Creating Product Lifecycles

In order to control inventory, you can classify products into different groups based on where that product is in it lifecycle as you define it, such as Dead Stock or New Lines. Before you can assign lifecycles to your products, you must create lifecycle IDs to define your product groups. From Product Lifecycle Maintenance, you can associate pricing overrides to each lifecycle using any global basis and matrix value.

One of the key options in the product lifecycles is using the Sell Price Discount Basis field. Options in this field include any global basis and matrix value. Using the global basis and formula option overrides the pricing for any product assigned to the lifecycle in a branch. Formulas set here are the last step in the Eclipse pricing hierarchy. The matrix value option allows you to add an additional discount to the standard matrix that is used for a product.  For example, if a product normally uses a class/group matrix then the additional formula is applied to that matrix price. Both the price overrides and commissions plans can be tiered based on the amount of days a given product is in a certain lifecycle. For example, if a product has not sold and now has a lifecycle of DEAD365, you can get more aggressive with your pricing overrides based on the days in a lifecycle.

After the pricing overrides are set you can lock in the price by setting the Restrict Price Changes in Order Entry flag. You can add authorization keys for this restriction to allow certain users to override the pricing.

Note:You can delete product lifecycles, if they are not being used, but after a product lifecycle is tagged to a product, you cannot delete it.

To create a product lifecycle:

  1. From the Purchase > Product Lifecycles menu, select Product Lifecycle Maintenance.

  2. Click New Product Lifecycle.

  3. At the prompt in the Lifecycle ID field, enter a 10-character ID to identify a lifecycle for products in your warehouse, such as DEAD365 or 180 Day Excess. Use the Description field to indicate what this lifecycle means in your warehouse. The ID is used on the Product Lifecycle Build.

Note: Special characters are not allowed.

  1. In the Description field, enter a fuller description to identify the lifecycle. Use up to 20 characters. This description displays in queues and on reports. We recommend being as specific as possible, for example for your 180DAYS Lifecyle ID, you use 180 Days' Supply.

  2. In the Lifecycle Type field, select the Product Lifecycle Type you want to assign to this Lifecycle ID. The associated icon displays next to your selection.

  3. To keep users from changing prices in Sales Order Entry for this lifecycle, select Restrict Price Changes in Order Entry.

  4. Use the table to define the pricing parameters for the lifecycle:

Column

Description

Days From

Define the ranges for the products in a lifecycle by which you want to apply any discounts. Used in conjunction with the Sell Price Discount Basis and Sell Price Discount Formula fields.

For example, if a product has been assigned to the DeadStock lifecycle between 15 and 30 days, you give them $10.00 off the default cost. If the product is more than 30 days assigned to the DeadStock lifecycle, you give them an additional $20.00 off the default cost.

Days To

Commission Plans

Enter a commission plan for a lifecycle to give your salespeople extra commission when they sell product with a certain lifecycle. The commission plan is the formula used to calculate the sales representative's commission.

These plans are used when running the Commissions Report. The lifecycle ID displayed on the Commission Report is based on the date and commission plan that applied when the sales order was invoiced and if there were entries in the Product Lifecycle Queue at that time.

Sell Price Discount Basis

Enter a standard global basis name or the matrix value to use for overriding pricing based on a product lifecycle. ClosedMore

Vendors supply you with their own pricing basis that we call local basis names. Local basis names vary from one vendor to the next, depending on location, vendor pricing, and price update information. In Price Line Maintenance, the local basis names must be mapped to the Eclipse global basis names. The system then refers to the global basis names to maintain standard pricing. Vendors supply you with their own pricing basis that we call local basis names. Local basis names vary from one vendor to the next, depending on location, vendor pricing, and price update information. Within the Eclipse system, the local basis names must be mapped to the Eclipse global basis names. The system then refers to the global basis names to maintain standard pricing.

This entry works with the entry in the SellPrice Discount Formula column to determine the selling price for products referring to the matrix cell.

If this field is blank for a group matrix cell, no price line exists for that group.

Sell Price Discount Formula

Enter a formula to work with the entry in the SellPrice Discount Basis column to determine a price for the lifecycle you are defining. For example, if a product is more than 30 days assigned to the lifecycle, you can apply a larger discount formula as an incentive to get rid of discontinued stock.

Options in this field include any global basis and matrix value. Using the global basis and formula option overrides the pricing for any product assigned to the lifecycle in a branch. Formulas set here are the last step in the Eclipse pricing hierarchy.

Note:You can edit the Formula field only if there is no basis defined.

Note: The Pricing Audit displays >>LIFECYCLE PRICING<< when discount formulas from this setup are used.

  1. Save your changes and exit the window.