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Siebel Projects

Siebel Projects is a virtual work space that allows direct partner-to-partner collaboration among employees of different partner companies. Partners can use it to work together on software deployment, installation of equipment, sales opportunities that require involvement of multiple partners, and many other types of projects.

All partner employees who are part of the project can view information associated with the project, so employees of different partner companies can use the project to share information and work together.

The brand owner also has visibility across all projects that the partners are working on. Brand owners can monitor the status of the project based on project time lines, project budget, and key risk areas.

For more information about Siebel Projects, see Siebel Professional Services Automation Guide.

We will look at a typical scenario, illustrating how a partner that specializes in deploying software applications uses Siebel Projects to work with a partner that specializes in hardware. Because these partners are part of the same project, they can share information and work collaboratively on the project.

• Step 1. The partner creates a new project.
• Step 2. The partner locates other partners and adds them to this project.
• Step 3. Partners who are part of the project add their employees the project team.
• Step 4. The partner companies work together on the project.
• Step 5. The brand owner tracks the partners's work on the project.

Step 1. The Partner Creates a New Project

In the example used in this scenario, a partner company that specializes in implementation has won a contract to deploy the brand owner's software. This partner uses the Siebel Partner Portal to create a project, which it can use to work with the brand owners and with other partners.

To create a project

1. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the partner navigates to the Projects screen.
2. In the Projects list, the partner clicks New.
3. The partner confirms that its own organization has been added to the project, by making sure that it is listed in the Organization field of the new project record.
4. In the new project record, the partner fills out the fields with information about the project, such as project description, time lines, budget, and key contacts.

Step 2. The Partner Locates Other Partners and Adds Them to this Project

The partner company that created the project realizes that it will need the help of a partner that specializes in hardware to work on this project.

The partner can locate appropriate partners and add them to the project in two different ways:

• Use the Partner Locator to find partners with relevant skills, and create a collaboration with those partners, as described in Partner Collaboration.
• Use the Partner Locator to find partners with relevant skills, and have the brand owner add them to the project team.

When they use the Partner Locator, partners can find appropriate companies by searching based on expertise, location, and other criteria. In this case, the partner would enter a criterion such as Partner Type = Hardware.

After they have found the appropriate partner to work with, they can initiate a collaboration, and assuming the hardware partner accepts the collaboration, they can add the hardware partner to the project team.

Alternatively, they can request the brand owner to add the hardware partner to the project team using the All Projects Across Organizations view in Siebel Partner Manager.

To use the Partner Locator

1. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the partner navigates to the Partner Locator screen.
2. The partner enters the appropriate search criteria, and clicks Search.

   A list of partners who match the criteria appears.

Step 3. Partners Add Their Employees to the Project

Once the partner companies that need to be involved in a project have been added to the project, each partner company can add its own employees as users of the project. These users form the virtual project team.

NOTE:  All partner companies in the project must add their own employees to the project, to allow those employees to access information about the project.

To add partner employees to the project

1. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the partner navigates to the Projects screen.
2. The partner selects the project.
3. The partner clicks the Access view tab.
4. In the Access list, the partner clicks adds a new records for each of each employee of that partner company who will work on the project.

Step 4. The Partners Work Together on the Project

All of the partner employees who have been added to the project can use the Siebel Partner Portal to view information about the project, such as the project summary, and to add information to the project, such as activities, contacts, invoices, notes, risks, service requests, status reports, tasks, and other information.

Any partner employee who is on the project can see the information that the other partners have added.

To add or view information about the project

1. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the partner navigates to the Projects screen.
2. The partner selects the project.
3. The partner clicks the appropriate view tabs to add or view information about the project.

Step 5. The Brand Owner Tracks the Partners' Work

The brand owner can view the project to track its progress, even though the project was set up by partners independent of the brand owner.

The brand owner can view all projects, even if it has not explicitly been made a member.

To track the partners' work on the project

1. In the Siebel Partner Manager, the brand owner navigates to the Projects screen.
2. From the Show drop-down list, the brand owner selects All Projects Across Organizations.
3. In the Projects list, the brand owner selects the project.
4. The brand owner clicks the appropriate view tabs to view information about the project.