Update 20A

Revision History

This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:

Overview

Oracle Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) enables companies to streamline the entire opportunity-to-quote-to-order process, including product selection, configuration, pricing, quoting, ordering, and approval workflows. Oracle CPQ provides a flexible, scalable, enterprise-ready solution ideal for companies of all sizes that sell products and services across direct, indirect, and e-commerce sales channels.

This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in Oracle CPQ 20A.

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BML

The following BML features and enhancements are available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

BML Compiler Optimization

The Oracle CPQ 20A BML script compiler is enhanced to automatically utilize StringBuilders during the internal processing of BML functions.

Set Attribute Value BML Function

A new BML function, setattributevalue, is available to set a Commerce attribute value on a main document or sub-document from within Advanced Defaults, Advanced Modify, or Commerce Library BML.

Support Insert, Delete, Update, and Modify BMQL Functions for Live Data Tables

Currently, modifying Live Data Tables is accomplished using UI, Web Services, or Bulk Upload. In 20A, BMQL functions are supported to insert, delete, update, and modify the data in Live Data Tables.

Commerce

The following Commerce features and enhancements are available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

Commerce Filter Rule for Line Item Grid Items

Oracle CPQ 20A introduces a new Commerce filter-type rule to exclude irrelevant Line Item Grid items. Administrators can define Commerce Filter rules that use Commerce attributes for simple or advanced BML conditions to filter out items that are not relevant to the current user.

Run Commerce Rules in Parallel

The internal handling of Commerce rules is enhanced to include more systematic parallel processing of the rules in order to improve end user response time.

Transaction Array Support for Commerce Hiding Rules

Beginning in Oracle CPQ 20A, administrators can use transaction array set attributes in simple and advanced conditions to hide attributes or actions on the Transaction UI. Administrators can select transaction array attributes for simple conditions and select transaction arrays in advanced conditions.

Administrators can also select transaction array attributes for simple actions and select transaction arrays in advanced actions as components to hide upon satisfying the hiding rule's condition. Transaction array hiding behaviors are similar to Configuration array set behaviors.

Transaction Opens in a New Tab from Commerce Search

Navigation to a Transaction from Commerce Search is improved. A new General Site Option setting, Open transactions in a new tab from Commerce Search, is introduced in 20A.

This setting determines the behavior for opening Transactions from the search page, as follows:

• When set to No (default) the legacy behavior is retained and the Transaction opens in the existing parent window.
• When set to Yes, the Transaction opens in a new tab and focus moves to the new tab. Opening multiple Transactions from the Commerce Search page will result in each Transaction opening in a new tab.

Configuration

The following Configuration enhancements are available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

Configuration Administrator-Defined Filters

Oracle CPQ 20A introduces administrator defined display filters for the Bill of Materials and Recommended Item lists. When enabled, administrators can use parts and product attributes to define filter conditions to display only relevant items.

Signed Punch-In Configurable Attributes

In Oracle CPQ 20A, signed punch-in attributes are available in the configuration XML and the Pipeline Viewer.

Data Tables

The following Data Table feature is available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

JET Data Table UI

Oracle CPQ 20A updates the Data Table administration UI to JET. The JET UI improves the administrator experience and provides a foundation to build additional Data Table functionality. The JET UI provides these enhancements:

• Status icons are displayed in the side navigation panel next to data tables to indicate live and undeployed data tables
• The JET data table UI utilizes the full browser page and administrators can close the side navigation panel to allow a larger table editing space.
• The simple and advanced filters in combination with the column view options improve the user experience especially for data tables containing a large number of columns and/or lines.
• The undo icon now allows administrators to undo the most recent changes for the selected row, not just delete actions.
• The new Details tab shows the date when the table was added, last modified and deployed. It provides the "Live" Data Table option, and allows administrators to add a description for the table.

JET User Interface

Introduced in Oracle CPQ 18C, the JET UI provides a modernized and responsive user experience. The responsive design provides layouts that can flow vertically to fit within different browser display widths and features a rich set of modern UI components with built-in accessibility and mobile support.

The following JET UI enhancements are available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

Jet Configuration and Transaction UI HTML Help Messages

Beginning in 20A, help messages can display Rich Text, links, and HTML content on the JET Configuration and Transaction UIs. The help icon will display plain text content in a tooltip format if there is no Rich text or HTML content present in that help icon's content.

Enable AJAX for Configuration Rules with Array Attribute Inputs

Beginning in Oracle CPQ 20A, administrators can enable AJAX for Configuration Constraint and Hiding rules that have array attributes for rule conditions or actions.  Previously, Configuration rules with array attribute inputs were only evaluated if the attributes were set to auto update or if a user clicked the update action. With AJAX enabled, the rules are evaluated and the action is performed instantly when a user changes any rule input.

Export JET Transaction UI Line Item Grid to .XLSX File Format

Oracle CPQ 20A provides the ability to export Line Item Grid data to a Microsoft Excel (.XLSX) file on an end user's local computer. End users can export the current Transaction's line item information to run formulas and calculations on the Transaction data quickly and easily.

Default Array Column Width for JET Configuration UI

Oracle CPQ 20A allows administrators to set default horizontal and vertical array column widths for the JET Configuration UI. In prior releases array columns were set to a default of 200px wide. Users will still be able to resize column widths as desired.

JET Transaction UI Error Message Enhancements

Oracle CPQ 20A provides several error message enhancements for the JET Transaction UI. Similar to the JET Configuration UI, the JET Transaction UI errors will now display inline and in a collapsible sticky header bar Error Panel. The Error Panel provides a consistent look and feel and improves usability.

Managed Viewed Columns for JET Transaction UI Tables

Oracle CPQ 20A provides a new Manage Columns dialog for JET Transaction UI tables, such as the Line Item Grid and Transaction Arrays. Previously, users could only show or hide columns one column at a time, which was time-consuming for tables with a large number of columns. The Manage Column dialog allows users to quickly hide or show multiple columns.

Web Services

The following Web Services feature is available in Oracle CPQ 20A.

Sales User Access to Buy-Side Get Metadata REST APIs

Oracle CPQ 20A allows sales users access to Get REST APIs which provide Commerce and Configuration buy-side metadata information. Sales users include Sales Agents, Channel Agents, Restricted Access users, and Guest users.

The buy-side metadata includes the commerce and configuration metadata necessary to develop a User Interface—be that a traditional web UI or digital assistant UI. This feature allows sales users to view the following information:

• Layout details
• Translated labels
• Action and attribute types
• Attribute input parameters (for example, menu entries, text length, date range, etc.)
• Display properties (for example, radio buttons, switches, checkbox, etc.)