Understanding Channels


Channelshelp you manage groups of users – such as resellers, distributors, and other sales partners – and what those groups see.  By giving them just the right information without distractions, they can focus on helping you sell the right products to the right customers.

Build your configurator once, then present that one configurator with different styling, pricing, and even options based on which of your partners is helping you sell it.


 

Channel licenses are an optional feature. If you do not see this "Channels" option in the "Users and Roles" administrative menu, contact us to learn more about activating this feature.  

 

Types of Channels

Your customers expect you to provide them with a list of your products that are appropriate for their needs.  They also trust you to securely share their proprietary information – such as the quotes they submit and the custom products they configure – so only the right people see that information.  Epicor CPQ has three levels of user licenses to help:

  1. Internal users
    Employees who work for your company.  They can see all the product categories you want them to, and all customer quotes.
  2. Channel users
    Resellers, distributors, or other business partners who help your company sell to customers.  They can see only the product categories that are appropriate to their work, and only the customer quotes that are made through their efforts.
  3. External users
    Customers who buy your products. They usually can see only the product categories appropriate to them, and the quotes they submit.

This is a simplified overview. A separate document outlines the full capabilities of the Epicor CPQ security system.

 

Creating and modifying channels

Channel properties

In the Administrative Interface, click Users and Roles > Channels to see the channels list. Add or delete channels using the buttons at the bottom of the list.  As with other lists, click the column headers to sort by that column; enter simple text or text with *wildcards to narrow your search. Click on a channel's name to see its details.

Typically, you would create a channel for each distributor or reseller organization you work with.

Basic Properties

Name

Mandatory. The channel's name appears in all lists and references. It must be unique.
Theme Optional.  If you set a theme, then users who are a member of that Channel will see that theme applied to the UI. 
Logo Optional.  Upload a logo image to brand the UI when seen by members of that Channel.  For those users, it will replace the default compay logo defined under General Settings.


Was this article helpful?