2Setting Up Order Management for Industry Applications
Setting Up Order Management for Industry Applications
This chapter provides an overview of customer order management for the communications, media, and energy industries. It includes the following topics:
About Asset-Based Ordering and Network Ordering
This guide contains information you use in combination with Siebel Order Management Guide. For more background information about order management, and for information about setting up order management, see Siebel Order Management Guide.
In addition to the functionality described in Siebel Order Management Guide, Siebel Order Management for Industry Applications supports the functionality in this guide.
Employee, Customer, and Partner Asset-Based Ordering
Asset-based ordering allows users to create assets based on orders and to create new orders to modify these assets. For example, if a customer orders telephone service, then the Siebel application generates an asset record representing that service. Then the customer can place subsequent orders to modify the service (for example, adding call waiting and automatic message forwarding) or to disconnect the service.
The following documents and topics cover asset-based ordering:
General Background. The topics about asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide contain general background information.
Employee Asset-Based Ordering. Most asset-based ordering for employees is available in Siebel Industry Applications and in Siebel Business Applications. The topics about asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide contain information about employee asset-based ordering. Employee Asset-Based Ordering and Workflows for Employee Asset-Based Ordering in this guide contain information about additional functionality for employee asset-based ordering.
Partner Asset-Based Ordering. Asset-based ordering for partners is available only in Siebel Industry Applications. Partner Asset-Based Ordering and Workflows for Partner Asset-Based Ordering in this guide contain information about partner asset-based ordering.
Customer Asset-Based Ordering. Asset-based ordering for customers is available only in Siebel Industry Applications. Customer Asset-Based Ordering and Workflows for Customer Asset-Based Ordering in this guide contain information about customer asset-based ordering.
Network Ordering
Network Ordering allows companies to configure orders for large networks, such as computer networks and telecommunications networks. Setting Up Network Ordering and Using Network Ordering in this guide contain information about network ordering.
About Order Management for Industry Applications
Siebel Order Management for Industry Applications is based on the same concepts as asset-based ordering. The topic about asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide describes these concepts. This topic describes some additional concepts specific to industry applications.
Terminology for Order Management
Some terminology in Siebel Order Management for Industry Applications differs from the terminology in Oracle’s Siebel Order Management as shown in the following table.
| Term in Siebel Order Management | Term in Siebel Order Management for Industry Applications |
|---|---|
Deactivate |
Disconnect |
Installed Assets and Billing Items
Installed assets are the assets that serve an account. Installed assets include both products and services. A line item from an order becomes an installed asset if the item is marked as a trackable asset in the product record.
Billing items are the services that are billed to an account.
Sometimes users install assets at one account location, but bill for the assets to another account location. For example, a company might have 150 phone lines installed at two locations, but receive the bill for all 150 phone lines at one of those locations. In this example, the location that receives the bill has 150 billing items, but might have only 50 installed assets.
Users specify the service account and billing account for each line item in the quote-to-order process. For customer users creating quotes and orders in Oracle’s Siebel eSales, the service account and billing account automatically default for every line item. Employee users might want to select the service account and billing account.
Billing, Service, and Master Accounts
The master account is the primary, or parent, account for a customer. You can set up separate billing and service accounts that are associated with the higher-level master account.
Service ID
A service ID is a unique identifier for a service item, such as the phone number for a phone line. The asset management system of a company typically populates the service ID text field.
When a customer orders a quantity of a product or service, such as a dozen phone lines, each product becomes an individual line item with a separate service ID. Users can explicitly ungroup the items to assign service IDs, or the items are automatically ungrouped when users convert the quote to an order.
Service Point
A service point represents a network delivery point, such as a phone jack and a gas pipe, for an asset at a service location. You select a service point, based on the product type, in a field on Quote and Order forms. You need the Siebel Premises module to use service points. For more information, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Additional Fields for Quote Line Items
When you create a line item for a quote in Order Management for Industry Applications, the fields in the following table are available, in addition to the fields described in the topic about adding a quote line item in Siebel Order Management Guide.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Tier Price |
Information about the pricing tiers applicable for the product. |
Service Point |
Serial number of the asset at the service point for the item, for example, a phone jack. |
Service Id |
Text that identifies the service item, for example, a phone number. |
Billing Account |
Account to which you bill the service. |
Service Account |
Account to which you provide the service. |
Additional Fields for Quote and Order Line Item Change Histories
When you create a line item for a quote or an order in Order Management for Industry Applications, the fields in the following table are available, in addition to the fields described in the topics about viewing change history for a quote line item and viewing change history for an order line item in Siebel Order Management Guide.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Service ID |
Unique identifier for a service item |
Net Price |
Final price arrived at after applying all discounts to the start price |
Billing Profile |
The profile used to specify invoice and payment preferences |
When Order Management for Industry Applications is integrated with an application for managing billing and revenue, the Siebel application provides values for these fields to the billing and revenue application. The integration process reviews these fields to determine changed data. Users can view these fields in a read-only view.
Activating Workflows for Order Management for Industry Applications
Asset-based ordering is based on Siebel workflows and business services that you can configure. You can customize asset-based ordering to meet the order management requirements of your company. For more information about Business Process Manager, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
For details about these workflows, see the topic about workflows for asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide and the following chapters in this guide:
In addition to the setup described in Siebel Order Management Guide, you must activate workflows specific to asset-based ordering for industry applications. Activate the following workflows:
Siebel eSales
All workflows that begin with CUT eSales.
All workflows that begin with eSales.
All workflows that begin with SIS OM.
Siebel Partner Portal
All workflows that begin with CUT eChannel.
All workflows that begin with SIS OM (7.5 only).
Employee applications
The workflows listed in the topic about setting up asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide.
CUT Order Profile Process.
CUT Quote Portal Process.
CUT Order Portal Process.
CUT Go To Customer Portal Subprocess.
All workflows that begin with VORD Validate.
For information about how to activate workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
About the Workflow for Order-To-Installation Tasks
Oracle’s Siebel Communications includes an order-to-installation task interface that contains all of the tasks that a call center agent performs to sell a communications product. The task interface is included in Siebel Communications. You can configure this interface using Oracle’s Siebel Tools the same way that you configure other Siebel Business Applications.
After finishing these tasks, the call center agent clicks a button that calls a workflow that performs longer-term tasks after the sale, such as waiting for shipping confirmation, calling the customer to conduct a survey after the product ships, and sending the customer a thank you note for completing the survey. The workflow that performs these long-term tasks is not included in Siebel Communications. You create this workflow to satisfy your business requirements.
Order-To-Installation Task Interface
The call center agent uses the order-to-installation task interface by navigating in a Task pane that lists all the tasks that a call center agent typically performs to sell a communications product. The call center agent clicks the tasks in list order, from first to last, to display the screens that the agent needs to perform each task. Some of these tasks include:
Create the order.
Create a new account with the order for a new customer.
Get customer information.
Assign phone numbers to the customer.
Get shipping information.
Get one-time payment information.
Get billing information.
Set up an appointment for installation of the product.
Call center agents typically perform these tasks while they are talking to the customer who places the order. These tasks include scripts that tell agents what to say to the customer while performing the task.
Workflow for Follow-Up Tasks
Typically, companies perform follow-up tasks after the product installation. When a call-center agent completes all the order-to-installation tasks and clicks Done, a workflow starts that performs longer-term tasks connected with the order.
You can set up the workflow to schedule and perform the follow-up tasks that your company performs after installation. As an example of how to set up the workflow for your company, the Siebel application contains a sample workflow.