Understanding Catalogs
Catalogs are a single group of products or services that are marketed and displayed together because they share common criteria. PeopleSoft Customer Relationship Management (PeopleSoft CRM) enables you to define the layout and content of online catalogs for internal and external use. You define the look and feel of catalogs by creating display templates, and then you define the contents that you want to organize and present according to the template definitions. You can designate products for inclusion in a catalog either by direct association (using product IDs) or by creating business rules to dynamically build product content based on the selection criteria that you define. Similarly, you can control user access to catalogs by associating a Security Membership List with specific catalogs.
You can access and search catalogs from different locations within PeopleSoft CRM, and functional areas within the CRM applications are dependent on catalog definitions. Catalogs can be used and searched by external customers who are purchasing products or services, internally by customer service representatives (CSRs) who need product information, and by others within an enterprise. Catalogs and catalog data are accessible from within and outside of PeopleSoft CRM.
Internal Access
Catalog information is available from these internal sources:
PeopleSoft Order Capture
In PeopleSoft Order Capture, CSRs access catalog data and run catalog searches from the Entry form to obtain up-to-date information about products before they enter an order or provide quotes. In addition, access to products can be limited and validated against catalogs when a product is added to the order. CSRs can then use the product comparison tool, navigate to product details, and copy products from the search results back to the order entry form.
Note: Users can navigate to Product Search in PeopleSoft Order Capture and enter search criteria. They can also personalize the PeopleSoft CRM portal to display a product search pagelet (if the portal pack is installed).
PeopleSoft Sales
From the Lead and Opportunity components users can drill into the Product Search component and perform keyword searches for products. Users can then use the product comparison tool, navigate to product details, and copy products from the search results back to PeopleSoft Sales.
External Access
Catalog information is available from these external sources:
PeopleSoft Order Capture Self Service
You can link to product detail pages from order lines, access and browse catalogs.
Customer registry or home page
Users can browse and search the catalog. Customers can also customize the PeopleSoft CRM portal to display a catalog search pagelet (if the portal pack is installed).