Working with Profiles

34 Working with Profiles

Learn about the profiles used by Pricing Design Center (PDC) as well as how to create custom profiles for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM).

Topics in this document:

About Pricing Profiles

A pricing profile specifies the pricing features that are displayed in the PDC UI. You use pricing profiles to adapt the UI to your business needs and to simplify the user experience. For example, if you do not use time to determine how much to charge for the use of your services, you can set up a pricing profile that does not include the time feature.

Pricing profiles are used with pricing, charges, discounts, chargeshares, selectors, and time models. You select a pricing profile for all those components except pricing when creating them. (PDC selects a profile for pricing that matches the pricing profile of the component that contains the pricing, such as a charge.)

A set of default pricing profiles is included with PDC (see "About Default Pricing Profiles"). You can also create custom pricing profiles (see "About Customizing Pricing Profiles").

About Default Pricing Profiles

During Oracle Communications Pricing Design Center (PDC) installation, depending on whether you selected to support Oracle Communications Elastic Charging Engine (ECE) or not, a set of default pricing profiles is loaded in the XML format. The XML files containing the default pricing profiles are located in the PDC_home/apps/Samples/Examples directory, where PDC_home is the directory in which the PDC software is installed.

Table 34-1 lists the default pricing profiles that are loaded during PDC installation if ECE is selected. These pricing profiles are supported by ECE rating engine:

Table 34-1 Default Pricing Profiles That Are Loaded When ECE Is Selected

Profile Name	Description
Billing-time Discount	Contains all the features required to configure billing-time discounts in BRM (see Table 34-5). This profile can be used with a discount or a discount selector.
Convergent Usage	Contains all the pricing features supported by ECE (see Table 34-8). This profile can be used with a usage charge, time model, or generic selector.
Standard Chargesharing	Contains all the chargeshare features supported by ECE (see Table 34-10). This profile can be used with a chargeshare.
Standard Discount	Contains all the discount features supported by ECE (see Table 34-9). This profile can be used with a discount or a discount selector.
Subscription ChargeSharing	Contains all the chargeshare features supported by the BRM offline rating engine (see Table 34-6). This profile can be used with a chargeshare.
Subscription Discount	Contains all the discount features supported by the BRM offline rating engine (see Table 34-5). This profile can be used with a discount or a discount selector.

See "About Customizing Pricing Profiles" for information about modifying the default pricing profiles.

About Customizing Pricing Profiles

Typically, you create a custom pricing profile by copying one of the default pricing profiles and then removing features that you do not need from the copy.

Note:

In profile XML files, pricing features are defined in <capability> and <subCapability> elements.
You cannot modify the Subscription pricing profile.

For example, if your business does not charge for services by time, you could remove the TimeModeling capability from the Online Usage default pricing profile.

Note:

If a capability is mandatory in the target engine profile associated with a pricing profile, the capability must be included in the pricing profile. Do not remove it. See "About the PDC Target Engine Profiles" for a list of capabilities supported by each PDC target engine profile. The list identifies the mandatory capabilities.

If two or more mandatory capabilities are mutually exclusive, you can remove all but one of them from a custom profile. If you include more than one, you must also include the exclusive constraint (<exclusiveConstraint>) between them. See the default pricing profiles for examples.

The following rules apply for subcapabilities:

If only one subcapability exists for a particular capability in a target engine profile, the pricing profile must include that subcapability. Do not remove it.
If multiple subcapabilities exist for a particular capability in a target engine profile, at least one of those subcapabilities must be included in the pricing profile. The custom pricing profile does not, however, have to use the same subcapability as the default pricing profile.

For example, suppose a target engine profile includes Capability X, which has Subcapabilities A, B, C, and D, and a default pricing profile uses Capability X with Subcapabilities A and B. If you customize a copy of that default pricing profile, the copy could include Capability X with Subcapability D. In this case, the custom pricing profile does not use the same subcapabilities as the default pricing profile.
If you add capabilities to a custom pricing profile, ensure the profile contains capabilities for only one pricing type. See "About Pricing Types" for more information.
Only capabilities that are supported by all the target engine profiles associated with a pricing profile can be added to a custom pricing profile. See "About the PDC Target Engine Profiles" for a list of capabilities supported by each PDC target engine profile. See "About Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles" for information about associating pricing profiles with target engine profiles.

Caution:

After pricing components are associated with a pricing profile, you should not modify that pricing profile. Doing so might invalidate the pricing components that reference the profile.

See "Setting Up Custom Pricing Profiles" for instructions on how to create custom profiles.

About Pricing Types

Each pricing profile can support only one pricing type. A pricing type performs the following functions:

Indicates the type of pricing, such as a usage charge or a discount, that can be configured when the pricing profile is associated with a pricing component
For custom profiles, determines the set of capabilities that are available for inclusion in the profile

In each pricing profile's XML file, the pricing type is specified in the <pricingTypeValue> element.

Table 34-2 shows the pricing types supported by the default pricing profiles:

Table 34-2 Pricing Types Supported by the default Pricing Profiles

Default Pricing Profile	Supported Pricing Type
Online Usage	USAGE_CHARGE
Offline Usage	USAGE_CHARGE
Common Usage	USAGE_CHARGE
(For BRM) Standard Discount	DISCOUNT
Billing-time Discount	RECURRING_DISCOUNT
ChargeShare	CHARGE_SHARE
Convergent Usage	USAGE_CHARGE
(For ECE) Standard Discount	DISCOUNT
Standard Chargesharing	CHARGE_SHARE

About the PDC Target Engine Profiles

PDC uses the following target engine profiles:

Note:

During PDC installation, all the target engine profiles are loaded irrespective of whether ECE is supported or not.

BRM online rating: Contains all the pricing capabilities (features) supported by the BRM online rating engine. See "BRM Online Rating Target Engine Profile" for a list of the capabilities in this profile.
BRM offline rating: Contains all the pricing capabilities supported by the BRM offline rating engine. See "BRM Offline Rating Target Engine Profile" for a list of the capabilities in this profile.
Subscription: Contains capabilities required to create components supported by the BRM subscription engine, such as recurring charges, one-time charges, rollovers, folds, and bundles. See "Subscription Engine Profile" for a list of the capabilities in this profile.
ECE rating: Contains all the pricing capabilities supported by ECE. See "ECE Rating Target Engine Profile" for a list of the capabilities in this profile.
ECE subscription: Contains capabilities to support product offerings. See "ECE Subscription Engine Profile" for a list of the capabilities in this profile.

Note:

If a target engine capability is identified as mandatory in the following tables, it must be included in any pricing profile that is associated with the target engine profile.
If two or more mandatory capabilities are mutually exclusive, you can remove all but one of them from a custom profile. If you include more than one, you must also include the exclusive constraint (<exclusiveConstraint>) between them. See the default pricing profiles for examples.
You cannot customize a target engine profile.

BRM Online Rating Target Engine Profile

The name of the BRM online rating target engine profile is RRE_RATING.

The pricing type of all the capabilities in this profile is USAGE_CHARGE (see "About Pricing Types").

Table 34-3 lists the capabilities contained in this target engine profile.

Table 34-3 Capabilities In the BRM Online Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
RateplanSelector	Enables you to use a charge selector when configuring a charge. Cannot be used with the EnhancedZoneModeling capability.
ChargeRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure charges for a charge offer.
SubscriberCurrency	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify a currency for a charge. Multicurrency: This subcapability enables you to select one or more currencies in the Currency field in the Create Charge dialog box .
MultiRumGraph	Enables you to select one or more RUMs in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box.
AbsoluteRelativeDateTimeRange	Enables users to specify fixed and relative date ranges when configuring a charge.
EnhancedZoneModeling	Enables you to use zone models and Usage Scenario (USC) selectors when configuring a charge. USCSelector: This subcapability enables you to use USC selectors when configuring a charge. Cannot be used with the RateplanSelector capability.
TimeModeling	Enables you to use time models when configuring a usage charge. The following subcapabilities specify which attributes of a time model can be used: MonthOfYear DayOfWeek TimeOfDay DayOfMonth
UsageBI	(Mandatory if PriceSelector is not included) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a usage charge. CreditLimitCheck: This subcapability enables you to specify whether to continue rating the remaining quantity after the credit limit is exceeded or to search for a charge that impacts a different balance element whose credit limit has not been exceeded and use that charge instead. StepsBasedOnUsageQuantity: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on event quantity. StepsBasedOnBalanceElement: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on balance element quantity. SingleRum: This subcapability enables you to select only one ratable usage metric (RUM) in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box. Cannot be used with the PriceSelector capability.

BRM Offline Rating Target Engine Profile

The name of the BRM offline rating target engine profile is BRE_RATING.

This profile contains capabilities for the following pricing types:

USAGE_CHARGE (see Table 34-4)
DISCOUNT and RECURRING_DISCOUNT (see Table 34-5)
CHARGE_SHARE (see Table 34-6)

See "About Pricing Types" for more information.

Table 34-4 lists the charging capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-4 Charging Capabilities in the BRM Offline Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure charges for a charge offer. MultiRum: This subcapability enables you to select one or more RUMs in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box.
SubscriberCurrency	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify the currency to use in the charge. SingleCurrency This subcapability enables you to select only one currency in the Currency field in the Create Charge dialog box.
AbsoluteDateRange	Enables you to specify only fixed (not relative) date ranges when configuring a charge.
ZoneModeling	Enables you to use zone models when configuring a charge. Cannot be used with the EnhancedZoneModeling capability.
EnhancedZoneModeling	Enables you to use zone models, USC selectors, and Access Point Name (APN) selectors when configuring a charge. USCSelector: This subcapability enables you to use a USC selector when configuring a charge. APNSelector: This subcapability enables you to use an APN selector when configuring a charge. Cannot be used with the ZoneModeling capability.
TimeModeling	Enables you to use time models when configuring a usage charge. The following subcapabilities specify which attributes of a time model can be used: Holiday: Special day calendars DayOfWeek: Days of the week TimeOfDay: Time of day UsesEffectivity: Effective periods
PriceSelector	(Mandatory if UsageBI or PriceOverrideBI is not included) Enables you to use price selectors based on event, service, or account attributes when configuring a charge. AttributeBased: This subcapability provides support for results based on specified event, service, or account attributes or a combination of such attribute types. Cannot be used with the UsageBI or PriceOverride capabilities.
UsageBI	(Mandatory if PriceSelector or PriceOverrideBI is not included) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a usage charge. MultiRum: This subcapability enables you to select one or more RUMs in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box. StepsBasedOnUsageQuantity: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on event quantity. MinimumCharge: This subcapability enables you to set a minimum charge for each balance impact. ChargingIncrement: This subcapability enables you to specify a charging increment. CreditWithoutValidity: This subcapability enables you to specify a credit balance impact without using validity periods. PriceTierUsesEffectivity: This subcapability enables you to set effective dates for the prices in a charge. Cannot be used with the PriceSelector or PriceOverrideBI capabilities.
PriceOverrideBI	(Mandatory if PriceSelector or UsageBI is not included) Enables you to process prerated events by adding to or replacing the existing charge. Cannot be used with the PriceSelector and UsageBI capabilities.

Table 34-5 lists the discounting capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-5 Discounting Capabilities in the BRM Offline Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
DiscountRateplanSelector	Enables you to use a discount selector when configuring a discount.
DiscountRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure discounts for a discount offer.
AbsoluteDateRange	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify fixed date ranges when configuring a discount.
DiscountOrChargeShareTrigger	Enables you to specify conditions that must be met before a discount can be applied to a charge.
DiscountOrChargeShareFilter	Enables you to specify criteria that a charge must satisfy to be eligible for a discount. This capability is included in the Standard Discount pricing profile but not in the Billing-time Discount pricing profile. EventBasedChargeSelectorSpec: This subcapability supports the use of event attributes to determine whether a charge qualifies for a particular discount.
DiscountOrChargeShareBI	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a discount.

Table 34-6 lists the charge sharing capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-6 Charge Sharing Capabilities in the BRM Offline Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeShareRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure chargeshares for a chargeshare offer.
AbsoluteDateRange	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify fixed date ranges when configuring a chargeshare.
DiscountOrChargeShareTrigger	Enables you to specify conditions that must be met before a chargeshare can be applied to a charge.
DiscountOrChargeShareFilter	Enables you to specify criteria that a charge must satisfy to be eligible for a chargeshare. EventBasedChargeSelectorSpec: This subcapability supports the use of event attributes to determine whether a charge qualifies for a particular chargeshare.
DiscountOrChargeShareBI	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a chargeshare.

Subscription Engine Profile

The name of the subscription engine profile is RRE_SUBSCRIPTION.

This profile contains capabilities for the PRODUCT_OFFERING pricing type (see Table 34-7).

See "About Pricing Types" for more information.

Table 34-7 lists the product offering capabilities contained in this engine profile:

Table 34-7 Product Offering Capabilities in the Subscription Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeOffering	Enables you to configure a charge offer.
AlterationOffering	Enables you to configure a discount offer.
DistributionOffering	Enables you to configure a chargeshare offer.

ECE Rating Target Engine Profile

The name of the profile supported by ECE is ECE_RATING.

This profile contains capabilities for the following pricing types:

USAGE_CHARGE (see Table 34-8)
DISCOUNT (see Table 34-9)
CHARGE_SHARE (see Table 34-10)

See "About Pricing Types" for more information.

Table 34-8 lists the charging capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-8 Charging Capabilities in the ECE Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeRateplan	Enables you to configure charges for a charge offer.
SubscriberCurrency	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify the currency to use in the charge. SingleCurrency: This subcapability enables you to select only one currency in the Currency field in the Create Charge dialog box.
MultiRumGraph	Enables you to select one or more RUMs in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box.
AbsoluteDateRange	Enables you to specify only fixed (not relative) date ranges when configuring a charge.
ZoneModeling	Enables you to use zone models when configuring a charge.
GenericSelector	Enables you to use generic selectors when configuring a charge.
TimeModeling	Enables you to use time models when configuring a usage charge. The following subcapabilities specify which attributes of a time model can be used: Holiday: Special day calendars MonthOfYear: Months of the year DayOfWeek: Days of the week TimeOfDay: Time of day DayOfMonth: Days of month
UsageBI	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a usage charge. SingleRum: This subcapability enables you to select only one RUM in the Measured By field in the Create Charge dialog box. StepsBasedOnBalanceElement: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on balance element quantity. StepsBasedOnUsageQuantity: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on event quantity. StepsBasedOnBalanceElementWithThreshold: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on balance element with threshold. StepsBasedOnUsageQuantityWithThreshold: This subcapability enables you to create price steps based on event quantity with threshold.

Table 34-9 lists the discounting capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-9 Discounting Capabilities in the ECE Rating Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
DiscountRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure discounts for a discount offer.
AbsoluteDateRange	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify fixed date ranges when configuring a discount.
DiscountOrChargeShareTrigger	Enables you to specify conditions that must be met before a discount can be applied to a charge.
DiscountOrChargeShareFilter	Enables you to specify criteria that a charge must satisfy to be eligible for a discount. This capability is included in the Standard Discount pricing profile but not in the Billing-time Discount pricing profile. EventBasedChargeSelectorSpec: This subcapability supports the use of event attributes to determine whether a charge qualifies for a particular discount.
DiscountOrChargeShareBI	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a discount.

Table 34-10 lists the charge sharing capabilities contained in this target engine profile:

Table 34-10 Charge Sharing Capabilities in the ECE Target Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeShareRateplan	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure chargeshares for a chargeshare offer.
AbsoluteDateRange	(Mandatory) Enables you to specify fixed date ranges when configuring a chargeshare.
DiscountOrChargeShareTrigger	Enables you to specify conditions that must be met before a chargeshare can be applied to a charge.
DiscountOrChargeShareFilter	Enables you to specify criteria that a charge must satisfy to be eligible for a chargeshare. EventBasedChargeSelectorSpec: This subcapability supports the use of event attributes to determine whether a charge qualifies for a particular chargeshare.
DiscountOrChargeShareBI	(Mandatory) Enables you to configure one or more balance impacts for a chargeshare.

ECE Subscription Engine Profile

The name of the ECE subscription engine profile is ECE_SUBSCRIPTION.

This profile contains capabilities for the PRODUCT_OFFERING pricing type (see Table 34-11).

See "About Pricing Types" for more information.

Table 34-11 lists the product offering capabilities in this engine profile:

Table 34-11 Product Offering Capabilities in the ECE Subscription Engine Profile

Capability	Description
ChargeOffering	Enables you to configure a charge offer.
DiscountOffering	Enables you to configure a discount offer.
ChargeShareOffering	Enables you to configure a chargeshare offer.

Target Engine Profiles for the Default Pricing Profiles

The pricing capabilities (features) in a pricing profile are based on the capabilities in the target engine profiles with which it is associated. A pricing profile can be associated with one or more target engine profiles (see "About Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles").

Table 34-12 shows the default target engine profile or profiles for each default pricing profile:

Table 34-12 Target Engine Profiles Associated with the Default Pricing Profiles

Default Pricing Profile	Default Target Engine Profile	Target Engine Profile Pricing Capabilities
Online Usage	RRE_RATING	See Table 34-3.
Offline Usage	BRE_RATING	See Table 34-4.
Common Usage	RRE_RATING and BRE_RATING	See Table 34-3 and Table 34-4.
Standard Discount	BRE_RATING	See Table 34-5.
Billing-time Discount	BRE_RATING	See Table 34-5.
ChargeShare	BRE_RATING	See Table 34-6.
Convergent Usage	ECE_RATING	See Table 34-8.
Standard Discount	ECE_RATING	See Table 34-9.
Standard Chargesharing	ECE_RATING	See Table 34-10.

About Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles

Before you can publish pricing components that use a custom pricing profile to a rating engine, you must associate the pricing profile with at least one target engine profile. The associated target engine profiles determine which rating or subscription engines the components are published to.

The target engines must support all the capabilities in the pricing profile. See the tables in "About the PDC Target Engine Profiles" for the capabilities supported by each PDC target engine profile.

Note:

When a component that uses a pricing profile is submitted for publication, PDC validates the pricing profile against its associated target engine profiles to ensure that the capabilities in the pricing profile are supported by the target engines.

If you associate a pricing profile with multiple target engine profiles, the pricing profile must contain only capabilities that are supported by all of the associated target engine profiles. See "About Pricing Profiles" for more information.

If a pricing profile is not associated with a target engine profile, any pricing components that use that profile are not published to a target engine.

See "Target Engine Profiles for the Default Pricing Profiles" for information about the target engine profiles associated with the default pricing profiles.

See "Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles" for instructions on how to associate pricing profiles with target engine profiles.

About Importing Custom Pricing Profiles into PDC

You define a custom pricing profile in an XML file and use the ImportExportPricing utility to import the XML file into PDC. The XML file containing the custom pricing profile must conform to the format specified in the profiles.xsd file in PDC_home/apps/xsd.

See "Prerequisites for Using the ImportExportPricing Utility" for information about prerequisites for using the ImportExportPricing utility.

Setting Up Custom Pricing Profiles

To set up a custom pricing profile in PDC:

Create a custom pricing profile (see "Creating Custom Pricing Profiles").
Associate the profile with a target engine profile (see "Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles").
Import the profile into PDC (see "Importing Custom Pricing Profiles into PDC").

Creating Custom Pricing Profiles

To create a custom pricing profile:

Make a copy of the default pricing profile to customize.

See "About Default Pricing Profiles" for descriptions and locations of the default pricing profiles.
Open the copy in a text or XML editor.
In the copy, modify the pricing profile name to distinguish the copy from the original:
```
<pricingProfile>
   <name>CustomPricingProfileName</name>
   . . .
```
where CustomPricingProfileName is the new name for the copy.
Add or delete pricing capabilities as necessary.

Note the following:
- If only one subcapability exists for a particular capability in the target engine profile, the pricing profile must include that subcapability.
- If multiple subcapabilities exist for a particular capability in a target engine profile, at least one of the subcapabilities must be included in the pricing profile. The custom pricing profile does not, however, have to use the same subcapability as the default pricing profile.
See "About Customizing Pricing Profiles" for more information.
Save your changes.

Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles

To associate a custom pricing profile with a target engine profile:

Open the file containing the custom pricing profile in a text or XML editor.
Add the following entry to the <profiles> element:
```
<profileUsedBy>
   <pricingProfileName>CustomPricingProfile</pricingProfileName>
   <targetEngineProfileName>TargetEngineProfile1</targetEngineProfileName>
   <targetEngineProfileName>TargetEngineProfile2</targetEngineProfileName>
   <priceListName>Default</priceListName>

</profileUsedBy>
```
where:
- CustomPricingProfile is the name of the pricing profile that you are associating with the target engine profile.
- TargetEngineProfile# is the name of the target engine profile that you are associating with the custom pricing profile.
  
  Note:
  
  For each additional target engine that you want to associate with the pricing profile, add another <targetEngineProfileName> entry to the <profileUsedBy> element.
Save and close the file.

See "About Associating Custom Pricing Profiles with Target Engine Profiles" for more information.

Importing Custom Pricing Profiles into PDC

To import a custom pricing profile into PDC, you must have the Pricing Design Admin role.

To import a custom pricing profile into PDC:

Verify that the custom pricing profile XML file is complete and follows the guidelines specified in the profiles.xsd file in the PDC_home/apps/xsd directory.
Go to the PDC_home/apps/Samples/Examples directory, and enter the following command:

Linux
```
ImportExportPricing -import -profile ProfileFileName 
```
where ProfileFileName specifies the full path and file name of the XML file containing the custom profile data.

Note:

To run this command, you must have PDC_home/apps/bin in your PATH environment variable.

For example, the following command imports a custom pricing profile from the MyPricingProfile.xml file into the PDC database in a Linux environment:

ImportExportPricing -import -profile /MyPricingProfile.xml