What is a Simple Product Configurator in Salesforce and Why is it Useful?
Flexpricer’s Simple Product Configurator enables you to connect products together in a ‘parent’ and ‘child’ relationship. The ‘children’ are usually options associated with the ‘parent’.
Consider the scenario where you plan to buy a top-end commercial coffee machine and there are options for a brushed steel, chrome or gloss black finish. You would select the coffee machine as your product using Flexpricer’s Quick Add or Advanced Search and then select one of different finish options. Two line items will be created – one for the coffee machine, the other for the option. Cleverly though, the line items are connected together and you can quickly and easily change the selected option by just clicking the spanner next to the coffee machine line item.
The Simple Product Configurator gives you added flexibility by allowing you to group together similar options and then set rules as to how many of them are required. We call each of these groups of options as having a ‘Group Relationship’ with the main product. In the example above, you may create a Group Relationship called ‘Finishes’ and have the three options available with a simple rule that specifies you must select only one of them.
You can have as many option groups as you like (within Salesforce’s performance limits of course!) and they’re all presented grouped together in the Configurator pop-up that appears in Flexpricer.
When you have multiple Configurator products on an opportunity or quote, the Configurator displays each product on its own tab, and helpfully shows correctly configured products in a green tab with a checkbox indicator and incorrectly configured products in a red tab with a cross indicator.
The Simple Product Configurator for Salesforce take Opportunity and Quote Line Items to another level. And it’s so easy to set up – why not give it a try?!
How to Setup Simple Product Configurator
- First, please familiarise yourself with the Product Group Concept.
- Next, ensure that you have added the Group Member and Group Relationship related lists to your Product page layout.
- On Flexpricer Settings page, slide the slider next to Simple Product Configurator to enable the feature.
- Watch the video below to see how the configurator works and the objects used behind-the-scenes.
You’re all set!
How to configure Simple Product Configurator
Preparation Example
- Determine the product that you wish to be the ‘parent’ and the options that you wish to have for this product.
- Keep it simple for your first product and try not to build out complicated options from the start.
- Let’s take a scenario to walk through as an example
- First – create a Product Group of record type ‘Membership’ for your first group of options. In the example, let’s create a Product Group called ‘Finishes Not Selected’
- Now, let’s associate our Gold, Silver and Bronze products with the ‘Finishes Not Selected’ Product Group by creating Group Member records for each of them. So, in the Group Members related list on the ‘Finishes Not Selected’ Product Group, you should see your three options.
- Each of the option products needs to exist in the same pricebook as each other and as the parent product.
- Now, let’s set up your Coffee Machine product as the parent product by creating a Group Relationship record of record type ‘Option’ and populating the Product lookup of this record with the Coffee Machine product. You’ll notice some other fields on the layout.
- Populate the Name field with the name ‘Fancy Finishes’
- Populate the Default Unselected Product Group lookup with the ‘Finishes Not Selected’ Product Group (this means that none of the products in this group will be selected by default)
- Leave the Default Selected Product Group lookup empty (this means that there are no default options selected)
- Populate the Minimum Options field with 1 (this means that the user must select at least one option in this group relationship)
- Populate the Maximum Options field with 1 (this means that the user must not select more than one option in this group relationship)
- Save the Group Relationship record
How to use Simple Product Configurator
When you select or quick add a product in Flexpricer and that product has one or more Group Relationship records of record type ‘Option’ associated with it, the Option Manager popover will appear before the line item is added to the opportunity/quote.
The popover displays tabs for each configurable line item, with the options for each line item displayed in a collapsable ‘Option Group’. An Option Group uses the same name as its associated Group Relationship record. Each accordion displays the minimum and maximum number of options that may be selected.
Use the checkboxes to select the appropriate options within each Option Group and if all the rules are met, the tab for that product indicates success and if all Option Groups indicate success, the ‘Okay’ button is available to press to update the cart area with the line items.
Configurator Dynamic Pricing
Simple Product Configurator also supports ‘Dynamic Pricing’. This means that the value of the master product is a roll-up of either the sum of the Option Products or the multiple of the Option Products.
This means that you can set up products whose pricing is calculated by either adding up or multiplying together other product values.
You can choose to use Configurator Dynamic Pricing by selecting either Add or Multiply on the Configurator Dynamic Pricing picklist on Product. If you don’t choose one of these options, there are no dynamic pricing calculations.
Useful Information
- On the Group Relationship record, you can specify whether, for that Group Relationship…
- Option Prices are editable
- Quantities of each Option are locked to the parent item or editable (‘Quantity Lock to Product’)
- Quantities of each Option are locked as a multiple of the parent item (‘Quantity Lock as Multiple of Master’)
- A 100% discount is to be applied to Options (if the price of the option is included in the parent item)
- If the Group Relationship does not specify that Option quantities are locked to the parent item, you can set a Configurator-specific default quantities for those Options. Just populate the ‘Default Quantity (Configurator Option)’ field on the Group Member record and the quantity specified here will be used as the default quantity when this product is an Option in the Configurator.
- When using ‘Quantity Lock as a Multiple of Master’ checkbox, the default quantity of the Option is used as the multiple. You may set this default on the Group Member record as above.
- Check the checkbox called ‘Inactive’ on the Group Relationship record to prevent Options from being displayed in the pop-over. This checkbox can be used when preparing Group Relationship records ahead of making a Configurator-based product or new configuration options live.
- To change the columns visible in the Configurator, use the ‘Configurator Columns’ Field Set on Opportunity Product and Quote Line Item to specify the fields to display.