Configurator Overview

The Configurator is a flexible software tool which allows you to create unique and in-depth bills of material or sales orders based on a series of questions and answers from a prospective buyer. The configurator guides the user through a question and answer process in a way that allows a user with limited product knowledge configure a sophisticated product. The end result could be a sales order configuration consisting of multiple line items or a single line item that represents a bill of material.

Setting up the configurator to ask questions to customize the product and adjust the pricing and/or costing as necessary is a multi-step process. There are a number of fields that determine how the price accumulates and how the item or job is configured. To get a better idea of how you need to set up the configurator for an item, lay out the questions and possible responses the system will present to the user. For each response, make note of the items or operations you want to use in the Sales Order or Manufacturing Order. By doing some preparatory work before you set up the configurator, you will make the process easier. Use the Configuration Worksheet for Sales and Manufacturing Orders to help you with this process.

Before setting up the Configurator:

Make sure all the component items for the Sales Order or Manufacturing Order configuration exist in Inventory. If not, set up the items in Inventory. Pay special attention to the Base Price field on the Price Info tab. This is the value the configurator will use when calculating pricing based on inventory pricing.
Make sure all the labor operations necessary exist in MFG - Routing and Resources. If not, set up the operations you will need.
Determine the starting price for the configuration. If you are creating a manufacturing configuration, you can choose to start with no base price, use the base price for the inventory item, or enter a specific base price. If you are creating a Sales Order configuration, there is no base price.
Determine whether you want to add pricing determined by the questions and responses you will set up in the configurator. If not, you will set up a base price that does not change as the item is configured.
Create Configurator Categories to group configurations together for use in the configuration entry screens.
Create Configurator Groups to organize your questions. Each configurator group has its own set of questions. For example, a TrimColor group could includes questions to determine what the trim color will be. Another example might be a Wiring group that includes questions about the wiring characteristics of the configuration description.

Use the Configurator Maintenance screen to create item configurations.