When products in your warehouse are unavailable, you can offer different options to your customer. If the customer wants the specific item you can backorder it. However, many times customers are willing to accept a substitute item and fill their need for an item sooner.
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.
Note: If you delete a primary item from the sales order, the system also deletes any required items for the product from the order.
To substitute products on a sales order:
Display the order which requires a product substitution.
In the Qty/Unit field and Product Description field, enter the product information for the original or parent product you want to add to the order.
Note: When a product has available substitutes, Related Items displays in red on the status bar.
Right-click on the line item with substitutes and select Subs/Related Items to display the Product Relationships window.
Note: Depending on your settings in the
In the Substitutes area, select the check box in the Sub? column for the substitute product the customer wants to use.
If there are required or related items available for the order, the Required Items and Related Items area populate with the selections available. Select the required and related items you want to add.
Click Save and Exit to replace the primary product on the order with the substitute. The system also adds any required or related items selected.
If prompted, indicate if you want to keep the original description on the order or use the one from the substitute product.
Yes - The system uses the description from the parent product even though it is substituting a different product for it. This is the default.
No - The system uses the description from the substitute product and adds a note that reads "* Sub for <original product>" beneath the description.
The system adds the same quantity of the substitute item on the order as was requested of the parent product. Use the
Note: If the item already on the order has related or required items on the order, then the following message displays: "The parent cannot be substituted because related items are already on the order." You must delete the parent product and begin the substitution process again.
See Also:
Setting Up Substitute Product Relationships