Configurable Material

[former_member496675]

Hi,

I have a question for you. How do you deal with configurable materials? Is it through 'Matrix application' just like Articles? Or are there some other suggestions or ways to handle configurable materials?

Configurable materials are where you have one material but it can be configured in multiple ways to include a different different parts and accessories. It has one Material_Number but multiple records are linked to it.

Thanks

[Former Member]

hello yasir ,

Are u talking about parent child relationships.

If yes then there is one table known as Relationship table in MDM.

There u can define what kind of relationship u want like u have one main part and various spare part ,, then define there as main part as parent and various spare parts as child to parent.

Then upload all ur relationship data from ur existing system to MDM thru import manager.

Thanks & Regards

Himanshu Nijhawan

[former_member496675]

Thanks Himanshu. I know about relationships but that doesn't solve the problem I was referrring to. I could not use relationships because because of values of some attributes and/or field values my record can be configured in multiple ways. If I start creating a separate record for every such combination a mere 100 record repository may change into 100,000 record repository.

[Former Member]

Hello Yasir

Thanks for ur response. Do tell me your problem in little bit more detail. Cz Cinfigurable material is acyually R/3 terminology. i mena to say can u give some eg. in ur scenario so that i can give a better reply.

Also in Relation ships u dont need to create separate material for relationships.

eg u have 10000 recods u can maintain relationship between these 10000 records only.

But my point is can u provide some more details or Eg of ur current scenario.

Regards

Himanshu Nijhawan

[former_member496675]

Sure. Here's one common example.

Suppose my configurable material is a 'Shirt' that I am selling. Now my shirt has the following attributes

Fixed Values

-

---

Fabric = Cotton

Sleeves = half Sleeves

Collar Shape = Short Pointy Collar

Configurable Values

-

---

Color = Red or Green or Black or White or Purple or Yellow or Magenta or Gray

Collar Size = 14 or 14 1/2 or 15 or 15 1/2 or 16 or 16 1/2 or 17 or 18

Now you see I can have the same shirt in 'Red' color with collar size from 14 to 18 and I can have it in 'Yellow' or 'Black' or in any other color with collar size 14 to 18. I have a selection of 8 colors and a selection of 8 collar size. If I create one record for every combination that would be 8x8 = 64 records for just one shirt. Now even if I create all these 64 records what happens if I introduce a new color? Will I need to create 8 more records for that color again?

Regards,

-Y

[Former Member]

Yasir,

Please look at using Qualified Tables to handle this situation. Let me know if you have info on Qualified Tables and how to use them, or if you would like me to point you in the direction. I can send you documentation if needed.

Thanks,

Tim

[Former Member]

Hello Yasir,

I understood ur point. You are talking about Qualified tables actually.

Here in your case you dont have to create 64 records , in qualified tables u vcan add qualified feilds and qualifiers (eg size etc), which will be for each n every record u create.

Tell me your email ID i will send u document in which u will get solution for this problem.

Thanks & Regards

Himanshu Nijhawan

mark points for useful answer

[Former Member]

Yasir,

There is also a good blog here on qualified tables.

<a href="/people/community.user/blog/2006/12/20/so-is-that-the-qualifier-or-the-non-qualifier is that the qualifier or the non-qualifier?</a>

Thanks,

Tim

[Former Member]

Hi guys.

I actually think using a Qualified table would not solve the problem. Sure, you'll be able to create one record that holds all the mutual data, but still, you'll have to create a record per combination, setting the qualifiers' values for each item's combination.

If your item has multiple choices for a property, as you've mentioned, you might want to create a multi-valued field holding all available values.

For example, you can create a lookup table for colors, and add a field to your item's table, a lookup multi-valued field to the Colors table. When you do this, you can select for each item multiple colors.

Hope this helps,

Nir

[Former Member]

My understanding is that the need is to have the ability to store different color/size combinations for an individual record. This cannot be done using regular multi-value lookup fields. They can store all the data, but not the data combinations. (ie green comes in size 1, 2, & 3, but red only comes in size 1 & 2)

The qualified tables will allow to to store all this combinations while still having only one record. You do not need to create one record per combination when using the qualified tables. You can create one master record which contains multiple combinations within the qualified table.

Thanks,

Tim

[Former Member]

Hi Yasir,

did you find a solution for Configurable Materials in MDM ?

Regards