Describe product master records, product variants, and product dimensions
In an agile world where products must be quickly adapted to customer requirements, a product definition should specify a set of products instead of distinct products. In Supply Chain Management, those generic products are known as product masters. Product masters hold the definition and rules that specify how distinct products are described and behave in business processes. Based on these definitions, the system can generate distinct products. These distinct products are known as product variants.
A product master is associated with a product dimension group and a configuration technology to specify the business rules. The product dimensions color, size, style, and configuration are a specific set of attributes that can be used throughout the application to define and track specific behaviors of the related products. These dimensions also help users search for and identify the products.
Let’s take the example of a t-shirt as the product. The t-shirt can be available in multiple colors and sizes. In this case, we have the product dimension enabled for color and size. So, we can define the other configurations of the product only once but maintain the inventory based on different product dimensions.
Based on the choice of the configuration technology, you can either predefine the product variant using the product dimensions of its master or configure it using a product configuration tool.
Let’s consider the t-shirt example again and say that there are five sizes and three colors. Hence, you can have a total of 15 combinations of colors and sizes. This means that there are 15 possible variants of the product t-shirt in the application. It's possible to predefine the variants while creating the product. However, instead of 15, it's possible to define fewer variants in the system if specific size and color combinations aren't popular for the product t-shirt.
The following graphic provides an example of a product, product master, and product variant.
Like product, the Product master page is also not bound to any legal entity. A product master can't be used for any inventory transaction unless it's released to a legal entity. You should select the Release products button in the action pane to release a product master to a legal entity.
Product dimension
A product designer, for example, creates the product dimension values needed for the variants. Product dimension values include:
Colors (red, magenta, and green)
Sizes (small, medium, and large)
After the product dimension values are defined, a product designer creates the variants. Consider T-shirt styles, such as V-neck and round neck). These variants combine the product dimension values based on the business requirements, such as:
Red - Small - V-neck
Red - Medium - V-neck
Red - Large - round neck
Blue - Small - V-neck
Storage dimensions
Using storage dimensions, you can control how items are stored and taken from inventory. It helps you manage inventory on a detailed level.
There are five storage dimensions:
A site is a mandatory storage dimension that you need to associate with a product. You can't have an inventory transaction without the site storage dimension. It denotes the geographical area or location where your inventory is located. In a single legal entity, you can have multiple sites.
A warehouse is located within a site, where your inventory is physically stored. One site can have multiple warehouses. For inventory transactions, you need to mention the warehouse if your product is warehouse enabled. There are special types of warehouses, such as a quarantine warehouse and an in-transit warehouse. Physically, a quarantine warehouse can be the same as a regular warehouse; however, when an item is in a quarantine warehouse for quality control or other reasons, you can apply different rules to the items, including blocking. During the transfer of items between warehouses, you can put the item in the in-transit warehouse so that the item can't be reserved or issued for transaction purposes.
One warehouse can have multiple locations within the warehouse premises. This includes receiving dock, floor, rack, and aisle. Each warehouse should have a default receiving and a default issuing dock. You can define the location stocking limit to standardize the location capacity.
You can use the license plate feature to move entire pallets or groups of material without individually scanning each of them. This helps you to streamline your inventory, reducing error risk and improving efficiency. For detailed tracking of your inventory location, you should enable license plate as a storage dimension for warehouse items in your organization. During warehouse inbound and outbound operation, you need to provide the license plate details to move the inventory within the locations of the warehouse.
You can use inventory statuses to categorize inventory. You can then initiate appropriate actions, such as replenishment or put-away work. You can define inventory status as available or unavailable. You can also use inventory blocking parameters to block the items from being used.
You can create storage dimension groups for which you can activate the required storage dimensions and associate them with a product or product master.
Tracking dimensions
Serial and batch numbers provide companies with the ability to trace their products through Supply Chain Management, which is essential for quality assurance purposes and when you deal with warranties for a product.
Owner is another tracking dimension, which helps to identify the owner of a product that is in the warehouse.
You can create tracking dimension groups for which you can activate the required tracking dimensions and associate them with a product or product master.
