Pricing Administration Guide > Testing and Validating Pricing Models > The Process of Testing Pricing Models >

Using the Pricing Model Validation Views

The ePricer application provides two pricing model validation views: the Quote Pricing Model Validation view and the Order Pricing Model Validation view.

These views work in a similar manner, although they use slightly different sets of Siebel business components. Which one you select may depend on the business components used in a model's pricing factors. For example, if you need to test a pricing factor that uses a Order business component (that is, any business component that appears only in an order), then you must use the Order Pricing Model Validation View.

When you use these views, you generally should:

• Lock the pricing model. You must lock a pricing model in order to test it in a pricing model validation view.
• Activate and deactivate pricing factors. Activate the pricing factors you want to test, and deactivate those you do not want to test.

  To test this...	Do this
  Single factor	Activate the factor to be tested and deactivate those not to be tested.
  Multiple factors	Activate the factors whose interactions you are testing and deactivate all other factors.
  All factors in the model	Activate all factors in the model.

  NOTE:  If you make a pricing factor inactive, ePricer decision flow logic interprets this pricing factor as if it did not fire because the test conditions were not met. The decision flow logic follows the connector marked N leading from the inactive factor to determine the next factor to test in the decision flow.

• Reload the model into the cache. You must reload the model in the cache, so the test runs only the factors that you activated.

  CAUTION:  To avoid overwriting the cache used to serve runtime users with a test model, follow the advice in Reloading the Pricing Model for Testing Purposes.

• Create test quotes or orders. In the Quote Pricing Model Validation view or the Order Pricing Model Validation view, use the Test Quotes or Test Orders forms to enter sample data to test a pricing factor.
• Test the quote or order. Use the Test Quotes Line Items or Test Orders Line Items forms to create data and execute the quote or order validation.
• Check the pricing. After the pricing factor executes, make sure the pricing is correct by checking the following fields in the Test Quotes Line Items or Test Orders Line Items list and in the associated Totals form:
  • Start Price field displays the list price or the promotional price from the price list. The promotional price appears if one has been defined for the item; otherwise, the list price appears.
  • Net Price field is the price after all adjustments are applied at the line item level. Volume discounts are reflected in the net price.
  • Pricing Comments field in the Line Items list displays the comment field from the pricing factor. If multiple pricing factors execute in a test, multiple comments are displayed in this field, separated by commas. This field is blank if a pricing model was not used to calculate the selling price or if the Comment field in the pricing factor was left blank.
  • Discount Comments/Reasons field in the Totals or SubTotals form displays the pricing factor Comment associated with the aggregate pricing factor. If no aggregate pricing factors executed, this field is blank.

To test pricing factors using the Pricing Model Validation views

1. From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Pricing Administration > Pricing Model Manager > Pricing Model Manager.
2. Make sure the pricing model that contains the pricing factors to be tested is locked. If it is not, lock it by clicking its Locked check box.
3. Click the Pricing Factor Designer view tab and, in the Pricing Factor designer list, use the Active check box to activate the pricing factor or factors to be tested and deactivate those that are not to be tested.
4. Click the More Info view tab.
5. In the Pricing Model Manager list, click the menu button, and then click Reload.

   The current version of the selected Pricing Model is reloaded into the cache, overwriting any existing cache for the model. To avoid overwriting the cache used to serve runtime users with a test model, follow the advice in Reloading the Pricing Model for Testing Purposes.

6. From the Show drop-down menu, select either Quote Pricing Model Validation or Order Pricing Model Validation.
7. Enter test data for a quote or an order.
8. In the Test Quotes Lines Items view tab, click Reprice (or, if you are testing an aggregate type pricing factor, click Reprice All).
9. Review the pricing results to verify that the pricing factor was applied properly.