This topic assumes you are familiar with the basic Showroom new vehicle (price book vehicle) quotation process and with associated vehicle stockbooks operations.
The new vehicle quotation process produces quotes for two categories of vehicle:
A non-stock vehicle i.e. a vehicle ordered from the factory (a price book vehicle)
A vehicle already held in the dealer's stock
C2 can be used when specifying a non-stock vehicle (a price book vehicle).
The C2 configurator operates within the DSC (Digital Sales Channel) and covers all configuration rules for vehicles. It is able to configure vehicles that manufacturer plants can produce (buildable). Currently Autoline cannot configure all buildable vehicles due to the complexity of the DC configuration rules. Thus binding offers to customers (Retail offers) will be possible if "C2 within DSC" is used to.
A Mercedes-Benz internet site, provides access to the C2 database. The Autoline showroom module provides a link to the C2 internet site via a secure connection, to allow the user to configure a new vehicle according to manufacturers' specifications (over the internet). Only new vehicles, (not currently held in stock) may be built.
The availability of the C2 interface is controlled by parameters and within these parameters it will be possible to specify those franchises for which it is available. The interfaces are designed to work with many of the Mercedes-Benz franchises not just Mercedes-Benz.
The user can make a decision to connect to C2, or to configure a vehicle in Showroom itself (as per normal functionality).
If the vehicles are built and configured using C2 it is assumed that ALL factory options will be added to the vehicle here. This will include such items as Colour, Trim, Factory options and Packs. Selection of the model and variant can also be made through C2 as opposed to through showroom.
A configuration created using the C2 interface is a retail offer.
The vehicle and associated factory options can be added, however there is no configuration generated or stored in C2, instead the full configuration is downloaded into Autoline using a XML document. Amendments to retail offers would require the whole configuration to be transferred from Autoline to C2 within DSC.
New vehicle quotation consists of:
The dealer/salesman and the customer agree broad customer needs
The dealer/salesman runs Autoline's showroom module, enabling the identification of the customer and product group
If a vehicle ordered from the factory (a price book vehicle) is chosen, the C2 process continues. Otherwise, a vehicle already held in the dealer's stock may be assigned to the order in standard Showroom and the C2 process does not apply.
The dealer/salesman specifies the vehicle's configuration in C2. This task itself consists of:
Autoline Showroom links to C2
The salesman specifies the vehicle using C2
C2 validates the selected vehicle configuration
Autoline downloads the valid configuration from C2 as a retail offer back into Showroom
Tip: The C2 process steps are explained in more detail in the Linking to C2 process.
On return from C2, Autoline places you at an appropriate point in the new vehicle quotation process
The dealer/salesman and customer finalise the retail offer, agreeing dealer fitted options, trade in, etc.
Communication between dealer/salesman with customer after confirmed configuration (if necessary).
The retail offer becomes a customer order
The dealer/salesman accepts the customer retail offer into Autoline's vehicle stock books (VSB) module
The franchise data for Mercedes-Benz is normally supplied in MDPLUS format. This data contains the models and national type details for the franchise, including all factory options, prices etc. For this functionality to work, franchise data held on Autoline must be updated and kept in synchronization with the MDPLUS franchise data held on C2. An import program is available through Manufacturer Systems that is used to update franchise data within Autoline to maintain this.
Note: Although we do support options not being available within franchise data, the national types are required in Autoline.
This will rely on timely distribution of MDPLUS data in conjunction with the updates made to the C2 configurator. The updates should be run at regular intervals; this should be confirmed by Mercedes-Benz on frequency and how this will be distributed to the dealers.
To access C2, Autoline requires Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.50 or later to be installed.
Before you use C2, you must ensure that the Autoline system is set up. This is normally carried out by, or on advice from, a Kerridge consultant.
