Managing Service Requests with Siebel PRM

This chapter describes examples that illustrate different ways that you can use Siebel PRM to manage service requests. It includes the following topics:

About Managing Service Requests with Siebel PRM

This chapter describes examples that are examples of how you might use Siebel PRM to manage service requests.

You can use Siebel PRM to manage two types of service requests:

Customer Service Requests. Customers sometimes log service requests that your partners are responsible for. You can refer customer service requests to partners, work on them collaboratively with partners, or track service requests that partners have logged on behalf of your customers.
Partner Service Requests. Partners sometimes log service requests that you must respond to. For example, partners might have questions about your products or about the partnership, or they might need other forms of service.

These examples cover a number of methods to manage each type of service request.

To reduce the number of service requests you receive, you can create a repository of FAQs, solutions, and SmartScripts to help partners solve customers’ problems and their own problems without logging service requests.

About Managing Customer Service Requests with Siebel PRM

The following topics provide two groups of examples for managing customer service requests:

Examples for Partner-Led Customer Service. In these examples, the partner is responsible for responding to the service request.
Examples for Collaborative Customer Service. In these examples, the brand owner and partner work together to respond to the service request.

Examples for Partner-Led Customer Service

There are two common situations where the partner responds to customer service requests:

Example of the Partner Receiving Service Requests and Logging Them for Tracking Purposes

This topic gives one example of how the partners respond to customer service requests. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

Partners might receive customer service requests directly and log them in the Siebel PRM Portal for tracking purposes. Then, partners can use the Siebel PRM Portal to manage service requests within their own organization, and at the same time, give you visibility to these service requests so you can track how well your partners are serving customers.

In this example, the partner acts as service provider on behalf of the brand owner, with no intervention from the brand owner. When customers have a problem with the product, they contact the partner with which they have a relationship.

For example, if a partner is a dealer or a value-added reseller, customers who have made purchases from the partner would call the partner directly with service requests.

Using the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner company can enter customer service requests, assign these service requests to the appropriate service agents, and track the service requests as the service agents work on them. Using the Siebel PRM Manager, the channel manager at your company can also track the progress of the service requests at partner companies.

Partners have access to a subset of the service management functionality that you have in the Siebel PRM Manager. Partners can log service requests, add activities and attachments to service requests, and associate solutions from the knowledge base with service requests.

Partners can get help in researching service requests by using the Siebel PRM Portal Solutions screen to display frequently asked questions (FAQs) and their solutions and to display troubleshooting instructions, as discussed later in this chapter. For more information about working with service requests, see the chapter on service requests in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Logging Service Requests (Partner)

In this example, your partners enter service requests using the Siebel PRM Portal. The partner might get these service requests through its call center or through other customer contacts.

To enter a new service request through the Siebel PRM Portal

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the My Customers’ Service Requests view.
In the Service Requests list, the partner adds a new record.
The partner enters information about the service request in the new record.
Optionally, the partner entering the service request can assign it immediately by selecting a service agent in the Owner field, so the service request appears in the owner’s My Service Requests view.
If the service request is not assigned immediately, it is visible only in the All Service Requests view. The employee responsible for managing the service request queue would have to assign it later, as described in the following topic.

Assigning Service Requests (Partner)

If service requests are not assigned by the employee logging the service request, a partner employee would have the responsibility of managing the service request queue. This employee would regularly look at new service requests in the Siebel PRM Portal’s All Customer Service Requests view, and would use the Owner field to assign each service request to the partner employee who is qualified to respond to it. The appropriate employee could be a service agent who contacts the customer by telephone or a field service agent who goes to the customer site.

The employee who manages the service request queue must have a responsibility that includes visibility to the All Service Requests view. For more information about using responsibilities to control visibility to views and about the responsibilities available in the seed data, see the topic about defining partner responsibilities in Setting Up Siebel PRM

To assign a service request to a partner service agent

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the All Customer’s Service Requests view.
In the Service Requests list, the partner drills down on the name of the service request to be assigned.
In the More Info view, the partner clicks the Single Select button of the Owner field.
The Pick Service Request Owner dialog box appears.
The partner selects a partner employee to be added as the owner of the service request and clicks OK.

Fulfilling Service Requests (Partner)

Partner service agents and field technicians who fulfill service requests would regularly navigate to the Siebel PRM Portal’s Service screen, then the My Customers’ Service Requests view. They would research and respond to new customer service requests.

Alternatively, they could be notified automatically by email whenever a new service request is assigned to them. The brand owner would set up Siebel Business Process Designer to send this email. For more information about Siebel Business Process Designer, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.

When they finish working on a service request, they change the status to closed.

Tracking Service Requests (Partner)

Managers at the partner company can use the Siebel PRM Portal to view the service requests that their direct reports own and track progress on them.

To view your report’s service requests

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the My Team’s Customer’s Service Requests view.
The service requests owned by this partner company manager’s reports appear.

Tracking Service Requests (Brand Owner)

Although your company does not develop or work on service requests in this example, your channel managers can view the service requests for the partner companies that they manage. This lets them track each partner company’s progress in fulfilling service requests.

Optionally, you can also produce the Partner Operations report, which lists the service requests a partner is working on, as well as that partner’s opportunities, accounts, and so on.

To view the service requests of a partner company

In the Siebel PRM Manager, navigate to the Partner Operations screen.
In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose service requests you want to see.
Navigate to the Service Requests view.
The partner’s service requests appear.

Example of the Brand Owner Receiving Service Requests and Assigning Them to the Partner

This topic gives one example of how the partners respond to customer service requests. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

In this example, service requests are received and entered by the brand owner company and assigned to specific partners.

This example would be appropriate, for example, if the brand owner runs a call center where customers call to report problems with products they purchased directly from the brand owner or through a reseller. The call center agents log the service requests, which then are assigned either automatically or manually to a partner with the appropriate skills to solve the customer's problem. The partner to whom the service request was assigned retrieves the service request through the Siebel PRM Portal. This partner then assigns it either to a partner employee who is a service agent responsible for telephoning the customer, or to a partner employee who is a field service technician responsible for visiting the customer’s house.

After solving the problem, the service agent changes the service request’s status to closed using the Siebel PRM Portal. A service manager at the brand owner company can track the status of service requests to monitor customer satisfaction. For more information about working with service requests, see the chapter on service requests in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Entering Service Requests (Brand Owner)

Your call center agents, field service representatives, or other employees who work with your customers receive service requests and enter the service requests in the Siebel Business Application that they use, which can be Siebel PRM Manager, Siebel Call Center, Siebel Service, or Siebel Field Service. Because Siebel Business Applications use the same database, these service requests are visible to you in Siebel PRM Manager even if they are entered in Siebel Call Center, Siebel Service, or Siebel Field Service.

To enter a new service request

Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Request List view.
In the Service Requests list, add a new record.
Enter information about the service request in the new record.
Assign the service request to a partner service agent, as described in the next step.

Assigning Service Requests to Partners (Brand Owner)

Next, service requests are assigned to the appropriate partner. You can do this manually, but it is generally better to use Siebel Assignment Manager to assign the service request by creating rules based on geography, partners’ skills, expertise in a specific product, language ability, territory, workload and availability, or other criteria.

For example, you might assign service requests from Spanish-speaking customers for one of your product lines to a partner company that has expertise in that product line and employees who speak Spanish.

You can set up Assignment Manager either to assign service requests to partner companies or to assign service requests to individuals who can be service agents at the partner company or at your own company, depending on which agent is most qualified to deal with each service request.

You can assign service requests to partners in two ways:

Assign service requests to the partner company. To assign a service request to a partner company, you enter that company’s organization in the Organization field of the Service Request record, which is in the More Info view. The service request is visible in the All Service Requests view for that organization, but it is not visible in the My Service Requests view for any employee of the organization. The partner must designate an employee to find new service requests in the All Service Requests view and assign them to the appropriate employee by entering the employee’s name in the Owner field of the service request, in the More Info form.
Assign service requests to partner employees. To assign a service request to a partner employee, you enter the employee’s name in the Owner field of the Service Request record. The service request is visible in the My Service Requests view for that employee.

It is usually difficult for you to keep track of the special skills of individual employees in partner companies, so it is more common to assign the service request to the partner company and have an employee there assign it to the service agent. For more information about Siebel Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

Working on Service Requests (Partner)

After the service request is assigned, the partner employees work on it using the Siebel PRM Portal, as follows:

If the service request is assigned to a partner employee, that person is the owner of the service request and can see it in the My Service Requests view.
If the service request is assigned to a partner organization, employees in that organization can see that service request in the All Service Requests view, but the service request does not appear in any employee’s My Service Requests view until a partner employee is added in the Owner field.

When service agents resolve a service request, they change its status to Closed.

To view a service request and change its status to Closed

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen.
In the Service Requests list, the partner selects the service request.
When the service request has been resolved, the partner selects Closed in the Status field.

Tracking Service Requests (Brand Owner)

You can track your partner’s progress on its service requests by displaying the service requests and viewing the status fields to see which service requests have been closed.

To track a partner’s service requests

In the Siebel PRM Manager, navigate to the Partner Operations screen.
In the Partners list, drill down on the name of the partner company whose service requests you want to see.
Navigate to the Service Requests view.
The partner’s service requests appear.
If you want to see more details about a service request, click its number in the Service Request list.

Examples for Collaborative Customer Service

The following topics describe two examples that let the partner work on service requests in collaboration with the brand owner:

Example of the Partner Logging Service Requests and Working on Them with the Brand Owner

This topic gives one example of how the partners work on customer service requests in collaboration with the brand owner. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

In this example, the partner acts as the primary service provider but collaborates with the brand owner to get service issues resolved when the partner receives service requests that require expertise from the brand owner.

For example, you might use this example if your partner is a value-added reseller of your company’s complex manufacturing equipment. Your partner’s field service technicians are on site installing new equipment, and have a problem with the computer’s software that require a software patch. The field service technician would log a service request in the Siebel PRM Portal’s Self-Service screen to get help from the brand owner and to request the patch.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Logging Service Requests (Partner)

In this example, your partners enter service requests using the Siebel PRM Portal. The partner might get these service requests through its call center or through other customer contacts.

To enter a new service request through the Siebel PRM Portal

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen.
In the Service Requests list, the partner adds a new record.
The partner enters information about the service request in the new record.

Using Self-Service to Get Help (Partner)

To get help in solving the problem that they logged, partners can enter a service request in the Self-Service screen of the Siebel PRM Portal.

To enter a new self-service request through the Siebel PRM Portal

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Self-Service screen.
In the service requests list, the partner adds a new record.
The partner enters information about the service request in the new record.

Responding to the Partner’s Self-Service Request (Brand Owner)

The partner’s self-service request is in the same queue as the other service requests that come to your company, and is assigned to a service agent in your company in the same way as other service requests are assigned. For example, you can configure Assignment Manager to assign the service request to a service agent based on your service agents’ expertise, availability, or other factors.

Because your Siebel Business Applications share a single database, this service request appears in the Siebel PRM Manager or in any other Siebel Business Application that your service agents use to track service requests.

After your service agent responds to the self-service request, your service agent and the partner can continue to work together on the service request, if necessary, by logging updates to the service request.

To respond to a service request

Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Request List view.
The Service Request list appears, with the service requests that list you as owner.
After researching the service request, you as service agent can enter an activity, which appears as an update on the Siebel PRM Portal. Further updates logged by the partner through the Self-Service screen is visible to you in the Activities list in the Service screen of the Siebel PRM Manager.
You as a service agent can also add Attachments and Solutions to the Service Request record. The partner can view these through the Siebel PRM Portal as attachments to the service request in the Self-Service screen.

Example of the Partner Logging Service Requests and Transferring Them to the Brand Owner

This topic gives one example of how the partners work on customer service requests in collaboration with the brand owner. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

In this example, service requests are created by the partner companies and assigned to employees of the brand owner company. This example is appropriate for you if your partners receive customer service requests, and your company is responsible for fulfilling the service requests.

You might use this example in many different businesses. To give just one example, you could use it if your partners are resellers of satellite TV services, who take the orders for the service in the store, while the brand owner handles the actual installation of the satellite dish and the decoder. Whenever the reseller receives an order, the reseller logs a service request and assigns it to the brand owner so the brand owner can dispatch a field service technician to perform the installation.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Entering Service Requests (Partner)

In this example, your partners receive new service requests and enter them into the Siebel Business Application using the Siebel PRM Portal.

You must set up Siebel Assignment Manager to assign service requests to the appropriate employee or organization in your company when partners enter service requests. Assignment Manager can assign service request based on employees’ skills, product expertise, geography, or other criteria. For more information about Siebel Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

To enter a new service request through the Siebel PRM Portal

In the Siebel PRM Portal, the partner navigates to the Service screen.
In the Service Requests list, the partner adds a new record.
The partner enters information about the service request in the new record.
Assignment Manager has been set up to assign the service request to the appropriate organization or employee in your company.

Assigning Service Requests to Brand Owner Employees (Brand Owner)

If Assignment Manager has assigned the service request to an organization in your company, you must assign service requests to the appropriate service agent or field service technician in your company.

You can assign service requests manually. An employee at your company with access to the All Service Requests view can assign the service request to the appropriate employee, by choosing the employee name in the service request’s Owner field.

Alternatively, you can have set up Assignment Manager to assign service requests to the appropriate employee automatically when they were entered by the partner.

In either situation, the service agent responsible for the request sees it in the My Service Requests view. For more information about Siebel Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

Working on Service Requests (Brand Owner)

When the service request has been assigned to your service agent, the agent can view it in Siebel PRM Manager, Siebel Service, Siebel Call Center, or another Siebel Business Application by displaying the My Service Requests view of the Service screen. Because Siebel Business Applications use the same database, you do not have to export this record from Siebel PRM to other Siebel Business Applications.

To view a new service request

Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Requests List view.
In the Service Requests list, drill down on the name of the new service request.
Navigate to the appropriate views to see more details about the service request.
After researching the service request and solving the customer’s problem, the service agent chooses Closed in the Status field of the service request.

Tracking the Service Request (Brand Owner)

As your employees work on these service requests, you can track their progress using the Siebel PRM Manager, or their managers can track their progress using Siebel Service. Again, because Siebel Business Applications use the same database, you do not have to worry about exchanging data among different Siebel Business Applications.

You can track your employees’ progress as they work on their service requests by displaying the service requests, viewing the activities attached to it, and checking the status field to see if the service request has been closed.

Your service agents’ managers can track their reports’ service requests by displaying the My Team’s Service Requests view.

To track employee’s service requests

Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Requests List, and the My Team’s Service Requests view.
In the My Teams Service Requests list, drill down on the name of a service request you want to track.
Navigate to the Activities view.
The activities attached to that service request appear.

Examples of Field Service with Siebel PRM

Many brand owners use partners to provide field service and other types of service that require use of parts to service assets that customers have purchased. Siebel PRM provides the Inventory screen and the Assets screen to support this sort of service.

The following topics provide two typical examples for this sort of service:

Example of the Brand Owner and Partner Managing Inventory

This topic gives one example of field service with Siebel PRM. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

Siebel PRM allows the brand owner and partners to work together to manage inventory, such as the spare parts that the partner needs to do repairs.

The brand owner can share inventory with the partner. The partner can locate inventory and use it to service customers. The brand owner can automatically warn the partner if the inventory of a given part is too low. For more information about working with inventory, see Siebel Field Service Guide.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Setting up an Inventory Location for the Partner (Brand Owner)

First, the brand owner sets up one primary inventory location for each partner who uses inventory. The organization for this inventory location must be the partner’s organization, so other partners cannot see this inventory.

To set up an inventory location for a partner

Navigate to the Inventory screen, then the Inventory Locations view.
In the Inventory Locations list, add a new record.
Fill in the fields of the new record as follows:
1. In the Organization field, select the partner organization.
2. In the Position field, select a partner position in the specified partner organization.

Transferring Products to the Inventory Location (Brand Owner)

Next, the brand owner associates products with the partner’s inventory location. These can be transferred from the brand owner’s inventory location, or they can be transferred from a virtual location that the brand owner created to hold products that are transferred to partners.

To transfer a product to the partner’s inventory location

Navigate to the Inventory Transaction screen.
In the Inventory Transactions list, add a new record.
Fill in the fields of the new record as follows:
1. In the Source Location field, choose either your own inventory location or the virtual location used to hold products for partners.
2. In the Destination Location field, choose the inventory location you created for the partner.
3. In the Commit field, add a check mark, completing the transaction.

Transferring Inventory to Inventory Sublocations (Partner)

The partner service administrator logs into the Siebel PRM Portal and sees that this inventory location has been assigned to him or her.

A small partner company with only one physical location for inventory could use this inventory location to represent its physical inventory location.

A larger partner company with several physical locations for inventory would create a subinventory location under this inventory location to represent each of its physical inventory locations. Then it would transfer the inventory from the inventory location that the brand owner created to these inventory locations.

To transfer inventory to product inventory locations

The partner service administrator navigates to the Administration - Inventory screen, then the Inventory Locations view.
In the Inventory Locations list, the partner adds a new record representing each of the partner company’s physical inventory locations.
The partner navigates to the Inventory Transactions screen.
In the Inventory Transactions list, the partner adds a new record and fills in its fields as follows:
1. In the Source Location field, the partner chooses the inventory location that the brand owner created.
2. In the Destination Location field, the partner chooses one of the inventory locations created to represent the partner’s physical inventory locations.
The partner continues to create new Inventory Transaction records until all of the inventory is transferred to locations representing the partner’s physical inventory locations.

Finding Needed Parts (Partner)

Now, when a partner service agent needs a spare part, the agent can use the part browser to find where the part is located. The part browser limits the agent to the partner company’s inventory locations.

Then, when the partner service agent creates a service order, the partner associates it with the inventory location where this part was found.

Siebel PRM automatically adjusts the quantity of that part in inventory to reflect the fact that parts were used in service orders.

To find a needed part

The partner service agent navigates to the Part Browser screen.
The partner searches for the part and finds its locations.
Now, the partner can go to the nearest location that has the part in inventory to get it.

Monitoring Partner Inventory Level (Brand Owner)

The brand owner can monitor each partner’s inventory for each part by navigating to the Part Browser screen and to the All Parts Across Organizations view.

The brand owner can monitor each partner’s inventory locations by navigating to the Inventory screen and to the All Inventory Locations Across Organizations view. Then, the brand owner can navigate to the Product Inventory view and see if the partner is short of inventory by looking at the following fields in the Product Inventory Record:

Safety. When inventory reaches the amount in this field, it is time for the partner to reorder.
Min. This is the absolute minimum inventory. If the partner orders correctly the inventory does not reach the amount in this field, because the partner is expected to reorder parts when the inventory reaches the safety level.

The brand owner can set up Siebel Business Process Designer to automatically send the partner a notification telling the partner to reorder a part when the inventory of that part reaches the level in the Safety field. If the inventory of a part reaches the level in the Min field, Siebel Business Process Designer can send a more urgent warning to the partner, or it can send email to one of the brand owner’s sales representatives who contacts the partner personally.

Example of the Partner Responding to Service Requests for Assets

This topic gives one example of field service with Siebel PRM. You might use this feature differently, depending on your business model

In this example, the partner uses the Assets screen to work with service requests for assets that customers have purchased. The brand owner can monitor the service requests for each asset.

This example consists of the following tasks:

Assigning Assets to a Partner (Brand Owner)

A partner who services assets must have a list of assets that have been sold to each customer.

If the partner sells and services the product, the partner would create the asset record when it sells the product.

In this example, the brand owner sells products and the partner services them. When a brand owner sells a product, it assigns the asset to a partner company to be serviced.

To assign an asset to a partner company manually

Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List view.
In the Assets list, drill down on the name of the asset that you want to assign to the partner company.
In the More Info form, in the Organization field, select the organization of the partner company and click OK.

Logging a Service Request Against the Asset (Partner)

When a customer calls or comes in to request service on an asset, the partner service agent logs a service request against the asset.

The partner creates the service request record in the usual way, and associates it with an asset.

To log a service request against an asset

The partner navigates to the Service screen, then the Service Request List, and the My Customer’s Service Requests view.
The partner creates a new Service Request record, and in the More Info form, in the Asset field, the partner chooses the Asset.

Looking at the History of the Asset (Partner)

To help in responding to the service request, the partner service agent uses the Assets screen to view all past service requests associated with the asset, see when the asset was installed, and look at other features of the asset’s history.

To look at the history of the asset

The partner navigates to the Assets screen, then the List view.
In the Asset list, the partner drills down on the asset number for this asset.
The partner views information about the history of the asset in the Asset record and in the Activities, Notes, Service Requests, and Change Requests views.

Monitoring a Partner’s Service of Assets (Brand Owner)

At any time, the brand owner can use the Siebel PRM Manager to view all the assets of a partner and to view the service requests associated with these assets, to monitor the partner’s service of each asset.

To monitor a partner’s service of assets

Navigate to the Assets screen, then the List, and the All Assets Across Organization view.
Drill down on the desired asset.
In the More Info form, in the Organization field, query for the partner organization.
All assets for that partner company appear in the Assets list.
In the Assets list, select an asset.
Navigate to the Service Request view.
All service requests for that asset appear.

About Managing Partners’ Service Requests

Partners often encounter situations in which they need assistance from the brand owner because they have questions about the partnership, requests for marketing collateral, questions about commission payments, or other questions.

Your partners can use the Self-Service screen in the Siebel PRM Portal to log service requests, or if they have questions about the partnership, questions about using Siebel PRM software, or any other questions or needs that require personal service.

To reduce the number of service requests you receive, you can create a repository of FAQs, solutions, and SmartScripts to help partners solve their own problems without logging service requests. These are covered in Solutions and SmartScripts with Siebel PRM.

Note: Be sure to tell your partners to use the Self-Service screen of the Siebel PRM Portal to log their own service requests. The Service screen is used to log customer service requests.

Assigning Service Requests

Your company’s service requests are listed in the Siebel PRM Manager and other Siebel Business Applications in the All Service Requests view of the Service screen. As they are received, each request is assigned to the appropriate service agent. After the service agents resolve service requests, they change their status to Closed.

You can assign service requests in two ways:

Assignment Manager. You can set up Siebel Assignment Manager to assign service requests to the appropriate service agent at your company using criteria such as expertise, availability, and workload.
Manual assignment. Service requests logged by the partner are displayed in the All Service Requests view in the Siebel PRM Manager. An employee at the brand owner company with access to this view can assign the service requests manually to the appropriate service agent.

For more information about Siebel Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide. For more information about working with service requests, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Scenario Using Partner Self-Service

The following scenario shows how a partner might use a service request to get marketing materials.

One of your partners wants to organize a marketing event such as an executive seminar about partner relationship management. It needs to get appropriate marketing material from you for this event, where it displays both your brand name and its own brand name.

The partner logs a service request for the marketing materials through the Self-Service screen in the Siebel PRM Portal.

The service request is routed to the appropriate person at the brand owner company by Assignment Manager, or it is assigned manually by the person responsible for assigning service requests at the brand owner company.

The service agent fulfilling the service request follows up by finding the appropriate marketing material and routing it to the partner.

Solutions and SmartScripts with Siebel PRM

You can help partners solve problems by creating solutions or Siebel Troubleshooting or Instruction SmartScripts. Solutions or SmartScripts can help partners solve:

Customer problems. Partners can use solutions or SmartScripts rather than getting help from the brand owner to solve customer service requests.
Partnership problems. Partners can use solutions or SmartScripts to solve their own problems, rather than using the Self-Service screen to enter service requests.

Solutions and SmartScripts are discussed in the following topics:

Scenario Using Solutions and SmartScripts to Help Partners

The following is a scenario showing how a partner might use solutions and SmartScripts that you have set up.

One of your partners is planning to organize a seminar to educate executives about partner relationship management. The partner wants to know whether the brand owner agrees to refund the cost of this marketing event.

The partner navigates to the Solutions screen in the Siebel PRM Portal, browses the frequently asked questions (FAQs), and searches on keywords to find relevant solutions.

The partner finds an FAQ that says there is a SmartScript with a series of questions and answers that let you identify whether marketing events qualify for reimbursement.

The partner navigates to the Solutions screen in the Siebel PRM Portal and runs this SmartScript. It asks a series of questions about the type of event being organized, the partner company’s partnership level, and other parameters that determine whether a marketing event qualifies for reimbursement.

The partner finds that the seminar qualifies for reimbursement. However, the partner still needs some help from the brand owner, such as marketing material and permission to use its logos. To get this help, the partner navigates to the Self-Service screen and logs a service request, as described in About Managing Partners’ Service Requests.

Making Solutions Available to Partners

Service solutions are answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). You can create solutions that your customers, employees, or partners can use. You can associate a solution with related solutions and resolution documents, so users can navigate among these related documents. A service agent can associate a solution with a service request or a change request to make it available to the user who logged the request.

Solution records can be published internally, externally, or both:

Solutions published internally are accessible to your employees.
Solutions published externally are accessible to customers.

You publish solutions internally to make them available to partners, because Siebel PRM treats partner employees as your employees.

Use access control to make solutions accessible to a specific partner or partner community. Use the Catalog Administration screen to add the solution to a catalog that is associated with the partner community for which you want to make it visible.

Your partners access these solutions through the Solutions view of the Solutions screen in the Siebel PRM Portal. Partners can browse through the solutions or use a keyword search to find the solution they need. The Solutions view shows a flat list of solutions, which is useful for a keyword search.

Alternatively, solutions can be added to catalogs and be made available to users through the InfoCenter screen. Navigation of the InfoCenter is more straightforward.

For information on creating and administering service solutions, FAQs, and resolution documents, see the topics on solutions and service requests in Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

Making Troubleshooting or Instruction SmartScripts Available to Partners

A SmartScript is a set of branching questions and instructions. The answer to each question determines which question or instruction appears next.

Siebel SmartScripts are often used by call center agents who perform troubleshooting. The SmartScript tells them what question to ask the customer. Depending on the customer’s answer, the SmartScript tells them the next question to ask. The scripted series of questions and answers helps the agent identify and solve the problem.

You can also create SmartScripts to help your customers, employees, or partners solve problems.

After you have created and tested the SmartScript, you select the Active check box to make it available.

For information about creating and administering SmartScripts, see Siebel SmartScript Administration Guide.

To make a Troubleshooting or Instruction SmartScript available to partners

Navigate to the Administration - SmartScript screen, then the Scripts view.
Add a new record to the Scripts list, and enter the following:
1. Select Troubleshooting or Instructions in the Type field.
2. Click the Active check box.
Add the SmartScript to the Service Catalog in the desired category.
Make sure the partner is in the Access group for that category.
The SmartScript is visible to the partner in the Solutions screen of the Siebel PRM Portal. The partner can filter to display only Troubleshooting or Instruction SmartScripts.