Features & Options Overview

 

The Features & Options module provides a means of selecting a series of options from within a product through the sales order entry or sales quotations programs.  Once a series of options has been selected, the options may be passed over to the work order system and will produce a custom bill of material for the manufacture of the item.  The option system may also be used to configure selling kits within sales order entry.

This options capability is ideal for products that have more options than a item numbering scheme can accommodate.  An office desk, for example, could be available with different types of wood, different sized desk tops, rounded or square edges, left or right return, two or three drawer pedestals, half or full height modesty panels, etc.  It can be very difficult, if not impossible, to devise a item numbering scheme that can accommodate every mathematical combination of options.

The Features & Options module allows you to define an inventory type O item (which we refer to as a Feature) in the product¡¦s bill of material wherever there are multiple options for a particular feature.  For example, if a desk is available in six different colors, you could create an inventory type O item in the inventory file with the product code “COLOR.”  You could then create a bill of material for the COLOR feature which would contain all the actual color options available.  In the bill of material for the desk you would enter the feature COLOR instead of indicating specific colors.

When entering a sales order for the desk, the system will automatically display all the color options in a window.  You may then select a specific color, which will feed into the sales order as a line item following the desk.  You may define any number of these features within a product, and you can have features within features and within options.  Features can be defined in the bill of material as mandatory, meaning that an option must be selected, or non-required, meaning that the feature may be skipped.

You can attach prices to options directly within the bill of material, or you can specify that the customer’s standard pricing (price code, contract, or base price) be used.  Pricing can also be set up to be a percentage charge against the price of the parent product.  You can specify whether the price is to be separately itemized or if it is to be added to the price of the parent product.

You are not limited to one choice per feature.  For example, if 10 desks are ordered, you may select five desks with a black color option and five desks with a white color option.

Once the options are selected and the sales order is saved, you may run SO-N  Convert Sales Orders to Work Orders.  A work order will automatically be created for the parent product in either the Work Orders modules.  All manufacturing type options that were selected in the sales order, including any comments or changed descriptions, will be passed over to the work order bill of materials, thus creating a custom bill of materials.  At that point inventory is immediately allocated for all materials in the work order bill of material.

The Features & Options module is ideal for custom manufacturers.  Not only does it solve the item numbering and pricing dilemma, but it reduces ordering mistakes, sales order and work order processing time, facilitates materials planning, and increases turnaround time in the shop.

Setting up Features & Options

Step 1 - Set up Features in Inventory

An O type inventory item is a item number that represents a group or set of options.  We refer to this as a Feature.  A feature is not a tangible item and is never stocked or ordered.  It can also be thought of as a "Decision point" or node in the configuration flowchart.  A bill of material is created for the feature in which the components themselves represent the actual options.  We will refer to this as an Option Bill.  As an example, an O type item could be setup for a feature using the product code "COLOR."  An option bill could then be entered for COLOR in which all the actual color options are entered as components.  Create an O type item for all features that will be needed for your product line.

Step 2 - Create Option Bills of Material

After O type inventory items are created for all the Features needed, you may create Option Bills of Material through FO-A  Enter Features and Options or BM-A  Enter Bills of Material.  Enter the O type feature as the Parent Product and the actual options as components.

Step 3 - Add Features to Parent Bills of Material

Wherever a finished good or subassembly parent product has a set of options within its bill of material, add a Feature (O type item) as a bill of material component instead of the specific options.  During sales order entry the options within that feature will be presented in a pop-up window for selection.

Step 4 - Review FO-B, Print Features and Options

You can print out the features and options for any parent product through FO-B  Print Features and Options.  If you answer yes to Print the Subassemblies? you will see all levels of the product structure.  This report is limited to features and options only and does not include the standard components.

Step 5 - Test Options in SO-A, Enter Sales Orders

The best way to verify if your features and options are setup properly is to enter a sales order in SO-A  Enter Sales Orders.  You can enter an order for the item or items you wish to test.  You can press <Esc> and not save the order, thus allowing you to test as many products as you wish without creating live sales orders.  You can also use SO-P-A  Enter Sales Quotations (which has identical functionality as SO-A), for testing purposes.

Features and Options Defaults

Defaults are established in SD-L  Features and Options Defaults.  These defaults are standard settings for various prompts used during features and options entry and allow you to tailor the system to your needs.  All default settings can be overridden during actual features and options entry.  Defaults must be entered before the system will allow you to use FO-A  Enter Features and Options.