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Example of Defining Compound Products for a Network

This example shows you how to define a network composed of the following products:

• Frame Relay Network. The network product.
• Frame Relay Port. The node product.
• Frame Relay PVC. The connection product.

This example shows one method of defining compound products for a Network. Depending on your business requirements, you might use a different method.

To define a compound product for a network, perform the following tasks:

1. Defining the Frame Relay Network Product
2. Defining the Frame Relay Port Product
3. Defining the Frame Relay PVC Product
4. Defining Business Services for Rule Checkers
5. Defining Maximum and Minimum Quantities for Network Components
6. Defining Error Messages for Compound Product Rules
7. Defining Simple Expression Rules for Compound Products

Defining the Frame Relay Network Product

The Frame Relay Network is the network product for this sample network. All compound product rules are associated with this product.

In the network product, you can define attributes that apply across the entire network. For example, if the same hardware vendor applies to all the products in the network, then you can define the vendor as an attribute of the Frame Relay Network.

To define the Frame Relay Network product

1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Product Name	Frame Relay Network
   Compound Product	True
   Network Element Type	Network

Defining the Frame Relay Port Product

In most cases, model the Frame Relay Port product as an individual customizable product.

NOTE:  Although in most cases you must model the Frame Relay Port product as an individual customizable product to model valued added services such as reports and installation, you can model the Frame Relay Port product as a simple product and still use the Compound Product Validation Engine.

The attributes of the product can include port speed, level for quality of service, and so on. If you model your nodes as customizable products, then you must make sure that the attributes to use in cross-product validation rules are associated to the root component.

The sub components of the product might include Local Access Line and Installation.

To define the Frame Relay Port product

1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Product Name	Frame Relay Port
   Compound Product	False
   Network Element Type	Network Node

3. For a customizable product, set up Configurator rules to define the valid combinations in the product.

   For more information about creating products and configuration rules, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

Defining the Frame Relay PVC Product

In most cases, model the Frame Relay PVC product as an individual customizable product.

NOTE:  Although in most cases you must model the Frame Relay PVC product as an individual customizable product to model valued added services such as reports and installation, you can model the Frame Relay Port product as a simple product and still use the Compound Product Validation Engine.

The attributes of the product can include Committed Information Rate (CIR), Diversity, and PVC Type (Symmetrical or Asymmetrical).

The sub components of the product might include Installation and value add services such as PVC Reports.

To define the Frame Relay PVC product

1. Navigate to the Administration - Products screen.
2. In the Products list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Product Name	Frame Relay PVC
   Compound Product	False
   Network Element Type	Network Connection

3. For a customizable product, set up Configurator rules to define the valid combinations in the product.

   For more information about creating products and configuration rules, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

Defining Business Services for Rule Checkers

After you define individual products, you begin defining the features of the entire compound network product.

First, you specify the rule checker business services used to validate this product. In this example, you use the business services for network ordering. In other cases, you might create and use custom business services to validate the network. For more information, see the topic about creating custom rule checkers in Siebel Product Administration Guide.

To define rule checker business services

1. In the Products list, click the name of the Frame Relay Network product that you created earlier.
2. Click the Product Validation view tab.
3. In the link bar, click Validation Services.
4. In the Validation Services list, add a new record and complete the fields described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Sequence	1
   Business Service	VORD CPVE Component Cardinality Checker Service

5. In the Validation Services list, add another new record and complete the fields described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Sequence	2
   Business Service	VORD CPVE Simple Validation Expression Checker Service

   NOTE:  Do not add the following business services: VORD CPVE Validation Service and VORD Projected Asset Cache. The VORD Validation (Quote) and VOR Validation (Order) workflow processes or other services call these two services. If you add these services, then an error occurs.

Defining Maximum and Minimum Quantities for Network Components

In this example:

• The Frame Relay Network is the compound product. The compound product must have a minimum quantity of 1 and a maximum quantity of 1.
• The Frame Relay Port product is the node. A network has at least two nodes. A network cannot exist without at least two nodes. Therefore, you define a minimum quantity of 2 for the Frame Relay Port product.
• The Frame Relay PVC product (the circuit connecting the two ports) is the connection. Because the two nodes must be connected, you define a minimum quantity of 1 for the Frame Relay PVC product.

Because this network can be as large as the customer wants in the boundaries of the network reach of the provider, you do not enter a Maximum Quantity for the Frame Relay Port and Frame Relay PVC products.

Because the Cardinality Checker is a compound product business service, it operates on the Projected Asset Cache. Therefore, these rules apply across the current quote, existing assets, and open orders on the assets. For example, if a customer has five Frame Relay Ports and attempts to disconnect four of them, then the validation displays an error message indicating that the customer no longer has the minimum quantity for the Frame Relay Port product.

To define maximum and minimum quantities for network components

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.
2. In the Products list, click the name of the compound product for the network (the Frame Relay Network product).
3. Click the Product Validation view tab.
4. In the link bar, click Cardinality Rules.

   The Cardinality Rules list includes all the products that are valid components of this network.

5. For each product, enter the appropriate value in the Maximum Quantity and Minimum Quantity fields in the following table.

   Product	Minimum Quantity	Maximum Quantity
   Frame Relay Network	1	1
   Frame Relay Port	2	None.
   Frame Relay PVC	1	None.

Defining Error Messages for Compound Product Rules

In this example, you define an error message. A rule that validates if all nodes have a service address uses this error message.

To define error messages for compound product rules

1. Navigate to the Administration - Order Management screen, then the Message Types view.
2. In the All Message Types list, add a new record and complete the fields in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Name	Service Address Error Message
   Title	Validation that All Nodes Have a Service Address
   Full Text	[Count] [Product]s are missing service addresses

Defining Simple Expression Rules for Compound Products

Finally, you define simple expression rules that validate across the product and that generate error messages. In this example, the rule checks to determine whether all nodes have a service address and then displays the error message that you defined in the previous step.

To define simple validation expression rules for compound products

1. In the Administration - Product screen, in the Product Validation view, in the link bar, click Product Validation Expression Rules.
2. In the Compound Products list, add one or more new records and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Value
   Seq	1
   Search Expression	([Network Element Type] = "Network Node" AND [Service Address] = "")
   Aggregate Function	Count
   Group By Fields	[Product Name]
   Having Expression	[Count]>0
   Message	Service Address Error Message

Other Samples of Validation Rules and Messages

Table 142 includes more samples of simple expression rules that you can use to validate network ordering. The first column contains the message that you enter in the Short Text and Long Text fields of the Message Type record. The next four columns contain the values that you enter in each Simple Validation Expression Rule record. The last column contains an explanation of the rule.

The first row in the table repeats the example in the previous step. You create the samples in the other rows in the same way you create the previous example. You enter the text of the message in the Message Type record, and then, when you enter values in the Simple Validation Rule record, you select the name of the appropriate Message Type record.