Process of Creating Advisor Configuration Tables

To create a Configuration table, go through the following steps:

Opening the Advisor Configuration Table

Designing the Advisor Configuration Table

Entering Data in the Advisor Configuration Table

Opening the Advisor Configuration Table

Begin by opening the configuration table you are working on. You can do this by opening the Main configuration table, or by creating a configuration subtable.

The Main Configuration table is included in your project by default.

For complex projects, you can create configuration subtables in addition to the Main Configuration table. You can use a configuration subtable for a clear subset of configuration data in your project. Use Configuration subtables to normalize the data and make the data model small, or for organizational purposes.

This task is a step in "Process of Creating Advisor Configuration Tables".

To create a Configuration subtable

1. Navigate to Administration - Product, then the Advisor Pagesets and My Pagesets view.

2. Select a pageset.

3. On the Configuration Tables tab menu, select New Record.

   The new Configuration Table form appears.

4. Enter a name for the Configuration table, and any notes.

5. On the Designer tab, click New.

6. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Sequence	Enter a sequence number.
   Column Name	Enter the name of the Configuration subtable.
   Column Type	From the Column Type drop-down list, select Sub Table.

   
   

7. Enter the table data with the name of the subtable.

   For example:

   Table 1	Price	Subtable
   0	0	SUBTABLE 1
   1	100	SUBTABLE 1

   
   

Designing the Advisor Configuration Table

When you design a Configuration table, you create columns that reference each Feature table. Use these columns to choose configurations for your features in edit view.

This task is a step in "Process of Creating Advisor Configuration Tables".

To design the Advisor pageset Configuration table

1. Open the Configuration table you want to design and select the Designer tab.

2. In the Designer form, click New.

   A new row appears.

3. Enter the sequence number for the configurations. This number determines the order in which the columns appear in the Configuration editor.

4. From the picklist, select a name for the column.

   For example, if you want to include the COLOR Feature table values in your Configuration table, select the column name COLOR.

   For output columns:

   • If you are mapping to a business component rather than a Feature table, select the business component field from the picklist.

   • If you are mapping to a class rather than a Feature table, select the class attribute from the picklist.

5. Select the column type.

   For basic modeling, enter:

   • Input to point to a Feature table. The data for this column comes from Feature tables that populate input UI controls.

   • Output to enter a rule to display an exception message or output information, such as a price or Advisor text, or perform another action when a particular configuration is selected. The data for this column can come from Feature tables, new data the user enters, or business components.

   • Subtable to point to a Configuration subtable.

   For more information on column types, see "Configuration Column Types".

6. Select a business component. This step is optional.

   
   

   Note: If you select a business component and field, you cannot select a class and attribute. These options are mutually exclusive. You cannot use business components for subtable columns or the RULE column.

   
   

   This column maps to the selected column (business component) in the Siebel database. For more information on business components, see Using Siebel Tools.

7. If you selected a business component in 6, click Field Name to open a picklist and select a field name from the business component. This step is optional.

8. Select a class. This step is optional.

   
   

   Note: If you select a class and attribute, you cannot select a business component and field. These options are mutually exclusive.

   
   

   This column maps to the selected Siebel class. For more information about classes and attributes, see Using Siebel Tools.

9. If you selected a class in Step 8, select an attribute.

10. Check the Shared field to reference one row ID in a business component. This step is optional.

    All columns in the Table Designer that reference the same business component and have the Shared field selected are populated with data when a value is selected for any one of them in the Table Editor.

    For example, if you add the following four columns to your Configuration table and they all reference the Contact business component:

    • Name

    • Phone

    • Organization

    • Address

    Then when you switch to Edit View and select a value for the Organization column, values for Name, Phone, and Address are automatically filled in.

11. Enter any notes and click Save.

Entering Data in the Advisor Configuration Table

After you have designed your Configuration table, enter all possible combinations of data and determine which combinations are valid, which are invalid, and what messages or recommendations to display when each combination is selected.

This task is a step in "Process of Creating Advisor Configuration Tables".

To enter data in the Configuration table

1. In the Configuration Tables view, select the Configuration table you want to enter data in and select the Editor tab.

2. In the Editor applet, click New.

   A new row appears.

3. Click Row Type to open a picklist and choose one of the following:

   • Data for valid configuration rows.

   • Exception for invalid configuration rows.

4. If you selected Exception in Step 3, enter an exception message in the Rule column.

   For example, ”The Luxury sedan is not available with a red exterior. Please choose black or silver.” This is a required step.

   If you selected Data inStep 3, create a guidance message for cross and up-sell messages or Advisor questions. For more information, see "Creating Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Messages in Advisor" or "Roadmap for Creating an Advisor Application".

5. Enter the sequence number. This is an optional step.

   This determines the order in which the new row appears in the Configuration table editor. This number is automatically generated, but you can override it by editing the number.

   
   

   Note: A data row and an exception row may have the same sequence number because data rows are sequenced separately from exception rows. Data rows and exception rows must have unique sequence numbers within their types, but a data row may have the same sequence number as an exception row.

   
   

6. For Configuration table rows associated with:

   • A business component, click the select button to open a picklist and select a business component field. Click OK to accept your selection and return to the Configuration table editor.

   • An input column, enter a Feature table code value in the text field.

   • A class, enter an attribute in the text field.

7. If you have a PRICE column, enter price information for each configuration.

   For more information, see "Runtime Access to Pricing Information in Advisor Applications".