Links Demystified

I feel no shame in admitting that it took me years to fully understand the extensibility of Siebel links. I hope after reading this post you will start appreciating the Siebel even more as I did.

Let's look at the simpler links first.

1:M links
These links creates simple parent child relationship. One parent can have many children. And children records have parent id (foreign key field).

Order Entry - Orders : Order Entry - Line Items link

Order Entry - Orders and Order Entry - Line Items is perfect example. Source Field is "Id" of "Order Entry - Orders" BC and destination field is "Order Id"  of Order Entry - Line Items. Whenever system creates a line item under an order record, Siebel populates order id on order item record with ROW_ID of Order to create relationship.



M:M links
These are also comparatively simple links. Two entities (table) are related to each other using an intersection table. Intersection table helps to associate one child to other parents as well.

Account Contact link using S_PARTY_PER

For example Account and Contact link. This link allows to associate one contact to multiple accounts. In addition to the inter table Siebel stores id of primary record ( primary id field) to improve performance.

Now let's look at the interesting bits.

M:M links with source id field specified.

In standard M:M links these fields are blank and inter table stores the ID of both parent and child records. When parent id field is also specified with inter table Siebel uses field value instead of ROW_ID of parent to create intersection record.These types of links are not very common but are possible.

For Example:

M:M link with Source Field specified

Lets consider Action/FINCORP Account link, this link has Source Field specified as Primary Contact Id which means when child records are created using this link Siebel will populate Contact Id into Inter Parent Column instead of Action Id.

M:M link with both inter table and source and destination field specified.
Things now gets more interesting when both source and destination fields are specified and inter table is also specified.This way Siebel uses fields specified on the links instead of Id to create association.

Link with both Source Field and Destination Field along with inter table.

The link shown above specifies Campain Id and Destiation Field as Contact Id, thus while creating record in inter table Siebel will use Campaign Id fields instead of Id and Same applies for destination field. Interesting isn’t it???



Finally links which are overridden by MVL's
If you are following it correctly then you might think all these complicated links should be able to satisfy all possible scenarios. Just then Siebel steps up the game with multi value links. On these MVL's definition Siebel allows to override the parent id being used on the link.

So with help of primary id field override, potentially in action to contact mvl instead listing all the contacts of selected activity, Siebel can show all the contacts of parent account selected on activity. :) This over riding is allowed both on 1:M link and M:M link.


Cheat sheet for your desk:

If you have understood all of the above then I would recommend you to explore how links are used for access control and visibility of detail bus comps.

Hope it helps.

Using MVG aggregate functions

Originally posted on blog.notesonsiebel.com on April 5th, 2007 by stuandgravy

Karan asked a question the other day: how to prevent the Status of a Service Request changing until all child Activities have been completed? This type of business rule is exactly what State Models are designed for: set up a model on Service Request Status and restrict transitions to the target status unless a condition has been satisfied. The difficulty in this example is how to write a rule based on child records?

State Model Rule Expressions use the same format as calculated field values, so the same MVG aggregate functions are available. The functions Count, Sum and EXISTS all derive a single value from a Multi Value Group and are an underused way to reduce scripting.

In the example given, Service Request has an MVG Action linked to the child Activities, so we can add a Multi Value Field to point to Action.Status.

A rule expression Not EXISTS([Action Status]<>'Done') in the State Model transition gives the desired restriction.

There’s a good example of the EXISTS function in use in the vanilla Siebel 7 repository: see BC Contact field Exists New OutBound Email Activities.

Searching Calculated Fields and performance

 Originally posted on blog.notesonsiebel.com on April 3rd, 2007

The other day I was asked whether it’s possible to search calculated fields. The simple answer is yes – as can easily be tested. The complete answer’s a little more complex: query the wrong calculated field and the application will hang, CPU resources off the scale. So how can you predict what calculations are going to cause you problems?

When you execute any query, Siebel converts the user’s logical instructions to SQL. It doesn’t always do an optimal job, but you can usually be sure that most of the effort will be pushed to the database server. The problem with calculated fields is that certain functions don’t have standard cross-platform SQL equivalents.

The IIf function, for example, will never be translated to native SQL. When your field calculation contains an IIf statement, Siebel will write SQL to return a superset of data. The Siebel object manager is then left with the job of paging through the results, evaluating the calculation for each row. Needless to say, if the incomplete SQL returns a large dataset, this ain’t going to be fast.

In any particular example it’s worth eyeballing the SQL to confirm where the calculation is happening, but you can definitely expect problems with the following functions:

IIf
IfNull
ToChar
Right

Unfortunately, there’s no configuration way to prevent searching on an unpleasant field. If you’re running into problems then you’ll have to hit the PreQuery event with some scripting…

Changing the Local Database Password

 Orignally posteed on blog.notesonsiebel.com on March 29th, 2007 by stuandgravy

Users forget their passwords – that’s just the way it is. Without picking on anybody, certain users (cough sales guys cough) are particularly prone to this. And more often than not, they’re remote users who’ve not synchronised their local database for a week and desperately need their updates.
As with the server database, there’s no way to retrieve the current local database password. Password hashing algorithms are repeatable, but not reversible – sensibly enough. It is possible to change the password to something new though.

Connect to the local database, then run these SQL commands:

grant connect to USERNAME identified by PASSWORD
grant connect to SIEBEL identified by PASSWORD

Where USERNAME is the login for this database and PASSWORD is the new password (both in upper case). If for some reason you don’t know who the local database belongs to, the login can be retrieved with this command:

select name from SYSUSERAUTH
where name not in ('SYS','DBA','PUBLIC','SIEBEL','DBO','dbo','SSE_ROLE')

More often than not, you’ll also want to reset the server database password to match, so that you can sync up those outstanding changes. On Oracle, this is your usual:

alter user USERNAME identified by PASSWORD

There’s more info in SupportWeb TechNote 25, including scripts for different versions of SQL Anywhere to automate the process.

How to interview a Siebel Resource?

Originally posted on blog.notesonsiebel.com on March 26th, 2007 by stuandgravy

I’ve interviewed a bunch of Siebel techies and have evolved a few favourite questions, all based around the same theme: attempting to uncover technical breadth while avoiding obscure ‘gotcha’ questions. Things like this:

Q: How would you update a second field every time a first field is changed?

This is a great question: simple enough that a junior dev straight out of a tools course should come up with a few options and have some idea how they weigh up, but broad enough that a senior techie can lead you into detailed discussions about performance vs maintainability, good practices, upgrade issues, etc etc.
If the candidate’s running out of steam, leading questions can coax them toward more inventive answers.

For instance:

• What if the second field is in a different business component?
• What if there are multiple fields to be updated?
• What if the second update needs confirmation?
• What if the update still has to happen for batch (EAI/EIM) updates?

To the answer: I reckon the following is not a bad list to cover-off, but there’s still a few missing…
User Properties
+ minimal config
+ real time
+ robust (mostly!)
- limited
- require srf update

Runtime Events to Workflow Process
+ most things possible with native, compiled Siebel Operations
+ declarative, flexible, upgradable without srf update
+ long-running workflows for multiple consecutive events
+ real-time, optional asynchronous
- no loops (almost) without custom business services
- overhead of instantiating the workflow first time (then cached), which can have a big impact on mobile users

Server scripts
+ simple to write
+ low overhead
- not declarative, requires srf release
- higher level than vanilla C++ services (so slower, in theory)
- limited possibility to interact with the user


Browser scripts
+ opportunity for full manipulation of DOM, real-time interactivity
- maintenance headache (generating script, keeping versions current)
- interpreted at run-time (so slower, in theory)
- limited speed, memory space etc

Workflow Policy to Workflow Process
+ fully robust database-level trigger
+ fully asynchronous
- not real time, interactive
- not declarative, requires DBA maintenance

Locally unlocking a locked Project

Originally posted blog.notesonsiebel.com on March 22nd, 2007 by stuandgravy

With multiple developers building one application it’s inevitable that multiple developers will need to change the same project at the same time. There’s pros and cons and object-locking and change-control and build-control etc etc, but sometimes deadlines are too tight and you just have to fork.

In Siebel Tools, once one developer’s got a project locked the UI won’t let a second developer anywhere near it. To get around this you need to get into SQL Anywhere. Login to the second developer’s local database, then the following script will unlock the project locally:

UPDATE s_project
SET locked_flg = ‘N’
WHERE name = <Project Name>

The second developer can now log into Siebel Tools, manually lock the project as normal and do what she has to do. Of course, once build is done the two developers will need to go through a merge exercise to get their changes into the one repository, but that effort can be preferable to losing days of development time.

Siebel PropertySet Demistyfied [Infogrpahic]

This is my first post in response to analysis of Google Analytics search reports. In this series I will look at search terms searched by Siebel developers on Google and try to answer them with infographics.

Recently someone landed on How to Siebel? by searching keywords on Google: "Difference between GetValue() and GetProperty()"

There is ample information available on property set methods in bookshelf. Here is my answer using infograph.

Siebel Property Set Methods

GetValue() method returns the value of the property set, in example above  output will be : "My Value"

GetProperty() method returns the value of the specific property, in above example GetProperty("Weight") will return "1500"

If you looking for advanced property set concepts and traversing methods, then I will recommend going through How to traverse property set @ SiebelUnleashed

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Remove tiny X icon from MVG and Picklist fields in Internet Explorer

MVG and Picklist fields of Siebel IP2013 shows a tiny X icon on right end, on clicking this icon data in the field is cleared. Due to awkward positioning user end up clicking it unintentionally. This behaviour is only available for IE browser.

X in Account Field

X in Currency Field

This was added by oracle in hope to improve usability, but it has received lot angst from end users. Instead of improving user experience it risks of losing data in case of miss click.

Luckily there is simple css solution to remove this icon. Following line in your custom css can remove this unnecessary usability trick from entire application.

input:focus[type="text"]::-ms-clear{display:none;}

Input text fields with this css looks amazing just as in chrome and firefox.

CSS fix for Pick list fields

Currency Field in Siebel Open UI

Hope it helps.

Interview with Neel @ siebelunleashed.com

Last month Neel author of siebelunleashed.com announced the biggest change of his blog and change in his career.

For many it was predictable but for someone like me it was kind of a shock. It raised several questions regarding Siebel future. What is causing experts like him to leave Siebel? Is Siebel really dead? What is the future of Siebel?

I decided to understand the situation more in detail and managed to interview Neel on his decision, and was amazed with his answers.

Neel answers gave a really good insight of the Siebel market as whole and given signs of Siebel future I would like share the analysis in my next post along with more facts.

Have you been in similar situation as Neel? Then please share your thoughts with us in comments below.

Here is the interview :


Jim : Why did you choose to move away from technical role when you are distinguished Siebel developer in community? With growth of Open UI  you could have had ample playground to play on.
Neel : Jim I did not choose to move away from the technical role, I choose to move away from hands-on technical role and believe me that was not an easy decision. This role allowed me to be in touch with technology but now I was just not restricted to Siebel whole CRM and more became my playground.

After the challenge of initial learning and implementing Open UI life started getting comfortable and I couldn't see myself writing PM/PR's for next few years. I knew this role will take me away from my comfort zone and thus helping me grow by increasing my comfort zone. Now, creating a Solution roadmap for million dollar CRM Proposal is no big deal

Jim : What were the top three reasons that made you switch? Is you current employer pushing you is one of them? or this decision is voluntary as  Siebel future is uncertain?
Neel : When I switched this role I had no doubt about Siebel's future. I believed that with Open UI it is just a matter of time people are going to lineup to upgrade and implement Siebel. So, Siebel's uncertainty didn't have anything to do with my switch. Yes, my organization or specifically my manager was one of the reasons for me to switch as he wanted to me get out of day to day churn and act as CRM Subject Matter Expert (SME). It seemed a logical next step to move towards proper architect or solution role and that's why I changed.

Jim : How are you finding the new technologies as compared to Siebel? Would you say Salesforce and MS Dynamics are technologically advanced than Siebel?
Neel : Salesforce and MS Dynamics are interesting and they are evolving. There is far less functionality available in both as compared to Siebel and they are far more restricted in terms of customization. So, technically they are inferior to Siebel and when I first started working on them I thought no way an enterprise application can be hosted on them.

But people are making beeline for them. The cost difference is so big that they are ready adapt their business processes according to the available functionality and features. Salesforce is circumventing its limitation through their App Store know as AppExchange and MS dynamics is following suite.


Jim : What are the most annoying things in Siebel that you hate? like new siebel support agreement or boundaries of Siebel configuration?
Neel : When I look at Siebel now then I realize how vast and complex it is as compared to other products out there. The architecture that they created more than 10 years ago is still valid.  So, I don't hate anything about Siebel now but there are couple of things that they can add to make it awesome such as new IDE Siebel Tools, support of REST services.


Jim : If you were given opportunity to change the direction of Siebel as product what will you change?
Neel : I wouldn't want to change the direction of Siebel but I would like to make it faster. If OpenUI would have been delivered alongside salesforce then things might have been different. They are moving towards merging On Premise and their Cloud offerings. Eventually it will be something like MS Dynamics offering where you will get choice of deploying same product either OnPremise or Cloud. One thing I would make sure to include quickly is support for REST based services as they are important for Web Base development and integration.


Jim: What are the best features of Siebel that you like?
Neel : OpenUI has to the best feature by far that I like in Siebel with only regret that it was at least 3-5 years late in arriving.


Jim : What will you suggest to a Siebel developer at this market state? If experience level of consultant is 5 , 8 or 10 years, would you suggest them to switch or stay put?
Neel : I believe the days where you could learn one skill and then use it for next 10 years are over. It doesn't matter at what experience level you are (5, 8, 10) you have make an habit of learning new skills.  Siebel jobs are going to be there for a long time but unfortunately I don't see many new implementation of Siebel. So, I assume that most of the jobs in future are going to be for maintenance projects something similar to Mainframe jobs. So, switching is person choice based on person's interest.

But if I have to recommend something apart of Siebel then I would recommend BigData instead of Salesforce as many might be expecting. BigData is an area that is evolving, exciting and challenging, it has great scope for at least next 5-10 years.


Jim: Have you closed all doors for Siebel? Or can there be a comeback in future?
Neel: I am trying to move towards an true architect role where you look at different technologies from 10000 feet and then try to put different pieces together to complete a jigsaw puzzle. So, Siebel as a technology is not out of picture but my hands-on days on Siebel are over for sure.


Jim :Finally, what do you think is the future of Siebel? I know you avoided this topic on your blog, would like to comment on it now? or share some of your thoughts or share any trend you have experienced on your blog?
Neel : Oracle's focus is more on  its Cloud Offerings. Oracle Sales people have been directed to sell On Premise solution only in certain cases such as where deal is of large size or a new customer account is being cracked otherwise they have been instructed to sell On Cloud CRM products. I came to know about this while dealing with Oracle Sales person for a Siebel Proposal (thanks to my new role). That makes me believe that they are trying to merge their Cloud & On Premise offerings. All the development in Siebel (Tools on web, New theme making the UI similar to Oracle Sales Cloud) seems to be also pointing to same.

If you look at market statistics customer are adopting cloud technology in masses. People are sticking to Siebel either because they are heavily invested or they believe other products don't offer what they need. Salesforce recently announced launch of their vertical clouds focused at industries such as Pharma, Media, Finance similar to Siebel Verticals. If they are successful in launching a quality product, that means customers concerns around functionality will be addressed and given the price difference it will be only matter of time before they move on.  Siebel was market leader because it came in ahead of its time but Oracle's cloud services are still playing catch-up. So, until and unless Oracle can expedite it's rollouts it will always be playing catch-up.

So, to conclude I believe Siebel as product might not exist in not so far future and Oracle will offer one CRM product with choice of On Premise and Cloud Deployment.
 


Please share your thoughts in comments below. And register your email to receive email updates.


- Jim

Top 10 most annoying features of Open UI!

I am back with another installment of #ShameOnOracle series. I have been doing talking with lot of Siebel users recently, Strange enough I got almost the same reactions when I asked user what they don't like about Open UI.

From the reactions I have created this list of Top 10 most annoying features of Siebel Open UI:

1. No vertical scroll in list applets.
2. No hour glass for system processing.
3. No popup multi-line text areas.
4. MVG lost shuttle applet.
5. Attachment drag and drop doesn't work.
6. On the fly attachment update is not supported.
7. Product configurator is slower than HI product configurator
8. Screen real estate is not utilized properly in 8.1.1.9 to 8.1.1.14, lot of blank spaces left on UI.
9. Keyboard shortcuts doesn't work properly.
10. Document title is not static.

Please be mindful that these list of issues faced by end user at my current customer only and does not represent all users of Siebel Open UI. Issues presented here might not look like an issue to you personally or your customer.

Did you receive same reactions anywhere? Please feel free to share your feedback or solutions in comments below.

#ShameOnOracle