Showing posts with label INTERVIEW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INTERVIEW. Show all posts

Monday, November 24, 2014

Integrating Siebel with Fax server:

Hi Readers, here is an interesting topic which will be helpful to many of you at least in future :)

The objective of this post is to describe the steps involved in integrating Siebel Application with Fax Server to send the Fax messages to the customer when a Fax Campaign is launched in Siebel.

1.   Requirement overview :  In this scenario, we need to install the following

  1. Siebel eCommunications– Used by the internal employees to launch the campaigns.
  1. Microsoft Exchange Server – Used to receive the fax message in the form of the Email to a dedicated email address of the MS Exchange. The format of the Email Address is Fax Number + Domain.
  2. Faxination Server – Faxination Server connects to email box on MS exchange server and receives the email messages. It converts email message to Fax message and sends the fax to the customer through Fax server. 
  3. Fax Server – Used for delivering the Fax messages to the targeted recipient.
1.   Prerequisites:

The following prerequisites should be in place before starting to launch a Fax Campaign in Siebel application.
1.1.     Port Availability

Ä     SMTP Server - The SMTP Server listens on port 25 which is necessary to send an outbound email from Siebel to MS Exchange Server.

1.1.     Siebel Component

Ä  Communications Outbound Manager- Navigate to "Administration-Configuration -> Enterprises -> Component Groups" and query for "Communications Management" under component groups applet and then query for "Communications Outbound Manager" component under "Components" applet. This is the component which must be active and running.

 
1.1.     Configuring Communication Profile for Fax Outbound Interface:
      Create communication profile:
  • Login to application by entering Admin credentials
  • Navigate to Administration – Communications -> Communication Drivers and Profiles
  • Query “Internet SMTP/POP3 Server” and select Profile view
  • Create new profile in profile applet eg “Fax Notifications”.
  • For outbound communication create following parameter

    • From Address : Any Email Address (Generally it should be Siebel Email box Id )
    • SMTP Server: Name of the SMTP Server which will send the email
    • SMTP Server Port : Server Port Number eg : 25       
    • SMTP Account Name : SMTP Account Name 
    • SMTP Account Password : SMTP Account Password 
·         Click on "Menu" button on "Profiles" applet and click on "Submit Profile Changes"

1.1.     Configuring the Fax Address:

In order to have fax recipient information processed correctly by the MS Exchange server and to work with the email account which is used by the fax server, we must modify the configuration data in Siebel Tools.

In the Fax Address field of the Campaign Recipient Business Component change the calculated value to include the email address represented as follows

 IIF([Fax Phone #] IS NOT NULL, "'/fax="+ToChar([Active Fax #])+"/' <replace_me@replace.me.com>", "")

1.   Testing Fax Treatments:
For complete details on testing Fax Treatment one can go to Administration>Campaign Management>Campaign List > Design Tab

In the design tab select the Treatment with the Channel as Fax and select the Test Treatment Menu option.

A mail will be sent to the Email Address mentioned in the SMPT Account Name of the Communication Profile.


The various issues that can be faced during the launch of the Fax Campaign are listed below:

a) Mails not reaching the Exchange Server – The step “Send Offers / Vendor Lists” of the workflow “Marketing Wave Launch” is responsible for sending the mail to the exchange server on the launch of the Fax Campaign.  

Step 1: If no POP3 logs are generated then perform the following
i) Fetch the Workflow Process Manager log generated from the Marketing Wave Launch workflow and check the result of the below attached query.  If the number of rows fetched from the SQL is zero then please check the “Offer” BC. 

Send Offers Query:

SELECT /*+ ALL_ROWS */
      T4.CONFLICT_ID,
      T4.LAST_UPD,
      T4.CREATED,
      T4.LAST_UPD_BY,
      T4.CREATED_BY,
      T4.MODIFICATION_NUM,
      T4.ROW_ID,
      T4.CREATED_BY,
      T4.ACTIVE_INBND_FLG,
      T4.SAW_SERVER_ID,
      T4.APPR_STAT_CD,
      T4.MSG_SUBJ_TEXT,
      T4.COMM_METH_CD,
      T4.FOLDER_PATH,
      T4.NAME,
      T4.MKTG_OFFR_ID,
      T3.NAME,
      T4.PR_DEAL_ID,
      T4.BU_ID,
      T4.NEED_TO_SYNC_FLG,
      T4.OFFR_GROUP_CD,
      T4.RTD_STATUS_CD,
      T4.RECIP_BC_NAME,
      T4.CALL_LST_ID,
      T2.NAME,
      T4.MEDIA_TYPE_CD,
      T4.END_DT,
      T4.START_DT
   FROM
       SIEBEL.S_DCP_BU T1,
       SIEBEL.S_CALL_LST T2,
       SIEBEL.S_MKTG_OFFR T3,
       SIEBEL.S_DMND_CRTN_PRG T4
   WHERE
      T4.MKTG_OFFR_ID = T3.ROW_ID (+) AND
      T4.CALL_LST_ID = T2.ROW_ID (+) AND
      T1.BU_ID = :1 AND T4.ROW_ID = T1.DCP_ID AND
      (T4.MEDIA_TYPE_CD IS NOT NULL AND T4.COMM_METH_CD != :2) AND
      (T4.ROW_ID = :3)
   ORDER BY
      T4.NAME


The issue can also be due to the organization visibility as the vanilla functionality doesn’t support the sending of fax email messages for the Treatments that do not belong to the Default Organization. Therefore to correct this we would need to associate the Default organization to the Treatments automatically before launching the campaign. For further reference please refer to the SR: 3-5388559531.

ii) Check whether the Fax Treatment created has the Delivery Profile field populated

 Thats all the story guys,I hope this will be very useful document for integrating siebel with fax server,do post your feedback.

How to change the font,size,color of the field / control caption

Hi All,Sometimes we need to change the properties of siebel applet controls and below is the solution

Solution:

For the field for which we have to change the Font / Size / Color set the following HTML tags in the caption [string override] of the field properties.

1. "label style"
2. "span style"
3. "font face" & "color"
4. <b> & </b> to bold the text
5. font onmouseover & onmouseout
6. <br/> for line break in case of long captions

Examples:

<label style="background-color:red">fieldname</label>
<span style="background-color: red">fieldname</span>
<font face="fontname" size=26 color=yellow>fieldname</font>
<font onmouseover="style.color='green'" onmouseout="style.color='red'">fieldname or controlname</font>
field<br/>name<br/>is too long

Friday, October 31, 2014

Interview with Yassine Kabbaj of Siebel Private Cloud

Here at Siebel Essentials, we are always on the watch for interesting developments around Siebel CRM. A few weeks ago, a new company - Siebel Private Cloud - appeared on the internet. They offer Siebel CRM in the cloud, ranging from sandboxes to full production scale deployments without the hassle of installing, maintaining and securing a Siebel server environment.

An offering like this brings up a lot of questions, so we contacted Yassine Kabbaj, founder and CEO of Siebel Private Cloud and he was so kind to agree to the following email interview.

***

Siebel Essentials: What were the reasons why you founded Siebel Private Cloud?
Yassine Kabbaj: After 15 years of Siebel Consulting, I've decided to launch this project for the following reasons:
  • I believe Open UI will give a new breath to this market as it is heading up the right way and opening so many doors.
  • Too many resources are spent setting up and maintaining Siebel environments and my ambition is to provide time and cost effective reliable solutions to start with.
  • Consulting was a great way getting into and understanding IT business, but after a while, I felt I wasn't learning much anymore. It was time to look for new challenges.
SE: What are the offerings of Siebel Private Cloud?
YK: The following services are currently available:

Siebel Sandbox: Appropriate for evaluation, demo or training.
  • One dedicated virtual server for the database instance (Oracle Database 11g Express Edition)
  • One dedicated virtual server for Siebel (Gateway, Siebel Server, Siebel Web Server)
Siebel Development: Appropriate for development and testing
  • Dedicated root server for complete Siebel development environment
  • One dedicated virtual server for the database instance (Oracle Database 11g Express Edition)
    • Four pre-installed Siebel schemas (Development, Test, Acceptance, Training) 
  • Four dedicated virtual servers for Siebel (Development, Test, Acceptance, and Training)
  • Online secured VPN access
  • Daily backup
Siebel Production: Appropriate for Siebel production environments
  • Two dedicated root servers for complete Siebel production environment 
  • One dedicated virtual server for the database instance per dedicated root server (Oracle Database 11g Release 2)
  • One dedicated virtual server for Siebel per dedicated root server 
    • Pre-installed Siebel native load balancing over the 2 dedicated root servers 
  • Online secured VPN Access
  • Daily backup
Siebel Toolbox Server (coming soon):
  • SVN server for Siebel Tools source code integration. 
  • Mantis bug tracker.
  • Jenkins continuous integration system to manage, monitor and execute repeated Siebel jobs (compile, deployments, integration, testing etc ...). 
  • Big Data and Analytics integration
SE: Do your offerings include Oracle product licenses?
YK: Oracle Siebel and Oracle Database license keys are not included. Customers need to obtain license keys through the appropriate channel from Oracle.

Sitemap of the Siebel Sales demo application provided by Siebel Private Cloud.
Click to enlarge.
SE: Can you share some technical details for our readers on the hosting?
YK: Our data-center is located in Germany. It is fitted with redundant network, high-speed access to all internet uplinks, 24/7 monitoring, Juniper routing technology and 620 Gbit bandwidth. The minimum availability of the network is 99%. The servers come with high-performance Intel� Core i7-4770 Quadcore processor and the Haswell architecture.

We use the following software and technologies: 
  • Ubuntu 14.04 Server for Siebel DB 
  • Oracle Linux 5 Server for Siebel Servers 
  • Virtualbox for virtualization 
  • Hadoop and MapReduce for Big Data 
  • Pentaho for analytics
SE: Which Siebel applications are you offering?
YK: We offer all available Siebel applications.

SE: What about highly integrated applications like Siebel Marketing, Universal Customer Master, or Public Sector? How can customers manage the integration with Oracle BI, OEDQ or OPA?
YK: Our Siebel environments are connected via VPN. So basically integration with other applications is more a matter of the quality of the SOA architecture and integration best practices than the Siebel environment itself. In other words, if the pre-existing SOA architecture has been implemented in a loosely coupled manner, than the integration with the Siebel environment should go smoothly.

SE: How will you support customization?
YK: Our service packages are based on Siebel environment templates. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we highly discourage our customers to customize their environments in order to avoid complexity and the resulting maintainability issues. Although it is impossible for our templates to cover all the situations, we constantly try to provide a complete solution able to answer all the potential Siebel business needs in a reliable efficient and cost effective way. We provide full support for Siebel configuration development integration and migration which his is discussed on a case to case basis with our customers according to their specific needs.

SE: Do customers have full Siebel Administrator responsibility to manage their applications and servers? 
YK: Indeed, customers have full Siebel administrator responsibilities to manage their applications and servers. It is their own responsibility to set their own limitations according to their resources' skills.

SE: With the announcement of Oracle to bring Siebel Tools to the web in a future version, will you support it when it arrives or is it too early to tell?
YK: Unless we hit a real blocking issue (which a priori should not happen), we will definitely support Siebel Tools to the web when it arrives.

SE: Could customers use the Siebel Open UI API to create custom themes and JavaScript files (and upload them to the web server)?
YK: Yes, the Siebel web server is co-located with the Siebel application server and the developers have access to the appropriate folders and resources.

SE: What kind of backup plans do you offer for your customers?
YK: Siebel servers are virtual machines which allow daily snapshots (or more frequently if needed). Virtual machine snapshots are used for recovery and implementation rollback. Siebel databases are backed up daily but as virtual machines they can also benefit from the snapshot recovery and rollback feature. More generally, we try our best to help and support our customers and to adapt environments to their specific needs.

SE: Will you offer upgrades to future Siebel versions?
YK: The upgrading to future Siebel versions is indeed a service that we offer.

SE: What message do you have for the Siebel community?
YK: Siebel has not had its last word!

***

Many thanks to Yassine for this interview and good luck with Siebel Private Cloud.

have a nice day

@lex