Table of Contents

Create and manage Items in Pimics

Pimics works with the standard Business Central items. They are extended by additional fields and related tables.

All the processes mentioned for items in the Microsoft documentation will also work with the Pimics extension. Some of these processes are extended by our Pimics solution. To be able to manage complex product data new processes were created.

New Item pages

To streamline working with product data we added our own, PIM-optimized versions of the items list and item card to the Pimics user role. Since they will be used by PIM-focused users, these custom forms are focusing on the PIM-related data processes as decribed below.

The PIM Items List

This form is similar to the stock ERP items list, but it features a view of the product categories tree at the left, which will be very useful when working with the product data structure. Also, it will display only item data that is relevant from the point of view of a PIM user, thus bringing all necessary parameters within reach and making for a much simpler and productive experience.

prod-item-list-1

The PIM Item Card

Managing extended product data can be done for the most part directly on the item card, or starting from the item card. Looking at the PIM Item Card, you can see yet another example how we optimized the user interface for managing product information inside the Pimics user role. It is similar to the ERP's default Item Card, but it only contains information that is relevant from a PIM point of view. From PIM Item Card you can access Business Central's default item card by going to Item -> Open Standard Item Card.

Below you will find the main Pimics functionality available on the PIM Item Card.

prod-item-card-1

  1. Basic item data: Item no., ERP description, GTIN number.
  2. Important PIM data: here you can see at a glance the high-level PIM parameters of the current item, like certification status, default checklist, allocated channels for publication, category information, main picture, or whether or not the item has translations.
  3. Product descriptions: here you will have any texts for the product, long or short, in Rich Text format. They can include a brief description for an online shop, a long description, marketing texts, standard safety descriptions inherited from the product category, etc.
  4. Product features: here you will define all features of the product, such as dimension, color, weight, etc.
  5. Translations: here you can manage all translations needed for the current product. This is especially useful when you make your product catalog available in multiple markets with different languages.
  6. Pictures: here you can manage all product pictures and graphics.
  7. Control: this section is mainly about inheritance. Modifying these parameters will tell Pimics whether or not the current item will inherit descriptions, features, keywords, pictures, documents, etc. from categories above.

Item lifecycle

Here is a small example of the complete lifecycle of an item. This doesn't go into detail and it does not describe any information on how to create features, texts, pictures, and other data on items. This process also expects that the configuration of Pimics is done, so you have categories, checklists and publications already defined.

New Item Process

  1. Search for PIM Items and select related link
  2. Expand categories until you find an item group that you'd like to use for the new item
  3. Under New select New Child Item.
    1. Before you see the Item Card you can get a pop-up to select a template. Please select one of them.
  4. The new item has been assigned to the selected group and inherits all the data (see inheritance for more details), the item also contains for example the description from the parent item group
  5. Now you can work on the item and fill up all data that you'd like to have there
  6. To get an item to channels select action Assign to Channels
  7. On the list of channels select 1 or more lines where the item will be available
  8. After closing the page you can see new values in the field Channel
  9. To verify that you haven't forgotten anything select action Certify it checks the data against checklists
  10. You should see a new value in the field System Status
    1. if it is Certified you can continue
    2. If there is another value (Process, Partially Certified) you can see details in factboxes Certification Log and Channels
  11. Everything is prepared so now we need to synchronize the item with publications. For this select Reorganize Publications
  12. On the list of publications select 1 or more lines where the item will be updated immediately.

Bulk edit Items

Serves to edit predefined fields on multiple Items at once.

Bulk_Edit_Items

Contains predefined fields:

  • Description,
  • Description 2,
  • Checklist Number,
  • Manufacturer Code,
  • Brand,
  • Picture Document ID.

Different values

If a predefined field contains at least one value that differs from the others, that field is marked with Value |*|. This indicates that among the selected items, at least one value in that field is different. Fields Description and Description 2 are Text fields. Prefix is Part of String in Text field that is located before || symbol. A prefix is a sequence of characters at the beginning of a string that comes before the first differing character. Suffix is Part of String in Text field that is located after || symbol. A suffix is a sequence of characters at the end of string that comes after the last differing character.

Note

For Items with Descriptions Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, ...
| Item< space > | is considered Prefix
For items with Descriptions: 1mm tube, 2mm tube, 3mm tube, ...
|mm tube| is Suffix

[!CAUTION]Prefix and Suffix can not be applied in one text field at the same time durring one edit.

In remaining fileds you can select a value for edited items. Selected value will be assigned to all Items in current Bulk Edit. Mass delete happens when Value is left blank.

Add prefix/suffix to multiple item descriptions

  1. In PIM Items list select items you wish to edit
  2. Under Actions go to Bulk Edit and select Bulk Edit Items
  3. On Item Bulk Card into field Description type:
    1. for Prefix text in front of |*| symbol
    2. for Suffix text after |*| symbol
  4. Close Item Bulk Card
Note

To see changes, refresh site

Define Items for cross&up-sales

To define Items for cross&up-sales Pimics contains table Cross References. A Cross reference is a link of a specific Cross-reference type between types of reference. It is possible to attach another item (or category) to an item (or category), which does not have to be in the same part of the structure. This can be for example accessory, component, spare part or another type.

The cross-reference type can be defined as follows:

  • Components
  • Substitute Part
  • Accessory
  • Option
  • Following Entry
  • Similar Items
  • Country Item
  • Base Item

Type references they can be used in the Cross references are as follows:

  • Item
  • Item Group
  • Product Group
  • Catalog Group
  • Document
  • Text
  • New Page
  • Chapter

Assign Similar Item

  1. Open PIM Item card
  2. Under Product Data click on Cross Referencess
  3. Select Similar Item as Cross-Reference Type
  4. As Line Type Reference select Item
  5. Under Number select Item you want to refer to

Translations

To transfer translations from Pimics to Bussiness Central so Item translations can be used on Invoices

  1. Using Alt + Q search for Catalogue setup
  2. In section General find field Exchange Item Translations
  3. Set to Always
Note

Translations will be synchronized only from this point onwards

features
texts
pictures
categories
checklists