DBC: Promo Item - Item Summary

Item Summary

Item Master List

Until now, all configuration that has occurred has taken place within the context of an overarching Base promo item or “Base Item Code." Within the "Item Master List," administrators view and can make modifications to the individual items comprised of the different variant option combinations.

For items containing multiple variants with many different options, the list of permutations—and in turn, item codes that are suggested for potential creation—can be quite large. To help administrators find specific items in this list, there are filter and search tools available. To narrow down the list of items, one or multiple filters representing the different variant options may be applied in conjunction with or as an alternative to entering freeform text into the search bar.

In the screenshot below is a sampling of individual items within the Base Promo Item “SHIRT”, which has the variants “Size” (with options “Small”, “Medium”, “Large”, “Extra Large”, and “Double Extra Large”) and “Color” (with options “White”, “Charcoal”, “Blue”, and “Red”).

A row is created in the "Item Master List" for each of the possible combinations of Size and Color options, and is identified by a unique Item Code, which has been created automatically by appending the SKUs that correspond to each variant option to the Base Item Code. For example, the Small/White shirt has the Item Code “SHIRTSW”.

Note: Variant option SKUs are appended to the Base Item Code according to the order in which their respective variants are listed under the Variants tab (this is also the order in which their columns are displayed within the Item Summary tab).

These Item Codes and Descriptions are merely suggestions, as administrators are free to overwrite the value by clicking into the field for any given row and updating the Item Code/Description to one of their choosing. If an Item Code or Description is overwritten, it will appear in the Item Master List highlighted in pink.

At any time prior to transmission to your back-office system, an administrator can choose to revert their changes and defer to the system-suggested Item Code/Description by hovering over the row and clicking the “undo” icon.

Having said this, there are some restrictions to be mindful of, and for which validation is occurring every time this page loads, or as updates are made. First, because Item Codes and Descriptions created through this workflow will be transmitted into your back-office system, they are subject to the character length limitations that exist in that system.

If an Item Code/Description exceeds those character restrictions, (whether suggested by DB Commerce or after being overwritten by an administrator), the item code will appear in red with an error, and the item may not be transmitted until this is resolved (hovering over the error will alert you to the character limit).

Secondly, checks occur to ensure that Item Codes aren’t already in use for the selected company. If an Item Code is already being used as a Base Item Code or Item Code for another Promo Item within the company, then it may not be used for a second Promo Item.

Attempts to create duplicate item codes will result in a similar error as the one above (which, on hover, will include the conflicting Base Item Code), and prevent the item from being transmitted.

In this scenario, the administrator may “take over” the existing Item Code that exists, which will overwrite the current record in their back-office system with data such as the vendor, item description, UOM, UOM Cost, and UOM Sell specified within DB Commerce.

This is a powerful feature that administrators can utilize when they wish to take advantage of the new promotional products workflow and storefront display capabilities for items that may already be represented on a DB Commerce site, or perhaps otherwise exist in their back-office system and have some history, without starting over with a new Item Code.

As a best practice, prior to transmitting an Item Code that is already in use, we recommend removing the existing item from any catalogs, because once the item is designated as a Promo Item, it will be subject to the rules governing the display and ordering of those types of products. Specifically, as a Promo Item, it will be ineligible for placement into an "Order Form Catalog" and must be added to cart from the "Promo Item Detail" page.

In addition, images will now be driven by the Media Library tagging system as opposed to images uploaded to the legacy distributor admin “Work with Items” page. This cannot be undone, so it is strongly advised to use this feature with caution.

Administrators may also override the values in the Weight, Cost, and Sell columns for each variation. By default, these columns contain the net amounts for each item given the values entered under the "Base Item Setup" tab, and any modifications applied to its variant options.

For items using the Volume Pricing method, ranges will be shown in the Cost and Sell columns. To override the value, simply click into the row/column you’d like to edit, or hover over the row as a whole and click the “edit” icon.

Alternatively, edits can be made to the weight, cost, and sell for multiple item variations at once by selecting the desired rows, and clicking the Edit Selected button, and entering the override values. As with Item Code, as values are overridden, they’ll be highlighted in pink, and the administrator may choose to revert to the system default value.

Lastly, an administrator can affect whether a given combination is available for ordering by enabling or disabling items. Using the edit tools described above, an admin can “enable” an item (by default, all item combinations are enabled,) or “disable” it to prevent users from adding that combination to their shopping carts. Disabled items will be greyed out in the "Item Master List," and as users attempt to select the corresponding options on DB Commerce sites, they’ll be unable to add those variations to their cart.

Transmit Items

Once an item has been configured and all required fields have been completed, the item can be “transmitted,” which will create a corresponding record in your back-office system using the information specified within DB Commerce. Data such as Product Code, UOM, and Vendor Code specified at the Base Item-level will be used to create this item record for to all possible variations, but details such as Item Code, UOM Cost, UOM Sell, and Weight will vary for each variant combination.

Note: If multiple vendors are selected under the Assignments tab, the Vendor Code of the first vendor listed will be assigned to the item in your back-office system.

A brief description specific to each item’s variant combination will also be dynamically generated behind the scenes in the format:, :, etc. Unlike the Item Name and extended description fields under the "Base Item Setup" tab which are used for display purposes within DB Commerce—and as such, are less restrictive—this description used to identify items in your back-office system is subject to character length limitations.

To that end, if the DB Commerce generated description exceeds the number of characters allowed by your back-office system, it will be truncated once the maximum number is reached. A follow up enhancement is planned to allow administrators to preview and overwrite this value prior to transmission much like Item Code, cost, sell, etc.

To transmit an item, simply hover over its row in the "Item Master List" and click the icon on the far-right.

Alternatively, one or more items may be transmitted at a time by clicking their respective checkboxes on the far-left of the "Item Master List" and clicking the Transmit Selected button in the upper-right corner.

Note: Generally, items will appear in your back-office system within moments of transmission, but when transmitting many items at once, the amount of time it takes to send all the items’ data and before they’re visible may vary.

Once an item has been transmitted, it will then exist in your back-office system where it can be modified further, ordered directly through that system, included on reports, etc.

Transmission/creation of Item Codes representing the various Promo Item combinations is NOT required for users to be able to order those items on a DB Commerce site. However, the "Base Promo Item" must be "activated."

To this end, administrators can choose to transmit all Item Codes at once as soon as they’ve completed their configuration, or only those pertaining select variations. One advantage of transmitting all Item Codes at once is that they can be created in a consistent convention, whereas the decision to transmit only select items would be subject to the possibility of Item Codes that are available at the time of initial configuration not being available in the future.

Items may be transmitted multiple times, so as edits to item information are made in DB Commerce, transmitting will update the item record in your back-office system with the current data.

Note: If you are using the EQ/d back-office, you will need to go to eCommerce > Import DBC Items > Yes. This will prompt a log that you should review to ensure successful transmission.

Preview

At any point during the configuration process prior to activation, an item can be “previewed” from the top of the "Promo Item Overview" page to see how it will appear to end users on the item detail page within the context of their respective site skin. This provides efficiencies to administrators as they won’t have to temporarily place the item into a catalog and sign into a separate site to see their modifications reflected.

Activate/Inactivate

Once the item is ready to be displayed on a DB Commerce site, administrators can “Activate” the item from the top of the "Promo Item Overview" page. Even if an item has been assigned to a catalog, it will not be visible to customers until it has been activated.

Once an item has been activated, it will appear by default when viewing item lists within the distributor admin interface

When viewing an active Promo Item, a warning will appear stating that while some edits may be made while the item is active, others, such as modifications to pricing or variants require that the item be inactive. Fields that require the item to be inactive for edits to be made will be displayed in a read-only fashion.

If modifications are requested that require inactivating the item, upon clicking the “Inactivate” button will disable the item on any customer sites until it is activated again.

Note: If the item is in any users’ shopping carts upon attempting to mark the item as inactive, a warning will be prompted containing the number of carts that the item has been placed into and must be acknowledged before proceeding.

Copy Item

To expedite the PROMO item setup for similar items, there is an option to copy a current PROMO item that appears upon hover to the right.

The admin will select the "Copy Item" icon and be prompted to select to copy to "Current Company" or "Select Other Company" and enter a new Base Item Code.

• If an admin copies within the company all areas will be copied, Base Item Setup, Assignments, Variants, Personalization, and Media.
• If an admin copies to another company, Base Item Set Up and Variants will copy. The admin will have the option to choose to copy Assignments (if linked items are present, these will not copy), Personalization, and Media.