8 Understanding the Process Sales Order Fulfillment Business Flow

This chapter provides an overview of the Process Sales Order Fulfillment business flow and discusses order priorities and solution assumptions and constraints.

The Process Sales Order Fulfillment business flow is enabled by either of the following Pre-Built Integration options:

• Oracle Communications Order to Cash for Siebel customer relationship management (Siebel CRM) and Oracle Communications Order and Service Management (OSM) Pre-Built Integration option

• Oracle Communications Order to Cash for Siebel CRM, OSM, and Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) Pre-Built Integration option

Process Sales Order Fulfillment Business Flow Overview

The Oracle Communications Order to Cash Integration Pack for Siebel CRM, OSM, and BRM (the integration) uses the Process Sales Order Fulfillment business flow when a Siebel CRM user submits an order to OSM to process before submitting to bill fulfillment in BRM.

When a Siebel CRM user submits an order, Siebel CRM drops the order application business message (ABM) into a Java Message Service (JMS) queue and gives the control back to the Siebel CRM user, making the submit order event an asynchronous process. A JMS Consumer that listens to the JMS queue dequeues the message and invokes the Siebel CRM Application Business Connector Service (ABCS).

About Sales Orders

Sales orders are orders that purchase products and services for customers. Siebel CRM submits orders and the integration sends the orders to OSM. Orders from Siebel CRM are composed of an order header and order lines. The order header includes attributes applicable to the customer and to all order lines. Order lines apply to particular products or services and are composed of a subject and an action.

The order line subjects can include but are not limited to simple and customizable products, discounts (modeled as simple products), service bundles, promotions, and pricing event products (used with multi-event billing products). When order line items are fulfilled and provisioned, they are called assets in Siebel CRM.

Siebel CRM supports the following order line actions:

• Add: adds a new asset

  • Move-Add: used when transferring an existing asset from one address to another to add the asset at the target location

  • Move-Delete: used when transferring an existing asset from one address to another to delete the asset from the source location

• Delete: disconnects/cancels an existing asset

• Update: updates an attribute on an existing asset or product or service that has yet to be fulfilled

• Suspend: changes the status of an existing asset to Suspended

• Resume: changes the status of an existing asset from Suspended to Active

You can revise orders in Siebel CRM several times before submitting them. Siebel CRM tracks these revisions and each revision replaces any previous revisions. Siebel CRM internal revisions are not considered OSM revision orders because they are not submitted for fulfillment.

When you submit an order, the integration uses the attributes on the order to populate cross-reference tables and pass the fulfillment information to OSM and BRM.

When OSM receives the Siebel CRM order information from the integration, OSM determines the point of no return as set for the order items. An order past the point of no return is not yet complete, but you can no longer revise it.

For more information about the point of no return, see OSM Concepts, and for information about setting a point of no return, see OSM Cartridge Guide for Oracle Application Integration Architecture.

Siebel CRM and OSM use different terms to refer to the different types of order. This chapter uses the Siebel CRM term. Table 8-1 defines and maps the terms from Siebel CRM to OSM. For more details about the Siebel CRM orders, see "About Supplemental Orders", "About Follow-On Orders", and "About Future-Dated Orders".

Table 8-1 Order Term Mapping

Siebel CRM Term	OSM Term	Description
Open order	In-flight order	An order that has been submitted to fulfillment but is not yet complete
Supplemental order	Revision order	A changed version of an in-flight/open order
Follow-on order	Follow-on order	A changed version of an in-flight/open order that has passed the point of no return. Fulfillment of the follow-on order waits until the fulfillment of the order item on which the follow-on order depends is complete.
Modify order	--	An order to modify the attributes of assets on a completed order. There is no direct correlate in OSM; such orders are treated as new orders.
Future-dated order	Future-dated order	An order scheduled to start at a future date

In Siebel CRM, change order is the category of orders that make changes to previous orders. This category includes supplemental orders, follow-on orders, and modify orders.

About Supplemental Orders

Supplemental orders are revised versions of open orders that have been submitted for fulfillment but have not yet passed the point of no return.

Siebel CRM allows only one pending supplemental order for each open order.

When you submit a supplemental order from Siebel CRM, OSM does the following:

1. Suspends the fulfillment flows associated with the revised order

2. Computes the changes for each order line

3. Creates a compensation plan for fulfillment activities that have occurred and that are affected by the revision. The compensation plan is merged with the fulfillment plan for the OSM revision order, and the revision fulfillment does not begin until completion or another revision is submitted.

See Siebel Order Management Guide for information about revising an order in Siebel CRM.

About Follow-On Orders

Follow-on orders are revised versions of open orders that have passed the point of no return but are not yet complete. Siebel CRM simulates the future completion of the open order to set up a dependency between the fulfillment of the open order and the processing of the follow-on order. When OSM receives a follow-on order that depends on an open order, it manages the dependency and does not process the follow-on order until the fulfillment of the order item on which the follow-on order depends is complete.

To ensure that the integration correctly updates Siebel CRM assets, do the following before creating a follow-on order:

• Check that you have submitted the base order, establishing correct order dependency in OSM. If you submit the follow-on order before submitting the base order on which it depends, OSM processes the follow-on order as a base order.

• Check that the base order is past the point of no return.

• Discard any pending supplemental orders that you have not yet submitted for the open order.

You can submit supplemental orders and additional follow-on orders to revise follow-on orders.

About Modify Orders

Modify orders are revised versions of complete orders. They modify installed Siebel CRM assets using the base order for those assets (the Siebel CRM documentation also calls them asset-based orders). You can submit modify orders only for orders that have been fulfilled and provisioned. OSM treats modify orders from Siebel CRM as new orders that modify the data created by the base order.

You can submit supplemental orders and follow-on orders to revise modify orders.

About Future-Dated Orders

A future-dated order is an order scheduled to start at a future date. Future-dated orders are created in Siebel CRM with the Due Date attribute set to a future date and submitted immediately to OSM. OSM manages the date that fulfillment starts. When you create a future-dated order, Siebel CRM simulates the future state of the asset.

See OSM Concepts for more information about OSM future-dated orders and OSM Cartridge Guide for Oracle Application Integration Architecture for more information about handling current, past, future, and requested but not provided delivery date-time values.

To avoid complex future asset states, Oracle recommends that you do not create multiple future-dated orders for the same asset and that you limit future-dated orders to one per customer. If you must create multiple future-dated orders for the same asset, follow these guidelines:

• Ensure that new future-dated orders to not invalidate previously-submitted future-dated orders.

• Create the orders in chronological order.

• When the requested delivery date for an order line is earlier than a future-dated order that you created previously, revise the previous order to ensure that it is based on the future state of the asset determined by the new future-dated order.

Supporting Multiple Price Lists on Orders

The integration supports using multiple price lists for products on a single order.

When you create an order in Siebel CRM, the price list assigned to the customer's account is automatically assigned to the order header. You can specify a different price list for the order header and for the individual order lines.

See Siebel Pricing Administration Guide for information about assigning a price list to a customer's account.

You create price lists in Siebel CRM, add the default price list to the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file and add the default and any additional price lists to the PRICELIST domain value map (DVM) before creating products in BRM. See "Working with Price Lists and Rate Plans at Design Time" for more information about creating price lists at design time. OSM uses the price list information sent on a Siebel CRM order to initiate and fulfill billing in BRM using the correct rate plan.

Specifying Different Price Lists on New Orders

When you create a new order in Siebel CRM, the order can use the default price list for the order header, or you can specify a different one. You can also specify different price lists for the individual order lines. If you submit the order without specifying a price list for an order line, OSM populates the empty order line with the price list specified for the order header.

Orders in Siebel CRM must have at least a default price list in the order header. Oracle recommends that you extend Siebel to enforce this requirement.

When you submit an order that includes a customizable product, such as a service bundle, a marketing bundle, or a non-service-bundle customizable product, Siebel CRM automatically assigns the price list for the customizable product to all order lines for components of the customizable product in the sales order ABM. You cannot change the price list for the order lines for components of the customizable product.

Table 8-2 shows an example of the order lines for a new Siebel CRM order. The table shows only the attributes relevant to this example.

Table 8-2 Example of Specifying Price Lists on a New Order

Line Number	Product	Action	Price List
1	Internet Access	Add	-
2	VoIP Service Bundle	Add	Premium Consumer Price List
2.1	VoIP Access	Add	-
2.2	VoIP Voicemail	Add	-

When you submit the order in Table 8-2, Siebel CRM populates the price list for VoIP Access and VoIP Voicemail products with Premium Consumer Price List. When AIA passes the order to OSM, OSM populates the Internet Access product with the price list specified for the order header and sends the order through the integration to BRM for billing.

Changing Price Lists on Supplemental Orders

As part of a supplemental order for a new order in Siebel CRM, you can change price lists for existing lines that use the Add action.

• Change price list for order header: When you change the price list for the order header, OSM populates new and existing order lines without a specified price list with the new price list for the order header.

• Change price list for order line: When you change the price list for the order line, OSM updates the line item with the new price list.

• Remove price list for order line: When you remove the price list on the order line, leaving it empty, OSM populates the empty field with the price list specified for the order header.

Table 8-3 shows an example of a revision of the order shown in Table 8-2.

Table 8-3 Example of Changing Price Lists on a Supplemental Order

Line Number	Product	Action	Price List
1	Internet Access	Add	Premium Consumer Price List
2	VoIP Service Bundle	Add	-
2.1	VoIP Access	Add	-
2.2	VoIP Voicemail	Add	-

When you submit the order in Table 8-3, OSM changes the price list for the Internet Access product to Premium Consumer Price List and changes the price list for the VoIP service bundle and its components to the price list specified for the order header. OSM sends the revised order through the integration to BRM for billing.

Changing Price Lists on Modify Orders

You can change price lists for installed assets as part of a modify order in Siebel CRM and as part of a supplemental order for a modify order as follows:

• Change price list for order header: When you change the price list for the order header for an existing asset and use the Add action to include new order lines without specifying a price list, OSM populates the price list for the order lines with the new price list for the order header.

  If existing assets use a price list originally populated from the order header, OSM does not repopulate these when the price list for the order header is changed. You must change the price list for existing assets manually at each order line.

• Change or remove price list for order line: Because Siebel CRM does not send prior price list information to OSM, changes to price lists on order lines are ignored. To change or remove price lists for order lines on a modify order, you must first manually override the price for line items as follows:

  1. In Siebel CRM, enter the price in the Manual Price Override field for the line item. See the discussion of entering a manual discount for an individual line item in Siebel Order Management Guide for more information.

     The line action changes to Update.

  2. Assign the new price list to the order line or remove the price list, leaving it empty.

  3. If you are changing the price list for a service bundle, marketing bundle, or non-service-bundle customizable product, repeat step 1 for each component of the bundle.

  4. Submit the order.

     If you leave the price list empty, OSM populates the empty field with the price list specified for the order header.

Table 8-4 shows an example of the line items for a change order to change the price lists of the assets installed by the order in Table 8-3.

Table 8-4 Example of Changing Price Lists of Installed Assets on a Modify Order

Line Number	Product	Action	Price List
1	Internet Access	Update	Consumer Price List
2	VoIP Service Bundle	Update	Premium Consumer Price List
2.1	VoIP Access	Update	-
2.2	VoIP Voicemail	Update	-

When you create the order in Table 8-4, you must manually override the price of each line item so that the line action changes to Update. When you submit the order, Siebel CRM populates the price list for the VoIP Access and VoIP Voicemail products with Premium Consumer Price List. When AIA passes the order to OSM, OSM updates the price lists for the installed Internet Access and VoIP Service Bundle assets. OSM sends the order through the integration to BRM for billing.

Note:

Siebel CRM does not track price lists for assets. When you update the price list of an order line on a change order, Siebel CRM only sends the new price list value. If you are using an order management system other than OSM, it must recognize that the Update action for a line with a non-empty price list attribute value means that the price list attribute has changed.

Supporting Order Priorities

Order fulfillment priority is specified in Siebel CRM and honored by message queues, Oracle AIA, and OSM unless data integrity dictates a different processing sequence, such as with update sales orders from OSM to Siebel CRM.

Order priority affects the sequence in which orders are picked up from queues and processed in Oracle AIA and OSM. Orders with a higher priority take precedence over orders with a lower priority that have not yet started fulfillment.

The submission process for orders is the same for new orders, revision orders, and follow-on orders. The CSR selects a priority when submitting an order.

Siebel CRM provides and maps the priority values as shown in Table 8-5.

Table 8-5 Order Priority Values

Order Priority	JMS Priority
Low	3
Medium	5
High	7
Urgent	9

The integration supports 10 priority values, 0-9, as dictated by JMS queuing technology. You can extend Siebel CRM to support priority values other than those described in Table 8-5.

Assumptions and Constraints for the Process Sales Order Fulfillment Business Flow

The assumptions and constraints for the Process Sales Order Fulfillment business flow are as follows:

• Siebel CRM implements service points as assets and you typically uploaded them into Siebel CRM from external sources. You should manage service points in a common place and share them between Siebel CRM and Network Inventory (Service and Resource Inventory). The integration assumes that at least one following statement is true:

  • The determination of service point in Siebel CRM is irrelevant to Service and Resource Inventory.sdbv

  • The determination of service point in Siebel CRM is replicated in Service and Resource Inventory (for example, the same result is achieved).

  • The service point attribute value is unique and common across Siebel and Service and Resource Inventory, such that Service and Resource Inventory can use the value directly.

  • The service point attribute value is a cross-reference that is understood by Service and Resource Inventory; no AIA cross-reference exists for this attribute.

• When you create a change order, leave it pending in Siebel CRM, and submit it at a later date, Siebel CRM ensures that the change order data is up to date with the actual data from the installed assets. Any customization of Siebel CRM or integration with a different CRM system must also ensure that pending orders are up to date before submitting them.

• If you submit a follow-on order before submitting the base order on which it depends, OSM processes this follow-on order as a base order. Submit base orders first to establish the follow-on order dependency in OSM.

• Mixing future-dated, follow-on, and revision orders requires a well-trained CSR because some scenarios could produce unintended results.

• Siebel CRM can capture revisions to order Due Date in Siebel CRM (Requested Delivery Date in Oracle AIA) and submit them to Oracle OSM.

• Revising the Requested Delivery Date for an order only affects OSM if the base order did not start fulfillment by the time OSM received the revision.