Compositions for Services Items

The Compositions category for Services Items let you manage Services Items structure by reusing existing ones as needed. You can create a partially-configured item for the product catalog that serves as the base for sales or for internal use in other items. Saleable item composition is often called bundling.

This page shows the Services Items structure for the current Services Item. The current Services Item could be composed of other Services Items. You can use the Configurations category for a Services Product to create any number of Services Items.

Services Items also show in the Product Configurations app category for Variant Management.

Required license roles: Services Product Manager, Services Product Developer, Services Product Contributor, Services Product Business Metrics, Review and Approve

A person with the Reader access role, or with the with a Services Product Business Metrics or Review and Approve license role, can only view the structure.

To access this page:

  1. Open the required Services Item. For more information, see Opening a Services Item.
  2. In the navigation pane, click Composition.

This topic describes:

This page discusses:

See Also
In Other Guides
Page Toolbar Icons

Columns

Column Name Description
Marketing Name The marketing name of the Services Item.
Name The name of the Services Item. Click to open.
Type The object type: Services Item.
Description Details about the Services Item.
Based On The name of the product on which this Services Item is based.
Derived From If the Services Item was derived from another Services Item, the name of that Services Item.
State

Shows up to 3 lines for the previous, current, and next lifecycle states. The current state is highlighted, and you can click it to open the Lifecycle page. If you only see 2 lines, the item is in its first or last state. Hover over the state to view the available actions:

Action Description
Promote the item to the next state.
Demote the item to its previous state.
Promote the item to its final state.
Note: Hover actions are not available on mobile devices.

Owner Person responsible for the Services Item.
Overall Completeness Status Indicates how complete the Services Item is:

Value Description
Complete

Rules are activated

Rules compliancy is valid (has a value only if rules are activated)

Configuration is complete (every must option is selected)

Every effective nested product of the product is matched by composed items according to the defined cardinality (one, optional, mandatory, several)

  • One: the composition is complete if there is one and only one item for the nested product.
  • Optional: the composition is complete if there is zero or one item for the nested product. If more than one, the composition is not complete.
  • Mandatory: the composition is complete if there is one or more items for the nested product. If zero, the composition is not complete.
  • Several: the composition is always complete.

There is no composed item that does not match an effective nested product of the product for the given cardinality definitions.

Every composed item is complete
Partial The above conditions are not met.

Configuration Completeness Status Indicates how complete the Services Item is:
  • Partial: At least one "must select" feature does not have a value, part of the product definition is missing—the resulting product is partial.
  • Complete: All "must select" features have a value and "single select" features have no more than one option selected—the resulting product is coherent and complete.
  • Hybrid: At least one "single select" feature has multiple options selected, so the resulting product is a mix of several valid products—it is hybrid.
Rule Compliancy Status Indicates whether the Services Item is compliant with configuration rules:
  • Valid: Selected options are all compatible. No conflict was found.
  • Invalid: Some selected options are not compatible. They are in conflict with one or more rules defined in the system.
  • Unknown: No status was computed. Rules are disabled.
Sales Intent Indicates how the Services Item is intended to be used to sell the product:
  • Standard Configuration: Can be sold in the market and appears in a product catalog.
  • Custom Configuration: An off-the-shelf item in the product catalog that is partially configured. It can be completely configured to become a standard configuration.
Purpose Indicates how the Services Item will be used:
  • Evaluation: For internal engineering, for example, to test configuration rules.
    Note: It is possible to create an invalid configuration for evaluation purposes. If it is preferred that this be blocked, you can configure the command action to be hidden when the configuration is invalid.
  • Order: For sale to customers.
  • Accessory: The default for Product Configurations based on configuration features.
Start Effectivity The date this Services Item is effective. If an end effectivity date is defined, then the start effectivity date is mandatory and must be earlier than that date.
End Effectivity The date after which this Services Item is no longer used. If a start effectivity date is defined, then the end effectivity date is optional, but if defined, it must be later than the start effectivity date.
Sequence Order You can use the Sequence Order menu to rearrange the sequence of documents in generated reports.

Actions/Toolbar Commands

You must have the Author access role and the Services Product Manager, Services Product Developer, or Services Product Contributor license role to perform any of these actions. The context menu also includes an Open Configurator action. This action shows the same page as the Configuration category for the Services Item.

Action Description For More Information
Add Existing Adds an existing Services Item as a child to the selected item. If you do not preselect a parent Services Item, the one you select from the search results is added at the root level, and not as a child.

The search results only show you valid Services Items. To be valid, a Services Item must meet these requirements:

  • The Services Product it is based on must be in the product nesting structure of the Services Product that the selected Services Item is based on.
  • The Services Item can be in any state other than Obsolete, but if it is in the Create, Draft, or Review state you must own it.

When adding Services Items, the app checks the cardinality value for the parent Services Product of the item:

  • If the cardinality is one or optional, the app does not allow you to add the selected Services Item if a Services Item for that Services Product is already included in the composition.
  • If the cardinality is mandatory or several, you can add multiple Services Items of the same Services Product to the composition.

 Predefined Queries
Create New Creates a new Services Item as a child of the selected item. The selected Services Item must be in the Create or Draft state, and cannot be the root node. You can create the Services Item at any level of the structure.

The new Services Item must be based on a Services Product. The search results only show you valid Services Products (they can be in any state except Cancelled or Obsolete). The available Services Products are those that exist in the product nesting structure for the Services Product that the selected Services Item is based on. If the cardinality is one or optional, the nested product is only shown in the search results if a Services Item for that nested product is not already in the composition of the selected item.

Creating Services Items
Derive and Replace Creates a Services Item by deriving it from the selected Services Item, then replacing the selected one with the newly created one.

The Services Item to be replaced must be in the Release or General Availability state and cannot be the root node. The parent service item of the selected one must be in the Create or Draft state.

The app uses these items from the selected Services Item:

  • All selected configuration features and configuration options
  • The same composition
  • All reference documents
  • All markets
  • Based on the same Services Product
  • All extensions
  • Rule compliance and configuration status

After you create the new Services Item, you can edit or change any of the above items without affecting the original Services Item. In addition, any changes made to the original Services Item do not affect the new Services Item.

On the cloud only: The above items are copied from the selected Services Item.
On premises only: Your Administrator can define additional items to be copied from the derived-from Services Item to the new Services Item.
 Deriving and Replacing Services Items
Remove Removes the selected Services Items from the list. You cannot remove the root node, and the parent of the selected Services Item must be in the Create or Draft state. –
Enable Edit / Disable Edit Toggles between edit and view mode. You must be the owner of the document, or have the Leader access role. –

Sequence Order Menu

The Sequence Order menu lets you change the sequence of the nested items. You can define a separate sequence for each level of nesting. The sequence is not the order that the items show in the list, but the value in the Sequence Order column. The page must be in edit mode (click Edit ) to change the sequence of nested items.

  • Select Sequence Order > Increase to move the item higher in the sequence (such as from 2 to 1).
  • Select Sequence Order > Decrease to move the item lower in the sequence (such as from 1 to 2).