To setup a product as a substitute for another product:When products in your warehouse are unavailable, you have different options when ordering or purchasing to replenish that product. You must indicate in the Product Maintenance product record which items are suitable as substitutes for products. You can assist the salesperson by setting these options, and then the system displays a list of items for the salesperson to select from and place on the order.
For example, you have a 40-gallon State water heater that you can use as a substitute for a 40-gallon AO Smith water heater, or you can use the 40-gallon AO Smith water heater as a substitute for the 40-gallon State water heater. You must indicate this reciprocal relationship in both product records.
You can also enter notes for the products. For example, you can indicate that a color may be slightly darker than the original product's color. Enter any details that the customer should be notified about before ordering the substitute item.
Use the Related Products Display Mode control maintenance record to indicate how you want the substitute product information to display in order entry: automatically display substitutes for review, display a reminder message indicating that a product has substitutes, or do not display anything.
After setting up a substitute item for a product the Subs hot key highlights on the product file and on any order when you use the primary product. This highlight indicates that the product has substitutes defined in the system.
To setup a product as a substitute for another product:
Display the primary product for which you want to define a substitute product if the first is unavailable.
Use the Subs hot key and select Substitute Items to display the Substitute Maintenance screen.
The Desc field displays the parent's Product Description from the Product Maintenance screen.
In the Substitute Product Description field, enter the product which you would like sales personnel to use in the event that the parent product is not available.
In the Allowed @ Br/Tr field, indicate which branches in your company that you want to permit this substitution. You can enter more than one branch separated by commas. For example, enter 1,2,3, NE to assign branches one, two and three and also the NE territory.
In the Notes field, enter any information to describe the substitution. These notes display on the order with the product description.
Note: To enter more than 30 characters, use the Edit Notes hot key to display the note in a separate screen. Anything past the 30 character mark must be viewed and edited using the Edit Notes hot key.
Repeat steps 3-5 to enter more substitute product options.
Press Esc to save your changes to the product file.
The Subs hot key stays highlighted to indicate that this product has substitute items available.