How To Configure Merchandise Products

Introduction

Product configuration defines the Product range by specifying a Product ID and defining the properties that determine how the Product is processed within the application. While the Enactor solution offers a range of Product Types, the purpose of this guide is to provide an understanding of the options and capabilities available when configuring a Merchandise Product.

The Merchandise Product Type represents the basic, tangible, sellable Product, the sale of which involves relation to an actual, physical object and therefore, may involve Inventory Management Processing and related inventory configuration.

Merchandise Products also involve configuration and processing relating to physical characteristics such as Dimensions, Warranty provisions, Seasonality and Product Images.

Overview

This guide will cover the configuration for the following:

• Merchandise Product – Allows configuring a Product of type Merchandise Product. This includes updating Product Images, Product Prices, and Product Groups.

Prior Training / Experience

You should be familiar with the following:

• Estate Manager Configuration

• Data Broadcasting

Configuration Steps

Configuring a Merchandise Product

The Product Maintenance application can be accessed through:

Configuration -> Merchandise -> Products

To create a new Merchandise Product, select Create a new Product on the Product Maintenance page.

Select Merchandise Product from the Product Type drop-down.

No selection should be made for Template. This document covers how to manually configure the mandatory and common settings relating to a Merchandise Product.

Enter a unique Product ID which can be alphanumeric and contain a maximum of 20 characters.

Select Create.

Note: The Product ID cannot be changed once the Product has been created.

Numerous tabs and sub-tabs are presented under Product Maintenance. This guide focuses on the core aspects and primarily on General, Merchandise, Prices, and Product Media.

General tab – General sub-tab

The General tab records all the basic information that captures the identity of the Merchandise Product.

Set the appropriate values on the** General **tab as follows:

	Configuration	Description
1.	Product Description	Enter a user-friendly, meaningful name for the Product that can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 30 characters.
2.		Select the locale in the second field from a dropdown list of all configured locales.
3.	Product Long Description	Enter a long description of the Product, if necessary, that can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 30 characters.
4.		Select the Locale in the second field from a dropdown list of all configured Locales.
5.	Product Long Description URL	Enter a URL pointer to an externally defined, usually HTML-formatted, description of the Product.
6.	Product Information URL	Enter a URL pointer to an externally defined, usually HTML-formatted, set of information of the Product.
7.	Image (Preloaded)	Select the ID of an image from the drop-down list to choose the Product display image. Images are managed through Image Maintenance (this is described in a separate How-to Guide).
8.	Image URL	Add a URL that points to an externally stored image.
9.	Product Status	Select an appropriate status of the Product from a drop-down list populated with Product Statuses configured in Product Status Maintenance.

General tab – Label sub-tab

The Label sub-tab records all the information that captures text description of the Product suitable for printing in labels pertaining to the Merchandise Product.

Set the appropriate values on the** **Label tab as follows:

Configuration	Description
Product Label	Enter text identifier for the Product suitable for use in a label, that can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 200 characters.
	Select the Locale in the second field from a dropdown list of all configured Locales.

General tab – Information sub-tab

The Information sub-tab records extended information of the Merchandise Product such as

technical specifications and any distinctive Product characteristics.

Set the appropriate values on the** Information** tab as follows:

Configuration	Description
Product Label	Enter information about the Product available for presentation to the POS Operator and/or the Customer, that can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 500 characters.
	Select the Locale in the second field from a dropdown list of all configured Locales.

General tab – Product Group sub-tab

Product Groups are defined in Groups configuration and a Product may be associated with one or more Product Groups using the Product Group sub-tab.

Configured Product Groups will be populated to the dropdown list and clicking on Add after dropdown list selection will add the Product to the selected Product Group. One Product could be mapped to many Product Groups.

General tab – Selling Codes sub-tab

A Selling Code essentially is an alias for the Product ID, which uniquely identifies the Product. Selling Codes are regionalised in that different Selling Codes can de defined for the same Product, for different regions.

Enter an arbitrary but unique code as the Selling Code, select the appropriate Region, define the applicable duration of the Selling Code and click on Add.

For more information on Selling Codes, refer to the How-to Guide on Selling Codes.

Merchandise Tab

The Merchandise tab applies only to Merchandise Products and captures properties relating to the activity of promoting the sale of the Product and its maintenance and presentation in stores. Configurations can be added in five different sub-tabs which are discussed below.

Merchandise tab – General sub-tab

The General sub-tab records all the high-level merchandising aspects of the Product.

Set the appropriate values on the** General** tab as follows:

Configuration	Description
MM Group	Select the appropriate MM Group from a dropdown list of all configured MM Groups. Products are associated with Merchandise Management Group identifiers and ordered into a hierarchal categorisation of the Business’ Product Range (configuring MM Groups are covered in a separate How-to Guide).
Brand	Select the applicable Brand from a dropdown list of all configured Brands.
Range	Select the applicable Range from a dropdown list of all configured Ranges.
Season	Select an applicable Season from a dropdown list of all configured Seasons if the Product associates with a specific Season.
Measure System	Select a Measure System if applicable from a dropdown list of all configured Measure Systems.
Sales Units	The applicable Sales Units will be determined based on the selection for previous field Measure System. Select the appropriate Sales Unit if applicable.
Standard Cost Price	Enter a Numeric value for the cost price of this Product.
Standard Margin	Enter a Numeric value ranging from 0-100 percentage representing the margin for this Product.
Allow For Loan	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that this Product can be loaned.
Allow Customer Order	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that this Product can be ordered by a Customer.

Merchandise tab – Inventory sub-tab

The Inventory sub-tab records inventory related aspects of the Product.

Properties captured in the Inventory Sub-Tab are described in the following table:

Configuration	Description
Is Stocked	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that Stock Levels of this Product should be managed.
Inventory Management Type	Dropdown list selection from all configured Inventory Management Types.
Allow Purchase Order	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that Purchase Orders may be raised for this Product.
Customer Order Only	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that this Product may only be purchased by Customer Order (not sold from stock).
Direct to Store Delivery	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that this Product may be delivered directly to Stores from the Supplier.
Purchase Order Start Date	Defines a Start Date after which it is permissible to raise Purchase orders.
Purchase Order End Date	Defines an End Date after which it is no longer permissible to raise Purchase orders.
Inventory Units	Dropdown list selection from all configured Units defined for the Measure System configured for this Product.
Warehouse Unit of Measure	Dropdown list selection from all configured Units defined for the Measure System configured for this Product.

Merchandise tab – Dimensions sub-tab

The Dimensions sub-tab provides for the capture of the Dimensions of the Product. The Units of these dimensions currently are open to the business to determine, although the choice should be consistently applied.

Properties captured are the Height, Length, Width and Weight as numeric values along with an arbitrary name if applicable, which is alphanumeric.

Merchandise tab – Warranty sub-tab

This tab captures Warranty Information for the Product.

Properties captured in the Warranty Information Sub-Tab are described in the following table:

Configuration	Description
Warranty Period Months	Numeric value. The period of the standard warranty this Product (Zero means unlimited).
Extended Warranty Available	Checkbox, if marked true indicates that the option is available to extend the warranty on this Product.
Warranty Information	A body of text information pertaining to the Product Warranty.

Merchandise tab – Movements sub-tab

The Movements Sub-Tab provides access to view the stock ledger for the selected Product.

Clicking on the binocular icon will open the Stock Ledger Details for the Product.

Prices Tab

The Prices tab records all the price details of the Product.

Select Add**,** and the User will be navigated to Product Price Maintenance screen as shown below:

Set the appropriate values on the Product Price Maintenance as follows:

	Configuration	Description
1.	Product ID	Product ID of the product that you wish to set the price for, will be automatically populated here if accessed through the Prices tab in Product Maintenance.
2.	Location	Select the appropriate Location from the dropdown list. Do not select if a Price Group is already set.
3.	Price Group	Select the appropriate Price Group from the dropdown list. Set to United Kingdom (All Regions) under ALL (All Regions). Do not select if a Location is already set.
4.	Currency	Select Pound Sterling from the dropdown list. (or the applicable currency)
5.	Start Date	Defines the date from when the configured Product price is applied. Defaults to the date of creation of the Product price entry.
6.	End Date	Defines the end date the configured Product price is applicable. Defaults to indefinite.
	Price Type	Select Retail Unit from the dropdown list.

* Location and Price Group are mutually exclusive selections and cannot be set at the same time.

Select Create.

User is presented with the following options to complete creating the new Product price:

Enter a positive numeric value for the Product price and select Save. User will be rerouted to the Prices tab of Product Maintenance application where the configured Product price will be visible with the options to edit or delete same.

Product – Product Media Tab

The Product Media tab capture all Product presentation Media of the selected Product that may be used by the POS, if available.

Set the appropriate values on the** **Product Media Tab as follows:

Configuration	Description
Product Media ID	Enter a user-defined identifier that can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 30 characters; for the Product-Media Entity which either stores the URL or a reference to an image uploaded using Image Maintenance. (Covered in detail in How-to Guide – Configuring Product Media )
Media Type	Select an appropriate Media Type from a drop-down list. (Image or Image URL)
Media Subtype	Select an appropriate Media Subtype from a drop-down list. (Thumbnail, Medium Image, Large Image, Main Thumbnail, Main Medium Image, or Main Large Image)

Select Save.

Broadcasting

To deliver the configuration changes to the POS, broadcast the following entities.

• Group

• Image

• Image Category

• Measure System

• Measure System Unit Conversion

• Price Type

• Product

• Product Media

• Product Price

• Product Product Group

• Product Status

• Product Type

• Selling Codes