Favorites List (Oracle CPQ 22A and Prior)
Overview
This topic defines the Favorite UI and Favorites administration for sites on Oracle CPQ 22A and prior.
If your site is on Oracle CPQ 22B or later, refer to the Favorites List topic.
Favorites allow each user to list their favorite products and/or parts for quick access and quote creation in a Favorites List.
Favorite lists are maintained independently of catalog and parts. Because of this separation, products in the Favorites list can become out of sync with the catalog products/parts they reference. The update functionality ensures that a user's Favorites list is synchronized with the catalog and parts. These updates ensure that products on the Favorites List display current catalog information. The update engine verifies product attributes, pricing, and availability.
The update engine can only calculate pricing information on products with still-supported configurations. When products have new or modified configuration attributes, you can set the engine to skip over them during the update process. This speeds up Favorite List updates, but it also forces users to reconfigure those products before purchase.
The Favorites List updates its display to the user in several ways. Certain updates appear without any user notification, like pricing and product attribute changes. Other updates change the status of items on the Favorites List, such as products that are no longer available or that must be reconfigured.
Beginning in Oracle CPQ 22A support has been added to invoke a Commerce Transaction when reconfiguring an item from the Favorites List. The Commerce invocation action will be visible on the Configuration page when a Favorite is reconfigured. Prior to this feature implementation, users would need to save the reconfigured Favorite and exit Configuration, and then go into Commerce to add the Favorite to a quote. This features saves the user multiple steps when adding a reconfigured Favorite to a new or existing quote.
If you are reconfiguring a Favorite and you invoke a Commerce Transaction instead of saving the Favorite, the changes you made are not saved to that item in the Favorite List.
Favorites Support for BOM-Related Models
Favorites allow each user to list their Favorite products and parts for quick access and quote creation in a Favorites List. Favorite lists are maintained independently of catalog and parts. Beginning in Oracle CPQ 19B, users can save BOM-related models and system configurations as Favorites. Associated parts and models are displayed in their hierarchical order. A system configuration can be added to Favorites from Configuration or Commerce. The only BOM item that can be chosen is the root. However, recommended items from either the root model or any descendant model can be independently added as Favorites from Commerce. From within Configuration, the entire system will be added as a Favorite along with all of the currently selected recommended items. When optional and mandatory recommended items are added to Favorites they will appear directly below the model that added them.
When non-BOM Favorites are added to a Transaction, the items are added exactly as they are saved in Favorites. The behavior for non-BOM items and previously saved Favorites are not changed in Oracle CPQ 19B.
When BOM-based Favorites are added to a Transaction, the items may differ from Favorites since they go through invocation prior to being added to a Transaction. This behavior is different than the existing Favorites functionality.
When a model has a defined BOM Mapping Rule, any changes to Recommended Item Rules or pricing will impact what gets added to the Transaction. Therefore, what is seen in Favorites may not match what is added to the Transaction. Updated items can be synchronized to Favorites by reconfiguring and saving the modified items. The following circumstances cause changes to occur:
- If a Recommended Items Rule that is active on the BOM-related Favorite has item changes, the BOM items are updated to reflect the items defined in the rule.
- If a Recommendation Rule that is active on the BOM-related Favorite has item changes, the recommendation will fire on invocation according to its new condition requirements, action attributes, and values.
- If a Pricing Rule that is active on a model included in a BOM-type Favorite is changed, the prices will be updated.
- If Attribute Value Pricing (AVP) is changed, the prices are updated according to the current AVP prices.
Under some circumstances invocation is blocked and the BOM-related Favorites must be reconfigured before the items can be added to a Transaction. The following circumstances cause invocation to fail:
- If the BOM hierarchy is changed and doesn't match the BOM-related Favorites.
- If system updates cause constraint errors on the root or child models.
Favorites List Page
Favorite entries are created for the entire system configuration and all potential recommended items. These entries are all visible on the Favorites page.
The following BOM-related information is displayed in the Favorites list:
- Name: the attribute mapping item name or BOM model name for models and the attribute mapping item name, part display name, or part number for parts
- Quantity: the effective or exploded quantity, i.e. multiplied by the parent Quantity
- Total Price: For BOM models, line quantity can be more than one, the total price uses this quantity when calculating the total price for the Favorites item. This is different from the standard Configuration total price, where the unit price assumes the model quantity is one.
Favorites Detail Page
The Favorites Detail page provides information for the selected Favorites line item. The following table describes the sections on this page and indicates if the section is available for root items, child models, or parts.
|
Description
|
Root
Items, Child Models, and Parts
|
This
section contains a "Label" item that allows users to rename the Favorites
line item.
|
|
General
Information
|
Root
Items, Child Models, and Parts
|
This
section displays the supplier, product type, quantity, total price, currency
preference, language preference, and price book information.
|
|
Model
Information
|
Root
Items and Child Models
|
This
section displays the line BOM display name, segment name, product line name,
and model name.
|
|
System
Configuration Information
-OR-
BOM
Information
|
Root
Items
|
This
section displays a visual representation of the system navigation.
This
section is called "BOM Information" when none of the child items
are configurable.
|
|
Configurable
Attributes
|
Root
Items and Child Models
|
This
section provides a list of configurable attributes within the model.
The
Reconfigure option is only provided in this section for the system
configuration root item. This option allows users to reconfigure system
configuration Favorites.
|
|
Part
Information
|
Parts
|
This
section contains information about parts items, such as: part number, lead
time, price type, etc.
|
The following image shows the Favorite Detail page for a system configuration root item.
The following image shows the Favorite Detail page for a system configuration child model.
The following image shows the Favorite Detail page for a part within a system configuration.
Status Values
A status column on the Favorites List informs users whether products have changed since they were added to the list. Status is represented graphically with or without (for normal status) an icon. You can customize the status icons that display.
-
Normal Items that can be directly purchased from the Favorites List have a Normal status. There is no system-defined icon for this status. If you want to display an icon alongside products with a Normal status, you can associate an icon with the status.
The Normal status displays even if a product's price or regular attributes have changed because those types of changes do not affect whether the product can be purchased.
- Delete Items that are no longer available for purchase because they have been removed from the catalog or changed from a direct buy to a non-direct buy have a Delete status. The system notifies the user of this status with a delete icon.
-
Reconfiguration Items that require user reconfiguration before purchase have a Reconfigure status. The system notifies the user of this status with a reconfigure icon.
Administration
Accessing the Update Favorites List page
- Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
-
Click Favorites List in the General section.
The Update Favorites List page opens.
Managing Favorites
The Update Favorites List page is used to update the product data displayed on the Commerce Favorites list. You can tag items for reconfiguration or change the status icons the system uses to indicate changes to the Commerce Favorites list before performing an update.
- Schedule a Favorites List Update:
- Enter the time for starting the update in the Scheduled field.
Example: 11/11/2009 11:11 AM. - Enter the email address of the person who wishes to receive notification of completion of the update in the Send Email To field.
- Click Schedule Favorites List Update to synchronize all the existing Commerce list entries.
- Sort the Scheduled Tasks list alphabetically by column.
- To sort products: choose the column you want to sort by and click the header.
- To reverse-sort: click the header twice.
-
To delete a Scheduled Task, select the checkbox in the Delete column, and click Delete.
You can delete the scheduled task to cancel the process before a Favorites List update begins. While an update is happening, it is not possible to stop the process.
- Click Choose Fileto select the Favorites List Images. Upload the image.
-
Select the items that should not be updated in the Flag Equipment and Parts for Reconfiguration section.
To do this, navigate to the items that have different supported configurations by clicking a Link and marking all parts for reconfiguration. Or, navigate through the products hierarchy and mark select products.
- Click Update Flags on each page with selected items to save your selection.
- Click Back to return to the previous page without saving changes.
Creating a "Copy to Favorites" Action Button in Commerce Watch Video 
- Navigate to the Document List page.
- Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
Click Process Definition in the Commerce and Documents section.
The Processes page opens.
With Documents selected in the Navigation column, click List.
The Document List page opens.
-
For the Main Document/Quote, select Actions in the Navigation column.
The Copy to Favorites action is only available on the Main Document/Quote
-
Click List.
The Action List page opens.
-
Click Add to add an item. The button is located at the bottom of the Action List page.
The Admin Action page opens.
-
Enter the title in the Label field.
The entry in the Label field will appear to the end user. Be brief, but descriptive.
The Variable Name field populates automatically. Variable names can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores. The entry can be changed before saving, but after saving the value is read-only.
-
Select Copy to Favorites as the Action Type.
-
Click Add to save your changes and return to the previous page.
The Action List page reappears.
-
Click Save and Edit Desktop Layout.
The Desktop Layout Editor appears where the Copy to Favorites action button can be added. For more information about using this editor, see the topic Layout Editor Overview.
Creating an "Add to Favorites" Action Button in Configuration Watch Video
-
Navigate to the Page List page.
-
Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
-
Click Process Invocation in the Commerce and Documents section.
The Page List page opens.
-
For your desired Page, click its name in the Page Title column.
The Action List page opens.
-
Click Add to add an item.
The Create/Edit Action page opens.
-
Enter the Name and Description. The entry in the Name field will appear to the end user. Be brief, but descriptive.
- Choose Favorites List as the Action Type.
-
Click Add to save your changes and return to the previous page.
The Action List page reappears.
-
Ensure the Navigation item User Access Rights is selected.
-
Click List.
The Access Rights Editor page opens.
From within this page you can manage which users have access to the Add to Favorites button. Users will see the Add to Favorites button once they reach the End Node of the Configuration Flow.
-
Add at least one item to the Access Rights field.
-
Click Update to save your changes and return to the previous page.
The Action List page opens.
-
Click Back to return to the previous page without saving changes.
The Page List page opens.
-
In the Select column, mark the page to which you added the action and then click Deploy.
Users will see the Add to Favorites button once they reach the End Node of the Configuration Flow.
The Configuration "Add to Favorites" button only appears when a user directly opens Configuration. It will not appear when a user launches reconfigure from a transaction.
Sharing Favorites
Watch Video
You can share Favorites by placing them in a shared Folder.
- Navigate to Favorites.
-
Click Edit.
The Admin Folders page opens.
You can create, rename, or delete folders here.
-
Select the Share checkbox.
- Click Update to save your changes and return to the previous page.
-
Click the Share link in the Permissions column.
The Admin Folder Permissions page opens.
-
Add/remove shared permissions by group.
| View |
Gives users access to the folder. |
| Add |
Allows users to add their own Favorites to the folder. |
Only a Full Access user with "Permission to Create/Modify Users" or a SuperUser can create a Shared Folder.
Only the creator of the Folder can move and delete Favorites from the folder.
Only the creator of a Favorite can rename or reconfigure the Favorite.
-
Click Update to save your changes and return to the previous page.
Verifying Favorites List Updates
You can verify Favorites List updates by viewing the email notification generated when an update process finishes. The system sends a confirmation email to the email address specified for the update. Confirmation emails contain the number of products processed, the number of items that no longer exist in the catalog, and the number of items that now need to be reconfigured before purchase.
Number of items processed : 118
Number of items flagged for delete : 2
Number of models flagged for reconfiguration : 10
Number of parts flagged for reconfiguration : 0
Adding the Favorites Link to the Header
Watch Video
- Navigate to the Navigation Menus page.
- Click Admin to go to the Admin Home Page.
Click Navigation Menus in the General section.
The Navigation Menus page opens.
-
Click List Links next to the Subheader navigation menu.
The Navigation Items List - Subheader page opens.
-
Click Customize Menus.
The Customize Links for Subheader page opens.
-
Select which level of Access Rights will have visibility to these buttons once they are added.
- To select for which user type you want to add the link, select the link from the Hidden Links list and click Add.
- Click Apply to save your changes and remain on the page.
- Click Back twice to return to the Navigation Menus page.
- Click Deploy.
Renaming Configuration Favorites
-
Click Favorites.
The Favorites page opens.
-
In the Label column click the link for the Configuration favorite you want to rename.
The Favorite Detail page opens.
-
Change the value in the Label field.
This is the value that will appear on the Favorites page.
-
Click Rename.
The name has been changed.
Troubleshooting
In order to debug some Rules (such as a Recommendation Rule), the debugger requires you to have a "Favorite Item ID". If an invalid ID is entered, the following error occurs:
Creating a Favorite Item ID
-
Navigate to Favorites.
- Locate your desired Model or Part.
- In the Label column click the Model or Part link.
-
Locate the "id = XXX" section of the URL.
-
Copy and paste this number into the Debugger.
The information from that Configuration will be loaded to test for the Rule you are debugging.
- Ensure "Favorites" are enabled on the site where you are performing the debugging when locating your Favorite Item ID.
- Sometimes in the URL, there will be 2 "id = " numbers. Use the first id; it should be 7 digits long.
Notes
You can schedule Favorites List updates to run whenever you like; ideally, they should be run during your system's low usage times.
- The update functionality represents the status graphically on the Favorites List.
- However, it is the user's prerogative to both delete items that are no longer available and reconfigure items that have been marked for reconfiguration from the Favorites List.
Related Topics
See Also
