Price Comparison in Siebel Energy

This chapter describes the basic concepts behind the Price Comparison feature available in Siebel Energy. It explains procedures for setting up rate plans, generating annual costs for those plans, and viewing costs comparing competitors’ rates with in-house rates. It includes the following topics:

About Price Comparison in Siebel Energy

The Price Comparison feature available inSiebel Energy determines the annual cost for services, such as gas or electricity, to existing or prospective customers. It then compares the existing cost against the internal rates that reside in the Siebel database and provides comparative quotes to the customer. After reviewing the quotes, customers can enroll for the service your company offers.

The following list provides an overview of the steps involved with the Price Comparison feature:

The Price Comparison feature is accessed in one of the following methods:
- From a Web site, a customer or prospective customer requests a list of comparative rates for services. The entry point is through Siebel eSales.
- A customer service representative (CSR) creates an opportunity in Siebel Energy and selects the Price Comparison feature.
A SmartScript session begins to collect customers’ answers to a series of questions regarding their current services and rates.
At the end of the SmartScript session, the Price Comparison feature converts this customer-provided information into an annual cost.
The annual cost is used to determine the customer’s usage by using the competitor’s rate plan information. For a more detailed explanation, see Technical Reference for the Price Comparison Feature.
The Price Comparison feature finds in-house rate plans that match the attributes of the competitor’s rate plan.
The Price Comparison feature calculates the projected annual cost for each matching rate plan by using the usage from Step 3 and displays the quotes.
If the CSR is running the Price Comparison feature, then the CSR can choose to mail, email or fax a copy of the displayed quotes to the prospect.
The customer selects a rate plan and begins the enrollment process.
The next step depends on which application was used to begin the price comparison process:
- If the process began through Siebel eSales, then new customers must log in and register. Customers who already have products in their shopping cart can add the rate plan to their shopping cart.
- If the process began through Siebel Energy, then the CSR provides the necessary account information for new customers. For accounts already associated with the opportunity, the information is automatically filled in.
The typical order workflow provisions the order.

Administrators, such as pricing managers or call center administrators, benefit from reading this chapter. Pricing managers learn how to set up rate plans and run reports. Other administrators or managers see how customer service representatives (end users) use the Price Comparison feature. After becoming familiar with the end-user procedures, administrators can customize the software to fit their company’s needs.

The Price Comparison feature calls workflows, methods, and processes, which form the background logic for the feature. For detailed information about the business services and workflows for price comparison, and for technical information about the background logic of the price comparison functionality, see Technical Reference for the Price Comparison Feature.

Related Books

Siebel Product Administration Guide

Siebel Pricing Administration Guide

Siebel Order Management Guide

Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications

Rate Plans with Tier-Based Pricing

Rate plans inSiebel Energy can accommodate complex product bundles and pricing schemes. Administrators set up root products with the usage products as subcomponents. Each product must have a Service Type field value, such as Electricity or Gas, to limit the price comparison to the correct product category.

Administrators can set up rate plans to reflect variations in service, region, time of the day (for example, day, night, or weekends), time of the year (for example, summer or winter), payment methods, payment duration, credit risk, and so on. The administrator can extend this list by adding attributes to the appropriate product class.

Pricing managers set up utility rate plans. These rate plans can cover electricity, gas, or dual fuel, and so on, with a standing charge or with no standing charge. Different combinations of attributes give rise to different rates within the same rate plan. These complex rate plans are usually maintained in external billing and pricing applications. The rate plans are matched up with the actual consumer usage when the external application generates a utilities bill. The following topics show examples of rate plans for various energy products:

Electrical Service Rate Plans

The following describes sample electrical service rate plans. In the table, the tier numbers are kilowatt hours (KWh), and the pricing values are the costs for each kilowatt hour. The class is Electricity.

Root Product	Subcomponent	Tier Numbers and Pricing Values	Tier Attributes and Values	List Price
Electric StandardWith StandingCharge	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	15.00 for each month
	StandardWith StandingCharge Usage	1 thru 1000 - 0.12 1001 thru 2000 - 0.00 Above 2000 - 0.00	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Threshold	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.10 1001 thru 2000 - 0.08 Above 2000 - 0.05	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Peak	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.08 1001 thru 2000 - 0.05 Above 2000 - 0.03	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Off Peak	0
Electric StandardWithNo StandingCharge	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	0 for each month
	StandardWithNo StandingCharge Usage	1 thru 1000 - 0.12 1001 thru 2000 - 0.00 Above 2000 - 0.00	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Threshold	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.10 1001 thru 2000 - 0.08 Above 2000 - 0.05	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Peak	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.08 1001 thru 2000 - 0.05 Above 2000 - 0.03	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Off Peak	0

Gas Service Rate Plans

The following describes sample gas service rate plans. In the table, the tier numbers are therms, and the pricing values are the costs for each therm. The class is Gas.

Root Product	Subcomponent	Tier Numbers and Pricing Values	Tier Attributes and Values	List Price
GasWith StandingCharge	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	10.00 for each month
	GasWith StandingCharge Usage	1 thru 1000 - 0.12 1001 thru 2000 - 0.00 Above 2000 - 0.00	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Threshold	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.10 1001 thru 2000 - 0.08 Above 2000 - 0.05	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Peak	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.08 1001 thru 2000 - 0.05 Above 2000 - 0.03	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Off Peak	0
GasWithNo StandingCharge	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	(See the following cells.)	0 for each month
	GasWithNo StandingCharge Usage	1 thru 1000 - 0.12 1001 thru 2000 - 0.00 Above 2000 - 0.00	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Threshold	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.10 1001 thru 2000 - 0.08 Above 2000 - 0.05	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Peak	0
		1 thru 1000 - 0.08 1001 thru 2000 - 0.05 Above 2000 - 0.03	Region - North MeterType - Credit PaymentType - Automatic Debit Usage Type - Off Peak	0

Scenarios for Using Price Comparison in Siebel Energy

This topic gives the following example of how price comparison might be used. You might use price comparison differently, depending on your business model. This topic includes the following scenarios:

Setting Up Rate Plans

Your company’s pricing manager creates a rate plan as a new customizable product and associates a class with it that defines its attributes. For this customizable product, she wants Payment Type to be the attribute of the parent rate plan so that the attribute is inherited by its subcomponents. She then creates another product as a subcomponent to represent the different usage types and associates it with the same class.

Next, the pricing manager sets up tier pricing for the class, specifying different tiered rates for different attribute combinations. She sets up a price list for her company and for each of the competitors. She adds both the root product and subcomponents as price list items. She associates the tier pricing with the subcomponents.

A month later, the pricing manager receives the latest publication of residential rates for a major competitor, so she updates her data with the most current information for each rate for that competitor.

Next, she realizes that the competitor has introduced a new rate plan into the market. Because her company does not have an equivalent rate, she creates a new rate product for the competitor’s plan and adds it to the competitor's price list.

She can then also model the relevant pricing structure. When a customer service representative or a prospective customer chooses this rate, the comparison reports that there is no equivalent or like-for-like rate plans and returns only those rate plans that match the attributes of the competitor's product or service.

The next rate on her market intelligence gathering list is from a new competitor and therefore not in the database. She sets up a new price list for that competitor, and adds the existing equivalent rate products. She also notes that the rate is offered only within the city limits of Richardson, so she creates a rate structure for which the Region attribute has a value of Richardson.

Analyzing Rate Plans

The pricing manager runs a report each month to compare her company’s rates with other competitors in the service area. She needs to review the effectiveness of her company’s rate plans, the introduction of competitors’ rate plans, and the redesigning of new rate plans to capture the market share needed.

The pricing manager first runs a report that lists all the competitors, their rate plans, and the cents for each kWh for peak, off-peak, and weekend rates associated with each rate plan. This report gives her a good idea of the dynamics in the marketplace.

She next runs a report consolidating the customers’ inputs, choices and decision, for every single time the pricing calculator was run for a given time period, displaying the region, service (gas, electric, or both), competitor, rate plan, savings, and if they switched to National Energy. This data assists her in measuring the effectiveness of her rate plans in customer acquisition.

Comparing Prices and Enrolling Over the Web

An energy customer with service provided by a competing firm goes to a Web site to follow up on a price comparison ad he saw.

He is prompted to answer a series of questions. For the first question, he indicates that he wants to receive both gas and electricity service from this company. For his electricity service provider, he selects from a drop-down list that is specific to his region. That action triggers another drop-down list to appear from which he specifies his current service tariff or rate.

Looking at his most recent bill, he enters his quarterly costs. Since he has chosen gas and electric, he then answers similar questions concerning his gas service, and then clicks Finish.

Using the gathered information, the Price Comparison calculator generates his projected annual bill. For each of the company’s rate plans, he also sees the savings by switching to the company.

He selects the rate plan that saves him the most money and then clicks the Enroll button. He is then brought to a view that has the proper orderable service entered as a line item. Because he is not an existing customer, he is required to go through new user registration before he can complete the transaction online.

Process of Setting Up Price Comparison

To set up the price comparison feature, perform the following tasks:

For information about rate plan examples, see Rate Plans with Tier-Based Pricing.

Setting Up Products for Rate Plans

To set up products, administrators must first set up classes to be associated with the products. For rate plans, classes describe the type of service, such as Electricity or Standard Electric Services.

As part of defining classes, administrators create attributes, such as Meter Type, that get inherited by the products associated with that class. They also define the list of values available to the end user for each attribute of the class. After that, administrators create and define the root products that belong to the new class. To the root product, they add subcomponents, which are the usage products. For more information about classes and products, see Siebel Product Administration Guide and Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Price Comparison.

Attributes of Class Administration

Before proceeding with the procedures in this topic, review this background information about the attributes of class administration.

In general, Siebel applications have the following two categories of List of Values (LOVs):

One type is used for setting up Dynamic Attributes, described as part of the procedures in this topic.
One type is used elsewhere in the application, including in the Price Comparison SmartScript.

Therefore, if you follow the procedure in this topic to set up a dynamic attribute in Class Administration for use in Price Comparison, then you might want to do the following:

Associate a List of Values to each dynamic attribute.
Make the LOVs represent the possible answers to a corresponding question about customer's billing details in the Price Comparison SmartScript.

Because of the different categories of LOVs in Siebel applications, you must set up two different LOV types with the same set of values. The first one you set up in Class Administration, while the other one you set up in the regular LOV administration. For more information, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Siebel Energy is set up with the LOV types and values for two dynamic attributes: Meter Type and Payment Method. The corresponding LOV types used in the Price Comparison SmartScript are UT_METER_TYPE and PAYMENT_METHOD.

In addition, for Region and Usage Type, you do not have to set up the regular LOVs because Region does not use LOVs (it uses a special BusComp to hold the possible values), and Usage Type does not appear in the SmartScript questions at all.

Setting Up Classes for Rate Plans

To set up classes for rate plans, follow this procedure.

Note: Special considerations apply when setting up dynamic attributes for use in the Price Comparison feature. Make sure you set up the dynamic attributes correctly. For more information, see Attributes of Class Administration.

To set up classes for rate plans

Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, then the Class Administration view.
In the Classes list, add a record.
Typical class names are Electric Service, Gas Service, and Standard Electric Service.
Click the Dynamic Attributes view tab.
In the Dynamic Attributes list, add a record, and complete the following steps:
1. In the LOV Type field, click the select button.
2. In the Pick List of Values Type dialog box, select an existing type or add a record for a new LOV type.
3. In the Dynamic Attributes list, drill down on the LOV type of the attribute.
4. In the List of Values - Type list, add a record for each value that an end user can select for that LOV type.
Repeat Step 4 for each attribute you want to include.
Typical examples include Meter Type, Payment Method, Region, and Usage Type.

Creating Root Products for Rate Plans

To create root products for rate plans, follow this procedure

To create root products for rate plans

Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.

Add a record, and complete the necessary fields in the record and the form. To access more fields, click the show more button in the form.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Type	Select Service for the type of product.
Service Type	Select the service type, such as Electricity or Gas.
Product Class	Select the class that you created for the service.
Price Type	Select the price type, such as Recurring (recommended for root products).
UoM	Select the unit of measurement. Per Month is the only unit of measurement supported for the standing charge.

Creating Usage Products

You must create the usage products before you can add them as subcomponents.

To create usage products

Follow the procedure for creating root products for rate plans with the following differences:
1. For Price Type, select Usage.
2. For UoM, select the appropriate unit of measurement, such as kWh.

Setting Up Usage Products

To set up usage products, follow this procedure.

To set up usage products

Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Products view.
Drill down on the name of the root product.
Click the Customizable Product view tab.
The Product form appears with the Lock/Unlock Product list and Versions list beneath it.
In the Lock/Unlock Product list, click the menu button and select Create Workspace.
In the Lock/Unlock Product list, select Locked Flag.
From the Show drop-down list (which appears after the Product form), select Product Designer.

In the Product Designer list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Default	Type the default number of instances of the product. Typically, this number is the same as the maximum number.
Maximum	Type the maximum number of allowed instances of the product. This number must equal the number of usage types. For example, if rates for usage are peak, off peak, and threshold, then set the maximum number to 3.
Minimum	Type the minimum number of allowed instances of the product.
Product	Select an existing usage product.

From the lower Show drop-down list, select Product Versions.
In the Lock/Unlock Product list, click the menu button and select Refresh Workspace.
Click Release New Version.

Setting Up Price Lists for Rate Plans

For rate plans, administrators use attribute-based pricing and tier-based pricing to give each variation of the master rate plan a rate. Therefore, administrators must first set up tier-based pricing and then set up price lists for the products.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Price Comparison.

Setting Up Tier-Based Pricing

To set up tier-based pricing, follow this procedure.

To set up tier-based pricing

Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.

In the More Info form, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Class	Select a class associated with the rate plan and usage products.
Type	Select Multiple Attributes.
Default Starting Adjustment Type	Select Tier Based.

Click the Attributes view tab.
In the Attributes list, add a record for each attribute that you want to affect the price.
Click the Adjustment Item Generator view tab, and complete the following steps:
1. In the Adjustment Item Generator list, select the first attribute.
2. In the Item Generator list, check all values that you want to affect the pricing.
3. Repeat Step a and Step b for all attributes.
Click Generate, and complete the following steps:
1. In the Items list, select an attribute combination.
2. Click the select button in the Tier Price field, and add a record in the Tier Price dialog box for each tier.
  
  Note: The minimum quantity of the first tier must be 1. Tiers must not overlap and there must be no gaps between tiers. A maximum quantity is not required for the last tier.
3. Repeat Step a and Step b for each attribute combination.
Repeat this procedure until you create as many tier pricing items you need.

Setting Up Price Lists for Products

To set up price lists for products, follow this procedure.

To set up price lists for products

Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then the Price Lists view.
Add a record for the price list.
For the Type field, select PC INHOUSE PRICE LIST or PC COMPETITOR PRICE LIST.
Drill down on the name of the price list.
Click the Price List Line Items view tab.
In the Price List Items list, add a record for each product (root product and usage subcomponent).
For each subcomponent product, select the appropriate tiered pricing in the Attribute Pricing field.
In the List Price field, enter the standing charge as the list price of the root product.

Setting Up Usage Profiles

Administrators must set up the usage information that the price comparison feature uses to determine annual costs. This information includes data about the regions and multipliers to take into account for seasons when converting bills into annual costs.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Price Comparison.

To set up a usage profile

Navigate to the Product Comparison screen, then the PC Usage Profile view.

In the PC Usage Profile list, add a record for the region, and complete the necessary fields.

Add the region that you entered as a list of values for the region attribute of that class.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
On Peak Usage	Type a number that represents the proportion of usage that is during peak hours for a typical customer in the region. The number must be decimal value less than 1 (for example, 0.3).
Off Peak Usage	Type a number that represents the proportion of usage that is during off peak hours for a typical customer in the region. The number must be decimal value less than 1 (for example, 0.7).
Summer Multiplier	Type a number for the multiplier to use to convert a quarterly bill amount into an annual amount for a typical customer in the region (for example, 5).
Winter Multiplier	Type a number for the multiplier to use to convert a quarterly bill amount into an annual amount for a typical customer in the region (for example, 3)

Matching Competitors’ Rate Plans with In-House Rate Plans

Administrators specify the rate plans to compare with each other to produce like-for-like quotes.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Price Comparison.

To match competitors’ rate plans with in-house rate plans

Navigate to the Product Comparison screen, then the Relationships view.
In the Competitor Product field, select a competitor’s rate plan.
In the Orderable Product field, select the in-house rate plan that is the equivalent of the competitor’s rate plan.

Running Reports in Siebel Energy

The Price Comparison feature provides the following two reports, which are both used only by administrators:

The Price Comparison Administrative Report
This report displays the competitor’s name; the equivalent rate plan; the pricing at each tier for that rate plan; the day, night and weekend pricing for that rate plan; the projected annual bill for that rate plan; and the difference in price between the in-house and the competitor's rate plan.
When the report is run, the report returns the price comparison data matching the requirements set in the Price Comparison Admin Reports parameters view.

The Competitive Pricing Report
This report displays the competitor's name, equivalent rate plan, projected annual bill and the difference in cost between the in-house and the competitor's rate plan.

Running the Price Comparison Report

To run the Price Comparison report, follow this procedure.

To run the Price Comparison Administrative Report

Navigate to the Product Comparison screen.
In the toolbar, click the Reports icon.
The Run Report pane appears.

In the Run Report pane, complete the appropriate fields.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Description
Report Name	Select EPC Administrative Report. The available reports apply to the screen and view to which you navigate.
Output Type	Select the output type for the report.
Report Locale	Select the locale for the report.

In the EPC Admin Parameters dialog box, set the constraints for the report, and click Finish.
If you do not set constraints, then the report includes all the data.
Click Submit.
The report runs.
Click My Reports to navigate to the Reports view of the BI Publisher Reports screen.
A record for the run report appears in the Reports view.
Drill down on the Report Name field in the Reports view to display the report in a new window.
You can print the report by using the print feature for the application in which it appears.

Running the Competitive Pricing Report

To run the Competitive Pricing report, follow this procedure.

To run the Competitive Pricing report

Navigate to the Product Comparison screen, then the Relationships view.
Click CP Report.
The SmartScript session used with the Price Comparison feature begins. However, to run the report, you do not have to supply answers for the region, supplier, or rate plan. If you do not answer these questions, then the report is generated for all regions, suppliers and rate plans.
At the end of the SmartScript session, click Finish.
Siebel Energy generates the report data as a background task. An email notification is sent to the user when the report is generated.

Accessing Price Comparisons (End User)

The Price Comparison feature can be made available through the following applications:

Siebel Energy generates the report data as a background task. An email notification is sent to the user when the report is generated. allows end users, usually customer service representatives at a call center, to access the Price Comparison feature through the Opportunities screen. For more information, see Generating a Price Comparison (End User).
Siebel eSales allows prospective or existing customers to access the Price Comparison feature over the Web. For more information, see Siebel eSales Administration Guide.

Generating a Price Comparison (End User)

End users can collect billing information for an existing service, such as gas or electricity. Siebel Energy converts this data into an annual cost, which it can then compare against internal rates.

To generate a price comparison for a customer

Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List view.
Select an existing record, or add a new record, and complete the necessary fields.
For more information about creating opportunities, see Opportunities in Siebel Energy.
Drill down on the name of the opportunity.
Click the Price Comparison view tab.
In the Price Comparison list, click New.
A SmartScript session is launched with a series of questions to answer.

Click Next until you answer all the questions, and then click Finish.

The Price Comparison view of the Opportunities screen appears. Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Attribute Values	Displays the attributes and values for the product.
Equivalent Rate	Displays a rate if a like-for-like rate plan was found.
Projected Bill	Displays the annual cost calculated from the data provided.
Annual Savings	Displays the amount the customer can save by switching to your company’s rate plan.

Enrolling a Customer for a Service in Siebel Energy (End User)

End users can enroll customers in a service offered by their company.

To enroll a customer for a service

Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List view.
Drill down on the name of the opportunity.
Click the Price Comparison view tab.
In the Price Comparison list, select a price comparison record or generate a new price comparison record.
For more information, see Generating a Price Comparison (End User).
Click Enroll.
For an existing customer, Siebel Energy creates an order. For a new customer, the CSR can create an account before the order is created. For more information about the ordering process, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications.