3 PLM - Understanding the Synchronize Product and Price Business Flow

This chapter provides an overview of the synchronize product and price business flow and discusses simple and customizable products, the product bundling methodology, and solution assumptions and constraints.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 3.1, "Synchronize Product and Price Business Flow Overview"
Section 3.2, "Simple and Customizable Products"
Section 3.3, "Understanding the Product Bundling Methodology"
Section 3.4, "Solution Assumptions and Constraints"

This business flow is enabled using the Oracle Communications Order to Cash Siebel CRM and Oracle Billing and Revenue Management (Oracle BRM) pre-built integration options.

3.1 Synchronize Product and Price Business Flow Overview

This section includes the following topics:

Section 3.1.1, "Real-Time Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization"
Section 3.1.2, "Update Real-Time Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization"
Section 3.1.3, "Batch Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization"
Section 3.1.4, "Update Batch Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization"
Section 3.2.1, "Synchronization of Billing Products with Pricing Details"
Section 3.2.2, "Synchronization of Billing Discounts"

3.1.1 Real-Time Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization

In this flow, the Oracle BRM administrator creates billing products and billing discounts in the Oracle BRM Pricing Center. After a new billing product or billing discount is created, the administrator can commit it to the Oracle BRM database. Alternatively, the Oracle BRM administrator can create a set of billing products and billing discounts and save them in a file. After all of the billing products and billing discounts have been created in the file, the administrator commits them to the Oracle BRM database. This instantaneously synchronizes the new billing products or billing discounts to Siebel CRM. The Siebel CRM administrator uses these billing products to create service bundles or promotions. The Siebel CRM administrator can also add charges, such as penalties, to the promotion. After the promotions are created, customers can purchase the promotions.

For more information, see Section 3.3, "Understanding the Product Bundling Methodology."

Figure 3-1 shows the business process flow for synchronization of real-time billing products and billing discounts.

Figure 3-1 Synchronization of Real-Time Billing Products and Billing Discounts

This image is described in surrounding text.

3.1.2 Update Real-Time Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization

In this flow, whenever changes occur to a billing product or a billing discount attribute, the Oracle BRM administrator can update the billing products and billing discounts in the Oracle BRM Pricing Center and commit them to the Oracle BRM database. Alternatively, the Oracle BRM administrator can update a set of billing products or billing discounts and save all of them in a file. After all of the billing products and billing discounts have been updated in the file, the administrator can commit them to the Oracle BRM database. This instantaneously synchronizes the updates to Siebel CRM. The service bundles and the promotions in Siebel CRM are updated to use the latest version of the billing products. The Siebel administrator makes any necessary changes in Siebel if required. Customers who purchase the promotions receive the latest promotions.

Figure 3-2 shows the business process flow for synchronization of update real-time billing products and billing discounts.

Figure 3-2 Synchronization of Update Real-Time Billing Products and Billing Discounts

3.1.3 Batch Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization

In this flow, the Oracle BRM administrator disables the event for real-time product synchronization, and then creates a set of billing products and billing discounts. The administrator runs a batch utility to store the products in the Oracle BRM database and synchronize the products with Siebel CRM. Alternatively, the Oracle BRM administrator can create a set of products and save all of them in a file. After all of the billing products and billing discounts are created, the Oracle BRM administrator runs the batch utility. The Siebel administrator uses these billing products and billing discounts to create service bundles and promotions. The Siebel administrator can also add charges, such as penalties, to the promotion. After promotions are created, customers can purchase the promotions.

For more information, see Section 3.3, "Understanding the Product Bundling Methodology."

Figure 3-3 shows the business process flow for synchronization of batch billing products and billing discounts.

Figure 3-3 Synchronization of Batch Billing Products and Billing Discounts

To disable the event for real-time product synchronization, see the Oracle BRM documentation.

For more information, see Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) Documentation, "Service Integration Components," Synchronization Queue Data Manager, Installing and configuring the Synchronization Queue DM, Starting and stopping the Synchronization Queue DM.

3.1.4 Update Batch Billing Product and Billing Discount Synchronization

In this flow, the Oracle BRM administrator disables the event for real-time product synchronization. Whenever changes are made to the products or discount attributes, the Oracle BRM administrator updates billing products and billing discounts in the Oracle BRM Pricing Center. The administrator runs a batch utility to store the updates in the Oracle BRM database and synchronize them with Siebel CRM. Alternatively, the Oracle BRM administrator can update a set of billing products and billing discounts and save all of them in a file. After all of the billing products and billing discounts are updated, the Oracle BRM administrator runs the batch utility. The service bundles and the promotions in Siebel CRM are updated to use the latest version of the billing products and billing discounts. The Siebel administrator makes any necessary changes in Siebel if required. Customers who purchase the promotions receive the latest promotions.

Figure 3-4 shows the business process flow for synchronization of update batch billing products and billing discounts.

Figure 3-4 Synchronization of Update Batch Billing Products and Billing Discounts

To disable the event for real-time product synchronization, see the Oracle BRM documentation.

3.2 Simple and Customizable Products

When products are created in Oracle BRM, they are associated with events that determine how much and how often to charge customers. These events are called billable events. Each product that is created in Oracle BRM is associated with one or more billable events. After the products are synchronized with Siebel CRM, the products that are associated with a single event are synchronized as simple products and products that are associated with multiple events are synchronized as customizable products.

Table 3-1 shows how products are synchronized to Siebel:

Table 3-1 Synchronizing Products to Siebel CRM

In Oracle BRM	In Siebel CRM
Internet - Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $25 - Product Purchase Fee Event - $30 - Delayed Telcom GSM Session Event - 0.40	Internet - $25 - Internet Purchase - $30

In Oracle BRM

In Siebel CRM

Internet

- Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $25

- Product Purchase Fee Event - $30

- Delayed Telcom GSM Session Event - 0.40

Internet - $25

- Internet Purchase - $30

3.2.1 Synchronization of Billing Products with Pricing Details

Synchronization of Billing Products with Pricing details

Figure 3-5 shows the synchronization of billing products with pricing details.

Figure 3-5 Synchronizing Billing Products with Pricing Details

For this flow, the following events occur:

You create billing products (single-event multi-event) in the BRM Pricing Center tool. When the new products are created they are synchronized to the target Siebel CRM by either realtime or batch synchronization.
The products are committed to the Oracle BRM database and realtime synchronization is invoked (or a batch utility is executed to synchronize the products as a batch). When the realtime or batch synchronization of billing products is invoked, a business event is raised in the Oracle BRM application, which also has the complete definition of the products (ProductABM).
The connector service (AQ Consumer), which is subscribed to this business event takes the input (ProductABM) and extracts all the product-related details and passes the message to the Oracle BRM product requester. The requester transforms them into a standardized representation of the product (ItemCompositionListEBM). The service invokes an enterprise business service (EBS) and provides the ItemCompositionListEBM as the input.
The SynchronizeItemCompositionEBS is configured with routing rules to each of the target application instances for which the product definition is published. The service routes the message to the Siebel application-specific connector service (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider).
The Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service transforms the standardized product definition (ItemCompositionListEBM) to a Siebel application-specific definition of the product. It invokes the Siebel application web services to create the products in the Siebel application. The status of the web service call (Success or Fail) is returned back to the caller service (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider).
+ step 7. The Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service processes the status and sends the details to the Host application connector service (BRM Synchronize Product Requester) using a standardized response message (ItemCompositionResponseEBM), which uses a response SynchronizeItemCompositionResponseEBS.
See step 6.
Once the products are successfully created, the BRM Synchronize Product Requester service extracts the pricing information from the billing products and transforms them into a standardized representation of the pricing (PriceListEBM). The service invokes the EBS and provides the PriceListEBM as input.
The SynchronizePriceListEBS is configured with routing rules to each of the target application instances for which the product definition is published. The service routes the message to the Siebel application-specific connector service (Siebel Synchronize Pricelist Provider).
The Siebel Synchronize Pricelist Provider service transforms the standardized pricelist definition (PriceListEBM) to the Siebel application-specific definition of the pricing. If there is multiple charge type associated with the pricing (Events) then simple products are created in the target CRM for each charge type. The pricing related to the charge types are assigned to the corresponding simple product. To create simple products, the connector service transforms the charge types (Events) into a standardized representation of the items (ItemCompositionListEBM) and invokes the SynchronizeItemCompositionEBS.
The SynchronizeItemCompositionEBS is configured with routing rules to each of the target application instances for which the product definition is published. The service routes the message to the Siebel application-specific connector service (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider).
The Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service transforms the standardized product definition (ItemCompositionListEBM) to a Siebel application-specific definition of the product. It invokes the Siebel application web services to create the simple products for each charge type in the Siebel application. The status of the web service call (Success or Fail) is returned back to the caller service (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider).
+ step 14. The Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service processes the status and sends the details to the caller Siebel Synchronize PriceList Provider service using a standardized response message (ItemCompositionResponseEBM), which uses a response SynchronizeItemCompositionResponseEBS.
See step 13.
The Siebel Synchronize PriceList Provider service updates the simple products created earlier with the pricing attributes of the product (Price Type) by invoking the Siebel product creation web service. The status of the web service call (Success or Fail) is returned back to the caller service (Siebel Synchronize PriceList Provider).
The Siebel Synchronize PriceList Provider service updates the pricelist for all products with the actual pricing information (List Price, Effectivity, and so on) associated with the products. The status of the web service call (Success or Fail) is returned to the caller service (Siebel Synchronize PriceList Provider).

Setting the Billable Flag for Products in Siebel CRM

During the product synchronization from Siebel CRM to Oracle BRM, the billable flag is set for all products of billing type Subscription. The billable flag is not set for products of billing type Event.

For service bundles, promotions, and simple products of billing type Special Rating, the billable flag must be manually set in Siebel CRM.

For more information about setting the billable flag in Siebel, see the Siebel Communications Guide, "Profiles in Siebel Communications."

3.2.1.1 Product Attributes

These product attributes are included for all the products in the XML message that is sent to Siebel:

Product Name
Product Type
Purchase Level
Description
Billable Events
Rate Plan
Effective Start Date and Effective End Date

Rate plan details (charges) go into the price list line while the remaining attributes go into the product.

3.2.1.2 Effective Start and End Dates

The values for the effective start date and the effective end date published by Oracle BRM are communicated and set in Siebel CRM by the Oracle AIA product synchronization process.

For use cases where the effective start date and effective end date are unspecified or has infinite effectivity, the Oracle BRM EAI parameter infranet.eai.xml_zero_epoch_as_null must be set to TRUE. This ensures that Oracle BRM publishes a null value for the effective start date and the effective end date.

Caution:

This is a mandatory step as part of the post installation setup activity.

For more information about the behavior effective dates based on the Oracle BRM EAI parameter, see Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management JCA Resource Adapter, "Deploying and Configuring the BRM JCA Adapter."

3.2.2 Synchronization of Billing Discounts

Figure 3-6 shows the synchronization of billing discounts.

Figure 3-6 Synchronizing Discounts Flow

For this flow, the following events occur:

You create billing discounts in the BRM Pricing Center tool. Once the products are created, they are synchronized to the target Siebel CRM either realtime or using a batch synchronization. The products are committed to the Oracle BRM database and realtime synchronization is invoked. (A batch utility must be executed to synchronize the discounts as a batch). When the realtime or batch synchronization is invoked, a business event is raised in Oracle BRM, which also has the complete definition of the discount (DiscountABM).
The connector service (BRM Synchronize Discount Requestor) that is subscribed to this business event takes the input DiscountABM and extracts all the discount related details and transforms them into a standardized representation of the discount (ItemCompositionListEBM). The service invokes the enterprise business service (EBS) and provides the ItemCompositionListEBM as the input.
The SynchronizeItemCompositionEBS is configured with routing rules to each of the target application instances for which the discount definition is published. The service routes the message to the Siebel application specific connector service (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider). The discounts are created as simple products in Siebel CRM.
The Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service transforms the standardized discount definition (ItemCompositionListEBM) to a Siebel application-specific definition of the product. It invokes the Siebel application web services to create the products in the Siebel application that corresponds to the discount that is published from Oracle BRM. The status of the web services call (Success or Fail) is returned back to the caller (Siebel Synchronize Product Provider service).

3.2.3 Usage Charges on Products

Note the following exceptions.

If a billing product in Oracle BRM has Delayed Telco GSM Session as the only event, then the billing product is synchronized with Siebel as a simple product with no pricelist line created in Siebel CRM.

For example, in Table 3-2 Delayed Telco GSM Session is an only event.

Table 3-2 Billing Product with Single Event Example

Product in Oracle BRM	Simple Product in Siebel CRM
Wireless Usage Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - 0.40	Wireless Usage

Product in Oracle BRM

Simple Product in Siebel CRM

Wireless Usage

Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - 0.40

Wireless Usage

If a billing product in Oracle BRM has two events and one of them is Delayed Telco GSM Session, then the billing product is synchronized with Siebel CRM as a simple product. The Delayed Telco GSM Session event is not synchronized with Siebel CRM. The list price of the simple product in Siebel CRM is set to charge on the other event of the billing product.

For example, in Table 3-3 Delayed Telco GSM Session is one of two events.

Table 3-3 Billing Product with Two Events Example

Product in Oracle BRM	Simple Product in Siebel CRM
Call Forwarding: - Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $3.00 - Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - $0.40	Call Forwarding - $3.00

Product in Oracle BRM

Simple Product in Siebel CRM

Call Forwarding:

- Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $3.00

- Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - $0.40

Call Forwarding - $3.00

The billing product is synchronized with Siebel CRM as a customizable product if a billing product in Oracle BRM has more than two events and one event is Delayed Telco GSM Session. The Delayed Telco GSM Session event is not synchronized with Siebel CRM. The list price of the simple product in Siebel CRM is set to charge on another event of the billing product.

For example, in Table 3-4 Delayed Telco GSM Session is one of more than two events:

Table 3-4 Billing Product with More Than Two Events Example

Product in Oracle BRM	Customizable Product in Siebel CRM
Internet: - Product Purchase Fee Event - $10.00 - Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $20.00 - Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - $0.40	Internet - $20.00: - Product Purchase Fee Event - $10.00

Product in Oracle BRM

Customizable Product in Siebel CRM

Internet:

- Product Purchase Fee Event - $10.00

- Monthly Cycle Forward Event - $20.00

- Delayed Telco GSM Session Event - $0.40

Internet - $20.00:

- Product Purchase Fee Event - $10.00

The solution is delivered with the events mapped, as shown in Table 3-5.

Table 3-5 Mapping Events - Solution

Event Name	Event Definition
Product Purchase Fee Event (Activation)	"/event/billing/product/fee/purchase"
Product Cancel Fee Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cancel"
Monthly Cycle Arrear Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle forward arrear"
Monthly Cycle Forward Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle forward monthly"
Bimonthly Cycle Forward Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle forward bimonthly"
Quarterly Cycle Forward Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle forward quarterly"
Annual Cycle Forward Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle forward annual"
Cycle Forward Arrear Event	"/event/billing/product/fee/cycle/cycle arrear"

You can add more events in the PRICETYPE_EVENT domain value map. Events that are not present in this mapping are not synchronized.

For more information, see Section 24.4, "Working with DVMs."

3.3 Understanding the Product Bundling Methodology

This section describes the methodology for introducing service bundles and marketing bundles in relation to synchronizing billing products from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (Oracle BRM) to Siebel Customer Relationship Management (Siebel CRM).

This section includes the following topics:

Section 3.3.1, "Basic Entity Mappings"
Section 3.3.2, "Defining Products and Discounts in Oracle BRM"
Section 3.3.3, "Physical Goods"
Section 3.3.4, "Sales Catalogs"
Section 3.3.5, "Recommendations for Product Definition in Siebel CRM"
Section 3.3.6, "Service Bundles"
Section 3.3.7, "Simple Service Bundles"
Section 3.3.8, "Marketing Bundles"
Section 3.3.9, "Balance Groups"
Section 3.3.10, "Credit Limits"
Section 3.3.11, "Promotion Penalty and Other MACD Charges"
Section 3.3.12, "Supporting Friends and Family"
Section 3.3.13, "Product Definition Methodology for Friends and Family: Example"
Section 3.3.14, "Supporting Time-Based Offerings"

3.3.1 Basic Entity Mappings

Table 3-6 shows the mapping between Oracle BRM and Siebel CRM entities.

Table 3-6 Mapping Between Oracle BRM and Siebel CRM Entities

Oracle BRM Entities	Siebel CRM Entities	Description
Product with single event	Simple Product [automatically created]	If a product is associated with a single billable event in Oracle BRM, then a simple product is created in Siebel CRM.
Product with multiple events	Customizable product [automatically created]	If a product is associated with multiple billable events in Oracle BRM, then a customizable product is created in Siebel CRM.
Product Event Binding	Simple Product [automatically created]	Each recurring and nonrecurring type event binding is represented as a simple product.
Discount	Simple Product [automatically created]	A billing discount is represented as a simple product regardless of the number of event bindings.
Balance Impact	Price list Line [automatically created]	A balance impact defined as part of a rate plan in Oracle BRM is mapped to a price list line of a product in Siebel CRM.
Deal	Service Bundle [manually created]	If existing Oracle BRM customers have previously defined deals, those deals are not synchronized as part of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) integration. The service bundles must be created manually in Siebel CRM.
Plan	Promotion /Marketing Bundle [manually created]	If existing Oracle BRM customers have been previously defined in a plan, those plans are not synchronized as part of the PLM integration. The Promotion/ Marketing bundles must be created manually in Siebel CRM.
Service Instance	Service Bundle Asset [automatically created]	Purchasing a service bundle results in a service bundle asset that is mapped to an Oracle BRM service instance to support changes to the service.
Purchased Products	Service Bundle Component Asset [automatically created]	Purchasing optional and mandatory components of a service bundle results in asset components that are mapped to Oracle BRM-purchased products.

3.3.2 Defining Products and Discounts in Oracle BRM

When defining the products and discounts in Oracle BRM, use the following guidelines to fully leverage the flexibility and minimize the limitations of this integration:

Since usage events are not synchronized when they are included as a part of multi-event product in Oracle BRM, the name and description of products should include some user-readable identity of the usage. That way the product or price administrator can distinguish the synchronized products on the Siebel side.
Since the discount value of the Oracle BRM discount objects is not synchronized to Siebel CRM, the name and description of the discount objects should include the general intent of the discount to be conveyed on the Siebel order.
The discountable flag on billing products in Oracle BRM must be set to Y for all charges that can be discounted when orders are interfaced to billing.
Oracle AIA does not do time-zone conversion when synchronizing Oracle BRM products and discounts to Siebel CRM. The Oracle BRM Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) property infranet.eai.date_pattern controls which time-zone Oracle BRM publishes datetime information in. As delivered, this property is not set and Oracle BRM publishes datetime information in the Oracle BRM local server time zone. If you set this property, then Oracle BRM publishes the datetime information in UTC/GMT time zone.

For more information about setting this property, see the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Developer's Guide, "Integrating BRM with Enterprise Applications."

3.3.2.1 Using Fixed Amounts versus Scaled Amounts in Oracle BRM

In Oracle BRM, the price on the billable events that are associated with the billing products can be of type Scaled or Fixed. From the user interface (UI) perspective, in the pricing center application of Oracle BRM, when the price must be associated to the event, two fields exist where the charge can be added.

Scaled amount: Specifying the scaled amount allows price overrides and discounts to be applied on the price. When the scaled amount field is used then the fixed amount field must be left empty (null). Zero must not be specified. The scaled amount is specified only for billable events that represent one-time or recurring charges.
Fixed amount: Discount override takes into consideration both fixed and scaled amounts. However, price override only overrides the scaled amount. The price overrides can still be applied for the charges but it gets added to the price specified as fixed amount. For example, if the fixed amount on the charge is $5 and a price override is $10 then the price is $15.

Consider the case where both the scaled amount and the fixed amount are specified for the product. The product integration synchronizes the product to Siebel CRM and the list price is the sum of the scaled and fixed amounts. If a discount override is specified for the product, when the order is interfaced to billing the discount override is applied on the sum for the purchased product instance in Oracle BRM.

For example, a billing product has a monthly cycle fee specified as: Scaled = $20 and Fixed = $10.

A discount override of 10% results in a final price of $27 and a discount override of $5 results in a final price of $25.

If a price override is specified for the product, when the order is interfaced to billing, Oracle BRM replaces only the scaled amount with the price override amount for the purchased product instance.

For example, a billing product has a monthly cycle fee specified as: Scaled = $20 and Fixed = $10.

A price override of $15 results in a final price of $25 (Scaled $15 + Fixed $10).

This behavior for the price override scenario results in a discrepancy between the final price for a product on the order in Siebel CRM and what the customer is actually charged in Oracle BRM. Therefore, it is recommended that you not use fixed amounts for either one-time or recurring charges in Oracle BRM for implementations where the intent is to use the Siebel price override functionality.

For more information about using fixed and scaled amount fields, see Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Setting Up Pricing and Rating, "About Real-Time Rate Plans."

3.3.3 Physical Goods

Customers can use one of two possible approaches:

Physical goods can be created as a billing product in Oracle BRM at account-level or at service-level. These are synchronized to Siebel CRM and can be added to the product hierarchy when creating bundles and promotions.
Physical goods are defined in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). In this case, customers are responsible for synchronizing them between ERP and Oracle BRM. The product synchronization process, which is supported by the process integration, is used to synchronize the product from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM. If the service or marketing bundle contains one or more physical goods, then those products are passed to Oracle BRM when the order is interfaced to billing.

3.3.4 Sales Catalogs

After all of the Oracle BRM products are synchronized to Siebel CRM, you must add only those products that can be ordered to the catalogs (products whose orderable flag is set). If the customizable products are added to the catalog then the components are automatically added.

Table 3-7 Products Included in the Siebel Catalog

Oracle BRM Entities	Siebel Synchronized Entities	Siebel Catalog
Product: Wireless (Yearly) Event: YCF - $100	Wireless - YCF - $100	It must be added as a component to a service bundle product, which must be added to the sales catalog.
Product: Wireless (Monthly) Event: Activation - $10 Event: MCF - $40 Event: Usage - $0.40	Customizable Product: Wireless - MCF -$40 Wireless - Activation - $10	The product must be added as a component to a service bundle product, which must be added to the sales catalog.
Product: SMS Activation Event: Activation - $10	SMS Activation - $10	The product must be added as a component to a service bundle product, which must be added to the sales catalog.
Product: SMS Usage Event: Usage - $0.05	SMS Usage	The product must be added as a component to a service bundle product, which must be added to the sales catalog.

3.3.5 Recommendations for Product Definition in Siebel CRM

These are the recommendations for defining products:

Oracle BRM billing products that are defined with fixed charges should not be discounted in Siebel CRM (using promotion discounts, price overrides, and so forth) because communicating such overrides to Oracle BRM results in a price increase. For this reason it is recommended that only scaled charges be defined for the billing products of type item and subscription with one-time or recurring charges in Oracle BRM.

For more information, see Section 3.3.2.1, "Using Fixed Amounts versus Scaled Amounts in Oracle BRM."
The Product Management integration maintains cross-reference information between Oracle BRM billing products and Siebel CRM products. If you delete a billing product in Oracle BRM that is synchronized with Siebel CRM, then the cross-reference data for that billing product is not deleted. This has to be purged manually. It is recommended that instead of deleting the product you inactivate it by specifying an end date.
If products updated in Oracle BRM result in changing the product structure in Siebel CRM, then you must release the updated product in its respective workspace. This automatically updates the service bundles and the promotions that include the updated product as one of its components.

3.3.5.1 Recommendation for Discounts

This section describes customizable discounts that are time-based or that impact noncurrency resources and multiple event types.

Discounts Defined in Billing Systems

Customizable discounts that are either time-based, or that impact noncurrency resources or multiple event types, must be defined in Oracle BRM. These can be account-level or service-level discounts. Because you can associate general ledger IDs (GLIDs) with them in Oracle BRM, you can account for them in the general ledger in separate accounts if needed.

These discounts are defined in Oracle BRM and synchronized to Siebel CRM as simple products (Structure type = none). The products that represent the discounts are identified using the billing type Discount. You manually bundle the service-level discounts into the service bundles.

These can be included or excluded during promotion bundling. The account-level discounts are directly added as components of the promotions and can be made optional based on promotional bundling.

Discounts Defined in Siebel CRM Systems

You can define simple discounts in Siebel CRM when you bundle the billing products into service bundles and promotions. These are usually matrix or promotional discounts. At run time, these discounts getting applied on the order, results in a difference in the start price or list price and the net price.

Defining Overrides on the Product Definition

The following offers you greater control and flexibility in determining how pricing differences between the list price and the selling price are communicated to the billing system. Two new fields are on the Siebel product definition:

Pricing commit type.
- The value of the pricing commit type field indicates whether a price override or a discount override is being defined on the product:
- If the pricing commit type is Committed, then a price override has been defined on the product.
- If the pricing commit type is Dynamic, then a discount override has been defined on the product. If a discount override has been defined on the product, then the Dynamic discount method field identifies the discount type.
Dynamic discount method.
- If the dynamic discount method is Amount, then an amount is defined as the discount value.
- If the dynamic discount method is Percent, then a percent discount has been defined as the discount value.

In Oracle BRM, discount overrides can be tracked in a separate sub-bucket within the GL code that is tied to the product. With discount overrides, mass price changes can also be supported because the list price on the product remains unchanged.

3.3.6 Service Bundles

Billing products (with single or multiple events) are created in Oracle BRM and are synchronized with Siebel CRM. Whenever billing products have to be bundled, one must manually create a customizable product and set the billing type to Service Bundle in Siebel CRM. This product is called a service bundle product. You must add the billing products that are synchronized from Oracle BRM as child components to the service bundle product. Service bundles map to the run-time entity called service instances in Oracle BRM.

The service bundle products are created manually in Siebel CRM.

You can also create a simple service bundle when only one billing product is applicable for a given service.

For more information, see Section 3.3.7, "Simple Service Bundles."

The process integration for order management uses the service bundle to construct the billing service instance for billing management.

The Oracle BRM discounts that are synchronized as products with Siebel CRM can be included in the service bundle. If they are included in the service bundle, then at run time, when the service bundle is purchased and interfaced to billing, those discounts apply to the products within the service instance. If they are not included in the service bundle, but purchased on the order, then they get applied as account-level discounts.

Note:

Any product (Oracle BRM product or discount) whose immediate parent is not a service bundle at run time gets purchased as an account-level product or discount in Oracle BRM.

The product bundling methodology gives Siebel CRM product administrators more flexibility when creating service bundles and promotions. Product administrators can nest service bundles and these nested service bundles do not need the same billing service type as the parent or root service bundle. However, within a service bundle, all of the component products must be of the same billing service type. The methodology supports a nested structure in which service bundles can be included as a component of another service bundle.

In the case of multiple billing system instances connected to the same Siebel CRM system instance, all component products within a service bundle reference products from the same billing system. Siebel CRM does not store the target billing instance details.

For more information about service bundles in Siebel CRM, see the Siebel Communications Guide.

For more information about multiple Oracle BRM systems, see Appendix F, "Configuring Multiple Oracle BRM Instances for Communications Integrations."

In addition to billing products and nonbilling products, the methodology gives a Siebel CRM product administrator the option to include child service bundles and nonservice bundle customizable products as components of a service bundle.

Here are some definitions of the components:

Billing products are created by the product synchronization. They can be defined as simple products or customizable products based on the number of events. Products with one billable event are synchronized as simple products and products with multiple events are synchronized as customizable products in Siebel CRM.
Nonbilling products are products that are not originated or synchronized from Oracle BRM. A billing service type should not be specified for nonbilling products.
Account-level products are associated at the account level and are not associated with any service instance in Oracle BRM; for example, a $2 monthly charge for a hard copy of the bill is charged to the account. The product definition methodology recommends not including account-level products within a service bundle.
Service bundles can include another service bundle or nonservice bundle customizable products as a component. No limit is placed on the number of levels in the hierarchy. Child service bundles are not required to have the same billing service type as the root bundle.
Nonservice bundle customizable products are customizable products that group service bundles. Nonservice bundle customizable products can have account-level products and non-billing products as components. They do not have a billing service type.

3.3.6.1 Working with Products and Nested Service Bundles

Consider the following example:

Billing Product - A, Billing Product - B, Billing Product - C, Billing Product - D, Billing Product - E, and Billing Product - F are all synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM.

Create Service Bundle - SB2 with Billing Product - E as the component.
Enrich Billing Product - F so that it becomes a Simple Service Bundle - SSB1
Create a Nonservice Bundle Customizable Product (CP) with the following components:
- Billing Product - D
- Service Bundle - SB2
- Simple Service Bundle - SSB1
Create Service Bundle - SB1 with the following components:
- Billing Product - A
- Billing Product - B
- Nonservice Bundle CP

Figure 3-7 shows the example of a nested service bundle described previously.

Figure 3-7 Example of Nested Service Bundle Levels

When an order is interfaced to billing, the service bundle gets purchased as a service and the immediate children of the service bundle become purchased product or discount instances for that service instance. Any product whose immediate parent is not a service bundle gets purchased at the account-level.

Note:

Dynamic or relationship classes do not get instantiated on the order and are therefore irrelevant in terms of determining a service bundle parent.

Therefore, for the above example, when Service Bundle - SB1 is purchased and the order is interfaced to billing, the following data is created in Oracle BRM:

Service instance for Service Bundle - SB1 with purchased product instances for Billing Product - A and Billing Product - B.

This would be true even if Product Billing - A and Product Billing - B were members of a dynamic or relationship class.
Service instance for Service Bundle - SB2 with purchased product instance for Billing product - E.
Service instance for Simple Service Bundle - SSB1 with purchased product instance for Billing Product - F.

Billing Product - D is purchased at the account-level because its immediate parent is not a service bundle.

Billing Product - C is purchased at the account-level because its immediate parent is not a service bundle.

Note:

If the intention was for Billing Product - C to be purchased for Service Bundle - SB1, then it should be modeled as a sibling of Billing Product - A and Billing Product - B.

3.3.6.2 Working with Nonservice Bundle Customizable Products

Nonservice bundle customizable products can group service bundles (including nested service bundles), simple service bundles, and billing products or discounts. They serve as re-usable components for use across promotions or as is.

Figure 3-8 Using Nonservice Bundle Customizable Products as Root Products in Siebel CRM

Note:

Using nonservice bundle customizable products are optional. The main benefit of using them is when you are creating promotion variants. The nonservice bundle customizable product can group relevant products. When creating promotions you can add it as a component and include or exclude the components based on the promotion definition. This saves the additional overhead of adding all the components each time a new promotion is created.

When a nonservice bundle customizable product is purchased, the same rules that are listed in the previous section apply. Therefore, using the previous diagram as an illustration, when the Nonservice Bundle Customizable Product - NSBCP1 is purchased and the order is interfaced to billing, the following data is created in Oracle BRM:

Service instance for Service Bundle - SB2 with purchased product instance for Billing Product - E.
Service instance for Simple Service Bundle - SSB1 with purchased product instance for Billing Product - F.

Billing Product - D is purchased at the account-level because its immediate parent is not a service bundle.

3.3.6.3 Working with Service Bundles with a Child Non-Service Bundle Customizable Product

Figure 3-9 shows the hierarchical relationships of service bundles with a child nonservice bundle customizable product in Siebel CRM:

Figure 3-9 Service Bundles with a Child Nonservice Bundle Customizable Product

For this diagram:

No limits are imposed on the number of levels of service bundles. The diagram depicts three levels of bundles.
The billing products, Voice Mail and Call Conferencing, within a service bundle share the same billing service type as the parent, Wireless Service. Similarly, general packet radio service (GPRS) Basic and GPRS Unlimited share the same billing service type as GPRS, and short message service (SMS) Basic and SMS Unlimited share the same billing service type as SMS.
If a service bundle does not contain any billing products (for example, if it contains only a child service bundle that has component products or account-level products), then no service instance is created in Oracle BRM for the service bundle. According to the product definition methodology, at least one subscription-based billing product must be a component product of a service bundle. If no billing products are component products, then customers can use a nonservice bundle customizable product. Service instances are not created in Oracle BRM for nonservice bundle customizable products.

Depending on the commercial strategy (rules, usability, and user journey), the service in the preceding diagram can also be modeled and ordered differently. Figure 3-10 is an example of using a nonservice bundle customizable product as the root product.

Figure 3-10 Using a Nonservice Bundle Customizable Product as the Root Product

Caution:

Service bundles must not combine products from different billing systems. The order processing integration fails because it expects all billing products within a service bundle to be interfaced to a single billing system.

3.3.7 Simple Service Bundles

Using the service bundle methodology, Siebel product administrators must define a new customizable product of billing type Service Bundle and then bundle the subscription product inside it.

The simple service bundle methodology obviates the additional service bundle product definition. This alternate methodology does not replace the current one, but is supported in addition to the current one.

The simple service bundle can be a root-level product or can be nested within another service bundle (of billing type Service Bundle) or nested within a regular customizable product in Siebel CRM.

This can be achieved by setting the service instance flag (serv_instance_flag in Siebel CRM) to Y for a subscription product that has been synchronized from Oracle BRM.

Subscription products can be either:

A customizable product (this represents a multi-event product in Oracle BRM) with billing type Subscription.
A simple product (this represents a single-event product in Oracle BRM) with billing type Subscription.

At run time, when a simple service bundle is purchased, the integration creates both a service instance and a purchased product instance in the billing system.

Also:

In release 2.4, any subscription product whose immediate parent is not a service bundle is processed as an account-level product at run time when interfaced to billing.
In release 2.5, any subscription product whose immediate parent is not a service bundle and is not service instance-enabled is an account-level product.

Note:

The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) sync neither sets this flag when the product is synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM as part of product creation nor updates or overwrites it as part of product updates synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM. The Siebel product administrator sets the Service Instance flag manually.

3.3.7.1 Guidelines for Using Service Bundles or Simple Service Bundles

Essentially the CSP's product bundling requirements determine whether the Siebel product administrator uses the classic or the new model to define service bundles.

The simple service bundle model can be used when only one billing product is applicable for a given service. It does not have any service-level billing discounts tied to it, nor does a need exist to be switching from one product variant to another while retaining the same service. No need exists for special rating for this product either.

For more information, see Section 3.3.7.3, "Assumptions and Constraints."

Once a product is defined using the simple service bundle methodology, you cannot switch to using the other one (and vice versa) because that adversely affects processing of change orders for existing assets. If the product bundling requirements change, requiring the use of the other methodology, then you must define another product in billing, synchronize it to CRM, and bundle it differently.

Also, because you have a single asset representing both the service instance and billing product, you cannot upgrade a customer from a service modeled in this manner to one modeled based on the other methodology while retaining the same service instance. You can do the upgrade using a service cancellation and repurchase.

3.3.7.2 Service Bundle versus Simple Service Bundle Example

Here is an example of the service bundles versus simple service bundles. Remember that both are supported.

Table 3-8 Service Bundles versus Simple Service Bundles

Hierarchy	Service Bundle	Hierarchy	Simple Service Bundle
1 1.1 1.2	CP: Internet Access Service (SB) ----- CP: Internet - MCF (SBO) ----- Internet - Activation (SBO) Note: The internet product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle BRM.	1 1.1	CP: Internet-MCF (SSB) ----- Internet - Activation (SBO)

Hierarchy

Service Bundle

Hierarchy

Simple Service Bundle

1.1

1.2

CP: Internet Access Service (SB)

----- CP: Internet - MCF (SBO)

----- Internet - Activation (SBO)

Note: The internet product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle BRM.

1.1

CP: Internet-MCF (SSB)

----- Internet - Activation (SBO)

Table 3-9 Service Bundle versus Simple Service Bundle (Cont'd)

Hierarchy	Service Bundle	Hierarchy	Simple Service Bundle
2 2.1 Only 1 of these 3 is selected 2.2 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.1.1 2.3.2 2.3.2.1 2.3.3 2.3.3.1 2.3.4 2.3.4.1 2.3.4.2 2.3.4.3	CP: Internet Service (SB) ---- Dynamic Class Basic High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) Premium High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) Elite High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) ----- Internet Secure Firewall (SBO) ----- CP: High Speed Internet Features (NSB-CP) -------- CP: Internet email (SB) ------------- Internet email (SBO) -------- CP: Internet Instant Chat (SB) ------------- Internet Instant Chat (SBO) -------- CP: Internet Conference Chat (SB) ------------- Internet Conference Chat (SBO) -------- CP: Internet Media (SB) ------------- Internet Content on Demand (SBO) ------------- Internet Video on Demand (SBO) ------------- High Speed Internet First Month- Free Discount (SBO) Note: The NSB-CP is optional; without it the four-feature SBs have the Internet Service SB as the parent.	2 2.1 Only 1 of these 3 is selected 2.2 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.4.1 2.3.4.2 2.3.4.3	CP: Internet Service (SSB) ---- Dynamic Class Basic High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) Premium High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) Elite High Speed Internet MCF (SBO) ----- Internet Secure Firewall (SBO) ----- CP: High Speed Internet Features (NSB-CP) ---------- Internet email (SSB) ---------- Internet Instant Chat (SSB) ---------- Internet Conference Chat (SSB) ---------- CP: Internet Media (SB) --------------- Internet Content on Demand (SBO) --------------- Internet Video on Demand (SBO) --------------- High Speed Internet First Month-Free Discount (SBO) Note: The NSB-CP is optional; without it the four-feature SBs have the Internet Service SB as the parent

Hierarchy

Service Bundle

Hierarchy

Simple Service Bundle

2.1

Only 1 of

these 3 is

selected

2.2

2.3

2.3.1

2.3.1.1

2.3.2

2.3.2.1

2.3.3

2.3.3.1

2.3.4

2.3.4.1

2.3.4.2

2.3.4.3

CP: Internet Service (SB)

---- Dynamic Class

Basic High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

Premium High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

Elite High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

----- Internet Secure Firewall (SBO)

----- CP: High Speed Internet Features (NSB-CP)

-------- CP: Internet email (SB)

------------- Internet email (SBO)

-------- CP: Internet Instant Chat (SB)

------------- Internet Instant Chat (SBO)

-------- CP: Internet Conference Chat (SB)

------------- Internet Conference Chat (SBO)

-------- CP: Internet Media (SB)

------------- Internet Content on Demand (SBO)

------------- Internet Video on Demand (SBO)

------------- High Speed Internet First Month- Free Discount (SBO)

Note: The NSB-CP is optional; without it the four-feature SBs have the Internet Service SB as the parent.

2.1

Only 1 of

these 3 is

selected

2.2

2.3

2.3.1

2.3.2

2.3.3

2.3.4

2.3.4.1

2.3.4.2

2.3.4.3

CP: Internet Service (SSB)

---- Dynamic Class

Basic High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

Premium High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

Elite High Speed Internet MCF (SBO)

----- Internet Secure Firewall (SBO)

----- CP: High Speed Internet Features (NSB-CP)

---------- Internet email (SSB)

---------- Internet Instant Chat (SSB)

---------- Internet Conference Chat (SSB)

---------- CP: Internet Media (SB)

--------------- Internet Content on Demand (SBO)

--------------- Internet Video on Demand (SBO)

--------------- High Speed Internet First Month-Free Discount (SBO)

Note: The NSB-CP is optional; without it the four-feature SBs have the Internet Service SB as the parent

Legend:

SBO - Service bundle component product synced from Oracle BRM.

SB - Service bundle manually created in Siebel CRM, billing type set to Service Bundle.

SSB - Subscription product synced from Oracle BRM, whose Service Instance flag is set to Y (SSB - Simple Service Bundle).

3.3.7.3 Assumptions and Constraints

These are the assumptions and constraints:

Only products of type Subscription can be updated to be a simple-service bundle. This is enforced using Siebel validation.
Existing products that have pending quotes, orders, or assets in Siebel CRM or Oracle BRM referencing them cannot be enabled as simple-service bundles. This is because doing so impacts existing asset cross-references, and vice versa in products modeled as simple service bundles. You cannot switch from these to using the traditional one (that is, becoming a service bundle component). This is enforced using Siebel validation.
To switch from one methodology variant to another (that is, service bundle versus simple service bundle), you must define new products in Oracle BRM, synchronize them, and bundle them using the desired methodology.
Disconnecting the simple service bundle results in disconnecting both the service instance and the product in Oracle BRM. In other words, customers cannot upgrade or downgrade from one simple-service bundle to another while retaining the same service instance.
Currently, the service ID is required on service bundle lines for the integration to successfully interface the purchase to Oracle BRM. Similarly, the service ID is also required on the simple service bundle.
The methodology does not allow bundling additional billing product and discounts, special rating products, or other service bundles within a simple service bundle. The only subcomponents that the simple-service bundle can have are products of billing type Event; these are synchronized from Oracle BRM. This is enforced using validations in Siebel.

Note:

The order billing integration supports the simple-service bundle methodology for all supported features, within the constraints listed previously.

For more information, see Chapter 7, "Understanding the Process Integration for Order Lifecycle Management."

3.3.8 Marketing Bundles

After all of the service bundles are defined, the marketing manager can create marketing bundles or promotions to group services and products that are to be sold as promotions. The promotions definition offers the flexibility to be upgraded to other promotions.

Table 3-10 is an example of a marketing bundle for a wireless promotion with SMS.

Table 3-10 Marketing Bundle for a Wireless Promotion Example

1	Nation 550 Minutes
1.1	-- Wireless Plan
1.1.1	----- Wireless Service
1.1.1.1	-------- Basic Wireless 550
1.1.1.2	-------- Friends
1.1.1.3	-------- Wireless Voice Service Feature
1.1.1.3.1	---------- Wireless Voice Mail
1.1.1.3.2	---------- Wireless Call Conference
1.1.1.3.3	---------- Wireless Caller ID
1.1.1.3.4	---------- Wireless Call Waiting
1.1.1.3.5	---------- Wireless Call Forwarding
1.1.1.4	-------- Text Messaging
1.1.1.4.1	---------- Text Messaging SMS 200
1.1.1.4.2	---------- Text Messaging Usage
1.2	-- 50% Activation Discount

The definition of marketing bundles is also used as a grouping for balance groups. For example, each promotion defines the boundaries of a balance group such that each included service bundle's service uses shared resources.

By using the communications product bundling methodology, promotion variants can be created by reusing the same nonservice bundle customizable products or service bundles if the bundles have options as components.

Note:

Options are defined as a class-type relationship with the product that represents the options that are included in the relationship domain in Siebel CRM.

The same service bundle can create promotion variants. This ensures that the service is not disconnected during promotion upgrade or downgrade.

For more information, see Section 3.3.13, "Product Definition Methodology for Friends and Family: Example" for more promotion variants created by reusing the service bundles

The following are defined in context of the Promotion in Siebel CRM.

Upgrades: Specify promotions to which the original promotion can be upgraded.
Pricing adjustments: specify the price or discount overrides for the component products at any level in context of the Promotion.

For more information about Price and Discount overrides, see Chapter 12, "OLM - Understanding the Bill Fulfillment Order Business Flow."

For more information about Promotion definition, see your Siebel documentation.

3.3.9 Balance Groups

Balance groups are defined at the plan level in Oracle BRM, and plans are not synchronized with Siebel CRM. As delivered, the solution does not provide design-time support for balance groups. When the order is interfaced to Oracle BRM for billing, it uses the default account-level balance group.

3.3.10 Credit Limits

Because credit limits are typically defined at the billing-plan level in Oracle BRM, and such plans are not synchronized, customers can optionally define the default credit limits for each separate service type. As delivered, the solution does not support overrides of credit limits at either bundling or order capture time.

3.3.11 Promotion Penalty and Other MACD Charges

Penalty charges for promotion cancellation, upgrade, or downgrade must be defined as an item type product with a charge in Oracle BRM and synchronized to Siebel CRM. The Siebel CRM promotion disconnect workflow process (ISS Promotion Disconnect Process) must be modified to use the product synchronized from Oracle BRM.

For more information about ISS Promotion Disconnect Process, see the Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications, "Workflows for Employee Asset-Based Ordering."

You can additionally define proration plans in Siebel CRM to prorate the penalty charge. During the order process when a promotion is Canceled, upgraded, or downgraded, Siebel CRM automatically adds the product (for the penalty charge) with the appropriate charge amount onto the order. To support the application of charges for Move, Add, Change, and Disconnect (MACD) actions such as service suspend, resume, move, and cancel, the solution does not rely on the native Oracle BRM event mappings and charge application for such events. Instead, it simulates the application of such charges by relying on Siebel Related Product functionality. This facilitates visibility of the charges on the MACD and change order. Therefore, charges for suspend, resume, move, or disconnect must be defined as item type products in Oracle BRM (for every service type that you enable such a charge application) and synchronized to Siebel CRM. You must then associate these products to the respective service bundles for the various actions (suspend, resume, move, disconnect) as related products.

For more information about Related Product functionality in Siebel, see the Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications, "Employee Asset-Based Ordering".

When a service is suspended, resumed, moved, or disconnected, Siebel CRM automatically adds the appropriate product (for the MACD charge) onto the order.

3.3.12 Supporting Friends and Family

The Friends and Family feature supports the ability to rate calls to certain phone numbers differently from others.

Special rating products and special rating profile lists in Siebel CRM are used to associate friends and family lists to services. Discounted rating for friends and family lists is defined in Oracle BRM.

Special rating products must be manually defined in Siebel CRM, included in the service bundle along with the usage-based subscription product, and eventually added into the promotion during product modeling. When a promotion is purchased, the customer service representative (CSR) associates lists to the special rating products and optionally adds numbers to the lists. After the order is fulfilled and completed, the customer can update their friends and family lists.

For more information about how the lists are created and associated with the list product during run time, see Section 12.7, "Supporting Friends and Family Lists" and Chapter 20, "CM - Synchronize Customer Special Rating Profile: Implementation."

Figure 3-11 shows the business process task flow for friends and family.

Figure 3-11 Business Process Task Flow

3.3.12.1 Design Time Setup

To enable the Friends and Family support:

You must perform the following in Oracle BRM:

Define discounted pricing for friends and family lists. This involves specifying a label name for each list type defined in billing.

Caution:

The solution does not use the Oracle BRM Provisioning Tag Framework to support the Friends and Family feature.

For more information, see the Oracle BRM Documentation for "Working with Extended Rating Attributes" and "About rating based on Friends and Family ERA."

You must perform the following in the Siebel CRM Project Workspace:

Create a simple product with a name that is identical to the list label name used in Oracle BRM (while defining the discounted pricing for the lists).
Set the billing type of the product to be Special Rating.
Leave the billing service type blank.

Tip:

This allows the use of the same special rating product across different types of services (such as Wireless and VoIP) for which you want to enable Friends and Family.
Set the billable flag to Y
Set the track as asset flag to Y
Add the special rating products to the service bundle that represents the service that supports friends and family lists. This service bundle must include a usage-based subscription product that is used to rate service usage.
Include the service bundle in the desired promotion(s) and release all the entities.

For more information on friends and family plans, see Siebel Communications Guide, "Profiles in Siebel Communications."

3.3.13 Product Definition Methodology for Friends and Family: Example

Table 3-11 and Table 3-12 are examples of the product definition methodology.

Oracle BRM Definition

Table 3-11 Oracle BRM Definition

Products in Oracle BRM	Service Type
Basic Wireless 550	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
------ Monthly Cycle Forward Event
------ Product Purchase Fee Event
------ Delayed Telco GSM Event
Premium Wireless 800	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
------ Monthly Cycle Forward Event
------ Product Purchase Fee Event
------ Delayed Telco GSM Event
Unlimited Wireless Voice	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
------ Monthly Cycle Forward Event
------ Product Purchase Fee Event
------ Delayed Telco GSM Event
Wireless Add On Line	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
------ Monthly Cycle Forward Event
------ Product Purchase Fee Event
------ Delayed Telco GSM Event
Wireless Voice Mail	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
Wireless Call Conference	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
Wireless Caller ID	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
Wireless Call Waiting	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
Wireless Call Forwarding	/service/telco/gsm/telephony
Text Messaging SMS 200	/service/telco/gsm/sms
Text Messaging SMS 400	/service/telco/gsm/sms
Text Messaging SMS Unlimited	/service/telco/gsm/sms
Text Messaging Usage	/service/telco/gsm/sms
50% Activation Discount	/account

Define discounted pricing in Oracle BRM for rating phone numbers on the Special Rating lists. Use the labels Friends and Family.

Siebel CRM Representation

Table 3-12 Siebel CRM Representation

Product Name	Service Type	Billing type	Comments
Basic Wireless 550	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
------ Product Purchase Fee Event	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Event	Automated
Premium Wireless 800	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
------ Product Purchase Fee Event	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Event	Automated
Unlimited Wireless Voice	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
------ Product Purchase Fee Event	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Event	Automated
Wireless Add On Line	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
------ Product Purchase Fee Event	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Event	Automated
Wireless Voice Mail	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
Wireless Call Conference	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
Wireless Caller ID	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
Wireless Call Waiting	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
Wireless Call Forwarding	/service/telco/gsm/telephony	Subscription	Automated
Text Messaging SMS 200	/service/telco/gsm/sms	Subscription	Automated
Text Messaging SMS 400	/service/telco/gsm/sms	Subscription	Automated
Text Messaging SMS Unlimited	/service/telco/gsm/sms	Subscription	Automated
Text Messaging Usage	/service/telco/gsm/sms	Subscription	Automated
50% Activation Discount	/account	Discount	Automated
Friends	Not applicable	Special Rating	Manually Created
Family	Not applicable	Special Rating	Manually Created

Table 3-13 contains some examples of the service bundles that include special rating products.

Service Bundles (SB)

Table 3-13 Service Bundles (SB)

Service Bundles	Comments
Wireless Service	Nested Service Bundle
------- Voice Access Options	Relationship of domain type = "Dynamic Class" and the components represent the options
-------------- Basic Wireless 550	--
-------------- Premium Wireless 800	--
-------------- Unlimited Wireless Voice	--
-------------- Wireless Add On Line	--
------- Special Rating Options	Relationship of domain type = "Dynamic Class" and the components represent the options
-------------- Friends	--
-------------- Family	--
------- Wireless Voice Service Feature	--
-------------- Wireless Voice Mail	--
-------------- Wireless Call Conference	--
-------------- Wireless Caller ID	--
-------------- Wireless Call Waiting	--
-------------- Wireless Call Forwarding	--
------- Text Messaging	--
-------------- Text Messaging Options	Relationship of domain type = "Dynamic Class" and the components represent the options
-------------------- Text Messaging SMS 200	--
-------------------- Text Messaging SMS 400	--
-------------------- Text Messaging SMS Unlimited	--
-------------- Text Messaging Usage	--

Note:

If multiple special rating products are bundled within the same service bundle, it is recommended that they be first grouped into a dynamic class and then included in the service bundle.

Here are some examples of the promotion definition:

Promotions

Table 3-14 Promotions

Nation 550 Minutes

--------- Wireless Plan

------------- Wireless Service

------------------ Basic Wireless 550

------------------ Friends

------------------ Wireless Voice Service Feature

-------------------------- Wireless Voice Mail

-------------------------- Wireless Call Conference

-------------------------- Wireless Caller ID

-------------------------- Wireless Call Waiting

-------------------------- Wireless Call Forwarding

------------------ Text Messaging

Text Messaging SMS 200

Text Messaging Usage

------------- 50% Activation Discount

Nation 800 Minutes Different Promotion Variant created from the same bundle.

--------- Wireless Plan

------------- Wireless Service

------------------ Premier Wireless 800

------------------ Friends Friends and Family lists added to the Wireless Service

------------------ Family

------------------ Wireless Voice Service Feature

-------------------------- Wireless Voice Mail

-------------------------- Wireless Call Conference

-------------------------- Wireless Caller ID

-------------------------- Wireless Call Waiting

-------------------------- Wireless Call Forwarding

------------------ Text Messaging

-------------------------- Text Messaging SMS 400

-------------------------- Text Messaging Usage

------------- 50% Activation Discount

3.3.14 Supporting Time-Based Offerings

The time-based offerings (TBO) feature enables customers to define and use products and discounts in Siebel CRM that are valid only for a specific period, and expire after that.

Consider a use case in which a service provider wants to offer two promotions:

Gold Plan, which provides 50% discount on monthly cycle fee for the first three months
Silver Plan, which provides 50% discount on monthly cycle fee for the first two months

Service providers creates a product in Oracle BRM that grants 1000 free minutes. This product is added to the Gold Plan by setting the attribute value for Duration to 3 and UOM to months. In case of the Silver Plan, the attribute values for Duration and UOM are set to 2 and months respectively.

Similarly, using time-based offering, you can model absolute or percentage-based discounts with limited validity. In case of a TBO upgrade or a downgrade scenario, the attribute ValidityDurationStart is used to calculate the new service end date.

For more information about TBOs, see Section 12.6, "Supporting Time-Based Offerings."

3.3.14.1 Time-Based Offerings Methodology

The two components of the solution for time-based offerings are design time and order time. They are defined as follows:

Design Time
- A custom product class with three validity attributes (Duration, DurationUnitOfMeasure, and DurationValidityStart) is created in Siebel CRM.
  
  These attribute names must exactly match the names specified previously.
- Products and discounts that have validity requirements are manually changed from simple products to customizable products.
- The product type for the products in Siebel is Time Based Offer.
- The validity product class is associated with the products and discounts.
- The validity attribute values are supplied for bundles or promotions in Siebel CRM.
Order Time (for a new order or a revision order).

Passing the End Date Value to Oracle BRM

In Siebel CRM, a product class with new attributes must be created. The product class contains three new attributes:

Duration: Used to define the number of days, months, or years.
DurationUnitOfMeasure: The unit used to measure the duration (days, months, or years).
DurationValidityStart: Indicates which date to calculate the end date from. The valid values for this attribute are: Original Start, Order Time, and Original End.

The DurationValidityStart determines how the end date is calculated in a change order scenario. During a change order, if the duration of the product is changed, the new duration is calculated based on the original start date, the current date, or the original end date based on the value of the attribute.

For more information about Oracle Service Management (Oracle OSM), see Oracle Communications Order and Service Management, Application Integration Architecture Order to Activate Cartridge Guide.

For more information, see Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Setting Up Pricing and Rating, "Real-time rating based on date and time."

3.3.14.2 Using Time-Based Offerings

Here is the methodology to use TBOs:

The products that are valid should be changed manually to a customizable product in Siebel CRM. This is because simple products cannot be associated with a product class.

A new class with three attributes must be created within Siebel CRM. This class must be made available for use with any charge or discount type product. The attribute names must exactly match what is specified in Table 3-15.

Table 3-15 Product Class - Attributes

Attribute Name	ValueSet	Attribute Type	LOV
Duration	--	int	--
DurationUnitOfMeasure	UnitOfMeasure	enum	0 - none 1 - seconds 2 - minutes 3 - hours 4 - days 5 - months
DurationValidityStart	ValidityStart	enum	0 - Original Start 1 - Now 2 - Original End

Attribute Name

ValueSet

Attribute Type

LOV

Duration

int

DurationUnitOfMeasure

UnitOfMeasure

enum

0 - none

1 - seconds

2 - minutes

3 - hours

4 - days

5 - months

DurationValidityStart

ValidityStart

enum

0 - Original Start

1 - Now

2 - Original End

For more information about billing dates, see Appendix C, "OLM - Mapping Billing Dates."

Associate the previously created class with time-based products and discounts in Siebel CRM.
Provide values for the validity attributes for products and discounts for promotions and bundles.
Siebel supports product class hierarchy. The methodology covers the aspects of using the validity attributes in the class hierarchy scenario.

Note:

In Siebel CRM, a product can be associated with a single product class. If class inheritance is not used, validity class may clash with other product classes that are required to support other features.
The implementer in Oracle OSM must use the attribute names used in Siebel CRM to retrieve the values of the validity attributes.

For more information about how to create products and discounts in Siebel, see the Siebel product documentation.

3.4 Solution Assumptions and Constraints

Oracle BRM deals and plans are not synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM. The service bundles and promotions are manually defined in Siebel CRM.
Credit limits are not synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM.
Sharing groups are not synchronized from Oracle BRM to Siebel CRM.
Multiple brands defined within a single instance of Oracle BRM are not supported by the integration.
The synchronization of billing products and billing discounts is one-way. Billing products created or updated in Siebel CRM are not synchronized back to Oracle BRM. Oracle BRM is the product master.
The integration does not support multiple price lists or multiple currencies. All products are created under a single price list and a single currency in Siebel CRM. The price list (with its specified currency) used is the one specified in the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file.

For more information about configuration properties, see Chapter 24, "Configuring the Process Integration for Product Lifecycle Management."
All of the billing products created by this synchronization are associated with one business unit in Siebel CRM. This is the business unit that is specified in the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file.

For more information about business units, see the Siebel CRM product documentation.

For more information about configuration properties, see Chapter 24, "Configuring the Process Integration for Product Lifecycle Management."
All of the billing products synchronized to Siebel CRM are created in a single workspace in Siebel CRM. This is the workspace specified in the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file.

For more information about workspaces, see the Siebel CRM product documentation.

For more information about configuration properties, see Chapter 24, "Configuring the Process Integration for Product Lifecycle Management."
If a product in Oracle BRM has multiple rate plans or multiple tiers, the integration does not synchronize the pricing information. The price is set to $0 in Siebel CRM for such products.

For more information, see Section 3.3, "Understanding the Product Bundling Methodology."
We recommend you use Siebel discounts for discounting purchase fees on products. Based on the pricing commit type, Siebel discounts get applied as price or discount overrides when the order is interfaced to billing.

For more information about pricing commit type, see "Defining Overrides on the Product Definition".

For Oracle BRM purchase fee discounts to get applied consistently, the discount must be purchased before the product that it applies to. Both the order management system and the AIA connector service that interfaces the order to billing must recognize this and currently, the AIA connector service does not handle this sequencing requirement.

In cases where discounts are defined in Oracle BRM and synchronized to Siebel CRM, they must not be used in the bundling of products to create offers or promotions. Also, products, bundles, or promotions, which have purchase fee discounts must not be used to create quotes or orders.

Note:

This guide does not address upgrade issues for customers that have in-flight orders or transaction data with purchase fee discounts interfaced to billing.
The lists associated with the Special Rating products (such as Friends and Family) are defined in Siebel CRM. An external communication must exist between the Siebel product Administrator and the Oracle BRM pricing administrator to communicate the name of the lists that were created in Siebel CRM. The Oracle BRM administrator creates the labels for the corresponding list names in Oracle BRM. Oracle BRM uses labels to identify the friends and family type lists. The labels are used to associate special pricing models in Oracle BRM Pricing.
When a billing product is deleted in Oracle BRM, it does not publish any message. The corresponding billing product in Siebel CRM is not deleted or inactivated automatically. You must inactivate this billing product manually in Siebel CRM. If you delete a billing product in Oracle BRM that is synchronized with Siebel CRM, then the cross-reference data for that billing product is not deleted. This must be purged manually. We recommend that you not delete products in Oracle BRM but instead inactivate the product in Oracle BRM by setting the product end date.
The billable events that are associated with billing products in Oracle BRM must be included in the PRICETYPE_EVENT domain value map. If an event is not included in the DVM, the process integration ignores the event. In other words, the process integration does not create a corresponding simple product that represents the event (billing type Event) in Siebel CRM. The process integration does not end in error, nor does it send a notification that an event was not found in the DVM.
Oracle BRM is the master for usage pricing. When billing products with only one usage event are synchronized from Oracle BRM, a simple product with a price type of One-Time is created in Siebel CRM. The pricing information for such products must not be changed in Siebel CRM. For example, a price override or discount must not be specified in Siebel CRM. If the price is updated in Siebel CRM the changes are not propagated to Oracle BRM or applied when the order is interfaced to billing.
A service bundle can have another service bundle as a component product. A service bundle that does not have another service bundle as one of its component products must have the same billing service type as its component products. Violation of this assumption can result in Oracle BRM grouping the billed charges under the wrong bucket (bill-item).The product synchronization sets the asset-trackable flag to Y for Oracle BRM products of type Subscription and N for products of type Item or System.
The product synchronization process ignores the effective start date and effective end date that are specified on the rate tier of the billing products. The effective start date on the price line in Siebel CRM is set to the creation date and time and the effective end date is not set.
Because BPEL flows are transactional in nature, they must not be used for either initial data loads or considerable-sized data loads. Instead, you should create your own data loading capability using appropriate tools or scripts. You must also create scripts to populate cross-reference data.
Out of the box in Siebel CRM, a single penalty product can be associated to the promotion disconnect workflow process (ISS Promotion Disconnect Process). When a promotion is violated (early termination), the penalty charge gets added to the quote or order and the penalty can be processed or applied in the billing system from where the penalty product was originally synchronized to Siebel CRM.

Siebel CRM must be extended to support scenarios where multiple penalties are applied and processed in different billing systems (such as mutli-play promotions where products are billing fulfilled in different billing systems).