Promo Products are a new ‘product type’ concept introduced to printIQ. They effectively blend Single Products with simplified type Operation Filters.

A Single Product is a pre-defined ‘On-Demand’ product with full production details. 

The only option available, if so configured, was the ability to upload artwork.

Promo Products takes the functionality of Single Product definitions to the next level with the addition of user selectable operations through filters when ordering. These ‘Filter Operations’ can be configured to provide options to the user, which could be in the form of information gathering (e.g. product colour) which adds no costs to the product, or cost incurring embellishments which allow finishing modifications to the listed product with costs applied based on the filters’ selection.

CSV Product Creation – Component References / Groups Setup

Key Points:

Promo Product setup allows the use of Operation component filters to select various attributes using a Group or Reference on component lines. 

The Group or Reference available to be selected for each product is limited to those entered in the product record. 

(these will auto-create product specific Operation Component records, based on the operations’ Template Component record with FinishingGroups or FinishingReferences populated – specifically for the Promo product)

No filter set is required to be specified or configured. The component filter will appear when the field – ShowComponentFilters – on the Promo Product definition is set to TRUE

The customer description for the operation is able to be appended to the product custom description.

Using a product creation CSV allows for the Operation’s component records to be auto created from the spreadsheet on upload with quantity break unit pricing limited to a product code.

Ability to handle multiple records with a common Product Code. First line is used to set the product details.

Additional lines with the same Product Code are used to set up operation Groups / Reference fields. 

If the product code is the same only it will be read as an additional line and only the References and groups will be read. 

Setup:

The steps to set this up are as follows -
The Product Category (Tree Node) is set to ‘Product’

The setting to show the component filters on product is CSV Field – “ShowComponentFilters” – Set to TRUE

Select the “Append To Custom Description” checkbox in the operation details screen

This will then add the Customer Description after the Product Custom Description.
The Product Custom Description is drawn from the Description field in the Product CSV.

Component Filters:

This example shows the Component Group setup

If you want to add both Groups and References to an operation you will need to split them like this, and precede both values with the operation… 

If you put the FinishingGroups immediately after the FinishingReferences it will fail to upload.

You just have the one template record as below. It does not matter if the word TEMPLATE is in the Group or Reference as it is just so you can identify it.

The ‘Component Group Heading’ or ‘Component Reference Heading’ is the Label of the Component filter – It will be Capitalised

AUTO INSERT COMPONENT RECORDS INTO OPERATIONS

Auto Insertion of Components into Operations – To allow components to be auto inserted the follow setup is required:

Step 1 - The flag “Auto Insert Components” on the operations Components tab needs to be selected to allow new component groups or references to be added to the operation when the product CSV is uploaded. It will not duplicate records if an identical one exists. When this flag is set a copy of template components will be inserted for any missing Reference and Groups that are defined against operations in a product upload csv.

Step 2 – To allow for the component records to be auto inserted a TEMPLATE component record must be completed. This will set the fields required for every component record that is to be auto created. You will need to set at least the Machine / Material and Machine Cost p/h to create the record. You can add a base charge or other additional costs but they will be added to all records that are auto created. 

*Note that the template component line will be displayed with a * to identify them. 
The name does not have to be TEMPLATE but this is suggested to allow clear identification.

If you are setting up Group references, then enter TEMPLATE in the Group field and if using References the create a component record with TEMPLATE in the Reference field. Then select “Is Template” checkbox:

Records that have been ‘auto generated’ will be identified with a # prefix and have the “Auto-Generated” checkbox ticked

In this example, the CSV uses the following fields to set the Groups:
JobFinish
FinishingGroups

*use a |(pipe) as the separator. This then displays each item as its own selection

They will then display as options in the component filter:

 

“JobFinish” field – Only one operation is able to be added in this field if you are using the Finishing Groups field.

“FinishingGroups” – In this field you can set the Groups that will be available in the component filter. When the operation has been set up for Auto creation, component records will be created for all new groups. Multiple groups are separated with a pipe “|”. 

The other valid fields that can be entered are:
“JobFinish” followed by “FinishingReferences”
“SectionFinish” followed by either “FinishingReferences” OR “FinishingGroups” 

On upload the Freight component records are auto generated on the PROMO – FREIGHT operation:

Fields of note in the Product CSV

Product CSV Fields	Description
ShowComponentFilters	When set to TRUE, the product will show only filters for the component Reference / Groups. If left blank or set to FALSE the parent filters will show and the standard product view will apply. This will then require a product category type of Filters. When this flag is set a copy of template components will be inserted for any missing Reference and Groups that are defined against operations in a product upload csv.
Active	If this is set to a No value (No, False, N, F, 0) are the valid values. Then that line will only have the site and product code read, and that product code and its associated product will be deactivated in the system.
SupplierCode	The Supplier code is set here, this will set a supplier for the product, very similar to how the supplier can be set against a price in the pricing csv.  This will trigger the same functionality from having a selected supplier from the pricing csv in the system.
Name	Product Name
ProductThumbnailName	References the product thumbnail to be used for the product. This can be a publicly available URL or the file types are jpg or png and are uploaded through the upload screen

Set up – Job Operations / Finishing Groups/References

JobFinish	Set job operation. The operation will need to be set up as per previous instructions
FinishingGroups	Enter the group names that you wish to set for the product in this field. If the group name does not exist it will be created on csv upload. To set multiple groups for the product enter each group name separated by a pipe ie Blue|Green|Red|Black
FinishingQuantity	Enter the Maximum Quantity Break for the Unit price to apply
FinishingBasePrice	Set a base price for the component record if required
FinishingUnitPrice	Enter the unit Price for each FinishingQuantity

Set up Section Operations

SectionFinish	Set section operation. The operation will need to be set up as per previous instructions
FinishingGroups	Enter the group names that you wish to set for the product in this field. If the group name does not exist it will be created on csv upload. To set multiple groups for the product enter each group name separated by a pipe ie Blue|Green|Red|Black
FinishingQuantity	Enter the Maximum Quantity Break for the Unit price to apply
FinishingBasePrice	Set a base price for the component record if required
FinishingUnitPrice	Enter the unit Price for each FinishingQuantity

Promo Products Pricing Methods

To cater for the pricing for the components two new pricing methods have been created:

Price type 14 = Per Unit Price + Operations

Price Type 15 = Fixed Price Per Quantity + operations

*Note it will add all operation pricing that is included in the product so you may need to restrict the pricing on these products using Product code on component records or a dedicated pricelist.

PriceType	Name	Description
1	Percent Markup
2	Fixed Markup
3	Fixed Quantities
4	Single Per Unit Price by Quantity
5	Incremental Per Unit Price by Quantity
5	Custom Pricing Rule 1
7	Fixed Quantities + Extras
8	Single Per Unit Price by Quantity + Extras
9	Incremental Per Unit Price by Quantity + Extras
10	Flat Sheet Pricing
11	Flat Sheet Pricing + Extras
12	Pricing Tier Markup
13	Flat Sheet Pricing + Operations
14	Per Unit Price + Operations
15	Fixed Price Per Quantity + Operations

Common ‘Price Type’ methods used:

Leave Price Type ‘empty’ 
The product price is calculated from the production costs. 
Enter the wholesale pricelist name but leave the ‘Price Type’ field empty and the default markup settings from the pricelist will be used.
Retail pricelist markups (if defined) are applied.

Example:

Price Type 1 - Percent Markup 
The product price is calculated from the production costs. 
The Pricing Factor set will replace any percentage markups specified on the selected Wholesale pricelist.

Retail pricelist markups (if defined) are applied.

Example:

Price Type 3 - Fixed Quantities
Enables you to set the specific quantities that the product can be ordered in along with the associated prices for each of those quantities.
Wholesale markups are NOT applied using this pricing method, but Retail Pricelist markups are applied.

The fields ‘Quantity’ and ‘Price’ can be copied and inserted as many times as required.

Example:

Price Type 4 - Single Per Unit Pricing by Quantity
This method allows you to specify an overriding unit price per item.

Wholesale pricelist markups are again not included in the pricing calculations.

Retail pricelist markups are added to the final product price.

Example 1:
In this example using ‘PricingFlatRate’ field enter $10 and this will charge $10 for every unit ordered:

Example 2:
In this example using quantity breaks an order up to 9 units will be $10 per unit. An order of 10 units up to 99 units will be $8 per unit:

Price Type 14 & 15 - Per Unit Price + Operations & Fixed Price per Quantity + Operations

These options work exactly as described above, but with the cost of ALL operation added to the final price.

Example:

If we order Next Years’ Diary’s with these options…

Get a price and click on View Pricing Details at the bottom of the screen to see how the pricing has been calculated.

Hovering over the icon displays a breakdown of the pricing calculations…

The first two operations, With Matt Laminate and Monthly Tabs relate to the options presented on the product.

The remaining operations are included as part of the products’ production process.

You may wish to not include the charge for the File Check Booklets and Imposition operations for this product.

In order to achieve this, you will need to add a component record to the operations, populating the ‘Product Code’ field.

And setting any other parameters and specific pricing requirements.

File Check Pricing Component Records

These will still allow time to be scheduled for these operations on this product but will apply no charge.

Reload and re-price the quote and view the updated pricing breakdown…

We still have the unit cost of $132, but both the imposition and File Check operations are now priced at $0.00 for this product.

And the Final Wholesale Total has been reduced by the amount these 2 operations were calculating at.

Pricing of Component Records

Options on finishing in the csv:
FinishingUnitPrice
FinishingBasePrice

When these columns come directly after a FinishingReferences or FinishingGroups column, the components that are inserted for those Ref/Groups will have an Item Click Rate and/or a Base Charge set.  

Components with a price attached will be written with the ProductCode of the product they are for, making them product specific.

Component records that have pricing will be removed/replaced when a product upload updates the linked product code.

You also have the ability to quantity range the unit cost and base cost in the product upload csv.  This is achieved by placing a “FinishingQuantity” field before the price.  Sets of quantity and pricing can be repeated as much as needed.

Setup:

Components will be written for each quantity break. With the defined quantity from the upload being the Max Item Quantity and a Min Item Quantity of the previous quantity break+1 being set as well.

Fail to Price:

To prevent a product from pricing when there is a unit price of Zero on an operation you will need to replace the 0 with a ! . This will then set the “Fail to Price” flag on the component line to True and the product will display an error message – Failed to Price. If this was not set in the CSV then the quote would price even if there was no option for that quantity.

Supplied spreadsheets may have quantities entered but with no price as the option is not available at that quantity.

Component Record Created

Example Quote

Selected – ‘Add Options Start at 1000’. The Quantity is 250 so it will fail to price.