Helping implementer dealing with famous siebel based system messages and errors

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Helping implementer and tester dealing with famous Siebel - based
system messages and errors
Written By:
Mohammad Altraimat
Abstract: this document aims to explain the famous messages and errors that
might appear in Siebel - based system, thus helping implementers and tester
generally to do their job regarding maintenance, support, and ticketing, the advice
and explanation were primarily based on the author opinion and experience, I have
mentioned the most probable reason often, note that you might find that some of
errors applied not only to Siebel based system but to any system or other parts that
have integration with Siebel (for ex: GIS, BI reports...etc.), finally we hope you
contact us back to improve this document.

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Introduction:
the process of system implementation is so critical; demos and training need to
be on stable and free from bugs’ environment, this requires implementers make
sure everything is fine, so implementers need to know something about these errors
and messages, and to react to these errors either by ticketing to developer, refining
configuration or even by just little action “like clear cashe, or opining new
session”.
Understanding how the system works, and what business impeded in system
need implementers to get a look into the system and submitting cases, during this
rounds one or more of the below messages or errors might appear, thus we tried to
put a spot light on most common messages and errors, what the popular cause, and
what implementers shall do from their side to deal with.
First: some messages and explanations about:
(1) Error message: “Siebel Business Applications have a
preconfigured session timeout”:
For security concerns - to ensure that data is not used by unauthorized person,
and because servers at the end have a limit in terms of handling cases, systems
show a session timeout alert after not using system for a while, this applies on
Siebel based systems, and other system generally, the body of this message and the
session limit can be changed by development team as requested.
When session is time out take the case No, and make query to drill it down next
time and proceed it, note that you can avoid this by being active, or by attention to
the alert before session time out said: “Your session is going to expire. Please click
OK to extend the session” and clicking ok, the default session time is 15 minutes.
(2) Error message: “The selected record was modified from another
user”:
Sometimes you proceed a case “especially from e-service”, and you find such
message at any screen, what happen probably is that you pressed next or previous
button once and while loading you gave another action “probably you might
pressed the same button again”, thus Siebel will prevent you from proceeding by
such message even you back and next.

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Siebel perceived your case as trying to modify the value for this intended case
from different user in the same time! I know it’s strange as you might be the only
user for this case in that time, but Siebel used to give a generalization in such
validation, Siebel vanilla have buttons that when you press on don’t have disable
action, so when you press again you might give a new value in the same time,
which is not accepted logically, so preventing you have a “unity of order” concept
to ensure the consistency of data, you can simply take the case No, and make query
to drill it down again and proceed it.
To avoid this bothering issue permanently, ticket this back to user experience
Team and ask them to change the buttons to be disabled as the button is pressed, or
ask them to insert a loading page to prevent all actions.
(3) Error message: “Received shutdown command, existing”:
This error means that the server was shutting down while you worked on the
case, thus you can’t do action with not working server, in such case, go to the case
No, and copy it, to give it back when server is up.
(4) Error message: “The server you are trying to access is either
busy or experiencing difficulties. Please close the Web browser,
open a new browser window, and try logging in again”:
This message can appear in any time “without a trigger from user”, and it
happens in either e-service or public sector, generally all the environment are up to
development changes, and every time developers want to reflect any change they
do compiling, this process looks like doing refresh for something to be up with the
changes.
All the teams must work in compatibility, and good management is must to
assign a specific environment for these teams, thus the interruption will be as less
as possible, in average the compilation doesn’t take too much time, but developer
must remember to get the service up after each compilation, and to communicate
implementers and tester each time he/she do compiling.
Segregation of environments is also a key concept here, where QA,
Development, and production environments all existed to eliminate such
interruption.

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(5) Error message: “The responsibility of user %1 does not allow
accessing view %2”:
Sometimes when you click on one of links or taps, or drill down a case you find
this message, in such case the user you choose doesn’t have a responsibility to
access the view, recall that to build a system using Siebel you must divide it into a
views, thus helping make control on who must see these views and deal with it, the
responsibility is a set of views that if given to a user the user can access and deal
with, It’s essentially in Siebel- based system to create a responsibilities and assign
it to each existing user in logical way that ensure the impeded business, and if no
responsibility given to user he will see nothing.
Go to site map, and make sure the responsibility given to user have the view
mentioned in the message or not, if not add it either in existing responsibility (if
view is related to this responsibility), or create a new responsibility, adding this
view in, and assign it to the intended user, after all open a new session to access
again, and do the same every time you face this issue, don’t forget to add this
update to responsibility matrix.
(6) Error message: “the value entered in field %2 of buscomp %3
does not match any value in the bounded pick list %1”:
This issue may be raised for one or more of the following:
A- The value entered does not exist in the drop down menu :Here you have to
select the value from the dropdown menu instead of writing the value by
yourself
B- The value is duplicated in the drop down menu :Contact the development
team to investigate the reason for the duplication and eliminate all duplicated
records
C- The list of value cache is not cleared :Open the application in desired
language, go to site map  Administration – Data List of Values then click
on the clear cache button.
(7) Error message: “This page can’t be displayed”, or “this site can’t
be reached”:

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A- The web address you entered is not correct, if you take it as copy and paste,
make sure you copy it all, and make sure you don’t past it twice, and ask
wither the URL you have is correct
B- The environment you want to access needs a VPN connection, but you are
not connected, thus you need to connect by a VPN simply
C- The proxy sittings is not right, ask your system administrator what is the
right sittings or have him do it for you, for example: sometimes you need to
make “use a proxy server for your LAN” unchecked
D- The servers are down, report this to the system administrator
E- The sitting in internet option is not adequate, make sure the security level in
“trusted site” tap is not high, and ask system administrator about the
appropriate sittings needed.
(8) Error message: An error has occurred finding your prior place in
the system. Please try a new query:
Siebel may take some time loading after deleting one record, thus it’s important
to wait a little time in such case, what happen probably is that in such loading you
might find the record you delete still shown, so you delete it again thinking you
didn’t delete it, and then you might get bored so you try to get back then you found
this message error.
It is normal case, wait, or close the window, open the system in new session,
and remind that the key in case of deleting records is to understand the way Siebel
is working, which is: the delete takes time just for the first time.
(9) Error message: “Your version of the Siebel High Interactivity
Framework for IE, required for use of this Siebel application, may
not be current”:
This message is popular when you run the Siebel based system for first time on
internet explorer, to fix this do the following:
A- Go to tools  compatibility view sitting  add the URL / then go to tools 
internet option  security  site  add the URL, close and open new
session

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B- If this didn’t work go to internet option  security  custom level and
make buttons enabled as system administrator recommended, close and open
new session
C- If this didn’t work go to tools  internet option  sittings  view objects
 delete Siebel high Interactivity framework Files, close and open new
session.
(10) An error has occurred writing to a record, Please continue or
ask your systems administrator to check your application
configuration if the file problem persists (SBL-DBC-00111)
This issue is usually related to database, and it’s happen for many causes, the
issue source could be from database itself or by Siebel development team, but in all
cases ticket this issue to Siebel development team so they can investigate and find
the issue source.
(11) Cannot connect to the server (SBL-EAI-04115)
This message is related to server network connectivity issues, this applies on
server not be blocked (by fire wall for example), and ensuring all component are
working fine, report this to system administrator.
(12) The query could not be run because there is an invalid
character in the field '%1'. Please ensure that the value in the field is
formatted correctly with only valid characters. Missing quotes
around the search criteria or unnecessary punctuation will often
cause an error (SBL-DAT-00403):
A- You may use special characters in your query such as “()”, refine your query
and don’t use such characters
B- The value retrieved might have special characters, this needs data cleansing,
ticket this

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C- Other causes related to Timestamp expressions such as “= Today() -3”,
make sure you don’t use “-” or “+” after Timestamp expressions.
Second: some errors and explanation about:
(13) The values are in another language:
Everything is ok but all the values and labels are in other language, (for
example the values are in English, while the language must be in Arabic as the
URL said), this issue might happen because of wrong compilation, contact
developer and ask for right compilation.
(14) The System is loading without response:
Sometimes you find the system loading and loading with very slow or no
response, actually the possible reason for such issue is countless, but here are some
of them:
A- We should recall that Siebel based system becomes too slow when we try to
delete some records, this happens once you delete the first record in the
session, but you will not face such issue with the other records if you delete
again within the same session
B- And it may refers to the database itself, especially if cascade delete applied
and the record deleted was like parents to other child
C- Other reasons like connection error, unstable integration, and sessions limit
is also possible
(15) Not retrieving the data by ID, or retrieving but you can’t
proceed:
Sometimes you post The Id No for citizen or organization or license without any
data retrieved, actually before doing so you must go back to the profile and check
those things:
1- Does the Id exist in the intended profile or database or not? If not it mustn’t
retrieve anything
2- Is the status for the object active or not? If not the possible validation might
be not retrieving the objects related Info at all

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3- Is there a formula for the intended Id? Ask the developer, and try to reveal if
match with formula or not, if not it might not retrieve probably, and it would
also show a validation message about this too
4- Does the object related to other object not active, and is there any validation
on the status of the other related object or not? For example: “in case of
permits: is there a validation on owner to be active thus the permit owned
can show its Data and we can proceed the case related, or not?” ask
developer about such validation if exists, and what profile you should refer
to
5- Do we have a type, area, or time validation? If yes what is it, and does it
apply on our case.
Remember that much of validation can be created in workflow, thus referring to
development team is must anyway.
(16) Retrieving approximate numeric value, or wrong numeric
value:
Sometimes you find a numeric value in one of existing profile that does not
match with what is retrieved in the case you work on, or in the report, actually the
reference in all cases is the database, and value might change as fields take a
different format, for example the value 12.65 for length might change to just 12 as
it take an integer format in Siebel profile, so ensuring format consistency between
the database (database layer) and Siebel profile (business layer) is must.
Plus of this, the reports builder might take an individual decision to calculate
one value rather than retrieving it from database or Siebel profile, for example the
value “stores area” doesn’t always equal to length multiplied by width as stores can
take a non-squared shape, this tell us that good communication is the key between
developments, analyst, and reports builder.
(17) Some values not retrieved as case goes between the users:
Sometimes you choose a value and save it, then when you transfer the case to
another user you find those values are not retrieved at all, This issue may be raised
for one or more of the following:

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a- Using a different applets for those different users, ticket the issue and wait
for compiling from developer
b- Other possible reason is that the intended value is not saved unless we press
CTRL+S, in such case call developer to fix this issue.
(18) The last design of the screens and other objects are lost:
Since many clients focus on user experience, many requests is probable
nowadays to change the design of Siebel screens and objects, Siebel vanilla is the
raw design that come with Siebel, and CSS file created by the user experience team
to change the shape, color, and the font of these objects, when these files is
uploaded to the extension folder and after compiling it, we can see the design
changes reflected on the environment.
The case we are talking about is when the changes is lost after being applied,
this actually is directly related to these CSS files we talked about, those files might
be updated or even deleted especially after restarting the Siebel gateway, thus the
solution is upload these right files again to the intended extension folder.
(19) GIS screen is loading without a response:
a- GIS URL needs to be added to the host file but it hasn’t been added to, go to
“c:WindowsSystem32Driversetchosts” and Make the necessary changes
to the file based on system administrator instructions.
b- There is an issue in GIS itself, take the token “IE: right click- view source,
chrome: right click - inspect”, find the word: “token”, get the URL
“beginning from http...”, and report this to GIS team.
(20) The map in GIS screen is blank, or some tools are missed:
a- The network is so slow, check the network, or Waite little more time;
especially if you access the environment through VPN connection.
b- The user has not the adequate GIS responsibility, go to Siebel admin
screen and assign or reassign the adequate responsibility to the intended
user.

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(21) The page appeared with wrong layout in IE, and some
components are not working:
You might login to the system through IE and find the system with wrong
layout, or you might find some component have more than its right size and not
working too, to solve this:
A- Go to tools  compatibility view sittings, and add the URL  close.
B- Press F12  go to this icon and downgrade the IE.
(22) The report shown with blank fields:
The form reports (which is just like a final result for one service) have
information about the case submitted, sometimes you see the report show nothing
at all, The reason simply is that some required info is lost and the report built to
show the intended info just if these values existed, or it’s status was active, so:
a- it’s possible that developer didn’t make this value required in the service,
and in such case we check with developer and making sure he/she fixed the
issue, and the value became required
b- It’s also possible that some actions (for example: submitting, approving,
canceling…etc.) made this required value null or inactive, in such case we
have to check the profile before the probable action and after it, and if we
caught the scenario we send it to developer to fix the issue.
(23) The QR can’t be read:
The issue here that you might not be able to read the QR even it existed, this
may be raised for one or more of the following:
a- Issue in QR generator: and this is the integration team responsibility to fix
this issue
b- Inadequate report layout: recall that QR have quarter shape, then if the
layout didn’t keep this feature by stretching the QR or the part specified for
QR this will made QR unread, ticket this to BI team

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(24) Substituted value into one filed in the report:
The values in report when tested it should be compared with values entered
early in the case, it might be possible that one field have the value of other field
(for example: the plate name might have the commercial name value, and vice
versa), when tested, I advise to enter a distinctive and representing value in the
fields so we can easily trace if the value existed is right or not (for example: we
wright commercial name in the commercial name field, and plate name in the plate
name field), and if we found converse value we should ticket this to BI team.
(25) Null value into one filed in the report:
You might find some fields blank in report where it should be filled with
values, this actually may be raised for one or more of the following:
a- it’s possible that developer didn’t make this value required in the service and
we simply didn’t fill it
b- if the report field must read something from the profile it’s possible that
developer make function to update the value to be null if the user left the
field blank in the cases, in such case report this to developer and make sure
system retrieve the original value in the profile if it missed not null, or make
sure filling this field became required if this was the proper business
c- it’s possible that BI developer didn’t assign the value into the specific field,
report this to BI developer, and make sure it’s retrieved
d- it’s possible that BI developer entered other value which equal to null, report
this to him/her, and make sure the value is retrieved well as it entered
(26) Strange format value into one of date fields in the report:
You might find a date value retrieved in strange format (for example:
1443.1408450704225-01-18), this actually refers to the date configuration in
admin screen (for example: if we have Hegira date and Gregorian date used both in
the system), go to system administration screen  Hegira date, and update info to
match the Hegira date with the Gregorian date.
(27) BI Header have been retrieved in the report
You might find the report shown with BI Header (Header that contains oracle
trade mark and other component and criteria to query by), this issue is matter

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because there is a risk that Header might enable unauthorized user to see and
inquiry info they shouldn’t be able to see nor inquiry, and also it’s not also
acceptable in terms of appearance and GUI, this issue is related to wrong URL
provided for this report from the system, so new parameters must be sent again
from developers to hide it.
(28) The progress bar does not show the right screen:
You may find the located screen in the progress bar different than the current
screen in the service, in such case ticket this issue to user experience Team, and
remember: all issues related to UX Team when fixed, we should clear cash when
we test next time.
(29) When we sign out and return a session time out message
appeared or the system redirect you to other place:
The normal case when we sign out is that system direct us to its login page, If
system showed a session time out message or redirect you to other system instead
this will be because of wrong URL, ticket this to developer.

Helping implementer dealing with famous siebel based system messages and errors

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