Product Catalog Extension

The Product Catalog RS Gateway extension is a set of APIs that allow users to control the visibility of catalog items to the subscriber (eligibility), and to control which catalog items can be purchased together (compatibility).

The Product Catalog RS Gateway extension uses catalog item metadata to control purchase offer eligibility and compatibility for different catalog items.

During pricing configuration, pricing administrators can control catalog item eligibility and compatibility by creating custom metadata tags for catalog items using the following exact metadata names:
  • requires — Defines a requirement for item eligibility or item compatibility.
  • excludes — Defines an exclusion for item eligibility or item compatibility.
  • provides — Defines a provision that is included with the purchase of the catalog item for item compatibility.
For information about configuring catalog item metadata properties, see My MATRIXX Help.

Catalog Item Eligibility Configuration

You can define catalog item eligibility for subscribers, groups, or devices. You define eligibility for a catalog item by specifying custom requires or excludes metadata tags for the item, where the metadata Value field for:
  • requires — Defines a required field value that the subscriber, group, or device must have for the catalog item to be eligible to the caller.
  • excludes — Defines a field value that means that the caller is not eligible for the catalog item if the subscriber, group, or device has that value.
The metadata Value property must be specified as a string using the following format:
Subscriber׀Group׀Device.<fieldname>=[string_value]
Where fieldname is an existing subscriber, group, or device field, or a custom extension field, and string_value is set to the value to use for determining if the caller is eligible for the catalog item, or if the catalog item should be excluded.
Note: Custom extension fields are defined in private mdcs. For information about adding private mdcs, see Installation and Configuration.

Eligibility Example

In this example, eligibility requirements and exclusions are used to control whether catalog items 1 and 2 are visible to callers. The eligibility for the catalog items in this example is based on the following subscriber fields:
  • A subscriber custom extension field named Level.
  • The existing subscriber Status field.
Table 1 shows the metadata configured for catalog item 1 and catalog item 2.
Table 1. Catalog Item Metadata
Metadata Properties Catalog Item 1 Catalog Item 2
Metadata Type Custom Custom
Name requires excludes
Type String String
Value Subscriber.Level.vip, Subscriber.Status.1 Subscriber.Level.newcustomer, Subscriber.Status.1
The metadata configured for Catalog Item 1 means that a caller is eligible to purchase Catalog Item 1 only if the Subscriber.Level extension field is set to vip, and the Subscriber.Status field is set to 1 (for active subscribers).

The metadata configured for Catalog Item 2 means that a caller may not purchase Catalog Item 2 if the Subscriber.Level extension field is set to newcustomer, and the Subscriber.Status field is set to 1.

Catalog Item Compatibility Configuration

You can define catalog item compatibility to control which set of catalog items can be combined together for a caller. You define catalog item complatibility by specifying custom requires and provides metadata tags for the catalog items in the set, where the metadata Value field for:
  • requires — Defines a required item that the subscriber, group, or device must have within the set of already purchased items, or be about to be purchased items, for this catalog item to be compatible.
  • provides — Defines an item that is provided when the catalog item is purchased.
For catalog items that cannot be combined, you can specify custom excludes and provides metadata tags, where the metadata Value field for:
  • excludes — Defines an item in the catalog item set that the subscriber, group, or device must not have already purchased, or be about to purchase, for this catalog item to be compatible.
  • provides — Defines an item that is provided when the catalog item is purchased.
The metadata Value property must be specified as a string. The string must not start with "Subscriber", "Group", or "Device".
Note: The Product Catalog extension uses the provides tag value to determine catalog item compatibility.

Compatibility Examples

Table 2 shows metadata configured for catalog item 1 and catalog item 2. In this example, if the subscriber purchases catalog item 2, the DataBundle is provided. This means that the DataBundle combatibility requirement for catalog item 1 is met, and therefore the subscriber can also purchase catalog item 1.
Table 2. Example Requires and Provides Metadata
Metadata Properties Catalog Item 1 Catalog Item 2
Metadata Type Custom Custom
Name requires provides
Type String String
Value DataBundle DataBundle
Table 3 shows metadata configured for catalog item 3 and catalog item 4. In this example, if the subscriber purchases catalog item 4, the DataBundle is provided. Because the DataBundle is excluded for catalog item 3, this means that catalog item 4 and catalog item 3 are not compatible and therefore the subscriber cannot also purchase catalog item 3.
Table 3. Example Excludes and Provides Metadata
Metadata Properties Catalog Item 3 Catalog Item 4
Metadata Type Custom Custom
Name excludes provides
Type String String
Value DataBundle DataBundle