Getting Started with Pricing Design Center

1 Getting Started with Pricing Design Center

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Pricing Design Center (PDC) is a Web-based application used to create and manage product offerings. A product offering represents the services available to your customers and the price of those services. A service is a commodity, such as a mobile phone line or an Internet connection, that your customers can purchase and use. For an overview of product offerings, see PDC Creating Product Offerings.

For information on using PDC, see:

Using the PDC User Interface

The PDC user interface works entirely inside a single page display. You should not use your Web browser buttons, such as Back, Forward, and Refresh, to navigate within the page. If you use a Web browser button, you might lose the data you entered in the page. If a Web browser button is used accidentally, navigate to the main link, and log in to PDC again, if required.

Do not open multiple instances of PDC in different tabs of the same browser.

For more information about the PDC user interface, see:

Supported Browsers

For information about supported browsers, see BRM Compatibility Matrix.

You must have cookies enabled in your browser when using PDC.

About the Processing Indicator

The processing indicator is available at the upper-right corner of the page. The indicator shows the current state of PDC:

Idle: The indicator is not spinning.
Processing: The indicator is spinning (for example, PDC is searching for pricing components).

About Session Timeout

Your interaction with PDC takes place in a session. Your PDC session starts as soon as you log in to the application. The session time is set to 10 minutes by default. If you do not interact with PDC for ten minutes, your session times out and the Page Expired dialog box appears. Click OK to log back in to PDC.

PDC displays a pop-up warning message two minutes before the session times out, giving you a chance to prevent session expiration.

You can change the session timeout settings for PDC from the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console. See the WebLogic Server Administration Console Help for more information.

Understanding the Workspace Page

When you start PDC, it opens your workspace in the Workspace page. This page contains your changesets. A changeset is a group of pricing components that you manage and submit together.

Note:

If no changeset is active after you log into PDC, you must either manually set the desired changeset as active or create a new changeset and make it active before performing any operations in the PDC application.

The Workspace page contains the following sections:

Workspace task pane that allows you to add, delete, export, and import changesets.

It displays the changesets in the following lists:
- Open Changesets: Displays changesets in the Open state. You can edit, validate, and submit open changesets.
- Pending Changesets: Displays changesets that have been submitted and are waiting for transformation to be completed.
- Successfully Submitted Changesets: Displays changesets that have been successfully submitted and the transformation is completed.
- Failed Changesets: Displays changesets that have been submitted and have failed transformation.
Changeset Details section that allows you to edit, validate, submit, or fix a changeset depending on its status. The table in this section displays the components in the selected changeset.

For more information about changesets, see "Changesets" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.

Related Topics

Specifying the Active Changeset

Creating a Changeset

Closing a Tab

To close a tab:

Note:

You can close only the active tab. You cannot close the Workspace tab.

Hold the mouse over the tab name to display the Close Tab icon.

The following figure shows the tab with the Close Tab icon:
Click the Close Tab icon.

Logging Out

To log out of PDC, on the top right of the PDC UI, click Logout.

Working with Pricing Design Center

The following topics explain how to work with PDC:

Working with Pricing Components

Pricing components, such as charge offers, discount offers, bundles, packages, package lists, time models, and selectors, are used to create product offerings. You use Oracle Communications Pricing Design Center (PDC) to create, modify, delete, and validate pricing components.

See:

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Design Center

Creating Pricing Components

Before creating a pricing component, you must specify the active changeset. New pricing components are automatically added to your active changeset. See "Specifying the Active Changeset".

To create pricing components:

In the Pricing section of the navigation pane, click the link for the component you want to create.

A page in which you configure the selected component appears.

Asterisks (*) indicate required fields.
Configure the component.

For configuration procedures, see the relevant topics in the PDC Help.
Save the component. See "Saving a Pricing Component".

The component is added to the active changeset.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Components

Modifying Pricing Components

To modify a pricing component:

In the Workspace task pane, select a changeset.

The pricing components in the changeset are displayed in a table in the Changeset Details section.
Select a pricing component.

The summary page of the pricing component appears in a read-only mode.
Click Edit.

The fields in the page are now editable.
Modify the component, and then click Save and Done.

Your changes are saved, and the fields on the page become read-only.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Components

Deleting Pricing Components

The criteria for deleting a pricing component are:

You can delete a pricing component only if it is in the Draft status.
You can delete a pricing component only if it is not referenced by any other components. For example, if a charge offer is referenced in a bundle, you cannot delete the charge offer. If you want to delete the charge offer, you should delete the bundle.
You cannot delete a pricing component that is in the Promoted status.

To delete a pricing component:

Do one of the following:
1. In the Workspace task pane, select a changeset.
  
  The pricing components in the changeset are displayed in a table in the Changeset Details section.
2. Search for the pricing components. See "Searching for Pricing Components".
  
  The search results appear in the Results table.
Select one or more pricing components.
Click the Delete icon.

The Remove selected pricing components dialog box appears. The tree in this dialog box lists the selected pricing components and any dependent pricing components of the selected pricing component.
Click Delete.

The selected pricing components are deleted from the table in the Changeset Details section and from the changeset.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Components

Obsoleting Pricing Components

The criteria for obsoleting pricing components are:

You can obsolete a pricing component only if it is in the Promoted status.
You can obsolete a pricing component only if it is not referenced by any other components. For example, if a charge offer is referenced in a bundle, you cannot obsolete the charge offer.
You can obsolete an offer if it is not subscribed by a customer.
If you obsolete a charge offer, the referenced component of the charge offer such as charges are also obsoleted only if they are not being referenced in any pricing components. The obsoleted charges are moved to the changeset.

Note:

Before obsoleting an offer in PDC, you must manually verify in BRM and ECE that the offer is not subscribed by customers.

Obsoleting offers subscribed by customers can affect usage rating.

To obsolete a pricing component:

Search for the pricing components in the Promoted status. See "Searching for Pricing Components".

The search results appear in the Results table.
Select the pricing component.

The summary page of the pricing component appears in a read-only mode.
Click Obsolete.

The Obsolete dialog box appears with the list of referenced components.
Do one of the following:
1. If you want to obsolete the pricing component with its referenced components, click Yes.
  
  The obsoleted pricing component with its referenced components are marked with delete icon in the Changeset Details section. When you delete the pricing component and submit the changeset, this component is obsoleted and removed from the PDC user interface. You cannot view the obsoleted components in the PDC user interface.
2. If you do not want to obsolete the pricing component, click No.
After you obsolete the pricing components, ensure that you do the following:
1. Delete the obsolete components in BRM by using the loadPriceList utility. For example, to delete a charge offer from the BRM database, run the following command:
```
loadpricelist
```
```
delete product chargeoffername=OBSOLETED=timestamp
```
  The obsoleted components are stored in BRM in the following format:
```
PricingComponent=OBSOLETED=<timestamp>.
```
  You can use this format to search for the obsoleted components in BRM.
  
  For more information, see the discussion about the loadPriceList utility in BRM Setting Up Pricing and Rating.
2. Delete the obsolete components in the ECE cache by restarting the ECE server. For more information, see the discussion about starting and stopping ECE in ECE System Administrator's Guide.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Components

Validating Pricing Components

Before a pricing component can be submitted by PDC, it must be validated. When you submit a changeset, PDC validates all the components in the changeset. See "Submitting a Changeset".

Optionally, you can click Validate to validate an individual pricing component or a changeset containing multiple pricing components. See "Validating a Changeset".

To validate a pricing component:

In the Workspace task pane, select a changeset.

The pricing components in the changeset are displayed in a table in the Changeset Details section.
In the Name column, click the link of the pricing component that you want to validate.

The summary page of the pricing component appears in a read-only mode.
Click Validate.

If no validation errors are found, the message "Validation Successful: No Errors Found" appears below the Validate button.

If validation errors are found, the Validation Errors section listing the validation errors appears at the bottom of the page.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Components

Searching for Pricing Components

PDC supports the following searches:

Basic: Enables you to use the component type and name to search for a specific pricing component. See "Basic Search".
Advanced: Enables you to use additional criteria to search for a specific pricing component. See "Advanced Search".
Saved: Enables you to save a search criteria and reuse it. See "Saved Search".
Contextual: Enables you to search components within the context of another component. See "Contextual Search".
Used By: Enables you to search for references of a pricing component in other pricing components. See "Used By Search".
Query-by-Example: Enables you to search records that match specified criteria in a table. See "Query-by-Example Search".

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Design Center

Basic Search

The default search mode, Basic, offers the most commonly used search criteria.

To perform a Basic search:

In the Search Pricing section, select a pricing component from the Search list.
In the Name Contains field, enter the full or partial name of the component you want to search. You can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard to substitute for one or more characters.

Note:

Leading and trailing whitespaces are removed from the search criteria. If embedded whitespaces need to be included in the search, use '% %' in place of the whitespace in your search criteria.
Click the Search icon.

The Search page appears.
From the Phase list, select the status of the component. The default is Draft or Promoted.
(Optional) Enter additional search criteria.
(Optional) From the Add Fields menu, select additional fields to use as search criteria.
Click Search.

The search results appear in the Results table.

Related Topics

Search Page Reference

Searching for Pricing Components

Advanced Search

The Advanced search widens the search by providing other options and by allowing you to add search fields. By default, the Advanced search displays the Saved search that is set as default. See "Saved Search" for more information on Saved searches.

To perform an Advanced search:

In the Search Pricing section, click Advanced.

The Search page appears.
Select the search criteria, such as Pricing Component and Phase.
(Optional) From the Add Fields menu, select additional fields to use as search criteria.

Note:

When entering search criteria in the Name and Description fields, you can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard to substitute for one or more characters.
Click Search.

The search results appear in the Results table.

Related Topics

Search Page Reference

Searching for Pricing Components

Saved Search

The Saved search enables you to save a search criteria for a later use. This may be useful when you frequently use a particular search criteria.

To create a Saved search:

Perform a Basic or Advanced search. See "Basic Search" and "Advanced Search".
Click Save.

The Create Saved Search dialog box appears.
Enter a name for the Saved search.
(Optional) To set this search as the default search, select Set as Default.

A Saved search set as default opens whenever you use the Advanced search.
(Optional) To run this search query automatically without clicking Save, select Run Automatically.
Click OK.

The newly created Saved search is added to the Saved Searches list in the Search Pricing section and the Saved Search list in the Search page.

To use a Saved search:

In the Search Pricing section, from the Saved Searches list, select a Saved search.

The Search Saved Searches icon is enabled.
Click Search Saved Searches.

A Search page appears with the saved search criteria and their values.

If Run Automatically option is set for this Saved search, the search is performed automatically and the search results appear in the Results table.

If Run Automatically option is not set for this Saved search, click Search to perform the search.

Related Topics

Search Page Reference

Searching for Pricing Components

Contextual Search

Contextual searches are performed when you create or edit a pricing component. For example, when adding a charge offer to a bundle, you perform a search for the charge offer.

The criteria for Contextual searches are:

The result of the Contextual search varies depending on when it is used:
- If it is used when creating a new pricing component, the search returns all the Draft components from the active changeset and all the Promoted components from all the available changesets.
- If it is used when editing an existing pricing component, the search returns all the Draft components from the current changeset of the object even if it not set as active, and all the Promoted components from all the available changesets.
You cannot save the search criteria of a Contextual search.

Related Topics

Searching for Pricing Components

Used By Search

The Used By search enables you to search for references of a pricing component in other pricing components. For example, before modifying a pricing component, you can use the Used By search to discover all the pricing components that use this pricing component.

The criteria for Used By searches are:

The Used By search returns only the parent-child references for a pricing component. For example, Bundle1 is set to transition to Bundle2 and has a mutually exclusive relationship with Bundle3. Package1 contains Bundle1. When you perform the Used By search on Bundle1, only Package1 appears in the hierarchical view; Bundle2 and Bundle3 do not appear, although, they are used in setting up Bundle1.
The hierarchical view displays the pricing components in Draft or Promoted status. The used-by references for components in Draft or Promoted status are shown in different colors. If the same component is found in both Draft and Promoted status, only the component in Draft status appears in the hierarchical view.
For components in Draft status, the Used By search is performed on all the changesets of the current user.
For components in Promoted status, the Used By search is performed on the current user's changeset and returns the components in Draft and Promoted statuses that are referenced by this component.
If a component is referenced more than once in another pricing component, the Used By search returns only one instance of the component. For example, if a charge offer is used thrice in the same bundle, the Used By search on the charge offer returns only one instance of the bundle.

To use a Used By search:

In the summary page of a pricing component that supports the Used By search, click the Used By button.

The Used By: PricingComponentName page appears, where PricingComponentName is the name of the pricing component. This page displays the references of the current pricing component in other pricing components in a hierarchical view. Initially, the hierarchical view displays only the immediate parents.
Expand the nodes to display the used-by references.

Related Topics

Searching for Pricing Components

Query-by-Example Search

The Query-by-Example (QBE) search provides you a graphical interface to create database queries without actually writing the queries in a query language. You can enter the values in the QBE fields to search for records that match specified criteria in a table.

In the back end, PDC generates a query by appending the values entered in the QBE search fields using the AND operator.

The QBE fields appear above the table that supports QBE; one QBE field per column.

To perform a QBE search:

Enable the QBE bar. See "Enabling the Query-by-Example Bar".
Enter the values in the QBE fields.
Click the Search icon on the table toolbar, or press the Enter key while the focus is in one of the QBE fields.

The search results appear in the Results table.

Related Topics

Searching for Pricing Components

Search Page Reference

Use the Search page to search for a pricing component.

The fields displayed on this page are determined by the type of search you perform.

Field	Description
Pricing Component	Select the type of pricing component that you want to search.
Phase	Select the status of the pricing component: Draft: The pricing component has not been published to Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM). It is still part of a changeset in PDC. Promoted: The pricing component has been published to BRM. It is no longer part of a changeset in PDC. Draft or Promoted: Pricing component is either in the Draft or Promoted status.
Name	(Optional) Enter a full or partial name of the component to search for. You can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard to substitute for one or more characters. Select an operator from the operator list and enter a value in the field next to the operator list.
Applicable To	Select the service associated with the pricing component.
Event	Select the event type to which any of the selectors (APN, charge, discount, price, or USC) applies.
Charge Type	Select the event to which the charge applies.
Measured By	Select the ratable usage metrics (RUMs) to apply to the charge.
Pricing Profile	Select a pricing profile for the charge, time model, or any of the selectors (APN, charge, discount, price, or USC).
Saved Search	Displays the saved search that is set as default. You can select any other saved search from the list.

Results Table

The Results table lists the pricing components that meet the search criteria.

Field	Description
Name	Lists the pricing components that meet the search criteria.
Description	Displays the description of each pricing component.
Phase	Displays the status of the pricing components. Draft: The pricing component has not been published to BRM. It is still part of a changeset in PDC. Promoted: The pricing component has been published to BRM. It is no longer part of a changeset in PDC.
Applicable To	Displays the service associated with the pricing component.
Event	Displays the event type to which any of the selectors (APN, charge, discount, price, or USC) applies.
Charge Type	Displays the event to which the charge applies.

Related Tasks

Searching for Pricing Components

Saving a Pricing Component

You can save a pricing component by using the following buttons:

Save: Saves the component but the component remains editable. Use this button if you have not finished setting up your component but want to save your work without committing it to the database.
Save and Done: Saves the component and makes it read-only. Use this button if you want your component to be available in the PDC database.
Finish: Saves the component and displays the summary page. You can modify the component from this page, if required.
Save As: Makes a copy of the current component. Use this button if you want to use the settings of the current component for a new component. Clicking this button opens the Save As dialog box. Enter a unique name for the component and click OK. The summary page of the new component appears. You can modify the new component from this page, if required.

Note:

Use this button if you want to use the settings of the current component including the referenced components for a new component.

Related Topics

Working with Pricing Design Center

Viewing a Chart of Offers By Service

You can generate and view a chart that displays the number of offers, bundles, and packages for each service.

To view a chart of offers by service:

In the Pricing section of the navigation pane, under Analytics, click Offers by Service.

The Offers By Service page appears, displaying a bar chart. Each bar represents the number of promoted bundles, packages, charge offers, and discount offers for a given service.

If a package has multiple services, the package is included in the count for each service.

Working with Tables

Each table has a toolbar. The toolbar provides options to perform some or all of the following activities:

Sorting Data in Tables

All table sort operations in PDC are case-sensitive.

To sort data in table columns:

Hover the pointer over a column header to display arrows for sorting data, and then select the up arrow (ascending sort) or down arrow (descending sort).

Detaching and Attaching Tables

You can detach a table to appear in a separate screen. Using a detached table you can increase the number of visible rows.

To detach a table: In the table toolbar, click the Detach icon, or from the View menu, select Detach. The table is displayed in a separate screen. The Detach icon changes to indicate that the table is detached.
To attach a table: In the table toolbar, click the Detach icon, or from the View menu, select Attach. The table is reattached to the tab.

Adding or Removing Table Columns

To add or remove table columns:

From the View menu, select Columns.
From the column list, select or deselect a column name.

The column is added or removed from the table.

Reordering Table Columns

To reorder table columns:

From the View menu, select Reorder Columns.

The Reorder Columns dialog box appears.
In the Visible Columns list, select a column name and use the arrows to move the column up or down.

You can also move the selected column to the top or bottom of the list.
Click OK.

Adding Rows to a Table

To add rows to a table:

In the table toolbar, click the Add icon.

A new row is added to the table. If an existing row was selected when you clicked Add, the new row is added below the selected row. If no row was selected, the new row is added at the bottom of the table.

Deleting Rows from a Table

To delete rows from a table:

Select the row that you want to delete from the table.
In the table toolbar, click the Delete icon.
In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

The selected row is deleted from the table.

Enabling the Query-by-Example Bar

Some of the tables in the PDC UI support the Query-by-Example (QBE) search. To use the QBE search, you must enable the QBE bar.

To enable the QBE bar, do one of the following:

Note:

These actions toggle the display of the QBE bar.

Click the Show/hide filter bar icon:
From the View menu, select Show/hide filter bar.

Related Topics

Query-by-Example Search

Setting Validity Periods

A validity period specifies when the component is available for purchase or when it is valid to use within a particular context. By default, these periods start immediately and never end.

To change the default start or end date of a validity period:

Deselect the appropriate check box:
- Immediately (for start dates)
- Never (for end dates)
Click the date-and-time icon next to the Start or End field.

A dialog box to select date and time appears.
Select the appropriate month, year, day, and time.
Click OK.

The selected date and time are added to the Start or End field.

To reinstate the default start or end dates, select the Immediately or Never check boxes.

Changing Your Password

You can change your PDC password from the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console. See the WebLogic Server Administration Console Help for more information.

Using Accessibility Preferences

When you click Accessibility on the top right of the PDC UI, the Accessibility Preferences page opens with the following accessibility options:

I use a screen reader. If you are using a screen reader, select this option and then click OK.
I use high contrast. If you are using high contrast, select this option and then click OK.