Table of Contents
TODO

UPDATE FOR PIMICS 13.0: Publication documentation needs to be updated to reflect new features:

Mass Edit System Status:

  • As of Pimics 13.0, the Mass Edit Card now includes the System Status field
  • Users can now update system status for multiple publication lines simultaneously
  • Add section explaining how to use mass edit for system status updates
  • Include workflow examples (moving products from draft → approved → published in bulk)

Cross-Reference Expansion:

  • Publications now support Expanding Type field for cross-references
  • Cross-referenced categories can be expanded to show all underlying items
  • Document the Expanding Type field and its available values
  • Provide guidance on when to expand vs. when to keep category-level references
  • Add performance considerations for large category structures

Cross-Reference Types:

  • Cross-references now support type codes, descriptions, and translations
  • Document how to configure cross-reference types
  • Provide examples: "Related Product," "Accessory," "Replacement Part"
  • Explain integration with e-commerce platforms (Sana Commerce, etc.)

Document Features and Keywords:

  • Documents in publications now support features and keywords metadata
  • Add section on configuring document metadata
  • Provide use cases for document features/keywords
  • Show how this metadata appears in exports and API responses

Action required:

  • Update screenshots showing new fields (Expanding Type, Cross Reference Type, System Status in Mass Edit)
  • Add configuration examples for each new feature
  • Update publication workflow diagrams if applicable
  • Link to API documentation for developers using these features

Manage Publications

With the help of Pimics publications, you can easily prepare not only printed catalogues of all types, but also documents for e-commerce. In the tree structure of the publication you simply place products in any number of product categories and related subcategories. You can link product items with the appropriate accessories or similar products. Pimics then transfers the prepared information for example to Amazon or to the catalogue’s print data. Working with a single version of the data increases the efficiency of everyone involved. Publications are used to publish product data into various sales channels. Generating publications is based on set rules. Thanks to the rules, it is not necessary to manually select the data again, the tree data structure is created automatically. The main part of the publication is a structure, in which data content for export can be managed. Pimics enables adding more levels to the structure and adjusting the order of each line by „drag and drop“ function. The independence of the data on the catalogue ensures that users can update their changes at each stage of preparation. You can lock a publication in progress if necessary.

Create new publication

Main Steps:

  1. Choose the Search icon and enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then open the related link.
  2. Click on New to create a new Publication.
  3. Press Enter to get the unique Code from the number series.
  4. Fill in the Base Description to name this publication.
  5. In the field Group System Number select which records have to be used in a publication (internal or from certification).
  6. In the field Unit Group System select which unit has to be used in a publication (internal or from certification).
  7. System Status field shows the state of completeness based on the data quality check.
  8. In the field Channel set the templates and rules for export publication.
  9. Usage Type Code field affects which data are selected for the publication. Only information marked with this Usage Type Code will be uploaded into the publication.
  10. On the Contact FastTab fill information about the customer for which will be the publication created.
  11. On the Allocations FastTab add more information about the Publication.
  12. On the Control FastTab specify the Groups based on which the publication will be generated.
  13. Click on Publication Structure on the ribbon tab HOME
Note

For information on configuring prices in publications, see Integration with the new sales pricing experience.

Publication Group

Advanced Publication Features

Expanding Cross-References to Items

Publications support the Expanding Type field for cross-references. This allows categories referenced in a publication to be automatically expanded to include all underlying items.

How to use:

  • When adding a cross-reference, set the Expanding Type to control whether only the category or all its items are included.
  • Use expansion for flexible publication design, especially for large or nested category structures.

Tip: Expanding large categories may impact performance; use with care for very large datasets.

Cross-Reference Types with Descriptions and Translations

Cross-references support type codes, descriptions, and multilingual translations. Configure these to provide better context for related product relationships, especially in international publications.

Examples: Related Product, Accessory, Replacement Part.

Integration: These types are also available in API responses and can be used by e-commerce platforms.

Document Features and Keywords

Documents in publications support features and keywords as metadata. Configure document metadata to enable targeted content delivery and richer digital asset information.

Use cases: Deliver different document versions to different customer segments, improve search and filtering, and enhance API exports.

Publication Rule - Processing Order

Publication rules validate data before publication lines are created. Invalid items are filtered out early, ensuring only high-quality data is published.

How it works:

  • Data is checked for validity before being included in the publication.
  • Invalid or incomplete items are excluded, improving the reliability of customer-facing data.

A Publication Group determines which data will be published for Items, Item Groups, Product Groups and Chapters. There is no limit to the number of Publication Groups that can be created. Therefore, you can use publication groups to define rules of the publication. PIMICS may contain a lot of informations connected to items or categories (pictures, features, descriptions…), but not all of them need to be in publication. Based on the publication groups you are choosing data, which you want to have in the publication.

Create a new publication group

You can create two types of publication groups. The first type will have filled in the Data Source field, the second type will have filled in the Data Allocation Type field. Based on these two fields, you choose the type of the data, which should be in the publication group.

  • The Data Source field contains options as Item, Item group, Product Group, Chapter and Catalog Group (Product information entities).
  • The Data Allocation Type field contains options as Descriptions, Features, Pictures, Graphics and others (Digital Asset or Classifications).
Note

Our recommendation is to create first publication groups for all four categories and for items and after that create publication groups for all data, that you want to have in publication connected to categories and to items. One Publication group can contain other Publication group or more of them, for example Publication Group Items can contain Publication Groups Descriptions, Pictures and Features, so in your Publication you will see Items and to them connected Descriptions, Pictures and Features.

Create a new publication group

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publication Groups (Publication Management/Publication Groups), and then choose the related link.
  2. Click on New button to create a new publication group.
  3. Press Enter to get the Code from the number series
  4. Fill in the Description and eventually Description 2. It is appropriate to fill in the Description field based on the data, which will be in the publication group, for example Items.
  5. Insert Only Certified – check this checkbox, if you want to insert only the certified, see more details in System status.
  6. Choose where the data will come from:
    • In the Data Source field fill in Product information entities
      • In this case you can fill in the Allocations group another Publication groups
    • In the Data Allocation type fill in Digital Assets or Classifications.
      • In this case you can fill in the Filters group to filter the type of Digital Asset or Classification.
Note

There is no limit to the number of Publication Groups that can be created, so you can create more Publication Groups for Items and then you can choose, which one should be used in the Publication, see more details in Create a new publication.

Filter data

Quality verification

Publications can force to include only entites which pass the certificaton process. The result the certification process is saved in the field System Status.

If an entity use channels the System Status is not directly on the entity but it is combination of Entity and Channel System Status.

In General tab you can see a field When not certified. In this field you can set which data should be inserted, udpated in a publication.

  • Insert = When an entity is not certified insert or update it
    • An value of the field System Status on the entity is ignored
  • Skip = When an entity is not certified skip it in a publication
    • The field System Status needs to be certified to insert or update data
    • A publication contains the latest certified version
  • Delete = When an entity is not certified delete it from a publication
    • The field System Status needs to be certified to insert or update data
    • A publication contains only certified data. Not certified data disapere fro m he publication

Publication Tree

Publication structure is the main part of Publication. It is represented by Publications tree, where you can manage the content of the Publication.

To create a new Publication Structure

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then chooose the related link.
  2. Open Publication Card for which you want to prepare the structure.
  3. Click on Publication Structure on the Ribbon Tab Home under Data.
  4. Switch on Actions Ribbon Tab and start creating the structure with Insert New Peer and Insert New Child.

Alternative steps

  1. Go to Edit Publication Tree (Publication Management/Edit Publication Tree).
  2. Select the Publication for which you want to prepare the structure.
  3. Switch on Actions Ribbon Tab and start creating the structure with Insert New Peer and Insert New Child.

Insert Peer into Publication Structure

Publication structure is the main part of Publication. It is represented by Publications tree, where you can manage the content of the Publication. You can insert Chapter, Product group, Item group and Items as a new peer or the new child.

To insert new peer into publication structure

  1. Go to Publication Structure (Publication Management/Edit Publication Tree).
  2. Switch on Actions Ribbon Tab:
    1. Insert New Peer – insert entity on the same level that is marked.
    2. Insert New Child - insert into the group that is marked.

Drag and Drop Publication Structure

Drag and drop serves to an easy editing of the Publication Structure. If you want to move the line of structure on to the new place you can drag and drop it.

To move the lines of the Publication Structure

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then choose the related link.
  2. Open Publication Card for which you want to move lines in the structure.
  3. Click on Publication Structure on the Ribbon Tab Home under Data.
  4. Or go to Edit Publication Tree (Publication Management/Edit Publication Tree).
  5. Select line of publication structure, drag and drop it to a new place.

Update and Reorganize Publication

If you need to update the publication, you can click on Update or Reorganize publication. Update publication is used to update the information in the publication (structure). Reorganize Publication is used to update changes in the Publication (structure).

PRECONDITIONS

New information or items have been added to the structure or to entity card.

Lock and Unlock Publication

If you do not want to interfere with the preparation of Publication of your colleagues, you can Lock the publication. As a superior, you have the right to unlock any Publication (Force unlock).

To lock and unlock the Publication

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the Publication which should be locked/unlocked.
  3. Click on Lock or Unlock on the Actions Ribbon Tab under Locking:
    • Lock - locks editing the publication for other users.
    • Unlock – unlock publication for editing.
    • Force Unlock – the right of the superior to unlock any locked Publi

Versions

Release Publication and View Line Change Log

Release is process where the status of created version is set to Certified. Change Log is a change management tool. All changes are saved to the log after release of the Publication. You can browse this list and take a look at changes which were made in the Publication.

PRECONDITIONS

Publication has been created (see more Publication) and changes were made there (Insert Peer into Publication Structure and Drag and Drop Publication Structure).

To release the Publication and view Publication Line Change Log

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then choose the related link.
  2. After you have made all changes in the publication, click on Release button which is on the Actions Ribbon Tab under Versions (this action can take some time).
  3. If the release process has been successful, the system status has been changed back to Certified.
  4. To view all changes of the Publication, switch on Navigate Ribbon Tab and click on Publication Line Change Log button under Master Data.
  5. Browse the list of changes.

Reopen and Release the Publication

If you want to make some changes in certified publication, you have to reopen it first. After you have made all changes you can click on Release to create a new version of the publication. If the Release process has been successful, the status of the created version is set to Certified.

PRECONDITIONS

Certified publication exists.

To reopen and then release the publication

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the publication and click on Reopen on the Actions Ribbon Tab under Versions.
  3. System Status of the selected publication has been changed from “Certified” to “Under Development” and you are able to make changes in the publication.
  4. After you have made all changes in the publication, click on Release button which is again on the Actions Ribbon Tab under Versions (this action can take some time).
  5. If the release process has been successful, the system status has been changed back to Certified.

Publication Line Lifecycle and Deletion

Line States

Each publication line has a State field that tracks its lifecycle:

  • Draft - Newly created lines that haven't been published yet
  • Published - Lines that have been successfully exported to a channel
  • Deleted - Lines marked for removal (applies to soft delete method only)
TODO

Remove it

Deletion Methods

The deletion behavior is controlled by the Deletion Method field on the Publication Export Channel. This setting determines how publication lines are removed during reorganization.

Hard Delete (Default)

  • Performance: Standard deletion speed; may be slower for publications with many deletions
  • Behavior: Lines are permanently removed immediately during reorganization
  • Cleanup: No retention period - immediate permanent deletion
  • Use case: Publications requiring immediate data removal for compliance or when immediate cleanup is preferred
  • API: Deletion events are logged in Publication Line Change Log
  • Default: This is the default behavior when no deletion method is specified on the channel

Soft Delete (Performance Optimization)

  • Performance: Significantly faster reorganization, especially for large publications with frequent updates
  • Behavior: Lines are marked as deleted but retained in the database temporarily
  • Cleanup: A scheduled job queue removes deleted lines after the configured retention period
  • Use case: Dynamic publications with frequent updates (e-commerce sites, API integrations, catalogs that change often)
  • API: Deleted lines are excluded from standard endpoints like /ChangedLines
  • Visibility: Deleted lines do not appear in the publication tree view

Configuring Deletion Method

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publication Export Channels, and then choose the related link
  2. Select or create a channel
  3. Set Deletion Method to either Hard or Soft see Deletion Method
  4. Save the channel configuration
  5. All publications using this channel will use the specified deletion method during reorganization
Important

The default deletion method is Hard Delete. To benefit from the performance improvements of soft delete, you must explicitly configure your channels to use Soft Delete. More details in Deletion Method

Publication Archive List

PRECONDITIONS
  • The publication has been created (see more Publication).
  • Publication has been released.

To view Publication versions

  1. Choose the Search icon, enter Publications (Publication Management/Publications), and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the Publication.
  3. Switch on NAVIGATE Ribbon Tab and click on Publication Archive List under Additionals.