This is a guide on Dynamic Orders, RPM's solution to tracking the multitude of complicated Orders that the telecommunications industry can make. If you would like to see a demo of this in action before attempting to set it up on your own please contact us at [email protected].


To explain why you would want to use Dynamic Orders can be summarized in two main points. One, reconciling your Orders to your billing commissions becomes much more accurate with Dynamic Orders. And Two, historical reporting on all the changes your Orders went through throughout it's life span. So to start we'll need to recap on how reconciliation works in RPM. 


RPM Telco's Reconciliation tool allows you to place all of your billing Orders into RPM and compare them every month to your billing accounts to see if they're paying accurately. This ensures that all those deals you have worked so hard to close are paying the expected amount month after month. However the reconciliation tool has some limitations that you may have run into if you've ever tried to set it up in the past. 


For more information about Reconciliation


A common issue with tracking Orders is the sheer amount of variability and change around them.  If you have tried to setup reconciliation in the past, you have probably run into common issues such as multi-locations and MACD's (Move, Add, Change, Disconnects). Throughout its lifespan, an Order can change dramatically and RPM Telco needed to present a way to keep track of all of these changes while allowing the ability to reconcile. What we came up with was tracking these changes as a separate process and using Table Fill to automatically relay the information back to the Master Order. This allows us to preserve the reconciliations golden rule, one Order per one billing account number. 


This is a complex build out that can be handled with the assistance of the RPM Telco Support Team for $150/per hour. We will evaluate the needs of your Order workflow and design process flows accordingly. The below setup steps are for self setup for those who are confident in their RPM knowledge.

Prerequisite Knowledge


Initial Setup - Setup Steps for New Processes


Follow these steps if you want to start fresh or have not used RPM to track Orders in the past. 


1) Import all Processes and Data


Attached below is a Zip File that has all the processes and Excel spreadsheets we need to import into a new Subscription. The folder has them labeled in the order they need to be imported.


A quick summary of the folders: the first folder has all the support processes numbered in the order they need to be imported. The 2nd folder is the Order and Order Modifications processes, they need to be imported in that respective order. The 3rd folder is all the Excel spreadsheets that need to be imported into the processes.


2) Fix the Reference Fields 


So, after the import, a lot of things are not going to be working. In short, we need to find every process reference field and click into them and hit "okay." This is due to the reference fields being made by the import but not linked. You'll notice that if you attempt to start an Order process list like "State" or "Product Categories" won't populate with their forms, this is due to the reason stated before. 


After fixing all the reference fields we need to fix all the missing reference fields.


These are listed in order of importance. If you find any that I missed please let me know.

  • (Process Name) - Table Field (If Applicable) - Field
  • Order - Order Updates - Order Mods (Reference field to Order Modifications)
  • Customer Location - Every Reference in Every Table Field and State/Provenience
  • Products - Product Category


3) Make the Table Fills


After fixing all of the reference fields you should be able to then build out the table fills. 


This is another check to see if any reference fields are not working since we are importing the process. If we don't edit those reference fields in the setup they will not work even though they appear. So, your table fill should look like the example below. 


The main table fill is the most important one to set up and ensure is working. Between the Order process and Order Modifications editing the map will automatically fill in most of the data you need so you will only need to map the fields.



Additional Table Fields for the supporting processes are optional. 

I.E Orders to Sold Through


4) Process Flow


Needs to be set up to pass over information between Orders to Order Modifications.




Make sure to map Total Order MRC from the Orders to the Previous MRC field and Original MRC to Original MRC.



Please then read the Summary section at the bottom to ensure every step is completed. 



Initial Setup - Steps to Incorporate Existing Order Process on Subscription


Before you start, if setting this up sounds like a good idea for your team and the end goal of reporting for your business, I recommend getting together with your Order management team and revamping the Orders in RPM. Any issues with how things are processed or could be better streamlined makes it much easier to implement this going forward. If everyone is happy with the current Order process we move onto making it dynamic!


1) Adding Order Modifications and Assisting Processes


We will first need to add a new process to represent the changes an Order goes through. This process will need to track all the information that is important for these Order changes this can include everything on the original Order itself. 


The best place to start would be to download your existing Orders process and import it back into your RPM under the name "Order Modifications." I am going to be referring to this process as Order Modifications from now on. 


Then in the Zip File attached below import the Modifications Type process in the 1.Support Processes folder and then import the Excel sheet ModificationTypes located in the 3.Import Data folder.


2) Adding Fields to Orders


Add the following fields to your Orders. These fields will allow you to track the MRC changes over time for the Orders.


  1. Original MRC- Money Field: Either add this or rename the field you're using to track MRC to this.
  2. Order Mods- Table Field: And then add these fields to this table field
    1. Order Modifications- Process Reference Field for Order Modifications: Reference to our new process, this will be used for Table Fill
    2. MRC Change - Money field for changes to MRC from Order Mods
    3.  Any Other Fields: Create any other fields you would like to see on this table. Don't fret over this as this can be expanded on whenever you want. You have two options here. You can make shared fields pulling data in from the Order Modifications forms. This method is fine except that you won't be able to use the shared fields in filters so you lose some control. The better method would be to recreate the fields as the same type on the table. So, Text to Text, Date to Date, etc. This way, you can filter on all Orders with mods that have a date of this year. Table Fill will then fill these fields with data for us. 
  3. Total Order MRC - Formula Field (Original MRC + Order Changes): This field will ensure that the MRC of the Order always updates as we add Mods. Make sure to change all Widgets and reports to use or include this field as it will be your true MRC going forward.

3) Modifying Order Modifications


Now, you are probably wondering why I had you copy over the entire Order process and re-name it. That is due to the Order Mods being another Order that just summarizes itself under the master Order. It is much easier to delete what you do not need out of the Order Modification process rather than recreate it from scratch.


At this stage, look to remove any fields you know will not be useful for MACD's. You can even just leave it as is and remove the fields after you have used dynamic orders for a while.


Then change your MRC and NRC/SPIFF fields to MRC Change and NRC Change/SPIFF Change in the Order Modifications Process.


Then add a new money field called Previous MRC, you can hide this field behind a field group if you'd like but it is not needed. 


Then add a Reference Field, process reference to your Orders process. You can also hide this if you like.


Then add a Reference Field, process reference to Modification Types. Don't hide this field. I recommend placing it near the top. It represents the type of modification we're starting when we start an Order Modification. 


4) Linking the Order Modifications to your Orders


Using Process Flow, we will start a flow from Orders to Order Modifications. This allows us to pass information over from Orders to the Modifications and allows us to start an Order Modifications from the Orders page.


When adding the process flow, copy the settings we have for "Info." The only thing you may want to pass over is the "participants" as this will push all the users on the Order to the Order Modifications. In our example, it is set to "no" with the assumption that whoever is in charge of Order Modifications would not want all the users on the Order to be able to make changes on the Modifications. 



The Mapping of the flow is where some deviation can happen. However, first we will want to map every status level on the Order to be able to start an Order Modification (see image below). The reason for this is we are assuming that an Order can have changes made to it at any stage in the Order's lifespan.


You may have more statuses than the below screenshot, make sure to map all of them even if they don't match the screenshot below.



Then map the References from flow, only the source form to the Order reference field you made in the Order Modifications process from the earlier step. If you don't have any options here it means you missed adding the Process Reference Field to the Order Modifications process.




Now onto the fields! The goal of mapping the fields is to make starting an Order Modification as easy as possible. Keep in mind that your field names may differ, I am going to list them out as we've commonly seen them.


Mandatory Fields to Map:

Source Field -> Target Fields

--------------------------------------------

Total Order MRC -> Previous MRC


Recommended Fields to Map:

Source Field -> Target Fields

--------------------------------------------

Account Number -> Account Number

Customer Name -> Customer Name

Carrier -> Carrier

Agency Name -> Agency Name

Rep Name -> Rep Name


5) Setup the Table Fill


Top Left Menu > Setup > Table Fill


Add a Table Fill where the Source is Order Modifications and the Target is Orders. The Table will be Order Mods or whatever the table name you went with.


Once done, you will be on the table fill screen.  Hit "edit" on the Map and it will fill in all the relationship and source options for you. Leave them as is.


For fields, this is where any fields you have added to the table earlier need to be mapped. Make sure to map them first . If you have added "Sign Date," for example, you will want to select the corresponding field that represents "sign date," here. Notice that the column header says "from source form." This means we are taking the list of corresponding field types from the source process, in this case Order Modifications.


If you used shared fields you won't need to map anything other than the Source form. 




Summary


After setting up all of the flows we can move onto to using the Order modifications. 


What you should be able to do at this step is from your Orders process start an Order Modifications from the top of the form.




You should have an Order Details Table in your Orders. You can also test it to see if any Order Modifications started from the Order automatically appear on this table. 



You can navigate between your Orders and Order Mods using the top bar. This signifies that a process flow has happened between these forms.



Then test if the formula fields are working.


On the Order the Totals Order MRC should update every time a new Modification is entered with an MRC change. 


The Order Updates/Details table can display more information than what we've setup so far. If there is any information on it that you would find useful but is not there please reach out to [email protected] to see if it possible.