Building Sales Orders with the Product Configurator

The Product Configurator is a native component of the DEACOM system and is used by manufacturers and distributors within the order entry process. The Product Configurator acts as a bridge between sales, production, and engineering teams to define a number of criteria, including: which options are available for base parts, which options may work with other options, which options may include other sub-options, and the costs of various options. The Product Configurator can work either by itself, to enter and price a configured item on a Sales Order, or can be linked to Item Masters for the purpose of production and inventory control.

The Product Configurator allows order entry users to alter the features of an item on-the-fly in Sales Order entry in a controlled environment. Think of personalizing a car or computer online to certain specifications within the limits that the manufacturer gives to do this. This can be useful for DEACOM manufacturers who allow some flexibility in the order entry process for items they make.

Sticking with the car example, when a car is built online, a user is only allowed to choose certain pre-defined exterior colors. These colors can change based on the model and package chosen in an earlier step. These concepts live in DEACOM. Models would typically be items, packages would be features with pre-determined available options and selections. The Exterior Color would also be a feature and the available colors would be options.

In DEACOM, customer preferences can be preset in Customers for each customer setting up default selections ahead of time. As an example, assume there is a car dealer in the northern US, who may want a preference to always select underbody treatment as an option on every car they order. When a Sales Order is created for that customer for the given model chosen, the underbody treatment option will be pre-selected on the configurator screen.

Behind the scenes in DEACOM, users can pre-define a Bill of Materials for the base item and create additional sub Bills of Materials for each option. Then as options are chosen, the Bill of Materials for this specific configured item is assembled and when finished, the assembled configured item will have a full Bill of Materials the production team can use to build the item and the buyers can use to purchase the 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 and Sub-Categories. 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, they 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.

Configuration

The following master data must be set up prior to entering Sales Orders using the Product Configurator. These are:

  • Feature Parts - once Feature Parts and the supporting master data have been created, they are available for entry on Sales Orders. Please reference the Configuring Feature Parts Best Practice pages for complete information on not only Feature Parts but details regarding how Features and Endpoints are assigned to Feature Parts.
  • Features - 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 are configured via Inventory > Maintenance > Features.
  • Endpoints - Endpoints refer to the different options that are available based on the Feature selected. Endpoints are also configured via Inventory > Maintenance > Features.

Note: All applicable master data required to enter Sales Orders in the system must also be created. See the Entering Sales Orders page for details on the configuration required.

Process

  1. Navigate to Sales > Order Entry.
  2. Select the appropriate Customer and add or verify any additional Sales Order header information. The header section stores the customer details, Facility information, payment terms, and dates on different tabs.
  3. Click the "Add" button to display the Edit Sales Order Line form.
  4. Select a Feature Part in the "Part Number" field. If a Customer record is selected that contains a Feature default, the appropriate Feature will be defaulted on the Sales Order line but may be overridden if necessary. See the Configuring Feature Parts page for additional information.
  5. The system will then evaluate the Feature Part to see which Features and Endpoints are available for use with the Feature Part selected. Once complete, the Feature selection form will be displayed.
  6. All Features currently defined for the selected item are displayed on the left-hand side of the screen. If an Endpoint is defined to be the default, then it will already be selected next to the Feature to which it belongs. Features without defaults appear with no Endpoint selected. The right-hand side of the screen starts with a display of the selectable Endpoints of the Feature that is currently selected on the left-hand side. Each line for an Endpoint contains the name of the Endpoint, the quantity (which can be changed), the price, and the extension.
    1. If an Endpoint is overridden to be unavailable, then it will not be visible in the list.
    2. If an Endpoint is currently unselectable because of an Excludes rule and another previously selected Endpoint, then it will be visible but grayed out.
  7. Double clicking on the desired Endpoint selects the Endpoint and moves to the next Feature on the left-hand side of the screen. Users can also choose an Endpoint using the arrow keys on the keyboard, and the enter key to select the choice, which also moves to the next Feature on the list. Users can move from one Feature to the next, without selecting an Endpoint, by using the tab key.
  8. Selecting an Endpoint that has Inclusions/Exclusions associated to it automatically selects any other Endpoints that are included and removes Endpoints from the list that are excluded. Deselecting an Endpoint with Inclusions/Exclusions automatically un-checks all other Endpoints that were included with it and adds back to the list (unchecked) any items that had been previously excluded by the selection. Note that if editing a Sales Order line containing a Feature part, the system will check, and if applicable, apply any Feature price changes to the line item being edited and will not require that the Feature be re-selected.
    1. If a selected Endpoint has a Note attached, that Note is copied to the "Edit Feature Notes" area in the middle of the right-hand side. Once the Note is copied, it can be edited for this order only. Additional Notes can be manually entered.
  9. At the bottom of the right-hand side are three fields displaying the price, to the customer, of the configured item. The "Base Price" field is the list price of the Feature item. The "Feature Price" field is the sum of the prices for all selected Endpoints. Adding the "Base Price" to the "Feature Price" produces the "Total Price" of the item, as currently configured. The "Total Price" is the equivalent of the Item Master list price for the configured item, and may be modified by pricing rules like Deals before becoming the actual sales price on the Sales Order. If Deals are present, modifying the list price for this customer, then the unit price on the Sales Order will be different than the "Total Price" on the configuration selection form. Also remember that certain Features or Endpoints can be defined to be excluded from Deal pricing effects, as discussed above, which has the effect of charging all Customers the same price for the Endpoint.

FAQ & Diagnostic Tips

Can I have the same endpoint listed more than once on a configurator tree?

You do not need to separate Endpoints in separate categories if the following two conditions are met:

  1. The Endpoint that you want to use in two different categories must be the exact same item/BOM.
    1. For example, if we have a Sink 1.0 Endpoint in the master bath and the guest bath, the master bath and the guest bath must have the exact same item/BOM among both.
  2. The Endpoint cannot be the only single determinant for the item used to add to the custom BOM.
    1. In the same example as above, if you have a two item masters with Sink 1.0 as the only Endpoint, it will add the item twice onto the custom BOM because Sink 1.0 is the only determinant for the item.