Function documentationComparison with Product Variants

 

A product variant is a product that has already been configured, and has its own product master record in which the configuration is stored.

In the WebClient UI, assignment block Product Variants on the overview page of the product has a list with the product variants that exist for a product, which are downloaded from SAP ERP. They can only be displayed, not changed.

Example Example

Product variants are particularly useful in branches such as the car industry, where certain product versions are often in high demand. For example, this year, many customers ordered a car with two doors and a hatchback, a CD player, air conditioning, a sport chassis, and aluminum wheel rims. In this case, the car dealer can create a product variant with these options, search for the product variant while configuring the car for the customer, and replace the configuration with the product variant.

End of the example.

Prerequisites

  • You have replicated material variants from SAP ERP to SAP CRM as product variants.

    Note Note

    In SAP ERP, a material variant is a material that can be stored. This variant is the result of the individual configuration of a configurable material. In SAP CRM, configurable materials are known as configurable products. For this reason, material variants that are replicated from SAP ERP to SAP CRM are known as product variants.

    End of the note.

  • By default, the product variant search is activated in the configuration engine. In the standard system, the exact search mode is preset. For more information on the different search modes and the required settings, see Product Variant Search.

  • Most of the settings are made in Customizing for the order item category in SAP CRM. For more information, see:

    You make some settings in Extended Configuration Management (XCM). There you can define the type and setting parameters of the search, as well as access via the user interface (global, scenario-dependent, or product-dependent). You can also define that the user can go from the product variant to the configurable material. Once the configuration of a variant is changed during the interactive configuration, it is replaced by the configurable material (KMAT) again.

Constraints

  • You can only replicate cross-plant material variants from SAP ERP to SAP CRM.

  • Product variants must be processed as material variants in SAP ERP and replicated in SAP CRM. You cannot create or edit product variants directly in SAP CRM.

  • You can only use product variants for single-level configuration, that is, only for products without configurable components.

Features

  • During interactive configuration, you can compare your current configuration with similar product variants. Depending on the search mode you use, the configuration may be incomplete at that particular time.

  • You can use product variants during interactive configuration, to replace a complete or incomplete configuration of a product with a similar product variant. During interactive configuration you can check whether the characteristic values that you have selected for a configurable product correspond to the characteristic values selected in the product variant.

  • If required, the system can automatically carry out variant matching and variant replacement in the background in the CRM Enterprise order, after interactive configuration has finished.

  • You can also use completely configured product variants directly in CRM Enterprise orders and CRM Web Channel orders, as well as in the CRM Web Channel catalog. Since product variants are completed preconfigured products, the configuration can only be displayed in the catalog and shopping basket; it cannot be changed.

Activities

  1. Configure your product on the configuration screen.

    As soon as the conditions for the determination of product variants are fulfilled, product variants found by the system are displayed in the screen area Additional Information.

  2. In the list of product variants, in field Compare, select one or more product variants with which you want to compare your current configuration, and select Compare beneath the product variant list.

    You go to the screen for product variant comparison. Here you can compare all characteristic values of your configuration with the characteristic values of the product variants.

  3. If appropriate, accept the configuration of a product variant on the product variant comparison screen, by choosing Accept. The accepted product variant automatically replaces your current configuration.