Getting started with products

From Catalog V2 (Opencell 11 release onward), products refer to physical products or services. Products are integrated into offers, they cannot be used on their own in quotes, orders or subscriptions.

In this unit we will create the products of My Demo Company.

Creating a product

1. From Catalog Manager’s Main Menu, select Products

2. Click on the Add New icon

3. Enter Product Code: PRD0010

4. Enter Product Name: User Training 10

5. From GENERAL tab, select an existing Product Family: Training 10

6. From MEDIA tab, click on PICK

7. From the media library picker, seach for the Media Name: Training Image 01

8. Click on the Media line. Make sure to click on Media code or Media Name area and not on the thumbnail for selection. Clicking on the thumbnail takes you to the media details page

9. Save

We will also create the following products:

You may select a Brand for your products if you have configured some through Opencell’s Administration Console.

Now that your product is created, you can see the Product Version section, with Version 0.

Product Version and Product are both in DRAFT status.

A Product cannot be activated (status = ACTIVATED) unless it has at least one Product Version published (status = PUBLISHED). Check Managing product versioning.

To activate your product, click on the ACTIVATE button. The Product status becomes ACTIVATED. No changes can be made to ACTICATED versions.

You may duplicate a product by clicking on the DUPLICATE button.

If you no longer want to use a product, you may close it by clicking on the CLOSE button. The Product status will be set as CLOSED. Once a product is CLOSED, it is not longer possible to reuse it or make changes to it.

In the future units you will learn more about Discounts, Charges and Commercial Rules related to a product.

Product Versions

When a user creates a Product, a Product Version with version = 0 is automatically created.

As a catalog administrator, you may want to make the choice to manage less products and more versions of the same product.

A Product Version is valid over a period of time. Only one product version is valid at a given time, which means version periods overlapping is not allowed. Start and End dates relate to the quote, order or subscription agreement dates.

Tags and Product Attributes are related to the Product Version, whereas Media, Charges, Discounts and Commercial Rules are related to the Product.

Adding a tag

Since the License for SMB Product is only dedicated to the SMB customer segment, let’s add the SMB tag to its Product Version 0.

1. From Catalog Manager’s Main Menu, select Products

2. Search for the Product Name: User Training 10

3. Click on it

4. Click on TAGS tab in Product Version

5. Click on the TAG field line

6. From the picker pop up, search for Tag Name: SMB 10

7. Click on the TAG field line

8. From the picker pop up, search for Tag Name: Key Account 20

9. Save

From GENERAL tab, enter Start date: 01/01/2021.

Repeat the steps above to add the following tags:

Managing product versioning

If you use product versioning, make sure to enter at least a Start date to your Product Version before publishing it. If no leave the End date field empty, the latter will be automatically completed when you add a new Product Version with End date of version n-1 equals the Start date of version n.

If you are not willing to use product versioning, you may leave Start and End dates empty, but it is recommanded to enter at least the Start date.

To publish a version, click on the PUBLISH button. The version status will then be set to PUBLISHED. No changes can be made to PUBLISHED versions.

You may create a new version by clicking on th NEW button, or duplicate an existing one by clicking on the DUPLICATE button. Duplication copies the same Tags and Attributes.

If you created a new version and you change your mind about using it, you may close it by clicking on the CLOSE button. The version status becomes CLOSED. Once a version is CLOSED, it is not longer possible to reuse it or make changes to it.

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