Inventory: Attributes & Options

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Overview

• The Inventory: Attributes & Options screen synonymous with the Microsoft Access Form object or graphical user interface (GUI) is where a product's attributes are recorded as Options in an Option one of the possible attributes of a product; for example, blue is an option for the color attribute of a product List.

• This information can be manually entered or it can be populated by SEOM's XML a mark-up language similar to HTML, except that it is used to structure data, not display it. XML is used to order data in such a way that it can be passed between applications with relative ease. Product Import function, if the shopping cart an e-commerce software system that allows a retailer to sell products on the Web. In the context of Monsoon OMS, it refers to the settings that describe a merchant's web store to the program, allowing it communicate with the online shopping cart and import orders and other information system supports that feature. Refer to the Shopping Cart Functions screen.

• Each attribute Product attributes are color, size, or style, etc. An attribute can have various options or variants from which the customer can choose, such as Large or Extra Large for the size attribute, or Blue or Green for the color attribute. The base product SKU combined with each of the possible options for each attribute create a sub-SKU record in Monsoon OMS's inventory. Sub-SKUs are important for tracking the accurate quantity on hand for a particular item rather than the general product has all of its possible values stored in an Option List. For instance, if the merchant sells T-shirts, the attributes size and color will most likely be used. In this example, this product will have two Option Lists, one containing all of the colors and the other containing all of the sizes in which the shirt is available.

• To uniquely identify and track QOH for each possible combination of attribute values, the concept of "sub-SKUs" comes into play.

  A sub-SKU the abbreviation for Stock Keeping Unit; a unique identifier used to track product inventory combines the SKU of a basic inventory product plus indicators representing each of the possible attribute values of the product. Some shopping carts use this kind of logic at their Web sites and are able to pass that value to the Order Manager during an XML Product Export. If you are using a shopping cart that does not have that capability, the Order Manager can "build" a unique sub-SKU for each of your inventory items that has attributes. Refer to Knowledge Base topic, Sub-SKU Options for more information.

   

• This screen is accessed via:

Main Menu>Accordion>Manage My Inventory>View & Manage My Inventory>Attributes & Options

Description of the Screen

Accordion Operations

Build Sub-SKUs for this Item

• choose the order in which the Option Lists should be used when building sub-SKUs by selecting one of the Sort List By: radio buttons

• select to "left-click" the mouse on an object, usually a row in a table, in the context of Monsoon OMS documentation this link to build sub-SKUs only for the current inventory record

• the program prompts the user for confirmation before performing the action; select OK to proceed or Cancel  to abort the action

• to build sub-SKUs for all products at one time, go to Main Menu>Settings>Inventory Functions>Build Sub SKUs, which opens the Sub SKU Options screen

Copy Options from Another SKU

• this link opens the Copy Options Lists screen, where the user can select a similar product and copy its option list, or lists, to the currently viewed product record

Option Lists Section

Sort List By: Radio Buttons

• choose the order in which the attributes, or Option Lists, are used to build sub-SKUs by selecting one of the following radio buttons:

List Number - the number assigned to the list by SEOM when it was created

Local Order - the order in which SEOM lists the attributes or Option Lists

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. if an XML Product Import is run and the shopping cart provides a sort order, the SEOM uses that order locally

            2. if the cart does not provide a sort order, SEOM sorts the attributes by alphabetically by Name and use it as the local sort order

            3. if no Name field provided, the program uses the order in which the attributes appear in the XML as the local sort order 

            4. if Option Lists are manually added and ordered in SEOM, use caution when selecting the action the program should take regarding Option Lists when performing an XML Product import, as this data may be changed inadvertently

Web Order - the order in which attributes are listed at the Web store

Add Option List Button

• select this to create a new Option List for the current product

Edit Option List Button

• select this to make changes to the selected Option List

Delete Button

• select an Option List and select this button to remove it and its associated options from the currently viewed product record

Up and Down Arrow Buttons

• use these buttons to move the selected Option List up or down in the list of options, based on the sequence selected in the Sort By List section of the screen

List # Column

• this column shows the number that SEOM assigned to a given Option List

List Name / Code Column

• this column displays the name or code that is assigned to a given attribute, or Option List

• "Code" refers to a value passed by some shopping carts directly to SEOM during an XML Product Import that is appended to the sub-SKU to uniquely identify the product variant; only applies to shopping cart systems that use sub-SKU logic at their Web sites

Prompt Column

• this field only pertains to Miva Merchant shopping carts

• Miva provides this field for the merchant to add a more descriptive, user-friendly "label" for a product which appears in the drop-down list at the cart, rather than using the less attractive SKU

• making changes to this field in SEOM has no bearing on the value of this field at the Web site

Required Column

• select this if the user must choose an option from an Option List when placing an order

• in some cases an attribute has nothing to do with inventory tracking and therefore it would not be necessary to require the user to make a choice when placing an order, for example, a product warranty or special engraving  

Price Column

• this field only applies to attributes (Option Lists) that have no options, and reflects the increase or decrease in cost of the product when this attribute is purchased

• if options are subsequently added to this attribute or Option List, this field is not used; the value specified in the Price field of the individual options in the lower grid is used instead

• an example of an attribute or Option List that has no individual options is when a service, such as engraving, is provided; use this field to add an additional charge for that service

Cost Column

• this field only applies to attributes (Option Lists) that have no options, and reflects the increase or decrease in cost of the product for this attribute

• if options are subsequently added to this attribute or Option List, this field is not used; the value specified in the Cost field of the individual options in the lower grid is used instead

Type Column

• shows the kind of control used when displaying the options to the user at a Miva Merchant Web store only

• the choices are:

Drop-List

Radio Button

Check Box

Text Field

Text Area

Image Column

• contains the path to an image file of the current product option at the Web site

Local Sort Order Column

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the upper grid

• reflects the order in which the options are sorted locally (by SEOM):

• 1. if an XML Product Import is run and the shopping cart provides a sort order, SEOM uses that order locally

  2. if the cart does not provide a sort order, SEOM sorts the attributes alphabetically by Name and use it as the local sort order

  3. if the Name field is not provided, the program uses the order in which the attributes appear in the XML as the local sort order

  4. if Option Lists are manually added and ordered in SEOM, use caution when selecting the action the program should take regarding Option Lists when performing an XML Product import, as this data may be changed inadvertently

Web Sort Order Column

• reflects the order in which the options are sorted at the Web site

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the upper grid

Weight Column

• this field reflects the increase or decrease in weight of the product when a given option is selected

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the upper grid

Use for Build Column

• when subSKUs are built at this interface, this field is only applicable to Miva Merchant users with Viking Coders Inventory Manager or Mod Stop's  Inventory Trk Pro installed for tracking inventory by variant –  it is ignored in all other cases

• if selected, the option list is used when sub-SKUs are built for an individual product, unless the Don't Use field of a given option value is selected

• if the box is clear, the option list is not used when sub-SKUs are built for an individual product

• scroll to the right to see this field in the upper grid

Options Values (Unlabeled Lower Section of the Screen)

Option Column

• displays the values in the selected Option List

Don't Use Column

• if selected, the option value is not used when building sub-SKUs for individual products, and it is not listed as a choice when ordering this product

• for example, if the supplier vendor is temporarily out of green T-shirts, check this box and it is not be displayed as a choice when an order is placed for this shirt, however, all of the other colors in the Option List are displayed

Code Column

• this field is only used in conjunction with certain shopping cart systems that use "sub-SKUs" logic at the Web site

• the value in this field is a SKU modifier used in conjunction with the value of the WebOptionCodeDelimiter system parameter to pass sub-SKU information directly to SEOM during an XML Product Import (only)

Price +/- Column

• this field shows the increase or decrease in the Price of the product when a particular option is chosen

• this modifier is added to the base Price of the inventory item

Label Column

• this field is only used in conjunction with ShopSite shopping cart systems

• the purpose of this field is to identify one of the product "options" as the "label" that appears by default in the option selection combo box, such as "Please select a color..."

• it indicates that this "option" is not an actual option, but just a label to prompt the customer into making a selection from the list of options

Default Column

• check the box of one of the options in the Option List that is the default option, or the one that is initially selected

Cost Column

• this field reflects the increase or decrease in the Cost of the product when a particular option is chosen

• this modifier is added to the base Cost of the inventory item

Weight Column

• this field reflects the increase or decrease in the Weight of the product when a particular option is chosen

• this modifier is added to the base weight of the inventory item

Image Column

• this field is contains the path to an image file of the product at the Web site  

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the lower grid

Local Sort Order Column

• reflects the order in which the options are sorted locally (in SEOM):

• if an XML Product Import is run and the shopping cart provides a sort order, SEOM uses that order locally

1. if the cart does not provide a sort order, SEOM sorts the attributes alphabetically by Name and uses it as the local sort order

2. if no Name field provided, the program uses the order in which the attributes appear in the XML as the local sort order 

3. if Option Lists are manually added and ordered in SEOM use caution when selecting the action the program should take regarding Option Lists when performing an XML Product import, as this data may be changed inadvertently

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the lower grid

Web Sort Order Column

• reflects the order in which the options are displayed at the Web site

• scroll to the right of the screen to see this field in the lower grid

Checkboxes build Separate products

• this only applies to Miva Merchant shopping carts when Viking Coders Inventory Manager is used for variant product tracking

• this field is only visible if system parameter UseVikingCodersInvMgr  is set to TRUE

Add Option Button

• select this button to add a new option to an Option List

Edit Option Button

• select this button to make changes to the selected option

Delete Button

• select an option and click this button to remove it from the Option List

Up and Down Arrows

• use these buttons to move the selected option up or down within the selected Option List

• moving an option with these arrows does not impact the sub-SKU building sequence

Additional Information

Created: 6/6/11

Revised: 9/23/14

Published: 04/14/16