordering system as with OSA or DPT, with eAuction version 7 you can now carry out the actions related to closing a transaction within the Siebel eSales order framework. This integration provides you with all the benefits of the eSales order framework, including the ability to customize the order processing flow.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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Enhanced User Registration
The enhanced user registration capabilities available in eSales version 7 are also available in eAuction version 7. These new registration features include forgotten-password support and personal key identification, which allows existing customers to self-register by submitting a unique key (such as a Social Security number). Also new in Siebel 7: all of Siebel's customer and partner applications use a single registration framework, enabling customers to access the functionality of each application in an integrated fashion.
User registration has also been enhanced to support Siebel eAuction-specific requirements. These include:
- Requesting information from users as to whether they wish to bid on or post auctions. "Yes" responses prompt the user to add valid credit card and shipping information.
- Approval process for registrant requesting privileges to bid on or post auctions. This approval process can be automatic or manual as chosen by the global administrator.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
For information on user access, see Siebel Security Guide.
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Enterprise-Class Architecture and Infrastructure
Siebel's Web infrastructure provides an upgradeable application framework for deploying HTML- and WML-based applications using a multitiered component-based architecture. The infrastructure is designed to support customer, partner, and employee applications, taking advantage of the latest browser capabilities to provide high interactivity, while reducing the amount of interaction between the browser and server. The infrastructure is designed to tightly integrate with your existing Web infrastructure to create a smooth experience for end users regardless of the source of the information being displayed.
In addition, the Siebel architecture provides:
- Support for distributed servers (multiprocessing).
- Support for redundancy for both the data and business component.
- Support for load balancing.
- Support for fail-over (primary server and back-up server)
These capabilities are exposed using the Resonate utilities embedded in Siebel. The Siebel architecture and infrastructure provide OSA and DPT customers with multiple new tools for managing, scaling, and making their auction applications fault-tolerant.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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Enhanced User Interface for Auction Bidders
For DPT customers, the standard UI features provided with eAuction version 7 represent new functionality. The bidder interface provides bidders with useful information to help them decide on their bid, including:
- Product image and description, including features, location, condition, quantity, payment terms, and shipping method.
- Auction details such as open and close times, format, starting price, bid increment, and reserve price status.
- List of winning bids and runners up.
- A secure bidding interface, which requires the bidder to input User ID and password before placing a bid.
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For more information, see Siebel eAuction Guide.
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