Defining transaction dependencies

Transaction dependency enables you to process an order based on certain conditions defined for a transaction.

It provides the ability for a transaction to allow some order lines to not be processed until certain conditions are met. These conditions can also apply to other lines in the same order.

For example, a customer orders a DSL modem along with the DSL line activation service. In this scenario, the modem cannot be shipped until the account is activated. As a result, you need to sequence the order. The sequencing of the order can be based on:

• Transaction completion of certain lines, such as the account activation being completed before the modem could be shipped.
• Specific dates, such as not to ship the modem until 5 days before the activation date.
  Note: The above mentioned rules, do not apply for all types of order lines. Bundle order fulfillment cannot be configured with the transaction or date-type dependency because the order lines can have interdependencies such that a bundle parent line cannot move forward in the pipeline until all the child lines are fulfilled.

You can configure transaction dependencies in groups, with one dependency group being active at a time. The dependencies are configured at an enterprise, document type, or process type level and are applied while processing the order. If necessary, the enterprise level inheritance can be used.

The dependencies are configured in two steps:

• The dependent lines are configured by specifying the item ID, classification, or a service type. An optional condition builder is also included to identify lines based on other order lines and header attributes such as a line type.
• Once the rules are defined, you can configure additional constraints based on either of the dependency types:
  • Transaction Based
  • Date Based

    Each of these dependencies are modeled as a constraint accounting for approximately 20 different template types serving the general, bundle, and item attributes.

The limitations assumed by transaction dependencies are:

• The dependency rules specified by a transaction is independent of the pipeline or the order.
• Even though transaction dependency can understand the relationship between multiple lines and dates, it does not take into consideration all the due date dependencies. For example, if the DSL activation due date is modified, the dependency does not identify how much longer the other dependent lines can be delayed.