Product and Product Master

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Posted on by Ahmad_Safadi

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Hello There,

I am trying to obtain a detailed and in-depth understanding of the product and product mast introduced in AX 2012. I have read the help file, and several blog articles, though still want to ask about an actual case I have.

I have a list of inventory items, frozen chicken mostly, size is important while color is not important at all, should I create a product or product master for each one of them ?

What I read says that the product don't variations associated with them, while product master serves as the template , in which the variances of a product master can be defined. Is there any link between them both ? I see that I can release a product for a specific company, and I can release a product master for a specific company as well ...

I appreciate your kind illustration,

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Bilal Issa 4,370 on at

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Hi,

you will need to use product master as item dimension size is important, Product Masters have item dimensions (size color style) for Product Variants whereas Products do not.

Regards,

Bilal

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Ahmad_Safadi 373 on at

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So they are two different entities, right ? Which means, product master do not inherit details from the product as the parent category, and then dimensions and variants can be linked, right ?

It is either I used the product or the product master, depending on whether I want dimension or not , right ?

Thanks in advance,

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Bilal Issa 4,370 on at

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correct, it is either you use product or the product master

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Rahul Shah 2,696 on at

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Hi,

If you do not want to maintain multiple individual products for each size of product then you can create a single product with item type as 'Product master' and you can choose configuration technology which you think most relevant to your business.

Please assign the product dimension group having at least size as an active dimension, considering your scenario.

You can maintain the different prices for different sizes but notice that you should item variant if all the other base data is common for them for example - common delivery time, common item model group, common item group. In other words all the variants should be controlled and handled the same way otherwise you need to define them as a different individual product.

I hope this helps.

Regards

-Rahul

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Rahul Shah 2,696 on at

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Dear Saf,

Please mark the appropriate answer as 'Verified' if it is answered to your satisfaction, so that everybody knows it.

Regards

-Rahul

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Guy Terry 28,924 Moderator on at

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Hi A. Saf,

You can use Product dimensions (like Size) to reduce the number of unique item numbers that you need. For example, if you have a Frozen Chicken item which is available in three sizes, and you don't use the Size dimension, you need three item numbers:

Item number Description

FrzChkSml Small frozen chicken

FrzChkMed Medium frozen chicken

FrzChkLge Large frozen chicken

If you use Size, you can use one item number, which is available in three Sizes.

Item number Size Description

FrzChk Sml Small frozen chicken

FrzChk Med Medium frozen chicken

FrzChk Lge Large frozen chicken

An advantage with the second method is that it is easy to see how many Frozen Chickens (in total) that you have in inventory.

An item which uses Product dimensions is created from a 'Product master'. An item which doesn't is created from a 'Product'.

However, for your specific example of frozen chickens, you might want to forget product dimensions and investigate Catch weight. (I believe Catch weight functionality was originally written by Fullscope for the frozen chicken scenario! - see this old press release: www.lakewood.co.uk/.../fullscopepoultryprocessing.pdf )

technet.microsoft.com/.../hh242918.aspx

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ColbyGallagher 3,666 on at

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GuyUk is correct, you should be looking at setting up a catch weight item. You can create a catch weight product master, but I think you'll find a product will better suit your needs.

Do you also de-compose the chickens into legs, wings, and some type of by-product? If so, you should read up on process manufacturing in general.

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