Siebel Unleashed

This is going to be series of articles in which I will try to cover all the aspects of Product Configurator in Siebel 7.8. 1st part is just going to be an Introduction to product configurator and answers to some important questions like

What is Product Configurator?
Why and where it is used?

So, not wasting much time and space we will start answering the basic questions. 

What is Product Configurator?

Product configurator is a Siebel component which helps us configure products with our choices. I don’t have bookish definition for Product Configurator but I have an example which can help you to understand Product Configurator better.

You visit dell site you choose a laptop to purchase but you are not happy with the configuration so you customize that configuration and make changes like

• Choose 15 inch screen instead of 14 inch
• Choose 2 GB ram instead of 1 GB

Once you are through with you customization you are given a price and you can decide to purchase it or not. In case of above example Laptop is a Product and Dell website can be considered as Product Configurator. You can visit the link below to see the live example

http://dellstoreroa02.sg.dell.com/public/cart/configurator.jsp?prd_id=42485&sr_no=1

So, component that helps user to customize product and offerings in Siebel is called Siebel Product Configurator. (I know you were expecting something more fancy but that is what I think of it )

*Product Configurator is not part of vanilla Siebel Application you might have to purchase separate license for it.

Where it is used?

If you are offering a product or service to your customers and those are configurable Product Configurator is for you. Again using the above example you are firm offering Laptops to your customers or you are Insurance Firm offering different types of insurance with number of options to choose from then Product Configurator is for you.

Why it is used?

The products that a concern can offer can be different and vast. There can be number of customization possible. So, a generic solution is required that can cater to the needs of all kind of companies and all kind of products. That is why Product Configuration is offered as a separate component which can help us create and customize products within Siebel.

One more advantage of siebel product configurator is that it can be easily integrated in Siebel Pricing module to get a full fledged product or service offering solution.

Why should I know about Product configurator?

A new skill in your armor (Resume) . That’s the best I can come up with right now .

Where can I Product Configurator inside Siebel?

Products are administered from Product Administration screen inside Siebel.

In next post we will be discussing about Important terms before we dive into details of product configurator.