Process summary

The Configurator is launched when a portal user clicks Customize for an item on the portal. The Customize button is displayed in place of the Add to Order button on various portal pages, such as the Products and Product Details pages.

When Customize is clicked, an order/estimate number and line number is generated in the back office and sent to the Configurator web service. The item is matched with a ruleset that you have defined using CPQ Design Studio, and the results are sent back to the Configurator UI. This output contains the list of components that can be configured by the portal user. The web UI renders these components with all of the selectable values. When the user makes a selection, it is immediately sent back to the engine to get the next set of rules. This process is repeated until the user has made all the required selections and clicks Finish.

The configuration is saved to an output database, and values such as the configured price or reference number are returned to the back office. The configured item is set as ready to order, indicated by a green icon on the portal user’s shopping cart page.