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Siebel Product Configurator Server Components

Siebel Product Configurator allows users to interactively configure customizable products when ordering or when generating a quote. Siebel Product Configurator uses a constraint-based solution engine that resides on the Siebel Server called the Constraint Engine. This engine evaluates customer choices and generates product configurations that conform to business rules.

For more information about using, installing, administering, and tuning Siebel Product Configurator modules, see:

• Siebel Product Administration Guide
• Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using
• Siebel System Administration Guide
• Siebel Performance Tuning Guide
• Article ID 2112562.1 on My Oracle Support

Remaining topics about Siebel Product Configurator in this chapter include:

• Siebel Product Configurator Performance Factors
• Siebel Product Configurator Deployment Planning

Siebel Product Configurator Components

Siebel Product Configurator is supported in the Siebel Server environment by the following components:

• Application Object Manager. The Siebel Product Configurator solution engine is called by the Application Object Manager, such as Call Center Object Manager (SCCObjMgr_lang, such as SCCObjMgr_fra for French) for Siebel Call Center.
• Siebel Product Configuration Object Manager (alias eProdCfgObjMgr_locale). This is a special-purpose Object Manager component suitable for some Siebel Product Configurator deployments. For convenience, the component alias is generally referred to in this guide as simply eProdCfgObjMgr. This component contains the Siebel Product Configurator solution engine. It can be deployed on a separate Siebel Server from where Siebel Product Configurator sessions are invoked.

  The Siebel Product Configurator server in this type of deployment is also referred to as a remote or dedicated Siebel Product Configurator, which works in coordination with the invoking Application Object Manager. See later in this topic for locale-related requirements for a remote Siebel Product Configurator component.

• Siebel File System. This component stores cached object definitions for customizable product definitions in the CFGCache directory on the Siebel File System.

Siebel Product Configurator Architecture

Because product configuration can sometimes be computationally expensive, the configuration infrastructure provides flexible deployment options to suit different business needs. Topics in this section discuss considerations for choosing among different deployment options.

Before the Siebel Product Configurator parameters, and where to set them, are described, a brief overview is presented of the Siebel Product Configurator architecture and of the various services in a Siebel Product Configurator deployment.

Figure 5 shows detailed Siebel Product Configurator architecture and the interaction of various services with each other during run time.

Figure 5. Detailed Siebel Product Configurator Architecture

The important services depicted in Figure 5 are as follows:

• UI. The UI business service is a service that the Siebel Product Configurator uses to render the user interface by binding the customizable product structure with the templates and submitting it to the Siebel Web Engine for rendering to the client browser. The UI business service is the way the user interacts with the Siebel Product Configurator. A unique instance of this service is required for each user.
• Instance Broker. The Instance Broker is a service that interacts with the UI service and maintains all of the information about the current configuration of the customizable product that the user is configuring. This service interacts with other services in response to user requests during configuration, receives their responses, and serves as backup to the user through the UI service. The Instance Broker is accessed through a proxy service: either the Complex Object Instance Service business service or the Remote Complex Object Instance Service business service.
• Configurator Object Broker. The Configurator Object Broker is a service (Cfg Object Broker business service) that extracts the customizable product definition from the database for use by other configuration services.
• Config Services. This is a configuration service that consists of factories (defined as follows).
• Factory. The factory is a service that represents a translation of the customizable product definition that is retrieved by the Configurator Object Broker into a format a worker (defined as follows) can understand.
• Constraint Engine or Worker. The constraint engine, also called a worker, is a service that enforces all of the rules associated with the customizable product. It validates all selections (interactive or batch) as they are made to ensure a valid configuration. A worker of a factory can be shared among different requests originating from the same Application Object Manager process.

For more information about elements of Siebel Product Configurator's internal architecture, including the Instance Broker and the Configurator Object Broker, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

Siebel Product Configurator Architecture for Oracle Constraint Technology Integration

An Oracle Constraint Technology integration for Siebel Product Configurator is available as an alternative way to deploy Siebel Product Configurator. For the current release, such an integration is in developer preview status only. Deploying this type of integration requires the following modules:

• Siebel Enterprise Cache. To use Siebel Product Configurator in an integration of this type, you must install and configure the Enterprise Cache within your Siebel CRM deployment, as described in Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using. Siebel Enterprise Cache is based on Oracle Coherence. For more information about using Oracle Coherence, see product documentation on the Oracle Help Center.
• Siebel Constraint Engine. To use Siebel Product Configurator in an integration of this type, you must install and configure the Constraint Engine within your Siebel CRM deployment, as described in Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using. The Constraint Engine is based on Oracle Advanced Constraint Technology. For more information about using Oracle Advanced Constraint Technology, see product documentation on the Oracle Help Center.

NOTE:  In the context of this type of integration, the Siebel Constraint Engine as discussed here is completely different than the Constraint Engine used by the traditional Siebel Product Configurator offering. (Most of the information about Siebel Product Configurator in this guide pertains to the traditional offering.)

For information about installing and configuring the Siebel Enterprise Cache and the Siebel Constraint Engine, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using. See also Article ID 2112562.1 on My Oracle Support.

For more information about using Siebel Product Configurator, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

Locale-Related Requirements for Remote Siebel Product Configurator Components

The three-letter extension to the alias of the Siebel Product Configuration Object Manager component (jpn in the example of eProdCfgObjMgr_jpn) corresponds to the value for the Locale Code parameter (alias LocaleCode) associated with the invoking Application Object Manager. For a remote Siebel Product Configurator component that you intend to invoke, the name of the component must follow this pattern.

The reason for this requirement is that data passed between the invoking Application Object Manager and the remote Siebel Product Configurator component is in a locale-specific format.

If Locale Code on the invoking Application Object Manager is set to a value that does not correspond to a language supported for Siebel applications, then you must either change the Locale Code on the invoking Application Object Manager or create a new remote Siebel Product Configurator component with the required name.

For example, assume the invoking Application Object Manager is SCCObjMgr_enu, but Locale Code is set to ENG rather than ENU. In this case, you must do one of the following:

• Change Locale Code to ENU in order to work with a remote Siebel Product Configurator component named eProdCfgObjMgr_enu.
• Create a remote Siebel Product Configurator component named eProdCfgObjMgr_eng.

In addition, note that the Language and Locale Code parameter settings for the remote Siebel Product Configurator component must match the parameter settings for the invoking Application Object Manager component.

For more information about the Language and Locale Code parameters, see Siebel Global Deployment Guide. For more information about creating and configuring server components, see Siebel System Administration Guide.