About IQ Anywhere

In this topic, read general information about the IQ Anywhere Configuration and the special circumstances for events that use it.

Deal Manager integration with the Zilliant database

Deal Manager integrates with the Zilliant database. This integration enables the following capabilities:

• Retrieval and use of data that is not stored in the Salesforce database. This data is not stored in Salesforce for the following reasons:
  • Salesforce is not the system of record for this data.
  • The dataset is too large to be technically and economically stored in Salesforce. Common examples of data in this category are:
    • Price guidance
    • Product cost
    • List prices
    • Inventory availability
• Realtime recalculation of line level metrics as the user edits fields on the line. This approach is more efficient than the Salesforce calculated fields because the record does not need to be saved to the Salesforce database with each edit. Also, it is common that these calculations use data retrieved from the Zilliant database, often referred to as retrieval through ZCloud. The Zilliant Formula Evaluation Service (FES) is the specific service used for calculating these metrics.

The Deal Manager integration with the Zilliant database is declaratively configured through an IQ Anywhere Configuration (IQA Configuration).

IQA Configuration in Deal Manager implementation

Generally, IQA Configuration defines two things:

• What are the input parameters in the API call to the Zilliant database, and where do they get their values from when it is called at runtime?
• Which formula values need to be returned, and what line fields do those formula values get assigned to?

Any Deal Manager implementation can have many IQA Configurations defined. The following examples are common events that either call a specific IQA Configuration defined only for that one event or call an IQA Configuration that can be used by multiple events:

• Adding Deal Manager lines.
• Editing a field on the Deal Manager line in the Edit Lines modal.
• Applying a Mass Edit Policy to Deal Manager lines.
• Calling from an APEX service. Usually, because the APEX changes a field value on the line, and the line needs to be updated with new values from the IQA Configuration call.

For the Edit Lines modal, you can choose whether to use one common IQA Configuration for the OnChange event on all fields or different IQA Configurations for the OnChange event on the fields that the user can edit.

• Using a single IQA Configuration for editing all fields can make the IQA Configuration and the formulas it calls more complex.
• Using different IQA Configurations for each field requires maintaining the duplicate logic.

The Deal Manager IQA Configuration design should balance these two considerations. This may result in a config design where there is one IQA Configuration that is used for most fields, while one or two fields can have their own IQA Configuration.

For more information on each of these events, see IQA for Deal Manager features.