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  • 1.  ProductOrderItemRelationship vs nesting

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Apr 29, 2021 09:25
    In the 622 user guide (pg 44-48) there is a sample payload that has an array of productOrder.productOrderItems and uses the ProductOrderItemRelationship to denote which of these lines are bundled.

    I also see that an orderItem can have an array of child order items. I was wondering whether these are simply two mechanisms to achieve the same thing (a hierarchical relationship) or if there are additional use cases for using the second approach?

    Using the line items from the sample use case, could TMF25 (the bundle) have instead contained an array of line items representing the 3 bundled lines? Or is that not valid and the nested array of productOrderItems should be used to reflect a different relationship?

    thanks
    Lynn


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    Lynn Dueck
    Oracle Corporation
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  • 2.  RE: ProductOrderItemRelationship vs nesting

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Apr 29, 2021 09:50
    Hi Lynn

    Without reference to the specific example, my understanding is:
    • The array of child order items is intended to reflect a hierarchical (containment) relationship of the products to be instantiated from the catalog (offering and spec).
    • The item relationship is intended to reflect additional connections between products being ordered, not necessarily in the same order, such as dependencies. So (for example) an order item for a TV product might be dependent on an order item for a Broadband product, and it could be that the TV service cannot be provisioned until the Broadband is provisioned. These two order items might be in the same order if sold from a bundled product offering, or might have been ordered separately.
    I'll leave it to @Ludovic Robert to relate to the example.

    Hope it helps​

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    Jonathan Goldberg
    Amdocs Management Limited
    Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
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  • 3.  RE: ProductOrderItemRelationship vs nesting

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Apr 29, 2021 10:12
    Hello Lynn, Jonathan

    Regarding your point Lynn for me both pattern are valid for the structuration of your order items:
    • You can reflect the offering hierarchy of your catalog in the product item hierarchy (using the nested pattern)
    • Or you can flatten this and have all item at same level and leverage orderItem relationship to describe the bundle (allowing to describe top-down, or down-Top, or both)
    For me both pattern are valid (and probably that could be a good idea to show both of them in the user guide). First one is probably more consistent with catalog and more understandable, second one is one-fit-all for all kind of relationship and could more easy to use for change management UC .

    The choice from my perspective is depending on your implementation: how your catalog describe the bundle? How you order delivery work ? How do you want to represent it in the inventory ? For this lasted note that you have the same alternative: nested product or productRelationship.

    Note: For 'horizontal' product offering relationship you can only use OrderItemRelationship .

    Hope it helps

    Ludovic

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    Ludovic Robert
    Orange
    My answer are my own & don't represent necessarily my company or the TMF
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