Defining The Component Products and Linking to Config Choices

Component Products are the real products carried in inventory that we ship when Customers order one of the Config Options listed on the Configurable Product ordering page of the E-Commerce web site, or Configurable Product (internal) ordering page.

Continuing our example, based on the Demo Data product PC001, we will add a new Component Product which will later be linked to the new Config Option we entered in the last User Guide section.

Defining a New Component Product in the Catalog

First we must define the new Component Product in the Catalog, so that it can then be linked to the Configurable Product where it will become a choice in the Customer menu. Refer to Setting_Up_Your_Products_and_Sales_Materials to create a new Hard Drive product as follows:

Open [Catalog] Icon,
In the largest menu box called "Catalog Manager Main Page", Click: [Create New Product]
Enter: a new Product ID that is consistent with your naming convention,
or leave blank for a system assigned numeric ID.
    For our example, Enter: HD_1_TB_BRAND (no blank spaces are allowed, use "_" the
    underscore instead of blanks in any ID field.
Product Type: Choose the "Finished Good"
Internal Name: fill in the internal name, in our example "HD 1 TB"
Click: [Create Product] to save 

Our new Component Product needs a Price specified for use when it is selected as an Config Option to the Configurable Product (in our example, the PC001).

Click: [Prices] Tab
In the "Add Product Prices" menu box, fill in the fields as follows:
    * Price Type -- select "Default Price" unless you know you will use Price Rules
    * Purpose -- select "Component Price"
    * Currency Uom Id -- Currency of the Customer's Order
    * Product Store Group Id -- Store Group if it is defined
    * From Date -- Effective date of this price
    * Thru Date -- Last effective date of this price
    * Price -- Specify the Component Price in the selected currency 
    * termUomId -- not required
    * Custom Price Calc Service -- not required 
Click: Create, to save this price data

Linking the Component Product to the Config Option

With the new Component Product defined, the next step is to link it to the appropriate Config Option so that the new choice is available to view on Customer Ordering screens. To make the link, proceed as follows:

Click: [Catalog] > [Catalog Manager Applications] > [Configurations] 
Click: [Find] to see the list of defined Config Items
Click: [Config Item] ID, for the Item in the list that we are editing
    (In our example, the Item is IT0001 for Hard Drives.)
Click: [Config Options] Sub-Tab to see the list of Options already created
Click: [Config Option] ID, for the Item in the list we want to link now.
    (In our example, it is OPT003 HD 1 TB.)

A menu box opens at the bottom of the screen, labeled "Add a Configurations", with the following fields to fill in:

• Product Id -- Enter the Product ID for the new Component Product we are linking. (In our example this is "HD_1_TB_BRAND".)
• Quantity -- Enter the number of this product that comes when one is selected by the Customer.
• Sequence Num -- Enter the Sequence number to control order of display in screens.

Click: [Create] to save this linking information. 

The new Hard Drive in our example is now linked to the Config Option that the Customer may select when Ordering (or the option displayed on the internal Ordering page).

This completes this part of the set-up.

Specifying_the_Base_Configurable_Product_and_Config_Items << Manual Pages >> Adding_Config_Items_to_the_Base_Configurable_Product

Introduction_to_Catalog_Manager_Concepts_and_Terminology << Section Pages >> More_About_Working_with_Categories_and_Catalogs