Should a router be created as a Catalog Item or a Resource Specification or both?

[Mahesh_Krishnan]

Hello All:

I need some help understanding the connection between a Catalog Item and a Product Offering. If I want to allow a customer to order a router I can create it either create a Product Offering for it and mapping it to a Resource Spec, or just create a Catalog Item for it. In my experience the Catalog Item form has more features available to add content such as pictures etc, than either the Product Offering or the Resource Spec record. So my question is, is there a connection between a Catalog Item and a Product Offering? How should I got about setting up my router record in SN?

Thank you!

Mahesh

[ShashankInamdar · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mahesh_Krishnan , here's my point of view -

There is no direct relationship between a Catalog Item and Product Offering.

Catalog Items sit within the Service Catalog, while Product Offerings are part of the TMF aligned Product Catalog.

If I may rephrase your question, what you are really asking is whether to use Service Catalog or Product Catalog.

At a very high level,

Service Catalog:

• Typically used to expose 'Items' to internal and/or external users who are already onboarded and have access to the instance.
• Is simpler to build and configure, but is not TMF aligned. Complex products, interdependencies, pricing capabilities limited.
• Platform Subflows used to orchestrate Catalog Item fulfillment.

Product Catalog:

• Used to model simple as well as complex products that are exposed to the mass market, via different channels and not limited to onboarded customers only.
• Relatively complex to build, is TMF aligned making integrations with other TMF aligned systems easier and faster. Supports pricing, interpendencies etc.
• Full Order Management capability available to orchestate and fulfill Products.

So, I would suggest to make the decision based on the use case, the targets users etc.

Also, you can add images to Product Offerings in Product Catalog Manager.

Regards

Shashank