Configuring Feature Parts

A Feature Part in DEACOM refers to an Item Master record that is set with an "Order Type" of "Feature" and one that is meant to be used in connection with the DEACOM Product and Sales Configurator tool. Feature Parts contain a number of Features and Endpoints (or options) which, once defined, may be added to the item master record via the Features tab. Once Feature Parts and the supporting master data have been created, they are available for entry on Sales Orders.

This page covers the process for creating Feature Parts. Users should reference the DEACOM Product and Sales Configurator link above prior to creating Feature Parts. Once Feature Parts have been created, users may reference the Building Sales Orders with the Product Configurator Best Practice page for complete information on that process.

Configuration

The following list contains the master data that must be setup prior to using Feature Parts in DEACOM. The process section below contains all the detailed configuration steps.

  • Features and Endpoints must be created via Inventory > Maintenance > Features. The definition of Features and Endpoint are:
  • A Feature is a group of similar, and usually mutually exclusive, Endpoints (or options). A house, for example, might have a single space for a refrigerator, and the buyer could choose to have a 16 cubic foot, 18 cubic foot, or 20 cubic foot refrigerator in the space. The refrigerator is a "feature", while the three choices of 16, 18, or 20 are "endpoints" or options. Features can also be members of higher level Features, so that an upper level Feature of Kitchen can have Sub-features of Refrigerator, Range, and Garbage Disposal, with each of those having a list of available Endpoints. The configuration choices are presented on the Sales Order as a "feature tree", showing top level Features, their component Features (possibly multiple levels), and finally the endpoints.
  • An Endpoint is a choice that the user can make when configuring the parent item on a Sales Order. Endpoints can be linked to Item Masters, which adds the Bill of Materials of the selected item to the Bill of Materials for the base parent item, producing a configured Bill of Materials that can be passed along to Production Jobs for inventory relief.
  • Items marked as a "Feature" order type must be created via Inventory > Item Master. Note that Features and Endpoint must be created before creating Feature Parts.
  • Categories and Sub-categories will need to be defined via Inventory > Maintenance > Categories and Inventory > Maintenance > Sub-categories.
  • Deals, Promotion Codes, and Commissions and Rebates will need to be created in the Sales > Maintenance section of DEACOM. For more information on the setup, refer to Creating Deal Pricing, Discounts, and Promotions and Calculating Sales Representative Commissions.

Process

Adding and modifying Features

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Maintenance > Features
  2. The "Feature" form will be displayed. The top of the form contains two fields. The "View" field allow users to view Endpoints only, Features only, or Both. The "Active" field can be used to view "Active", "Inactive", or "All".
  3. Click the "Add Feature" button to display the "Edit Feature" form. See the "Edit Feature form" Encyclopedia section for details on the fields and options available to this form.
  4. Once all the information has been added or verified on the "Feature" form, click the "Add" button to display the "Edit Option" button. Recall that Options and Endpoints are the same thing in DEACOM. Endpoints can be linked to Item Masters in a way that the selection of several Endpoints brings single Item Master, and its Bill of Materials, into the Configuration. In cases where the use of multiple Endpoints is not necessary to select a particular Item Master, the Item Master can be attached to the Feature directly, with the "Edit Option" form. The search box allows the user to select from all active Item Masters.
  5. Once all the information has been entered, click the "Save" and "Exit" button to close the "Edit Option" form and return to the "Features" form.
  6. Additional Options can be added at this time.
  7. Once all Options have been added click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons on the "Features" form to complete the process.

Adding and modifying Endpoints

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Maintenance > Features.
  2. The "Feature" form will be displayed. The top of the form contains two fields. The "View" field allow users to view Endpoints only, Features only, or Both. The "Active" field can be used to view "Active", "Inactive", or "All".
  3. Click the "Add Endpoint" button to display the "Edit Endpoint" form. See the "Edit Endpoint" form Encyclopedia section for details on the fields and options available to this form.
  4. Once all the information has been entered, click the "Save" and "Exit" button to close the "Edit Endpoint" form and return to the "Features" form.
  5. Additional Endpoints can be added at this time.
  6. Once all Endpoints have been added click the "Save" and "Exit" buttons on the "Features" form to complete the process.

Adding Feature Parts

The goal of Configuration design is to have the user entering a Sales Order select an available Item Master and have the correct configuration choices available to the user. Item Masters that display configurations during Sales Order entry are defined with an Order Type of "Feature". Item Masters can be grouped with other similar items by Categories, which is a required field, and Sub-categories, which are optional. If similarly configured items are grouped by Category and Sub-category, then available Features and Endpoints, sales pricing, and defaults can be defined at the Category level, further defined at the Sub-category level, with final definition at the Item Master level. Maintenance of Features, Endpoints, sales pricing, and defaults at the highest possible level minimizes ongoing maintenance when changes occur. If twenty items in a Category have the same Features, that can be defined once at the Category level instead of twenty times (once for each item). If one of the items has a unique Feature in addition to the general Features common to the rest of the items in the Category, that Feature can be added for that one item at the Item Master level.

The sections below deal with the addition and modification of Features and Overrides at the Category, Sub-category and Item Master level respectively.

Assigning Feature selection and overrides at the Category level

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Maintenance > Categories.
  2. Click the "New" button to display the "Edit Category" form.
  3. Fill in the appropriate information. See the link in Step 1 for details on the fields and options available to this form.
  4. Next, click the "Features" button to the "Features" form. See the "Category Features form" Encyclopedia section for detail on this form.
  5. Once all the information has been added to this form, click the "Save" and "Exit" button to close the "Features" form and return to the "Edit Category" form.
  6. Click the "Save" and "Exit" button on the "Edit Category" form to complete the process.

Assigning Feature selection and overrides at the Sub-Category level

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Maintenance > Sub-Categories.
  2. Click the "New" button to display the "Edit Sub-Category" form.
  3. Fill in the appropriate information. See the link in Step 1 for details on the fields and options available to this form and click "Save" when all details have been entered.
  4. Next, click the "Features" button to open the Features form. Note that the options on this form differ slightly from those on the category "Features" form.
  5. Once all the information has been added to this form, click the "Save" and "Exit" button to close the "Features" form and return to the "Edit Sub-Category" form.
  6. Click the "Save" and "Exit" button on the "Edit Sub-Category" form to complete the process.

Assigning Feature selection and overrides at the Item Master level

There are two uses for the Features tab on the Item Master:

  1. For top level, configurable items, the left side lists the features of each item. Each feature can contain a list of choices or options. The View Tree button expands the features list to display all the features and each of the options.
  2. For bottom level endpoints on the option tree, the right side lists the configuration endpoints that link to this item master. A given item master may serve as an endpoint in a number of configurations.

Both features and endpoints are defined first in Inventory > Maintenance > Features and then linked to item masters as either features or endpoints. The order type field on the General 1 tab must be set to "Feature" before features may be added to individual items.

  1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Master > select a Part > click "Modify".
  2. Navigate to the Features tab and click "Add".
  3. Select a Feature from the pick list.
  4. If more Features should be added, click "Next", otherwise save and exit the Edit Part Feature form.