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Dimension-Based Product Configurations

Dimension-based product configuration is a simple solution which allows to create many product variants from a single product master and its bill of materials.

The benefit of using dimension-based product configuration is that you can avoid creating multiple bills of materials for one product. Only one bill of materials can be created, and configuration rules can be defined to select or deselect particular products in the bill of materials and based on this selection a configuration can be created for the product.

Dimension-based product configuration technology provides flexibility to a customer to create unique, customized products in the Sana webshop. For example, if you are selling different bicycle parts and components, using dimension-based configuration, you can offer your customers to design unique, custom bikes.

You must complete several steps to create a dimension-based product configuration.

Create a Product Master

Creating a product master is the first step you should take to set up a dimension-based product configuration. Only a product of a product master type can be used for the product configuration.

In Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations click: Product information management > Products > Released products. Create a product master.

For the dimension-based product configuration, you need a product master with the dimension-based configuration technology and a product dimension group that includes the configuration product dimension.

Create a Configuration Group

Configuration groups are used to distribute the variations of product components between different groups. Each configuration group is shown as a separate option on the product details page in the Sana webshop.

In Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations click: Product information management > Setup > Bills of materials and formulas > Configuration groups. Create the configuration groups for your dimension-based product configuration.

Create a Bill of Materials for a Dimension-Based Product Master

Open the product master and on the Engineer tab click BOM versions. Then, click New > BOM and BOM version, enter the name of the bill of materials. Add bill of materials lines. The configuration groups which you have created are shown in the Configuration group field. Select the necessary configuration group for each line you add.

When the bill of materials is ready, you need to approve and activate it.

Define Configuration Route

Using configuration route, you can specify in which order the configuration groups will be presented on the product details page in the webshop.

In Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations: Product information management > Bills of materials and formulas > Bills of materials. Open the necessary bill of materials and switch to the header view. Add all configuration groups which you used for the product configuration to the table on the Configuration route FastTab. If some configuration group is not added to the table, it will not be shown on the product details page in the Sana webshop. Change the order of configuration groups using the Up and Down buttons.

If you enter different name for the configuration group in the Configuration group name field, it will override the default one and will be shown on the product details page in the Sana webshop.

Create Configuration Rules

You can create configuration rules for the dimension-based product configuration to enforce or prevent certain combinations of BOM line.

Open the necessary bill of materials and switch to the header view. On the Configuration route FastTab select the configuration group for which you need to set the rule and click Configuration rules.

You can configure a rule which allows a customer to select one component only in combination with another specific component. For example, a customer can select cruiser seat only in combination with cruiser handlebar on the product details page. If a customer selects other type of seat, for example comfort seat, then the option cruiser handlebar will not be available.

You can also configure a rule which disallows certain combination of components. For example, when a customer selects a comfort seat in the webshop, the bullhorns handlebar option will not be shown, because such combination is forbidden by a rule. If a customer selects any other seat, for example cruiser seat, the bullhorn handlebar option will be available, since such combination is allowed by the rule.

Create Dimension-Based Product Configuration

When a customer creates a product configuration on the product details page in the Sana webshop and submits an order, a new product variant and product dimension will be created in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations for this dimension-based product configuration. To see the created product variants in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, open the necessary product configuration and on the Product tab click Released product variants.

On the Product tab of the product configuration click Product dimensions to see all product dimensions created for this dimension-based product configuration.

For more information about how to set up dimension-based product configuration, refer to the official Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Guide.