As a Sales Rep, you can assign a bundle as well as a standalone product to the collaborator. You can assign a collaboration request to a User or a Queue from the Cart page. The Users and members of the Queue receive an email notification about the request. After assigning the collaboration request, a record is created in the Product Configuration section on the Quote Detail page with the status as In Collaboration. 

Limitation

The collaboration feature supports a maximum of 5 products in the cart simultaneously.

The administrator must define proper Read, Create, Edit, and Delete permission to give the user access to the Quote Collaboration feature. For more information on permissions, see Enabling Quote Collaboration in the Org.

To assign the collaboration request

  1. On the Cart page, you can send one or multiple line items simultaneously:

    1. To assign a single line item: Click the Collaboration icon () for the corresponding line item.

      CPQ displays the collaboration icon () next to an auto-included standalone or bundle line items if the APTS_EnableCollabForAutoIncludedLines is set to True. If you initiate a collaboration request for the parent product, CPQ automatically adds auto-included products as part of the collaboration. You can also create a collaboration request for auto-included products independent of the parent product. CPQ does not support collaboration request creation for auto-included option products; in this case, you must send the parent bundle for collaboration. For more information, see Use Case: Quote Collaboration for Products Auto-Included by Constraint Rules.

    2. To assign multiple line items: Select the line items you want to send and click the menu icon () and click the Product Collaboration button. 

      CPQ does not support miscellaneous and primary line items auto-included through constraint rules for Quote Collaboration. CPQ disables the Product Collaboration button if any of the primary line items you selected is auto-included.

  2. When you click either the collaboration icon or the Product Collaboration button, Quote Collaboration pop-up is displayed. Under the Assignment Details tab, specify the following information.

    Field NameDescription

    Owner ID

    Select User or Queue to whom you want to assign the configuration.  In the Select User dropdown,  search and select the user or queue.

    Only the users with Edit, Delete or Modify All access are displayed in the drop-down list.
    The owner ID will be defaulted as User or Queue if the administrator has configured admin setting named, APTS_DefaultCollaboratorType.

    Collaboration Type
    • Peer-To-Peer: Select this to get users from the same business units to collaborate on a configuration. In peer-to-peer collaboration type is selected, the entire line item is sent over in the collaboration request.
    • Multi-Tier: Select this to get users from different business units to collaborate on a configuration. When you use the multi-tier collaboration type, only specific fields in the line items are sent in the collaboration request. Ideal for situations for which creating a cost structure is necessary when using transfer price mapping or any other collaboration scenario that requires a specific update of certain fields.

    Specifications

    Specify the information that you want to convey to the collaborator in this text box.

    Start Date

    Specify the start date by which the collaborator should start the configuration.

    Completion Due Date

    Specify the completion date by which the collaborator should submit his configuration.

    Priority

    Specify the urgency of this request.

    Grant Access to Merge Cart (Read-Only)

    Select this check box to allow the collaborator to view the entire cart in a read-only mode. This can be useful when you want the collaborator to see the entire cart to gain a better understanding of the overall offering. This functionality is yet not implemented.

    Attachments

    Attach the additional documents or images.

    Do not click Cancel on the Quote Collaboration pop-up just to close the pop-up. Use the cross icon( ) at the top of the pop-up to close. The Cancel button cancels the collaboration request itself and the collaboration record is deleted.

  3. Click Notify Collaborator(s) to send the notification email to the collaborator.

Take into consideration the following while assigning the collaboration request:

  • You cannot assign a line item to multiple collaborators. For example, you assigned a line item to Collaborator A. Now, if you select multiple line items and assign them to Collaborator B, including the one already assigned to Collaborator A, CPQ skips the one assigned to Collaborator A and assigns the remaining line items to Collaborator B.
  • You cannot finalize or approve the Cart until you close or cancel all the collaboration requests. If the collaboration is sequential, all the collaboration requests must be closed.

After the collaboration request is assigned, the name of the assignee is displayed below the collaboration icon (). Click the assignee's name to open the Quote Collaboration pop-up. The following functionalities are available to you on the pop-up:

  • The status of the collaboration request at the top of the pop-up.
  • The line items assigned to the collaborator under the tab Assigned Products.
  • You can update the collaboration request and send that to the collaborators using the Update button. For example, you can change the user or queue and reassign the request to someone else, you can change the priority, or change the specification.
  • You can communicate with the collaborator using the Salesforce Chatter under the tab Chatter.

  • You can cancel the request altogether, thereby revoking the Collaborator's access to the line items completely. Canceling the collaboration request deletes all the records on the Quote Details page and the Collaboration Request tab, that are created for the collaboration request. Canceling also resets the product configuration status from In Collaboration to Saved.


  • If merging more than five products, a background process is initiated, prompting users to close the cart.
  • You will receive an email notification on completion of the task.


You can add products to an existing collaboration request using a global method. For more information, see Adding Products to a Collaboration Request.

Once you have assigned the collaboration request, the collaborator can start working on the assigned configurations as explained in the Working on the Configuration Request section.