In Zilliant CPQ, partners represent the business parties involved in a quote or agreement. These can include, for example, the party that receives the invoice, the party that receives the goods, or the main contact for the transaction.
A partner function and a partner function type define each partner you add to a quote or agreement. A partner function describes the role of the partner in the business process, such as bill-to, ship-to, contact person, or buyer party. A partner function type defines the type of record assigned to that role, such as an account or a user.
Together, partner functions and partner function types help structure partner data in quotes and agreements. They make it easier to assign the right business parties to the right roles, keep partner information consistent, and support sales processes that depend on specific partner roles.
In this topic, learn how to configure partner functions and types:
Prerequisites
To configure partners, verify that you have the ADMIN PERMISSION. For details on assigning permissions, read Role management.
Enable copying partner functions from the account’s sales area
When users create or copy quotes and agreements, CPQ can automatically copy partner functions from the account’s sales area into a new quote or agreement.
To enable this functionality:
Sign in to Zilliant CPQ with your administrator credentials.
From the left navigation area, select Administration.
From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management.
Move through or search to locate Setting Boolean and select it from the list.
Select the SettingAddAccountKeyPartnersToQuote label.
Set the Setting Value Boolean switch to YES.
Select Save.
When this setting is enabled, configure how CPQ should determine which partner functions to apply to quotes and agreements.
Manage partner selection logic
If you enabled copying partner functions from the account’s sales area, configure partner selection logic. This logic defines how CPQ determines which partner functions to apply to quotes and agreements. This ensures that the correct roles, such as bill-to, ship-to, or sales representatives, are consistently and accurately assigned during document creation.
CPQ supports three approaches to partner selection:
Standard logic
When multiple partner functions exist for the same sales area, CPQ uses the following logic to determine the key partner:
The system first looks for the partner function marked as Default.
If no default is found, it selects the record with the lowest position number.
This prioritization ensures consistent and predictable assignment of key partner functions in the quote.
Custom logic
If the standard logic does not meet your business requirements, you can define custom logic using a Post Quote Creation Groovy script. This allows complete control over how CPQ selects or modifies partner function assignments.
Combining standard and custom logic
You can combine the standard implementation with your custom logic by following this sequence:
Standard logic runs first and adds all account partner functions for the matching sales area to a quote or agreement.
Custom logic runs next through a Post Quote Creation script to apply additional defaulting rules.
Note
When combining both approaches, ensure that the quote or agreement doesn’t have duplicate partner function records.
Hide partner function
If some partner functions are no longer needed, you can hide them from CPQ workflows without deleting them from the system. This keeps selection lists shorter and easier to use, while preserving the underlying data. For example, hidden partner functions don’t appear when users add or edit a partner in a quote or an agreement, reducing confusion and mistakes.
Tip
Hidden partner functions remain available in the system. If needed, you can make them visible in workflows again at any time.
To hide a partner function type:
From the application left navigation area, select Administration.
From the top navigation bar, select Master Data Management.
Move through or search to locate Partner Function and select it from the list.
Select a partner function, then set the Exclude from Workflows switch to YES.
Select Save.