11Work Orders in Siebel Communications
Work Orders in Siebel Communications
This chapter provides procedures for creating and managing work orders in Siebel Communications. It includes the following topics:
About Work Orders in Siebel Communications
The Work Orders module in Siebel Communications helps service providers to manage the components needed to activate a service for a customer. A work order is an action item that must be completed to implement an order. When an order is submitted, the back-office order processing application divides it into one or more work orders, by using criteria, such as service provider or due dates. A work order has most of the components found in a standard order, but it deals specifically with those items that are required for the provisioning process.
By creating and tracking work orders separately, you can access the status of a sales order. This status is important because work orders are executed by back-office applications, such as the provisioning system. Tracking the status of an order gives you up-to-date access to the information related to the order and can therefore convey it to a customer at any time, either through inbound contact or through outbound workflow-initiated activities.
The Communications Work Orders module works in conjunction with the Communications Order Processing module. It uses much of the work conducted during the order process and provides screens that allow you to manage work orders.
Scenario for Using Work Orders in Siebel Communications
This topic gives one example of how work orders might be used. You might use work orders differently, depending on your business model.
A customer service representative (CSR) has just completed an order for a customer, requiring three mobile phones, two pagers, an Internet connection, and an addition to their local service (voice mail). The order that the CSR created contains at least seven line items: one for each of the mobile phones, two for pagers, one for the Internet connection, and one for the local service. The CSR has given a quote for the order to the customer, who has accepted it and asked that the order be placed.
In the Order Line Items view, the CSR submits the order to the provisioning system. Since your company is a reseller of communications services (in this example), the action of submitting the order creates three work orders. A service provider applies to each of the line items. The following list shows the work order allocation:
Three mobile phones—provided by a mobile services company Two pagers—provided by a mobile services company
An Internet connection—provided by an Internet service provider
Local service (voice mail)—provided by the local phone service provider
The work orders were created for the service provider for each of the line items associated with the order. In this example, there are three unique providers: a mobile services provider, an Internet service provider, and the local phone service provider. The work order is separated into three separate work orders, which are then submitted to the various providers for activation.
A week later, the customer calls to check on the status of his order because he has not received his equipment. His call is directed to a different CSR, who is able to search through his company account to find any open orders. When the CSR has found the most recent order, he can use the hyperlink to find the specific work orders associated with the order. When he does this, he notices that each of the work orders is complete, except the one for the mobile phones and pagers. When he drills down into that order, he finds some notes and activities indicating that the particular pager ordered by the customer is on back-order. The estimated delivery date is two days from now. The CSR adds an activity to the work order to indicate that the customer wants to be notified by email when the status of the order has changed to complete.
The following image shows the sequence of procedures that an end user might follow to manage work orders. The steps in the procedure are as follows:
Create work order.
Add line items.
Add line item actions.
Creating a Work Order in Siebel Communications (End User)
End users can create work orders.
To create a work order
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the More Info form. To access more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Comments Account
Select the master account for the work order. The field for the account number is automatically populated when you select a value in this field.
Last Name
Select the name of the contact for the work order.
Order
Select the sales order associated with the work order.
Provider
Select the vendor for the work order.
Address
Displays the address of the account.
Adding an Activity to a Work Order in Siebel Communications (End User)
End users can create an activity and associate it with a premises for the following reasons:
Remind themselves of procedures related to a premises that they must perform.
Communicate procedures related to a work order that other members of the organization must perform.
Activity plans include a list of activities to be completed to resolve a problem. If an appropriate activity template exists, then end users can select the template to populate their activities list with a defined set of activities. Then end users can customize the list, if necessary.
Associating Activity Plans With Work Orders
To associate an activity plan with a work order, follow this procedure.
To associate an activity plan with a work order
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Drill down on the order number of the work order.
Click the Activity Plans view tab.
In the Activity Plans list, add a record.
In the Template field, select an Activity Template.
Creating Activity Plans for Work Orders
To create an activity plan for a work order, follow this procedure.
To create an activity for a work order
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Drill down on the order number of the work order.
Click the Activities view tab.
In the Activities list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Creating Work Order Line Items in Siebel Communications (End User)
End users can create line items and line item actions to be allocated for a work order.
Creating Line Items for Work Orders
To create line items to be allocated for a work order, follow this procedure.
To create line items to be allocated for an order
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Drill down on the order number of the work order.
Click the Line Items view tab.
Scroll down and click the Line Detail subview tab.
In the Line Detail form, add a record, and complete the necessary fields. To access more fields, click the show more button in the form.
Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Comments Product
Select the product. When you select a product, you select a line item from the associated service order. The Action, Due, UoM, Start Price, and Status fields are automatically populated with the information from the Order Line Item view.
Ship to Last Name
Select the name of an existing contact or add a new contact. When you select a contact, the Ship to First Name, Address, City, State, ZIP, and Country fields in the Order Line Item view are automatically populated.
Adding Line Item Actions to Work Orders
To add a line item action to a work order, follow this procedure.
To add a line item action
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Drill down on the order number of the work order.
Click the Line Item Actions view tab.
In the Line Item Actions list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
Adding Work Order Terms in Siebel Communications (End User)
End users can add a work order term.
To add a work order term
Navigate to the Work Orders screen, then the Work Order List view.
Drill down on the order number of the work order.
Click the Terms view tab.
In the Terms form, complete the necessary fields.
Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Comments Payment Terms
Select the terms for how the customer pays.
Return To
Select the return address for order items.
Status
Select the status of the order.
Freight Terms
Select the terms for how to ship the order.
Additional End-User Tasks for Work Order Management in Siebel Communications
This topic contains information about another task related to work orders.
Work Orders and Attachments
At any time, end users can store additional information relating to a work order in the database by associating an electronic file with the work order record. For information about associating an attachment with a record, see Siebel Fundamentals.