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About Service Bundles

This topic describes service bundles and their behaviors in Siebel Communications.

Description of Service Bundles

A service bundle is a group of related services that you sell as a package. Service bundles simplify service selection and configuration. A single billing instance in the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application is constructed for a service bundle. A service bundle is similar to a product bundle. For more information about product bundles, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

You can create service bundles. To create a service bundle, select Service Bundle in the Billing Type field for the bundle. Other examples of values for the Billing Type field include: Discount, Event, Item, and Subscription. A service bundle can include the following content:

• Simple products. If a product is available in one form and does not include other products that you can configure for it, then the product is a simple product. Simple products have the billing service type of the parent service bundle.
• Customizable products. If a product can include other product components that you can configure for it, then the product is a customizable product (or complex product). A customizable product can include simple products, other customizable products, service bundles, and non-billing products. Customizable products have the billing service type of the parent service bundle.
• Nested service bundles. If a parent service bundle contains a child service bundle, then the child service bundle is a nested service bundle. Child service bundles can have a different billing service type from the parent service bundle.
• Non-billing products. If a product is not billed to the customer, then the product is a non-billing product. Non-billing products do not have a billing service type and can be part of an installed asset. These products exist only in Oracle's Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application and are not passed to the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application.

To see the products in a bundle, navigate to Administration - Product screen, Products view, select the product bundle, and click the Bundle Product view tab. A service bundle for wireless phone service might include the following items:

• Rate plans (for example, Main Line 1, Main Line 2, and an add-on line)
• Activation fees
• Usage fees
• Features (for example, call forwarding)
• Discounts (for example, 50% off the first 3 months and a free minutes discount)
• SMS (Short Message Service) for text messaging. This service might include rate plans (for example, SMS Basic and SMS Unlimited)

In this example, the activation fees and usage fees are simple products, the rate plans, features, and discounts are customizable products, and the SMS is a nested service bundle.

Behavior of Service Bundles

The Billing Service Type field for a service bundle is populated with data when the products in the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application are synchronized with the products in the Siebel application. Examples of values for the Billing Service Type field follow:

• /service/telco/gsm/telephony
• /service/telco/gsm/sms
• /service/telephony
• /service/ip
• /account

To see the Billing Type field and the Billing Service Type field for a service bundle or a product in that bundle, navigate to the Administration - Product screen, Products view, and select the record for a service bundle or a product in that bundle. Expand the form in the Detail view. The Billing Type field and the Billing Service Type field appear in the Logistics section of the form. After products are synchronized, do not change the values in these fields.

Although Siebel Communications provides no validation rules, all product components under a service bundle must have the billing account, service account, and billing profile of the root product in that service bundle. The billing account, service account, and billing profile fields are associated with the line items in an order and are populated when a user creates an order.

If you modify, disconnect, suspend, resume, or transfer a service item that relates to a parent service bundle, or if you upgrade or downgrade a promotion for a service item that relates to a parent service bundle, then multiple service charges can be automatically created if the parent service bundle includes child service bundles to which service charges apply.

If a service bundle status is updated, then the statuses of the product components in a service bundle are updated. If a customizable product that contains a service bundle is updated, then the status of the service bundle is updated. The SIS OM Order Line Item Update Main workflow updates the status field of order line items, but administrators can configure this workflow to update other fields.

About Simple Service Bundles

A service bundle is a type of complex product that is created manually in a Siebel application. A simple service bundle is a subscription product that is created in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, then marked as a service instance in a Siebel application. When an order containing this product is submitted, Oracle Application Integration Architecture recognizes the product as a simple service bundle and creates a service instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

A simple service bundle combines a service bundle and a billing product into a single Siebel CRM product. Combining two products in one can simplify the product hierarchy of a service bundle. Additionally, synchronizing an already-created subscription product from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management minimizes the manual setup steps for a service bundle in Siebel Communications.

A simple service bundle can include only products of billing type Event as components. These event products are synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. For example, a simple service bundle called Internet Service might have a component event product called Internet Activation.

A simple service bundle can be a simple product or a complex product. A simple service bundle that is a simple product represents a single-event product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. A simple service bundle that is a complex product represents a multiple-event product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

In Siebel Communications, a simple service bundle can be a root-level product, can be nested in another service bundle, or can be nested in a complex product.

Comparison of Service Bundles and Simple Service Bundles

Figure 1 shows how a specific grouping of services might be set up using service bundle functionality only, and how the same grouping of services might be set up using simple service bundle functionality.

Figure 1. Service Bundle and Simple Service Bundle Setups

On the left, under Service Bundle, the item labeled SB and shaded in blue represents a service bundle manually created in Siebel CRM, with its Billing Type set to Service Bundle. Items labeled BC and shaded in yellow represent service bundle component products synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. The Internet Access Service bundle is mapped to the Internet - MCF product, and the Internet - MCF product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

On the right, under Simple Service Bundle, the item labeled SI and shaded in pink represents a subscription product synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, with its Service Instance flag set to Y. Items labeled BC and shaded in yellow represent service bundle component products synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. The Internet - MCF product is mapped to multiple events in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

In the service bundle, certain features are set up as multiple nested products. For example, Internet Email might be two products, a service bundle product manually configured in Siebel CRM, with an associated component product synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. By contrast, in the simple service bundle, the corresponding features are set up as single products. For example, Internet Email might be one product, a subscription product synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, then flagged as a service instance in Siebel CRM.

Constraints on Simple Service Bundles

Simple service bundles operate under the following constraints:

• A product that has pending quotes, orders, or assets in the Siebel application or in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management cannot be converted to a simple service bundle.
• You cannot manually add any items, such as billing products, discounts, special rating products, or other service bundles, to a simple service bundle. The only components a simple service bundle can include are products of billing type Event that are synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
• Disconnecting a simple service bundle disconnects both the service instance and the product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. This disconnection means that you cannot upgrade to or downgrade from one simple service bundle to another while retaining the same service instance.
• In a simple service bundle, the service account, billing profile, and billing account must be the same account.

New Purchases and Simple Service Bundles

New orders for simple service bundles have the following characteristics at run time (that is, when new order processing occurs in Siebel Communications):

• Service and product instances. A simple service bundle is a subscription product and a service product at the same time. Therefore, when an order for a simple service bundle is processed in Siebel Communications, the integration creates both a service instance and a purchased product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. If the service is purchased in the context of a promotion, then the product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management is associated with the simple service bundle instance.
• Quantity. If a simple service bundle line item has a quantity of more than one, then that quantity applies only to the product purchase. Thus, a simple service bundle line item creates a single service instance and a purchased product instance with a quantity as specified on the order line.
• Billing types. The simple service bundle functionality supports both single-phase billing, in which both initiation and billing occur in one call to the billing application, and two-phase billing, in which initiation and fulfillment occur in separate calls to the billing application.

Change Orders and Simple Service Bundles

Change orders for simple service bundles have the following characteristics at run time (that is, when change order processing occurs in Siebel Communications):

• Suspend and resume. Suspending or resuming the asset representing a simple service bundle suspends or resumes the service and product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
• Disconnect. Disconnecting the asset representing a simple service bundle cancels the service and product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

  NOTE:  When using a simple service bundle, it is not possible to cancel the product without canceling the service.

• Transfer. Transferring the asset representing a simple service bundle in Siebel Communications (that is, performing a move-add or move-delete operation) results in an adjustment to the cross-reference in Oracle Application Integration Architecture for both the service instance and the purchased product instance.
• Service update. Updates the service instance attributes (for example, Service ID, Billing Account, Billing Profile) in the asset representing the simple service bundle result in the same updates to the service instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
• Product update. Updates to product attributes (for example, pricing changes and promotion references) on the asset representing the simple service bundle result in the same updates to the purchased product instance in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management. This update includes changes to billing dates as part of two-phase billing.
• One-time charge. If a one-time charge is defined and applied for a move, add, change, and delete (MACD) action in Siebel Communications, then the charge is applied in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management to the balance group for the service instance.

Configuring a Simple Service Bundle

To configure a simple service bundle, follow this procedure.

To configure a simple service bundle

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.
2. Select the Detail view tab.
3. In the Detail form, query for products with a Billing Type field value of Subscription (that is, subscription products) that have been created in and synchronized from Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.
4. Find the product you want to define as a simple service bundle.
5. Complete the field described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Service Instance	Select this check box to identify a subscription product as a simple service bundle. You can select this field only for a product that has a Billing Type field value of Subscription. After pending orders or assets reference a product, you cannot change the value of this field for that product.

   The Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management application recognizes the product as a simple service bundle and adds event products as child components. When the simple service bundle is synchronized with Siebel Communications again, the event items appear as line items in the simple service bundle.

   NOTE:  In Siebel CRM, you cannot add child components to a product with Billing Type set to Subscription and Service Instance set to Y. Synchronization with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management adds child products with Billing Type set to Event.

   CAUTION:  Do not try to make a subscription product created in Siebel CRM into a simple service bundle by setting its Service Instance flag to Y. Doing so can cause unexpected and unwanted behavior. Oracle Application Integration Architecture does not create a cross-reference to that product on the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management side, or synchronize that product with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management.

Viewing the Event Items in a Simple Service Bundle

To view the child event items associated with a simple service bundle, follow this procedure.

To view the event items in a simple service bundle

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.
2. Select the Detail view tab.
3. In the Detail form, query for products with a Billing Type field value of Subscription and the Service Instance field selected.
4. Find and select the simple service bundle product with the event items you want to view.
5. Click the Specific Products subview tab.

   The Specific Products list displays the event items associated with the selected simple service bundle.

Guidelines for Service Bundles and Simple Service Bundles

The bundling requirements of a service determine whether to define the service as a service bundle or a simple service bundle. When deciding, observe the following guidelines and cautions:

• When only one billing product is applicable for a given service, set up the service as a simple service bundle. This restriction applies because a service with a single billing product does not have any associated service-level billing discounts, nor does a need exist to switch from one product variant to another while retaining the same service. Additionally, this product does not need a special rating.
• A product that is defined as a simple service bundle cannot be changed to a service bundle. Conversely, a product that is defined as a service bundle cannot be changed to a simple service bundle. Such changes adversely affect the processing of change orders for existing assets. If a change to the product bundling requirements necessitates changing a service bundle to a simple service bundle, or the other way around, then you must define another product in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, synchronize it with Siebel CRM, and configure it differently.
• Because a single asset represents both the service instance and the billing product, you cannot upgrade a customer from a service modelled as a simple service bundle to a service modelled as a service bundle, while retaining the same service instance. You must perform the upgrade through a service cancellation and repurchase.