3 Understanding the Synchronize Product and Price Business Flow

About Unspecified Effective Start and End Dates

For the effective start date and effective end date to be unspecified (making the product always effective) the BRM Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) infranet.eai.xml_zero_epoch_as_null parameter must be set to TRUE. Setting this parameter ensures that BRM publishes a null value for the effective start date and the effective end date.

See BRM Developer's Guide for more information defining infinite start and end date values.

Associating Rate Plans in BRM with Price Lists

You associate rate plans in BRM with price lists by using a rate plan selector in Pricing Center or a charge selector in PDC.

To associate a rate plan with a price list, perform one of the following procedures:

• Using Pricing Center to Associate Rate Plans

• Using PDC to Associate Rate Plans

Using Pricing Center to Associate Rate Plans

To associate rate plans with price lists by using Pricing Center, follow the steps for defining rate plan selectors described in the Pricing Center Help and do the following when setting up columns for your rate plan selector:

1. Create a column named EVENT.PIN_FLD_USAGE_TYPE.

2. Add a row for each rate plan and corresponding price list that you intend to use.

3. In the EVENT.PIN_FLD_USAGE_TYPE column:

   • To associate a rate plan with a specific price list, enter the name of the price list.

     Enter the name exactly as it appears in the PRICELIST DVM. If you enter a name that does not appear in the PRICELIST DVM, an error occurs when you synchronize the products to Siebel CRM.

   • Associate a rate plan with the default price list by entering an asterisk (*). The integration maps the asterisk to the default price list. See Table 3-4 for an example.

4. In the Rate Plan column, enter the name of the rate plans that correspond to the price lists that you entered in the EVENT.PIN_FLD_USAGE_TYPE column.

5. Finish defining the rate plan selector as described in the Pricing Center Help.

Using PDC to Associate Rate Plans

To associate rate plans with price lists by using PDC, follow the steps for creating charge selectors described in the PDC Help and do the following when selecting attributes for charge selector rules:

1. In the Select Fields for Rules section, click the Add icon.

   The Select Field dialog box appears.

2. Expand Event and then select Usage Type.

3. Click OK.

   A usage type field is added to the table.

4. Confirm that the following columns contain the corresponding values:

   • In the Value Type column, Single Value.

   • In the Operator column, Equals.

   • In the Default column, *.

5. Click Next.

6. In the Rules section, add a rule for each rate plan and corresponding price list that you intend to use by clicking the Add icon.

7. Enter values in the following columns:

   • In the Rule Name column, enter a name for the charge.

   • In the USAGE_TYPE column, do one of the following:

     • To associate a charge with a specific price list, enter the name of the price list. If you are using Siebel CRM, enter the name exactly as it appears in the PRICELIST DVM. If you enter a name that does not appear in the PRICELIST DVM, an error occurs when you synchronize the products to Siebel CRM.

     • To associate a charge with the default price list, enter *. The integration maps * to the default price list.

8. Finish defining the charge selector as described in the PDC Help.

Rate Plan Example: Multiple Lines of Business and Regions

In this example:

• Two products have been synchronized from BRM to Siebel CRM: Broadband and GSM.

• A default price list has been set up in Siebel CRM, and entered into the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file and the PRICELIST DVM, as described in "Configuring Siebel CRM for Integrated Product Lifecycle Management".

• Four additional price lists have been set up in Siebel CRM and entered into the PRICELIST DVM: ConsumerPL, BusinessPL, NewYorkPL, and CaliforniaPL.

• Five rate plans have been set up in Pricing Center: ConsumerRP, BusinessRP, NewYorkRP, CaliforniaRP, and StatesRP.

Table 3-3 shows the rate plan structure for the Broadband product. For this product, the product administrator uses two price lists to offer different prices for consumer and business customers.

Table 3-4 shows the rate plan structure for the GSM product. For this product, the pricing administrator uses two price lists to offer different prices for customers in New York and California and the default price list for customers in all other states. To make the integration use the default price list, the product administrator enters * for the price list associated with the StatesRP rate plan.

In Siebel CRM, the Broadband product is mapped to price list line items under the ConsumerPL and BusinessPL price lists and the GSM product is mapped to price list line items under the NewYorkPL, CaliforniaPL, and default price lists.

Offering a Product in Multiple Currencies

To offer a product in multiple currencies:

1. In Siebel CRM, create a separate price list for each currency, as described in "Configuring Siebel CRM for Integrated Product Lifecycle Management", and enter the price lists in the PRICELIST DVM.

2. In Pricing Center, create rate plans that use the same currencies as the price lists in Siebel CRM.

3. Define a rate plan selector for your product, associating the rate plans in the rate plan selector with the Siebel CRM price lists that use the corresponding currency. You must ensure that the currency in the rate plans matches the currency in the associated price lists. Currency matching is not validated by Siebel CRM or BRM.

4. Finish defining the rate plan selector and product as described in the Pricing Center Help.

5. Commit the products to the BRM database, which synchronizes the products to Siebel CRM.

Rate Plan Example: Multiple Currencies

To offer a product named Broadband in Canadian dollars and U.S. dollars, the BRM product administrator uses a separate rate plan associated with a separate price list for each currency while creating the product.

In this example:

• A default price list has been set up in Siebel CRM and entered into the AIAConfigurationProperties.xml file and the PRICELIST DVM.

• Two additional price lists have been set up in Siebel CRM and entered into the PRICELIST DVM: CanadaPL and USAPL. The currency for the CanadaPL price list is Canadian dollars (CDN$) and the currency for the USAPL price list is U.S. dollars (US$).

• Two rate plans have been set up in Pricing Center: CanadaRP and USARP. The currency for the CanadaRP rate plan is Canadian dollars and the currency for the USARP rate plan is U.S. dollars.

The product administrator uses the rate plan structure shown in Table 3-5 when creating the product.

When the product administrator commits the Broadband product to the BRM database to synchronize it to Siebel CRM, the Broadband product is mapped to price list line items under the CanadaPL and USAPL price lists.

Changing the Price of a Product

Use the following methods to change the price of a product in the rate plan:

• In Pricing Center:

  • Change the price in the existing rate plan tier by changing the balance impact.

    See the discussion of defining balance impacts in the Pricing Center Help for more information.

  • Add a new rate plan tier with the new price and adjust the effective dates of the old tier.

    See the discussions of defining single rate plans and defining valid time periods in the Pricing Center Help for more information.

• In PDC:

  • Change the price in the existing charge by changing the balance impact.

    See the discussion of configuring balance impacts for charges in the PDC Help for more information.

  • Add a new charge with the new price and adjust the effective dates of the old charge.

    See the discussion of adding date ranges to a charge in the PDC Help for more information.

Examples of Changing the Price of a Product

To change the price of the Broadband product, the BRM product administrator uses Pricing Center to edit the rate plan structure shown in Table 3-3.

Table 3-6 shows how the product administrator changes the price by changing the balance impact of the monthly cycle forward fee in the existing rate plan tier to US$35.

Table 3-7 shows how a product administrator changes the price by adding a new tier with a monthly cycle forward fee of US$35 to the ConsumerRP rate plan and adjusting effective dates of the old tier.

When the product administrator has made the changes and committed the Broadband product to the BRM database, the Broadband product is resynchronized to Siebel CRM and the corresponding price list line items are updated.

Changing the Price List of a Product

To change the price list of a product, do one of the following:

• If you are using Pricing Center:

  1. For the rate plan that is associated with the old price list, set the duration end date to the current date. See the discussion of defining the duration of a rate in the Pricing Center Help for more information.

  2. Add a new row to the rate plan selector.

  3. In the EVENT.PIN_FLD_USAGE_TYPE column, enter the name of the new price list for the rate plan exactly as it appears in the PRICELIST DVM (for Siebel CRM).

     If you enter a name that does not appear in the PRICELIST DVM, an error occurs during product synchronization to Siebel CRM.

  4. Finish defining the new row for the rate plan selector as described in the Pricing Center Help.

  5. Commit the product to the BRM database, which resynchronizes the product to Siebel CRM.

• If you are using PDC:

  1. For the charge associated with the old price list, set the end time of the effective date range to the current date.

  2. For the charge selector associated with the charge offer, add the same charge as a new charge in the charge selector rule.

  3. In the Rules section for the charge selector, add a new rule for the new price list.

  4. Commit the charge offer to the BRM database, which resynchronizes the charge offer to Siebel CRM.

Example of Changing the Price List of a Product

To change the price list of the Broadband product with the rate plan structure shown in Table 3-3, the BRM pricing administrator uses Pricing Center to edit the rate plan structure. As shown in Table 3-8, the pricing administrator does the following:

• Changes the end dates for the ConsumerPL price list to the current date.

• Adds a new row to the rate plan selector for the ConsumerRP rate plan and new ConsumerPlusPL price list (which has already been created in Siebel CRM and entered in the PRICELIST DVM).

When the product administrator makes the changes and commits the product to the BRM database, the product is resynchronized to Siebel CRM, the ConsumerPL price list line items are updated, and the Broadband product is mapped to new price list line items under the ConsumerPlusPL price list.

Changing from Multiple Price Lists to the Default Price List

To change a product in BRM that has already been synchronized to Siebel CRM from using multiple price lists to using the default price list:

• If any of the rate plans in the rate plan selector are associated with the default price list (uses * in the EVENT.PIN_FLD_USAGE_TYPE column):

  1. In Pricing Center, set the duration end dates to the current date for all of the rate plans for the product associated with non-default price lists. Leave the rate plan associated with the default price list as is.

     See the discussion of defining the duration of a rate in the Pricing Center Help for more information about setting the duration end date.

  2. Commit the product to the BRM database so that the product is resynchronized to Siebel CRM.

• If none of the rate plans in the rate plan selector are associated with the default price list:

  1. In Pricing Center, set the duration end dates to the current day for all of the rate plans associated with the product.

     See the discussion of defining the duration of a rate in the Pricing Center Help for more information about setting the duration end date.

  2. Commit the product to the BRM database, which resynchronizes the product to Siebel CRM.

  3. Under the Rate Plan Structure column for the product, select Single Rate Plan.

  4. Commit the product to the BRM database, which resynchronizes the product to Siebel CRM. The integration automatically associates the single rate plan structure with the default Siebel CRM price list.

Example of Changing from Multiple Price Lists to the Default Price List

To change the GSM product with the rate plan structure shown in Table 3-4 from using multiple price lists to using the default price list, the BRM product administrator uses Pricing Center to edit the rate plan selector. The product administrator does the following:

• Changes the end dates of the NewYorkRP and CaliforniaRP rate plans to the current date. See Table 3-9.

  Table 3-9 Setting the End Date for Rate Plans for the GSM Product

  Rate Plan Name	Price List Associated with the Rate Plan	Tier	Start Date	End Date	Monthly Cycle Forward Fee
  NewYorkRP	NewYorkPL	1	01/01/2016	02/31/2016	$45
  CaliforniaRP	CaliforniaPL	1	01/01/2016	02/31/2016	$40
  StatesRP	*	1	01/01/2016	12/31/2016	$35

  
  

• Commits the product to the BRM database to resynchronize the product to Siebel CRM and update the effective dates for the price list line items.

Setting the end date for the rate plans not associated with the default price list means that the integration uses only the default price list and StatesRP rate plan for that product.

To change the Broadband product with the rate plan structure shown in Table 3-3 from using multiple price lists to using the default price list, the BRM product administrator uses Pricing Center to edit the rate plan selector. The product administrator does the following:

• Changes the end dates of the ConsumerRP and Business RP rate plans to the current date. See Table 3-10.

  Table 3-10 Setting the End Date for Rate Plans for the Broadband Product

  Rate Plan Name	Price List Associated with the Rate Plan	Tier	Start Date	End Date	Monthly Cycle Forward Fee
  ConsumerRP	ConsumerPL	1	01/01/2016	02/31/2016	$40
  BusinessRP	BusinessPL	1	01/01/2016	02/31/2016	$30

  
  

• Commits the product to the BRM database to resynchronize the product to Siebel CRM and updates the effective dates for the price list line items.

• Selects Single Rate Plan under the Rate Plan Structure column for the Broadband product.

• Commits the product to the BRM database to resynchronize the product to Siebel CRM.

Changing the rate plan structure to Single Rate Plan means that no price list is associated with the rate plan in BRM. The integration automatically associates this rate plan structure with the default Siebel CRM price list and maps the Broadband product to price list line items under the default price list.

Using Fixed Amounts or Scaled Amounts in BRM

In BRM, the charge associated with a billable event can be one of the following:

• Scaled amount: Specifying the scaled amount allows price overrides and discounts to be applied on the price. In Pricing Center, when the scaled amount field is used then the fixed amount field must be left empty (null). Zero must not be specified. The scaled amount is specified only for billable events that represent one-time or recurring charges.

• Fixed amount: Discount override takes into consideration both fixed and scaled amounts. However, price overrides only override the scaled amount. Price overrides applied to fixed amounts are added to the price. For example, if the fixed amount on the charge is $5 and a price override is $10 then the price is $15.

When defining balance impacts in Pricing Center, you distinguish scaled and fixed amounts by entering values in the Scaled Amount or Fixed Amount field. When defining balance impacts in PDC, you distinguish scaled and fixed amounts by selecting an option in the Per Unit column.

When both the scaled amount and the fixed amount are specified for the product, the product integration synchronizes the product to Siebel CRM and the list price is the sum of the scaled and fixed amounts. If a discount override is specified for the product, when the order is interfaced to billing the discount override is applied on the sum for the purchased product instance in BRM.

For example, a product has a monthly cycle fee with a scaled amount of $20 and a fixed amount of $10.

A discount override of 10% results in a final price of $27 and a discount override of $5 results in a final price of $25.

If a price override is specified for the product, when the order is interfaced to billing, BRM replaces only the scaled amount with the price override amount for the purchased product instance.

For example, a product has a monthly cycle fee with a scaled amount of $20 and a fixed amount of $10.

A price override of $15 results in a final price of $25 (Scaled $15 + Fixed $10).

See the discussion of real-time rate plans in BRM Setting Up Pricing and Rating for more information about using fixed and scaled amount fields.

Discounts Defined in BRM

You must define customizable discounts that are time-based, impact noncurrency resources, or impact multiple event types in BRM as account or service-level discounts. Because you can associate general ledger IDs (GLIDs) with them in BRM, you can account for them in the general ledger in separate accounts.

Discounts defined in BRM are synchronized to Siebel CRM as simple products. The products that represent the discounts are identified using the billing type Discount. You manually bundle the service-level discounts into the service bundles.

These can be included or excluded during promotion bundling. The account-level discounts are directly added as components of the promotions and can be made optional based on promotional bundling.

Discounts Defined in Siebel CRM

You can define matrix or promotional discounts in Siebel CRM when you bundle the products into service bundles and promotions. If these discounts are included in an order, there will be a difference between the start or list price and the net price.

Defining Overrides on the Product Definition

Siebel CRM products include attributes that let you determine how pricing differences between the list price and the selling price are communicated to BRM.

For Siebel CRM, use the following fields on the product definition:

• Pricing commit type: Indicates whether a price override or a discount override is being defined on the product. Possible values are:

  • Committed: Indicates that a price override has been defined on the product.

  • Dynamic: Indicates that a discount override has been defined on the product.

• Dynamic discount method: Identifies the discount type when a discount override has been defined. Possible values are:

  • Amount

  • Percent

In BRM, discount overrides can be tracked in a separate sub-bucket within the general ledger code that is tied to the product. Because the list price on the product remains the same, you can use discount overrides to apply mass price changes.

About Billing Service Types for Service Bundles

The billing service type is a field in BRM that you set when you create products and discounts to indicate which type of service they apply to. For example, a product charging for text messaging might have the service type /service/telco/gsm/sms.

Siebel CRM automatically assigns to service bundles the billing service type of their component products. Do not change the billing service type assigned to the service bundle.

For Oracle AIA to successfully send orders for service bundles to billing, you must only include products or discounts synchronized from BRM that have the same billing service type in a single service bundle.

Nested service bundles do not need the same billing service type as the service bundle that contains them (their parent service bundle), but all component products and discounts of a nested service bundle must have the same billing service type.

Because non-billing products and non-service-bundle customizable products are created in Siebel CRM, they do not have a billing service type.

Flagging Subscription Products as Simple Service Bundles

To flag a subscription product synchronized from BRM as a simple service bundle, you set the Service Instance attribute for that product. The integration does not set, update, or overwrite the flag when products are created or synchronized; you must set it manually.

In Siebel CRM, you set the Service Instance attribute to Y.

For more information about configuring simple service bundles with the Service Instance flag in Siebel CRM, see Siebel Communications Guide.

Example of Using a Service Bundle or a Simple Service Bundle

Table 3-13 shows how you can model the same products in Siebel CRM using service bundles or simple service bundles.

The following acronyms are used in the table:

• CP: Customizable product

• SBC: Service bundle component product synchronized from BRM

• SB: Service bundle manually created in Siebel CRM, billing type set to Service Bundle

• SSB: Simple service bundle made of a subscription product synchronized from BRM with the Service Instance flag set to Y

Assumptions and Constraints for Working with Simple Service Bundles

The assumptions and constraints for working with simple service bundles are as follows:

• Simple service bundles can only ever have one product. They cannot include other products, discounts, special rating products, or service bundles. To combine multiple products and discounts, you must use a regular service bundle.

• Only products of type Subscription can be flagged as simple service bundles.

• You cannot apply special rating, such as friends and family rates, to simple service bundles.

• You cannot include existing products that have pending quotes, orders, or assets in Siebel CRM or are referenced by BRM in simple service bundles. Including such products would impact existing asset cross-references.

• You can neither convert simple service bundles into regular service bundles, nor convert regular service bundles into simple service bundles because of possible effects on the processing of change orders for existing assets. Do not flag a product that is already in a regular service bundle as a simple service bundle. If your product bundling requirements change, you must create a different product in BRM, synchronize it to Siebel CRM, and bundle it differently.

• Although you can nest a simple service bundle within a regular service bundle at design time, this does not make the simple service bundle a component of the regular service bundle at order time. When processing an order containing a simple service bundle nested within a regular service bundle, the integration creates a separate service instance in BRM for each service bundle and each service is billed separately. If you want the service represented by the simple service bundle to be a component of the regular service bundle, you must create a new product in BRM to represent the service, synchronize it to Siebel CRM, and bundle it as part of the regular service bundle.

• If you disconnect a simple service bundle, the integration disconnects both the service instance and the purchased product instance in BRM. You cannot change from one simple service bundle to another while retaining the same service instance.

• You must provide the service ID for both regular and simple service bundle lines for the integration to successfully interface purchases to BRM.

Enabling Service Grouping at Design Time

To enable service grouping, do the following at design time in Siebel CRM as described in Siebel Product Administration Guide:

1. Create an attribute definition using the values in Table 3-14.

   Table 3-14 Attribute for Service Grouping

   Attribute	Data Type	Domain Type	Values	Description
   Service Grouping	String	Enumerated	Y and N	Indicates whether a service bundle and its components form a subscription group (Y) or not (N). Set the default value to N.

   
   

2. Add the Service Grouping attribute to the product class for the service bundles representing the top level of grouped services.

3. Set the Service Grouping attribute to Y for the service bundles that you want to group, including service bundles in bundled promotions.

4. Complete other pricing activities and release the service bundles for purchase.

Creating Promotion Groups

Create promotion groups in Siebel CRM as described in the discussion of setting up promotion groups for administrators in Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications, with the following restrictions:

• In Siebel CRM, create two membership products to reuse with all of your promotion group definitions:

  • One with a fulfillment item code of Group Owner

  • One with a fulfillment item code of Group Member

  Although Siebel CRM promotion groups do not distinguish between promotion group owner and member, their representations in BRM do. To maintain the distinction between owner and member in Siebel CRM, use the product name and the fulfillment item code.

  You reuse the membership products with different promotion group definitions.

• When you add the membership products to promotion group definitions, use the values listed in Table 3-15 for the Min, Max, and Default fields, where N and M are any positive integer you choose.

  Table 3-15 Fields for Promotion Group Memberships and Rewards

  Product	Min Value	Max Value	Default Value
  Owner membership	1	1	1
  Member membership	0	N	Any number between the Min and Max values.
  Reward	0 to 1	M	Any number between the Min and Max values.

  
  

• Add discounts and chargeshares created in BRM and special rating products created in Siebel CRM as reward products.

  Only products included in promotion group definitions at design time can be used as promotion group rewards at order time. For example, you cannot add a customer's existing discount as a reward at order time.

• (Optional) Add simple products representing a one-time or recurring fees as reward products to charge customers for promotion groups.

Figure 3-7 shows the high-level tasks for modelling promotion groups.

Figure 3-7 Creating Promotion Groups

For information about how the integration supports promotion groups at order time, see the following topics:

• Supporting Promotion Groups on Orders

• Synchronizing Promotion Groups

Creating Family Share Plans

To create family share plans:

1. Using products synchronized from BRM, create service bundles to represent the wireless lines that will be the owner and members of the family share plan. You can use a combination of service bundles, nested service bundles that include the Service Grouping attribute, and simple service bundles.

   For nested service bundles that include the Service Grouping attribute, use a product class that includes the Service Grouping attribute for the top-level service bundles. Nest service bundles for voice, data, and text service within the service bundles for each line.

2. Create attribute definitions as described in Siebel Product Administration Guide for the attributes shown in Table 3-16.

   Table 3-16 Attributes for Family Share Plans

   Attribute	Data Type	Domain Type	Values	Description
   Community Offer	String	Enumerated	Y and N	Indicates whether a discount product is a shared reward in a family plan (Y) or not (N). Set the default value to N.
   Community Member	String	Enumerated	Y and N	Indicates whether a service bundle is a family plan member (Y) or not (N). Set the default value to N.

   
   

3. Add the new attributes to product classes:

   1. Add the Community Member attribute to the product class for the service bundles representing family share plan lines.

   2. Add the Community Offer attribute to the product class for the discount products you want to offer as part of the family share plan. Use this attribute with discount products only.

4. Create a product promotion that has the bundled promotion type as described in Siebel Pricing Administration Guide and specify the following components:

   1. The service bundles, simple service bundles, or nested service bundles that include the Service Grouping attribute representing the wireless lines.

   2. The discount products representing shared resources.

5. Set the attributes related to family share plans as follows:

   • For the service bundles or simple service bundles representing the wireless lines, set the Community Member attribute to Y.

   • For any service bundles that you want to group, set the Service Grouping attribute to Y.

   • For the discount products representing shared resources, set the Community Offer attribute to Y.

6. Complete other pricing activities and release the product promotion for purchase.

Figure 3-8 shows an example of modeling for a family share plan. The figure shows a product promotion called Wireless Family Share Plan that contains the following:

• A service bundle representing the primary line with nested service bundles for voice, data, and text

• A service bundle representing a partner line with nested service bundles for voice, data, and text

• A service bundle representing up to four add-on lines with nested service bundles for voice, data, and text

• A discount product representing 5 GB of free data

Figure 3-8 Example of Modeling for a Family Share Plan

Provided you have one primary line and at least one add-on line, you can use different combinations of required or optional add-on lines in a family share plan. For example, if you wanted to charge $50 for the primary line, $40 for a second line, and $10 for each subsequent line, you could use the three service bundles shown in the figure to represent each price point.

See the following topics for information about how the integration supports family share plans at order time:

• Supporting Family Share Plans on Orders

• Synchronizing Family Share Plans

Charging for Service Activation and Changes to Promotions and Services

To charge your customers for service activation:

1. In BRM, define an Item product with a one-time charge.

2. Commit the product to the BRM database, which synchronizes it to Siebel CRM.

3. In Siebel CRM, set the Track as Asset flag for the charge product to Y.

To charge your customers for canceling, upgrading, or downgrading a promotion:

1. In BRM, define penalty charges as Item products with a one-time charge.

2. Commit the products to the BRM database, which synchronizes them to Siebel CRM.

3. In Siebel CRM, modify the promotion disconnect workflow process (ISS Promotion Disconnect Process) to use the penalty charge products synchronized from BRM.

   See "Workflows for Employee Asset-Based Ordering" in Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications for more information about ISS Promotion Disconnect Process.

To charge your customers for MACD actions for service bundles:

1. In BRM, define the charges as Item products for every service type that you enable MACD charges for.

2. Commit the products to the BRM database, which synchronizes them to Siebel CRM.

3. In Siebel CRM, associate the charge products for the MACD actions to the service bundles as related products. See the discussion of setting up service charges in Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications for more information.

Enabling Friends and Family Lists

To enable friends and family lists:

1. In BRM, define discounted pricing for friends and family lists. This involves specifying a label name for each list type defined in billing.

   Caution:

   The integration does not use the BRM Provisioning Tag Framework to support friends and family lists.

   See the discussions of working with extended rating attributes and rating based on friends and family ERA in BRM Setting Up Pricing and Rating for more information.

2. In the Siebel CRM project workspace, create a simple product with a name that is identical to the list label name used in BRM while defining the discounted pricing for the lists.

3. Set the billing type of the product to Special Rating.

4. Leave the billing service type blank. This lets you enable friends and family lists using the same special rating product across different types of service.

5. Set the billable flag to Y.

6. Set the track as asset flag to Y.

7. Add the special rating products to the service bundle that represents the service that supports friends and family lists. This service bundle must include a usage-based subscription product that is used to rate service usage.

8. Include the service bundle in promotions and release all the entities.

See the discussion of profiles and special rating profiles in Siebel Communications Guide for more information about friends and family plans in Siebel CRM.

Product Definition Methodology for Friends and Family Lists: Example

Table 3-17 and Table 3-18 are examples of the product definition methodology.

BRM Definition

Define discounted pricing in BRM for rating phone numbers on the Special Rating lists. Use the label Friends and Family.

Siebel CRM Representation

Service Bundles (SB)

Table 3-19 contains some examples of the service bundles that include special rating products.

Promotions

Table 3-20 shows examples of the promotion definition.

Setting Up Time-Based Offerings

To set up time-based offerings:

1. In Siebel CRM, create the following attribute definitions, using the values listed in Table 3-21:

   • Duration: An integer used to calculate how long the time-based offering is valid.

   • DurationUnitOfMeasure: The unit used to measure the duration.

   • DurationValidityStart: The date that the duration should start, used to calculate the Service End Date. Possible values are:

     • Now: The duration of validity starts at the due date. Siebel CRM calculates the service end date based on the due date plus the Duration value and the DurationUnitOfMeasure value.

     • Original Start: The duration of validity starts at the service start date. Siebel CRM calculates the service end date based on the service start date and the Duration value and the DurationUnitOfMeasure value.

     • Original End: The duration of validity starts at the original end date. This value is used in change orders. Siebel CRM calculates the service end date based on the original end date plus the Duration value and the DurationUnitOfMeasure value.

   Table 3-21 Product Class Attributes for Time-Based Offerings

   Attribute Name	Data Type	Domain Type	Value	Sequence	ValueSet	Attribute Type
   Duration	Number	Enumerated	1 2 3 ... 31	1 2 3 ... 31	--	int
   DurationUnitOfMeasure	Text	Enumerated	Days Months Years	1 2 3	UnitOfMeasure	enum
   DurationValidityStart	Text	Enumerated	Now Original Start Original End	1 2 3	ValidityStart	enum

   
   

   Note:

   To retrieve the values of the validity attributes in OSM, you must use the same attribute names listed in Table 3-21.

2. Create a new product class for time-based offerings that uses the new attributes.

3. Release the product class for time-based offerings, which lets you use it with any charge or discount type product.

4. Change the simple products that you want to make time-based offerings to customizable products so that you can associate them with a product class.

5. Set the product type for the products and discounts that you want to make time-based offerings to Time Based Offer.

6. Associate the product class for time-based offerings with the products and discounts that you want to make time-based offerings and provide values for the validity attributes.

7. Create promotions and service bundles using the time-based offerings in the same way as you use regular products and discounts.

For more information about creating attribute definitions and product classes, and associating the product classes with products, see the discussion of creating products with attributes in Siebel Product Administration Guide.

Managing Expired Time-Based Offerings

To manage expired time-based offerings:

1. In Siebel CRM, schedule a daily recurring job to execute the workflow that inactivates time-based offering assets whose end date has passed (SWI Asset Status Update Workflow) to ensure that change orders for services that include time-based offering products are successfully processed. For more information about this workflow, see Siebel Order Management Guide Addendum for Communications

2. In BRM, periodically run the pin_cycle_fees -cancel and pin_discount_cleanup utilities to ensure that purchased products and discounts reflect the correct status after passing the end date. For more information about these utilities, see BRM Configuring and Running Billing.

3. In BRM, create custom scripts to inactivate service instances that correspond to simple service bundles in Siebel CRM. These scripts are required because when the end date passes for time-based offerings for subscription products that are marked as simple service bundles in Siebel CRM, the Siebel CRM asset and corresponding purchased product instance in BRM change to inactive, but the corresponding service instance in BRM remains active.