12Setting Up Pricing for Products with Components
Setting Up Pricing for Products with Components
This chapter describes pricing for products with components. It instructs you on viewing a product’s components and setting up component-based pricing. It also covers the processing order of price adjustments for products with components. This chapter covers the following topics:
About Component-Based Pricing
Products with components include components that are themselves products in the product table. For example, if you sell computer monitors, CD-ROMs, and disk drives, then you also sell several models of desktop computer that include these products as components.
This chapter explains how to set up pricing for products with components, as follows:
View a product in the Pricing Designer. You can use the Pricing Designer to view a product’s components and for the other functionality described in this chapter.
Set up component-based pricing. You set up pricing so the total price of a product either equals a base price plus the price of optional components, or equals the total price of all components.
Create relation-based price adjustments. You can give customers discounts if they buy components as part of a specific product package. These are called relation-based price adjustments.
This chapter assumes that you have background knowledge about products with components. For more information about products with components, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
If you create several types of price adjustments for products with components, then the order in which price adjustments are processed can affect the final price. For more information, see About the Processing Order of Price Adjustments.
Impact of Product Versions and Price List Line Item Effectivity on Component-Based Pricing
A product can have multiple released versions with future dates. In addition, price list line items can have effective dates. As a result, the structure of a product can be dynamic over time, because multiple versions of it can exist.
Component-based pricing takes the following into account:
Both root customizable product and its components can have multiple versions across a time interval.
Both root customizable product and its components can have multiple entries on a price list for different effective dates.
The Customizable Product Adjustments (The CP Pricing Designer) can have multiple versions for different effective dates.
This topic discusses some of the ways that multiple product versions and multiple effective dates affect component-based pricing.
Component Product Must Exist on the Price List of a Component-Based Product
If a component-based product does not exist on a price list as of a particular date, then the adjustments to its components are not applied as of that date. For the adjustment to apply to the component product, it must exist on the price list of the component-based product in the same time interval as the adjustment. Consider this example:
A component-based product, product P, has only one component product, product P1.
P and P1 have entries in the Price List Line Item list that are shown in the following table.
Product Start Date End Date List Price P
12/31/2004
04/01/2004
1000
P1
12/31/2003
01/15/2004
100
Adjustments have been defined for P1 when it is a component of P that are shown in the following table.
Adjustment Type Adjustment Value Start Date End Date Price Override
104
02/05/2004
02/29/2004
Percent Discount
10
03/01/2004
03/31/2004
In this case, if the product P1 is ordered in the context of the root product P on 02/15/2004, then it will have a zero price. You might expect its price to be 104, based on the price override that is effective on that date, but because product P1 does not have an entry in the price list for the interval 02/05/2004 through 02/29/2004, no price appears on the transaction for it.
This behavior is consistent with the prior releases of Customer Order Management.
Time Intervals When a Product Is Not Customizable
The price list for a product with components can include a time interval when the product is not customizable. This is possible because a product might not have any structure on a given date, but might have a structure on some other date (specified in a released version with a future date).
In this case, if the user drills down from the price list line item to display the product, then the application displays an error message saying that the customizable product does not have versions in the date range, and that the user must choose an appropriate time interval to set up price adjustments for the product. This means that the customizable product does not have structure at that time. In other words, it does not have component products.
Viewing a Product’s Components in the Pricing Designer
You can use the Pricing Designer to display the relationships and components of a product with components. You can query by relationships to look at all the component products available within a specific relationship.
The CP Pricing Designer displays a superset structure of the root product with components. It displays a consolidated view of all the versions of the root product with components that might exist in the price list during a given time interval. Thus, you might see products in a relationship in Pricing Designer that do not exist in the latest released version of the root product with components. They are visible in the pricing designer for the root product with components because they exist in released version of the product with a future date. Therefore, the structure of the root product in the pricing designer may not be identical to the latest released version of the root product. The Pricing Designer is sensitive to the start and end date of the root product with components on the price list, so the content of the Pricing Designer may vary for different time intervals.
To view a product’s components in the pricing designer
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Price Lists view.
In the Price Lists list, select the price list that contains the product.
Click the Price List Line Items view tab to display the products in the price list.
In the Price List Line Items list, click the name of the root product with components.
Note: The root product with components might have multiple entries on the price list for the different time intervals, so you must pick the root product with components with the appropriate time interval.The Pricing Designer view appears.
Note: Using the New Effective Date button on the Price List Line Item applet for a product with components causes a deep copy that also copies any customizable product adjustments defined for the product. Delete the adjustments that do not apply in the new time interval.
About Setting Up Component-Based Pricing
There are two ways of setting up component-based pricing:
Setting Up Base Pricing for Products With Components Use this when products with components share a base configuration. Customers who purchase the base product can customize it by selecting options that are added to the base product.
Setting Up Summation or Rollup Pricing for Products With Components Use this when products with components do not share a common base configuration.
Setting Up Base Pricing for Products With Components
Use this pricing method when the user purchases a base product and customizes it by adding options. The total price is the sum of the base price plus the adjusted price of the components. For example, if a car has a base price of $25,000, then the user can also purchase additional options such as air conditioning, sun roof, and so on. Use the following procedure to set up base pricing for a $25,000 car.
To set up base pricing
Set the list price of the car to $25,000.
Set the price for all other options and, if necessary, specify that some are default components.
When users configure the product, the price they see is the sum of the base price plus the adjusted price of the default options. If the user adds other options, then the price increases. For example, assume a car has a base price of $25,000 and includes the following options:
Chrome Wheels (Default) for $2000
Gold Wheels for $3000
The user sees an initial price of $27,000 for the car. This is the sum of the base price of the car plus the price of the default chrome wheels. If the user chooses the gold wheels, then the sum is recomputed and the price of the car becomes $28,000.
An alternate method for setting up base pricing is to:
Include options in the base price.
Create price override adjustments for all default options included in the base price that sets their price to zero (0).
Create a price override adjustment for related nondefault options that sets their price to the difference between the default option and the nondefault option.
In the example, you can use this alternative method to include chrome wheels in the list price of the car by doing the following:
Set the list price of the car to $27,000.
Create a price override to zero (0) for the chrome wheels.
Create a price override to $1000 for the gold wheels. This is the price difference between the gold and chrome wheels.
Setting Up Base Pricing for Products with Components
Use the following procedure to set up base pricing for products with components.
To set up base pricing for products with components
Display the components of the product with components in the Pricing Designer, as described in Viewing a Product’s Components in the Pricing Designer.
Define relationship-based pricing adjustments, if they are needed, as described in Viewing and Changing the Reference Price.
In the Price List Item form, go to the List Price field and enter the base price.
In the Pricing Designer list, select the components. In the Adjustments list, enter price adjustments for each component.
If you are using the alternative method of setting up base pricing, then enter the necessary price overrides for default components.
Setting Up Summation or Rollup Pricing for Products With Components
Use this pricing method when all of a product’s components are configurable. Although each product has a default configuration, users can select nondefault components instead of the default components.
When you use the Pricing Designer, you must set a list price for the base product of a component-based product and define pricing adjustments on components. The price that is displayed for the user is the sum of the list price and the adjusted price of the default components. This price may display to the user in a quote, agreement, order, the selection pages in a configuration session, or in a catalog.
When you are using summation (or rollup) pricing, there is no base product, so you set the list price of the base product to zero (0). This means that the price the user sees is the sum of the prices of its default components (Quote, Agreement, Order, and configuration selection pages). In an eSales catalog, the user sees a price of 0.
An example would be a desktop computer made up entirely of components that you also sell separately. To set up rollup pricing for quote users you would do the following:
Set the list price of the desktop computer to 0.
Set a price for each of the components, and specify which ones are default components.
Because the list price is 0, the default price of the desktop computer is the sum of the prices of its default components. If the user who is configuring the product picks a nondefault component, then the sum is recomputed to include the price of the nondefault component. For example, for a desktop computer, you have entered a list price of 0 and the component pricing adjustments as shown in the following table.
| Item | List Price | Adjustment Type | Adjusted Price |
|---|---|---|---|
1.0 Chassis (default) |
$1200 |
Price override |
$1000 |
2.0 Monitor |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
2.1 Small monitor (default) |
$300 |
Price override |
$200 |
2.2 Large monitor |
$400 |
Price override |
$300 |
While configuring a quote, users see an initial price of $1200 for the desktop computer (the sum of the prices of the default chassis and monitor). If the user chooses the large monitor, then the sum is recomputed, and the price of the desktop computer becomes $1300.
To set up rollup pricing for a product with components
Display the components of the product with components in the Pricing Designer, as described in Viewing a Product’s Components in the Pricing Designer.
Define relationship-based pricing adjustments, if they are needed, as described in Viewing and Changing the Reference Price.
Do not enter a price for the root product with components in the Price List line items view.
Enter prices for all the components.
Viewing and Changing the Reference Price
To give customers an accurate idea of the price they might expect to pay for a component-based product, Siebel Pricer calculates a reference price, which is the price of the product with its default options. The reference price is displayed to the customer in the Starting At Price field in the product catalog.
For the Starting At Price to function as expected, child components of the product must have a minimum cardinality greater than zero(0) to be reflected in the reference price. If the minimum cardinality is not set for a child component, then its price is not reflected in the reference price. Any component that is part of the default instance is used to evaluate the Starting At Price. Out of the box, only products with the price type one-time are included in the evaluation of the Starting At Price. Products with price types recurring and usage are not included.
Siebel Pricer displays both the list price and the reference price for the component-based product. The list price is the price for the root component. If you click Check Starting At Price, then Siebel Pricer adds the list price and the price of all the default components. This calculation does not include any attribute pricing adjustments that would come from default attributes.
In the catalog, this value is displayed to customers in the Starting At field. This value is displayed only for component-based products.
To change default the reference price, click the Edit button in the first applet. You can then edit the reference price manually.
The value displayed to customers does not change unless the pricing administrator clicks the Check Starting At Price again or overwrites the reference price manually.
Without configuration, the application executes the Basic Pricing Procedure. However, the Basic Pricing Procedure does not execute CP pricing. To be consistent, the Check Starting At Price button calls the same procedure as the run-time application (therefore, without configuration, the Basic Pricing Procedure) to determine the starting price for a customizable product. This ensures that the administrative user sees the same price as the end user.
Customers who have the Dynamic Pricer license and want to use CP Pricing need to enable the Dynamic Pricing Procedure, as detailed in the Dynamic Pricing Procedure Workflow. In this procedure, the customer changes the CalculatePrice_Configurator signal to call the Dynamic Pricing Procedure.
This change ensures that the administrative user will see the effect of CP Price Adjustments in the starting price that is generated by clicking the Check Starting At Price button, and that the end user will see the effect of CP Price Adjustments in the starting price of the CP and its components in the Configurator’s running time.
Viewing the Reference Price
Use the following procedure to view the reference price.
To view the reference price
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Price List view.
In the Names field, select the price list that contains the component-based products.
The Price List Line Item list appears.
Click on a customizable product name.
A customizable product has a check in the Customizable field.
In the Price List Item form, click Check Starting At Price.
The reference price is recalculated based on the default components of the product, and the result displays in the Reference Price field.
Exposing the Starting Price At in the Product Catalog
Use the following enhancements to expose the Starting Price At field in the product catalog UI.
Workflow: In the Basic Pricing Procedure workflow and the Dynamic Pricing Procedure workflow, add the following input argument to the Get List Price step.
Input Argument Value On First Match 15
{Row. Reference Price} = {Match. Reference Price}
Then, activate the workflow after the change. For more information about using these workflows, see Pricing Procedures and Workflow References.
Variable Map or Variable Source: In Product Pricing Variable Map - Row Set, and Product Pricing Variable Map - Row Set-Basic, use the variable definition in the following table.
Variable Name In/Out Type On Null Reference Price
Out
Currency
Ignore
With the new definition, use the variable sources described in the following table:
Mode Path Source Type Any
$Current/Product/Reference Price
Instance
Favorite
$Current/Favorite/Reference Price
Instance
For more information about using variable maps, see Siebel Order Management Infrastructure Guide.
Business Components: Modify the business components (buscomps) described in the following table.
Business Component User Property Change This Value Quote Catalog Internal Product by Price List Option
PSP: Price Fields
From: List Price, Net Price, Deals
To: List Price, Net Price, Reference Price
Quote Catalog Internal Product by Price List Optional 2
PSP:Price Fields
From: List Price, Net Price, Deals
To: List Price, Net Price, Reference Price
Quote Catalog Internal Product by Price List Optional - PSS
PSP:Price Fields
From: List Price, Net Price, Deals
To: List Price, Net Price, Reference Price
For more information about business components, see Siebel Order Management Infrastructure Guide.
Applets: Update the applets described in the following table.
Applet Change Quote Catalog Product Form
Change field to Reference Price for control PriceStartingAt
Quote Catalog Product List - Add to Cart
Change field to Reference Price for list column Price Starting At
Sales Order Catalog Product List - Add to Cart
Change field to Reference Price for list column Price Starting At
Service Order Catalog Product List - Add to Cart
Change field to Reference Price for list column Price Starting At
Quote Catalog Product List - MultiSelect Checkbox
Change field to Reference Price for list column Reference Price
Sales Order Catalog Product List - MultiSelect Checkbox
Change field to Reference Price for list column Reference Price
Service Order Catalog Product List - MultiSelect Checkbox
Change field to Reference Price for list column Reference Price
For more information about working with applets, see Using Siebel Tools.
Integration Objects: Update the following objects:
Integration Object: ISS Quote
Integration Component: Internal Product PSP Integration
Add Integration Component Field:
Name: Reference Price
- Data Type: DTYPE_CURRENCY
- External Name: Reference Price
- XML Tag: ReferencePrice
- Integration Component: Quote Catalog PSP Favorite Item
Add Integration Component Field:
Name: Reference Price
- Data Type: DTYPE_CURRENCY
- External Name: Reference Price
- XML Tag: ReferencePrice
Integration Object: ISS Order
Integration Component: Internal Product PSP Integration
Add Integration Component Field:
Name: Reference Price
Data Type: DTYPE_CURRENCY
External Name: Reference Price
XML Tag: ReferencePrice
- Integration Component: Quote Catalog PSP Favorite Item
Add Integration Component Field:
Name: Reference Price
Data Type: DTYPE_CURRENCY
External Name: Reference Price
XML Tag: ReferencePrice
Business Components (Buscomp): Update the buscomps with the information provided in the following table.
Business Component Change Quote Catalog PSP Favorite Item
Add a calculated field Reference Price with no Calculated Value and type of DTYPE_CURRENCY.
Internal Product PSP Integration
Add a calculated field Reference Price with no Calculated Value and type of DTYPE_CURRENCY.
Defining a Relationship-Based Price Adjustment
Relationship-based price adjustments let you adjust the price of a product when it is a component of a product with components. For example, you may sell a model of computer monitor for $300 if the customer buys only the monitor. However, if the customer who is buying one of your desktop computers chooses this monitor model as an option, then you may reduce its price 10 percent from this list price, or you may sell it for $250.
To create the relationship-based price adjustment, use the Adjustment Type and Adjustment Amount fields for the component.
To define a relationship-based pricing adjustment
Display the components of the product with components in the Pricing Designer, as described in Viewing a Product’s Components in the Pricing Designer.
Select the records for any components that require a relationship-based pricing adjustment, add a new record to the Adjustments applet, and enter the values for the fields as described in the following table.
Field Comments Adjustment Type
Select the type of price adjustment applied to this product. 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 price.
% discount. The adjustment value is treated as a percentage, and that percentage of the price is subtracted from the price.
Markup amount. The adjustment value is added to the price.
% markup. The adjustment value is treated as a percentage, and that percentage of the price is added to the price.
Price override. The adjustment value is used as the price, overriding the original price.
Min Price
Enter the minimum price for this product as a component of this customizable product. This may be different from the minimum price of the product when it is purchased separately.
Max Price
Enter the maximum price for this product as a component of this customizable product. This may be different from the maximum price of the product when it is purchased separately.
Start Date
Enter the date when this adjustment becomes effective.
End Date
Enter the date after which this adjustment is no longer effective.
Click Verify Adjustments to verify that the component’s Reference Price reflects the pricing adjustment.
Verifying Component Prices Across Time Intervals
Products can have multiple versions with different effective dates. For more information, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
Price lists can have multiple line items for the same product, with different effective dates for the price in each line item. For more information, see Giving a Product Multiple Prices with Different Effective Dates.
The structure of a component-based product may change during a time interval, and the prices of the product and its components may change at different dates during this time interval. It may be necessary to apply the component price adjustments to future versions of the component-based product, which has a different structure. For more information, see Impact of Product Versions and Price List Line Item Effectivity on Component-Based Pricing.
When you create a new time interval for a product with components in the Administration - Product screen, the component-product price adjustments are copied to the new time interval. However, these adjustments will apply in run time only if the component-product and its components exist in the price list during that same time interval.
You can click the Verify Adjustments button to display a list of the time intervals that have been defined for products with component prices. Check this list to make sure that component prices have been defined for every time interval.
To verify component prices across time intervals
Display the components of the product with components in the Pricing Designer, as described in Viewing a Product’s Components in the Pricing Designer.
Select a component in the Pricing Designer list.
Click Verify Adjustments.
The Reference Prices dialog box appears, listing the Start Date and End Date for all the prices for this product with components. For each time period, it lists the base price and price adjustments, if any.
Check the Reference Prices list to make sure that there are no time gaps when this product does not have a defined price.
Sample Output of Verifying Component Prices Across Time Intervals
As an example of verifying component prices across time intervals, consider a simple product with components:
Product A is a product with components.
Product A1 is a component of product A.
In the price list, Product A1 has the list prices shown in the following table.
Start Date End Date List Price 12/31/04
6/30/05
$100
7/15/04
12/31/05
$105
Within Product A, there are the price adjustments for Product A1 shown in the following table.
| Start Date | End Date | Adjustment |
|---|---|---|
1/31/05 |
6/25/05 |
10% discount |
7/15/04 |
12/31/05 |
10% markup |
When you click the Verify Adjustments button, the pop-up applet contains the information shown in the following table.
| Start Date | End Date | Adjustment | List Price | Item Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
12/31/04 |
1/31/05 |
Not applicable |
$100 |
$100 |
1/31/05 |
6/25/05 |
10% discount |
$100 |
$90 |
6/25/05 |
6/30/05 |
Not applicable |
$100 |
$100 |
6/30/05 |
7/15/05 |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
$0 |
7/15/05 |
12/31/05 |
10% markup |
$105 |
$115.50 |
This pop-up applet shows the gaps in the pricing information. During several time periods, there is no component price adjustment. Between 6/30/05 and 7/15/05, there is no list price, so the item has a price of zero.