Product Standard and Upgrade Groups

This section explains how to manage standard and upgrade groups, which enable the management of a group of configurations that apply to multiple products.

For example, a computer retailer may offer a printer upgrade for all computers manufactured by Panasonic. By using Standards and Upgrade Groups, the retailer can add the upgrade to a group that contains all Panasonic computers versus adding the upgrade to each Panasonic computer individually, which is more time consuming.

Important: Standard and Upgrade Groups are time savers for companies with products that have a high number of available product configuration options (standards and upgrades) that result in an unmanageable number of possible configurations, typically in the hundreds or thousands.

Companies selling these types of products typically set the On-The-Fly SKU generation product option, which removes the need to set up inventory requirements for each product since SKUs are created on-the-fly when sourcing order inventory.
Companies using Standard and Upgrade Groups that do not use the On-The-Fly SKU generation option (i.e. smaller, specific list of configurations) are still required to manually relate SKUs to each product configuration. For example, if the Add Printer: HP DeskJet is added as an upgrade to a group, the user is still required to manually create and relate a new SKU to each product that includes this new printer option.

This content provides steps on how to:

Create a New Group
Add products to a Group
Add standards to a Group
Add upgrades to a group
Search for a group
Update or Delete a Group

Path: Back Office> Products > Product Std/Ugd Groups

Create a New Group

Follow the steps below to create a new standards and upgrade product group.

Step	Action
1	In the Back Office, select Product Std/Upg Groups from the Products drop-down list.
2	Click on the New Group button.
3	Enter a name and click on the Change Name button.
4	Continue with Add Product to Group.

Add Product to a Group

Follow the steps below to add product to a Group.

Step	Action
1	Standards cannot be assigned to the group until products have been added to the group. Click on the Add Products to this Group to access the Add Product window.
2	The Add Product window allows you to enter product by entering the Product ID or using the Product Picker , which searches for the product by name. To add an individual product, enter the Product ID, or click which launches the Product Picker, which enables the search for and selection of a product. To use the Product Picker, enter the search parameters, then click Search. In the Search Results, click the Product Name, which enters the Product ID in the Product ID field. Use the add products whose name contains box,and enter a term into the field.
3	Click the Save button to generate the list of products.
4	The products are now added to the group and display in the Group Members section. The following information is displayed for each product in the Group Members section: ID - The product ID Product Name - The product name. By clicking the product name, a new window displays associated product. Member Status - The member status, Active or Inactive Important: This is not the product status, rather the status of the product in the group. If the status is Inactive, the standard and upgrades in the group are not available for the product.
5	The following actions can be performed in the Group Members box. Click Remove in the Actions column, to remove the product from the group. Click Deactivate Membership in the Actions column, to set the member status as Inactive. Important! Activating or Deactivating the product in a group, enables and disables the availability of group standards and upgrades for the product and does not update the general product status, which determines sales channel availability. If a product is deactivated from a group, the Inventory requirements for each corresponding product must be verified, and may need to be edited to remove the corresponding Standards and Upgrades.
6	Continue with Add Standards to a Group.

Add Standards to a Group

Follow the steps below to add standards to a Group.

Step	Action
1	Click on the Add a New Standard to this Group link to access the standard options.
2	Complete the fields as described below. Standard - The Standard and Upgrade Type. Description - The standard description. This value is customer-facing and appears within the drop-down on sales channels such as your Website and Sales Order Interface. Updated - The date on which the standard was last updated. By default, this is set to today's date. PO Cost - Only required if products in the group use the On-The-Fly SKU generation option, this is your cost from the vendor for the standard. Group - The group name. Important:DO NOT select This Product Only from the Group drop-down.
3	Click Save. The standard is now updated and available for all products in the group.
4	Important! If the change is an error then click next to the standard to remove it. If this is not performed, problems may arise on sales channels such as the Website and Sales Order Interface.
5	Continue with Add Upgrades to a Group.

Add Upgrades to a Group

Follow the steps below to add upgrades to a Group.

Step	Action
1	Click on the Add a New Upgrade to this Group link to access the upgrade options.
2	Complete the fields as described below. Upgrade - The Standard and Upgrade Type. Description - The upgrade description. This value is customer-facing and appears within in the drop-down on sales channels such as your Website and Sales Order Interface. Updated - The date on which the upgrade was last updated. By default, this is set to today's date. + Retail - The markup applied to the product if selected by the customer. If desired, a negative value may be entered. This causes a reduction to the associated sales channel base price. + Cost - Only required if products in the group use the On-The-Fly SKU generation option, this is your cost to the vendor for the upgrade. + Weight - Only required if products in the group use the On-The-Fly SKU generation option, this is the additional weight of the upgrade. Group - The group name. DO NOT select This Product Only from the Group drop-down.
3	Click Save. The upgrade is now updated and available for all products in the group.
4	Important! If the change is an error then click next to the standard to remove it. If this is not performed, problems may arise on sales channels such as the Website and Sales Order Interface.

Search for a Group

Follow the steps below to search for a Group.

Step

Action

From the Search/New Group section, enter any part of the group name and click Search. If there are only a small number of groups, it may be more efficient to select the group from the Group List section, which displays all groups just below the Search/New Group section.

Click on the Product Name from the results list.

Update or Delete a Group

Follow the steps below to update or delete a Group.

Step	Action
1	Search for the desired group and select it from the results list.
2	The numbered action buttons are described below. Enter the new name in the Group Name field and click Change Name to submit. Click Make All Inactive/Active to change the status of the products within the group. Click Delete Group to remove the group from the Group list. Important: By deleting a standard and upgrade group, all associated standards and upgrades are removed from all products in the group. Once deleted, make sure to remove the SKU relationships for all products in the group.
3	To make edits or deletions for the Standards and Upgrade sections, use the icons under the Action column. Click to open the standard or upgrade details and make all necessary changes. Click the to remove the standard or upgrade from the group. Important: If the product being removed from the Group had any product configurations that were purchased, do not click because it can cause issues with previously placed orders. Instead, deactivate the current product, duplicate the product and then do not add the duplicate product to the group.
4	Click the to duplicate a standard or upgrade and then edit the attributes to reflect the new standard or upgrade.
5	To delete a product from a Group, in the Group Members box, click on the Remove link next to the product to be deleted. To deactivate a member, click on the Deactivate Membership link of that product. Important:Deactivating the product in a group, disables the availability of group standards and upgrades for the product and does not update the general product status, which determines sales channel availability. If a product is deactivated from a group, the Inventory requirements for each corresponding product must be verified, and may need to be edited to remove the corresponding Standards and Upgrades.