This chapter covers the following topics:
Partners are organizations with which vendors have a business relationship. Every partner organization is a distinct legal entity with its own challenges, market pressures, customers, and intellectual capital. In a partner relationship, vendors and partners work together to win the customer over with a compelling product or service. The significant difference is that the partner is not permanently tied to a vendor's product line. Partners help to close businesses by selling a vendor's products and assisting intercompany process before, during, and after the sale.
Partners provide industry expertise or add value to products and services. Types of partners include prospects, end users, original equipment manufacturers, resellers, and value added distributors (VADs). Oracle Partner Management focuses on connecting vendors with indirect channels to help partners successfully sell the vendors' products.
In Oracle Partner Management, there are four ways to create a partner:
A vendor user with the appropriate privileges can manually create a partner organization.
A partner can register using a self-service registration process.
A vendor can convert an existing customer to a partner.
A value added distributor (VAD) can create a new partner that they want to manage.
When a new partner self-registers or is manually created, Oracle Partner Management uses the basic information to set up the partner profile. When an existing customer is converted to a partner, the organization already exists in the system, so you do not need to re-enter this information.
Through the self-registration process, a partner employee can register his organization as a partner and register himself as a partner user. Subsequently, additional employees in the partner organization can register as partner users, or the organization's partner administrator can sign up other employees as partner users. An organization and its employees register using a link provided during implementation.
Once a partner employee starts the registration process, he is guided through a series of steps to submit company and user information. Once this information is submitted, Oracle Partner Management generates a company and user account for the organization. The partner user is given a user name and password, which he selects during registration; he then receives a notification. The partner employee registered during the partner organization registration process is always registered as a primary user. The primary user is the administrative user. Default roles and responsibilities are granted to a partner user upon the completion of the registration flow.
When a partner registers, the following are set up in Trading Community Architecture (TCA):
A party record is created for the organization
A party record is created for the contact
A partner of relationship is created between the partner organization and the vendor
An Employee-of relationship is created between the partner contact and the partner organization
Based on the Partner Management territory hierarchy, the channel manager is identified and assigned to the partner. A channel team is assigned to the partner based on the territory setup. The channel team is a set of Channel Managers and Channel Reps who manage and work with the partner.
For directly managed partners, Channel Managers are vendor employees.
For indirectly managed partners, Channel Managers are VAD employees or vendor employees or both.
The seeded event 'oracle.apps.pv.partner.Profile.updateStatus' is raised whenever the PV_PARTNER_PROFILES.status is updated.
When an existing customer of Oracle Partner Management upgrades to release 12.0 from a prior release, it is essential to run the PV: Partner Type Migration concurrent program as one of the post-installation steps. If you do not run this concurrent program, existing partners will have a blank Primary Partner Type. Also, these partners will not be returned as part of any search result set.
Like employees of the vendor organization, partner employees are assigned responsibilities, resource roles, and permissions-based roles.
Oracle Partner Management allows vendor users to create pricing for partner programs in various price lists, and integrates with Oracle Advanced Pricing to create and manage these lists. Advanced Pricing uses the QP: Security Control to control price list security by operating unit.
The default currency used by a Partner is set in the partner's responsibility. It is not changeable by the partner after it has been set. This prevents partners from frequently adjusting the default currency in order to take advantage of any rising or falling currency exchange rates.
There are two partner user responsibilities:
Default Partner User: This responsibility is used to display the Partner Dashboard to the partner user after the partner organization has registered but before the partner has enrolled in a program. Partners users with the Default Partner User responsibility have a limited view of information on the Partner Dashboard. They can see the Available Programs bin, but cannot see the Quick Links bin because no menu is attached to the Default responsibility. The users cannot see the Upgrade and Renewal bins, since the partner is not yet registered in a partner program. Finally, since the partner does not yet have offered opportunities, the users do not see the Offered Opportunities bin.
After a partner enrolls in a program, Oracle Partner Management removes the Default Partner User responsibility and assigns partner users the responsibilities that are associated with the partner program. Depending on the program and the associated responsibilities, the partner's users will be able to see additional information on the Partner Dashboard. For more information on partner programs and responsibilities, refer to Mapping Partner Responsibilities to Programs.
Partner Super User: This responsibility includes the superset of all functionality offered to partners. Partners can either be regular partners or distributors. Distributors are different from regular partners as they manage some partners on behalf of the vendor. Menus tied with the Partner Super User responsibility can be used as a reference to create menus for custom responsibilities.
For defining menus that can be used with the Quick Links bin, see the Oracle iStore Implementation Guide.
Oracle Partner Management provides two resource roles for partner users. A role is assigned to a user during the self registration process or when the partner administrator sets up a partner employee as a user. The role is assigned when a channel manager registers partner users and a VAD registers indirectly managed partners and users.
Oracle Partner Management provides two permissions-based roles that are used for partner users and are assigned to a user during the self registration process or when the partner administrator sets up a partner employee as a user. Also the role is assigned when a channel manager registers partner users and a VAD registers indirectly managed partners and users:
PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER: By default, this role is assigned to the partner employee who first registers his organization as a partner, and also whenever a partner user is registered using the Primary User type. A user with this role is referred to as the Primary User, provided that the role has not been customized or still has 'PV_PARTNER_USER' and 'IBE_INT_PRIMARY_USER' permissions even after customization. The Primary User has administrative capabilities, such as the ability to set up other employees as users and the ability accept compensation for deal referrals.
PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER: This role is assigned to all users that are registered using the Primary User type and Business User type. A user with this role is referred to as a Business User. A Primary User can give Business Users the Primary User role from the Profile > Administration > Contact Management > Roles UI page. This can also be done by a vendor user that has access to the CRM HTML Administrator responsibility.
The following table lists permissions that are seeded with the Primary User (PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER) role:
| Permission Name | Description |
|---|---|
| PV_PARTNER_USER | Indicates that the user is a partner user. |
| PV_MY_CONTACT_PROFILE | Provides access to the partner's profile. Navigate via the Profile icon > My Profile > Personal Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_PARTNER_UPDATE_PROFILE | Provides access to update a partner's organization information. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Company Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_PARTNER_VIEW_PROFILE | Provides access to view a partner's organization information. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Company Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_VIEW_MEMBERSHIPS | Provides access to view partner memberships. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Memberships. |
| PV_CHANNEL_TEAM | Provides access to view a partner's channel team. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Channel Team. |
| PV_CONTACT_PROFILE | Provides access to view a contact's profile information. Navigate via Profile icon > Administration > Contact Management > Detail > View More Details button. |
| PV_OPPTY_CONTACT | This is used to identify the partner contacts during opportunity routing. |
| PV_REF_COMP_APPROVER | This is defined for partners who can accept compensation. This permission enables partners to view and accept compensation for referrals. |
| PV_REFERRAL_SUPERUSER | This a Super User permission defined for referral management. It can be assigned to vendors and partners. Vendors with this permission can view and update all referrals. Partners with this permission can view, update, and accept compensation for referrals for their organization. |
| PV_DEAL_SUPERUSER | This is a Super User permission defined for deal registration. It can be assigned to vendors and partners. Vendors with this permission can view and update all deals. Partners with this permission can view and update all deals for their organization. |
The following table lists permissions that are seeded with the Business User (PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER) role:
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| PV_PARTNER_USER | Indicates that the user is a partner user. |
| PV_MY_CONTACT_PROFILE | Provides access to the partner's profile. Navigate via the Profile icon > My Profile > Personal Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_VIEW_MEMBERSHIPS | Provides access to view partner memberships. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Company Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_PARTNER_VIEW_PROFILE | Provides access to view a partner's organization information. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Company Information > Profile tab. |
| PV_CHANNEL_TEAM | Provides access to view a partner's channel team. Navigate via the Profile icon > Company Profile > Channel Team. |
In addition to Oracle Partner Management permissions, numerous iStore permissions are included with partner user roles. The following table lists the Oracle iStore permissions for the for the PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER and PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER roles.
| Permission | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IBE_INT_ASSIGN_ROLES | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Assigns roles in the User Management screens. |
| IBE_INT_PRIMARY_USER | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Identifies a user as primary user across the application. |
| IBE_INT_ORG_DETAILS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Provides permissions to view organization details in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_INT_USER_MANAGEMENT | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Provides access to User Management screens. |
| IBE_VIEW_NET_PRICE | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows a user to see all prices (that is, list prices, discount prices and net prices), instead of just Retail Price/Your Price in the shopping cart and Order Tracker pages. This permission does not affect the user's ability to view prices in the catalog. This permission also controls the pricing agreement, promotion code, and commitment functionalities in Oracle iStore. For users without this permission, it is recommended that they also not have the following permissions IBE_CHECKOUT, IBE_CREATE_ORDER, IBE_CREATE_RETURN, or IBE_VIEW_ORDER. |
| IBE_INT_ORG_EMAIL_ADDRESSES | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows to view company contact information. |
| IBE_INT_UPDATE_ORG_DETAILS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Permission to update organization details in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_INT_CONTACT_DETAILS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
This permission is currently not supported. Although it may appear in some seeded user roles, those roles are non-functional. |
| IBE_INT_ORG_ADDRESS_BOOK | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Permission to view company address book in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_INT_ORG_TELEX_NUMBERS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Permission to view telex numbers of the company in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_CHECKOUT | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows a user to see and use the Checkout button in shopping cart. |
| IBE_ASK_SALES_ASSISTANCE | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows a user to request sales assistance in the checkout phase, and to disagree with terms and conditions. If a user does not have this permission, the 'Need Salesrep Assistance' button in the Order Review page and the 'I disagree - Need Assistance' button are not displayed. |
| IBE_INT_ADMINISTRATORS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Gives users permission to view primary users of the organization in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_INT_ROLE_MANAGEMENT | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Gives users permission to create and update roles in the Role Management screens. |
| IBE_INT_MANAGE_CONTACT_INFO | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Gives users permission to update, create, and delete corporate addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and telex numbers in the Company Profile screens. |
| IBE_INT_MANAGE_CONTACT | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Gives users permission to create new and update existing organization contacts and users in the User Management screens. |
| IBE_INT_ASSIGN_ACCOUNTS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Gives users permission to assign accounts in the User Management screens. |
| IBE_INT_PENDING_APPROVAL | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER | Gives users permission to approve users of the organization in the Pending Approval screens. |
| IBE_CREATE_BILLTO_CONTACT_ADDRESS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows the user to create a new address associated with the bill-to contact which will have a bill-to relationship with the bill-to contact. |
| IBE_CREATE_SHIPTO_CONTACT_ADDRESS | PV_PARTNER_PRIMARY_USER PV_PARTNER_BUSINESS_USER |
Allows the user to create a new address associated with the ship-to contact which will have a ship-to relationship with the ship-to contact. |
Value-added distributors might work with their own partner organizations. Partner users that are members of a VAD have additional abilities. VAD users who manage their organization's partners can be assigned the Channel Manager or Channel Representative role, which provides them with visibility into partner information. In addition, the following permission can be assigned to VAD users to give them additional partner management capabilities:
PV: Invite New Partners permission: A user with this permission can create a partner and invite it to a program. The user sees the Create and Invite Partner button on his Partners page.
By default, a VAD contact does not have access to the My Managed Partners bin. To give a VAD contact access to this information, do the following:
Give the user the Channel Manager resource role (assigned at both the Role and the Group tab).
Give the user the PV_CHANNEL_MANAGER permissions based role in order to give access to the invite new partner link.
The following user types must be enabled using the CRM HTML administrator responsibility for registering partner organizations and partner users through user registration.
IBE_PARTNER_BUSINESS to register partner users of an existing partner organization.
IBE_PARTNER_PRIMARY to register a new partner and primary user of partner organization.
Use this procedure to enable the user types.
Prerequisites
None.
Steps:
Log in as the system administrator into the CRM Admin Console and navigate to Users tab > Setup > User Types.
Enable the following user types, only if you have Oracle Partner Management 11.5.10 or a higher version is installed.
IBE_PARTNER_BUSINESS
IBE_PARTNER_PRIMARY
For more information, see the Oracle iStore Implementation Guide.
To remove access to partner management functionality, do the following in the specified sequence:
1. Run the PV - Assign/Revoke user responsibilities concurrent program with action parameter value as Revoke to revoke all the Oracle Partner Management responsibilities automatically assigned by the system. If any responsibilities are set manually, they need to be revoked manually.
Revoke any permission-based roles that give access to the PV_PARTNER_USER permission.