Trading Community Architecture
Often Misunderstood and Under Utilized
Paul Cyphers, Solution Beacon
Release 11i Workshop
NORCAL OAUG
San Ramon, CA
January 24, 2006
www.solutionbeacon.com
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Introductions / Experiences
 30 years of Supply Chain and Manufacturing Experience in
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numerous industries, APICS Certified
20+ yrs experience in IT, including ERP implementation and
development
Work on numerous systems varying in size
5+ yrs experience methodology development (Oracle Applications,
SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel)
Presenter of Training/Presentations multiple clients, conferences
Solution Beacon is a leading provider of expert-level resources to
Government Agencies and Fortune 1000 companies specializing in
the Oracle Applications marketplace, providing leading expertise in
the following areas:
 Release 11i Upgrades/Implementations
 Oracle Apps Database Administration
 Oracle Systems Architecture
 Oracle Performance Tuning
 Oracle Workflow
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Audience Profile

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Technical
 DB Version
 Application Version
Functional
 Current Application
 Product Suites
TCA use
 Customers
 Projects
 CRM Apps
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Objectives
Understand the fundamentals of TCA
 Discuss TCA Model
 Review Components
 Parties
 Party Relationships
 Customers
 Locations
 Contacts

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© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
What is TCA ?
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TCA = Trading Community Architecture
Oracle’s central customer data repository underlying all
Oracle applications
TCA is an Architecture and a Model…Not a module
Oracle E-Business Suite Application Families*
Sales
Service
Marketing Financials
HR
TCA
Enabling Infrastructure
Common Party UI, DQM, D&B Integration, APIs
TCA
Data Model
HZ Schema
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TCA Data Model

TCA is a Best of Breed Customer
Relationship Model

It provides the functionality to create and
maintain complex, multi-tier, multi-org,
matrix relationships which mirror real-world
examples
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Oracle CRM e-business Suite
Analytical
Applications
Customer Intelligence
Marketing Intelligence
Marketing
Business
Applications
Sales Intelligence
Sales
Online
iStore
Call center Intelligence
TeleSales
iSupport
Field
Service
Depot
Repair
Customer
Support
Mobile
Field
Service
Spares Service
Collections
Mgt
Contracts
Partner
(PRM)
iMarketing
MES
iPayment
Field
Sales
Sales
Comp
Contracts Scheduler
Universal Work Queue
Resources
Territories
Assignment Engine
Tasks
Notes
Calendar
1-on-1 Fulfillment
MES
Interaction History
Interaction Blending
Order Capture
Email Center
Web
Mobile
CRM
Foundation
Interaction
Channels
Call Center
Telephony Manager
Scripting
Predictive Dialer
E-Business
Foundation
Common Application Architecture & Schema
E-Business
Platform
eBusiness Platform
01/15/101
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TCA Components
 Contacts
 Locations
 Party
Layer
 Sites
 Relationships
 Account Layer
 Customer Accounts
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AR Model vs. TCA Model
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See customer as an account
Defined by location type
(Bill-To)
Few Supported relationships
Parent Account
/Sub Account
Manager/Subordinate
Organization/Contact
Models Intra-Company
Relationships Only
No Customer Defined
Relationships
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Revolves around the party model and
the relationships associated with it
Seeded Relationships Include:
Parent of/Subsidiary of
Headquarters of/Division of
Global Ultimate of
/Global Subsidiary of
Domestic Ultimate of
/Domestic Subsidiary of
Client of/Contractor to
Supplier to/Distributor for
Seller to/Customer of
Reports to/Manager of
Parent of/Child of
Employer of/Employee of
Partner of
Competitor of
Spouse of
Models Inter- and Intra- Company
Relationships
Models Non-Business Relationships
Supports User Defined Relationships
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Old A/R Model
Customer
Address
Contacts
Contacts
Bill-to Site
Address
Address
Ship-to Site
Contacts
Contacts
Issue-to
Site
Address
Address
Site
Contacts
Contacts
Site
Address
Address
Site
Contacts
Address
Site
Contacts
Address
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Data Model
Trading Community Architecture

Main objectives of the Oracle Customer Model
 Separate the party entering into the
customer relationship from the information
about the customer relationship
 Support the business-to-consumer market
 Provide shared locations for customers
 Record complex customer relationships
such as hierarchies
 Utilize the latest features of to provide high
performance, availability, and
maintainability
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From Customers and Suppliers...
Customer
Supplier
Your Business
Customer
Supplier
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… to a Trading Community
Member
Employee
Tom
Retail
Trymer
Headquarters
Member
Pebble Beach Golf
Customer
Mjs
Competitor
Rentech
Consumers
Customer
Customer and
Supplier
Member
Customer
Legal Support
Johnson & Johnson
Your Business
$
Subsidiary
Employee
Customer
Household
Member
Member
Buying Group
Appelman
Spouse
LegalSupport
Son
Supplier
Kathy
Peter
Supplier
Supplies Inc.
Aston
3Com
Staples
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David
TCA Structure
Parties
(Organization People
Groups Relationships)
Party
Relationship
(Relationship types)
Contacts
(Contact Role)
Customer Accounts
Contact Points
(Comm. Channels)
Customer Account
Sites
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Locations
Party Sites
TCA Best Practice
Address
Party
Contacts
Contract
Division of
Bill-To
Ship-To
Issue-To
Site
Site
Logistics
Account
Account
Account
Account
Account
Acct Site
Acct Site
Acct Site
Acct Site
Acct Site
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Party Layer - Components
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Party: An entity that can enter into a business relationship
 Person (Jim Smith)
 Organization (Business World)
Party Relationship: A relationship between two parties
 Jim Smith “Contact Of” Business World
 Business World Handhelds “Division Of” Business World
HQ
Location: Essentially an address
Party Site: The connection between a location and a party
that indicates that a particular location is valid for that party
Party Site Use: Use of a Party Site (e.g. billing, shipping,
training)
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Party - Concept
The unique set of truths about a person,
organization, group or relationship.
An entity that can enter into a business
relationship.
Person - A unique individual (dead or alive) of interest to the
owner of the software
Organization - A legal entity recognized by some government
authority
Group - a combination of two or more people, organizations or
groups of created for the use of the owner of the software
Relationship - links two Parties, regardless of type
Once a Party Relationship is formed, it may become a Party in its own right.
A Party can belong to any number of relationships.
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TCA Customer Model
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Location - Concept
Geographic location including Spatial
content
Many to Many relationship between
party and location
Location - A physical place, usually with an address.
Any number of location types. (e.g., bill-to, ship-to, mail-to).
Allows for restricted use of a location (begin / end date).
Party Site
Links a Party with a Location and describes the usage of that
Location (e.g., mailing address, billing address, home address,
etc.).
Parties may be associated to one or more Locations and any one
location may have one or more uses.
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TCA Customer Model
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Relationship
What is a Relationship?
 A relationship is a state of
connectedness between two parties
 Each relationship consists of two
entities; a subject and an object
Headquarters of
Employee of
Employer of
Pat Stock
Subsidiary of
Vision Corp.
Vision Manufacturing
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Relationship - Concept
Location
Contact
Point
Party Site
Party Role
Party
Person
Group
Relationship
Organization
Party
Relationship
Participation
- Competitor
- Partner
Relationship - Associates any two parties.
Party Account
Role
Territory
Participates How
Account
Product
Organization
Has a Role - Specifies the nature of the relationship between
parties (e.g., member of, contact at, married to).
Indicates the nature of the relationship - hierarchy or
matrix.
Indicates the direction of the relationship - superior subordinate.
Can become a party - a contact becomes a party in itself.
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Relationship
Partner Of
Partner Of
Vision Corp.
Employer Of
Employee Of
Pat
Business World Inc.
Division Of
HQ Of
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Relationship Model
The relationship model enables you to:
 Understand the complex relationships among
members of your trading community
 Use this information to make better business
decisions
Contact
Spouse
Contact
Employee
Employee
Supplier
Partner
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TCA Customer Model
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
SITE
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Parties Vs. Accounts
Parties represent persons or
organizations who may, or may not
have purchased from the
implementing organization
 Accounts should be created once a
party makes a purchase or
establishes a financial agreement
 The combination of a party and its
account(s) is considered a customer

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© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Parties Vs. Accounts
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The Party Layer captures intrinsic
truths about a person or organization
The Account Layer captures the
details describing the Party’s financial
relationship with the implementing
organization
The Account Layer cannot exist
without the Party Layer
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TCA Customer Model
PARTY
Bill to
Ship to
Bill to
Bill to
Ship to
Ship to
SITE
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
SITE
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Account - Concept
The financial roll-up point to track the monetary
portion of a customer’s purchases and payments.
Stores details about a customer relationship between a
Party and your business.
A Party may have one or more Customer Accounts.
Account Role
The relationship that a Party has in regard to controlling or using
an account.
Customer Account Sites
A Customer Account Site is a Party Site that is used within the
context of a Customer Account (e.g., for billing or shipping
purposes).
Customer Account Contacts
A Customer Account Contact is a Party Contact that is used in
the context of a Customer Account.
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TCA Customer Model
PARTY
SITE
Bill to
Bill to
Ship to
Ship to
Account
SITE
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
Division Of
Account
Account
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© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Account Layer - Components
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Account: The attributes of the implementing
organization’s financial relationship with a party,
Cannot exist without a Party
Account Site: A Party Site that is used within the
context of an Account
Account Site Use: Use of an Account Site (e.g.
billing, shipping)
Account Relationships: Established between
accounts to allow sharing of billing, shipping, and
pricing information
 One way or bi-directional
 1:1 Relationships – not used for multiple levels
of a hierarchy
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TCA Customer Model
PARTY
SITE
Bill to
Bill to
Ship to
Account
Site
Site
Acct
Site
Acct
Account
Acct
Ship to
Account
SITE
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
Division Of
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Contact Point - Concept
Contact Point - A identifier for an electronic point of contact (e.g.,
telephone, email, URL, fax, cell phone etc.) This can be applied to:
• A Party (person, organization, group or relationship)
• A Site or Location
• A Party at a Site or Location
• An entity may have one or more Contact Points.
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TCA Customer Model
PARTY
SITE
Bill to
Bill to
Ship to
Bill to, Ship to
Account
Site
Site
Acct
Site
Acct
Bill to, Ship to
Account
Acct
Ship to
Account
SITE
PARTY
SITE
PARTY
Division Of
Bill to, Ship to
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Participation - Concept
Location
Contact
Point
Party Site
Party Role
Party
Person
Group
Relationship
Organization
Party
Relationship
Participation
- Competitor
- Partner
Party Account
Role
Territory
Participates How
Account
Product
Organization
Participation - expands the description
of role to allow for a description within
which of the many roles a party could
participate.
• Is always in the context of a relationship
• Can be known to participate in multiple ways - e.g., partner,
associate, competitor.
• Can be described in relation to a product & / or territory
© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TCA Customer Model
Party
PARTY
– Name
Bill to
Ship to
SITE
– Taxpayer ID or SSN
– DUNS
PARTY
Ship to
Site
Acct
Site
Acct
Account
Account
Site
Ship to
Acct
PARTY
SITE
Bill to
Bill to
Account
SITE
Division Of
– Yr Est.
Account
– Pay Terms
– Billing
Bill to, Ship to
Bill to, Ship to
Bill to, Ship to
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– Shipping
TCA Best Practices Model
How does the TCA Best Practices Model look in
TCA?
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TCA Relationships
Issue By
Purchaser
Entity
Sold To
Sold To
16.6667%
Bill To
16.6667%
Bill To
Ship
To
Entity
Party
Site
Cust
Acct
Party
Ship
To
Bill To
16.6667%
Bill To
Ship To
16.6667%
customer
16.6667%
Distributor
I
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Limitations and Complications
Old customer model
 Data duplications
 Multiple sites
 Sites vs. Locations
 Parties vs. Contacts
 Multiple parties
 Complex party relationships

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Benefits of TCA

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Single source for customer data across
Model all kinds of relationships and mixed
models
Relationships: any type, any number, matrix,
hierarchical and non-hierarchical
Process all business entities the same way:
Organizations, People, Groups, Relationships
Multiple business relationships for each Party
Each data is defined only once – Avoid
multiple updates
Support current and historical relationships
Support complex, multi-tiered, multi-org
relationships that are found in the real world
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Data Quality Manager
Customer Merge
 Data Cleansing
 Reduces duplicates
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Information Sources

Oracle Trading Community Best
Practices, Setting Up Customer and
Prospect Data, An Oracle White Paper, July
18, 2001

Oracle CRM Data Model
Oracle CRM Development
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© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Questions & Answers
Remember:
KISS
Keep It Simple and Supportablesm
Thank You!
Paul Cyphers
pcyphers@solutionbeacon.com
www.solutionbeacon.com
Real Solutions for the Real World.
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© 2005 Solution Beacon, LLC. All Rights Reserved.