Methods and systems for pricing products utilizing pricelists based on qualifiers

1 . A method of pricing products based on qualifiers, comprising;

defining at least one pricelist for a product being offered, wherein defining the pricelist includes establishing one or more qualifiers for determining a price of the product and wherein each qualifier established for the pricelist comprises an attribute of the pricelist that results in a price variation for the product being offered; and

encoding the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product into a pricelist identifier referencing the price list wherein the pricelist comprises a price of the product once the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price have been established whereby prices of the product may be differentiated based on an unlimited number of qualifiers.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each qualifier necessary to fully qualify a price of the product is associated with at least one of the following qualifier categories:

a customer type category;

a location category; and

a product category.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein qualifiers available for each pricelist are associated in a hierarchical relationship such that some of the qualifiers available serve as a sub-qualifier for other broader qualifiers of the qualifiers available such that a pricelist having an undesignated sub-qualifier, but having a designated broader qualifier associated with the undesignated sub-qualifier, inherits properties associated with the designated broader qualifier and wherein defining the pricelist further includes at least one of the following:

establishing a qualified product type for the pricelist defined, wherein the qualified product type determines what qualifiers are available for the pricelist;

establishing a customer type as a qualifier, wherein the customer type is determined based on at least one predetermined business rule; and

creating a price list line that provides a price for the product based upon the price list.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein creating a price list line comprises:

selecting the product for which to provide a price wherein the product is represented by a product code;

selecting a price type; and

entering a price for the product.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein creating a price list line further comprises:

selecting a list line type;

entering a business code for the product;

entering a description of the price list line;

selecting whether the price entered is waived; and

entering at least one of a start date and an end date of the price list line.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein defining a pricelist further includes establishing at least one of the following as qualifiers:

a sales channel;

a state location;

a wire center; and

a product bundle.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple pricelists are defined for the product being offered and wherein each pricelist defined comprises a price of the product once necessary qualifiers to fully qualify a price are established.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple products are priced utilizing the price list.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pricelist includes at least one of the following:

a recurring charge;

a non-recurring charge;

a usage charge;

a one time charge;

a base price;

an activation charge;

a shipping and handling charge;

an installation charge;

a connection charge;

a savings amount;

a savings percentage; and

a savings benefit.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product comprises a combination of other products and wherein each other product comprises a component of the price list represented by a pricelist line wherein a pricelist line provides a price for the component based upon the pricelist in which a pricelist line exists.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the product is component priced based on each component of the price list.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the product is priced as a single price point comprising the combination of other products.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pricelist identifier comprises a concatenated key of the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product, the concatenated key having a tag value with a preceding tag for identifying the tag value and the pricelist whereby an application seeking a price of the product is driven to the pricelist.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising creating an entry for the product in a product catalog wherein the entry includes at least one of the following:

the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product;

a pricelist associated with the product;

a pricelist identifier referencing the pricelist; and

a product code representing the product.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

in response to receiving an order inquiry including inquiry qualifiers and an inquiry product code, querying the entry in the product catalog for a first match between the product code and the inquiry product code and a second match between the inquiry qualifiers and the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product; and

in response to querying the entry and finding the first and the second match, returning a price of the product based on the order inquiry.

16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

in response to an order for the product being executed for a customer, adding the product code, the tag, and the tag value to a record for the customer.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the product code comprises a universal service order code, the tag comprises a field identifier, and the tag value comprises field data.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising in response to executing a billing cycle for the customer:

providing the product code, the tag, and the tag value to a rating/billing system; and

rating the product by accessing the pricelist referenced by the tag value provided to the rating/billing system.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product comprises at least one of the following:

a telecommunication product;

a telecommunication service;

a cable communications product;

a satellite communications product; and

an Internet product.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein at least one of the telecommunication product and the telecommunication service comprises at least one of the following:

a wireless communication service;

a wireline communication service;

a broadband communication service;

a voice over Internet service;

a wireline and wireless service;

a long distance service;

a call screening service;

a call forwarding service; and

a data messaging service.

21 . A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform the method of claim 1 .

22 . A computer-controlled apparatus capable of performing the method of claim 1 .

23 . A computer-implemented system for pricing products based on qualifiers, comprising;

a server computer providing a graphical user interface operative to receive data to define at least one pricelist for a product being offered, wherein defining the pricelist includes establishing one or more qualifiers for determining a price of the product and wherein each qualifier established for the pricelist comprises an attribute of the pricelist that results in a price variation for the product being offered; and

wherein the server computer is further operative to encode the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product into a pricelist identifier referencing the price list wherein the pricelist comprises a price of the product once the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price have been established whereby prices of the product may be differentiated based on an unlimited number of qualifiers; and

a database operative to store at least one entry for the product in a data arrangement wherein the entry includes at least one of the following:

the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product;

a pricelist including a fully qualified price associated with the product;

a pricelist identifier referencing the pricelist; and

a product code representing the product.

24 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein each qualifier necessary to fully qualify a price of the product is associated with at least one of the following qualifier categories:

a customer type category;

a location category; and

a product category.

25 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein qualifiers available for each pricelist are associated in a hierarchical relationship such that some of the qualifiers available serve as a sub-qualifier for other broader qualifiers of the qualifiers available such that a pricelist having an undesignated sub-qualifier, but having a designated broader qualifier associated with the undesignated sub-qualifier, inherits properties associated with the designated broader qualifier and wherein the graphical user interface is operative to receive inputs for at least one of the following:

establishing a qualified product type for the pricelist defined, wherein the qualified product type determines what qualifiers are available for the pricelist; and

establishing a customer type as a qualifier, wherein the customer type is determined based on at least one predetermined business rule; and

creating a price list line that provides a price for the product based upon the price list.

26 . The computer-implemented system of claim 25 , wherein creating a price list line comprises:

selecting the product for which to provide a price wherein the product is represented by a product code;

selecting a price type; and

entering a price for the product.

27 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein at least one of multiple pricelists are defined for the product being offered and multiple products are priced utilizing the price list.

28 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein the pricelist includes at least one of the following:

a recurring charge;

a non-recurring charge;

a usage charge;

a one time charge;

a base price;

an activation charge;

a shipping and handling charge;

an installation charge;

a connection charge;

a savings amount;

a savings percentage; and

a savings benefit.

29 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein the product comprises a combination of other products and wherein each other product comprises a component of the price list represented by a pricelist line wherein a pricelist line provides a price for the component based upon the pricelist in which a pricelist line exists.

30 . The computer-implemented system of claim 29 , wherein the product is one of component priced based on each component of the price list and priced as a single price point comprising the combination of other products.

31 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , wherein the pricelist identifier comprises a concatenated key of the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify a price of the product, the concatenated key having a tag value with a preceding tag for identifying the tag value and the pricelist whereby an application seeking a price of the product is driven to the pricelist.

32 . The computer-implemented system of claim 23 , further operative to:

in response to an order for the product being executed for a customer, add the product code, the tag, and the tag value to a record for the customer.

33 . The computer-implemented system of claim 32 , wherein the product code comprises a universal service order code, the tag comprises a field identifier, and the tag value comprises field data.

34 . The computer-implemented system of claim 32 , further comprising a rating/billing system, the compute implemented system further operative in response to executing a billing cycle for the customer to:

provide the product code, the tag, and the tag value to the rating/billing system; and

rating the product by accessing the pricelist referenced by the tag value provided to the rating/billing system.

35 . A pricelist defined for at least one product comprising a data arrangement including:

at least one price for the product based on a number of qualifiers necessary to fully qualify the price wherein each qualifier comprises an attribute of the pricelist that results in a price variation for the product and wherein the number of qualifiers are unlimited;

a pricelist identifier comprising a concatenated key of the qualifiers such that the pricelist is referenced by other applications via the pricelist identifier; and

a product code associating the product with the pricelist such that applications seeking a price of the product and having the product code and the pricelist identifier retrieves the price from the pricelist without knowledge of the qualifiers necessary to fully qualify the price.