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Note that Fortee offers an advanced configurator, which can automate the creation of parts on the basis of how a user answers a pre-defined set of questions. This allows for a good control of the quality of the records created. However, we recommend you start by filling the information manually to get more familiar with their impact. Automation with the configurator often comes high on your roadmap of continuous improvement after you have gone live with the product. 

In this section you will enter the main information allowing you to identify your product:

• Code* - alpha - also known as part number, this can be an automatic counter, a manual entry, or calculated by the configurator.

• Description* - alpha - this is how you usually name your product.
  
  • Foreign descriptions: in case you are selling the product cross borders, you can enter descriptions in other languages, which the system will display on commercial documents you issue.

• Family - reference to another entity - also known as product or part groups, they make a nice axis for different sorts of analysis and allow to store family specific information, named characteristics. They are also used for some advanced configuration of MRP calculation and general ledger records creation.

• Type - dropdown list - identify here whether the product is any of:
  

  Expand
  title Behaviour of the various types
  Info Material, Tool, and Part are interchangeable, and will behave similarly. They are useful to sort and filter results in a list. Phantoms have a  specific behaviour and can only be used in Engineering programs. Kits have a specific behaviour and can only be used in Sales programs.

  
  

• • Material: characterises goods you cannot count and must measure, typical of raw material.
  • Tool: what you use in bills of materials but are not components of the finished good.
  • Part: characterises finished goods as well as components used in bills of materials, which you can count (as opposed to Material).
  • Phantom: when used in a bill of materials, a phantom disappears in production to the benefit of its components. 

  • Kit: kits are used to regroup several products you bundle together in sales.
    

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    title More on kits
    Info There are 2 types of kits: bundles, and efficiency kits. Bundles: when creating a line of sales order with such a kit, the system will keep the link between components and kit. E.g. you cannot ship if you have not completed the kit with all components. Efficiency kits: when you call such a kit in a line of a sales order, the system removes the parent item, but creates a line for each component. You can then remove parts independently, ship them at the pace you want, etc.

    
    

• Image - document - when you upload a *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.gif or *.png file in this dedicated frame, you will be able to display the image throughout the product.

• Source* - dropdown list - can either be manufactured, or purchased. This is the preferred way of how you procure a product. It does not prevent you from purchasing a manufactured product and vice versa, which can happen to manage workload, shorter lead times, and the like.

• Validation status* - radio button - can either be valid validated or invalid not validated. Parts that are set to invalid cannot be sold, purchased or used in production anymore.
  

  Expand
  title More on validation status
  Info This is especially useful when: Decommissioning a product: you will be able to complete the process for existing orders, but not take any new orders for this part number. Preparing the launch of a new product: not yet available for sales, but you can work on the engineering side of it. Preparing the replacement of a deprecated component: you can add an invalid part number to a bill of materials, but it will not be added to the manufacturing BOM when raising a works order.

  
  

• Stock unit of management (UOM) - reference to another entity - this unit reflects how you count or measure the product in stock and bill of materials.

• Unit weight - numeric -  used to calculate the total weight of products making a despatch note, which you will use in turn to place transportation purchase orders.

• Unit volume - numeric - used to calculate the total volume of products making a despatch note, which you will use in turn to place transportation purchase orders. 

• Question scenario - reference to another entity -  this is the list of questions you can prompt to the user when calling the product when recording a quotation or sales order, creating a works order, or directly from the management of parts to configure a product (and therefore, create a new part with some form of automation to fill in the data).

• Formula scenario - reference to another entity - this is the calculation steps followed after answering the questions of the scenario aforementioned. These steps will calculate various information about the product, such as part number, description, comments, price, etc.

• Schema reference - alphanumeric - a reference to the schema of the product is usually expected here. It can be the name of the CAD drawing, electrical schema, recipe, etc.

• External reference -   alphanumeric - when you use a design software, this is the unique id of the CAD file or reference.

• EDI id -   alphanumeric - unique reference you use to communicate about this part number using EDI with suppliers and/or customers.

• Version/List of versions - alphanumeric or collection of references to another entity -  there are several ways to manage versions in the system. The easiest being a simple alpha in the part record, but you can make it a collection of several versions, which will allow for finer traceability and management, with specific structure(s) or stock management of each version.

• General comment - text area - this text allows you to store additional information about the product, which will be automatically pushed on commercial and production documents.

Here you will store the few useful details to define how you sell the product in general.

• Sales price- numeric - enter here the least applicable price if no other can be found.

• New sales price- numeric - allows you to plan for the update of your the least applicable price for the product.

• Applicable date - date - this is the date upon which the new sales price becomes applicable. From this date on, you should update the sales price in order to plan for a future evolution of your price list.

• Number of months warranty - integer - when deploying the after-sales module, this calculates the end date of the warranty period of a product based on either delivery date or invoice date.

The information you store here are among the most important in the system. They will drive how it behaves for this part number and those it interacts with.

• Strategy* - drop down list - this is probably the most important information in the application. It can be either one of On stock, or On order, or eventually On project (in case project management is activated and relevant).

• Management type*- drop down list - combined with the strategy, this field dictates how the system will suggest you resupply the product, and whether you count the stock.

• VAT type - reference to another entity - crossing VAT system from companies (whether customers or suppliers), with VAT type from products allow the system to initiate the tax rate and amount in all sales documents.

• Accounting classification - dropdown list - 

• Sales account

• Purchase account

• Valuated on- dropdown list - this allows you to select against which cost information you value the stock of this product

• Price expressed for - 

• Weighted average cost - numeric - 

• Planned full cost- numeric - 

• Standard price - numeric -