Setting Up Alternative Products

After creating a new Product record and entering the product's General Details and Price Details you have the option of defining Alternative Products in the Main tab of the Product record.

This is a list of products which can be offered to customers as alternatives if there is insufficient stock of the current product available to fulfil the order.

To define Alternative Products:

1.      Place your cursor within the first cell of the Alternative Products table, within the Main tab of the Product record:

2.      Enter the Product Code of the first product you wish to offer as an alternative to the current product. Either:

• Type the Product Code in directly (if you know it).

• OR: Use the Finder to locate and select it. To do this:

  1.      Make Products active in the Finder.

   

  The quickest method is to click [F3] (the context-sensitive Finder shortcut button) while the cursor is in the Product Code field. For further details see Using The Context Sensitive Finder.

   

  TIP: You can focus the Finder further by typing characters into the field before clicking [F3]. See example:

   

  In this example Sales Order the cursor is placed in the Product Code field ready for us to enter/select a product.

   

  If we type 'jt02' into the Product Code field then click [F3], the Finder will list products in sequence from the Product Code 'jt02':

   

  

   

  Note: This example assumes that the default Sequence option for Products (in Advanced Finder options) - Product Code - is selected. Alternative Sequence option for Products are Section/Order, EAN and IAC. If any of these options are selected you would type in all or part of the Product's Section/Order, EAN or IAC code. See Changing The Search Sequence.

   

  Alternatively you may activate Products in the Finder by selecting Products from the

  • Search button on the Finder toolbar; or from the

  • 'Search For...' section in the Home tab.

  See Activating A Selected Document/Record Type In The Finder.

   

  2.      Browse to find the Product in the Finder. For details see Browsing Records In The Finder.

   

  You may browse to find the correct Product using your keyboard. See example:

   

  In the previous step we activated the Finder for the relevant document/record type. The keyboard 'focus' is now placed on the first record in the Finder. We now need to search for, and select, the relevant item from the Finder.

   

  For example, if we activated Products in the Finder, the keyboard 'focus' will now be on the first Product in the Sequence.

   

  Note: This will be subject to (a) whether or not we entered any search text in the previous step, and (b) whatever the selected Sequence option is (in Advanced options). See Changing The Search Sequence.

   

  We may now browse to find the required Product in the Finder and then select it.

   

  Finder Browsing Using Your Keyboard

  When the keyboard focus is within the Finder (for example, after you have clicked [F3] to activate the Context-Sensitive Finder), click your Down and Up arrow keys to move the cursor down - or up - the list of records on the current Finder page.

   

  Use the following keys to change the current Finder page:

  • Home: Go to first page in the Finder.

  • End: Go to last page in the Finder.

  • Page Down: Go to next page in the Finder.

  • Page Up: Go to previous page in the Finder.

   

  3.      When the required Product is visible in the Finder, select it by:

  • double-clicking your mouse on the appropriate line in the Finder search results. Or:

  • right-clicking your mouse on the line to display a menu, then selecting Add ... to Sales Order.

  See Adding Finder Items To Documents.

   

  Alternatively, when the keyboard focus is on the Finder record you wish to select, click Return to select it (i.e. add it to the currently-open document). See example:

   

  Continuing our previous example, we have navigated to the Product 'jt02' so that it is highlighted in the Finder, and then selected it (i.e. added it to the Product Code field in our Sales Order) by clicking Return:

   

  

Then:

3.      Click [Tab] to move your cursor to the next field. The Product Code and additional description fields are displayed when you have selected the Product. You have now selected the first Alternative Product.

To select further Alternative Products: click the [Tab] key to create a new line in the Alternative Products table, then follow the procedure above.

When you have finished defining Alternative Products you may move on to the Quantity Breaks tab.

However, if the product is a timber, sheet or pack product you will need to complete the additional fields which appear in the Main tab of the Product record.

Specifying Alternative Products At Sales Order Entry

If you have defined Alternative Products, when the product is added as a Sales Order line but insufficient stock is available the Alternate Products window will display. The user may now select alternative products and quantities. See Entering Alternative Products.

NEXT: Creating Timber, Sheet And Pack Products