Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications > Setting Up Network Ordering >

About Network Ordering

You use the network order entry process to configure products that are too large to configure in real time with Siebel Configurator.

Large telecommunications networks might have 500 nodes and 1,000 connections. Each of these components might have 30 attributes. Use Siebel Configurator for small telecommunications networks that are less than about one-hundredth of this size. Configurator validates configuration in real time, and configuring large networks requires so much processing that real-time validation is not possible.

Network order entry configures products by:

• Partitioning the network into a number of components.
• Using Configurator to validate configuration of individual components in real time.
• Using the Compound Product Validation Engine to validate cross-component rules only at key times, such as when the user clicks the Validate button.

For example, Figure 165 illustrates part of a network that uses a frame relay as its network product and several ports and PVCs as its components. Network order entry defines the network and its components as separate products. A foreign key field in the component products relates the components to the network product. Configurator validates the configuration of the individual network product and component products. The Compound Product Validation Engine validates the network across products.

Figure 165. A Network and Its Components

Network order entry partitions the network into multiple components:

• Siebel Configurator handles intra-component validation rules.
• Business services handle validation rules for the entire multi-component network. Workflows that you can customize run these business services.

The Compound Product Validation Engine validates the network across components by applying rules, such as:

• A multipoint service must have at least two ports and at least one PVC.
• Any two ports can have only one connection.
• The to and from ports for a connection must exist in the multipoint service.
• The sum of the bandwidth attribute for all PVCs connected to a port cannot exceed the speed attribute of the port.