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Life Sciences > Sample Requests

Sample Requests

Use the Sample Request pages to create, update, and manage requests for product samples during a sales call, for example, when a pharmaceutical sales representative drops product samples to a physician.

A sample request is a mechanism for sales representatives to place orders for product samples on behalf of physicians or other health care providers. A sample request includes one or more sample request items, with each sample request item representing a product sample that has been requested.

Oracle CRM On Demand process administration supports sample requests because a sample request is part of a call activity that requires a signature, and includes sample requests within call activity locking. Sample requests have their own rules to allow the locking of the sample request items. For more information on process administration, see Process Administration Functionality. For recommendations on how to set up the locking rules for sample request, see Configuration Guide for Oracle CRM On Demand Life Sciences Edition.

Sample Request Requirements

Sample requests must meet the following requirements, otherwise they cannot be submitted after they are created:

• A sample request must have a contact with a valid address.
• A sample request must have at least one sample request line item showing a positive number.
• Process administration for sample requests must be set up as described in Configuration Guide for Oracle CRM On Demand Life Sciences Edition so that record locking occurs.

Sample Request Restrictions

Sample requests have the following restrictions:

• Only one sample request is allowed for a call; that is, an account, contact, or attendee call.
• After a sample request is set to Signed, the only field that you can edit is the Status field.
• If you want to lock a sample request record, then your administrator must configure a field-level process-administration rule that locks all the sample request item fields except the Status field. The Status field can change from Signed to Voided, or Signed to Approved to Back Ordered to Fulfilled. You can track these changes in status by asking your administrator to configure a process to fetch those changes in status to Oracle CRM On Demand Life Sciences Edition. For more information on setting up process locking, see Configuration Guide for Oracle CRM On Demand Life Sciences Edition.

About Linking Sample Request Information to Calls

Before Oracle CRM On Demand Release 22, it was possible to insert a sample request item record without an associated parent sample request record by using Web services or the Import function. However, for Release 22 and later, when inserting sample request item records by using Web services or the Import function, you must provide the sample request ID of the parent to provide the context for the sample request item. From the Oracle CRM On Demand user interface, you can create a sample request item only from a parent sample request in the context of a call. In addition, product-blocking rules are not followed when sample request items are inserted or updated using Web services or the Import function.

NOTE: Your company administrator determines which tabs are available to you. If your job responsibility does not include tracking Sample Request information, then the Sample Request tab might be excluded from your setup.