This chapter covers the following topics:
Because Oracle iSupport is integrated with multiple Oracle modules that supply varied data and functionality, merchants can choose which modules to implement based on their specific business requirements. These integrated modules present many dependencies to Oracle iSupport.
Dependencies are classified as either mandatory, meaning that Oracle iSupport cannot function without them, or conditional, meaning that they supply additional functionality, but are not required to run Oracle iSupport. The Mandatory and Conditional Dependencies sections in this chapter provide overviews of these dependencies.
For documentation and training related to these modules, see the Preface to this guide.
Oracle iSupport relies on several Oracle E-Business Suite modules for its data and functionality. The modules that must be installed and set up for Oracle iSupport to function properly are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Your installation needs will vary depending upon whether you are doing a fresh installation (no previous Oracle applications installed), a multi-application upgrade using a Family Pack or Maintenance Pack, a multi-application upgrade involving several patches, or simply installing a single patch. In general, this documentation is written assuming that you are doing a fresh installation.
If you are installing Oracle Applications release 12 for the first time, or upgrading to release 12 from a previous release, use the appropriate version of Oracle Rapid Install as documented in:
Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install
Oracle Applications Upgrade Guide
Oracle Applications Release Notes for this release
The Oracle Application Object Library is a required dependency of all Oracle applications. Supplying technology and common libraries for Oracle applications, Oracle Application Object Library allows user creation, responsibility creation and maintenance, and the assignment of responsibilities to users.
Oracle CRM Technology Foundation (JTT) is a prerequisite for implementation of any Oracle CRM module. JTT provides Java-based infrastructure software that is used to develop e-business solutions such as Sales, Marketing, Service, E-Commerce, Contracts, and Interaction Center applications. It offers a common platform for developing applications with HTML, XML, and Java. It also provides user-friendly screens for centralized setup and administration. This web-based interface is called the System Administrator Console. For more information, see the Oracle Applications CRM System Administrator's Guide.
In all Oracle applications, Oracle Workflow provides the ability to send e-mail notifications, and allows you to define various workflow processes required for normal business operations. Oracle Applications comes with Oracle Workflow (WF) already installed as part of the Applications Object Library. For details on how Oracle iSupport uses Oracle Workflow, please see the chapter Integrating Oracle iSupport with Oracle Workflow.
The Oracle Trading Community Architecture consists of a database schema, APIs, and data quality management utilities that allow you to capture and exploit valuable information about your commercial community: organizations, people, places, and the network of relationships that bring them together. Oracle Trading Community Architecture is used by both Oracle ERP and Oracle CRM applications. For this release, Oracle's customer model is based on Oracle Trading Community Architecture.
Some APIs for Oracle Trading Community Architecture are published as part of this release. Refer to Oracle Trading Community Architecture Technical Implementation Guide for API details.
The CRM Application Foundation (JTA) consists of several supporting CRM applications. Some of those that Oracle iSupport requires are Assignment Manager, Notes, Resource Manager, and Territory Manager. For more information, see "Integrating Oracle iSupport with Service Request," Oracle Trading Community Architecture Technical Implementation Guide, and Oracle Common Application Calendar Implementation Guide.
Oracle iSupport relies on several other Oracle applications to extend its functionality. The applications that are conditional to Oracle iSupport are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Oracle Web Conferencing of the Oracle Collaboration Suite brings real-time online collaboration to any e-business, enabling employees, customers, and partners to conduct all types of conferences online in a common, flexible environment. Oracle iSupport requires this application if you want to enable contact center agents using Oracle TeleService to conduct a Web conference with customers using Oracle iSupport.
A Forms-based product, Oracle TeleService contains the bulk of the service request functionality for Oracle iSupport. Integration with Oracle TeleService allows customers to use Oracle iSupport to submit, view, edit, and re-open their service requests online. In other words, Oracle iSupport makes it possible for customers and employees to log and monitor their service requests. Integration with Oracle TeleService also makes it possible for an agent to step in and help any customers who cannot resolve problems on their own. One way that an agent can do this is to initiate a Web conference that a customer attends within Oracle iSupport. Setup information is in the chapter Integrating Oracle iSupport with Service Request.
Oracle Inventory supplies the infrastructure that contains an organization's entire product repository and configuration. It integrates closely with Oracle Install Base, which is the repository of customer- or party-purchased products. Both Oracle Inventory and Install Base are required for full service request functionality in Oracle iSupport. Both applications also supply product information during retrieval of account information on the Oracle iSupport Account tab. Setup information is in the chapter Integrating Oracle iSupport with Products and Returns.
Agents and employee users can create service requests for work orders of internal assets tracked in Oracle Enterprise Asset Management. Enterprise Asset Management specializes in maintaining internal assets using a preventive maintenance schedule. More specifically, agents and employee users of Oracle iSupport have the following abilities regarding service requests for these assets:
Creating
Viewing
Updating
Searching
Creating and saving a view that references an asset in Oracle Enterprise Asset Management
For setup details of integrating Oracle iSupport with Oracle Enterprise Asset Management, see Enabling Employees to File Service Requests for Assets.
Oracle Bills of Materials allows you to configure groups of products into coordinated and complementary systems. Oracle Bills of Materials allows the creation of products containing multiple components and subcomponents. It integrates with Oracle Inventory and Oracle Install Base. Setup information is in the chapter Integrating Oracle iSupport with Products and Returns.
Oracle Receivables provides four integrated workbenches that you can use to perform most of your day–to–day Accounts Receivable operations. You can use the Receipts Workbench to perform most of your receipt–related tasks and the Transactions Workbench to process your invoices, debit memos, credit memos, on–account credits, chargebacks, and adjustments. The Collections Workbench lets you review customer accounts and perform collection activities such as recording customer calls and printing dunning letters. The Bills Receivable Workbench lets you create, update, remit, and manage your bills receivable. Refer to the volumes of the Oracle Receivables User Guide for setup information.
Oracle iSupport uses General Ledger to set up ledgers and books, store exchange rates, and store related business information. Refer to Oracle General Ledger User Guide for complete setup information.
Oracle Human Resources Management System provides employee data for CRM and ERP applications. This application is mandatory only if a service organization wants its employees to log in and use Oracle iSupport as an online help desk.
Oracle Order Management processes orders booked in Oracle Quoting, Oracle iStore, and Oracle Order Management itself. Oracle Order Management and Oracle Quoting are both integral applications for returns functionality in Oracle iSupport. Oracle Order Management integrates with Oracle Advanced Pricing for determining prices of goods sold and Oracle Shipping for shipping execution. Oracle Order Management uses Oracle Receivables for keeping records of customers and invoices, and capturing payments. Oracle Order Management also depends on Oracle General Ledger. Setup information is in the chapter Integrating Oracle iSupport with Products and Returns.
Orders quoted in Oracle Quoting are sent to Oracle Order Management for processing. These orders then can be viewed within the Oracle iSupport Account tab. There are three parts to quoting: Oracle Quoting for forms, Oracle Quoting for HTML, and Oracle Order Capture APIs. All of these coordinate in the returns process, and Oracle Order Capture APIs are essential to returns functionality in Oracle iSupport. Setup information is in the chapter, Integrating Oracle iSupport with Products and Returns.
The Receipts form of Oracle Purchasing receives returns created in Oracle iSupport. Setup information is in the chapter, Integrating Oracle iSupport with Products and Returns.
With the Oracle iStore application, merchants can set up Internet storefronts that capture and process customer orders. Orders placed in Oracle iStore can be viewed within the Oracle iSupport Account tab. Oracle iStore and Oracle iSupport leverage the same pages for displaying information about orders, invoices, payments, shipments, returns, and for creating returns. For implementation with sites, Oracle iSupport uses the common site framework of Oracle iStore as defined in the Oracle iStore Implementation and Administration Guide. This framework comprises the following elements:
Login
Logout
Registration
Site Definition
Section Hierarchy
Section Layout
Template Manager
Site Dashboard Bins
Profile Management
User Management
Returns Creation
Pages such as Orders, Invoices, Payments, Shipments, and Returns
Setup information for sites is contained within the Oracle iStore Implementation and Administration Guide.
For implementation without sites, by default, all order tracker menus in the following Oracle iSupport responsibilities that have access to the Account menu tab are disabled:
IBU_BUSINESS_USER_RESP (Oracle iSupport Business User)
IBU_INDIVIDUAL_USER_RESP (Oracle iSupport Individual User)
IBU_PRIMARY_USER_RESP (Oracle iSupport Primary User)
To enable Order tracker pages in these responsibilities:
Log into Oracle Forms with the sysadmin responsibility.
Query up one of the responsibilities listed above.
Remove the following entries in the Menu Exclusion section:
IBU_INQ_ORDERS
IBU_INQ_INVOICES
IBU_INQ_PAYMENTS
IBU_INQ_RMAS
Oracle Contracts Suite - made up of Oracle Contracts Core and Oracle Service Contracts - provides a complete range of contracts creation, service, organization, and termination. Oracle iSupport relies on the Contracts Suite to provide data about customer entitlements, service contracts, warranties, extended warranties, and response commitments. This data is retrieved by Oracle iSupport when customers view account information. See Oracle Contracts documentation for setup information.
Oracle Contracts Core is both an application that provides supporting master agreements and a foundation for all other Oracle Contracts modules. The generic functionality required by all types of contracts is contained in the Oracle Contracts Core foundation layer, such as contract access control, renewal, termination, and notification management.
Oracle Service Contracts creates and manages service contracts, warranties and extended warranties; provides visibility to contract entitlements; and acts upon contractual commitments within the contract. Oracle Service Contracts builds upon the foundation of Oracle Contracts Core and adds functionality to meet the specific needs of the service industry, such as coverage terms and entitlement checking.
The Oracle Customer Care part of Oracle TeleService is composed of four modules:
Contact Center
Relationship Plans
Customer Profile/Dashboard
Critical Customer Management
These modules allow customer support agents to manage many aspects of support, including real-time interactions, information retrieval, customer creation, historical views, service request creation, knowledge base data retrieval, product management, and relationship plans. When a customer requests a call back, the application, at the time of a call back, provides the agent information about the customer using the contact center
Oracle Customer Care integrates with several ERP and CRM modules to support and extend its functionality. Setup information can be found in the Oracle TeleService Implementation and User Guide.
In Oracle iSupport, Oracle Knowledge Management provides knowledge base searches during service request creation, the display of frequently used solutions on the home page, and knowledge base searches from the Support tab. With the optional installation of Oracle Enterprise Search, Knowledge Management also provides searches through unstructured files and Web pages. Knowledge Management Setup information is in the Oracle Knowledge Management Implementation and Administration Guide.
In Oracle iSupport, Oracle Marketing Encyclopedia System provides functionality for publishing information to the home page Alerts bin, displaying other optional home page content, and searching and browsing the technical library. See chapter 9 for setup information.
The Web Call-Back (Call Me) feature allows users to submit a call-back request through the Oracle iSupport user interface. The web call-back requires implementation of the Oracle Interaction Center suite of applications and the purchase of call center hardware. It also requires the implementation of Oracle Universal Work Queue, Oracle Customer Care, and Oracle CRM Foundation Notes module. For further information, see the Setting up iSupport Web Call-Back in the Implementation Tasks chapter.
The eMerchandizing feature of Oracle iMarketing provides the ability for a service organization to show dynamically different campaign messages defined in an Oracle application to the customer users of their various support sites. Oracle iSupport supports both the classic and the newer lite version of eMerchandizing. The setups for the Oracle iMarketing classic and lite versions are different. Refer to the Oracle Marketing Implementation Guide for details. For Oracle iSupport setup steps to achieve integration with iMarketing, see Setting Up Integration with Oracle iMarketing.
Oracle iSupport uses Oracle Scripting to provide Surveys functionality. Oracle Scripting also presents scripts to the desktop of an Interaction Center agent to aid customer service. For further information, see the Setting Up Oracle iSupport Surveys topic, in the Implementation Tasks chapter.