8Creating Product Promotions
Creating Product Promotions
This chapter covers product promotions and includes the following topics:
About Product Promotions
Product promotions are created in the Administration - Product screen. They represent the marketing definition of a product. Product promotions are time-sensitive, and they state discounted prices and contractual terms.
Product promotions may be broadly classified to belong to either of these two types:
Coupons. This promotion includes a single product or service. This sort of promotion is used primarily for retail sales and is also called a retail promotion.
Bundled promotions. This promotion includes a group of products or services.
End users can select product promotions in two ways:
Top-down selection. If the customer receives an offer or sees an advertisement for the promotion, then the customer can order the promotion. The customer or sales representative adds the promotion to the order, and all of the products in the promotion are added as line items to the quote or order. This selection method usually applies to bundled promotions.
Bottom-up selection. If the customer adds products to a quote or order that have product promotions available, then the sales representative or the application can recommend the promotion. When a customer is purchasing some products in a bundle promotion, the application can automatically recommend the bundle promotion. There can be an auto-recommendation if the customer has these products in a quote or order as new items, and if they are not already covered by another promotion.
Note: A product promotion is a type of product with which you can associate class or product line. Although a class can be associated, product promotions cannot have child components (structure) or configurator constraints. Class and product line association is useful for defining aggregate relationships for upgrade paths.
For more information about how end users work with product promotions, see Siebel Order Management Guide.
Process of Creating Product Promotions
When you create a new Product Promotion record, a version named Work Space is automatically created and the Locked check box is automatically selected in the Product Promotions screen, Versions view. This check box must be selected to change the Effective Dates of the promotion. You do not have to lock the version to change any other information about a promotion, but to see the changes at run time, the user must select Refresh Cache from an applet-level menu item of the promotion header form. For more information, see Managing Versions of Product Promotions.
To create a product promotion, perform the following tasks:
Setting Up Image Files for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
When you create a product promotion, you can associate an image file with it. This image will be displayed next to the promotion in catalogs. If you want to show the image in catalogs, then you must create the image and import it into the Siebel application in the Administration - Document screen. This makes it available to associate with the product promotion record.
To set up image files for product promotions
Create the images in either JPG or GIF format.
Navigate to the Administration - Document screen, then Literature view.
In the Literature list, click New File.
In the Choose File dialog box, select the image file.
Creating the Product Promotion Record
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
Create the Product Promotion record, which contains general information about the entire product promotion.
To create a product promotion record
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
Add a new record to the promotions list and complete the fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Name
Enter a name for the promotion.
Promotion ID
This field displays a unique, Siebel-Pricer-generated ID for the promotion.
Type
Select the type of the promotion. The options are coupon and bundled promotion. For more information about these types, see About Product Promotions.
Image
Select an image file that will display if this promotion is shown in a catalog. Before you can select this, you must set up the image, as described in Setting Up Image Files for Product Promotions.
Period
Enter the number of periods to specify the duration of your promotion. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Period UOM field is years, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of years the promotion is available.
Period UOM
The unit of measure for the promotional time period, for example, years, months, days.
Description
Enter a description for the promotion.
Organization
Select one or more organizations to give them visibility to this promotion. Users who are not in these organizations cannot see this promotion in the Siebel application. For more information about organizations, see Siebel Security Guide.
Campaign
If the promotion is part of a marketing campaign, then select the campaign. For more information about campaigns, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide.
Score
Enter the ranking that determines where on the list of product promotion recommendations this promotion will appear when the end user displays recommendations. Promotions with higher scores appear higher on the list. For more information, see the topic about recommendations in Siebel Order Management Guide.
Effective Dates
This field displays the start date and end date of the period when this promotion is effective. Users can edit these dates in the Versions view.
Message
Enter a message for the promotion.
Grace Period
Enter a value for the period of time before a penalty is imposed on a customer. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Grace Period UOM field is days, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of days before the customer is subject to a penalty.
Grace UOM
The unit of measure for the grace time period, for example, years, months, days.
Instances
Select a value that specifies how many times a customer is allowed to use this promotion. The options are One Per Customer, One Per Order, and No Limit.
Show in Catalog
Select this check box to display the promotion in the product catalogs, so the end user can choose it in quotes and orders the same way the end user chooses a product.
If you select the check box for bundle promotions, then end users can select the bundle promotion in a catalog to add all the products in the promotion to a quote or order.
You generally do not select this check box for coupon promotions. For coupon promotions, end users generally add the product, and then select a coupon promotion that is available for that product.
Track as Asset
Select this check box to track the promotion as an asset. This is necessary if you provide ongoing service to the buyer of the promotion, or have some other reason to keep a record of which buyers have purchased the promotion. For more information, see the topic about asset-based ordering in Siebel Order Management Guide.
Note: This check box applies only to the promotion, not to the products in it. To track products within the promotion as assets, you must select the Track as Asset check box for these products in the Administration - Products screen, Products view.Track as Agreement
Select this check box to track the promotion as an agreement. This is necessary if the agreement involves some ongoing commitment to the customer that you must refer to in the future. For more information about agreements, see Siebel Project and Resource Management Administration Guide.
Note: If you want to create a penalty record, then you must select the Track as Agreement flag on the promotion definition record.
Specifying Products for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
Every promotion applies to specific products. The promotion may apply to one product, such as a particular model of table and chair, or it may apply to many products, such as all of your dining room tables.
If you are creating a bundle product promotion, then list all the products in the bundle in the Products list. The customer must buy all these products to get a discount.
If you are creating a coupon product promotion, then you do not have to list the product here. Add the product and the price discount for it in the Product Promotion screen, Pricing view.
You can add the products covered by a promotion using the Product Promotions, Products, and then Components view. For example, if you give customers a discount if they buy a specific model of table and four chairs, then add that table to the Products view with a minimum quantity of 1, and add the chair with a minimum quantity of 4.
You can also add product lines or product classes to a promotion using the Product Promotions, Products, and then Aggregate view. For example, if you have a product line named Dining Room Tables, then you can add it to the promotion so that the promotion applies to all dining room tables. You specify the default dining room table that is included in the promotion, but the customer can select any product in the Dining Room Table product line to get the bundle discount.
Specifying Individual Products for a Product Promotion
Use the following procedure to specify individual products for a product promotion.
To specify individual products for a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are specifying products.
Click the Products view tab.
If necessary, in the link bar of the Products view, click Components.
For each product that is covered by the promotion, add a new record to the Product Components list and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Product Name
Select a product that is covered by the promotion. Products are available in the dialog box if they are released and have a currently active version. If this is a product with components, then you can click the product name to display the explorer view used to define products with components.
Description
Enter a description of the product.
Min
Enter the minimum number of this product that the customer must buy to qualify for this promotion, if there is a minimum requirement.
Max
Enter the maximum number of this product that the customer may buy to get the discount for this promotion, if there is a maximum limit.
Default
Enter the default quantity of this product that is included in the promotion, if you want to display a default quantity. If the customer selects this promotion in a quote or order, then the default quantity of all products in the promotion will be added as line items to the quote or order.
This field is optional. If you do not enter a value here, then the application uses the value entered in the Min field as the default value.
Customizable
This check box is selected if the product selected in the Product Name field is customizable.
The promotion can also be used to constrain the selections for the customizable product. For more information, see About Product Promotions for Customizable Products.
Recommendable
Select this check box to allow the Siebel application to recommend this product promotion to end users when the product exists in a quote or order and is not associated with any other product promotion.
Commitment
Select this check box if the product involves a commitment. For more information, see Specifying Terms and Conditions of Product Promotions.
Note: Only bundled promotions have commitments. Coupon promotions do not have commitments.Commitment Period
Enter the number of periods to specify the duration of the customer’s commitment. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Commitment UOM field is years, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of years the commitment is valid.
Commitment Period UOM
The unit of measure for the commitment time period, for example, years, months, days.
Apply Component Charge
Select this check box to apply an early termination penalty charge based on when the component is terminated and on the proration plan.
If this check box is not selected, then the component penalty charges are not added.
Grace Period
Enter a value for the period of time before a penalty is imposed on a customer. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Grace Period UOM field is days, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of days before the customer is subject to a penalty.
Grace UOM
The unit of measure for the grace time period, for example, years, months, days.
Termination Charge
The amount that is charged if the component is terminated after end of grace period, but is terminated before the end of the commitment period.
Prorate Plan
This is calculated in the conditional charge plan. For more information, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
To enter translations of descriptions of the product to be shown in catalogs that are not in the default language, add a new record to the Translations list for each language you support and complete the necessary fields, as described in the following table.
Field Comments Language Name
This field displays the name of the language after you select the language code.
Language Code
Select the language code. For example, select ENU for American English.
Description
Enter the description of the promotion to be shown in catalogs and promotion recommendations using this language.
Specifying Product Lines or Product Classes for a Product Promotion
Use the following procedure to specify product lines or product classes for a product promotion.
To specify product lines or product classes for a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are specifying products.
Click the Products view tab, and in the link bar, click Aggregate.
For each product that is covered by the promotion, add a new record to the Product Aggregate list and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Product Line
Select a product line that is covered by the promotion. Select either a product line or a product class, but not both.
Product Class
Select a product class that is covered by the promotion.
Complete the other fields in the same way as in the Components view.
In the Default Product view, click the Default check box for each product that is a default product for the promotion and enter the default quantity for each.
To enter descriptions of the promotion to be displayed in Edit Promotion view, add a new record to the Translations list for each language you support and complete the necessary fields in the same way as in the Components view.
Specifying Pricing for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
All promotions involve giving customers price adjustments on some or all products. For example, a promotion may offer a discount on a table if the customer buys a set that includes the table and four chairs.
Use the Pricing view to define the price adjustments for this promotion. You can define two types of price adjustments:
Component. Define price adjustments for individual products.
Aggregate. Define price adjustments for multiple products. There are two types of aggregate rules:
Aggregate Conditional Rules. Define rules for all the products in a product class or product line. For example, you could give a 10 percent discount on all digital cameras and a 15 percent discount on all film cameras, if these are two product lines with products that have been included in the promotion.
Aggregate Default Rules. Define rules that are applied by default if the line item product does not match any individual product pricing rule or any conditional aggregate pricing rule.
Specifying Price Adjustments for Individual Products in a Product Promotion
Use the following procedure to specify price adjustments for individual products in a product promotion.
To specify price adjustments for individual products in a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are specifying pricing.
Click the Pricing view tab.
Click Components on the link bar in Pricing view.
In the Pricing Components list, add a record for each product whose price will be changed by the promotion and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Product Name
Select a product.
Adjustment Type
Select the type of price adjustment applied to this product. The options are Discount Amount, % Discount, Markup Amount, % Markup, and Price Override.
Adjustment Value
Enter the value of the Adjustment. How this value is used depends on the selection in the Adjustment Type field:
Discount Amount. The adjustment value is subtracted from the product price.
% Discount. The adjustment value is a percentage of the product price, which is then subtracted from the product price.
Markup Amount. The adjustment value is added to the product price.
% Markup. The adjustment value is a percentage of the product price, which is then added to the product price.
Price Override. The adjustment value is used as the product price, overriding the original price.
Specifying Price Adjustments Applied to a Product Class or a Product Line in a Product Promotion
Use the following procedure to specify price adjustments applied to a product class or product line in a product promotion.
To specify price adjustments applied to a product class or product line in a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are specifying the pricing.
Click the Pricing view tab.
Click Aggregate on the link bar in the Pricing view.
In the Pricing Aggregate list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Type
Select the type of aggregate adjustment. The options are as follows:
Aggregate – Default. This is a default pricing rule. If the line item product does not match any individual product pricing rule or any conditional aggregate pricing rule, then the line item price is adjusted using this default rule.
Aggregate – Conditional. The adjustment is applied to product classes or product lines. When this value is selected a user must define the Group Field and Group Value fields.
Product Line
If you selected Aggregate - Conditional as the type, then you can select a product line to which the adjustment applies.
Class
If you selected Aggregate - Conditional as the type, then you can select a class to which the adjustment applies.
Adjustment Type and Adjustment Value
Enter the price adjustment. These fields are used in the same way as in the Pricing Components view, which was described in the previous procedure.
If you selected Aggregate - Conditional as the type, then you can add more records to define adjustments for additional product lines and classes.
Setting Up Promotion Price Adjustments for Components
Administrators can set up adjustments to prices for components that are part of a customizable product in a promotion. When a user creates an order or quote for that customizable product in the promotion, the user can view the adjusted prices for the components. You can add promotion components to price lists in the same way that you add other components to price lists. The prices for components in a promotion supersede any other prices for those components.
For example, if a promotion includes a bundle that allows for free voice mail for wire line service or a 50% discount for mobile service, then the administrator can set up the voice mail component for the wire line service with no price and the voice mail component for the mobile service with a 50% discount. When a user creates an order that includes this bundle, the user can view the $0 price for voice mail if the customer wants the wire line service and the 50% discount price for voice mail if the customer wants the mobile service. If voice mail is priced at $10 for each month when it is not part of a promotion, then the user does not see this $10 monthly price.
Use the following procedure to set up promotion price adjustments for components.
To set up promotion price adjustments for components
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Promotions view.
In the Promotions list, select the promotion for which you want to set up adjustments to component prices.
Click the Pricing tab.
In the Pricing Components list, select a customizable product for which you want to set up adjustments to component prices.
Note: A check mark displays in the Customizable field for the products that you can customize.Click the Product Name field to display the components for the customizable product.
For each component for which you want to set up a price adjustment, select the component, and add a price adjustment record to the Adjustments list, as described in the following table.
Field Comments Adjustment Type
Select the type of price adjustment applicable to the component. Options include: Discount Amount, % Discount, Markup Amount, % Markup, and Price Override.
Adjustment Value
Enter the value of the adjustment. How this value is used depends on the value in the Adjustment Type field:
Discount Amount. The adjustment value is subtracted from the component price.
% Discount. The adjustment value is a percentage of the component price and is subtracted from the component price.
Markup Amount. The adjustment value is added to the component price.
% Markup. The adjustment value is a percentage of the component price and is added to the component price.
Price Override. The adjustment value is used as the component price and overrides the original component price.
Maximum Price
Enter the price that the adjusted price cannot exceed.
(Optional) Click Verify Adjustments to view the component prices in time intervals after adjustments.
Defining Eligibility Rules for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
Promotions may be restricted to only some of your customers. For example, a promotion may be offered only to customers in certain states. You can define rules that specify which customers are eligible for the promotion. For more information, see the topic about eligibility rules in Siebel Order Management Guide.
To define eligibility rules for a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are defining the eligibility rules.
Click the More Info view tab, select the Check Eligibility and Compatibility check box.
Click the Eligibility and Compatibility view tab and in the Rules link bar, click Eligibility.
Add new records to the Rules list and complete the necessary fields, as described in Siebel Order Management Guide.
Defining Compatibility Rules for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
You might have policies that keep customers from using more than one product promotion at the same time. For example, you might say that a coupon for a product may not be used with other coupons for the same product, but that the coupon may be used with bundle promotions for the same product.
You can define compatibility rules for a product promotion to specify the other product promotions with which it may and may not be used. For more information, see the topic about compatibility rules in Siebel Order Management Guide.
To define compatibility rules for a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion for which you are defining compatibility rules.
Click the Eligibility and Compatibility Rules view tab and then in the link bar, click Compatibility.
Add new records to the Rules list and complete the necessary fields, as described in the topic about compatibility in Siebel Order Management Guide.
Customizing Recommendation Messages for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
By default, if the application recommends a promotion, then it displays a message in the following form:
Recommend promotion ‘[Prod Prom Name]’: [Promotion Description]
You can customize the form of this message.
To customize the recommendation message for product promotions
Navigate to the Administration - Application screen and in the link bar, click Message Types.
In the All Message Types list, query to find the record with the name Promotion - Bottomup Recommendation.
In the Message Type view, enter the desired message in the Full Text field.
Creating Translations of Recommendation Messages for Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
You can translate the recommendation message in multiple languages. The language that is displayed depends on the language of the user’s application.
To create translations of recommendation messages for a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion.
Click the Messaging view tab.
For each language in which the message will be displayed, add a record to the Messaging list and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Language Name
This field displays the name of the language after you select the language code.
Language Code
Select the language code. For example, select ENU for American English or ENG for British English.
Description
Enter the text of the recommendation message in the appropriate language.
Specifying Terms and Conditions of Product Promotions
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
Some promotions require customers to accept certain terms and conditions. In some industries, these are called commitments. If your promotion includes terms and conditions, then you must specify them.
For example, if a customer accepts a promotion offering a free cell phone to sign up for a certain mobile plan, then the customer may have to keep that mobile service for at least a year. If the customer cancels the service before the year has ended, then there may be a penalty.
When a customer disconnects an asset, the Siebel application checks to see whether the customer is breaking the terms and conditions of a promotion. If so, it displays a warning message telling the customer how much the penalty is. You can set up the product recommendation engine to recommend changes that will avoid the penalty, as described in the topic about recommendations in Siebel Order Management Guide. If there is a penalty, then the application calculates the amount. The Siebel application is integrated with the billing application, so the penalty is automatically applied.
You may want to prorate the penalty. For example, if customers get a free satellite dish when they sign up for twelve months of service, then they may have to pay the full penalty if they cancel before one month has elapsed, but pay only one-half of the penalty if they cancel after six months. For more information on proration, and defining conditional charge plans for agreement line items, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
A commitment may include recurring credit and cancellation charges. The cancellation charge and credits may need to be prorated for partial periods.
The penalty may be a nonrecurring charge paid once, or it may be a recurring charge paid periodically during a specified time period.
You can use the Commitments view to give customers ongoing benefits that they receive with a promotion, in addition to using it for penalties. For example, if the promotion gives the customer a credit every month for a year, which reduces the customer’s monthly bill, then the Commitments view can record this credit.
Entering the Customer’s Commitment
In the Charge Plan view of the Commitment applet, enter the charges for customers’ ongoing commitment. Enter negative amounts if it is a credit. To do this, you must first create schedules and plans for any recurring, nonrecurring, and usage charges that the customer must pay. For more information, see the topic about contracts and agreements in Siebel Field Service Guide.
After you have created the necessary recurring and nonrecurring charge plans, you can enter the amounts that customers are committed to pay.
To enter the customer’s commitment
In the Product Promotions, Commitment view, click Charge Plan in the link bar.
In the Charge Plan form, complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments NRC Schedule
Select a schedule for the nonrecurring charge. For example, a schedule may specify that the customer pays the recurring charge by the fifteenth of each month.
Nonrecurring
Enter the total amount of the nonrecurring charge.
NRC Plan
Select a nonrecurring charge plan. For example, the plan may allow the customer to pay off the nonrecurring charge in three monthly payments.
NRC Quantity
If the user does not select a value in the NRC Plan field, then the user can enter a specific number of payments. The charge calculation engine then divides the charge into equal payments of the quantity specified.
If the user does select a value in the NRC Plan field, then this field displays the number of payments in the plan and is read-only.
RC Schedule
Select a schedule for the recurring charge. For example, a schedule may specify that the customer pays the recurring charge by the fifteenth of each month.
Recurring
Enter the amount of the recurring charges.
RC Adjust
Specify an adjustment for a recurring charge if the usage period is less than the entire billing period.
For example, if the customer starts cable TV service on June 16, then the customer is charged for only 15 days in the month of June. In this case, enter the charge for the day in the RC Adjust field, and select Per Day in the RC Adjust U/M field. The application calculates the adjustment for the 15 days in June.
RC Adjust U/M
Enter the time period to which the RC adjustment applies. The options are Per Day and Per Week.
Adjust Charge
Enter a special adjustment to the amount the customer is charged. For example, if a customer calls to complain that cell phone service has not been working well for the last few days, then the company can agree to give the customer a one-time adjustment. The company enters the adjustment in this field.
Adjust Reason
Enter the reason for the special adjustment.
Commit
Select this check box when you are done making changes to the record.
Charge Basis
Specify when the charge for a period is generated. The options are as follows:
Schedule. Charges are generated after the usage period. For example, June charges are generated on July 1.
Advance. Charges are generated in advance of the usage period. For example, June charges are generated on June 1.
Use Plan
Select the usage payment plan for this promotion. For example, there may be different usage payment plans for regular, gold, and platinum customers.
Usage Schedule
Select a schedule for the usage charge. For example, a schedule may specify that the customer pays the usage charge by the fifteenth of each month.
Entering Penalties for Canceling the Commitment
In the Charges and Credits view of the Commitment applet, enter the penalties that the customer must pay for canceling this commitment. You can also use this view to enter credits that the customer receives.
Before you enter penalties, you may have to create a plan used to prorate the penalty charge, if the penalty depends on the amount of time that the customer used the service before canceling. Create the prorate plan as a nonrecurring charge plan, described in the topic about contracts and agreements in Siebel Field Service Guide.
To enter the penalty that customers pay for canceling the commitment
In the Product Promotions, Commitment view, click Charges and Credits in the link bar.
In the Charges and Credits list, add a record for each penalty that the customer must pay, and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Type
Select the penalty.
Amount
Enter the amount of the penalty. If you enter a negative amount, then the customer will receive a credit instead of paying a penalty.
Plan
Select the nonrecurring charge plan used to prorate the penalty.
Entering Terms Displayed to the Customer
In the Terms view of the Commitment applet, enter the list of terms that will be displayed and included in the contract that the customer accepts.
The user can select a term template instead of entering terms manually, if you first define term templates using the Administration - Contract screen, Term Templates view. For more information about defining term templates, see Siebel Life Sciences Guide.
To enter terms displayed to the customer
In the Product Promotion, Commitment view, click Terms in the link bar.
For each term that will be displayed to the customer, do the following:
To select a term template, click Pick from Template.
To enter terms manually, add a record to the Terms list and complete the necessary fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Number
Enter a number to control what order this text will be displayed in within the list of terms.
Type
Select the Type of the Term. The options are Standard, Non-Standard, and Special. When you design screens and reports, you may decide to display only terms of certain types.
Section
Enter the text that will be displayed to the customer.
Releasing the Product Promotion
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
When you created the new Product Promotion record, a version of it named Work Space was automatically created and the Locked check box was automatically selected in Product Promotions, Versions view.
When you have finished the entire process of defining the product promotion, you must release this version and refresh the cache to make the new version available to users.
Promotion versions work differently from product versions. Promotion versions only impact the Start Date, End Date, and Active fields of the promotion. Every other aspect of product promotions is uniform across all active versions of the promotion. The user must refresh the cache after making any changes to the promotion definition.
To release the product promotion
In the Product Promotions, Versions view, in the Work Space record, complete the necessary fields, as described in the following table.
Field Comments Required Start Date
Enter the date when the promotion becomes available.
Active
Select this check box to make the promotion available.
Click Release New Version.
From the Versions form menu, select Refresh Cache.
Creating Product Promotions That Upgrade Existing Promotions
You can design promotions that offer an upgrade to customers who have existing commitments because they have accepted earlier promotions.
For example, if customers have already signed up for a promotion to subscribe to a mobile telephone plan and have commitments to pay $29.95 a month for the next year, then you can create a promotion that offers them a mobile plan with no roaming charges for $39.95 a month. This involves breaking their existing commitment, but they do not have to pay the usual cancellation charge.
You can also offer the new promotion to customers who have accepted any one of many earlier promotions.
To create a promotion that is an upgrade to earlier promotions, define the new promotion as usual, and also use the Upgrade view to enter information about the existing promotions that customers can break without penalty.
To create a product promotion that upgrades existing promotions
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion.
Click the Upgrade view tab.
Add a record for each earlier promotion that can be broken without penalty and complete the necessary fields, as described in the following table.
| Field | Comments |
|---|---|
Original Promotion |
Select the earlier promotion that customers can break without penalty. |
Commitment Start |
Specify when the commitment starts for the new promotion. The options are as follows:
|
Duration |
Specify the duration of the new promotion. The options are as follows:
|
Penalty |
Enter the penalty for upgrading from the old to the new promotion, if any.
Note: The penalty record will only be created if you set the Track as Agreement flag on the promotion definition record. For more information about agreements, see
Siebel Project and Resource Management Administration Guide.
|
Prorate Plan |
If there is a penalty for upgrading from the old to the new promotion, then select the prorate plan used to prorate this penalty. |
Viewing a Summary of a Product Promotion
At any time, you can view a summary of the most important features of a product promotion in a single screen.
This is a read-only view. You use it to look at a summary of the product promotion while you are creating it, and also to provide summary information about the promotion to sales representatives.
To view a summary of a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the promotion.
Click the Summary view tab.
Copying a Bundled Promotion or Coupon
At any time, you can copy an existing bundle promotion or coupon, including child entities such as relationships, components and attributes. The only child entities that are not copied are Compatibility Rules.
To copy a product promotion or coupon
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the required bundled promotion or coupon.
In the Product Promotions list, click the menu button, and then click Copy Record.
A duplicate bundled promotion or coupon record appears.
Enter a new name for the duplicate record.
Managing Versions of Product Promotions
You manage versions of product promotions using the Product Promotions, Versions view.
Managing versions of product promotions is not the same as managing versions of customizable products and product classes.
Versions are mainly used to schedule product promotions with different effective dates.
Creating Product Promotion Versions with Different Effective Dates
If you are running a product promotion now and you want to run the same promotion a second time later in the year, then you can do this by creating promotion versions with different effective dates.
For example, if you are running a promotion during the month of April, 2005, and you want to run the same promotion again during the month of June, 2005, then complete the steps in the following procedure.
To create product promotion versions with different effective dates
Create the promotion with April 1, 2005 in the Required Start Date field and the Active check box selected. Release this version of the promotion.
Create a new version of the promotion with May 1, 2005 in the Required Start Date field and the Active check box deselected. Release this version of the promotion. Because Active is deselected, this version will not be visible to customers.
Create a new version of the promotion with June 1, 2005 in the Required Start Date field, and the Active check box selected to make the promotion visible to customers beginning June 1.
Create a new version of the promotion with July 1, 2005 in the Required Start Date field and the Active check box deselected, so the promotion is not visible to customers beginning July 1.
Viewing the Schedules of All Product Promotions
When you are planning new promotions, you can view a schedule of all existing product promotions to help you decide on the best effective dates for the new promotion. The Product Promotions Schedule view shows you a schedule of the effective dates for all product promotions.
To view the schedules of all product promotions
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions Schedule view.
Click 1, 7, or 30 to view the schedules for a day, week, or month.
From the Date drop-down, select the start date of the schedules you want to view, and click Go.
Red bars are displayed to show the dates that the promotions are active.
About Product Promotions for Customizable Products
If the end user selects a promotion with a special configuration, and then displays Siebel Configurator to configure the product, then the rules defined for a promotion are enforced within the Configurator session.
For example, a specific model of computer may have hundreds of possible configurations, but a promotional offer may allow only a few of these configurations. The promotion may require you to get a specific processor and either a 20 GB or 30 GB hard drive, even though many other possible hard drives are allowed by the configuration rules.
In this example, the user must display Configurator to choose the amount of RAM, the computer monitor, and other features besides the processor and hard drive. Configurator allows you to choose any one of the features that the configuration rules allow. However, Configurator lets you choose only the processor required by the promotion, and it lets you choose between only the 20 GB and 30 GB hard drive that the promotion allows, even though other processors and other hard drives may be allowed by the general configuration rules.
When you create a promotion for customizable products, you can define additional constraints beyond the constraints defined in Configurator. You can create additional constraints in the following ways:
Changing the Cardinality of Components of Product Promotions
You can change the cardinality of a component of a customizable product used in product promotions. For example, the product promotion can allow the user to select a smaller number of one component than the configurator constraints allow.
To change the cardinality of a component of a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the desired promotion.
Click the Products view tab.
In the Products link bar, click Components.
In the Components list, in Min or Max field for the component, enter the new cardinality constraints.
The new Min and Max values have to fall within the cardinality constraints defined in the Customizable product definition, which are displayed in the Lower Limit and Upper Limit fields.
Constraining the Products Available for a Component of a Product Promotion
By default, a component of a customizable product in a product promotion has the products available that are defined in Configurator. However, you can modify the products that are available for the component so that the promotion offers only a subset of the products defined in Configurator.
For example, as defined in Configurator, a computer may be available with five different monitors. For the promotion, you may want to offer only two of those monitors.
To constrain the products available as a component of a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the desired promotion.
Click the Products view tab.
In the Products list, click the Product Name field of the customizable product.
The structure of that product is displayed.
In the Relationships list, select the Component you want to change.
In the Relationship Domain list, click Modify.
This deletes all the products in the Relationship Domain list.
Note: You must now manually add all the products that you want to make available for the component in the promotion, as described in the following step.In the Relationship Domain list, click Add Item, and in the Domain Product field, select a product.
Repeat Step 7 until you have added all the products that are available for that component in the promotion.
Constraining the Attributes Available for a Product in a Product Promotion
If a product promotion includes a product with attributes, then you can constrain the domain of values allowed for an attribute. For example, if a shirt comes in ten different colors, then the promotion can be available for all the colors except red and blue.
You can create an exclude rule and list the attributes you do not want to make available, or you can create an include rule and list the attributes you do want to make available.
To constrain the attribute domain for a product in a product promotion
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the desired promotion.
Click the Products view tab.
In the Products list, click the Product Name field of the customizable product.
The structure of that product is displayed.
Click the Attributes view tab.
In the Attributes list, go to the Condition field for the attribute whose domain you want to constrain, and select Exclude to create an exclude rule or select Include to create an include rule.
In the Values list:
To create an exclude rule, add records for all the values of the attribute that you do not want to make available within the promotion.
To create an include, add records for all the values of the attribute that you do want to make available within the promotion.
Defining Commitment for Customizable Product Relationships in Bundle Promotions
Use the following procedure to define commitment for customizable product relationships when using bundle promotions.
To define the commitment for customizable production relationships in bundle promotions
Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then Product Promotions view.
In the Product Promotions list, select the desired promotion.
Click the Products view tab.
In the Products list, click the Product Name field of the customizable product.
The structure of that product is displayed.
In the Relationships list, select the required relationship.
In the Commitments view, the fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Commitment Period
Enter the number of periods to specify the duration of the customer’s commitment. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Commitment UOM field is years, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of years the commitment is valid.
Commitment Period UOM
The unit of measure for the commitment time period, for example, years, months, days.
Grace Period
Enter a value for the period of time before a penalty is imposed on a customer. For example, if the selected unit of measurement in the Grace Period UOM field is days, then you enter a value to correspond to the number of days before the customer is subject to a penalty.
Grace UOM
The unit of measure for the grace time period, for example, years, months, days.
Termination Charge
The amount that is charged if the component is terminated after end of grace period, but is terminated before the end of the commitment period.
Prorate Plan
This is calculated in the conditional charge plan. For more information, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
Apply Component Charge
Select this check box to apply an early termination penalty charge based on when the component is terminated and on the proration plan.
If this check box is not selected, then the component penalty charges are not added.
Activating Workflows for Product Promotion
This task is a step in Process of Creating Product Promotions.
Product promotions are based on Siebel Workflows. You must activate these workflows before using the product. For information about activating workflows, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.
The following is a list of the workflows you need to activate:
ISS Promotion Agreement Covered Assets Subprocess
ISS Promotion Agreement Management Subprocess
ISS Promotion Commitment Compliance Check Subprocess
ISS Promotion Create Agreement Details
ISS Promotion Disconnect Integration Subprocess
ISS Promotion Disconnect Process
ISS Promotion Disconnect Process - for Verify
ISS Promotion Edit Integration Subprocess
ISS Promotion Recommendation Subprocess
ISS Promotion Upgrade Process
ISS Promotion Verify Subprocess