3Getting Started with Siebel Loyalty
Getting Started with Siebel Loyalty
This chapter covers how to set up Siebel Loyalty. It lists the set-up tasks that are specific to Siebel Loyalty, and it must be used in combination with the more general set-up tasks described in Siebel Applications Administration Guide. This chapter includes the following topics:
About Getting Started with Siebel Loyalty
Siebel Applications Administration Guide covers the set-up tasks that are common to Siebel Business Applications, such as using license keys, defining employees, defining your company’s structure, and adding partner companies. It also provides the information that you need to perform data administration and document administration tasks.
This guide assumes that you have already installed or completed the upgrade of Siebel Loyalty. If you have not, then see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using in the Siebel Bookshelf.
Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using describes how to create the Siebel Administrator account that is used to perform the tasks described in this guide.
In addition to the preliminary set-up tasks covered in this chapter, two major set-up tasks for Siebel Loyalty are covered in other chapters:
About Implementing Siebel Open UI
You can choose to deploy Siebel Business Applications with the Siebel Open UI user interface framework. Siebel Open UI uses an open architecture that enables you to customize and extend the Siebel user interface for your enterprise.
In the current version of Siebel Loyalty, all Siebel Loyalty functionality is available with Siebel Open UI.
The procedures in this guide assume that you do not use the Tree navigation control option to access screens and views. However, you can choose to use the Tree navigation control if required. For more information about setting navigation options, see Siebel Fundamentals Guide.
Configuring Siebel Loyalty
You can configure Siebel Loyalty in many ways to suit your business model. Some common forms of configuration are:
Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs
A point type is a loyalty program’s currency. Various point types can be defined to reward and recognize members based on their activities (such as completing a flight or referring a friend to the program). Some point types are defined to allow members to redeem points for a product or service while some are defined to track their behavior and reward them by assigning a new tier status.
Multiple point types can be used in a joint account or an individual account, with one type of points going to individuals and another going to accounts, with different accrual and redemption rules associated with each point type. Multiple point types could also be used to differentiate the value of a purchase from the host company and from a partner. For example, an airline could say that in order to qualify for Silver Tier status, a member has to earn either 25,000 points flying on the host airline or 35,000 points flying on partner airlines. In this example, points earned flying the host airline would be one point type, and points earned flying on partners would be a second point type.
In addition, a separate point type can be used to track any action that can qualify a member for a tier. For example, if a hotel says that a member can earn Silver Tier status either by earning 10,000 points or staying 35 times, then it is better to use two point types. The first point type is the standard points that can qualify the member for a tier status. The second point type tracks the number of stays, with the member getting one point for each stay; these points cannot be used for redemptions, but they can qualify a member for a tier.
When loyalty administrators define a new loyalty program, they must select the point types the program uses in the Point Types view of the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
Siebel Loyalty comes with eight point types created in the data model and UI. Once these eight point types are defined, they track the balances of eight different point types for a member. You can also configure the product to create additional point types. You must be familiar with Siebel Tools before performing this task. For more information about Siebel Tools, see Using Siebel Tools. For more information about modifying lists of values, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide. For more information about point types, see Defining Point Types and Subtypes for Loyalty Programs.
Allowing Additional Fields to Control Loyalty Points Given
Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, you can use the following fields to define how many base points a member receives for an accrual transaction, or how many base points are required to redeem the same product. These fields are available in the Administration - Products screen, Points view:
Partner
Departure Airport
Departure Zone
Arrival Airport
Arrival Zone
Booking Class
Roundtrip
To use different transaction fields to control base points
Create a list of the transaction attributes (fields) that you want to control the base points given, including the potential values for each of the new fields.
In Siebel Tools:
Update the two business components with these new fields:
Transactions (LOY Transaction)
Administration - Product, Points (LOY Product Points)
Make these new fields visible in the user interface in the following places:
Member, Transactions
Transactions
Statement, Transactions
Administration - Product, Points
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Note: Use Products, Points only if you also want to add it to the read-only Products view.
Base Points pop-up pick list
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Note: This pop-up pick list appears when you click on the Base Points field in the Transactions List. It is used to choose the specific characteristics and point value for the product you already associated with the transaction. You must modify this list by adding the new fields.
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Modify the query form:
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Currently, Siebel Loyalty displays a query form, the user enters the desired characteristics of the product there, and then Siebel Loyalty displays the Base Points pop-up picklist with the applicable point values.
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Note: This step is applicable only if you want to manually pick up a unique product points record in the list applet.
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If you want it to go directly to the Base Points pick list, then clear the Auto Query value (which is currently Query).
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If you want to keep the Query, then update the pop-up query applet (Applet Web Template mode) to include the new fields.
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In your Siebel Business Application, in the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view, create list of values as needed for each new field.
Test to make sure that, when you choose a record in the Base Points pop-up pick list, the values chosen from that list are transferred to the Transaction. For example, if you currently choose a point value with a Booking Class of Y, then the Booking Class is automatically entered as Y on the Transactions List Applet if it is working correctly:
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Use pick maps to copy the value.
The pick map must have these values:
Field. name of the field in the Transaction Business Component.
Picklist Field. name of the Booking Class field in the Product Points Business Component.
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Specify the values for every field that must be copied from the Product Points Business Component to the Transaction Business Component.
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About Changing the Fields Used in Loyalty Attributes
Attributes are used in promotion rules. For more information, see Creating Attributes for Loyalty Programs.
Most types of attributes represent fields in records such as the Member record or the Transaction record. The List of Values view of the Administration - Data screen is used to specify the fields within each record that are available for use as attributes.
The following table shows the value of the Type field in the List of Values view that is used to specify the fields that can be used for each type of attribute.
| Attribute Type | Value of Type field in LOV Administration |
|---|---|
| Member Field Attributes |
LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_MEMBER |
| Member Tier Attributes |
LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_TIER |
| Transaction Attributes |
LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_TXN |
| Promotion Specific Attributes |
LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_PROMO_BUCKET |
| Point Type |
LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_MEM_POINT |
You can change the fields that a type of attribute can represent by changing its list of values in the List of Values view. Each entry in the List of Values Administration view must represent an active field in the corresponding business component. For more information about changing lists of values, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Allowing Manual Processing of Queued Transactions
Some transactions are created with the status of Acceptable, which means that they are processed when the user clicks the Process button.
Some transactions are created with the status of Queued, which means that they are processed in batch mode by the Siebel Loyalty Engine.
For example, when a member creates a redemption order on the Loyalty eMember Web site, the redemption transaction that it creates to debit the points has a status of Queued, so it cannot be processed manually by clicking the Process button.
The status that the transaction has when it is created depends on the user property OrderToTxn: Transaction Status, which you can modify in Siebel Tools. For more information about Siebel Tools, see Using Siebel Tools.
To allow manual processing of transactions
In Siebel Tools, find the appropriate business service.
For example, for customer transactions on the eMember Web site, find LOY Customer Action Business Service.
For that business service, find the user property OrderToTxn: Transaction Status.
Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, the value of the user property is LOY_TXN_CD_STATUS Queued.
In the value of the user property, change Queued to Acceptable.
The transaction is created with a status of Acceptable, so it can be processed manually.
Allowing Transactions to Be Processed Both Manually and Automatically
Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, transactions are processed automatically by the batch engine if their status is Queued, and they are processed manually by clicking the Process button if their status is Acceptable.
The status depends on how the transaction is created. For example, transactions created by the member on the eLoyalty Web site are given a status of Queued, so they are processed automatically by the batch engine.
You can configure the product so users can click the Process button to process transactions whose status is either Queued or Acceptable. Then users do not have to wait for the batch engine to run for Queued transactions to be processed. Users have the option of either waiting for the batch engine or clicking Process to process the transaction immediately.
To configure the product, set the following parameter in the LOY Engine Transaction business component for LOY Queue Manager SearchSpec: Batch:
[Status] = LookupValue('LOY_TXN_STATUS_CD','Acceptable') OR [Status] = LookupValue('LOY_TXN_STATUS_CD','Queued') AND [Program Active Flag]<>'N'
Setting Up Points Loan Repayment Workflow
Your company can, at its discretion, loan points to its members. A loan is provided automatically if a member does not have enough points for a redemption. A loan provided based on the Loan setup at the program level. For details of how a loan is set up, see Redemption Loans. To collect repayment of these loans automatically, Siebel Loyalty provides a workflow process named LOY Loan Repayment. To invoke the workflow, you must build a search specification that the workflow takes as its input.
The search specification identifies members who have outstanding points loans and have positive points accruals. The workflow, once activated, runs nightly and performs the following process:
Owes points? Identifies members who have outstanding points owed.
Accrued points? Identifies members who have accrued points.
Creates redemption. For each member where both are true, creates a redemption transaction that debits points from the member and pays them back to your company up to the amount of points owed.
The workflow identifies loaned points that the member owes regardless of whether the member has spent these loaned points. The workflow does not wait till the member has the full amount of points needed to redeem the loan. It can collect loaned points incrementally.
To set up the search specification for points loan repayment
Navigate to the Administration - Server screen.
In the link bar, click Jobs.
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On the Jobs list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Component/Job
Select Workflow Process Batch Manager.
In the Job Parameters list at the end of the screen, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Name
Select Workflow Process Name.
Value
Enter the name of the workflow the search specification applies to; in this case, LOY Loan Repayment.
In the Job Parameters list at the end of the screen, create another new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Name
Select Search Specification.
Value
Enter the following string:
[Transaction Sub Type] = LookupValue ('LOY_TXN_SUB_TYPE_CD', 'Loan') AND [Status] = LookupValue('LOY_TXN_STATUS_CD', 'Processed') AND [Current Loan Balance] > 0Go back to the start of the screen and click Start.
Each time the component runs, for each applicable member it creates a transaction where the Type is REDEMPTION, Subtype is Loan Repayment, and the value of Points is as many point as the member has available, up to the amount needed to repay the loan.
Setting Up Member Merge
Users can merge the records of two or more members, combining the number of points, the last transaction, and other data for all the members into a single Member record.
You can change the ways that some data is combined by changing user properties in Siebel Tools. For more information, see Merging Loyalty Program Members.
Allowing Users to Change Values of Member Attributes
Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, the values of member attributes cannot be changed manually. They can only be changed by the Siebel Loyalty Engine.
You might need to allow manual changes to the values of member attributes. If you do, then it is recommended that you not allow all employees to change these values. Only the managers who need to change the values must be allowed to change them.
You can configure the product so that employees cannot change the member attribute in two ways:
Create a new view, make it editable, and assign it to the appropriate managers by adding it to their responsibility.
Make the existing view editable based on the responsibility. You can make a view read-only for certain responsibilities and editable for others.
For information about assigning views to users based on responsibility, see Siebel Security Guide.
Requiring Approval for Status Changes of Loyalty Transactions
You can use Siebel Tools to change the user properties that specify whether or not an approval is required for changes in transaction status. If approval is required, then the Approval dialog box appears.
The user properties End Transition x (where x is a number) on the LOY Transaction business component control whether an approval is required for a particular status change, and so control whether the popup window is displayed.
The standard Siebel runtime repository includes the user properties and values shown in the following table.
| Property Name | Value |
|---|---|
| End Transition 1 |
Acceptable |
| End Transition 2 |
Cancelled |
| End Transition 3 |
In Progress |
| End Transition 5 |
Rejected - Manager |
| End Transition 6 |
End |
If the value exists in this list, then the approval popup is not displayed.
You can modify these user properties in Siebel Tools. For more information about Siebel Tools, see Using Siebel Tools.
Setting Up Custom Transaction Types for Siebel Loyalty
Custom transactions give you the ability to create new types of transactions, as subtypes of the Custom type, that are not available as standard transaction types of Siebel Loyalty.
This feature enables you to create new transaction subtypes of the transaction type Custom for services that are not available as standard Siebel Loyalty transaction types or subtypes, such as duplicate card issue, baggage loss, walk-in fee, and other services for which you can charge members monetary fees, monetary fees and points, or points alone. You can define promotions exclusively for each of these custom transaction subtypes so that the Loyalty engine evaluates only these promotions.
When member service representatives create a custom transaction, they use the following fields:
Transaction Type. The user selects Custom Transaction in the Transaction Type field.
Transaction Sub Type. You can create custom values for the Transaction Sub Type field for the user to select when the type is Custom Transaction. You cannot create custom subtypes for other transaction types.
For more information about how member service representatives create transactions, see Entering Loyalty Members’ Transactions.
Custom promotions cannot be part of a promotion design. The Assign Points, Update Attribute and Redeem Points actions are supported for Custom promotions.
To set up custom transactions, the Loyalty Administrator must do the following:
Define the product used by the custom transaction in a similar way that you would define an accrual or redemption product. You can define a single product for all custom transactions or different products for different varieties of custom transactions. The transaction type field in the Points tab for the product must be Custom. A partner product offering is not required for custom transactions. For more information about defining products, see Defining Loyalty Products, Price Lists, and Catalogs.
Create a transaction subtype to be selected by the member service representative. This is created in the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view by adding records with the Type LOY_TXN_SUB_TYPE_CD, as described in the following procedure.
Create a promotion to perform the actions needed for this custom transaction. In the Apply To field in the Promotion list, select Custom. Create rules with the criteria that check the value in the Transaction Sub Type field of the transaction and that execute the actions for this custom transaction if it is the appropriate subtype; in the Apply to field of the rules, select Transaction. For more information about creating promotions, see Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Promotions
Defining Custom Transaction Subtypes
Use this procedure to define custom transaction subtypes.
To define custom transaction subtypes
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, then the List of Values view.
Add new records of this type and complete the necessary fields. There must be one record for each of the display values that you want for subtypes. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Type
Enter LOY_TXN_SUB_TYPE_CD.
Display Value
Enter a value to be displayed in the subtypes picklist when the transaction is created.
Parent LIC
Select CUSTOM.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Example of Creating a Custom Transaction
This topic gives one example of creating custom transactions. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model.
The Loyalty administrator wants to create a custom transaction type for duplicate card issue, which gives members discounts based on their tier. Bronze members are not eligible for any discount, silver members are eligible for a 25% discount, gold members are eligible for 50% discount, and platinum members get the service at no cost.
To do this:
The Loyalty administrator uses the Administration Product screen to add a product, and select Custom as the product type in the Points view for that product. The product might be named Custom Services if it is a generic product to be used by all custom transactions, or it might be named Duplicate Card if it is a product to be used specifically for this custom service.
The Loyalty administrator creates a new custom transaction subtype by adding a record in the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view with the values shown in the following table.
Field Value Type
LOY_TXN_SUB_TYPE_CD
Display Value
Duplicate Card Issue
Parent LIC
CUSTOM
The Loyalty administrator writes a promotion with Custom selected in the Apply To field. This promotion has rules that check the value in the transaction’s subtype field to see that it is Duplicate Card Issue, calculate the fee with the appropriate discount for the tier that the member is in, and charge the member the appropriate fee for issuing a duplicate card.
After this setup is complete, member service representatives can create transactions and selects Custom in the Type field and Duplicate Card Issue in the Sub type field, and the promotion charges the member the appropriate fee.
For example, a silver member telephones the call center and asks for a duplicate card. The member service representative creates a transaction, selects Custom in the Type field and selects Duplicate Card Issue in the Sub Type field. The promotion is executed and charges the member a fee that is discounted 25% from the full price of getting a duplicate card.
Rounding the Decimal Values of Points
By default, decimal values of points are rounded to the nearest integer. Points are rounded as followed:
Accrual Items. The number of points accrued for a transaction are rounded to the nearest integer. If the decimal value is greater than or equal to .5, then it is rounded to the next highest integer. If it is less than .5, then it is rounded to the lower integer.
Product Points. The point values entered for redemption or accrual when you define a product can only be integers.
Base points. If base points are used to calculate the final number of points rewarded for a transaction, then the base points are calculated to 2 decimal places but the final number of points accrued for the transaction is rounded to the nearest integer.
Promotions. If points are assigned using the Assign Points action of a promotion, then you can use decimal values in setting up the action for the promotion, but the final number of points accrued is rounded to the nearest integer.
Redemption. Any decimal values for redemption items that are calculated by promotions are rounded off to the nearest integer.
Member Balance. Because it depends on the integer values described in all the preceding bullets, the member balance is always as integer.
Partner Point Block. The definition of Partner Account Debit (PAD) allows decimal values, so the partner’s point block can have decimal values deducted. For example, if a member is awarded 545 points and PAD is .1, then 54.5 is deducted from the partner block. For more information about the PAD, see Setting Up Unified Point Type for Partner Account Debit.
Configuring the Rounding of Decimal Values of Points
You can configure the number of decimal places used for rounding points. This configuration applies to:
Accrual items, which reward the member in decimal points based on the configuration.
Point block debits, which subtract decimal values from the point block and leave a decimal balance in the point block.
Actions that use points, including Assign Points, Redeem Points, Purchase Points, Transfer Points, Reactivate Points, Transaction Cancellation.
Member services that use points, including Purchase Points, Transfer Points, Points Reactivation, Gift Points, Manual Credit and Manual Debit.
Redemptions, which consume points including decimal values. However, the total number of points needed to redeem a product must be defined in the Products screen as an integer value and cannot use decimal values.
Accrual and redemption cancellation, which revert points using the same decimal precision with which they were rewarded or redeemed in the transaction being cancelled.
You can also override rounding for qualifying points. If you configure rounding so points are rounded to one to seven decimal places, then you can override this setting for qualifying points, so they are still rounded to the nearest integer.
To configure rounding, use the following user properties of the Business Service LOY Processing Engine:
Points Precision. This user property controls the number of decimal places to which the points are rounded. The default value is 0, which means that the points are rounded to an integer value. Valid values are any integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 7. For example, the Assign Points action does a calculation that provides a reward of 1.345714932 points. Then:
If the Points Precision user property has the default value of zero, then this reward is rounded to the nearest integer, in this case, 1 point.
If the Points Precision user property is set to one, then this reward is rounded to 1.3 points.
If the Points Precision user property is set to seven, then this reward is rounded to 1.3457149 points.
Points Precision Override for QF. This user property allows you to round off qualifying points to integers, even if you have used the Points Precision user property to round off points to a decimal value. To override the Points Precision user property for qualifying points, set this user property to Y. If this user property is not defined or is set to N, then qualifying points will be rounded in the same way as other points, based on the Points Precision user property.
If any other feature except for qualifying points requires that you override the rounding and use integer points, then you can control the input at the user interface level. Allow the user to enter only integer values in the appropriate fields by changing the data type of these fields in the business component to integer.
Examples of How the Decimal Values for Points are Rounded
Rounding of decimal points for a transaction occurs for each individual accrual line item generated by a transaction. For example, if a member’s transaction qualifies for points as a result of two separate promotions, two accrual line items are created. The points assigned for each accrual generated by each promotion are rounded, then the values are combined to determine the total points the member receives. The following are some examples of how rounding occurs where a transaction qualifies for two promotions and where the Points Precision value is set to two, so points are rounded to two decimal points:
If a transaction qualifies for two promotions, each of which generate 20.158 transaction points, two accrual line item are created, each with an accrual value of 20.16. The total points assigned to the customer is 40.32 (20.16 plus 20.16 from each of the accrual items).
If a transaction qualifies for two promotions, each of which generate 20.987 transaction points, two accrual line items are created, each with an accrual value of 20.99. The total points assigned to the customer is 41.98 (20.99 plus 20.99 from each of the accrual items).
Setting Parameters for the Siebel Loyalty Engine
You can customize the following Siebel Loyalty Engine parameters:
LOYEngineNumberOfRuns
LOYEngineQueueObjects
LOYEngineSleepTime
All these parameters apply to the eLoyalty Processing Engine – Batch component. They affect batch processing, not real-time processing. For a description of these parameters, see Configuring Parameters of the Batch Server Component.
Parameters are commonly used in the following ways:
You can also set parameters to determine how often statements are produced for each tier of a program by using the Statement Frequency and Only If Activity fields of the Program screen, Tier Class, Tiers view. For more information, see Defining Tier Classes and Tiers.
Specifying Objects Processed by the Siebel Loyalty Engine
You can specify which objects the Siebel Loyalty Engine processes by using the parameter LOYEngineQueueObjects.
The following table lists the types of objects that the Siebel Loyalty Engine processes.
| Type | Business Object and Primary Business Component | Description |
|---|---|---|
Transaction |
LOY Transaction Processor LOY Engine Transaction |
Processes the transaction for any qualified promotions. Processed against the active promotions in the program. |
Tier |
LOY Tier Processor LOY Engine Member Tier |
Processes the member tiers for change such as Upgrade, Downgrade. Processed only against one promotion of that tier. |
Bucket |
LOY Promotion Bucket Processor LOY Promotion Bucket |
Processes the Promotion Bucket to check whether it has met all the criteria of a complex promotion. Processed only against the promotion in question. |
Accrual |
LOY Accrual Expiration Processor LOY Member Accrual Item |
Processes the accruals that have expired and deducts the points from the member’s balance. There are no promotions involved and only redemptions are created for all expired accruals and member balances are deducted accordingly. |
Document |
LOY Statement LOY Statement |
Processes the statements with an In Progress status and generates a document and sets the status to Completed. The file name points to the generated document. |
Specifying How Often the Siebel Loyalty Objects Run
You can set parameters to specify how often the Siebel Loyalty objects run. For example, objects can run weekly, daily, or hourly. This setting applies to Siebel Loyalty objects, not to individual programs.
For example, to specify how often the Siebel Loyalty objects run, set the following parameters for the batch component eLoyalty Processing Engine – Batch (alias LoyEngineBatch):
LOYEngineQueueObjects set to Transaction:30,Bucket:10,Tier:30. This setting determines how often transactions, bucket and tier objects are run.
LOYEngineNumberOfRuns set to -1.
You can also set parameters to specify how often the Siebel Loyalty points expiration engine runs. For example, it can run weekly, daily, or hourly. This setting applies to Siebel Loyalty, not to individual programs.
To specify how often the Siebel Loyalty points expiration engine runs, set the following parameters for the batch component eLoyalty Processing Engine – Batch (alias LoyEngineBatch):
LOYEngineQueueObjects set to Transaction:30,Accrual:10,Tier:30.
LOYEngineNumberOfRuns set to -1
Setting Up Server Components for Siebel Loyalty
There are three Siebel Enterprise server components defined for the Siebel Loyalty Engine:
eLoyalty Processing Engine - Realtime. Processes the requests from users when they click the Process button to process a transaction or tier. For each request submitted from a client, a separate Siebel task is started that processes the object and exits when done.
eLoyalty Processing Engine - Batch. Performs back-end processing. Once started, this component runs in the background and processes objects as they are created in the database. Each of its Siebel tasks continue to wait for objects to process until the component or server is shut down.
eLoyalty Processing Engine - Interactive. Processing is routed dynamically based on available processes and loads.
All Siebel Loyalty Engine server components in a Siebel Enterprise can access updated cache information during Siebel Loyalty transaction processing, even if the components are running on different Siebel Servers. The Siebel Loyalty cache object contains all the active programs and promotions that are required for processing transactions. Because updated cache data is available on all servers running Siebel Loyalty Engine components, you can implement multiple instances of the real-time server component, running on different Siebel Servers, in a Siebel Enterprise.
Depending on the version of Siebel CRM that you are using, you can optionally copy the Loyalty Batch Engine to create a second batch engine component. For information on how to copy the Loyalty Batch Engine, and the requirements for doing so, see 1609676.1 (Article ID) on My Oracle Support.
The following topics provide information about setting up each of the server components for the Siebel Loyalty Engine:
For additional information about the architecture of the Siebel Loyalty server components, see Siebel Loyalty Engine Reference
Setting Up the Real-Time Server Component
To set up the real-time component, you must configure several parameters. In addition, you can choose whether to run this component in synchronous or asynchronous mode.
Setting Parameters of the Real-Time Component
To configure parameters for the Loyalty Engine real-time component, perform the steps in the following procedure.
To set parameters for the Loyalty Engine real-time component
Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration, Enterprises, then the Component Definitions view.
Query for the eLoyalty Processing Engine - Realtime component.
In the Component Parameters view, specify values for the parameters shown in the following table.
Parameter Value Maximum Tasks
This parameter determines the maximum number of tasks the component can run. Set its value based on the number of users who use real-time processing through the user interface.
Minimum MT Servers
Maximum MT Servers
Set the value of both of these parameters to one.
For more information about these parameters, see Siebel System Administration Guide.
Configuring the Processing Mode of the Real-Time Component
When the user clicks the Process button, the real-time component can process the request in one of the following modes:
Synchronous. The client waits for transaction processing to be completed before control is returned to the client. The user cannot do anything until the processing is completed. When control is returned to the user, the record reflects changes such as change in status or number of points.
Asynchronous. The client submits a transaction and control returns to the client immediately. The user can continue working, but the user must requery the transaction to see whether the processing is completed (by looking at the Status) and to check the results.
The decision about which mode to use depends on the load in the deployment. There is typically a satisfactory response time in synchronous mode with a few hundred users and a light to medium load. You must use asynchronous mode if there are thousands of users all using real time processing, which is not common.
In a typical deployment, real-time processing is not used heavily, so Siebel Loyalty runs in synchronous mode by default. The following procedure describes how to configure the processing mode.
To configure the processing mode
Use Siebel Tools to change the user property ComponentRequestMode defined in the business service LOY Processing Engine.
Acceptable values for this user property are Sync and Async.
Setting Up the Batch Server Component
To set up the Loyalty Engine batch component, you can configure its parameters and you can set up a workflow to start this component when the server starts. This topic describes these tasks. For information about the architecture of the Siebel Loyalty Engine batch server component, see Siebel Loyalty Engine Reference
Configuring Parameters of the Batch Server Component
You can configure the batch server component by changing the parameters that are used in processing, as described in the following procedure.
To configure parameters for the Loyalty Engine batch server component
Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration, Enterprises, then the Component Definitions view.
Query for the eLoyalty Processing Engine - Batch component.
In the Component Parameters view, specify values for the parameters used in batch processing, which are summarized in the following table. All of the parameters in this table apply only to the Siebel Enterprise eLoyalty Processing Engine - Batch component.
Name Display Name Default Value Description LOYEngineNumberOfRuns
LOY - Engine Number of Runs
5 The number of times to query after the queue becomes empty. This parameter must have the value -1 or greater than 0. If -1, then the eLoyalty engine keeps running indefinitely until it is shut down. Otherwise, it queries the specified number of times after the current query has run out of records. LOYEngineNumberOfTasks
LOY - Engine Number of Tasks
0 The number of processing threads that are automatically started when the Loyalty Engine server component is started. By default, it is 0, which means that there is no processing thread started, but there is one queue manager thread started. If -1, then no queue manager thread can be started either. If 4, then 4 processing threads plus one queue manager thread can be started for each MT server. LOYEngineQueueObjects
LOY - Engine Queue Objects
Transactions:90
Buckets:10
Tier:10
Accrual:10
The objects to process in the queue and the number of objects to place in the queue each time. This information is displayed in the format Object1:n,Object2:m listing each object to process and the number of objects. LOYEngineSearchSpec
LOY - Engine Search Specification
None Currently not supported. Reserved for future use. LOYEngineSleepTime
LOY - Engine Sleep Time (secs.)
10
The time (in seconds) for which the eLoyalty engine must wait after it has processed the records and there are no more records in the next query. After sleeping for that time, the eLoyalty engine can requery.
About Starting the Batch Server Component
The batch component must be started whenever the server is started. You can automate this process by using a workflow included in the product which can be invoked on server startup to initialize the server.
To start the batch component, you must know:
The number of servers and number of processes on each server. This number is determined by the administrator based on the transaction load.
The number of threads desired in each process. This number is determined based on the hardware being used. For each process, at least two threads are necessary—the queue manager thread and the processing thread. There can be more than one processing thread, depending on the number of CPUs and other resources available. Having too many threads causes unnecessary paging and using too few threads causes slow processing. It is best to use two or three threads for each process.
Starting the Batch Server Component Manually
The following procedure describes how to start the batch server component manually.
To start the server component manually
Be sure that the component parameters MinMTServers and MaxMTServers are set to the number of processes desired on each server.
For more information about these parameters, see Siebel System Administration Guide.
For each server:
- Calculate (number of processes on server) x (1 plus number of Processing Threads/Process)
Submit this number of component requests for the eLoyalty Processing Engine - Batch component.
You can submit these component requests from the user interface or using the server manager program.
Starting the Batch Server Component Using a Workflow
The following procedure describes how to use a workflow to initialize the server component.
To use a workflow to initialize the server component
In Siebel Tools, set up the workflow LOY Engine - Start Engine workflow by specifying the following two process properties:
NumberOfProcesses
NumberOfProcessingThreadsPerProcess
Activate this workflow.
When you start the server component eLoyalty Process Engine - Batch, this workflow submits the component requests to start the required number of processes.
Setting Up the Interactive Server Component
The interactive component is used for handling real-time simulation calls and also for processing low-volume accrual imports from an external system. You can modify the interactive component parameters described in the following procedure to optimize load balancing:
To set parameters for the Loyalty Engine interactive component
Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration, Enterprises, then the Component Definitions view.
Query for the eLoyalty Processing Engine - Interactive component.
In the Component Parameters view, specify values for the parameters shown in the following table.
Parameter Value Maximum Tasks
This parameter determines the maximum number of tasks the component can run. Set its value based on the number of users who use real-time processing through the user interface.
Minimum MT Servers
Maximum MT Servers
Set the value of these two parameters to one. This value is required because only one process must be running for the interactive component in the enterprise.
For more information about these parameters, see Siebel System Administration Guide.
The interactive processing component runs in the address space of the Siebel EAI Application Object Manager process when processing Web services, instead of in its own address space. As a result, you do not have to start the Loyalty Engine interactive component to enable Siebel Loyalty Web services processing.
Performance Optimization for Siebel Loyalty
The following topics discuss how to optimize performance of Siebel Loyalty:
Setting Up Server Keys for Siebel Loyalty
Server keys are used for batch components, not for real-time components. For more information about batch and real-time components, see Setting Up Server Components for Siebel Loyalty.
Server keys are used for two reasons:
To distribute members across different servers and processes, for static load balancing.
To make sure that only one process is processing a member at any time. (Within the process, the Siebel Loyalty Engine makes sure that only one processing thread is processing a member at any time.)
Siebel Loyalty automatically assigns the least-loaded key to new members.
Using Server Keys for Load Balancing
The number of different keys you define depends on:
The number of servers available.
The number of processes that can run on each server.
The number of keys you assign to each server - process number combination.
It is recommended that you assign ten keys to each server - process number combination to allow the administrator to do load balancing by shifting keys from one process to another.
For example, imagine you determine that you need five server processes to process transactions. You have two servers available that can each run three processes, but one of them is already running another process.
It is possible to create only five keys and assign them to the five available server processes, as shown in the following table.
| Key | Server | Process Number |
|---|---|---|
Key 1 |
siebelserver1 |
1 |
Key 2 |
siebelserver1 |
2 |
Key 3 |
siebelserver2 |
1 |
Key 4 |
siebelserver2 |
2 |
Key 5 |
siebelserver2 |
3 |
However, if you create only five keys, then the administrator cannot manually switch keys from one process to another if one process is overloaded.
Therefore, it is recommended that you define fifty keys. Initially, you assign ten of these keys to each process. If one of the processes is overloaded, then the administrator can reassign one or more keys from that process to other processes.
Setting Up the Server Keys
The following procedure describes how to set up server keys.
To set up server keys
Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
In the link bar, click Server Key Map.
In the Server Key Map list, add a record for each server key, and complete the necessary fields, which are described in the following table.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Key |
Enter a name for the server key. |
Server Name |
Enter the name of the server that processes members who have this key. |
Process Number (#) |
Enter the process number for this server that processes members who have this key. |
Number (#) of Members Assigned |
Displays the number of members assigned to this key. |
Balancing Server Loads
The following procedure describes how to balance the load on servers.
To balance the load on servers
Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.
In the link bar, click Server Key Map.
In the Server Key Map list, change the server name (if necessary) and the process number for some of the keys being processed by overloaded server processes.
About Assigning Server Keys to Members
Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, the Siebel Loyalty application automatically assigns keys to new members based on which key is the least loaded. The least loaded key is determined based on the number of members currently assigned to the key. This field that is maintained in the Server Key Map table by Siebel Loyalty and is not editable.
You can control the logic used to generate keys by changing the user properties listed in the following table.
Table User Properties that Control Key Generation
| Business Component | User Property Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
LOY Member |
Auto Generate Key Flag |
Y or N to indicate if the key must be automatically generated. If not defined, then defaults to Y. |
LOY Server Key Map |
Auto Generate Key SearchSpec Search |
Search specification for keys to consider for assignment. Customer can specify a search specification such as |
LOY Server Key Map |
Auto Generate Key SortSpec |
Sort specification to determine the least loaded key. The first key in the sort sequence is assigned to the next member. Without configuring Siebel Loyalty, it sorts in ascending order based on the Number of Members field. |
Optimizing Point Block Updates
For Assign Points actions, the points are associated with point blocks. A point block is a set of points assigned to the host company or a partner. Point blocks determine if a host company or partner can give reward points to members. Typically, there is one point block for the host and also one point block for each partner. In other words, the number of point block records is small.
This fact means that in a deployment that has multiple processes running on multiple servers, all threads that process transactions update one or a few records, slowing the performance and limiting the scalability of the Siebel Loyalty Engine.
Two system preferences are available to solve this issue and optimize performance. By default, these system preferences are not defined and do not take effect.
This optimization is available only for the batch mode components. It is not applicable to the real-time components.
To optimize point block updates
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen, System Preferences view.
Enter a value for one or both of the two system preferences described in the following table.
System Preference Description LOYPointBlockBatchSize
If specified, then this value must be a number greater than 0. It indicates that the Siebel Loyalty Engine must batch the point block updates and apply it to the point block only after this many transactions have been processed.
LOYPointBlockBatchPercent
If specified, then this value must be a number greater than 0 and less than 100. As the available balance in the point block record becomes low, batching the updates can result in more points being assigned to members than are actually available. In order to prevent this problem, this value effectively turns off the batching for the point block records whose remaining balance is less than the specified percentage value. For other point block records, it uses the batching mechanism.
Example of Optimizing Point Block Updates
Suppose 10,000 transactions are being processed, each generating 10 points, and there is a point block of 100,000 points.
If these system preferences are not specified, then the point block record updates 10,000 times, slowing performance.
As an example, suppose the Siebel Loyalty preferences are set to:
LOYPointBlockBatchSize set to 50
LOYPointBlockBatchPercent set to 2
For the first 9,800 transactions (100 minus 2 equals 98%), the Siebel Loyalty Engine batches the updates and only applies updates after every 50 transactions, resulting in 196 updates (9,800/50) instead of 9,800. This setting reduces the processing load for 98% of the transactions.
From the next transaction onwards the point block would have less than 2% remaining balance and so the batching would be disabled resulting in 200 updates.
The total number of updates done would be 396 (196 plus 200), as compared to 10,000 without these parameters. There might be contention during processing of the final 200 transactions, but it could happen for only 2% of the transactions.
After this point block has been used, the next point block has a 100% balance to start with and is used with the optimization until it reaches a less than 2% balance.
Server Process Termination and Recovery with Optimization
As the Siebel Loyalty Engine processes the batch of 50 transactions, it stores the information about the pending updates in the database in special system records (and not in memory). One system record is created for each point block by each server process as it uses the original point block record.
After every 50 transactions, the used amount from the Siebel Loyalty record is added to the parent record used amount and is reset to zero for the system record. This process is called point block synchronization. Synchronization is also done in the following conditions:
If the Siebel Loyalty Engine crashes or the server is brought down abruptly, then no information is lost. The next time the Siebel Loyalty Engine starts, the synchronization is done again.
If the Siebel Loyalty Engine is terminating normally, then the engine does the synchronization before exiting. So, all system point block records have used an amount of 0. (Note that these records are not visible in the user interface).
If the Siebel Loyalty Engine is running in a continuous mode (LOYEngineNumberOfRuns equals -1) and there are no more transactions to process and the Siebel Loyalty Engine is going to sleep.
Types of Point Blocks
There are the following types of point block:
Program. Point blocks of the Program type are created when you create point blocks for programs. For more information, see Creating Point Blocks for Loyalty Programs.
Promotion. Point blocks of the Promotion type are created when you create point blocks for promotions. For more information, see Providing Point Blocks for Loyalty Promotions.
The type of the promotion is visible in the Type field which is based on the BLCK_TYPE_CD column of the LOY Point Block business component.
Defining Loyalty Products, Price Lists, and Catalogs
Any item that can give a member points or that a member can use points to purchase must be defined as a product. This topic only covers Loyalty features of product administration, which must be used together with the other features of the Administration - Product screen when you define products. For information about setting up products, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
You must define pricing for products. For information about setting up pricing for products, see Siebel Pricing Administration Guide.
After defining the products and their prices, you create catalogs of these products, which are used by salespeople and member service representatives to sell the product, and by members who purchase the product through the Web. For more information about creating catalogs, see Siebel Order Management Guide.
In some cases, you must define some items as products that are not normally thought of as products:
If you create action-based bonuses that give members points for enrolling in a program, then you must create a product to be associated with this accrual transaction. For more information, see Example of Creating an Action-Based Bonus.
If a member can purchase points with currency, then you must create products to enable this functionality. For example, if members can purchase points in blocks of 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000, then three products would be created. Each product, when purchased with currency, would credit the member with the respective number of points.
Airline companies define every possible Airport Code pair as a separate product. Each of these pairs must have a base price defined in a price list. Each pair can also have discounts, defined in Siebel Pricer. For information about defining airport codes, see Defining Loyalty Airport and City Codes.
Defining Loyalty Features of Products
In addition to the usual tasks for defining products, there are special fields used in loyalty products that the loyalty administrator and the product administrator must work together to define.
These fields control:
How many points a member earns for purchasing a product. For more information, see Defining Loyalty Points Earned for Purchasing Products
How many points are required to redeem a product. For more information, see Setting Up Products for Redemption by Siebel Loyalty
Defining Loyalty Points Earned for Purchasing Products
Use the following procedure to define Loyalty points earned for purchasing products.
To define loyalty points earned for purchasing products
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.
Add a new record to the Products list, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
In the expanded main form for the product, complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.
Field Description From Airport
To Airport
Airline companies use these two fields to define every possible Airport Code pair as a separate product.
Actual Distance
Distance UoM
Airline companies use these two fields to define the distance traveled for every possible Airport Code pair.
Suggested Accrual Points
Enter a suggestion for the base number of points the member gets for purchasing the product. The actual number of points the member gets is also affected by promotions.
Note: This field and the fields that follow allow you to suggest values if you cannot actually create the values. For example, a partner could use these fields to suggest values in cases where only an employee of the host company could actually enter the values. Actual values must be entered in Administration - Product > Points view or in the price list.Suggested Accrual Point Type
Select a suggestion for the type of point the member accrues by purchasing this product.
Suggested Accrual Price
Enter a suggested price for the points accrued by purchasing this product.
Suggested Redemption Points
Enter the suggested number of points the member must redeem to receive this product.
Suggested Redemption Point Type
Enter the suggested point type the member must redeem to receive this product.
Suggested Redemption Price
Enter a suggested price for the points used to redeem this product.
Perform other necessary product and pricing administration, as described in Siebel Product Administration Guide and Siebel Pricing Administration Guide.
Note: When you create price lists, enter the host company and all of the partner companies in the price list’s Organization field.Create product catalogs, as described in Siebel Order Management Guide.
Setting Up Products for Redemption by Siebel Loyalty
To allow members to obtain products, you must set up the product to allow the redemption of loyalty points, or a combination of loyalty points and currency (Points plus Pay). In the product record, you must specify how much the product is worth in points, or a combination of points and currency.
To set up products so members can pay for products with a combination of points and currency, in the product record, you specify:
How many points the product is worth
How much money each point is worth
In a sales transaction for that product, when you specify a number of points that is less than the total points needed to redeem the product, Siebel Loyalty uses the following formula to calculate how much money is needed to complete the purchase:
[Member’s Price] = [List Price] - ([Cost Per Point] * [Points to Use])
To set up products for payment with multiple modes (either points, or a combination of points plus pay) see the information on the Payment Mode field in the following topics:
For airline products, see Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products.
For nonairline products, see Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products.
For both airline and nonairline products, you can set prices in: Points, Points by Distance, or Points by Zone. You can use different currencies when you set up the pay component of when you set up the points and pay combination.
The following procedure shows how to set up a simple nonairline product for redemption with Loyalty points.
To set up a product for redemption with Loyalty points
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.
In the link bar, select Product Catalog.
In the Catalogs list, identify the catalog that contains the product.
Click the hyperlink in the catalog’s Name field.
Siebel Loyalty displays the Categories list with categories that group the products in the catalog.
Select the category to which the desired product belongs.
At the end of the screen, make sure the Categories view tab is selected and click Products in the link bar.
Find the product in the list and click the hyperlink in its Product Name field.
At the end of the screen, make sure the More Info view tab is selected and click Points in the link bar.
In the list that appears, find the redemption transaction you want to set up, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Points
Enter the total number of points needed to cover the redemption in full.
Cost Per Point
(Optional) If you want to allow the product to be redeemed for a combination of points and currency, then enter the amount of money assigned as the cash value of one point.
This field is used for points-to-pay conversion cases. For example, when a user tries to redeem more points than the user actually has, the insufficient points are converted to a currency based on the Cost Per Point and Currency specified. The points-to-pay conversion option is one-time option that you can choose while setting up a Loyalty program.
For more information on product redemption, see Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Redemptions For more information about setting up products, see the chapter on basic product administration in Siebel Product Administration Guide.
Activating Workflows for Siebel Loyalty
Many features of Siebel Loyalty are driven by Siebel workflows. You can modify these workflows to change the behavior of the product.
Before using Siebel Loyalty, you must activate these workflows to make these features available. These are the workflows with names that begin with LOY.
Activating these workflows makes these features available in the partner application and the member application (eLoyalty), as well as in the employee application.
For information about activating workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
Activating Task Flows for Siebel Loyalty
Many features of Siebel Loyalty are driven by Siebel task flows. You can modify these task flows to change the behavior of the product.
Before using Siebel Loyalty, you must first publish these task flows. Once the task flows are published, then you must activate the task flows. Activating these task flows makes these features available in the employee application. Task flows are not supported in the partner application and the member application (eLoyalty).
For information about publishing and activating task flows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Task UI Guide.
Creating Membership Schemes for Siebel Loyalty
To enroll a new member in a loyalty program, the member service representative must select a member type and membership scheme. For more information about member types, see Enrolling Members in Loyalty Programs.
You create membership schemes while setting up Siebel Loyalty.
The membership schemes are modeled as products, with additional fields added to the Product record indicating the following:
Type of Loyalty membership. In the Product Type field, choose Individual Membership, Account Membership, or Household Membership to specify that this is a Loyalty membership product and to specify the type of membership that it is.
Duration of membership. Use the Duration and Period Type fields to indicate the duration of the membership. For example, if you enter 2 in the Duration field and select Years in the Period Type field, then the membership lasts for two years. Period Type options are Months, Years, Lifetime, or Corp-aligned:
If Lifetime is selected, then the membership does not require renewal, and you do not enter a Duration.
The Corp-aligned option is available only for Individual members, to align their individual membership with their corporation’s membership.
To create a membership scheme
Navigate to the Administration Products screen, then the Products view.
Create a new product record, then enter a unique name for the product in the Name field.
Save the record.
Drill down on the Name field of the new product record.
Click More Info, then select the Loyalty Product Attributes view tab and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Period Type
Choose Months, Years, Lifetime, or, for Individual Memberships only, Corporate-aligned.
Duration
For a period type of months or years, enter the number of units of the chosen period type.
In the Product Type field, choose Individual Membership, Account Membership, or Household Membership.
Defining Lists of Values for Siebel Loyalty
When employees work with loyalty program members, they choose information from many drop-down lists of values. You can customize these lists of values to suit your business model. The following topics describe how to define the lists of values that are most commonly customized:
For another task that involves defining a list of values, see Setting Up Custom Transaction Types for Siebel Loyalty.
Defining Loyalty Membership Card Types
Before you define the tiers for specific loyalty programs, you must define membership card types, so you can select the appropriate membership card type for each tier. Typical values are Platinum, Gold, and Silver membership cards, which would be selected for the Platinum, Gold, and Silver tiers.
To define membership card types
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
For each membership card type, add a new record to the List of Values list, and complete the necessary fields, as described in the following table.
Field Description Type
Enter LOY_MEMBER_CARD_TYPE.
Display Value
Enter the name of the card type. This name is displayed in the list of values for this membership card type.
Language-Independent Code
Enter the Language Independent Code for the card type.
Language Name
Enter the language that the display value is displayed in.
Defining Loyalty Member Groups
The Member Group picklist is used for grouping members. Typical values can be Domestic Leisure Traveler, International Leisure Traveler, Frequent Business Traveler, and Infrequent Business Traveler.
To define groups
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_MEM_GRP.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member groups.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Member Classes
The Member Class picklist is used for classifying members. Typical values can be Agency, Customer, Salesperson.
To define Loyalty classes
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_MEM_CLASS.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member classes.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Member Phases
The Member Phase picklist is used for specifying phases of member types. Typical values are Gold - Phase 1, Gold - Phase 2, Platinum - Phase 1, and Platinum - Phase 2.
To define Loyalty phases
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_MEM_PHASE.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member phases.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Member Statuses
The Member Status picklist is used for creating user defined member statuses that can be used to apply member restrictions. For example, you could create a new status, “Expired-in grace period", and use this status to restrict a member from redeeming points.
To define member statuses
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_MEMBER_STATUS.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member statuses.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: Add a link to Restricting based on status at the program level. New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Member Hobbies and Preferences
There are member picklists used to specify preferences for individual members, including hobbies, favorite travel destinations, and frequently travelled routes. These can be used to identify members who are good target candidates for specific promotions.
The Hobbies picklist is used to associate hobbies and interests with members. For example, you could record which members are interested in golf and tennis.
Defining Member Hobbies
The following procedure describes how to define member hobbies.
To define member hobbies
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_ATTRIB_FIELDS_MEMBER.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member statuses.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Member Travel Preferences
The travel preferences are used to record members’ favorite travel destinations and frequently travelled routes. The following procedure describes how to define member hobbies.
To define member travel preferences
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_TRVL_PREF.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for member statuses.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Lounges
The Lounge picklist is used for specifying the lounges that members can use. For example, Platinum members can be allowed to use special lounges.
To define loyalty lounges
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_LOUNGE_CD.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for lounges.
Click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Airport and City Codes
Airline companies must define airport codes for all airports that flights arrive at and depart from. You can select these codes in the From Airport and To Airport drop-down lists when you define products.
Optionally, airline companies can define codes for cities, so they can create promotions based on flights between cities, not just based on flights between individual airports. To create promotions based on flights between cities, after creating the city codes, you must map them to airport codes at the program level; you can also map zones to the airport codes, as described in Mapping Zones and Cities to Airports.
Defining Airport Codes
The following procedure describes how to define airport codes.
To define airport codes
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_AIRPORT_CODE_CD.
Add one record with this Type value for each airport your flights arrive at or depart from.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining City Codes
The following procedure describes how to define city codes.
To define city codes
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_CITY_CD.
Add one record with this Type value for each city your flights arrive at or depart from.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining the Distance Between Two Airports
You can define the distance between any two airports (or city pairs) for air travel in the Loyalty Distance table. The distances listed in the table can be used by a base promotion to calculate the base points for air travel.
To define the distance between two airports
Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration tab and click Distance.
Click New and complete the following fields:
Field Comment Origination Airport
The originating airport for air travel.
Destination Airport
The destination airport for air travel.
Distance
The distance between the two airports (usually in either miles or kilometers).
Defining Loyalty Reason Codes
You can define your own reason codes as described in the following procedure.
To define reason codes
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_MEM_REASON_CD.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record with each of the display values that you want for reason codes.
Click Clear Cache.
Note: New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Defining Loyalty Social Media Channels
Siebel Loyalty can be integrated with social media channels, such as Facebook© or Twitter©, using Oracle Social Relationship Management cloud services. If you have implemented Oracle Social Relationship Management, then you must create a list of values entry for each specific social media channel that you want to integrate with Siebel Loyalty by performing the steps in the following procedure. For detailed information on Oracle Social Relationship Management cloud services, see Siebel CRM Social Media Guide.
To define social media channels
Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, List of Values view.
Query for the Type LOY_TXN_CHNNL_CD.
Edit the records of this type so there is one record for each of the display values that you want for social media channels.
Click Clear Cache.
New values do not go into effect unless you click Clear Cache.
Adding Employees as Loyalty Users
You add employees as users and define their reporting hierarchy for Siebel Loyalty as you do for other Siebel Business Applications. For more information, see Siebel Security Guide.
In addition, the following fields in the Employee record are specific to Siebel Loyalty:
Tier Approver. Select this check box to allow the employee to approve a manual tier change.
Transaction Approval Limit. Enter the maximum number of points an employee can approve for a transaction.
Loan Approval Limit. Enter the maximum loan that the employee can approve for each loan transaction.
Creating the Loyalty Host Company as a Partner
You must create a record representing the Loyalty host company in Partner Administration view. All companies using Loyalty must be registered as partners with the type Loyalty Partner, including the host company as well as the partner companies.
To create the host company as a partner
Navigate to Administration - Partner screen, Qualified Partners view.
In the Partners list, add a new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Name
Enter the name of the host organization (your company).
Partner Type
Select Loyalty Partner.
Click Register.
In the Register Partner dialog box, select the Organization check box and click Save.
Process of Setting Up Partner Access to Siebel Loyalty
By using the Partner Portal, partners can perform many of the same tasks as member service representatives who are your own employees. For more information, see Using Siebel Loyalty with Partners
To set up partner access to Siebel Loyalty:
Set up Siebel PRM. Follow the instructions in the topic about setting up Siebel PRM in Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide. This topic contains high-level instructions for installing, configuring, and controlling visibility.
Add Partner Companies and Employees. Follow the instructions in the topic about working with new partners in Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide. This topic contains instructions for adding the partner companies and partner employees who use the portal. You can add the partner employees yourself, or you can just add one employee as delegated administrator at the partner company and allow that employee to add other employees at that company.
In addition to the general instructions that are found in Siebel Partner Relationship Management Administration Guide, to add partner companies, you must also perform the following extra tasks that are specific to Siebel Loyalty:
Setting Up Loyalty Partner Point Conversion
To give members points, many partners can send you transaction data, which you can use to calculate the number of points that the member earned in your loyalty programs or promotions. For these partners, you do not have to set up point conversion.
However, some partners might send you information about how many points in the partner’s loyalty program members earned for transactions. For these partners, you must set up the integration server, which maps the partner’s application to your application, so it converts partner points to your points.
You must agree with a partner on a conversion factor, which you can store in the Attachment view of the Partners screen. You must include this conversion factor when you set up the integration server.
This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Partner Access to Siebel Loyalty.
Mapping Loyalty External Partner Tiers to Loyalty Program Tiers
If your company and the partner have agreed to give preferential treatment to members of each other's reward programs based upon tier status, then you must map the partner’s tiers to your tiers.
For example, your highest tier can be named Platinum member, and the partner’s highest tiers can be named special preferred member. You must specify that these tiers are equivalent.
This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Partner Access to Siebel Loyalty.
To map the external partner’s tiers to loyalty program tiers
Navigate to the Partners screen.
In the link bar, click Partner List.
Select the record for the partner company whose tiers you want to enter and click its Partner name hyperlink.
Click the Tier Relationships view tab.
Add a new record to the Tier Relationships list for each of the partner’s tiers, and enter information about the tier. Some fields are described in the following table.
Field Description Partner Tier
Enter the name of the partner tier.
Program
Select the name of your loyalty program whose tiers you are mapping to this partner tier.
Program Tier
Select the name of the tier in your loyalty program that is equivalent to this partner tier.
Selling Loyalty Points to New Partners
Partners must purchase points from the host, so they can give those points to members who earn rewards by making purchases. You can sell points to new partners when you enroll them. You continue to sell points to partners whenever they use up their balance of points by giving them to members as rewards. For more information about selling points to partners, see About Selling Loyalty Points to Partners.
This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Partner Access to Siebel Loyalty.
Setting Up Customer Access to Siebel eLoyalty
By using Siebel eLoyalty, customers can perform many tasks for themselves, such as enrolling as a member, signing up for a promotion, and redeeming points for rewards. For more information, see Member Self-Service with Siebel eLoyalty
Setting Up Member Access
To allow customers members to use the eLoyalty Member Portal:
You must set up authentication, access, and data privacy.
You can configure the Member Portal so it has the same look and feel as your company Web site.
You perform these tasks for the Member Portal in the same way that you perform them for Siebel eSales.
For more information about providing access to the Member Portal, see Siebel eSales Administration Guide and see Troubleshooting the Display of the Catalog and Products to Loyalty Members.
Setting Up Self-Service Redemption
Members can use the Member Portal to redeem points for rewards.
There are two ways members can redeem points:
Using a Siebel Catalog. In most cases, the members redeem points by making purchases from a Siebel catalog and paying in points, which are deducted from the member’s account. This catalog works like the Siebel Sales catalog, except rather than just paying with currency, Loyalty allows the member to pay with points or points and currency. If the product itself is purchased just with points, then the member still has to pay with currency for taxes, shipping, and handling. For more information about setting up catalogs, see Siebel eSales Administration Guide.
Using an External System. In some cases, businesses already have systems set up for selling products on line. For example, the airline industry uses a Global Distribution System (GDS) to allow customers to make reservations and pay for flights online. These external systems can be integrated with Siebel eLoyalty Member Portal, so members can use the page from the external system to redeem points within the Member Portal. Siebel Loyalty would store the number of points required for the redemption, but the external system would do the actual reserving of inventory. Once the reservation is made in that system, Siebel Loyalty is notified and processes a redemption transaction to debit the appropriate number of points from the member's account.
Viewing Processing Information for Siebel Loyalty Transactions
You can use processing information for Siebel Loyalty transactions to solve problems with the application.
You can see whether or not a transaction has succeeded or the reason it has been rejected by viewing the transaction log. The log is useful while you are setting up and testing the product. It is also useful when are responding to member inquiries regarding how many points are accrued or redeemed for a given transaction or promotion. You can also create responsibilities that make the log visible to member service representatives, so they can see which promotions applied to a transaction, how many points each promotion gave, why a transaction was rejected, and so on.
You can view the transaction processing log in the Processing Info view, which enables you to view information about the promotions processed, listed one under another in a single text field.
To view the processing status of a transaction
Navigate to the Loyalty Transactions screen.
In the Transactions list, identify the transaction whose result you want to view and click the hyperlink in its Transaction Id field.
Click the Processing Info view tab. This view has the following fields:
Processed Date. The day on which the transaction was processed.
Transaction Status and Processing Substatus. These fields have the possible values described in the following table.
Processing Error Info. This field has an error message on its first line. The rest of the field is context information that tells you when the error occurred; this information is available only if the error occurred in the context of an action or criterion. This field can contain generic or Loyalty-specific error messages. The Loyalty-specific error messages are described in Troubleshooting Siebel Loyalty Using Processing Information.
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Note: The Transaction Status field is in the Transaction form applet at the start of the screen. The other fields are in the lower applet. You can display this information for both accrual items and redemption items.
Promotions Processed. This field has information about which promotions were considered for the transaction and what each promotion resulted in. The information is available only if the transaction was processed successfully. First the promotions that qualified are listed with information about the actions being applied. Then the promotions that did not qualify are listed; promotions that did not qualify for the same reasons are grouped together.
| Transaction Status | Processing Substatus | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Processed |
Success |
The transaction was processed successfully and some promotions qualified for it. |
| Processed |
No Promotions Qualified |
The transaction was processed without any errors, but there were no promotions that qualified. This status is not necessarily an error condition, but it might point to some incorrect configuration like inactive promotions. |
| Rejected - Engine |
Insufficient Member Balance |
The redemption transaction attempted to redeem points from the member when the member did not have a sufficient point balance. |
| Rejected - Engine |
Insufficient Point Blocks |
The accrual transaction attempted to accrue points for a member when there were not sufficient points in the partner point blocks. This status means that the promotion has run out of points and either needs to be made inactive or the partner needs to buy more point blocks. |
| Rejected - Engine |
Program Inactive |
The Program to which the transaction belongs is inactive and hence not loaded in the cache. |
| Rejected - Engine |
Attribute Definition Inactive |
The attribute definition that the criterion or action is looking for is not available in the context of the transaction being processed. |
| Rejected - Engine |
Error |
There was a generic error during transaction processing that is not specific to the Siebel Loyalty Engine. This error can happen when there is some problem in the Siebel runtime repository such as a field on the business component is not properly configured and the Siebel Loyalty Engine attempts to use that field. |
Troubleshooting Siebel Loyalty Using Processing Information
Use the information in the Processing Error Info field to troubleshoot problems. To resolve the problem, look for it in the list of Error Messages in the following table.
| Error Message | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Attribute $$$ not defined in current context. |
This error occurs when a criterion or action references an attribute definition that is not available in the current context, for example, accessing a transaction attribute during promotion processing. |
Check the definition of the action or criterion mentioned in the error message. |
| Attribute Definition $$$ is not active. Please check the configuration of your system. |
This error occurs when a criterion or action references an attribute definition that has been made inactive. |
Check to see whether the attribute definition is active or not. |
| Calculation of Accrual Expiration Date failed. |
This error occurs when there is no dominant tier available for determining the expiration period length for the member. |
Check whether the member has at least one active tier and if the tier class definitions for the program are active. |
| Point Type with Id $$$ is not available. Either it is incorrectly defined or it is no longer available. |
This error occurs when the point type definition has been made inactive. |
Check whether the point type definition for the mentioned row id is active. |
| The action failed to evaluate correctly. Please check the action definition. |
This error occurs when there was an error in the evaluation of the action. |
Check the definition of the Action mentioned in the error message. Make the Expression column visible in the Rule, Action List Applet and check whether it is a valid expression. |
| The Loyalty Program with Id $$$ was not found. |
This error occurs if the program itself has been made inactive. |
Check to see whether the Program is active or not. |
| The Loyalty Promotion with Id $$$ was not found. |
This error indicates that the Promotion with specified row id is not available in the cache for processing. This error typically occurs in the context of bucket or tier processing when the promotion is not available because it is inactive. |
Check to see whether the promotion is active and refresh the cache by using the Activate button. |
| The Member does not have any Tiers that can qualify as a Dominant Tier. |
All members must have a dominant tier. If not, then this error occurs when the Siebel Loyalty Engine is trying to evaluate the expiration date of an accrual. |
Make sure the member has a dominant tier. See Defining Tier Classes and Tiers. |
| The object type $$$ is not supported by the Siebel Loyalty Engine. |
This error indicates that the value of the component parameter LOY - Engine Queue Objects specifies an object type that is not supported. |
Check the value of the component parameter to ensure it uses valid object types. |
| The parameter $$$ required by the Siebel Loyalty Engine is not defined. Please check your system configuration. |
This error indicates that the value of one of the component parameters is not specified or is specified but has an unacceptable value. |
Check to see whether the parameter mentioned in the error message has an acceptable value. |
| The process was unable to find an available server routing key to register. Please check the Siebel Loyalty Server key definition of your system. |
This error indicates that the Siebel Enterprise has more processes running for the batch component as compared to the number of unique Server - Process number combinations. |
Check the MinMTServers and MaxMTServers parameters settings. |
| The promotion definition you are trying to access is not available. It is either invalid or does not exist. |
This error indicates that the Siebel Loyalty Engine is looking for a promotion that is not active. |
This error is most likely to happen in two scenarios - tier processing during which the Siebel Loyalty Engine looks for the promotion for that tier and the promotion is inactive. The other scenario is when a promotion is activated just during the Siebel Loyalty Engine startup process. Users must avoid activating/deactivating promotions when the Siebel Loyalty Engine is being started. |
| The value of the parameter %1 required by the Siebel Loyalty Engine is incorrect. Please consult your documentation for additional information. |
This error indicates that the value of one of the component parameters is not specified correctly. |
Check to see whether the parameter mentioned in the error message has an acceptable value. |
| There are not sufficient points available to redeem. |
This error indicates that the member does not have sufficient points to redeem. This cause is an acceptable cause for failure of transaction processing. |
Check the member's available balance and verify if the member can make the redemption. |
| There are not sufficient points in the Point Blocks to accrue points for the member. |
This error indicates that the partner does not have sufficient points to accrue from for the member and has run out of points. |
Check the point blocks for the partner on the promotion mentioned. |
About Siebel Loyalty and Social Media
Siebel CRM can integrate with social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, using Oracle Social Relationship Management cloud services. Oracle Social Relationship Management products capture social profile data which Siebel Loyalty users can incorporate into programs and promotions designed to build brand affinity and promote customer retention. Specifically, Siebel Loyalty can employ Oracle Social Relationship Management functionality to do the following:
Acquire members through social networks.
Siebel contacts can be created for users on social media platforms using only an individual’s social profile information. These Siebel contacts can then be enrolled onto promotions.
Create loyalty membership schemes specifically for contacts created using social profile data because enrollment onto standard Loyalty membership schemes often requires mandatory data inputs that might not be available for these contacts. For information on creating social loyalty membership schemes, see Configuring Membership Schemes for Social Media Members.
Define social reward promotions that reward members for actions performed on social channels and that encourage increased user activity.
For additional information about creating social reward promotions, see About Social Rewards Promotions.
About Social Rewards Promotions
This topic describes the types of social reward promotions that you can create when Siebel Loyalty is integrated with Oracle Social Relationship Management cloud services.
Loyalty managers can create the following types of social reward promotions:
Promotions that reward loyalty members for their actions on social networks, such as rating or reviewing a product or promotion, or Liking a product or promotion. Members can also be rewarded for entering their location details, or for location-based actions. Knowledge of a customer’s location allows members to be presented with promotions that are specific to that location.
Siebel Loyalty provides Social Action Type attributes and a Location Code attribute to support this functionality. For an example of creating a promotion to reward social actions, see Example of Creating a Social Rewards Promotion.
Promotions that reward members a referral bonus when their friends enroll in promotions on social networks as a result of their recommendations. The PromotionEnrolmentForSMS method of the LoyaltyMemberService Web service is used to enroll the new member and reward the referring member.
A promotion action, Reward Referrer, is also provided which supports this functionality. The Reward Referrer action can also be used to assign recurring rewards to the member who received the initial referral bonus for the referred member's on-going accrual transactions. For an example of creating a promotion to reward members with referral bonuses, see Example of Creating a Reward-Referrals Promotion.
You can use the existing Siebel Loyalty tier-class and point-type frameworks to create tiers and point types that recognize members’ social influence and other activities on social networks. For example, you can define a point type such as Social Reward, which members can be assigned to reward them for activities on social networks, and you can create tier promotions, for example, Brand Ambassador, Brand Advocate, and so on to recognize members based on their social profile attributes. Members can be assigned a tier status according to the number of Social Reward points accumulated.
For information on creating tiers and point types, see Defining Tier Classes and Tiers and Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs. For detailed information on Oracle Social Relationship Management cloud services, see Siebel CRM Social Media Guide.
Related Topics
Configuring Membership Schemes for Social Media Members
This topic describes how to create default loyalty membership schemes for Siebel contacts created using social media profile data. You must create social membership schemes for these social Siebel contacts to correspond to each of the existing membership types, that is, Individual, Account, and Household.
The following procedure decibels how to create loyalty membership schemes for social media users.
To configure membership schemes for social media members
Perform the steps to create a membership scheme as described in Creating Membership Schemes for Siebel Loyalty.
Create three new Loyalty Product records for social members, one to correspond to each of the existing membership types.
The following table shows the value to specify for the Product Type and Part # field of each of the new social membership schemes you create.
Product Type Field Part # Field Individual Membership
SOCIALLOY_Individual Membership
Account Membership
SOCIALLOY_Account Membership
Household Membership
SOCIALLOY_Household Membership
Complete the remaining fields of each Product record as required.