Management of Parameters, Categories, Relationships, and Labels¶
Responsible Persons¶
Within PIM, multiple roles can be assigned to different people in relation to a product. Typically, a product has a designated Product Manager (a person responsible for the product as a whole). In some cases, responsibility may need to be defined down to individual functional areas (Purchaser, Salesperson, Marketing).
For this purpose, a separate setup PIM Responsible Persons has been created. It allows users to define responsible persons, assign roles to them, and specify in which roles a given user can act from the perspective of product information management.
The responsible persons setup can be accessed from Product Information Management Setup using the action PIM Responsible Persons, or directly from the Business Central menu by searching for PIM Responsible Persons.
After running this action, the user is presented with a list of currently defined responsible persons for PIM.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Code | Used to uniquely identify the person (e.g. employee abbreviation according to internal conventions, max. 20 characters) |
| Name | Used to store additional information about the person (e.g. first and last name) |
| Role: Product Manager | Determines whether this person can be assigned to a product as Product Manager |
| Role: Marketing Manager | Determines whether this person can be assigned to a product as Marketing Manager |
| Role: Purchaser | Determines whether this person can be assigned to a product as Purchaser |
| Role: Salesperson | Determines whether this person can be assigned to a product as Salesperson |
| User ID | Links the responsible person to a Business Central User ID |
| Blocked | Indicates that the person can no longer be assigned to new products |
Assigning Responsible Persons to Items¶
The Item Card contains four helper fields that allow defining selected responsibility roles for products. The following roles are currently available:
- Product Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Purchaser
- Salesperson
Responsibility is defined at the product level. Assigning responsible persons to individual item variants is not currently supported.
Assigning Responsible Persons to Catalog Items¶
The Catalog Item Card also contains four helper fields allowing definition of responsibility roles. The following roles are currently available:
- Product Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Purchaser
- Salesperson
Product Statuses¶
Different companies require different product statuses from a logistics and process classification perspective. Product statuses can represent:
- lifecycle stages (idea, candidate, sample, product)
- usage states (new, clearance, sale, discontinued)
- any internal classification used for filtering and grouping products
The key difference between a Product Status and a Label is that a label primarily serves as an additional identifier for external systems (how the product should be presented), whereas a product status is intended mainly for internal purposes, defining the current state of the product and how it can be processed further. For this reason, product statuses are maintained only in the local language and are not translated.
Product statuses are defined in PIM Product Statuses, accessible from Product Information Management Setup or via the Business Central menu.
Item Product Status¶
Each Item Card can be assigned a product status using the field PIM Product Status on the PIM FastTab.
Item Variant Product Status¶
A product status can also be assigned separately for individual variants (e.g. to mark historical variants as closed). The status is set using the PIM Product Status field on the Item Variant Card.
Alternatively, the status can be modified directly in the Item Variant List by editing the PIM Product Status field.
Catalog Item Product Status¶
Each Catalog Item Card can be assigned a product status using the PIM Product Status field on the PIM FastTab.
Entity Relationships¶
The PIM module extends standard Business Central data structures with the ability to define relationships between different entity types relevant to product information management (Items, Catalog Items, Item Variants, Item Categories).
Relationships may be required by external systems (e.g. alternative products displayed on an e-shop) or for internal purposes (e.g. tracking competitors not included in the assortment).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Relation Type | Selection field defining the relationship type. Supported values:
|
| Source Entity Type | Defines the source entity type:
|
| Source Entity Code | Code of the source entity (Item No., Catalog Item No., Item Category Code) |
| Source Entity Variant Code | Variant code if the source entity type is Item Variant |
| Related Entity Type | Defines the related entity type:
|
| Related Entity Code | Specifies the code of the entity that is to be linked to the current entity; therefore, it contains links to the following related tables:
|
| Related Entity Variant Code | Specifies the variant code of the entity in case the related entity is an Item Variant. |
| Product Platform Code | Specifies the Product Platform code for which the relationship applies (e.g., for a retail e-shop it may be desirable to offer different alternative products than for wholesale; it may be empty if it is not required to define different relationships for different platforms). |
| Starting Date | May contain the start date of the validity of the relationship. |
| Ending Date | May contain the end date of the validity of the relationship. |
| External Group Code | This is a text field (50 characters) in which the user can note an additional identifier that will be used, for example, for different display of a relationship on the target platform side (example: within related products I have defined both products of the same brand and products of alternative brands; on the website I want to display them in separate sections, so I can use two different codes for grouping). |
| Display Order | The field may contain a numeric value by which the target system can control the display order of the relationship. |
Item Relationships¶
Creating relationships for a specific item can be done using the PIM Item Relationships action from the Item Card. In this case, the system assumes that the source entity is the item card from which the action was triggered, and therefore the user only enters information about the related entity (i.e. the item to which the relationship with the current item is being defined).
Item Variant Relationships¶
Relationships for a specific item variant can be created using the PIM Item Variant Relationships action from the Item Variant Card.
Catalog Item Relationships¶
Relationships for a specific catalog item can be created using the PIM Catalog Item Relationships action from the Catalog Item Card.
Item Category Relationships¶
Relationships for an item category can be created using the PIM Item Category Relationships action from the Item Category Card.
Entity Labels¶
From a PIM perspective, labels serve as an additional product identifier from the perspective of an external system. The purpose of a label is to inform the external system how the product should be presented (e.g. highlighting a promotional product).
Label Definition¶
Before assigning labels to a specific entity, labels must first be defined. This means defining, according to internal requirements, which labels can be maintained in Business Central and how they are assigned. Some labels may be managed exclusively manually by users, while others may be handled automatically.
The setup of default label types that can subsequently be assigned to individual entities is performed from the Product Information Management Setup using the PIM Labels action. Alternatively, it can also be found in the Business Central menu under the same keywords.
After running this action, the user is presented with a list of currently defined product labels, with the option to modify existing labels or create new ones.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Code | Each label can have a code up to a maximum of 20 characters. The label code is used to identify the label. |
| Type | Specifies the type of label. Two types are available:
|
| Description | Specifies the label description, e.g. for display on an external platform. The description is a short text (max. 100 characters). |
| Automatic Action Type | Specifies which type of object is executed when an automatic action is triggered. The user can currently choose from:
|
| Automatic Action Object Id | Specifies the id of object to be triggered when the automatic action is invoked. |
Label Translations¶
For each label, translations of the label name into required languages can be defined. These translations can then be used by the target system for correct label display. Label translations are entered from the PIM Labels list using the Translations action.
Running this action displays a list of currently entered translations for the selected label.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Language Code | The language code for which the translation is valid. |
| Label Code | The label code for which the description applies. |
| Label Description | Used to enter the translation for the selected label. |
Assigning Labels to Products¶
Labels can be assigned by users to various entities within the PIM module, or they can be generated automatically. Label assignments are stored in a shared table called PIM Label Assignments, which is accessible from individual cards (see below) and is also available from the Business Central menu under the keywords PIM Label Assignments.
In this table, the user enters assignment information (entity, platform, label) and optionally defines a validity period in cases where the label is assigned temporarily.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Label Code | The label code for which the label assignment is valid. |
| Product Platform Code | The product platform code to which the label is assigned. The platform can also be empty, which applies when labels are generally valid. |
| Assigned Entity Type | Specifies the entity to which the labels are assigned. Currently available values:
|
| Assigned Entity Code | Specifies the record to which the label is assigned. Currently available values:
|
| Assigned Entity Variant Code | Used to define a specific variant of the source entity. Currently available values:
|
| Starting Date | Specifies the start date from which the label assignment is valid (primarily for display purposes in the target system). |
| Ending Date | Specifies the end date on which the label assignment validity ends (primarily for display purposes in the target system). |
Assigning Labels to Items¶
Labels can be assigned to a specific item from the item list or directly from the Item Card using the Assigned PIM Labels action.
Assigning Labels to Item Variants¶
Labels can be assigned to a specific item variant from the item variant list or directly from the Item Variant Card using the Assigned PIM Labels action.
Assigning Labels to Item Categories¶
Labels can be assigned to a specific item category from the item category list or directly from the Item Category Card using the Assigned PIM Labels action.
