Sharing Transactional Data with Partners

In Siebel PRM, you can assign opportunities, accounts, contacts, service requests, activities, and other forms of transactional data either to partner organizations or to individual partner employees.

How the data is assigned determines its visibility. For example:

• If you assign an opportunity to the partner organization, it is visible in the All Opportunities view for that organization, but it is not visible in the My Opportunities view for any individual.

• If you assign an opportunity to an individual partner employee, it is visible to that person in the My Opportunities view.

Because it is difficult to keep track of individual partner employees, many brand owner companies prefer to assign transactional data to partner organizations. If you use this method, the partner company must give one of its employees the responsibility of looking for new data in the All Opportunities view and the other "All" views, and assigning this new data to the appropriate employee.

Many of the tasks in this chapter require you to use the All Across Organizations views. Channel managers have these views in the standard configuration of Siebel PRM. If you do not have these views, you do not have the appropriate responsibilities in Siebel PRM. Ask your system administrator to assign you the appropriate responsibilities.

The following topics provide general information about sharing transactional data with partners. Subsequent chapters provide specific information about sharing data to manage sales, manage service, manage marketing, and manage market development funds (MDFs).

The tasks in the following topics assume that you have set up the organization structure so each partner company is in an organization of its own. If you have set up multiple partner companies as subdivisions of a single organization, you generally assign transactional data to an individual and not to an organization. If you assigned these items to an organization rather than an individual, they would become visible to all partner companies because they are visible to all divisions that are members of that organization. In general, to avoid conflict, you do not want to have the same opportunity, account, contact, or service request available to more than one partner company.

Assigning Opportunities to a Partner

You can assign opportunities to partner employees just as you assign opportunities to your own salespeople, manually or using the Siebel Assignment Manager to create rules that automatically assign opportunities to partner employees. You can use Assignment Manager to set up rules for assigning opportunities based on territory, potential revenue, industry segment, and other criteria.

For example, a software company might get many inquiries from people who want to buy its midmarket products through its Web site. If that company does not sell midmarket products directly, it can use Assignment Manager to distribute these opportunities to reseller partners based on geography.

Partner employees can also enter opportunities themselves, which are visible to your company as well as the partner.

The opportunity you assign to a company as a whole appears in the All Opportunities view when the partner accesses Siebel PRM through the Web, but does not appear in the My Opportunities view for any individual. An employee at the partner company who has access to the All Opportunities view must assign the information to an individual.

The employee who enters the opportunity is automatically added to the sales team and defaulted as the primary on the sales team. The primary on the sales team can only be changed by the primary's manager. For more information about assigning opportunities to partners, see Chapter 9, "Managing Sales with Siebel PRM." For more information about working with opportunities, see the chapter on opportunities in Siebel Applications Administration Guide. For more information about the Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

Note: If you want to view the opportunity in the Partner Operations screen, you must assign the opportunity to the partner organization. You can also assign it to an individual.

To assign opportunities to a partner employee manually 

1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List, and the All Opportunities Across Organizations view.

2. In the Opportunities list, select the opportunity you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the opportunity form, click the Multiple Select button for the Sales Team Field.

   The Sales Team Members dialog box appears.

4. Click New to add a new record to the list.

5. In the Add Employees Members dialog box, click New to add a new record to the list.

6. Select the partner employee you want to assign the opportunity, and click OK.

7. In the Sales Team Members dialog box, click OK.

   The partner employee is added to the Sales Team list. This partner employee can now view this opportunity in the My Opportunities view.

Use the following procedure to manually assign opportunities to a partner company.

To manually assign opportunities to a partner company  

1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List, and the All Opportunities Across Organizations view.

2. In the Opportunities list, select the opportunity you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the opportunity form, click the Multiple Select button for the Organization field.

   The Organizations dialog box appears.

4. In the Organizations dialog box, click New to add a new record to the list.

5. In the Add Organizations dialog box, select the organization you want to assign the opportunity, and click OK.

   This partner organization can now view this opportunity in the All Opportunities view.

Use the following procedure to work with the opportunities of a partner.

To work with the opportunities of a partner 

• Modify an opportunity record by selecting a field and changing the information.

• Delete a record by selecting it, clicking the menu button, and then clicking Delete Record.

Viewing a Partner's Opportunities

In some industries, partners develop opportunities, and the brand owner company views these leads, either to follow up on the leads or to review how well they are progressing. Even if your company develops opportunities and assigns them to partners, you can view the opportunities to see how they are progressing. For example, by looking at the partner activities for each opportunity.

When you view opportunities, you can use the audit trail to track changes in the opportunity. By default, whenever a change is entered in the Sales Stage, Opportunity Status, or Expected Revenue field, the audit trail creates a record of how the value was change stamped with the login of the employee who made the change and the time the change was performed.

The record is stamped with the employee login and the time when the change was performed.

You can view partner opportunities two ways:

• The Partner Operations screen. All partner companies are listed on the Partner Operations screen. Anyone at the brand owner company with access to this screen can select a partner company record and display all its opportunities. This screen displays only opportunities that have the partner organization on their organization team; it does not display opportunities that have been assigned to individual partner employees but not to the partner organization.

• The Opportunities screen. The Opportunities screen displays different sets of opportunities records in different views. In My Opportunities view, it displays opportunities only if you are in the sales team. In the All Opportunities view, it displays opportunities if your organization is in the organization team. In the All Opportunities Across Organizations view, it displays all opportunities for all partner companies.

In either situation, you can drill down on an opportunity to view more information about it, if you have access to the opportunity detail view.

It is usually easiest to use the Partner Operations screen to display the opportunities of a partner company.

To view all the opportunities of a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Partner Operations screen.

2. In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose opportunities you want to view.

3. Click the Opportunities view tab.

   The partner's opportunities appear.

Assigning Service Requests to a Partner

Customers often have service requests that one of your partners is most qualified to handle. You might receive the service request through your call center, and then find that a partner is best qualified to handle it.

You can assign service requests to partner employees manually, or you can use Siebel Assignment Manager to create rules that automatically assign service requests to the appropriate partner employee.

You can use Assignment Manager to decide which of your employees or your partner's employees is best able to handle a service request by scoring them on the basis of product expertise, territory, and many other criteria. Assignment Manager sums the scores for all the criteria and assigns the service request to the employee with the highest score.

For example, a large air conditioning manufacturer might rely on third-party technicians to service its products. Service requests come in through the manufacturer's call center, and the manufacturer can use Siebel Assignment Manager to assign the service requests to partner technicians based on the partner's location and expertise.

If you have set up a partner company as the only division in its organization, you can assign a service request to the organization instead of to a specific employee.

The service request assigned in this way appears in the All Service Requests view when partners access Siebel PRM through the Web, but it does not appear in the My Service Requests view for any individual. A person at the partner company who has access to the All Service Requests view must assign the service request to an employee.

Employees of partner companies can also enter service requests themselves on behalf of customers, and these are visible to your company as well as to the partner company. For more information about working with service requests, see the chapter on service requests in Siebel Applications Administration Guide. For more information on the Siebel Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

Note: Because a service request has only one owner, it is automatically visible in the Partner Operations screen under the owner's company. You do not have to explicitly assign the service request to the partner organization to make it visible in the Partner Operations screen.

To assign service requests to a partner employee manually 

1. Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the All Service Requests Across Organizations view.

2. In the Service Requests list, select the service request you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the form for the service request, click the Single Select button of the Owner field.

   The Pick Service Request Owner dialog box appears.

4. Select the record for the partner employee you want to assign the service request, and click OK.

   This partner employee can now view this service request in the My Service Requests view.

Use the following procedure to assign a service request to a partner company.

To assign a service request to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the All Service Requests Across Organizations view.

2. In the Service Requests list, drill down on the service request you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the More Info form for the service request, click the Multiple Select button in the Organization field.

   The Pick Organization dialog box appears.

4. Select the record for the organization you want to assign the service request, and click OK.

   This partner organization can now view this service request in the All Service Requests view.

To work with the service requests you have assigned to a partner 

• Modify a record by selecting a field and changing the information.

• Delete a record by selecting it, clicking the menu button, and then clicking Delete Record.

Viewing Partner Service Requests

In some business models, the partners receive and log service requests, which you can view for tracking purposes. For example, if a partner is a value-added reseller, customers who need service go directly to the partner, with whom they already have a business relationship.

You can view partner service requests in two ways:

• The Partner Operations screen. All partner companies are listed on the Partner Operations screen. Anyone at the brand owner company with access to this screen can select a partner company record and display all its service requests.

• The Service screen. The Service screen displays different sets of service request records in different views. In the My Service Requests view, it displays service requests only if you are the owner. In the All Service Requests view, it displays service requests if your organization is in the organization field. In the All Service Requests Across Organizations view, it displays all service requests for all partner companies.

To view the service requests of a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Partner Operations screen.

2. In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose service requests you want to see.

3. Click the Service Requests view tab.

   The partner's service requests appear.

Assigning Customer Accounts to a Partner

Your partners must have information about your customers to sell or provide service to them. You assign customer accounts to partners in order to give them this information. Employees of a partner company can also add new accounts themselves, and these added accounts are visible to you as well as to the partner company.

If you assign a customer company to a partner organization rather than to an individual partner employee, the assigned account appears in the All Accounts view when partners access Siebel PRM through the Web, but does not appear in the My Accounts view for any individual. An employee at the partner company who has access to the All Accounts view must get the information and assign it to an employee. For more information about working with accounts, see the chapter on accounts in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Note: If you want to view the account in the Partner Operations screen, you must assign the account to the partner organization. You can also assign it to an individual.

To assign a customer account to a partner employee 

1. Navigate to the Accounts screen and the Accounts Administration view.

2. In the Accounts list, select the account you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the account form, click the Multiple Select button for the Account Team field.

   The Account Team Members dialog box appears.

4. Click New to add a new record to the list.

   The Add Employees dialog box appears.

5. Select the record for the partner employee to whom you want to assign the account, and click OK.

   The Account Team Members dialog box appears, with the partner employee added to the list.

6. In the Account Team Members dialog box, click OK.

   This partner employee can now see this account in the My Accounts view.

Use the following procedure to assign a customer account to a partner company.

To assign a customer account to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Accounts screen, then the All Accounts Across Organizations view.

2. In the Accounts list, drill down on the name of the account you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the More Info view, click the Multiple Select button for the Organization field.

   The Organizations dialog box appears.

4. Click New to add a new record to the list.

5. The Add Organizations dialog box appears.

6. Select the organization of the partner company for which you want to assign the account, and click OK.

   The Organizations dialog box appears, with the partner organization added to the list.

7. In the Organizations dialog box, click OK.

   This partner can now see this account in the All Accounts view.

Use the following procedure to view all the accounts of a partner company.

To view all the accounts of a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Partner Operations screen.

2. In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose accounts you want to see.

3. Click the Accounts view tab.

   A list of the partner's accounts appears. This list includes accounts that have been assigned to the partner organization; it does not include accounts that have been assigned to partner employees but not to the partner organization.

Use the following procedure to work with the customer accounts of a partner.

To work with the customer accounts of a partner 

• Modify a record by selecting a field and changing the information.

• Delete a record by selecting it, clicking the menu button, and then clicking Delete Record.

Assigning Contacts to a Partner

Your partners need information about your contacts at your customers in order to sell or provide service to them. You can provide this information by assigning contacts at your customer accounts to partners. Employees of partner companies can also add new contacts, and these added contacts are visible to you.

If you assign a contact to a partner organization rather than to an individual partner employee, this contact appears in the All Contacts view when partner employees access Siebel PRM through the Web, but does not appear in the My Contacts view for any employee. Someone at the partner company who has access to the All Contacts view must assign the contact to an employee. For more information about working with contacts, see the chapter on contacts in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Note: You cannot use the Contacts view of the Partners screen to assign contacts to a partner. Use this screen to enter your own business contacts at the partner company.

To assign a contact to a partner employee 

1. Navigate to the Contacts screen, then the Contacts List, and the All Contacts Across Organizations view.

2. In the Contacts list, drill down on the name of the contact you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the More Info form for the contact, click the Multiple Select button for the Contact Team field.

   The Access List dialog box appears.

4. Click Add to add a new record.

   The Add Employees dialog box appears.

5. Select the partner employee you want to assign to the contact and click OK. You can also select multiple employees and click OK to add them all to the access list.

6. In the Contact Team dialog box, click OK.

Use the following procedure to assign a contact to a partner company.

To assign a contact to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Contacts screen, then the Contacts List, and the All Contacts Across Organizations view.

2. In the Contacts list, drill down on the name of the contact you want to assign to the partner.

3. In the More Info form, click the drop-down arrow in the Organization field.

   The Pick Organization dialog box appears.

4. Choose the partner organization, and click OK.

Use the following procedure to work with the contacts of a partner.

To work with the contacts of a partner 

• Modify a record by selecting a field and changing the information.

• Delete a record by selecting it, clicking the menu button, and then clicking Delete Record.

Assigning Activities to a Partner

Managers can assign activities to employees and view their activities. A channel manager at the brand owner company can assign activities to partners in the same way that managers assign activities to employees of their own company. Partners can also add activities that are visible to their channel manager at the brand owner company.

Depending on your company's business model, you can assign activities to partner employees or just view the activities that they enter. For more information about working with activities, see the chapter on activities in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Note: Generally, you do not use the Activities view of the Partner screen to assign activities to partners. This view is generally used to enter your own activities for your work with the partner company.

To assign an activity to a partner employee 

1. Navigate to the Activities screen, then the Activity List, and the All Activities view.

2. If you want to create a new activity to assign to the partner employee, in the Activities list, add a new record and enter the details of the activity. If you want to assign an existing activity to the partner employee, in the Activities list, select the activity.

3. In the form for the activity, click the Multiple Select button of the Employees field.

   The Employees dialog box appears.

4. Click New.

5. In the Add Employees dialog box, select the partner employee to whom you want to assign the activity, and click OK.

   The employee is added to the list of employees.

6. In the Employees dialog box, click OK.

Use the following procedure to work with the activities of a partner.

To work with the activities of a partner 

• Track a partner employee's activities by doing a query on the Employees field to display that employee's activities. Then, you can sort on the Due field to display the activities in chronological order.

• Modify a record by selecting a field and changing the information.

• Delete a record by selecting it, clicking the menu button, and then clicking Delete Record.

Viewing a Partner's Quotes

Partner employees enter quotes in Siebel PRM through the Web. Partner relationship managers at the brand owner company can see quotes that partner employees have created in the same way they see quotes their own employees have created.

The Siebel PRM Manager's Partner Operation screen lets you view all the quotes of a partner company. For more information about working with quotes, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

To view the quotes of a partner employee  

1. Navigate to the Quotes screen, then the List, and the All Quotes Across Organizations view.

2. In the Quotes list, query on the Sales Team field for the login name of the partner employee whose quotes you want to see.

   All the quotes for that partner employee appear.

Use the following procedure to view the quotes of a partner company.

To view the quotes of a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Partner Operations screen.

2. In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose quotes you want to see.

3. Click the Quotes view tab.

   A list of the partner's quotes appears. Quotes are listed here if they are assigned to the partner organization; they are not listed here if they are assigned to a partner employee but not to the partner organization.

Assigning an Order to a Partner Employee

In some industries, it is common for the brand owner company to get orders from customers and then assign them to a partner for fulfillment, outsourcing all or part of the order. For example, if a bank is providing a mortgage for a customer, it might outsource the appraisal request to a partner. You can assign an order to a partner employee or to a partner company.

In other industries, partners get orders from customers. The partner relationship managers at the brand owner company can see all of the orders at a partner company.

To assign an order to a partner employee 

1. Navigate to the Sales Orders screen, then the List, and the All Sales Orders Across Organizations view.

   You can also navigate to the Service Orders screen, then the List, and the All Service Orders Across Organizations view.

2. In the Sales Orders list, select the record for the order you want to assign.

3. In the More Info form for the record, click the Multiple Select button for the Sales Rep field.

   The Order Team Members dialog box appears.

4. Click New.

   The Add Employees Dialog box appears.

5. Select the partner employee to whom you want to assign the order and click OK.

   The employee is added to the Order Team Members dialog box.

6. In the Order Team Members dialog box, click OK.

   The order is visible to this partner employee in the My Orders view.

Use the following procedure to assign an order to a partner company.

To assign an order to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Sales Orders screen, then the List, and the All Sales Orders Across Organizations view.

   You can also navigate to the Service Orders screen, then the List, and the All Service Orders Across Organizations view.

2. In the Sales Orders list, drill down on the name of the order you want to assign.

3. In the More Info form for the record, click the Multiple Select button for the Organization field.

   The Organizations dialog box appears.

4. Click New.

   The Add Organizations Dialog box appears.

5. Select the organization of the partner company to which you want to assign the order and click OK.

   The organization is added to the Organizations dialog box.

6. In the Organizations dialog box, click OK.

   The order is visible to this partner organization in the All Orders view.

Use the following procedure to view the orders of a partner company.

To view the orders of a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Partner Operations screen.

2. In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose orders you want to view.

3. Click the Orders view tab.

   A list of the partner's orders appears. This list includes orders that have the partner organization assigned to the order; it does not include orders that have partner employees assigned to them but do not have partner organizations assigned to them.

Assigning Assets to Partners

Field service businesses use the Assets screen for tracking and managing assets, which can be installed at customers' locations or can be stored at their own warehouses and inventory locations.

Users can select an asset in the Assets screen and click the view tabs to view the service requests, entitlements, warranty, components, uptime data, repairs, preventive maintenance, and other information for this asset, providing the field service business with information used for preventive maintenance, repairs, billing, and marketing.

You can enter this information about assets using either the Siebel PRM Manager or Siebel Field Service. Your partners can view it using the Siebel PRM Portal.

Because only one partner company provides field service for a given asset, you can assign an asset to only one organization. Employees of that organization can then see the asset in the All Assets view.

If a partner employee owns a service request, that partner employee can view the asset associated with the service request only if the employee has access to the All Assets view. For more information about working with assets, see Siebel Field Service Guide.

For a business scenario illustrating how brand owners and partners can work together using assets, see "Example of the Partner Responding to Service Requests for Assets".

Note: For the asset to be visible to the partner, the asset's organization must match the partner's organization. When you are upgrading to a new version, assets might be assigned to the default organization, while partner contacts remain part of the partner organization. If so, the partner contacts are not able to see the assets.

To assign an asset to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List view.

2. In the Assets list, drill down on the name of the asset that you want to assign to the partner company.

3. In the More Info form, in the Organization field, click the Single Select button.

4. In the Pick Organization dialog box, select the organization of the partner company and click OK.

   The asset and the information associated with it are visible to users in this partner company in the All Assets view.

Assigning Inventory to Partners

Field service businesses use the Inventory screen to manage parts through their life cycles and to monitor parts consumption during order fulfillment and field service. Mobile field service engineers also use the Inventory screen to manage their trunk inventories using a disconnected client.

The Inventory screen lists locations where inventory is stored. Users can select a location and click the view tabs to display the product inventory for the location, pending orders, vendors, and other information, and can also use one view to generate orders.

You can enter this information about inventory and generate orders using either the Siebel PRM Manager or Siebel Field Service. Your partners can view this information and generate orders using the Siebel PRM Portal.

You can use the Position field of the Inventory Location record to assign the record to one person, who would see it in the My Inventory Locations view. In general, you assign the record to a manager at the brand owner company in this way.

To share inventory with partners, assign an inventory location to a partner organization. Employees of that partner company can then see it in the All Inventory Locations view. For more information about working with inventory, see Siebel Field Service Guide.

For a business scenario illustrating how brand owners and partners can work together using assets, see "Example of the Brand Owner and Partner Managing Inventory".

To assign an inventory location to a partner company 

1. Navigate to the Inventory screen, then the Inventory Locations view.

2. In the Inventory Locations list, select the location that you want to assign to the partner company.

3. In the form for the inventory location, in the Organization field, click the Multiple Select button.

4. In the Organizations dialog box, click the New button.

5. In the Add Organizations dialog box, select the organization of the partner company and click OK.

6. In the Organizations dialog box, click OK.

   The Inventory location and the information associated with it are visible to users in this partner company in the All Inventory view.

Sharing Files with Partners

You can share files with your partners. For example, you can give them a copy of a report you have written about an opportunity or get a copy of a report they have written.

Both the brand owner and partner company can share files by attaching the files to opportunities or fund requests. Both can also view or delete an attachment to an opportunity or fund request.

Do not add an attachment to the partner's record in the Partner screen to share a file with the partner. Attachments to partner records are purely for your own use in managing these partners. To share attachments with a partner, you must add the attachments to opportunities, service requests, or fund requests that the partner can access.

To add an attachment to an opportunity assigned to a partner employee 

1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List, and the All Opportunities Across Organizations view.

2. In the Opportunities list, drill down on the name of an opportunity you have assigned to the partner employee.

3. To make sure you have assigned that opportunity to a partner:

   1. Click the Multiple Select button of the Sales Team field

      The Team members dialog box appears, and it must include the partner employee's name. If it does not, find an opportunity that does include the partner on the team, and add the attachment to that opportunity.

   2. Close the Team members dialog box.

4. Click the Attachments view tab to view attachments for that opportunity.

5. In the Attachments list, add a new record.

6. In the new record, click the Single Select button in the Attachment Name field.

7. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Browse next to the File Name text box.

8. Browse to select the file you want, and click Open.

9. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Add.

Use the following procedure to add an attachment to a Market Development Fund request.

To add an attachment to a Market Development Fund request 

1. Navigate to the Fund Requests screen and select the All Fund Requests list.

2. Drill down on the name of a fund request of the partner company. The company's name must appear in the Partner field.

3. Click the Fund Request Attachments view tab to display attachments for that fund request.

4. In the Attachments list, add a new record.

5. In the new record, click the Single Select button in the Attachment Name field.

6. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Browse next to the File Name text box.

7. Browse to select the file you want, and click Open.

8. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Add.