CONTENTS
- Deployment
- Permissions
- Planning
- Deployment steps
- Deployment steps 1/2 - fundamental settings
- Deployment steps 2/2 - creating the product range
This guide explains the deployment of extended product management in Netvisor. The guide describes the prerequisites for use, the required permissions, and the deployment steps one by one.
Deployment
Deploying extended product management in new companies requires the Professional package. The package can be activated from the Netvisor Store. Extended product management is available in all new Professional packages, and if a customer switches from a smaller package to Professional. Existing Professional customers can access Extended Product Management by contacting our customer support. Once Extended Product Management is activated, it cannot be turned off. Extended Product Management is also included in the Premium package if the company has this activated.
Impact on importing sales invoices from the interface
The unit information of sales invoice products is retrieved directly from Netvisor. If sales invoices are imported into Netvisor via integration and the sales invoice message contains product unit information, this unit information in the invoice message is not used on the invoice, but the unit is retrieved from the product in Netvisor.
Permissions
Before the actual deployment steps, consider who can do what and define the corresponding permissions for users.
Planning
Deployment and new products should be carefully planned. This naturally takes time, but later, when new products have already been in use, changes can be difficult. Map out your (future) product range, i.e., think about your products, how they could be built using the new product management, create attributes accordingly, and assign the necessary values to them.
Deployment steps
Below you can explore the actual deployment steps. Measure at least twice before cutting, i.e., take time for planning before the actual implementation.
Deployment steps 1/2 - fundamental settings
Before creating the product range, the user must make the necessary settings that will be needed in creating the product range.
Units
Create the necessary units. Determine whether they are measured in decimals or whole numbers. This setting affects the availability calculation of composite products (whether a product composed of sub-products is in stock, e.g., 0.5 or 1 piece).
Attributes, values, and value sets
Create the necessary attributes and define their current values. If necessary, create smaller value sets. Attributes and values are needed to create product models - models are combinations of different attribute values of a product (blue S, blue XL, red S, red XL, etc.). Default attributes with possible values can also be set for product groups, so a product created in that group gets pre-set default attributes, speeding up product creation.
Product groups
Product groups should be created before products because a product is assigned to a product group to which it belongs. The selection determines what kind of product it is and brings default attributes to the created product if such are defined for the product group. Extended product management allows building hierarchical groups.
Grouping criteria
A product can belong to only one product group, but it can be assigned various grouping criteria as text information, which can be used for searching and grouping products. This way, products can be grouped across desired criteria.
Additional information fields
The user can create necessary additional information fields that can be selected for use on a product. This way, necessary information can be added to the product according to individual needs.
Price groups
Create price groups. After this, created products can be linked to created groups with desired coefficients.
Customer-specific prices
Customer-specific prices can directly determine the product price for a specific customer (in a specific price group). This can be done by directly giving the desired price or using coefficients. Prices can be set after creating the product, but the same price groups as in the previous section are used for the setting, so if price groups are to be used, they must be created in advance.
Procurement information
Set up the supplier register (the remaining information can be entered during product creation)
Inventory management
For inventory management, at least one warehouse must be created. "Shelf locations" (product location in the warehouse) can be created for the warehouse location, and information can be set for the product. This information is used, for example, on the picking list.
Deployment steps 2/2 - creating the product range
Creating the product range
Once the necessary fundamental settings have been made, you can move on to the actual creation of the product range.
Options enabled by the product structure in creating the product range
In addition to individual products, extended product management allows products to be formed into models using attributes and their values to identify different variations of the product. Additionally, extended product management allows the formation of a final product, i.e., a composite product, from several sub-products that can be thought of as components, raw materials, or individual products or models that make up a product package.
Product options are as follows:
- Individual product
- Models formed from the product
- A composite product item that is itself stocked, formed from sub-products. E.g., raw materials+components => finished product, where after the manufacturing entry, the composite product is treated as an independent product item at the time of use (sale)
- A composite product item that is not itself stocked (virtual), formed from sub-products. E.g., a product package formed from several products, where in inventory events, the sub-products linked to the composite product item are handled at the time of use (sale)
- Composite product items can also be formed from existing models by linking sub-products to the product models
- Composite product items can be linked as sub-products to another composite product, allowing the construction of a complex composite product structure containing multiple handling levels
Building models, examples
Example product and possible models, i.e., how different products could be built in the new modular product structure.
Initial situation (products to be added to the new structure)
The user has different products, e.g., 8 pieces, where color and height vary. The new structure allows these to be built using models.
Example products used are the shelves below.
Common attributes and their value options can be extracted from the shelves as follows:
Attributes: value options
- Width: 100 or 50
- Height: 40 or 20
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 8 possible models (combinations).
Example option: Into two products based on one attribute
An attribute can be selected based on which a product is created. In this example, options include width or height. This way, the number of product models can be reasonably reduced. Reducing one option halves the number of possible models in this situation. Example below.
Product: Shelf, height 20
Attributes: value options
- Width: 100 or 50
- Height: 20
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 4 possible models (combinations).
Product: Shelf, height 40
Attributes: value options
- Width: 100 or 50
- Height: 40
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 4 possible models (combinations).
Example option: Into four products based on two attributes
Create four products so that only the color remains to be selected. Example below.
Product: Shelf, width 100, height 20
Attributes: value options
- Width: 100
- Height: 20
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 2 possible models (combinations).
Product: Shelf, width 50, height 20
Attributes: value options
- Width: 50
- Height: 20
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 2 possible models (combinations).
Product: Shelf, width 100, height 40
Attributes: value options
- Width: 100
- Height: 40
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 2 possible models (combinations).
Product: Shelf, width 50, height 40
Attributes: value options
- Width: 50
- Height: 40
- Depth: 30
- Color: brown or gray
There are thus 2 possible models (combinations).
This way, structural products can be utilized, and instead of eight products, there would be, for example, only 2 or 4 actual products, and these would have different models.
Sub-products and composite products
Extended product management allows hierarchical construction of products, meaning a product can be composed of other products.
Composite product = product/model that consists of other products/models (an item that bundles other products/models together)
Sub-product = ordinary product/model that is involved in constructing a composite product
Composite product
A composite product refers to a product/model to which other products are linked. If, for example, the parts of a shelf are to be considered as separate products (e.g., shelf board, frame, back panel, and leg), they can be created as individual products (with possible models) and then create a shelf product that consists of these previously created parts. Thus, the shelf is a composite product composed of other products (sub-products).
A composite product can be virtual or stocked (physical).
Stocked/physical
A composite product that is assembled from sub-products and the inventory quantity of sub-products has already been reduced at the time of assembly, and it is not done again at the time of use (from an inventory management perspective, the composite product is already formed)
Virtual
A composite product whose sub-products are stocked, but the item itself is not stocked, but the product is assembled from other products at the time of use, reducing the inventory quantities of sub-products only at the time of use
Sub-product hierarchy
The depth of the hierarchy is not limited, so composite products can also be bundled into new composite products if desired. A finished shelf could belong to a larger entity consisting of, for example, a showcase, this shelf, and a wall shelf. Similarly, a product that is a sub-product can be composed of smaller parts, such as a lamp attached to the ceiling of a showcase.
Keywords: deployment, deployment steps, product, composite product, sub-product, model
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