Scenario for Using Accounts in Siebel Communications

This topic gives one example of how accounts might be used. You might use accounts differently, depending on your business model.

A customer service representative (CSR) receives a call from a prospective customer. The inbound call is arbitrarily routed to the CSR, since IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is unable to locate the account.

The caller explains that he is the owner and CEO of a small company that develops specialized software for the high-tech industry. He wants to use the CSR’s company as its sole provider.

The CSR first verifies that no account currently exists for the caller and then gathers the following information about the caller’s company:

• It has the following service locations:

  • The headquarters or administrative office is located in Newcastle, England.

  • A development office is based in York.

  • A sales office is located in Birmingham.

• All services for the Northern England offices (Newcastle and York) are to be billed on a single invoice. However, each location is to receive a statement.

• The Birmingham site is to receive its own invoice.

• The caller wants a discount that is based on all the services he has at all three locations, and he wants to receive a statement for all services.

The following image shows the account hierarchy that the CSR creates. Using this hierarchy, the CSR must set up the following information to establish service for the caller:

• One Customer Master account for the entire company.

• Two billing accounts as follows: Birmingham Billing Account and Northern England Billing Account.

• Three service accounts as follows: Newcastle Service Account, York Service Account, and Birmingham Service Account.

• One Billing Aggregator Account for both billing accounts so that a complete statement can be invoiced.

Next, the CSR receives a call from a customer who wants to add broadband Internet service to his account. The CSR accesses the customer’s account and updates the information. While on the phone with the customer, the CSR checks the existing infrastructure to verify that the service is available in the customer’s neighborhood.

The following image shows the sequence of procedures an end user might perform to manage accounts. The steps in the sequence are as follows:

• Create Accounts.

• Create Account Hierarchy.

• Review Account Hierarchy.

• Access or Update Account Information.

• Monitor infrastructure, Equipment or Usage.