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Decisions About Design of Multiple Attribute Pricing Tables

Before you begin creating a multiple-attribute pricing table, you should make decisions about the following features of the table:

• Order of Attributes. You must plan the order in which you list attributes, because the order affects the adjusted price.
• Display Error When Invalid Combination. You can select this option to prevent the user from choosing an invalid combination of attributes.
• Allow Any. This option allows you to insert null value wildcards into the pricing table, so one record represents many value of an attribute.
• Adjustment Item Generator. This feature allows you to automatically populate an attribute pricing table with price adjustment items representing all possible combinations of attributes.
• Zero-Effect Adjustment Items. You may want to create adjustment items that have no effect on pricing to make the table easier to maintain.

Order of Attributes in Multiple-Attribute Pricing Tables

If you are creating a multiple-attribute pricing table, the order in which you add attributes to the Attributes list determines the order of attributes in each pricing adjustment item, and:

• The order of attributes affects the pricing calculation
• If certain product attributes must override other attributes for pricing purposes, the order of attributes determines precedence
• The order of attributes affects processing speed

In single-attribute pricing tables, the order of attributes in the Attributes list is not important. Each price adjustment item includes only one attribute, so the price adjustment for that attribute is based on one calculation applied to the list price or promotional price.

In multiple-attribute pricing tables, each price-adjustment item includes multiple attributes, so the price adjustment is based on several calculations applied to the list price promotional price or list price. The order of attributes determines the order of the calculation and affects the result of the calculation.

For example, a product has a list price of $100, and there is a 50% markup for choosing the large size, and a $10 markup for choosing the color gold.

• If you calculate the size markup first, the large gold product will cost $160 (100+50%=150, and 150+10=160).
• If you calculate the color markup first, the large gold product will cost $165 (100+10=110, and 110+50%=165).

In addition, the selection order also determines the relative importance of attributes in case of ties. If two or more adjustment item rows in a table are both valid, the row with more explicitly defined attribute values (not blanks) in the leftmost columns takes precedence. For example, if there are four fields per record, and the first two fields of both records match what has been selected, the engine will return the record that matches first going from left to right.

Finally, the first attribute in each adjustment item row has the greatest impact on processing speed. If it does not make a difference in final price, in order to speed processing, follow these general rules:

• Select the attributes with the fewest values first.
• Do not select attributes first if they will be flagged as Allow Any.
• Do not select attributes first if you will allow the use of a wildcard in the Attribute field.

You must plan the order of attributes before you create a price adjustment table. The order in which you add attributes to the Attribute list determines their order in Price Adjustment Items, and it cannot be changed.

The Display Error When Invalid Combination Option

To prevent users from selecting combinations of attributes combinations that are not valid, you can select the Display Error When Invalid Combination check box in the Pricing Table Header record.

For example, if a product's large version comes in every color except green, you could use this option to display an error message if the user chose both large and green.

If you select this option, you must create an adjustment item record representing every valid combination of attributes, even if the combination has zero effect on pricing. The application will display an error message if the user selects an combination of attributes that is not represented by an adjustment item.

For example, even if gold is the only color that requires a price markup, you will have to add attribute item records for all the colors that the user can select. If there are 100 combinations of other attributes, and 10 possible colors, you will have to create 1000 attribute item records, even if only one color affects pricing.

To decide whether to use this option, you should weigh its benefits against its costs. There is a benefit to preventing users from choosing invalid combinations of attributes. But the added administrative cost is high because there are many combinations of attributes that do not effect pricing.

Most important, if you leave this check box blank, the user can proceed after choosing an invalid combination of attributes, and will not receive any price adjustment for the product. You must have some business plan to deal with these invalid orders.

If you select the Display Error When Invalid Combination option, you must create a pricing adjustment item representing every valid combination of attribute values, and you must not create a pricing adjustment item for any invalid combination of attribute values. To create the correct pricing adjustment items, you can use one of the two following features of Siebel ePricer:

• Allow Any option. Allows you to create adjustment items with null value wildcards that accommodate many attribute value combinations from the runtime interface, so you can use fewer adjustment items to represent all valid combinations. The Allow Any Option and Null Value Wildcards.
• Adjustment Item Generator. Allows you to automatically generate a full set of adjustment item records for all possible combinations of values of attributes that affect pricing. You can delete the adjustment items for invalid combinations of attributes. For more information, see About the Adjustment Item Generator.

These two features can also be useful if you do not select the Display Error When Invalid Combination option.

NOTE:  If you select the Display Error When Invalid Combination option, you must be sure that the default attributes for the product are a valid attribute pricing combination. If it is not a valid combination, your Siebel application will not add the product when users click the Add Item button to add this product to a quote. It will seem to users that the Add Item button is not working.

The Allow Any Option and Null Value Wildcards

When you create a Multiple Attributes table, selecting the Allow Any option allows you to enter a blank instead of entering every different domain value for a given attribute. This blank is a null value wildcard that represents all possible values in the given attribute's domain.

The Allow Any option is useful when you use the Display Error When Invalid Combination option, so you must have an adjustment item to represent every valid combination of attributes. It may allow you to use a wildcard instead of entering each separate value for an attribute.

For example, suppose you sell tee-shirts that come in the colors White, Gray, and Red and come in the sizes Small, Medium, Large, and Extra-Large, with the pricing shown in the following table

There is no markup for any color except red. The red T-shirts are marked up $2, except for the Extra-Large size, which is marked up $5. Instead of the long table shown above, you can represent this with the following short table

In the short table, the first row represents all the colors except Red, and the second row represents all the sizes of Red except Extra-Large.

The null value wildcard can reduce the work of creating a large attribute pricing table, but you must be careful to avoid the problems that it can create.

• You may mistakenly enter wildcards that allow the user to choose invalid combinations of products.
• You may also mistakenly create several pricing adjustment items that represent the same combination of attributes. Make sure that every Attribute Value combination in an attribute pricing table is unique.

If you do create several pricing adjustment items that represent the same combination of attributes, Siebel ePricer uses the adjustment item with that has the most exact matches (not blanks) in the leftmost position in the attribute pricing table. If one adjustment item had a blank for the third attribute and another had a blank in the fourth attribute, the latter would win. You should put the most important attributes in the leftmost position.

Avoid using null value wildcards in the first (leftmost) columns. This increases the processing task for ePricer and causes the processing to take longer. It is also contrary to the planning principle that the required, higher priority attributes should appear in the leftmost columns.

NOTE:  If you use the Allow Any option and null value wildcards, it is especially important to test your results after creating the attribute pricing table.

About the Adjustment Item Generator

The Adjustment Item Generator allows you to automatically generate adjustment item records for all possible combinations of attribute values that affect pricing.

After adjustment item records are generated, you must enter the adjustment type and the adjustment value in each. If any combinations of attributes are invalid, you must delete those adjustment items.

It may be easier to use the Adjustment Item Generator to generate all possible Attribute Value combinations, each in its own adjustment item, than to use null value wildcards. To make the decision, consider that:

• If you use the adjustment item generator, you must do the extra administrative work, entering adjustment type and adjustment values in each record. This could involve much more work than using null value wildcards, if many combinations of attributes have the same price adjustment.
• If you use null value wildcards, you may have a difficult conceptual task of analyzing the combinations of attributes to decide where you can should use wildcards.
• If you chose the Display Error When Invalid Combination option, then you cannot use a null value wildcard for an attribute if that attribute is not always available. For example, if the extra-large size is available in all colors except gray, then you cannot create an adjustment item with the null value wildcard for both color and size (as in the example above). If you did, there would be no error message when the user chose extra large and gray.

If you decide not to use the adjustment item generator, go to The Process of Creating Attribute Pricing Tables

If you decide to use the adjustment item generator, go to The Process of Creating Attribute Pricing Tables with the Adjustment Item Generator.

Zero-Effect Adjustment Items

If you choose the Display Error When Invalid Combination Option, you must create adjustment items representing every valid combination of attributes, even if they have no effect on pricing, as noted in The Display Error When Invalid Combination Option.

Even if you do not choose this option, you may want to create zero-effect adjustment items for the following reasons:

• To make the table easier to maintain. If a pricing attribute is not represented in an attribute pricing table, it can be difficult or impossible to add it later and integrate it with the adjustment items already in the table.
• To create a comprehensive, well structured table. If an attribute pricing table has a structured place for everything, it can be easier to work with, even if it has items with zero effect.