Automatic Product Selection 

Purpose

In the standard order processing cycle, a customer requests a specific product that you then ship. In reality, however, there are situations where you want to substitute the product ordered with an alternative, for example a product that is repackaged for Christmas, or with a free sample or coupon.

With the product selection functions, you can flexibly manage product substitution. Based on your priorities for the customer account and restrictions imposed by the customer, you can ship a promotional item when the customer requests a standard one.

Integration

Product selection functions rely heavily on the condition technique and material determination.

The documentation for this function deals with automatic product selection. If you prefer using a manual process for proposing alternative products and generating messages, refer to the general documentation on material determination.

Features

The standard available-to-promise (ATP) check is available to help you determine exactly what to ship. A check is carried out:

·         At order entry

This ensures that sufficient quantities of the product acceptable to the customer are available to meet the requested delivery date.

·         At picking

This ensures that your preferred substitute is shipped. If there is insufficient stock of the item, the system fulfills the order with other alternative items.  

With product selection functions, you can set the system to automatically select products according to their availability and priority. For tracking purposes, the system stores data about what the customer has ordered. You can use this information as a reference, or for printing invoices and packing lists.