Vendor contract IDs help you to quickly identify under which agreement with which vendor a service is provisioned, which is useful for accounting and reconciliation. Vendor contract IDs can be obtained from CloudBlue Connect and other APS connectors.
Important: Vendor Contract IDs are required if you use Vendor-rated Data Manager to rate usage data.
Depending on whether an APS application implements the ResellerProfile APS type, you can configure the Vendor Contract ID for the APS application in one of these ways:
- If the APS application implements the ResellerProfile APS type, you can complete the Vendor Contract ID field in the service template.
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If the APS application does not implement the ResellerProfile APS type, you can configure the Vendor Contract ID as a custom attribute because in this case the Vendor Contract ID field is not available in the service template.
Important: This configuration option is important for cases where an APS subscription is terminated. In such cases, subscription data is destroyed on the APS bus and, for APS applications that do not implement the Vendor Contract ID field in the service template, the Vendor Contract ID value cannot be found in CloudBlue Commerce and cannot be used for reconciliation - unless it is configured as a custom attribute.
Configuring the Vendor Contract ID in a Service Template
For APS applications that implement the ResellerProfile APS type, you can complete the Vendor Contract ID field in the service template.
Vendor contract IDs are configured per service template at the provider (L0) and operating unit (L1) levels. Depending on whether a provider distributes through regional operating units (L1), the following configuration options are possible:
- Providers who market services through a network of regional operating units, must set vendor contract IDs at the L1 level.
- Providers who do not use regional operating units (L1) and market services only at the L0 level and through third-party resellers, can set vendor contract IDs at the L0 level.
Provider Level Configuration (L0)
To set the vendor contract ID for a service template at the provider level (L0):
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Go to Provider Control Panel > Operations > Products > Service Templates. Click the necessary service template delivered by a connector. Switch to the service-specific configuration tab.
Note: Service-specific configuration tabs are displayed only for service templates delivered by CloudBlue Connect or other service connectors. Such tabs are the fifth from the left in the resource profile.
- Click Edit. Complete the Vendor Contract ID field. Save the changes.
Operating Unit Level Configuration (L1)
To set the vendor contract ID for a service template at the operating unit level (L1):
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Make sure that the service template has been delegated from the provider (L0) to the necessary operating units (L1).
Important: Vendor contract IDs can only be configured for L1 service templates delegated from the provider (L0).
- Perform the steps above for the necessary operating units (L1) from the Reseller Control Panel.
Configuring the Vendor Contract ID as a Custom Attribute
For APS applications that do not implement the ResellerProfile APS type, the Vendor Contract ID field is not available in the service template. However, as an alternative, for all usage-based services, you can configure Vendor Contract IDs using custom attributes:
- For each usage-based service, create a custom attribute with the following settings:
- Tags: Company (and/or Personal, depending on your reseller types)
- ID: VENDOR_CONTRACT_<service template ID>. For example: VENDOR_CONTRACT_198
- Owner: Select the provider account (L0).
- Status: Optional
- Applicable to: Accounts
- Active: Yes
- Set the Vendor Contract ID values: