Products with Features

Introduction to Product Features

Features are characteristics of products which must be specified when ordering an item. Features distinguish the product you have in inventory (the variant products) from the template base (the virtual product). For example, features might include size and color selections for a product such as clothing.

There are several types of Product Features, as follows:

• Selectable -- One of several choices must be selected when ordering to define the specific variant
• Standard -- A Standard characteristic of a product, mentioned for a complete description
• Required -- A Feature which is a prerequisite within a variant that is being ordered
• Optional -- An Optional Feature that can be selected, or not selected
• Distinguishing -- A Feature that defines the unique characteristic of a product

When defining Features it may be necessary to define interactions among them, which restrict which Features can be combined with other Features. This may be due to one of the following "Interaction Types" which will be defined along with the Features:

• Dependencies -- Used when selection of one Feature requires selection of another Feature also
• Incompatibilities -- Used when selection of one Feature prohibits selection of another Feature

The Catalog Manager allows you to define any feature set you need to fully describe the products you are selling. First, features and feature sets must be defined in the Catalog Manager so that they can then be applied to the appropriate Products. That is, features are associated with or applied to virtual products (the basic templates) to create the specific products that are in inventory (the variants).

• Features are defined in: [Catalog Manager] > [Features] page > [Feature Category] Sub-Tab
• Features are applied to Products in: [Catalog Manager] > "Edit Product" page > [Features] Sub-Tab

Example - A Product with Selectable Color Feature

Currently, the system uses primarily the following product-feature relationships:

• Selectable Features -- These are features where the customer selects one from many available choices. For example, a shirt may be available in White, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink. The colors are selectable features of the variant product shirt, and the customer is prompted to choose a color during the ordering process.

An example of this follows:

• Each color is a standard feature of the variant product which is in inventory. In this example the template or virtual product is "Shirt-A" and the feature is "White".
• The virtual (template) product is "Shirt-A" of some generic type such as T-Shirt and description which does not include selectable features like color.
• Thus, "White" is one of the selectable features of the virtual product “Shirt-A”.
• The order for this product including the selectable feature is "Shirt-A White".

Generic characteristics of the virtual (template) product are recorded in it's own descriptive materials. In the example this might include characteristics like t-shirt, cotton fabric, and maybe a location of manufacture.

Defining the Available Product Feature Sets

To define available Product Features, open the Catalog Manager
In the top horizontal navigation bar, Mouse Over: [Catalog Manager Application]
In the drop down box, Click: [Features]
The "Edit Product Feature Categories" page opens to Sub-Tab [Feature Category]

Product Features are created in the [Feature Category] Sub-Tab.

Screens in this Tab are for creating and maintaining product feature definitions, that you must apply to appropriate Products in Catalog Manager to make the variant products available for Customers to buy. There are four Sub-Tabs within this screen:

• [Feature Types] -- allows you to create and view different types of features like size, color, fabric, style, model year, and many others
• [Feature Category] -- for organizing Features into sets from which a Selection is to be made, such as a set of color choices for a clothing item. Each Feature can belong to only one Category.
• [Feature Group] -- for defining combinations of Categories and Features that work together in selecting a single Variant Product, for example color features, and size features work together to define a dress.
• [Feature Interaction] -- used to specify feature dependencies or feature incompatibilities

An example about Feature Groups is helpful. You can have two categories that are used together like this:

• A Colors Category that has colors White, Blue, Grey, Green, Yellow, Pink, Red, and Orange, and
• A Sizes Category that has sizes XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL.

These two Categories can be applied to define two Feature Groups like this:

• First of the Feature Groups is for shirts that has only colors White, Blue, Grey and sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL, and
• Second of the Feature Grups is for dresses that have colors Yellow, Pink, Red, Orange and sizes XXS, XS, S, M, and L.

Each of the Feature Groups can be applied to the appropriate Products in the Product Features Tab, located at: [Catalog Manager] > "Edit Product" Section > [Features] Tab, as explained in the User Guide page at Using_Product_Information_Sub-Tabs_Step-By-Step#Features

Creating or Editing Feature Categories and Product Features

Product features are created in the [Feature Category] Sub-Tab, and then they are added to Feature Groups in the [Feature Group] Sub-Tab.

"Create a New Feature Category"

* Click on [Feature Category] (the default screen when you clicked:
                [Catalog Manager Application] > [Features])
* In the [Feature Category] Tab the page opens listing Category ID numbers and corresponding 
  Feature Category Descriptions. 
* Click: [Create New] at the top of the box to define a new Feature Category.
  Here, you enter the new Feature Category name and specify a parent category if any.
  The category id is automatically created for you. 
* Enter Product Feature descriptions as discussed below, in the
     "Editing in the Product Feature Maintenance Box"

Note: Parent Feature Category is not currently implemented for any purpose in this release.

"Edit a Feature Category and It's Product Feature Maintenance List"

* To Edit an existing Feature Category and it's contents, 
* Click on [Feature Category] 
        (Note: This is the default screen that opened when you clicked:
                [Catalog Manager Application] > [Features].)
* In the [Feature Category] Tab the page opens listing Category ID numbers and corresponding 
  Feature Category Descriptions. 
* Click: An [ID] link, (Feature Category ID link), to open it for editing, 
    or do this first and then
    use the following alternate if appropriate.

* Alternately, to Create a new Feature for this or any other existing Category by filling in the same 
  information fields listed immediately below,
* Click: [Create New Feature] button at the top of this box.
* Fill in the fields described below, and Click: [Update]

Each line lists one of the Features for this Category, including the following information fields which you can edit:

• Description – text for describing this particular feature
• Feature type – the Feature Type from the drop down box, color, size ,etc.
• Feature Category – the current Feature Category from the drop down box. Note: If you change this item to a different Feature Category, when you click [Update] the Feature line will move from this Category list to the different Category list you just selected.
• Unit of Measure ID - enter a unit of measure ID (The list of available ID's can be found at ??????.)
• Quantity – can be used to create features such as length or width that have a different quantity for each specific variant Product, such as lumber 4 feet long, versus 6 feet long.
• Amount - A pricing increment for the Feature.
• ID Seq num – the sequence number for a feature determines where it appears in the list of selections.
• ID code – an Item Code specified here is appended to the Product ID code of the variant item to distinguish it from other variants that can be created by the Customer's Feature elections.
• Abbrev -
• Check Box - at the end of each line is a Check Box that you MUST check if you want your changes to be saved.

* Click: [Update] to save your changes.

"Adding Features to the Feature Category"

* To add new feature entries to the Category currently open, 
* Enter the number of new feature entries (lines) you need to add in the "Add" box.
* Click: [Create] to open the specified number of new lines for editing. 

Each line provides the following fields for defining a new Feature in the Category that is now open. Provide entries for each field as follows:

• Description – text for describing this particular new feature
• Feature type – select the Feature Type from the drop down box, color, size ,etc.
• ID Seq num – the sequence number for a feature determines where it appears in the list of selections.
• ID code – an Item Code specified here is appended to the Product ID code of the variant item to distinguish it from other variants that can be created by the Customer's Feature elections.
• Check Box - at the end of each line is a Check Box that you MUST check if you want your changes to be saved.

* Click: [Create] to save your changes.

Creating or Editing Feature Groups

* From the Catalog Manager Main screen, Catalog Manager Application drop down box, Click: [Features]
* Click: [Feature Groups] to open the "Product Feature Group" box, and to view a list of existing Feature Groups, or
* Click: [Create a Product Feature Group] to create a new group.

"Editing Existing Product Feature Groups"

* Click: [ID] of the Feature Group to edit, a list opens displaying all the current Features in the Group
* In this box you can change the Sequence Num that controls the order of Feature Listing, or you can Remove any Feature.
* Click: [Update] to save any changes.

* To add a single feature to the Group by it's ID, go to the second box called "Quick Apply Product Feature"
* Enter: the Product Feature ID to be added to the Group, Click: [Create] to add it to the Group
* In the Feature list box, fill in a Sequence Num for the new Feature, and Click: [Update]

* To add several features to the Group by selecting them from an existing Category, go to the third box 
  called "Apply Features from Category"
* Select an existing Category from the drop down box "Product Feature Category ID"
* Click: [Continue]
* The list of Features in this Category opens, Use the Check Box on each line to select Features to add
  to the Group you are editing
* Click: [Submit] to save your edits