7Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Redemptions

Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Redemptions

This chapter discusses how to set up Siebel Loyalty redemptions. It includes the following topics:

• About Siebel Loyalty Redemptions

• About Redemption Pricing

• Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions

• About Nonflight Redemptions

• Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions

• Sequence for Redeeming a Tangible Product Through a Web Store

• About Electronic Vouchers

• Sequence for Redeeming Electronic Vouchers

• Example of Setting Up Redemption Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions

• Example of Creating Promotions to Assign Values to Vouchers

• Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions

• Redemption Packages

• Redemption Loans

• Points-To-Pay Conversion

• Bidding for a Redemption Product

• Batch Redemption Process

• Addressing Concurrent Redemption Transactions

• Methods to Calculate Loyalty Redemption Price

About Siebel Loyalty Redemptions

Customer loyalty programs are designed to recognize and reward frequent users of a company’s products and brands, or those of the company’s partners. A Rewards Program can offer its members a number of opportunities to accrue and apply points toward redemption awards.

Using Siebel Loyalty, companies can develop and implement loyalty programs and redemption awards that allow them to remain competitive and differentiated in the market place. These redemption opportunities increase customer satisfaction, while allowing the company to manage the liability associated with member points accruals.

Siebel Loyalty provides Web services application programming interfaces (APIs) that support redemption through third-party systems. For information on these APIs, including what the APIs do along with details of their input and output arguments, see Siebel CRM Web Services Reference.

Loyalty programs can help increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty by:

• Providing innovative redemption offerings which meet the program member’s needs and which match the evolving trends in the loyalty marketplace.

• Offering redemption products which a member can redeem using a lower number of points than competitive loyalty programs.

• Offering the points-plus-pay pricing option.

A typical Siebel Loyalty redemption process includes the following steps:

1. The program member requests a redemption.

   The member chooses an available redemption product from the catalog and makes a redemption request with the Loyalty operation, or by using a self-service process.

2. Siebel Loyalty:

   1. Checks the members eligibility in the program.

      Siebel Loyalty checks the member’s eligibility for the redemption, based on the member’s current membership status. For example, if the member has a pending payment to be made to loyalty program operations from an earlier transaction, then the member’s current status is pending payment, and the member is ineligible for a redemption.

   2. Checks the availability of the product.

      For an airline redemption, Siebel Loyalty checks whether or not a redemption seat is available on any partner airline flying from the selected origin city to the destination city in the reservations inventory (RES system). For a nonflight redemption, Siebel Loyalty might bypass this check. Note that checking for the availability of a seat is done outside Siebel Loyalty.

3. The member selects the product for redemption.

   The member selects the redemption product, for example, an airline flight from Sydney to San Francisco or a five-star hotel stay in Paris. Multiple products can be redeemed in one redemption request.

4. Siebel Loyalty quotes a price for the redemption product.

   Siebel Loyalty provides the member with the price in points, or points-plus-pay (in a currency), for redeeming the selected product.

   You can convert points to cash payment, or obtain a loan to redeem the product in the redemption request. There can also be multiple point types in the same redemption request.

5. The member accepts the quote.

   The member accepts the quotation in points or points-plus-pay.

6. Siebel Loyalty does the following:

   1. (Optional) Checks the member’s credit.

      After the member accepts the redemption quotation, Siebel Loyalty optionally performs a credit check to ensure the member has a sufficient points to undertake the redemption. As some loyalty programs allow members to create a redemption request and process the request at a later time, this step is optional.

   2. Creates the redemption request.

      Siebel Loyalty creates the redemption request to be retrieved at a later time.

   3. Checks the member’s credit (mandatory).

      After creating or retrieving a redemption request, Siebel Loyalty performs a mandatory credit check to ensure the member has sufficient points to undertake the redemption.

   4. Invokes a credit card payment.

      If a currency payment is required, then Siebel Loyalty invokes a credit card payment through a payment gateway and collects the payment.

   5. Debits the member’s points balance.

      Siebel Loyalty debits the required number of points from the member’s point balance based on the quotation accepted by the member in Step 5.

7. In some cases, the member redeems points to receive a voucher that can be used with a partner at a future date to use nonflight products. For example, the member might get a voucher that can be used for a one-day car rental or for a one-night stay at a hotel. The following steps are optional and only occur when the member receives a voucher:

   1. Siebel Loyalty generates and issues a voucher.

      In some cases, Siebel Loyalty generates a voucher with a unique voucher number and an expiry date. If a voucher is required, then Siebel Loyalty initiates an outbound process to issue the generated voucher to the member for a future-dated nonair redemption. If the process involves an air redemption, then the loyalty program issues an electronic voucher or a redemption log number to the partner or travel agent, who in turn, issues an airline ticket to the member.

   2. If required, you can use an application such as Oracle Business Intelligence or another third-party application to calculate the price to pay to the partner for the redemption product.

   3. The member redeems the voucher.

      The member presents the voucher to the partner to use the partner product. If this redemption is for an air redemption or for nonair products ordered from a catalog, then this step might not be relevant.

   4. The partner:

      • Validates the voucher. The partner validates the redemption voucher for a valid membership, valid product details (for example, duration), expiry date, and so on, with the loyalty program operations. This step enables loyalty program operations to flag the voucher as Reserved, and prevents the member from using the same voucher with another partner. A receipt number can be issued to guarantee the use of the voucher to the partner.

      • Provides the product or service. The partner provides the product or service based on the redemption voucher presented by the member. For airline partners, the intermediary or internal partner first issues a ticket for the itinerary, and then the member uses the same voucher for flight redemption.

      • Sends an invoice for payment. After the customer uses the voucher, the partner sends an invoice to Loyalty Program Operations to claim the payment.

   5. The Loyalty finance department pays the partner. The loyalty program’s finance department reconciles the invoice with the used voucher and pays the partner the computed payable amount.

      Vouchers can be used differently for flight and nonflight redemptions. For more information about vouchers, see Points-To-Pay Conversion.

Real-Time Processing of Redemptions

Siebel Loyalty implements the ProcessRealTimeRedemption method of the LOY Redemption Web service to reduce the processing time of real-time redemption transactions. The ProcessRealTimeRedemption method performs the following tasks in the redemption process as separate steps:

1. Checks the member’s credit and displays a message about the status of the transaction.

   The ProcessRealTimeRedemption method:

   • Performs the member credit check, taking into account any redemptions that are pending for the member

     Note: If the member does not have sufficient points for the redemption transaction but is eligible for a loan, then the ProcessRealTimeRedemption method processes a loan transaction for the member, then returns a status of Successful for the redemption transaction.

   • Displays a message to the member confirming that the redemption transaction was successful, and provides a transaction number

2. Processes the redemption transaction and debits the member’s points balance.

Siebel Loyalty updates members about the status of their redemption request and only then completes the transaction by debiting the points from members. By performing each task separately, the time members wait for a response to their request is reduced, as is the total time taken to process the request. For more information on the ProcessRealTimeRedemption method, see Siebel CRM Web Services Reference.

About Redemption Pricing

Members redeem points to obtain products offered by program partners for redemption. Products include such items as airline flights, hotel bookings, car rentals, or upgrades, for example, upgrades to first class on existing travel tickets, and so on.

You can define redemption pricing in two ways:

• About Pricing Using Redemption Rules

• About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions

About Pricing Using Redemption Rules

The price for a redemption is usually calculated using redemption rules. Redemption pricing can use the following views:

• Points. It is not common to define pricing for airline redemptions using the Points view, because it requires you to create a separate product for each pair of cities, and define the pricing separately for each of those products. It is common to define pricing for tangible products or services using the Points view. For example, you might use the following pricing:

  • 50,000 points for a rental car in London for one day.

  • 70,000 points for one night at a specific hotel in Tokyo.

• Points by zone. Some of the frequent flyer programs price air awards based on the zones derived from the origin city and destination city. You create generic flight products; for example, there might be products for an economy class flight, a business class flight, and a first class flight. Then you create rules that determine different prices for these products depending on origin and destination city. For example:

  • 30,000 points for an economy class ticket from New York to Chicago

  • 80,000 points for an economy class ticket from New York to Paris.

  • 120,000 for a first class ticket from New York to Paris.

• Points by distance. Other programs price their air awards based on zones derived from the flight distance between origin and destination cities for one or more segments in the itinerary. You create generic flight products, then you create the following rules that determine different prices for these products depending on the distance travelled:

  • 25,000 points for an economy class ticket from 800 to 1,200 miles.

  • 75,000 points for an economy class ticket from 5,000 to 7,000 miles.

  • 110,000 for a first class ticket from 5,000 to 7,000 miles.

Airlines typically provide an option to program members to obtain a redemption award by paying in points plus pay (currency). Members can use this option if they do not have a sufficient point balance for the redemption. For example, if redemption tickets for the member and the member’s spouse require 100,000 points while member’s current points balance is only 85,000 points. Siebel Loyalty programs allow you to set up multiple price options for the same redemption ticket. For example:

• 100,000 points only

• 80,000 points plus US$100

• 60,000 points plus 200 Euros

For an airline redemption, the activities can be grouped together, although the process of grouping the activities does not take place within Siebel Loyalty. Siebel Loyalty handles grouped activities by storing the activities along with their parent activity to create a transaction. If it cannot calculate the travel distance from the parent transaction, then Siebel Loyalty attempts to calculate the distance from the constituent activities if they are present.

About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions

Base redemption promotions give you a way to create redemptions that cannot be handled using redemption rules:

• Redemption rules, which are used for normal redemptions, update redemption prices based on the pricing setup done at the product level.

• Base redemption promotions can be used to create redemption pricing that also takes into account external factors, such as the load factor, the number of days redeemed before the flight date, or the tier level of the customer.

Here is an example of when base redemption promotions are useful: An airline wants to create a redemption price for flights that gives its platinum members a discount price of 10% less than the redemption price that other members pay and that gives a further 3% discount if the redemption is for flights during the month of October.

When you create the product, you must determine whether the product's redemption price is calculated using the price that is set up at the product level or using a base redemption promotion. If you choose Base Promotion as the product's pricing method, then Siebel Loyalty ignores the price set at the product level and instead it uses the price set by the base redemption promotion.

To set up redemption promotions, perform the following tasks:

1. Create the redemption product. When you associate the redemption product with a partner, select Base Promotion in the Pricing Method field. For more information, see Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.

2. Set up a base redemption promotion to calculate the base redemption price. The base redemption promotion can calculate the base price using either attributes in the transaction or custom attributes. For example, it might calculate the base price using inputs such as load factor and inventory available. For more information, see About Base Promotions and see Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Promotions

3. Set up additional promotions to calculate discounts. The discount promotions might use inputs such as member tier and day of the week of the flight. For more information, see Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Promotions

4. If this promotion uses points to pay conversion, then you must also set up a promotion to charge a cash price that makes up for a possible shortfall of points. When you create the Redeem Points action for this promotion, enter information in the Cost Per Point fields that is used to calculate how much cash must be paid for each point that the customer is short. For more information about points to pay conversion, see Points-To-Pay Conversion.

5. Add these promotions to a promotion design. The redemption price determined by the base redemption promotions gets assigned to the transient variable associated with that point type. The subsequent redemption promotions in the promotion design use this transient variable to update the redemption discount. The final redemption price is based on this value as updated by the last promotion in the base redemption promotion design. For more information, see Using Promotion Designer.

Base redemption promotions and other redemption promotions that are Promotion-Designer enabled use the following actions:

• Discount Points. Reduces the number of points that the customer must pay for the redemption product. Used in redemption promotions of the redemption promotion design to calculate discount.

• Discount Points plus (+) Pay. Reduces the number of points and the amount of cash that the customer must pay for redemption product. Used in the redemption promotions of the redemption promotion design to calculate discount.

• Redeem Points. Reduces the number of points in the customer’s point balance.

• Redeem Points plus (+) Pay. Reduces the number of points in the customer’s point balance and also requires the customer to pay cash.

The actions Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay can handle the entire redemption discount, including reducing the point balance and charging additional cash. The actions Redeem Points and Redeem Points plus (+) Pay do not necessarily have to be used in promotion design. However, one can use these actions in the promotion design if the business requirement is that additional points must be redeemed or additional cash must be charged beyond the normal price of the product.

Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay are the opposite of Redeem Points and Redeem Points plus (+) Pay. Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay reduce the amount that the customer pays for the product. Redeem Points and Redeem Points plus (+) Pay increase the amount that the customer pays for the product.

Related Topic

Example of Setting Up Redemption Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions

Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions

To set up pricing for airline flight redemption, the loyalty administrator performs the following tasks:

1. Creating Zones Mapped to Airports

2. Creating the Flight Redemption Product

3. Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner

4. Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products

5. Setting Up the Flight Redemption Promotion

6. Using Electronic Vouchers for Redemptions

For flight redemptions, a redemption log or transaction number is sent to an internal partner. The partner is the intermediary that issues a redemption ticket to the member and quotes the transaction number as a form-of-payment.

Creating Zones Mapped to Airports

You can price airline flight redemptions based on airports, distances, or zones.

To price an airline flight redemption based on zones, you must define zones and then map airports to those zones at the partner level.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

Creating Zones

If you are defining pricing by zone, then perform the following procedure to create the zones at the partner level.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

To create zones

1. Navigate to the Partners screen.

2. Click My Partners or All Partners to display a list of the available redemption partners.

3. Select the Partner record that you want.

4. Click the Zones view tab.

5. Add new records, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Zone Code	A code representing the zone.
   Zone Name	Enter a name for the zone, for example, Western Europe or Australia.

Mapping Airports to Zones

If you are defining pricing by zone, then perform the following procedure to map zones to airports at the partner level.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

To map airports to zones

1. Navigate to the Partners screen.

2. Click My Partners or All Partners to display a list of the available redemption partners.

3. Select the Partner record that you want.

4. Click the Airport - Zone Map view tab.

5. Add new records, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Airport Code	Enter the code representing the airport.
   Zone Name	Select the zone that this airport is in.

Creating the Flight Redemption Product

For an airline flight redemption, most frequent flyer programs only create one generic flight redemption product instead of creating products for each segment (for example, LHR-BOM), because they define redemption based on flight distance or on the departure and arrival zones.

Note: If you define pricing in points, then you must create a separate flight redemption product for each segment, and you must define the pricing separately for each of these product.

The flight redemption product is not usually an electronic voucher, but it can be. If you are creating a product of the type Electronic Voucher, then see Creating Vouchers for Loyalty Members.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

To create the flight redemption product

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

2. Create a new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter the name of the redemption product. For airline redemptions, you usually create generic products, such as First Class Flight or Economy Flight.
   Type	The type of product that you are offering for redemption (for example, Product or Electronic Voucher).

Related Book

Siebel Product Administration Guide

Associating the Flight Redemption Product with a Program Partner

Associate the flight redemption product with the program partner who provides the redemption product to the customer.

If host company is the airline that provides the flight to the customer, then select the host company in the Partner field.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

To associate the redemption product with a program partner

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.

2. Locate the program you want, and click its Program Id field.

3. Click the Partners view tab.

4. In the Partner’s list, select the partner that you want.

5. In the Loyalty Product Offerings view for that partner, click New to add the airline redemption product and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Product	Select a redemption product that you created in Creating the Flight Redemption Product.
   Start Date	Enter the start date for redemption product’s association with this partner. Note: The start and end dates for the association must be within the start and end dates for the product. The redemption activity can only occur on a date that is within both the product’s effective dates and the association’s effective dates.
   End Date	Enter the end date for redemption product’s association with this partner.
   Offer Type	Select Redemption as the type of product offering.
   Pricing Method	If you are using pricing rules, then select the method that you use to enter the pricing rules in Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products. Select one of the following methods: Points By Zone By Distance If you are pricing using redemption base promotions, then select Base Promotion in this field. You must also create the base promotion and discount promotions used to determine the redemption price, as described in About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions, instead of determining the price as described in Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products.
   Accrual Template	If you are using accrual templates, then select the accrual template. For more information, see Setting Up Loyalty Partner Product Offerings.

Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products

You can define redemption pricing rules in the Points, Points by Distance, or Points by Zone view, as described in About Redemption Pricing.

These rules determine the static redemption price for the redemption product. You can discount or surcharge this static price using a promotion.

Note: This topic describes how to set up pricing using redemptions rules, which is the most common method of setting up pricing. For more complex redemption pricing, you can set up pricing using base redemption promotions. For more information, see About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

To create the redemption price using redemption rules

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen.

2. Select the redemption product.

3. Click the More Info view tab.

4. Click one of the following view tabs:

   • Points. You generally do not use the Points view for airline products. To define the redemption pricing for airline products in the Points view, you must create a separate product for each flight segment and define the pricing for each segment separately. If you are using this option, then click the Points tab, add a new record for this segment, and complete the following fields.

     Field	Description
     Payment Mode	The payment mode can be one of the following: Pay. Payment is made using a currency. Points. Payment is made using points. Points plus (+) Pay. Payment is made using a combination of points and currency. Note: You can use different currencies for each price line for the pay component if you choose the Pay or Points plus (+) Pay options.
     Pay	The currency portion of a Points plus (+) Pay payment mode. For example, US$250. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Pay or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Partner Price	The price paid to the airline partner for payment of the flight. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.
     Program	The program associated with the airline redemption.
     Partner	The partner associated with the airline redemption. You can select one partner for each price line. If the pricing is common for different partners, then you have to create multiple price lines for each product. The list that you select from includes partners that were associated with the product in Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.
     Departure Airport	The airport from where the flight departs.
     Arrival Airport	The airport to where the flight arrives.
     Departure Zone	The zone from where the flight departs. For example, AU for Australia.
     Arrival Zone	The zone to where the flight arrives. For example, Asia1 for south-east Asia.
     Booking Class	The class of the airline ticket. For example, economy, business class, or first class.
     Round Trip	This flag indicates the airline ticket includes the return portion of the air travel back to the airport of origin.
     Points	The price of the ticket in points. For example, 16,000 points. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Point Type	The currency used by the loyalty program to reward and recognize members based on their activities. For example, FFP for frequent flyer points. To create point types, see Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Qualifying Points	Qualifying points are points that count toward a member’s tier status. For example, a member who needs to qualify for the silver tier might require 25,000 qualifying points. Nonqualifying points, often called bonus points, can be used for a redemption, but do not count toward a member’s tier status.
     Transaction Type	The type of the transaction. For redemptions, select Redemption.
     Cost per Point	The price for each point in currency value. For example, $0.04 US for each point.

   • Points by Zone. If you have one generic redemption flight product and you define the pricing by zone, then click the Points By Zone tab, add a new record for each arrival zone-departure zone pair, and complete the fields shown in the following table.

     Field	Description
     Payment Mode	The payment mode can be one of the following: Pay. Payment is made using a currency. Points. Payment is made using points. Points plus (+) Pay. Payment is made using a combination of points and currency. Note: You can use different currencies for each price line for the pay component if you choose the Pay or Points plus (+) Pay options.
     Pay	The currency portion of a Points plus (+) Pay payment mode, for example, US$250. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Pay or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Partner Price	The price paid to the airline partner for payment of the flight. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.
     Program	The program associated with the airline redemption.
     Partner	The partner associated with the airline redemption. You can select one partner for each price line. If the pricing is common for different partners, then you have to create multiple price lines for each product. The list that you select from includes partners that were associated with the product in Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.
     Departure Zone	The zone from where the flight departs, for example, AU for Australia.
     Arrival Zone	The zone to where the flight arrives, for example, Asia1 for south-east Asia.
     Booking Class	The class type of the airline ticket, for example, economy, business class, or first class.
     Round Trip	This flag indicates the airline ticket includes the return portion of the air travel back to the airport of origin.
     Point Type	The currency used by the loyalty program to reward and recognize members based on their activities, for example, FFP for frequent flyer points. To create point types, see Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Qualifying Points	Qualifying points are points that count toward a member’s tier status. For example, a member who needs to qualify for the silver tier might require 25,000 qualifying points. Nonqualifying points, often called bonus points, can be used for a redemption, but do not count toward a member’s tier status.
     Points	The price of the ticket in points, for example, 16,000. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Cost per Point	The price for each point in currency value, for example, $0.04 US for each point.
     Transaction Type	The type of the transaction. For redemptions, select Redemption.

   • Points by Distance. If you have one generic redemption flight product and you define the pricing by distance, then click the Points By Distance tab, add a new record for each range of distances, and complete the fields in the following table.

     Field	Description
     From	In conjunction with the To field, use the From field to specify the distance between any two points for prespecified distance ranges. For example: 0 – 2000 Miles, 2001– 4000 Miles, 4001– 6000 Miles and Above 6000 miles. Enter the lower end of the distance range in the From field, for example, for a distance range of 0 to 2001 miles, enter 0.
     To	In conjunction with the From field, use the To field to specify the distance between any two points for prespecified distance ranges. For example: 0 – 2000 Miles, 2001– 4000 Miles, 4001– 6000 Miles and Above 6000 miles. Enter the upper end of the distance range in the To field, for example, for a distance range of 0 to 2001 miles, enter 2001.
     Payment Mode	The payment mode can be one of the following: Pay. Payment is made using a currency. Points. Payment is made using points. Points plus (+) Pay. Payment is made using a combination of points and currency. Note: You can use different currencies for each price line for the pay component if you choose the Pay or Points plus (+) Pay options.
     Partner Price Type	Choose one of the partner price types: Per Unit Distance. The price is defined on a unit basis (for each mile or for each kilometer). For a distance of 5000 miles, for example, the price is calculated as 50 miles multiplied by the unit price. Slab. The price defined for a distance range (slab). For example, for a distance range of 1 to 2001 miles, the partner price is constant for any flights that fall within that range. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.
     Pay	The currency portion of a Points plus (+) Pay payment mode, for example, US$250.
     Partner Price	The price paid to the airline partner for payment of the flight. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.
     Program	The program associated with the airline redemption.
     Partner	The partner associated with the airline redemption. You can select one partner for each price line. If the pricing is common for different partners, then you have to create multiple price lines for each product. The list that you select from includes partners that were associated with the product in Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.
     Unit of Measure	The unit of measure for distance based pricing. Choose either Miles or Kilometers.
     Booking Class	The class of the airline ticket, for example, economy, business class, or first class.
     Round Trip	This flag indicates the airline ticket includes the return portion of the air travel back to the airport of origin.
     Point Type	The type of point used by the loyalty program to reward and recognize members based on their activities, for example, FFP for frequent flyer points. To create point types, see Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
     Qualifying Points	Qualifying points are points that count toward a member’s tier status. For example, a member who needs to qualify for the silver tier might require 25,000 qualifying points. Nonqualifying points, often called bonus points, can be used for a redemption, but do not count toward a member’s tier status.
     Points	The price of the ticket in points, for example, 16,000.
     Cost per Point	The price for each point in currency value, for example, US$0.04 for each point.
     Transaction Type	The type of the transaction. For redemptions, select Redemption.

Note: You cannot define duplicate lines having the same attributes and having the financial values in a given currency. That is, two lines for the same Program to Partner combination, for the same zones and for the same class can be defined, as long as the point type, or the payment currency differs.

Setting Up the Flight Redemption Promotion

After you set up the static price for the redemption product using the Points, Points by Zone or Points by Distance view, you must set up a promotion that applies to this static price.

You can use this promotion to add a discount or surcharge to the static price.nThe promotion must use an action of the type Redeem Points to make the price appear.

Note: Even if you do not want to add a discount or surcharge, you must create this promotion. If you do not, then the static price does not appear.

Example of a Flight Redemption Promotion

This topic gives one example of setting up the flight redemption promotion. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model.

In this example, the promotion applies a 25% discount on flights between London’s Heathrow or Gatwick airports and Toronto’s Pearson airport on Bravo Air (BA).

To set up this example, perform the following high-level steps:

1. Define Origin, Destination City, Partner as Program level attributes (transaction attributes).

2. Create a new Rule: 25% discount on Redemption.

3. Define the promotion criteria using the following transaction attributes:

   • If Origin Airport equals LHR or LGW, Destination Airport equals YYZ

   • If Partner equals BA

4. Define the promotion action as follows:

   • Action equals Redeem Points

   • Object equals Transaction

   • Attribute equals Transaction Points

   • Operator equals Multiply

   • Value equals .25

Using Electronic Vouchers for Redemptions

If you chose the product type of Electronic Voucher in Creating a Nonflight Redemption Product, then you must also:

• Create a promotion to assign the voucher to members. The promotion must have the action Assign Voucher. For more information, see Process of Creating Loyalty Promotions.

• Perform the set up tasks needed to pay the partner who received the voucher and provided the product. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.

About Nonflight Redemptions

Nonflight redemptions can be completed for a tangible product such as a CD player or a service such as a car rental:

• Redemption for a tangible product. Redemption for a tangible product involves redeeming points for any item available in online stores, or for a gift voucher which can be used at a retail chain store. Examples of online stores include digital camera stores, audio-video equipment stores, luggage stores, gift shops, and so on. In this case, the member adds the product to the member’s online shopping cart. The store provides a quotation in points-plus-pay. If the member accepts the quotation, then Siebel Loyalty debits the points from the member’s account, and initiates a credit card payment process for the member to pay the currency portion.

• Redemption for a service. Redemption for a service involves redeeming points to receive an award certificate or voucher for using the service at a later date. The services can include a stay at a hotel or a car rental service. As with redemptions for products, the member can pay for redemptions for a service with points as well as a currency. The only difference is that the member receives a voucher or award certificate from the loyalty program that the member can use with the hotel or car rental agency at any future date, before the voucher expiry date.

For information about setting up redemption for a service, see Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions.

Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions

To set up pricing for nonflight redemption, the loyalty administrator performs the following tasks:

• Creating a Nonflight Redemption Product

• Associating the Nonflight Redemption Product witha Program Partner

• Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products

• Setting Up the Nonflight Redemption Promotion

• Setting Up Order Management for the Product

• Using Electronic Vouchers for Redemptions

Creating a Nonflight Redemption Product

For tangible products, it is common to allow the member to redeem the product by making a purchase on a Web site. For example, you can set up a portable CD player as a redemption product, flag the product as Orderable for Siebel Order Management, and create a Web store where customers can order that product and other products.

For services and for some tangible products, it is common to give the member an electronic voucher that the member can redeem for the product. For example, the member can get an electronic voucher that can be redeemed for a one-night stay at a hotel. In this case, choose Electronic Voucher in the Product Type field.

If you are creating a product of the type Electronic Voucher, then see Creating Vouchers for Loyalty Members.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions.

To create a nonflight redemption product

1. Navigate to the Administration Product screen.

2. Create a new record, and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter the name of the redemption product.
   Type	The type of product that you are offering for redemption (for example, Product or Electronic Voucher).

Related Book

Siebel Product Administration Guide

Associating the Nonflight Redemption Product with a Program Partner

Associate the nonflight redemption product with the program partner who provides the product to the customer.

This task is a step in About Nonflight Redemptions.

To associate the redemption product with a program partner

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.

2. Locate the program you want, and click its Program Id field.

3. Click the Partners view tab.

4. In the Partner’s list, select the partner that you want.

5. In the Loyalty Product Offerings view for that partner, click New to add the redemption product and complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Product	The redemption product that you created in Creating the Flight Redemption Product.
   Start Date	The start date for the redemption product’s association with this partner. Note: The start and end dates for the association must be within the start and end dates for the product. The redemption activity can only occur on a date that is within both the product’s effective dates and the association’s effective dates. It is used for validating the redemption request.
   End Date	The end date for the redemption product’s association with this partner.
   Offer Type	The type of product offering. Select Redemption from the drop-down list for redemption products.
   Pricing Method	Select one of the following options: Points. Select points if you are defining the pricing using redemption rules, as described in Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products. You define the pricing rule list for the nonflight redemption product in the Points view. Base Promotion. Select Base Promotion if you are pricing using redemption base promotions. You must also create the base promotion and discount promotions used to determine the redemption price, as described in About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions, instead of determining the price as described in Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products. Note: For nonflight redemptions, the pricing method must be Points or Base Promotion. Points by Zone and Points by Distance are applicable only for flight redemptions.

Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products

You can define the pricing for a nonflight product in the Points view of the Administration - Products screen. For example, you can set up a redemption price of 16,000 points for a redemption product such as an electric shaver, or 100,000 points for a one-night stay in a hotel.

These rules determine the static redemption price for the redemption product. You can discount or surcharge this static price using a promotion.

Note: This topic describes how to set up pricing using redemptions rules, which is the most common method of setting up pricing. For more complex redemption pricing, you can set up pricing using redemption promotions. For more information, see About Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions.

To create the redemption price

1. Navigate to the Administration Product screen.

2. Select the redemption product.

3. Click the More Info view tab.

4. Click the Points view tab.

   Note: For nonflight redemptions, you must use the Points view for pricing. Points by Zone and Points by Distance are used only for flight redemptions.

5. Add a new record for each program-partner combination that uses this product, and complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Payment Mode	The payment mode can be one of the following: Pay. Payment is made using a currency. Points. Payment is made using points. Points plus (+) Pay. Payment is made using a combination of points and currency. Note: You can use different currencies for each price line for the pay component if you choose the Pay or Points plus (+) Pay options.
   Pay	The currency portion of a Points plus (+) Pay payment mode, for example, US$250.
   Partner Price	The price paid to the partner for providing the product. For more information, see Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions.
   Program	The program associated with the product redemption.
   Partner	The partner associated with the product redemption. You can select one partner for each price line. If the pricing is common for different partners, then you have to create multiple price lines for each product. The list that you select from includes partners that were associated with the product in Associating the Nonflight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.
   Points	The price of the product in points, for example, 16,000 points.
   Point Type	The currency used by the loyalty program to reward and recognize members based on their activities, for example, FFP for frequent flyer points. To create point types, see Creating Point Types for Loyalty Programs. This field is required for a Payment Mode of Points or Points plus (+) Pay.
   Qualifying Points	Qualifying points are points that count toward a member’s tier status. For example, a member who needs to qualify for the silver tier might require 25,000 qualifying points. Nonqualifying points, often called bonus points, can be used for a redemption, but do not count toward a member’s tier status.
   Transaction Type	The type of the transaction. For redemptions, select Redemption.
   Cost per Point	The price for each point in currency value, for example, $0.04 US for each point.

Setting Up the Nonflight Redemption Promotion

After you set up the static price for the redemption product using the Points view, you must set up a promotion that applies to this static price. You can use this promotion to add a discount or surcharge to the static price.

The promotion must use an action of the type Redeem Points to make the price appear.

Note: Even if you do not want to add a discount or surcharge, you must create this promotion. If you do not, then the static price does not appear.

Example of a Nonflight Redemption Promotion

This topic gives one example of setting up the nonflight redemption promotion. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model.

In this example, the promotion applies a 25% discount on a camera.

To set up this example, perform the following high-level steps:

1. Create a new Rule: 25% discount on Redemption.

2. Define the promotion criteria using the following transaction attribute:

   • If Product equals XYZ Superzoom Camera

3. Define the promotion action as follows:

   • Action equals Redeem Points

   • Object equals Transaction

   • Attribute equals Transaction Points

   • Operator equals Multiply

   • Value equals .75

Setting Up Order Management for the Product

If you are creating a tangible product that is sold in a Web store, then you must set up the Web store, and set up order management and fulfillment.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions.

Related Book

Siebel Order Management Guide

Using Electronic Vouchers for Redemptions

If you chose the product type of Electronic Voucher in Creating a Nonflight Redemption Product, then you must also:

• Create a promotion to assign the voucher to members. The promotion must have the action Assign Voucher. For more information, see Process of Creating Loyalty Promotions.

• Perform the set up tasks needed to pay the partner who received the voucher and provided the product. For more information, see Points-To-Pay Conversion.

Sequence for Redeeming a Tangible Product Through a Web Store

Once the loyalty administrator has set up the redemption points and the pay price list, the members can pay in points or a currency to redeem a desired tangible product. The following sequence describes the how the member interacts with Siebel Loyalty to redeem points for a tangible product:

1. The member signs into the online store using the Member Portal, a Contact Center-based task UI, or a third-party system.

2. Siebel Loyalty:

   1. Identifies and authenticates the member at the Loyalty Web site.

      Obtains the member’s information.

   2. The member initiates the redemption process either by calling the contact center or a travel agent, or by signing in to the Loyalty Web site. If the member uses the Web site or a travel agent, then the third-party system needs to obtain the member information after identifying the member, to facilitate the redemption process. The Loyalty business service then displays the required details of the member such as the member’s name, tier, and point balance, preferred delivery channel, delivery channel details such as the member’s address, and so on.

   3. Checks the member’s redemption eligibility.

      The member’s redemption request is processed only if the member’s current status has no restriction on redemption activity. If the membership status is Due for Renewal, Terminated or Expired, then the member might not be allowed to redeem. The Check Redemption Eligibility business service retrieves the current membership status of the member and refers to the Status of Membership setup to check the restrictions that are set for that status. The loyalty program can call this business service just before providing a quotation to a member. This call enables the member to browse through the catalog and encourages the member to update the member’s status to active, for example, by renewing the membership.

   4. Displays the member’s information.

3. The member does the following:

   1. Browses through the online store catalogue.

      The member browses through the selection of products available and adds the desired products for purchase into a shopping cart. The member can add and amend his cart at any time prior to confirming his order.

   2. Selects the desired product or products in the product catalog in the Member Portal.

4. Siebel Loyalty calls the Get Redemption Price business service to provide the applicable price for the product on that date, to the member. Online stores normally show the static prices for orderable products. The Get Redemption Price business service is required for the loyalty program to display the current prices (which might be different from the displayed prices) or to run a promotion.

   The Get Redemption Price business service:

   1. Refers to product base price.

      The Get Redemption Price business service checks the partner product offering to validate the redemption for partner, product, association effective dates to get the pricing type. Based on the pricing type set for the partner-product offering, the business service retrieves the prices for the product that is defined. If variable prices are set up, that is, different combinations of point type and currency, then the business service can either obtain all the price combinations or obtain the price only for the point type and currency selected for the online store.

   2. Checks whether a promotion is applicable.

      The business service checks whether there is a promotion applicable for the ordered product.

   3. Calculates the redemption price.

      If a promotion is applicable to the product, then Get Redemption Price calculates any discount on the order price, or based on the number of units being ordered for the same item, calculates the total price.

   4. Returns the redemption price to the online store.

      Get Redemption Price returns the output of the calculation to the calling application, in this case, the online store.

5. The online store displays the price options.

   The online store displays the various price options to the member. The catalog UI has a Pay field in the price options table to show the points-plus-pay option. The table displays all the prices that are set for a given program, partner, and product combination, in different point types and currencies. For example: 10,000 Miles, 8,000 Miles and US$40, 5,000 Miles and 30 Euro, 100 Francs, and so on.

6. The member:

   1. Selects the price option and adds the product to the shopping cart.

      The member selects the price option that best suits the member (based on the member’s current point balance), and adds it to the member’s shopping cart.

      The List Price field displays the currency component of the redemption price, if the member chooses the Points plus (+) Pay option. The base List Price is defined in the product and is modified by any applicable promotion. The Current Price field is used to display the currency price, which the member needs to pay. The Current Price can be the same as or different from the List Price. If it is different, then the loyalty program compares the points part of the redemption price with the member’s point balance and, if the balance is less than the points required, then the difference is converted to a currency amount by using the cost for each point.

      The following is an example of how Siebel Loyalty calculates the current price:

      • Redemption price (List Price) : 10,000 plus $20.00

      • Member’s point balance : 5,000

      • Point difference : 5,000

      • Cost per point: $0.04

      • Cost for point difference: $200 (5000 points * $0.04/point)

      • Current price: $220 ($20 from redemption price plus $200 for point difference)

      Once the member adds the item to shopping cart, the product name and the current price is displayed in the cart.

   2. Checks the Shopping Cart.

      The member confirms the details of the member’s order. If the member amends the quantity to purchase, then the modified price in points or points-plus-pay displays. If the member is satisfied with the order details, then the member can click Check out to proceed.

      Alternatively, the member can click Save Cart to save the current shopping cart for processing at a later time, or click Empty Cart to clear the shopping cart and not place any orders.

   3. Confirms the delivery address for the purchase.

      The member enters the preferred delivery address for the product purchase. In some cases, the member has an additional option to select from the last four addresses for previous product purchases.

      Note: This step is not applicable to the Member Portal.

   4. The member enters the credit card details.

      If the purchase involves currency payment, then the member either selects and confirms existing credit card information, or provides new credit card information.

7. The online store creates a quotation.

   The online store calls Siebel Order Management to create a quotation that provides both the points and currency payment amount as input parameters.

8. Siebel Order Management:

   1. Checks and calculates any shipping charges.

   2. Checks and calculates any required taxes.

      Siebel Order Management checks for the currency component in the price to calculate the taxes required for the purchase.

   3. Calculates the taxes.

      Siebel Order Management calculates the taxes owing on the purchase and returns the total quotation in points, pay and tax to the online store.

   For more information on Siebel Order Management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.

9. The Online store displays the quotation returned by Siebel Order Management.

   The Online store displays the quotation in the Order Summary page.

10. The member:

    1. Checks the Order Summary.

       The member ensures that the order and delivery address details are correct before confirming the order.

    2. Confirms the order.

       The member confirms the order.

11. Siebel Loyalty calls the Credit Check business service to check the member’s credit.

    Siebel Loyalty calls the Credit Check business service to verify the member has sufficient points to make the redemption purchase. If the member has fewer points than required, then the business service refers to the Loan setup at the member tier level. The Loan setup checks the extent of the loan to be extended to the member and compares it with the redemption quotation for validation. The business service is described in detail in Sequence for Loyalty Credit Check. The credit check has the following results:

    • If the credit check is successful, then the member can proceed to complete the order.

    • If the credit check fails, then Siebel Loyalty informs the member accordingly, and ends the process.

12. Siebel Order Management creates the order.

    Siebel Order Management creates an order number with the product as a line item, price and shipping details. For more information on Siebel Order Management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.

13. Siebel Order Management processes the credit card payment:

    1. Siebel Order Management initiates the collection of currency payment through the payment gateway. If the payment is successful, then Siebel Loyalty proceeds. If the payment fails, then Siebel Loyalty updates the payment status accordingly, and ends the process.

    2. If the credit card payment is successfully processed, then Siebel Order Management calls the Loyalty business service to create a redemption transaction to debit the member’s point balance with the quoted price in points. If the credit card processing fails, then Siebel Loyalty updates the payment status accordingly, and ends the process.

    3. Siebel Order Management returns the order number and the payment reference number (for the credit card payment) to the calling application, which in turns provides the order invoice to the member.

    4. Siebel Order Management initiates the shipment of the purchased item to the member’s delivery address.

    For more information on Siebel Order Management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.

About Electronic Vouchers

Electronic vouchers can be issued to customers and used by them to obtain redemption products. For information about creating vouchers, see Creating Vouchers for Loyalty Members.

When Are Vouchers Issued?

Siebel Loyalty issues a voucher for a redemption transaction based on the product type being redeemed. It issues a voucher in the following cases:

• The product type is Electronic Voucher.

• The product is a bundled product (that is, it is a packaged product) and at least one of its constituent products is of type: electronic voucher. In this case, Siebel Loyalty issues one voucher for each constituent product of type electronic voucher.

• The Assign Voucher action is satisfied in any of the promotions while processing the redemption transaction, and the voucher type is specified in the promotion action (that is, the Use from Transaction flag is not selected).

The expiry date of the voucher is determined by the voucher expiry date that is set up when the voucher product is created. For more information about creating voucher products, see Creating Vouchers for Loyalty Members.

Difference Between Vouchers for Flight and Nonflight Redemptions

Vouchers are used differently for flight and nonflight redemptions:

• Flight Redemptions. Vouchers are not used for most flight redemptions. When vouchers are used for flight redemptions, the electronic voucher or redemption log number is used as a form of payment for the airline or internal partner to issue a ticket to the member. Once the reservation system issues the ticket, it flags the electronic voucher as Availed to prevent anyone else from using it. The reservation system automatically sends a notification to Siebel Loyalty on the electronic voucher’s usage.

• Nonflight Redemptions. Vouchers are generally used for nonflight redemptions for services, such as a stay at a hotel room or a car rental. The member quotes the voucher number as a form of payment to the partner who provides the service. The partner validates the activity with the loyalty program operations. The program operators manually change the voucher status to Reserved. This status prevents the member from quoting the voucher number to another partner to obtain a redemption product. Once the member goes to the partner and presents the voucher to use the redemption, the Partner contacts loyalty program operations or sends a batch of redemption transactions to change the status of the vouchers to Availed or Used.

Partner Payment for Redemption Vouchers

Partners need to receive payment for the products or services used by the members of the loyalty program during redemption. Partners submit redemption transactions and send invoices for payment by the loyalty program.

Depending on the partnership agreement, redemption vouchers can be immediately validated, used and paid, as is the case with airline redemption. In this case, the Loyalty operation does not wait for the member to fly on the partner airline, but pays the partner when issuing the redemption ticket, through the bank settlement plan of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Some airlines follow a different business practice. The electronic vouchers are used at the time of lifting the first coupon in the ticket instead of the time of ticket issue.

An issued voucher that is used, cannot be expired for revenue recognition, and attains the Invoiced status when a partner payable is created against the voucher.

Voucher Status Validation

You can validate the voucher status at the time of redemption with the LOY Voucher Service business service, using the VoucherValidityCheck method. This method validates the voucher using input parameters on the membership number, Partner Id, voucher number, and activity date. It determines whether the voucher validation is successful or not. For more information on this business service and method, see Siebel CRM Web Services Reference.

Redemption Voucher Status

The redemption voucher undergoes the following status during the voucher’s life cycle, for nonflight redemption:

• Available. Siebel Loyalty issues the voucher to the member.

• Cancelled. The member returns the voucher to the loyalty program operations to cancel the voucher.

• Reserved. The member uses the voucher to book a partner product or service.

• Used. The member presents the voucher for the partner product or service. To attain this status, the partner has to notify Siebel Loyalty about the availability of the voucher.

• Invoiced. The partner sends an invoice against the voucher.

• Paid. The Finance department makes payment against the invoice and voucher.

• Expired. The revenue is recognized after a defined time period from the expiry date.

• Closed. The voucher is closed and cannot be used.

• Reissued. A voucher is reissued when another voucher is issued in its place. A voucher can be reissued only if it is in either of the statuses: Available or Reserved. For example, if a voucher V1 goes into the Reissued status when another voucher, V2, is issued in its place, then after the reissue process, the V1 status is Reissued, and the new voucher V2 status is either Available or Reserved. Voucher V2 contains a reference to the original voucher, V1.

Voucher Revenue Recognition

In the Redemption Voucher model described in Process of Setting Up Nonflight Redemptions, the member uses the voucher as a form of payment to obtain a redemption product. Every voucher has an expiry date. The member needs to use the voucher to obtain the redemption product or service prior to the expiry date.

Siebel Loyalty validates each used voucher by checking the date of activity against the expiry date of the voucher. If the date of the activity occurs after the voucher expiry date, then the loyalty program rejects the voucher.

Occasionally, the information for a voucher used before its expiration date is not sent to Siebel Loyalty until after the expiration date has passed. To handle such occurrences, Siebel Loyalty creates an additional time window for the voucher to completely expire, and to recognize revenue against the voucher. This time window is the amount of time after a voucher's expiration date when it can still be used. At the end of this time period, if the voucher is not yet used, then the voucher’s status is changed to Expired, and the revenue is recognized.

Sequence for Redeeming Electronic Vouchers

After the loyalty administrator has set up the redemption voucher types and the points and pay price list, the members can pay in points or a currency to redeem a desired product. The product can either be a service product such as a hotel room or a tangible product that the member redeems by using an electronic voucher.

The following sequence describes how a member interacts with Siebel Loyalty to redeem points for an electronic voucher.

1. The member calls the service center for redeeming the member’s points for a nonflight service product.

2. The service agent identifies and authenticates the member.

3. The redemption process:

   1. Obtains the member’s information.

      The member initiates the redemption process either by calling the service center, calling a travel agent, or by logging onto the Loyalty Web site. If the member calls the service center, then the agent needs to get the member information after member identification, which facilitates the redemption process. The redemption process calls the Loyalty business service to display the required details of the member, such as the member’s name, tier, point balance, preferred delivery channel, delivery channel details, such as the address, and so on.

   2. Checks the member’s redemption eligibility.

      The member’s redemption request is processed only if the member’s current status has no restriction on redemption activity. If the membership status is Due for Renewal, Terminated or Expired, then the member might not be allowed to redeem. The Check Redemption Eligibility business service retrieves the current membership status of the member and refers to the Status of Membership setup to check the restrictions that are set for that status. The loyalty program can call this business service just before providing a quotation to a member. This call enables the member to browse through the catalog and encourages the member to update the member’s status to active, for example, by renewing the membership.

4. The service agent searches from the products available and selects the product requested by the member.

5. The redemption process obtains the redemption price.

   The task UI then calls the Get Redemption Price business service to provide the member with the applicable price on the request date. Online stores normally show the static prices for orderable products. The Get Redemption Price business service is required if the loyalty program is to show the current prices (which might be different from the displayed prices), or to run a promotion.

6. The Get Redemption Price business service:

   1. Refers to the product price.

      The Get Redemption Price business service checks the partner product offering to validate the redemption for partner, product, and association effective dates and to get the pricing type. Based on the pricing typeset for the partner-product offering, the business service retrieves the prices for the product defined. If variable prices are set up, for example, different combinations of point type and a currency, then the business service can either get all the price combinations, or get the price only for the point type and currency selected on the online store.

   2. Checks if a promotion is applicable.

      The business service checks whether there is a promotion applicable for the ordered product.

   3. Calculates the redemption price.

      If there is an applicable promotion, then it calculates any discount on the order price or, based on the number of units being ordered for the same item, calculates the total price.

   4. Returns the redemption price.

   5. Returns the output of the calculation to the calling application, in this case the online store.

7. The Check Price business service performs a points credit check.

   This service checks whether the price options are valid, that is, whether the redemption can proceed using the price options for this member. It also returns the point balances of the member in all the applicable point types along with the points shortfall, if any. Finally, it invokes a points-to-pay conversion, as required, for any of the point types.

8. The agent displays the price options.

   The agent then gets the different price options in points plus pay in the Task UI along with the member’s point balance. Using this information, the agent is able to advise the member of the correct option in line with his current point balance.

9. The member confirms the price.

   The member confirms the price option and the service agent accordingly selects the same on the Task UI.

10. The service agent:

    1. Confirms the address.

       The service agent confirms the delivery address where the member prefers to receive his service voucher.

    2. Captures the credit card details.

       The agent captures the member’s credit card details for payment of the product he has selected.

11. Siebel Order Management:

    1. Creates a quotation.

       The Service Center Task UI calls Siebel Order Management to create a quotation, providing both the points as well as the pay amount.

    2. Checks for currency payment.

       Siebel Order Management checks for the currency component of the price to calculate taxes.

    3. Calculates shipping charges.

       Siebel Order Management calculates any shipping charges to deliver the product.

    4. Calculates the taxes.

       Siebel Order Management calculates taxes on the redemption and returns the total quotation in points, pay and tax.

    5. Displays the quotation.

       The Service Center Task UI displays the quotation from Siebel Order Management.

       For more information on Siebel Order Management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.

12. The member accepts the quotation.

    The Member confirms the details of the quotation.

13. The Credit Check business service verifies that the member has sufficient point balance to make the redemption purchase. If the member’s point balance falls short of the points required, then the business service refers to the Loan setup at the member tier level. The service checks the extent of the maximum loan, and compares it with the redemption price (in points) to validate whether there are sufficient points to proceed.

14. The service agent proceeds to fulfill the member’s request.

    If the credit check is successful, then the agent can proceed to fulfill the member’s request. If the credit check is unsuccessful, then the service agent informs the member accordingly and the process is terminated.

15. Siebel Order Management:

    1. Creates the order.

       Siebel Order Management creates an order with the product as a line item.

    2. Processes the credit card payment.

       The Task UI calls Siebel Order Management to process the currency payment.

16. The Loyalty business service:

    1. Creates a redemption transaction.

       If the credit card payment is successful, then the Loyalty business service creates a redemption transaction by debiting the member’s point balance with the quoted price in points. It creates a redemption transaction for each order line rather than a redemption transaction for one order. The transaction stores a reference to the order.

    2. Issues a voucher for a redemption transaction based on the product type being redeemed:

       • The product type is electronic voucher.

       • The product is a bundled product (that is, it is a packaged product) and at least one of its constituent products is of type: electronic voucher. In this case, Siebel Loyalty issues one voucher for each constituent product of type electronic voucher.

       • The Assign Voucher action is satisfied in any of the promotions while processing the redemption transaction, and the voucher type is specified in the promotion action (that is, the Use from Transaction flag is not selected). In this case, Siebel Loyalty issues a voucher only for the product of type electronic voucher. Even if this product is a bundled product, Siebel Loyalty does not issue vouchers for the constituent products of the product, even if they are of type electronic voucher.

Example of Setting Up Redemption Pricing Using Base Redemption Promotions

This topic gives one example of setting up airline pricing using the base redemption promotion design. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model.

It is most common to set up redemption pricing using pricing rules, as described in Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products and Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products. To define more complex pricing, you can use base redemption promotions, as described in this example.

This example describes a flight redemption, but base redemption promotions can also be used for nonflight redemptions.

In this example, the base promotion gives the base redemption price to members based on external factor such as revenue associated with ticket. Additional promotions in the promotion design apply discounts to this base price that depend on the member’s tier: base members get a 5% discount, silver members get a 10% discount, gold members get a 20% discount, and platinum members get a 30% discount and additional 10% discount based on booking channel. Members have the option of using only points or using points plus pay to get the redemption product. This base redemption promotion design is applicable only to members who are more than 18 years old and are US citizens.

To set up this example, perform the following high-level steps:

1. Define the redemption product that represents the particular flight that this pricing applies to. For more information, see Process of Setting Up Airline Flight Redemptions.

   As part of the process of setting up redemption pricing, you associate the redemption product with a partner, and when you do this, you must select Base Promotion in the Pricing Method field. For more information, see Associating the Flight Redemption Product witha Program Partner.

2. Set up the transient variable (optional).

   When you create a new non-qualifying point type in the given program to be used for redemption, a transient variable is automatically created aligning with this point type. However, if the point type already exists and you want to create a transient variable for this point type, then you must do the following:

   1. Navigate to the Program screen, Program Level Attributes, then the Transient Attributes view.

   2. Create a new transient attribute.

   3. Align this transient attribute to the given point type and give it a default value of zero.

3. Define the base redemption promotion for the product.

   1. Create the Promotion record, and select the promotion Designer Availability checkbox and the Base checkbox.

   2. Create the first rule in the base promotion, which simulates all the price options available for the member, including Points and Points plus (+) Pay.

      • Create the criteria for this rule, which include 1) ticket revenue (gotten from the transaction amount) multiplied by 1000 to get base points, 2) product name, and 3) can include other criteria (such as the partner name, if the same product is offered by more than one partner with different pricing).

      • Create the action for this rule. The action type is Redeem points, for the appropriate type of points and number of points.

      • Create a second action of the type Redeem Points plus (+) Pay, with both a point type and value and a currency value.

      • If tickets can be purchased using multiple currencies, then create additional actions of the type Redeem Points plus (+) Pay, with the point type and value and currency values using the other currencies.

      • Create separate rules for each product and partner. This is required because the same promotion design applies to the entire product and partner category.

   3. Create the next rules in the base promotion, which set the base price based on the price option the member selects. There must be separate rules for payment mode equals points and for payment mode equals Points plus (+) Pay. If there are multiple currency options, then there must be a rule for payment mode equals Points plus (+) Pay with each available transaction currency.

      • These rules have criteria to check the payment mode.

      • Other criteria might include product or partner. There must be separate rules for each combination of product and partner that the promotion applies to. (Criteria for product and partner is recommended for partners and product which have same partner and product category respectively, because a promotion design will contain a single base promotion that is applied for all the redemption offerings for this product-partner combination.)

      • The actions are Redeem Points or Redeem Points plus (+) Pay, depending on the payment mode.

4. Create the next promotion, which gives members a discount based on the member tier.

   1. Create the first rule of this promotion.

      • The rule has criteria to check that the value of Member Tier equals Base Member.

      • The rule has actions of the type Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay, which give a discount of 5%.

   2. Create the second rule of this promotion.

      • The rule has criteria to check that the value of Member Tier equals Silver Member.

      • The rule has actions of the type Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay, which give a discount of 10%.

   3. Create the third rule of this promotion.

      • The rule has criteria to check that the value of Member Tier equals Gold Member.

      • The rule has actions of the type Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay, which give a discount of 20%.

   4. Create the fourth rule of this promotion.

      • The rule has criteria to check that the value of Member Tier equals Platinum Member.

      • The rule has actions of the type Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay, which give a discount of 30%.

5. Create the next promotion, which gives members a discount based on booking channel.

   1. Create the rule of this promotion.

      • The rule has criteria to check that the value of Booking Channel equals Web.

      • The rule has actions of the type Discount Points and Discount Points plus (+) Pay, which give a discount of 10%.

6. Create an eligibility promotion to check for members who are US citizens and are more than 18 years old.

7. Add all these promotions to a flow chart so they are executed in the proper sequence:

   1. Create the promotion design. Give it a name and start and end dates. Select Redemption Product as the apply-to. In addition, select the appropriate product category and partner category.

   2. Add the Start object.

   3. Add the Eligibility Promotion object, and select the eligibility promotion you created.

   4. Add the Base Redemption Promotion object, and select the base promotion you created.

   5. Add the Promotion object, and select the promotion you created to give members a discount based on member tier.

   6. Add the Promotion object, and select the promotion you created to give members a discount based on booking channel.

   7. Add the End object.

   8. Validate the promotion design by clicking the Validate button.

   9. When the Validation Status is Green (where the status bar appears in the color green), activate the promotion design.

   For more information about working with Promotion Designer, see Using Promotion Designer.

Example of Creating Promotions to Assign Values to Vouchers

This topic gives one example of creating promotions to assign values to vouchers. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model.

In this example, there is a promotion that gives members vouchers as rewards. If members spend $100, then they get a voucher that is good for a $10 discount. If members spend $200, then they get a voucher that is good for a 10% discount.

To create a promotion to assign a value to a voucher

1. Create a generic voucher in the usual way, as described in Creating Vouchers for Loyalty Members. Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Name	Discount Voucher
   Type	Electronic Voucher

2. Create the promotion in the usual way, described in Process of Creating Loyalty Promotions.

3. For the first rule for the promotion, create a criterion that applies the rule to purchases greater than $100 and less than $200, and create an Action that gives the Voucher the absolute value of $10 discount:

   1. Navigate to the Loyalty Promotion Administration screen, then the Promotion, Rule, and Action view.

   2. In the Action view, complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

      Field	Description
      Voucher	Discount Voucher
      Discount Type	Absolute Value
      Voucher Discount Value	10
      Currency	USD

4. For the second rule for the promotion, create a criterion that applies the rule to purchases greater than $200, and create an action which gives the Voucher the value of 10% discount:

   1. Navigate to the Loyalty Promotion Administration screen, then the Promotion, Rule, and Action view.

   2. In the Action view, complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

      Field	Description
      Voucher	Discount Voucher
      Discount Type	Percentage
      Voucher Discount Value	10
      Currency	not applicable

Partner Pricing for Loyalty Redemptions

At the end of the redemption process, after the member receives the redemption voucher or the redemption product, the loyalty program needs to pay the Partners who have offered the redemption products.

Partner price can be defined in Siebel Loyalty in the Products screen, Points, Points by Zone, or Points by distance view, Partner Price field. For more information, see the following topics:

• Defining the Static Redemption Price for Flight Products.

• Defining the Static Redemption Price for Nonflight Products.

Depending on your business model, in some cases, you might need to configure Siebel Loyalty and integrate it with some external application, such as Oracle Business Intelligence, to calculate the final partner redemption price.

Redemption Packages

Redemption packages allow members of Siebel Loyalty programs to redeem their points for two or more products offered by different partners. Loyalty operations provides these offers to members during off season, when the members can get these products at discounted prices (in points).

Redemption packages can be set up in two ways:

• A redemption package be set up as a promotion. For more information, see About Setting Up Redemption Packages as Promotions.

• A redemption package can be set up as a bundle product. For more information, see Setting Up Redemption Packages as Bundled Products.

About Setting Up Redemption Packages as Promotions

The redemption package promotion is invoked if the member redeems more than one product specified in the package. This topic describes the redemption product, base price list, and promotion setup.

Another approach is to use a bundle product. A bundle product enables a user to select more than one product in the bundle product and set the price at the bundle product level.

The redemption package setup as a promotion has several subprocesses. The required promotion setup is as follows:

• Redemption voucher type setup.

• Redemption product and base price list setup. For more information, see Example of Setting Up a Redemption Product and Base Price List for a Redemption Package.

• Redemption promotion setup. For more information, see Example of Setting Up a Redemption Promotion for a Redemption Package.

The transaction processing that occurs is as follows:

• Initiate a redemption request on a Service Center UI, or loyalty program portal or third-party system

• Generate a quotation (using Get Redemption Price)

• Collect credit card payment (if points plus pay and taxes are used)

• Create a redemption transaction

• Generate a redemption voucher (if the product has a voucher)

• Issue the redemption voucher (if the product has a voucher)

Example of Setting Up a Redemption Product and Base Price List for a Redemption Package

To set up a redemption product and base price list, complete the steps in the following procedure.

To set up a redemption product and base price list

1. Create new redemption products in the Loyalty Admin – Products tab, if they are not defined already. For example, the products which might need to be set up for travel from Mumbai, India to London with a two night stay include:

   • BOMLHR flight redemption

   • LHRBOM flight redemption

   • Five-star hotel (two nights in a twin shared room)

   • Weekend compact car rental

   For more information on creating products, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

2. Create the redemption base prices.

   Define the redemption base prices for the products. The base price lists required for the user travel from Mumbai to London might be as shown in the following table.

   Product	Program	Partner	Point Type	Points
   BOMLHR flight redemption	My Jet Program	My Jet Airway	Miles	40000
   LHRBOM flight redemption	My Jet Program	My Jet Airway	Miles	40000
   Five-star hotel (two nights in a twin shared room)	My Jet Program	My Luxury Hotel	Miles	25000
   Weekend compact car	My Jet Program	My Car Rental Agency	Miles	2000

Example of Setting Up a Redemption Promotion for a Redemption Package

For general information about creating promotions, see Setting Up Siebel Loyalty Promotions

As an example, you might set up a promotion with the following attributes:

• Set the Booking Date as a promotion attribute.

• Create a new Rule: 25% discount on redemption.

• Define the criteria using the following attributes:

If Product = BOMLHR, LHRBOM, 2 night twin-share, Weekend Compact Car

• Define Action as: Accrue 25,000 points.

Setting Up Redemption Packages as Bundled Products

To set up redemption products as a bundled product, complete the steps in the following procedure.

To set up a redemption products as a bundle product

1. Create new redemption products in the Loyalty Administration – Products tab as described in Example of Setting Up a Redemption Product and Base Price List for a Redemption Package.

   For more information on creating a product, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.

2. Associate the redemption product with a partner.

   The redemption products are associated to the partner in the Partner Product Offering view in the Loyalty Partners tab. You can select the program for which this product is being offered by the partner, the effective dates within which the product is available for redemption to the members, the offer type as redemption, and the pricing type: Points, Points by Distance, or Points by Zone.

   Note: For a bundled product, the pricing type is typically Points.

3. Create a bundle product.

   Define one more product with the Structure Type as Bundle, and associate the products defined in Example of Setting Up a Redemption Product and Base Price List for a Redemption Package. If a constituent product type of a bundled product is electronic voucher, then Loyalty issues a voucher for that product when redeeming the bundled product.

4. Define the redemption package base price list for the bundle product.

   Based on the partner product offerings setup for the individual products within the bundle product, you can choose one partner for one price line in the Bundle Product-Points view.

Redemption Loans

Members select redemption products on a Web catalog and redeem their points to obtain the product. In some cases, the members might not have a sufficient point balance and would have to forgo the redemption.

To increase member satisfaction, the loyalty program allows a member to take out a loan to provide the extra points required for the redemption. This facility is similar to a bank providing an overdraft facility to a customer on the customer’s bank account. The loan facility is extended only to members who have moved up to higher tiers of the program. The next accrual activity pays back the loan.

The loyalty administrator specifies the maximum loan that members can receive. The actual loan that a member receives is the difference between the redemption price and the member’s point balance, if it is less than equal to the maximum loan limit.

The following topics discuss redemption loans:

• Setting Loan Limits for Tiers

• Sequence for Loyalty Credit Check

Setting Loan Limits for Tiers

When you set loan limits based on tier, the limit is based on the member’s primary tier.

You set the limit in two ways:

• Absolute value. Specify the maximum number of points that members in this tier can borrow.

• Percent of point balance. Specify the number of points that members in this tier can borrow the percentage of the member’s outstanding point balance.

You use the Basis field to specify whether the loan allowed is the maximum or the minimum of these two limits. You can select the maximum so members with a very low point balance or no point balance can still borrow the amount specified as the absolute value. Or you can select the minimum so members with a high point balance cannot borrow too large a number of points.

For example, you specify the absolute value of the loan limit for the gold tier at 3,000 points. You also set the loan limit for the gold tier at 20% of the point balance, so a member who has accumulated 10,000 points can borrow 2,000 points. If you choose Maximum in the Basis field, then the member with 10,000 points can borrow up to 3,000 points, and if you choose Minimum in the Basis field, then the member with 10,000 points can borrow up to 2,000 points.

To set loan limits for tiers

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.

2. Click the Program ID field of the loyalty program that you want.

3. Click the Loans view tab.

4. In the Loans list, add a new record for each combination of point type and tier where you want to allow loans, and complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Tier Class	Select the tier class of the tier whose members are allowed to borrow.
   Tier	Select the tier whose members can borrow.
   Point Type	Select the point type that members can borrow.
   % Point Balance	Enter the percent of point balance that is the limit for the loan of this point type to members in this tier.
   Absolute Loan Value	Enter the absolute value that is the limit for the loan of this point type to members in this tier.
   Basis	This field determines whether the member can borrow the greater or lesser of the values specified in the % Point Balance and Absolute Loan Value fields. Select Maximum to allow members to borrow the greater of the two values, or select Minimum to allow the lesser of the two values.

Sequence for Loyalty Credit Check

The credit check sequence validates whether the member has a sufficient point balance to complete the redemption. If a member gets a loan because the member is in a tier, then the credit check process checks the extent of the maximum loan, and compares it with the redemption price to validate the member has a sufficient point balance. That is, the difference between the redemption price and the member’s existing point balance must be less than or equal to the maximum loan possible for the member’s tier and point type in which the selected redemption price option is quoted.

When calculating the eligible loan, the credit check sequence takes into account the member’s total outstanding loans. For example, consider the following:

• A member's point balance for a particular point type is 1000.

• The price in points to be paid for redemption is 1200.

• The loan limit for the member is 500, with the status of Approved.

• The member’s outstanding loan is 300.

The member is eligible to take a loan of 200 points (400 – 300). Because the points shortfall is 200 points (1200 – 1000), the member can proceed with the redemption.

The input parameters to the Credit Check business service are:

• Membership ID

• Redemption Price

• Point Type

The Credit Check sequence performs the following tasks:

1. Compares the point balance with the redemption price.

   Based on the membership ID and point type, the process retrieves the member’s point balance in the specified point type. It compare the Point Balance with the redemption price in the option selected by the member, to check whether member has sufficient point balance.

   For example:

   Point Type: FFP (Frequent Flyer Points) Point Balance: 1,000 Redemption price: 1,200 Output: Insufficient balance.

   If the balance is sufficient, then the business service calls Siebel Order Management to create a quote with the price option selected.

2. Checks whether a loan is applicable to the member’s tier.

   If the balance is insufficient, then the process retrieves the member’s tier and tier class, and refers to the Loyalty Program Administration screen, Loan setup to check whether a loan is applicable for the member’s tier in the given tier class, and the point type considered for redemption pricing.

   If the loan is applicable, then the process proceeds. If the loan is not applicable, then the process provides a message that the loan is not successful.

3. After verifying that the loan is applicable, the process derives the shortfall by calculating the difference between the redemption price in points and the member’s current point balance.

   For example:

   Redemption Price: 1,200 points Point Balance: 1,000 points Shortfall: 200 points

4. Assesses the extent of the loan.

   For example, the loan of Frequent Flyer Points is by tier and by percent of balance. The calculation is as follows:

   Members FFP balance: 1,000 points Member’s primary tier: Gold Percentage of Point Balance in Point Type Miles: 40% The loyalty program can provide a maximum loan of 400 points to the member.

5. Derives the value to be compared with the shortfall by comparing the value derived based on percentage of point balance with an absolute value.

   For example: Basis: maximum. Extent of Loan based on Percentage of Point Balance: 400 points Extent of Loan based on Absolute Value: 500 points Maximum of the two: 500 points.

6. Checks whether the loan is sufficient.

   The process compares the maximum applicable loan derived in step 5 with the points shortfall stored in step 3. The shortfall must to be less than or equal to the maximum loan limit for the credit check to be successful.

   For example: Shortfall: 200 Maximum loan limit: 500

   As the shortfall is less than the maximum loan limit, the Credit Check output is: Successful.

7. Creates a loan accrual.

8. Because the credit check is successful, Loyalty business service automatically creates a loan transaction. That is, it accrues the shortfall in points to the member’s account, and successfully creates the redemption transaction. The business service calls Siebel Order Management to create a quotation.

Points-To-Pay Conversion

The Siebel Loyalty program provides redemption pricing options to members in points, or points-plus-pay. The member chooses one of the options to pay for the redemption product.

The following topics discuss points-to-pay conversion:

• About Points-To-Pay Conversion

• Setting Up Points-To-Pay Conversion

• About Redemption with Conversion Pricing

About Points-To-Pay Conversion

The points-plus-pay option enables members to use a redemption product despite having an insufficient point balance. For example, redemption prices for a product are 50,000 points or 40,000 points plus $400. A member having only 42,000 points can still use the product by choosing the second option. If a member only has a 30,000 point balance, then loyalty programs can still allow that member to redeem his or her points by providing a loan to the member, as described in Redemption Loans. Loans are primarily given to members in elite tiers who have by their past behavior shown loyalty to the program sponsor.

Some loyalty programs do not want to offer loans to their nonelite members (or to any of their members) in case of an insufficient point balance. In these cases, Siebel Loyalty programs offer an option to their members to pay for the difference using a currency.

Points-to-pay conversion and payment in points-plus-pay are mutually exclusive. That is, if you check the flag for points-to-pay conversion at the program level, then Loyalty only displays the payment mode in points while displaying price options. Siebel Loyalty only offers points-plus-pay pricing options to the member if points-to-pay conversion is not allowed for the program.

Loyalty performs points-to-pay conversion for a point type only if:

• The flag for allowing points-to-pay conversion is checked at the program level.

• The member has insufficient point balance for that point type to pay for redemption.

• The loan eligible for the member in that point type is not sufficient to cover the shortfall.

If multiple products are being redeemed in the same request, and points-to-pay conversions are conducted for multiple price lines, then the currency to which the conversion is done (determined by the currency for the Cost per point field in the price setup) is the same for all price lines. If not, Siebel Loyalty issues an error.

Setting Up Points-To-Pay Conversion

The points-to-pay conversion pricing is optional for loyalty programs. To enable points-to-pay conversion, you need to check the points-to-pay field at the loyalty program level. Siebel Loyalty determines whether it is required to convert points to pay based on this field as well as the set of conditions described in About Points-To-Pay Conversion. The most basic of these conditions is that the member does not have a sufficient balance even after considering the eligible loan to that member.

The business service, called after a member has selected a price option, checks Loyalty Program Administration to verify whether to convert points to pay. This process then recalculates the pricing and returns a new price in line with the member’s point balance. The difference in the initial redemption price in points and the member’s point balance is converted to the pay component.

To set up points-to-pay conversion

1. Navigate to the Program Administration screen.

2. Check the Points-to-Pay conversion flag.

   Note: This flag only determines whether points-to-pay conversion is allowed or not; it does not mandate it. The conversion occurs only if conditions warrant it as described in About Points-To-Pay Conversion.

   After checking this flag, Loyalty initially show the member’s options in points; Loyalty only converts points-to-pay and displays the recalculated options if there is a deficit in points.

3. Populate the Cost per point field in the price line in the redemption base price setup for the product as described in Example of Setting Up a Redemption Product and Base Price List for a Redemption Package.

   This field determines the conversion factor from points to currency, and also the currency to which to convert. Not specifying this value results in an error if points-to-pay conversion is attempted for the price line.

About Redemption with Conversion Pricing

The general steps for redemption with conversion pricing is as follows:

1. The member selects an itinerary or product.

2. The loyalty program obtains the redemption price options.

3. The member selects the price option.

4. The loyalty program provides a recalculated price option.

5. The member accepts this price option.

6. Siebel Order Management creates a quote for member acceptance.

7. Siebel Order Management creates the order and redemption transaction.

Step 4 is the unique step in this process. The details of About Redemption with Conversion Pricing are described in About Converting Points to Pay.

About Converting Points to Pay

To convert points to pay, the Siebel Loyalty’s points to pay process completes the following steps:

1. Checks whether the member’s point balance is sufficient.

   Once the member selects one of the price options, Siebel Loyalty calls the Convert Points to Pay business service. The business service checks the member’s credit and determines whether the member has a sufficient points balance. There are different process flows depending upon the credit check result. If the member has a sufficient point balance, then Siebel Loyalty proceeds to call Siebel Order Management to create a quote.

2. Checks the loan setup for the member tier.

   If the member’s point balance is less than the points component of the redemption price, then Siebel Loyalty checks whether there is a loan setup for the member’s tier and for the point type in the redemption price.

3. Calculates the extent of the loan.

   If there is a loan setup, then based on the setup (minimum or maximum of percentage of current balance, or an absolute value), the process calculates the extent of loan.

4. Checks if the maximum loan is sufficient for the redemption.

   After calculating the extent of the loan, Siebel Loyalty checks whether the maximum loan limit is sufficient. If the required loan is within the maximum loan limit, then Siebel Loyalty creates an automatic loan (accrual transaction) with the loan equal to the difference between the redemption price in points and the member’s point balance. It takes the price option selected by the member forward to the create quote process.

5. Checks the points-to-pay conversion.

   If there is no loan setup for the member tier or point type, or the loan required is more than the maximum loan limit, then Siebel Loyalty checks whether a points- to-pay conversion must be performed.

   The points-to-pay conversion pricing is optional for loyalty programs. To enable points-to-pay conversion, you need to check the points-to-pay field at the loyalty program level. Siebel Loyalty determines whether it is required to convert points to pay based on this field as well as the set of conditions described in About Points-To-Pay Conversion. The most basic of these conditions is that the member does not have a sufficient balance even after considering the eligible loan to that member.

6. Identifies the pricing line.

   Siebel Loyalty identifies the points pricing line setup in Admin - Products, used for calculating the price option selected by the member.

7. Checks the cost-per-point setup.

   Siebel Loyalty checks whether the cost per point option is set up in the identified points pricing line.

8. Calculates the pay component:

   • If one product is being redeemed for a given point type, then Siebel Loyalty calculates the difference between the redemption price and the member’s point balance and multiplies that with the cost per point to get the pay component.

   • If more than one product is being redeemed, then where payment occurs in the same point type, the total shortfall in points for that point type is prorated across the different price lines in proportion to the contribution of each price line to the total points. After the shortfall is prorated across the different price lines, Siebel Loyalty performs a points-to-pay conversion for each price line according to the cost per point defined for that price line.

     For example, assume there are three price lines in the Point type Regular with price options as follows:

     • 200 Regular (price line 1)

     • 300 Regular (price line 2)

     • 500 Regular (price line 3)

     In this example, the total price in points required for payment is 1000 Regular points. Now if the member’s point balance for that point type is 600 points, and the eligible loan is insufficient to cover the shortfall of 400, then Loyalty converts the 400 point shortfall as follows:

     • 200/1000 times 400 equals 80

     • 300/1000 times 400 equals 120

     • 500/1000 times 400 equals 200

     Siebel Loyalty uses the conversion factor defined in each of the price lines to convert 80, 120, and 200 points to their currency equivalents. The total value to be paid in currency for the redemption request is the sum of these three currency components.

   • If there are multiple price lines and multiple point types, then:

     • The points-to-pay conversion is done for a point type only if the conversion currency (the final currency to which to convert) is the same for all price lines involving that point type.

     • If there are price lines in multiple point types and there are multiple point types requiring points-to-pay conversion, then the conversion currency has to be the same for all point types.

     If either of these conditions are not satisfied, then Siebel Loyalty reports an error condition.

9. Returns the new price option:

   The business service returns the new price option for the member to accept. After the member accepts the price option, the business service calls Siebel Order Management to create a quote.

Bidding for a Redemption Product

Members can bid for a redemption product using their accrued points. Loyalty programs might set up the bidding to promote products, or to promote a new partner or a partner’s new product. The member that places the highest bid within the stipulated time period gets the redemption product.

Setting up a bid is done outside of Siebel Loyalty, in a third-party product. For a bid, Siebel Loyalty takes the price to be charged as an input and charges the member that amount in points, or points plus pay. A bid transaction has to have the Bid flag in the transaction record set to Y (Yes) to indicate that it is a bid transaction.

Siebel Loyalty does not issue a loan nor does it perform a points-to-pay conversion for a bid transaction.

Note: A bid transaction only occurs through third-party UIs, that is, through Loyalty Web Services. If multiple transactions are involved in a redemption request, then either all or none of the transactions are bid transactions.

Redemption Scenario for a Bid

In this scenario of redemption process for a bid, members of a loyalty program bid for a product available in a bidding promotion. The third-party system needs to store the various bids submitted within the stipulated time period. The highest bid is then selected and sent to Siebel Order Management and Loyalty to create an order and redemption transaction.

1. The member selects the bid product.

   The member logs on to the loyalty program Web site to participate in the bid promotion and selects the redemption product.

2. The member submits the bid price.

   The member completes the terms and conditions of the bid (minimum bid price, number of bids which can be submitted by a member, bid submission period, and so on), and submits a bid price.

3. The third-party system stores the bid price.

   The third-party system stores the various bids submitted by the members.

4. The third-party system runs the bid selection process:

   After the last date for a bid submission, the third-party system runs a selection process which compares the various bids and selects the highest bid.

5. The third-party system creates a quotation.

   The third-party system passes the highest bid to Siebel Order Management to create a quotation. In the bidding process, the third-party system sends the parameters to Siebel Order Management, that includes the program name, product, partner, membership ID, redemption price in points (or points plus pay), and so on.

6. The third-party system gets the member’s acceptance.

   The third-party system can display and send the quotation to the member for acceptance (if taxes are applicable). If directed by the terms and conditions of the bid, then it directly calls the Loyalty business service to do a credit check.

7. Siebel Loyalty performs a credit check.

   Siebel Loyalty performs a credit check to ascertain the member account having sufficient point balance.

8. Siebel Order Management creates the order and redemption transaction.

   Siebel Loyalty calls Siebel Order Management to create an order. After it generates the order, Siebel Order Management calls the Loyalty business service to create a redemption transaction. Based on the bid product, Siebel Loyalty determines whether to ship a product, send a voucher, or dispatch an air redemption ticket. For more information on order processing and order management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.

Batch Redemption Process

Batch redemptions are run periodically to:

• Redeem all the outstanding points of all members of a program whose point balance is greater than or equal to the threshold set up under the program.

• Give each member a voucher based on the member’s point balance. Optionally, you can give vouchers only to members who have more points than a required minimum.

• Reset each member’s point balance to zero.

A supermarket chain rewards members for their shopping by giving them points. At the end of the month or any specific period, it converts all the points to dollars and issues vouchers to its members. This process applies only to members whose point balance is greater than or equal to 500 points.

Related Topics

Setting Up Batch Redemption

Specifying the Threshold for Batch Redemption

Setting Up Batch Redemption

The following procedure provides a high-level overview of how to set up a batch redemption.

To set up batch redemption

1. Specify the minimum number of points required for member to be considered for batch redemption process in the Batch Redemption view of the loyalty program. For more information, see Specifying the Threshold for Batch Redemption.

2. Set up the product that is used to create batch redemption transactions for members. Set up the product with Loyalty Batch Redemption as the value in the Type field. For more information about setting up products for redemptions, see Setting Up Products for Redemption by Siebel Loyalty.

3. Set up a promotion that assigns the voucher to members. This promotion must use the following values:

   1. In the Rule record, in the Apply To field, select Bulk Redemption.

   2. In the Action record, complete the necessary fields, described in the following table:

      Field	Description
      Type	Select Issue Bulk Voucher.
      Product Type: Voucher	Select an item from the picklist, which shows products of the type Electronic Voucher.
      Voucher Value Conversion: Operator	Select the operator used to convert the voucher value to an absolute value. For example, select Multiply.
      Voucher Value Conversion: Value	Select the value used to convert the voucher value to a cash value. For example, if you multiply the number of points in the voucher by .1 to convert it to an absolute value, then select Multiply in the Operator field and .1 in the Value field.
      Voucher Value Conversion: Currency	Select the currency used to convert the voucher value to an absolute value.
      Voucher Value Conversion: Cost Per Point	If you allow points-to-pay conversion, then enter the amount that customers must pay for each point they are short. For more information, see Points-To-Pay Conversion.

      For more information about setting up promotions, see Process of Creating Loyalty Promotions.

4. Schedule the batch redemption workflow, LOY Batch Redemption Process, so it runs at the required frequency.

   For more information about administering workflow processes, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.

This workflow creates the redemption order and transaction for the loyalty engine to process.

After the transaction is processed, members are assigned vouchers, which appear as records in the Loyalty Members screen, Vouchers view for each member.

Specifying the Threshold for Batch Redemption

When you set up batch redemption, set up the minimum threshold for receiving an award. For more information, see Setting Up Batch Redemption.

To specify the period for a batch redemption

1. Navigate to the Loyalty Program Administration screen.

2. In the Programs list, click the name of the program that uses this batch redemption.

3. Click the Batch Redemption view tab.

4. In the Batch Redemption view, complete the necessary fields, described in the following table.

   Field	Description
   Point Type	Select the point type used by the batch redemption.
   Threshold	Select the minimum number of points that the member must have to receive a voucher.

Addressing Concurrent Redemption Transactions

Concurrent redemptions occur when two redemption transactions are processed by the Loyalty engine at the same time. Concurrent redemptions may result in a member having a negative point balance, if the member does not have enough points to redeem for both the redemption transactions.

Even if each of the concurrent redemptions is smaller than the member's balance in the point type, the two redemptions combined might be greater than the member's balance. Because the redeemed points are consumed only when the Loyalty engine writes to the database, the engine might approve both transactions without realizing that the two combined use more points than the member's total balance.

If you choose to prevent redemption concurrency, then transactions of the type Redemption and the subtype Product are validated and processed using a business component whose fields are validated before being written to the database, to check whether the total points redeemed by a member are greater than that member's point balance. If a transaction is not valid, then it is rejected with an error message saying that another redemption transaction is being processed for the member.

Note: This behavior is specific to redemption processing, and it does not affect other flows, such as accrual processing or tier processing. If the action Redeem Points is used in an accrual promotion or tier promotion, then concurrent redemptions cannot be prevented.

This feature is made optional because it can potentially slow performance. By default, this feature is switched on, but you can turn it off, if you do not need it. This feature is controlled by the user property Redemption Concurrency in the LOY Processing Engine business service. Leave the default value of Y if you want to avoid redemption concurrency.

Methods to Calculate Loyalty Redemption Price

There are two methods used to calculate loyalty redemption price:

• GetPriceOptions Method. Calculates the redemption price based on both the product setup and promotions that apply, if any.

• RedemptionBasePrice Method. Calculates the redemption price based only on the product setup, not on promotions. It calculates the price based on the Points, Points By Zone, or Points By Distance view for the product. The RedemptionBasePrice method provides faster performance, but only use it if you are sure that the no promotions apply to the redemption, so the price can be calculated based only on the product setup.

Both of these methods are in the LOY Redemption Web Service. For more information, see Siebel CRM Web Services Reference.