10Managing Products with Components
Managing Products with Components
This chapter provides information about special techniques for managing products with components. It includes the following topics:
About Auto Match
If a quote, asset, or order contains a product with components configuration based on an out-of-date version of the product, Auto Match can compare the old version with the current version of the product and make limited changes to bring the quote, asset, or order up to date automatically. The user does not have to configure the product again.
Auto Match works as follows:
Auto Match is triggered when the system determines that the version in the quote, order, or asset is not the current version.
Auto Match compares the relationships and their contents in the quote, asset or order to the current version of the product.
Auto Match identifies items in the old version that are not in the same relationship as items in the new version. An item can be a product or product class. These items in the old version are misclassified items. The relationship containing them is the old relationship. The relationship in the current product that contains the items is the new relationship.
If the old relationship and the new relationship have a common parent, typically the product root, Auto Match will automatically move the items to the new relationship in the quote, order or asset. Auto Match does this by either changing the relationship name or by adding a new relationship.
If the old relationship and new relationship do not have the same parent, the user receives and error message and must configure the product again.
If the current version has a lower max cardinality for a relationship, this cardinality is enforced in the version in the quote, order, or asset. For example, the cardinality of Relationship A has been reduced from 10 to 8 in the current version. In a quote, Relationship A contains 10 items. Auto Match will remove two items from the quote.
If a relationship has been removed from the current version but is included in a quote, order, or asset, Auto Match will attempt to move its items to a relationship at the same level. For example, Relationship A, containing 10 items, has been removed from the current version. A quote has the previous version of the product with components, including Relationship A with 10 items. Auto Match will try to move all 10 items to other relationships at the same level, while observing maximum cardinality restrictions. Any excess items are removed.
Auto Match only compares the physical structure of the product's current version to that in the quote, asset, or order. It does not consider configuration rules. For example, if the old version contains Product A, and Product A would be excluded in the new version, Auto Match does not detect this.
For products with attributes, Auto Match checks to see whether any of the required attributes have not been specified.
Auto Match is implemented as a business service and is not enabled by default. To turn Auto Match on, see Enabling Auto Match.
About Finish It!
“Finish It!” is a button that appears in configuration session selection pages. This button is active under the following conditions:
The configuration session contains a relationship that has a minimum cardinality greater than zero.
No default product has been defined for this relationship.
The user has not selected the number of products from this relationship required by the minimum cardinality.
These relationships are called unsatisfied quantity relationships. In selection pages, an asterisk displays next to the relationship name and next to the item in the relationship, indicating that the user must make a selection.
When the user clicks Finish It!, the Siebel Product Configurator engine adds items to the solution from all unsatisfied quantity relationships so that minimum cardinalities are met or exceeded. the Siebel Product Configurator engine makes arbitrary selections from these relationships. You cannot specify which products will be selected by setting the sequence of the product in the relationship.
For example, you have defined a relationship called Keyboard. This relationship has a minimum cardinality of 1 and no default product. This causes the Finish It! button to become active in configuration sessions. When the user clicks Finish It!, the Siebel Product Configurator engine adds a keyboard to the solution.
If you do not want the Finish It! button to be active during configuration sessions, specify default products for all relationships with a minimum cardinality greater than zero.
Viewing Relationships for Products
Use the Relationships view to view all the relationships associated with a product, so you can see which customizable products use this product as a component.
To view relationships for a product
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Definitions view.
In the Products list, select the product whose relationships you want to view.
Click the name of the desired version.
Navigate to the Cross References view.
Using Product Classes as Templates for Products with Components
You can create a product class and use it as a template for building other products with components.
Use this feature when you have products with components that include the same group of items. For example, you sell desktop computers. You have seven configurable models that share the same chassis types, keyboards, and mouse. You can create a product class consisting of these three relationships. You would then use the product class as the basis for constructing each model.
The following features of the product class are inherited by all class members:
Relationships and their contents.
Configuration rules.
Resources
Links
User interface groups.
The base theme and product theme are not inherited
User interface property definitions and scripts are not inherited by class members
To use a product class as a template for a product with components
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Classes view.
In the Products Classes list, select the product class you want to use as a template.
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Definitions view.
Lock the product with components.
In the Product record for the desired product, in the Product Class field, select the desired product class.
Adding a product to a product class will be inherited by any customizable product that is associated to the Product Class
Navigate to the User Interface view and verify the class-product structure has been inherited correctly.
Note: The user interface defined on product class is automatically inherited to the product class structure. You need to adhere to the following rules if you want to add an additional group at the product or child class level to the inherited user interface:The user interface records must have the same name in each product class hierarchy.
Group sequence numbers must be unique and ordered as required in a product class hierarchy.
About Bundles as Products with Components
A bundle is a group of items sold as one product and is a special form of product with components that has the following characteristics:
Bundles created in Bundle Administration also display in Customizable Products, then Versions and in Customizable Products, then Structure.
A bundle is made up of one or more relationships that have a Product domain. Each relationship adds only one product to a bundle.
Bundles do not include a UI definition, configuration rules, links, resources, or scripts. Bundles do not include selection pages. Users do not configure a bundle by starting a configuration session.
The quantity of a product in a bundle is determined by the Default Cardinality of the product.
If you add items to a bundle that are not allowed, they are ignored. For example, if you define configuration rules for a bundle, they are ignored. When you convert bundles to regular products with components, ignored items then become effective.
If you convert a product with components to a bundle, only the items within the scope of a bundle are used. All other items, such as configuration rules, are ignored.
Regular products with components are added to quotes using Siebel EAI. Bundles are added to quotes using internal code.
For more information about bundle products, see Product Bundles.
For information about converting bundles, see:
Converting a Bundle to a Regular Product with Components
A bundle is a group of items sold as one product and is a special form of product with components. A bundle has one or more relationships that have a Product domain. Bundles do not include a UI definition, configuration rules, links, resources, or scripts.
When you convert a bundle to a regular product with components, you can work with the newly converted product with components in the same way as a regular product with components.
To convert a bundle to a regular product with components
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Definitions view.
In the Products list, select and lock the desired bundle product.
Click Release.
This converts the bundle to a regular product with components. A check mark displays in the Customizable Product check box in the Product record. A check mark no longer displays in the Bundle check box.
Revise existing quotes and orders as needed to reflect the change.
Converting a Regular Product with Components to a Bundle
When you convert a regular product with components to a bundle, any items outside the scope of a bundle, such as configuration rules, stop being effective and are ignored. They are not erased from the definition and become effective again if you convert the bundle back to a product with components.
Converting has the following effects:
All previous versions still display in the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Definitions view.
The current work space is retained, but its contents are altered as described in the following items.
For relationships that have a Product domain, the product is added to the bundle.
For relationships that have a Class or Dynamic Class domain, only the product specified in the Default Product field is added to the bundle. If no product is specified, no product is added, even if the Default Cardinality is greater than one.
The quantity in the Default Cardinality field is used to determine the quantity of the product in the bundle. Other cardinality fields are ignored. If the default cardinality is blank or zero, the quantity of the product in the bundle is blank. When creating a quote, only those products with a quantity greater than or equal to one are displayed in the quote.
All selection page definitions, UI Property definitions, configuration rules, link definitions, resource definitions, and scripts are ignored and do not become part of the bundle. If you convert the bundle back to a regular product with components, these again become effective.
When you convert a product with components that inherits part of its structure from a class-product, none of the inherited structure becomes part of the bundle.
If the Forecastable flag is set for a product in the Structure view and the product becomes part of a bundle, the Forecastable flag remains set for the product in the bundle.
When a user adds a bundle to a quote or order, the bundle and its components display as separate line items. Users cannot start a configuration session.
The product with components must have at least one released version before you can convert it to a bundle.
To convert a regular product with components to a bundle
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.
Select and lock the desired product with components.
Make any desired changes and release a new version.
Navigate to the Bundle Product view, and review the displayed contents.
The Bundle Product view displays the products in the product with components that will be included in the bundle. If the contents are not correct, revise the product with components and release a new version.
In the Bundle Product view, click Modify, and then click Done.
This converts the product with components to a bundle and releases a new version. A check mark displays in the Bundle field in the product form. The check mark in the Customizable Product field is removed.
Revise existing quotes and orders as needed to reflect the change.
Defining an Asset with Components
When creating a quote, users can choose to add to or modify products with components the customer has already purchased. The customer's already-purchased products with components are called assets with components.
The Quotes user creates a quote and selects a customer's asset with components. The user then starts a configuration session and modifies the asset by adding or removing items. The user then saves the changes to the quote. The asset with components, with revisions, displays in the Quotes screen, then the Line Items view.
In Quotes, Line Items, and then Line Item Detail, each item in the asset with components displays a status in the Delta Status field:
Existing. All items that were not changed. These items display no price.
New. All items that have been added or for which the quantity increased. If the quantity of an item increased, the original quantity is shown with status Existing. A second entry in the quote shows the increase, has status New, and displays a price.
Removed. All items that were removed or decreased in quantity. If the quantity of an item is reduced, the new quantity is displayed with the status Existing. A second entry in the quote shows the reduction, and has status Removed. These items display no price.
Modified. All items for which attribute settings have changed. These items display a price.
Delta Quotes differ from Favorites in that only new or changed items from the configuration session have a price. Unchanged items are listed at zero price. When you add a Favorite to a quote, all the items in the product with components have a price. Favorites are new products being sold for the first time. Delta Quote products are items being sold as add-ons or replacement components for products you have already sold.
The Siebel Product Configurator engine uses the name of the asset with component's product root to determine what product with components to load for the quote configuration session. If a new version of the product with components has been released, the new version is used to modify the asset with components. Any configuration conflicts that result are displayed during the configuration session and must be resolved. Item pricing is not maintained during the configuration session and must be ignored. Pricing is computed when the user saves the configuration to the quote.
When you define an asset with components, it is added to the Customizable Asset dialog box in Quotes, so users can select it when creating delta quotes.
Defining an asset with components requires two steps:
Create a customizable asset record.
Configure the customizable asset.
To create a customizable asset record
Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List view.
In the Assets list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Caution: If you do not assign an account name, the asset with components displays every time the Customizable Asset dialog box is opened, regardless of the account.
| Field | Comments |
|---|---|
Product |
Select the product with components on which the customer's asset with components is based. |
Account |
Select the customer's account. This field filters the records displayed in the Customizable Asset dialog box in Quotes. The dialog box displays only the assets with components that have the same account name as the account name in the Quotes record. |
Asset Description |
Enter a descriptive phrase or name that is meaningful to users creating quotes. This field displays in the Customizable Asset dialog box in quotes |
To configure an asset with components
Review the product with components configuration that the customer has purchased.
Determine if a new version of the product with components has been released and what effect this will have on configuring an asset with components.
Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List view.
Drill down on the record of the asset with components which you want to configure.
In the asset form, click Customize.
This starts a configuration session, similar to those users see when configuring products with components in Quotes. The session displays the selection pages for the product with components that the user purchased.
Configure the product with components to reflect what the customer purchased and exit the session. This includes configuring component attributes.
This creates the configured asset with components.
In the Assets list, verify that the desired asset with components is highlighted.
Navigate to the Attribute view and set the value of attributes defined for the asset with components as a whole.
Controlling How Products with Components Are Taxed
The components of products with components can have different tax rates.
For example, a company may sell a product with components called Concrete Services. As its components, this product may have the cost of concrete, the cost of using a truck to pour concrete, the cost of labor, and the cost of engineering services. In some jurisdictions, these components may be taxed at different rates.
You can control how tax is computed by setting the Tax Subcomponent flag. To tax the components individually, set the Tax Subcomponent flag on the root of the product with components or bundle. If you do not set the Tax Subcomponent flag, the tax is computed on the total price of the product with components or bundle.
If one of the components is itself a product with components, you can set the Tax Subcomponent flag on the component. This causes the tax for that component to be the sum of the tax computations on the components of that component.
Note the following points about taxing components:
You cannot use a base price for the parent product if the components are taxed individually. The parent product price must be the sum of the prices of all the component products. You will get inaccurate results if you give the parent product a price, and then do delta pricing on components and compute tax at the subcomponent level.
When you set the Tax Subcomponent flag for the parent product, you can either set this flag or not set it for each component product that has subcomponents. If you do not set this flag on a component, the tax will be calculated for the component product. If you do set the flag on a component, the tax for the component will be based on the tax of its components.
When you set the Tax Subcomponent flag for a component of a product, you must set this flag for the parent product as well. If you do not, you will tax the entire product at the parent level, and you will also tax the component product. This double counting will cause an inaccurate tax calculation.
The tax will be calculated accurately if you apply volume discounts or bundling discounts to the product. These discounts are applied at the component level, so the tax on each subcomponent will be adjusted to reflect the discount.
To tax the components of a product with components or bundle
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.
In the Products list, select the desired product with components or bundle.
Expand the product form and put a check mark in the Tax Subcomponent Flag check box.
Controlling How Products with Components are Forecast
When you add a component to a product with components, a check mark displays in the Forecastable field. This means the component is added to product forecasts when the product with components is included in a quote and the user updates the related opportunity.
To prevent components from being added to product forecasts, remove the check mark from the component's Forecastable field.
A Forecastable check box is also available in Quotes, then Line Items. This allows you to add or remove a product or component from product forecasts within individual quotes.