The synchronized characteristics and classes are created as Dynamic Attributes and KnowledgeBase Classes in In Mind Cloud Digital Sales Platform (DSP).
There are two types of Dynamic Attributes: Dynamic Data Attribute (DDA) and Dynamic Symbolic Attribute (DSA).
If characteristics and classes are synced together with product and that product has material classification in ERP system, the classified product is created, and all the characteristic values are saved as dynamic attribute values of the product inside the knowledgebase. There are two main use cases of these synced data:
- These dynamic attribute values can be used to search classified products with the help of product finder in DSP.
- These dynamic attributes can be reused to create a new product in DSP.
Model → Attribute Management lists all the dynamic attributes in the system.
Product Finder DSP / Variant Matching SAP
The product finder is a convenient feature for users to find configurable to classified products based on the characteristic/Dynamic Attribute values. A "product finder product" or a “configurable product” (having the attributes of the product that a user is searching for) is used to specify the attributes and then to find matching products. The functionality is exposed as an extension in the product configuration page and the search results are limited to 50 products.
The idea is that the user may specify more attributes to narrow down the search.
This feature makes use of classified data coming from SAP ERP. Once the Products and their classification is synchronized from ERP, each classified material (a material having classification data) gets its classification stored in a KB Snapshot object on the DSP side. For product finder, only the latest KB Snapshot of the products (to be found) are considered.
To check this, go to the detail page of the product and Knowledgebase → Snaps
Click on the snapshot to see the details
It is important to note that this classification can also be from other Class Types. Apart from data sync and putting a “product finder KB in DSP” or using a configurable product from ERP directly, no other setting is needed to set up the Product Finder feature. The logic works like the variant matching in ERP. For a configurable product, the user selects the dynamic attributes in the configuration page on the Quote in DSP.
Doing so the user can click on the search button as shown below to find the matching products.
Of the matched products user can choose to add them to the quote or replace the existing configurable product with one or more of them.
Variant Matching with Characteristic Exclusion
In variant matching, DSP can be configured to exclude selected dynamic attributes in the process. This is enabled by a user defined lookup table.
Lookup table definition
Lookup table name: DA_EXCLUSIONS
Lookup table fields,
|
Lookup Field Name |
Data Type |
Mandatory |
Remarks |
|
DA_OBJECT_NAME |
String |
Yes |
Object name of the dynamic attribute to exclude |
|
PRODUCT_ERP_ID |
String |
No |
ERP ID of the configurable product of the sales item |
|
PLANT_ERP_ID |
String |
No |
ERP ID of the plant at sales item level |
This also enables the user to take into consideration product ERP ID and plant ERP ID at sales item level. Variant matching logic will try to find a matching record from this table and if found, that dynamic attribute will be excluded from variant matching logic.
Example:
Referring to the data in the above screen capture,
- DDA1 will be excluded irrespective of the product and plant
- DDA2 will be excluded if sales item product ERP ID is 000000000050066218 or sales item plant ERP ID is 1000
- DSA1 will be excluded only if the sales item product ERP ID is 000000000050066220 and sales item plant ERP ID is 1000
Data for this lookup table may be manually added or synced from ERP. If synced from ERP, a view needs to created first with CABN and CABN_EXCL tables as follows,
Apply Classified Product Configuration to Configurable Product
Apply classified product configuration to configurable product is inverse of product finder/variant matching. Here the configuration of a classified product is taken and applied to the configurable products.
This feature is available by clicking on Actions→ Apply Configuration
Next, the product catalog opens, and one can choose any product from the catalog. DSP will try to match the classification DAs of the selected product to the DAs of the configurable product and apply the values.
Result configuration applied:
Date Sync Procedure: For costing, Custom usage
DSP also supports sync of any custom data from ERP that can be used in DSP’s Internal Price Engine or any other custom script. To do this, users can define lookup tables in DSP and provide details for equivalent ones in SAP ERP. Once this set up is done the tables can be synchronized.
To do this got to Lookup → Lookup Tables.
One can create a new table or update the details in an existing table.
The ERP ID is the table/view name in ERP.
For more details please check the Internal Price Engine Guide which explains this topic in more detail.