Overview

Setting Up Products 

Before you start using Products you should set up the system to reflect your own business needs.

Brands

The commercial brand of the product, such as Samsung or Apple (each product has only a single brand). Define the brands that can be used for products. 

Families 

Families group products of similar characteristics, such as decoders or televisions (each product can belong to just one family). Families can be represented in a hierarchical structure, leave the parent blank for root family names. 

Categories 

Categories provide a business classification to products and can be used for analysis or reward purposes (each product can belong to multiple categories). Categories can be represented in a hierarchical structure, leave the parent blank for root category names.

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Meter Reading Types

Traceable physical goods (installed items) can measure consumption (of a specific unit, i.e. KM) and create readings on which customers can be billed. Measured consumption of an installed item can be managed via dedicated Web API methods. An example of such installed items are the energy metering devices that are installed in houses and collect electric consumption and homeowners are billed based on their overall reading.

Readings can be classified as:

• Consumption Readings: Defines a consumption measurement that was documented at a specific time and was independent of the previous reading.
• Cumulative Readings: Defines the total consumption of an installed item depending on the previous reading.

Unit of measure can be one of: 

• Event
• Movie
• GB
• MB
• Minute
• SMS
• Litre.

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Product Types

Types are used to determine the operational characteristics of products. Through its type, a product can be:

• Classified as a 'Physical Good' or a 'Service'. 
• Classified as a 'Fixed Bundle' or 'Flat'.  
• Designated for use in provisioning.    
• Associated to a meter reading which will be used for measuring consumption (for billing purposes).
• Enhanced by adding metadata attributes used to define specific characteristics such as size, color, storage, or any extra information required to be kept in the system and not covered by CRM.COM already.
  

See below how you can set up product types to use for the creation of a variety of products with unique characteristics.

• Classification: Products can either be Physical goods, tangible items that is provided to the customer, such as a camera, decoder or magazine (generally with exclusive ownership) or Services, intangible commodities that are provided to the customer, such as telephony, a TV channel, repair, installation or delivery (generally without exclusive ownership)
• Physical Good Type: Physical Goods can be Traceable, traced through a unique identifier (usually a serial number) (for example Modem with a serial number) or Non-Traceable, which cannot be traced to a single instance and are measured based on quantity, (for example, a Remote control). In case of physical goods you can define the types of meter reading that will be created when an installed item of this type is created; for example an electric measurement instrument
• Service Type: Services can be
  • Termed: Provided continuously and billed for a recurring period, regardless of usage. For example, a TV channel added to a subscription and billed on a recurring basis
  • Usage: Provided upon customer request and are billed, based on their usage. For example, a film (VOD) added on a subscription that will be billed once or a telephone call logged on a subscription billed for 10 minutes. In case of usage services you can also determine the type of UDR that will be created when a usage service of this type is provided (only available when the 'Classification' is 'Services').
  • One- Time: Provided and billed once, based on duration. For example, an installation service added to an activity and billed according to how long it took to complete.
  • Expense: Provided and billed once, for a fixed amount. For example, an installation fee added to a subscription and billed once for a fixed amount.
• Composition Method: Products can be a single product or made up of components
  • Flat: A product that consists of a single service or physical good. For example, a channel, installation service or modem.
  • Flexible Bundle: A product made up of a variable selection of constituent component products. For example, a channel bouquet that allows customers to select which channels they want to add. (Only termed services and non-Traceable Physical Goods can be flexible bundles
  • Fixed Bundle: A product made up of a selection of constituent component products that are predefined and cannot be specified individually. For example, a channel bouquet with predefined channels or an installation hardware kit that includes the equipment required to set up a new triple play subscription. E.g., a Roku box and modem.Only termed services and physical goods can be fixed bundles
• Allowed to be provisioned by third-part providers: it is possible to define whether termed and usage services or traceable physical goods will be provisioned through third party providers such as TV channel VOD decoder or modem.
• Non-stockable: Physical goods (traceable and non traceable) which are invoiced but not included in any warehouse or warehouse transaction.
• Allowed metadata Attributes: Keep additional information on products (other than the one defined in CRM.COM) for your products by defining metadata information. i.e. color, size, production year, genre etc.
   
  

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Using Products

Create Products to use them throughout the system for selling, renting or rewarding. In this section you can find out how your business can use Products to cover its own needs.

Specify the criteria that match the products you are interested in or use NEW from the Actions menu to create a new Product. Provide the mandatory information before you SAVE.

Use EDIT from the Actions menu to enter edit mode in order to make changes to the product definition. You can DELETE products as long as they are not in use in by the system.

Pricing products 

On creating a product with the intention to sell or rent it, it is important that a price is provided. Define the price of the product directly from the Products page which will be automatically added to the Global Price Plan. Provide a Global Base Rate (a base rate in the price plan with classification 'GLOBAL', via Finance > Product & Pricing > Manage Price Plans) in the respective section. Additional prices can be set (by adding the product in more price plans, for more information visit Pricing).

Additionally, multiple taxes may be applicable to a product. Some taxes are automatically applied based on the product type while other taxes can be selected and conditionally applied on a product. Check taxes or add new ones through the Pricing & Billing section. (For more information on taxes visit Platform).

Provide product validity

You can create products which will only be valid for a specific period. Validity of a product determines whether the product is available to be added to any entities which are using products. For example, you can only add a product to a subscription, or associate it to a reward condition, or sell it through an invoice only if it is currently valid.

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Importing products from 3rd party systems

If you are integrating to a third party system where products are already defined then there's an easy way to transfer all your products in CRM.COM. Additionally, if management of the products is done through third party systems, then the products in CRM.COM can be updated accordingly.

Synchronisation is available through WEB API or through the 'synchronise product' process. The process takes a file as an input and either creates new products or updates existing ones.  

1. Navigate to Foundation > Utilities > Imports > Synchronise Products and create a new definition.
2. Define the applicable settings and Save.
3. Prepare an import file in either Excel, CSV or XML format. A template is provided during the import process. Files in either format contain one column for each field that can be imported and a first row including headers. 
4. Click on Submit from the Actions menu and proceed by selecting the file with the products. 

See Appendix A for information on how to download the template and information on how to prepare the import file. Also refer to the Utilities section of the Foundation manual. 

Offering product bundles

Product bundles make it possible to offer a combination of component products for sale as one package. Flexible bundles allow the customers to customise the contents of the package by selecting components.

The following types of product bundles can be created:

• Flexible Termed Services Bundle: The user defines a selection of available services (e.g., channels) that the customers can choose from to add to their subscription.
• Fixed Termed Services Bundle: The available components (e.g., channels) are predefined.  This is convenient for provisioning, as a single request is sent to the provider.
• Fixed Traceable Physical Goods Bundle: A physical good with a traceable serial number and predefined components. For example, an installation kit that includes a modem and decoder provided to customers as a set.  The agent refers to the bundle by its unique serial number and not the serial numbers of its components.
• Fixed Non-Traceable Physical Goods Bundle: A physical good with predefined components and no serial number. For example, an installation kit that includes a satellite dish and remote control.
• Flexible Non-Traceable Physical Goods Bundle: The user defines a selection of available goods (e.g., channels) that the customers can choose from.

Allowed components for product bundles

The constituent components of product bundles created in the system must be defined along with possible restrictions. The components that can be added depend on the bundle type.

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 Setting up fixed product bundles

To create a fixed product bundle the constituent components and their quantity must be defined.  Agents and customers adding the bundle to a subscription cannot affect its components.

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Setting up flexible product bundles

Flexible product bundles allow agents and customers to select constituent components, subject to possible restrictions established when creating the bundle.  The products, product types and product families available when adding a bundle to a subscription can be defined through the product's Components tab.  A minimum and maximum quantity that can be added from each of the three categories (products, families, and types) can be defined.

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Additional Processes and Automations for Products

Promoting your products

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Provide unique descriptions and images to use for your product when promoted and sold through mobile apps and web portals. Provide a priority to define whether it will appear at the top of a product list.

Define upsells and cross-sells for each product to encourage customers to spend extra. This can be done via the Product data entry screen (Finance > Products & Pricing > Manage Products > select an existing product or create a new product > Marketing Information tab > Upsells or CrossSells sections).  

• Upsells are comparable higher-end products than the chosen product itself and can be used during sales (e.g. portal) to encourage customers to buy them instead.
• Cross-sells are similar to impulse purchases positioned next to the cash register at the checkout line or can be defined as related or additional products.

Note
Upsells are unidirectional, that is if 'product B' is an upsell of 'product A' it doesn't mean that it 'product A' is an upsell of 'product B', while cross-sells are unidirectional, that is if a relation is defined between the 2 products then the one is considered as a cross-sell of the other.

Enriching product information

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Metadata is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. Metadata attributes cover the need to provide extra information on products which are not covered by the system already. They can be used to provide additional characteristics which are only relevant to the specific product. For example, for a shirt, provide colour, size, and sleeve length. The metadata attributes whose values can be set per product must be defined on the Product Type Allowed Metadata Attributes. Subsequently, when a product of that type is created it will inherit the metadata attributes and you can then define the applicable values (Metadata Attributes Set). For example if the metadata attribute set on the product type is 'colour', then on the product you can define that the colour is Blue.

For all the metadata attributes set as mandatory on the product type, you must provide a value, however if they are not defined as mandatory you can select which of those attributes you would like to use on the product. 

It is also possible to provide additional characteristics to installed items (i.e. traceable physical goods). In this case, you will need to define the Allowed Metadata Attributes on the product. Subsequently when an installed item of that product is created, it will inherit the metadata attributes and you can then define the applicable values (Metadata Attributes Set). 

Note that Allowed metadata values are defined via Configuration > System Settings > Set up custom fields and metadata settings > Metadata attributes. 

Determining Product Performance

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There is a product performance report available to help you see how well your products are performing. The performance is calculated on a yearly basis and according to the classification of the product, additional information may be retrieved
The following information is available: 

• Performance Calculation Period

• Total Revenue of this Product

• Number of subscriptions the service is active (for termed & usage services)

To run the Total Revenue per Product report navigate to Foundation > Analytics > Reports > from the Finance section select Products > Total Revenue per Product. Refer to the  Analytics manual for further information.   

Note
Not available for one-time services or expenses.

Checking Stock Balance

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You can view the available stock of a physical good from the Warehouses screen in order to determine whether new orders should be placed (Foundation > Inventory Management > Warehouses > Manage Warehouses > select the warehouse to see the product stock balance). Refer to the Inventory Management manual for further details.

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