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How Guided Assignment for Customer Management Works

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Guided Assignment for Customer Management is set up by creating special folder hierarchies in the Product Catalog. Each folder hierarchy contains the service-level features which may be assigned to the selected service(s) in the order; it sets the order in which products are presented; and it sets the rules by which products are selected.

The following wizards support Guided Assignment:

  • New Customer Wizard

  • Add Services and Features Wizard

  • Add Services Wizard

  • Add Child Catalog Item Wizard (if new sub-services are added)

Guided Assignment Order Types

When you create an order, the applicable order type must be selected in the Order wizard (in the Order Information window). Order Types are configured via the Admin Console > Data Management application. When you create a new Order Type you can specify whether or not the order type will use Guided Assignment by checking or clearing the Use Guided Feature Assignment check box.

OrderTypeGuidedAssignment

Is Starting Folder

Every guided order for wireline requires an Is Starting Folder at the top of the hierarchy.

EditFolderIsStarting

When you use an order wizard to add a new service to an account, selecting an order type with Guided Assignment enabled triggers the guided order which presents all Starting Folders. You must select the applicable starting folder(s) to use.

Guided Assignment Folders

Folders of the type Guided Assignment are created as children under the Is Starting Folder. The Guided Assignment folders are populated with the service-level features to be available for assignment to the selected service(s) during the order. When you create these folders you need to establish the rules by which the folders are evaluated (for example, the order in which folders are presented, whether a folder is selected on an optional basis or is automatically selected, how many items within a folder may be chosen, and so on). This is done via the Guided Assignment properties in the New/Edit Folder window.

Guided Assignment properties

These properties are applicable for all folder types (Standard or Guided Assignment):

SKU

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is a property typically applied to salable products in the Product Catalog.

SKU has a special application for folders and Guided Assignment for POS. You can create a guided order that is triggered without the sale of a catalog item by creating a folder, assigning a SKU and checking the Is Related Items Folder check box. This folder can then be added to a POS order as if it were a salable item and thus trigger a guided order.

Folder Description

Name of the folder as it appears in the Product Catalog.

Alias

Used to link this folder to a folder in another system.

Available Date

Discontinue Date

Date that you no longer want this folder and its contents to be available for selection. Defaults to no discontinue date (available indefinitely). To specify a date, first check the check box to enable this field, and then enter the date directly, or click on the drop-down arrow to display a calendar. If a Discontinue Date is specified, it must be greater than or equal to Available Date. If the Discontinue Date is in the past (date occurs before the current date), this folder is grayed out in the Product Catalog and is not available for selection during an order.

Folder Type

Defaults to Standard. This folder type is applicable for all folders not used for Guided Assignment. When configuring folders for Guided Assignment, the Starting folder or Is Related Items folder may be configured as Standard or Guided Assignment.

Selecting Guided Assignment makes the Guided Assignment folder properties available. Use this folder type for the child folders of Is Starting and Is Related Items folders when setting up Guided Assignment.

These properties are applicable for folders used for Guided Assignment. Some properties are only available for Guided Assignment folder types.

Is Restricted

If checked, this folder is restricted so that only authorized CostGuard users can add the item to a POS order via the Find Catalog Items tool. See Restricting the Sale of Catalog Items.

Note

Is Restricted only works for folders if they have a SKU. You cannot search for a folder by Description in a POS Make Sale. Also, placing a non-restricted item in a restricted folder, does not restrict that item.

Is Starting Folder

Every CostGuard guided order sequence requires a starting folder at the top of the hierarchy. Check the Starting Folder check box to designate a folder as the starting folder.

  • The Is Starting Folder is used for starting a guided assignment in a Customer Management order.

    • POS Guided Assignment DOES NOT use the Is Starting Folder. The Is Related Items folder is used instead.

    • If more than one starting folder exists in the tree, the Limit-To criteria dictates which starting folder is evaluated first.

Is Related Items Folder

Every POS guided order sequence requires an Is Related Items folder at the top of the hierarchy. Guided Assignment folders are created as children under the Is Related Items Folder. To designate a folder as an Is Related Items folder, check the Is Related Items Folder check box.

Checking this box adds this folder to a list of Is Related Item Folders. This list populates the Related Items Folder drop-down menu on applicable Catalog Item configuration windows. This menu is used to designate an item as the trigger for a guided order, and to specify the folder sequence to use during the order.

Combine Child Choose Folders into a single page

If checked, when this folder is reached during a Guided Assignment flow, its child folders that are set up as choose folders RE displayed on a single page within the Guided Assignment flow.

Notes:

  • Only Child Choose Folders that are decision independent can be included. This means that if this setting is checked, during the normal flow of Guided Assignment once this folder is reached, instead of displaying the child steps one page at a time, the new page displays all the child folders at once and the contents of one child folder is not updated based on another child folder's selections. If the contents of these child folders are dependent on previous choices made by the user, those choices must be made on a separate page. For example, if the flow provides different sets of Features to choose from based on which Plan is selected, the Plan selection must occur on a page prior to the page containing the features. However, if there are similar groups of selections (such as Features, Accessories, Add-Ons, and Shipping Options) that can be made based on a previous decision, they can all be combined on the same page.

  • This functionality is available only for POS Guided Assignment.

    See POS Guided Order with a Multi-Step Page.

This Folder can be Selected

This indicates whether the folder is automatically selected in a guided order (mandatory), or whether the salesperson has the option to select or not select this folder.

If checked, the folder is displayed with a check box during the guided order, and the salesperson has the option to select or not select the folder.

If unchecked, the folder content is always evaluated during the guided order, and one or more items must be selected according to the Choose _ To _ Children field.

  • If unchecked, AND, if the folder contains ONLY ONE item, that item is automatically added to the order during the Guided Assignment process. The salesperson does not need to select the item.

  • If unchecked, AND the folder contains MULTIPLE items (as in Choose _ To _ Children), salesperson is prompted to select as directed by that wizard page.

  • If unchecked, AND the folder contains another subfolder, then the relevant screen that contains the items in the subfolder displays a 'second' time; this means it would 'normally' display once for the item the user actually selected, and once for the item that is being automatically added based on the check box being unchecked.

Choose_to_Children

Lets you specify the number of items to be chosen from this folder.

  • 0 to 0 (unrestricted) can select any or all items; there are no restrictions; selecting none is OK

  • 1 to 1 (exactly x) can only select 1; no more, no less

  • 1 to 0 (at least x) must select at least 1

  • 0 to 1 (at most x) select at most 1, but no more than 1; selecting none is OK

  • 1 to 3 (between x and y) select 1 or more items, but no more than 3

    Note

    If the choose value is left blank, or is set to "0," the wizard auto-assigns the features in the choose folder.

Step Order

One of the criteria that determines the order by which folders are presented in the order wizard. Folders are evaluated:

  • First by their relative placement in the folder hierarchy.

  • Folders at the same level in the hierarchy (sibling folders) are evaluated according to their step order. If a sibling has child folders, the child folders are evaluated according to their respective step orders before the next sibling. That is, once folder evaluation has started on a branch, the branch is evaluated to completion before the next branch is evaluated.

  • Selectable folders at the current level being evaluated in the hierarchy are evaluated first, regardless of the step order.

    The following figure and table demonstrate the folder evaluation sequence.

    Guided Assignment Order POS

    Folder

    Evaluation Order

    Motorola CDMA Handset Related Items Folder

    First (Is Related Items Folder for POS, or Starting Folder in Customer Management)

    Plans

    Second – Next level in hierarchy,
    Step Order = 1

    Contracts

    Third – Child of Plans folder, branch is evaluated to completion.

    Moto Accessories

    Fourth – Sibling of Plans, Step Order = 2

    Motorola Hands Free Accessories

    Fifth – Child of Moto Accessories AND
    Is Selectable

    Other Children of Moto Accessories

    (Misc, Batteries, Cases & Chargers)

    Sixth - Ninth according to Step Order

    Insurance Plans

    Last - Sibling of Plans and Moto Accessories, Step Order = 3

Caption

Optional subheader text which is displayed in the white area at the top of the wizard screens. If not specified, the folder's description is displayed.

To change the look of the text:

  1. Click in the Caption box.

  2. Enter the desired text.

  3. Select the text to be changed and click the text and/or paragraph formatting buttons above the box.

Instructions

Optional instructions or helpful tips to display when this folder is presented in a guided order.

To change the look of the text:

  1. Click in the Caption box.

  2. Enter the desired text.

  3. Select the text to be changed and click the text and/or paragraph formatting buttons above the box.

EditFolderChoose

Note

You can ensure certain items are included in an order in two ways. To ensure the contents of a folder are available for selection, clear (uncheck) the This Folder Can Be Selected check box. This makes the folder automatically included in the order. To ensure specific items are added to the order, create a folder that contains those specific items, and clear the Choose check box.

Customer Care Guided Assignment Flow Diagram

UG template for Help

Evaluating Folders

Folders are presented in the guided order according to several criteria. Folders are evaluated:

  • First by their relative placement in the folder hierarchy.

  • Folders at the same level in the hierarchy (sibling folders) are evaluated according to their step order. If a sibling has child folders, the child folders are evaluated according to their respective step orders before the next sibling. That is, once folder evaluation has started on a branch, the branch is evaluated to completion before the next branch is evaluated.

  • Selectable folders at the current level being evaluated in the hierarchy are evaluated first, regardless of the step order.

The Evaluation Order Details demonstrate the folder evaluation sequence.

Folder evaluation order details (sequence)

Guided Assignment Order POS

Folder

Evaluation Order

Motorola CDMA Handset Related Items Folder

First (Is Related Items Folder for POS, or Starting Folder in Customer Management)

Plans

Second – Next level in hierarchy,
Step Order = 1

Contracts

Third – Child of Plans folder, branch is evaluated to completion.

Moto Accessories

Fourth – Sibling of Plans, Step Order = 2

Motorola Hands Free Accessories

Fifth – Child of Moto Accessories AND
Is Selectable

Other Children of Moto Accessories

(Misc, Batteries, Cases & Chargers)

Sixth - Ninth according to Step Order

Insurance Plans

Last - Sibling of Plans and Moto Accessories, Step Order = 3

Note

One Price Choose Packages cannot be used in Guided Assignment.

The Wizard displays the features and selectable folders that exist within the choose folder.

Evaluating Limit-To's

Limit-To's are evaluated when loading sub-folders.

Evaluating Inactive Items

Inactive starting items are ignored completely, even when auto-assigning features or auto-evaluating sub-folders. By default, inactive items are hidden when the list of features and sub-folders are displayed to choose from in the wizard.

Note

Standard Folders, Services and Choose Packages are ignored.

Once a service has been added to the order, the system begins to query the Product Catalog folders. Starting folders are evaluated first. All sub-folders within the Starting folders are evaluated next. Folders are evaluated based on Limit To's and any inactive folders are filtered out. Depending on the configuration, the wizard screens will vary; additional pages may or may not be displayed.

Note

Starting Folders are typically the root folders. You would not want to configure a sub-folder as a Starting Folder.

If more than one starting folder is detected during the evaluation, the wizard displays a list of folders to select. If only one folder is found, then that folder is automatically evaluated. If no folders are found then an error message is displayed and the order cannot be completed.

Any items assigned to a service are checked by default and cannot be unchecked. The choose type is enforced in the wizard when the Next button is selected and the appropriate features are assigned as you navigate through the wizard.

Note

Choosing to go back a page in the wizard removes all previous selections made; you will have to select the features again.