Overview
The Business Rules Engine allows you to extend Zift PRM functionality to your own business processes.
Contents
The following concepts are explained in this article:
Screens
Zift PRM Screens are containers that allow you to pre-configure a set of functional elements into a form. They are integral to Zift PRM. Screens may be strictly informational, or they may give users the opportunity to provide information. Screens can be displayed on a Zift PRM page by using the RELAY_SHOWSCREEN Relaytag or within the Zift PRM application.
Each Screen is typically made up of standard Entity fields and Profiles. Screens can be reused; this is important if you want to extend Entities with new Profiles and need to capture more information than is required on the out-of-the-box Screens. Reusing Screens in this way ensures that the standard Screens can be upgraded safely while providing maximum flexibility.
Profiles
Zift PRM supports a large number of standard Entities, and you can add bespoke Custom Entities to support your own business processes. An Entity is any kind of thing that you want Zift PRM to be aware of. To be useful, an Entity needs one or more Profiles. The Profile is how you define the characteristics of Entities. For example, the Person Entity has a Job Function Profile. This means that Zift PRM can store and use a Job Function against each Person. The Job Function Profile works like a question that Zift PRM can ask about each Person: What is this Person's Job Function? For this particular Profile, the possible answers (Profile Attributes) have been pre-defined so that they can be chosen from a list. When this Person Profile is added to any Screen, it will display a list of choices as check-boxes and the user can select the most appropriate choice. Alternatively, the Profile could have been created to prompt users to type in their own answer.
In other words: a Profile is a question that you can ask Zift PRM about an Entity. The Profile Attributes are the answers that you tell Zift PRM it may accept for that question. You can define any number of Profiles for an Entity and each individual instance of the Entity will inherit all of the Profiles and Profile Attributes defined for that Entity. For example, if you had a Person Profile for language preference and wanted to offer only French, English, and Spanish; for every Person, Zift PRM would accept any of those three values.
Profiles are a very powerful mechanism for controlling what Zift PRM does with Entities.
Workflows
Zift PRM Workflows allow you to define complex business procedures which combine automated and manual steps to achieve specific business goals. Each stage of a Workflow may include multiple steps and decision points.
Zift PRM Workflows are extremely versatile and are used throughout Zift PRM. Creating a new workflow is a very advanced task which should only be undertaken in consultation with Zift Solutions. Workflows are a powerful and very technical area of Zift PRMand you should carefully plan any changes and evaluate any potential side-effects of considered changes.
Triggered Workflows are workflows that are called whenever a change occurs to an Entity.
Translation
Zift PRM Translations allow you to replace any content that is visible to users with a substitution that is appropriate for them. This is most commonly used to support users who have a different language preference or where information must be localized.
Translations are available in different contexts within the application:
- Create localized versions of Media Library Resources
- Translate pages and the user experience in the Portal
- Edit Pages from the Portal
- Translate Screens
Translations affect search results. If a user has a preferred language set, they will only see that version of content where it exists. Otherwise, they will see the default version. The exception is if the search is performed using the RELAY_MEDIADISPLAY Relaytag.
Standard Emails
Standard Emails are notifications that Zift PRM sends automatically to alert users to relevant changes. For example, any order modification or requests for Special Pricing would trigger the sending of a Standard Email.
Typically, standard emails will be sent as a step in Zift PRM Workflows, such as approving a Deal Registration, or making an MDF claim.
Activities and Activity Scoring
Activities are measurable actions that users may do within your Channel program. Zift PRM provides over 80 standard Activities but also allows you to add more.
Activity Scores allow you to measurably incentivize Partner behaviour by defining rule-based schemes to drive motivation, track performance, and promote rewards for high achievers based on their Activities.
Activity Scores can help you collect vital intelligence about the overall health of your Channel programs whether the focus is on tier promotions, target-driven initiatives, or simply Partner engagement.
Scores are rolled up hierarchically so that individual Person scores are incorporated into the Location Score. All of the Location and Person scores are rolled into the Organization score. A Person score is the lowest level and only represents the individual's score.
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