Siebel Loyalty Administration Guide > Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Programs > Process of Setting Up Loyalty Programs >

Minting Point Blocks for Loyalty Programs

A point block is a set of points assigned to the host company or a partner. Whenever a member accrues points, those points come from a point block associated with that host company or partner.

To make points available for use, you must mint blocks of points when you first set up the program and periodically during the life of the program. Minting a point block is the process of creating and approving that point block.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Loyalty Programs.

Each point block is created for use by the host company or by a partner company. Partner companies buy points, as described in Selling Loyalty Points to Partners.

Each point block applies to only one point type. Thus, if you have more than one point type, you need a point block per point type per partner if actions with that partner can create an accrual transaction that gives points of the selected point type. Thus, if a partner is a redemption only partner (points can be used to purchase items from this partner, but a member cannot earn points by buying a normal item with currency from this partner), then a point block is not necessary.

Creating Point Blocks

The loyalty administrator creates the point blocks and submits them to the mint manager for approval.

To create point blocks

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
2. In the Programs list, select the program that uses the points and click its Program Id hyperlink.
3. Click the Point Blocks view tab.
4. Add a new record to the Point Blocks list, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Status	When you are finished filling out the record, select Submitted to submit the new point block for approval.
   Partner/Host	Select the company that will use these points, which may be the host company or a partner company. When an accrual transaction is processed from a company, it uses points from a point block associated with that same company.
   Point Type	Select the point type. For more information about point types, see Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs.
   Original # of Points	Enter the total number of points in this point block.
   Remaining Points	Displays the number of points remaining in the block after subtracting those that have been used in transactions.
   Cost Per Point	Enter your internal cost of the points. This value is useful for calculating margin and calculating outstanding liability for tax purposes.
   Sales Price Per Point	Enter the amount charged to a partner for each point in this point block. For more information about selling points to partners, see Selling Loyalty Points to Partners.

Approving Point Blocks

After the loyalty manager creates the point block, the mint manager must approve it. The engine will use only approved blocks during processing.

To approve point blocks

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
2. In the Programs list, select the program whose point blocks you want to approve and click its Program Id hyperlink.
3. Click the Point Blocks view tab.
4. In the Point Blocks list, use a query to find all point blocks with the value Submitted in the Status field.
5. To approve a point block, select Approved in the Status field.

Checking the Points Remaining in a Block

When it has been approved, all the fields in the mint block become read-only, so they cannot be edited.

In the Points Remaining field, users can see the calculated value of the number of points in the block that have not been distributed. Loyalty administrators should check periodically to see which blocks have few points remaining, so they can create new point blocks as replacements.

To check the points remaining in blocks

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
2. In the Programs list, select the program whose point blocks you want to approve and click its Program Id hyperlink.
3. Click the Point Blocks view tab.
4. In the Point Blocks list, use a query to find all point blocks with a small value in the Remaining Points field.