Siebel

In May 2002 I took the 3 week Siebel core consultant training course. I then had nothing more to do with the product. We are implementing Siebel CRM as part of our solution. These are my thoughts after re-familiarising myself with the product.

Siebel has some very useful features. For example, the speed in which the individual screens can be used, once loaded, for call centre operatives and the 'Notes' like replication of the database for mobile sales staff that do not have access to the Internet.

But, I my opinion, it is a hard to customise product and there are difficulties in getting information in and out of the product.

Heavy customisation of Siebel is very difficult. The tools in (version 7) are not as well developed as, for example, PeopleSoft. Different elements such as web templates, Javascript and style sheets are not under the control of the tool set. The page builder is not 'what you see is what you get', elements like buttons need an amount of manual coding. 3 different scripting lanuages are used VBScript eScript and JavaScript. There are several layout editors in Siebel Tools: the Applet Layout Editor, View Layout Editor, Web Page Layout Editor, and Applet Menu Layout Editor.

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B40099_02/books/ConfigApps/ConfigApps_Overview29.html#wp1041979

Siebel Tools is a declarative configuration tool, not a programming environment.

The using Siebel Tools course does not cover how to configure Oracle's Siebel applications. For example, it does not cover how to extend the data model, define business logic, or build user interface objects. For configuration-related information, see Configuring Siebel Business Applications.

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B40099_02/books/UsingTools/UsingTools_AboutUI2.html#wp1101239

- You cannot create custom unique indexes without the help of Oracle's Siebel Expert Services.
- You cannot add or modify user keys in standard Siebel tables or Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) base tables.

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B40099_02/books/ConfigApps/ConfigApps_WhatsNew.html

Thread: Best practice on extending the SIEBEL data model - Basically, avoid extending the data model at all costs. The impact to configuration can be substantial.

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=554991&tstart=0

http://www.selectorweb.com/siebel.html