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How do I make a product or category specific to one interface? We have certain products that should not be viewed from other interfaces.

Environment:

Products/Categories/Dispositions, Incidents and Answers
Relating to sites with multiple interfaces

Resolution:

If you have only one product or sub-product visible for an interface, then there are no selection options, so the Product menu is not displayed on the end-user pages even if the report used for the end-user page Search page is configured to display the menu. In order for the menu to display, there must be at least two products or sub-products visible to the end-user pages. This works similarly for the Categories menu as well.

In Oracle B2C Service, when you add or edit a product or category, you can specify which interfaces will include the specific value in the Product or Category drop-down menu on the end-user pages. When configuring products and categories, the Visibility section of the page, includes checkboxes for Administration and End-User visibility.

Administration visibility:  With multiple interfaces, the functionality associated with the Administration visibility settings behave differently for incidents and answers.

For incidents, if the Administration box is enabled for an interface, that value is listed in the Products or Categories menu when a staff member edits an incident from the administration console.  If the End-User visibility box is also checked, that value displays on the Ask a Question page when end-users submit incidents.

For answers, all products listed in the Products table display for all interfaces  when editing an answer, regardless of the Admin visibility configuration.  This allows knowledge engineers to use a single interface for editing and publishing answers.

For example, your site may have three interfaces and product A has Admin visibility enabled for the second interface but not for the other two interfaces.  (Product A may also have End-User visibility enabled for the second interface.) 

When editing incidents, staff only see Product A listed if they are editing incidents from the second interface.  Staff using the first or third interfaces do not see Product A in the product list when editing incidents.

When editing answers, though, product A displays when editing answers from any of the three interfaces -- even though the admin visibility is enabled only for one interface.  With this functionality, your knowledge engineers can open and edit the answer from any interface. Then, they can set the products and category values so that the answer will be published to your second interface.

To include or exclude products or categories from an interface, use the steps below:

1. From the Configuration items, select Service > Products/Categories/Dispositions.
    
2. Right click on the product or category name and select Edit.
    
3. In the Visibility section on the update page, use the check boxes to enable the product or category for each interface. You can include the product or category on the administration pages and/or the end-user pages.
    
4. Click Update.
    
5. Verify the configuration for your interfaces.

For additional information, refer to the 'How You Organize Information with Products, Categories, and Dispositions' section in the Online Help User Guide documentation. To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.