Fact sheet on Product Builder

Product Builder
Microsoft Navision Axapta Product Builder makes it
possible for your production and sales staff, as well
as your customers, to configure complex products
from their desktops or the Internet.
Key Benefits:
• Cut production design process costs and time
• Increase cooperation between sales,
production and purchasing
• Enable customers and vendors to configure
their own products
• Enable you to become a make-to-order
manufacturer
Key Features:
• Immediate item configuration based on
customer input
• Generate specific BOMs for each item
• Create production-specific routes and job cards
for each configured item
• Completely integrated with Axapta
• Low maintenance
• Adhere to national standards
• Calculate costs and schedules on-the-fly
Production companies today face many complex and
challenging demands. You must be able to adjust your
product range quickly to give your customers exactly what
they want. Microsoft Navision Axapta Product Builder
simplifies the process by solving complex calculations and
increasing interaction within your company and with your
customers and vendors.
Flexible Product Models
Product Builder lets you create flexible product models.
Using a comprehensive series of menus and options, you
define the criteria for valid product configurations that are
then used for customer orders. Product models define the
calculation methods and variables such as color, size, and
materials. Once the models are created, you can create
make-to-order products that meet your customers’
requirements.
Improved Accuracy
Compared to traditional production systems, the product
model in Product Builder is faster, more efficient and
reduces the potential for error. Manual entry is virtually
non-existent since order takers simply choose from a
selection of pre-defined values. Errors are dramatically
reduced and valuable time is saved.
System adjustments are also automatic. When items are
modified, the product models are adjusted immediately so
that new product runs comply with the changes. The
hundreds of separate BOMs that would otherwise need to
be changed individually are all automatically updated in
one easy step. Reordering is also easier because the
system uses order-specific article numbers.
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Connect Sales and Production
Complete integration throughout Axapta ensures greater
coordination between your Sales and Production
departments. Information input by Sales is automatically
relayed to Production, and vice versa. Sales reps can
check on the status of production for a particular item, and
the production team can see when new orders from sales
are entered.
Sales reps are also better able to give accurate quotations
and delivery dates. They simply enter the customer’s
criteria, and Product Builder handles the calculations and
configuration. In seconds, a full, custom configured product
model is created, defining BOMs, routes, costs and
expected time of delivery.
Connect to Customers Over the Internet
Product Builder can be published to the Internet to give
your customers the ability to configure their own products.
Just like popular online stores, your customers make the
adjustments to the product they want to order, click ‘OK’,
and then are presented with price calculations and
configuration adjustment details. Your customers can even
submit multiple orders, monitor production, and check
delivery status. Items from their shopping carts can be
instantly transmitted to Sales Order in Axapta.
Complete Integration
The success of product configurators and the value they
add to your business can depend on the level of
integration with your ERP or MRP system. Product Builder
is completely integrated with Axapta. The time and
resources saved because of this integration can be applied
to other aspects of your business, including negotiating
better prices with suppliers, developing new products, and
keeping pace with the changing market.
Because Product Builder is integrated throughout Axapta,
information such as BOMs and related routes are
automatically generated. This level of integration also
means that system maintenance is minimal because data
updates in one part of the system do not need to be
repeated.
Role-based Permissions
Access to the Product Builder product models is handled
through the Variable User/Group Setup function. Set up
groups such as Production, Sales, Accounting, Executive
and Customer. Groups can be subdivided into subgroups,
allowing you to control precisely who has access to
information. Only the information that you specify is
available. For those whose roles span different functions,
they can be attached to more than one user group so that
they can have access to the product models on different
levels. Your engineering staff, for example, will have
access to more information than your customers will, but
they may also need to have some of the permissions given
to Accounting.
Contact the Experts
Contact your Navision Solution Center to learn more about
Microsoft Navision Axapta. The experts there will show you
how you can improve your business processes with this
remarkable software system.
© 2002 Navision a/s, Denmark. All rights reserved.
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Product Builder Overview
Easy to use
• Intuitive layout and structure
• User-adjustable menus, forms and reports
• User-adjustable layout of main tables and journals
• Windows commands including ‘copy and paste’
• Direct access to main tables from journals
• Advanced sorting and filter options
• Built-in user help including an integrated manual
• Option to mail and fax directly from Axapta
• Application can be run in different languages
Configurator
• Fully integrated with Axapta sales orders, purchase orders and production
• User dialog automatically generated from variable setup on product model
• Immediate item configuration based on customer input
• Generates production of specific bills of material for each configured item
• Can model all complex products
• Default values for variables depending on customers and/or inventory items
• User profiles on variables to only allow specific users to specify this variable
• Reuse of configurations
• Generation of item numbers based on the model variables
• User selections can be specified on external documents
• Price combinations based on product models
• Language texts offering user dialogs in preferred languages
• Export/import of product models
Routing Integration
• Allows the creation of production specific routes and job cards for each configured item
• Default routes, as templates for the routes created in the product model
• Inserts complete default route in product model
Validation Rules
• Create validation rules for variables, groups of variables and a complete configuration
• Create rules that govern the allowed content of variables
• Add or remove values from enumerated text variables
• Assign values to specific variables based on the content of other variables
• Validate values and display an error message build from the condition
• Add or remove variables from the user interface based on customer choices
• Enable product models to deal with divergent national standards
• Validation rules as X++ code
• Create rules that govern the allowed content of variables (each variable, for a group of variables, or for all variables in a
complete product model)
• Assign values to specific variables based on the content of other variables
• Add or remove variables from the user interface based on customer choices
Advanced Configurations
• Creates advanced calculations using X++ programming language
• Provides access to all of the tables and classes in your Axapta installation
• Makes it possible to create complex formulas for tasks such as the calculation of raw material consumption
• Incorporates facts from any Axapta table into your product models
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• Enables product models to deal with divergent national standards
• Variables can be declared as any table, class or data type in Axapta
• Unlimited calculations
Product Builder for Enterprise Portal
• Allows you to configure a product via the Internet using existing product models
• Available as an add-on to the Axapta Enterprise Portal – Customer Role. You have the same user-dialog as when
configuring the item via the sales order line
Other Key Features
• Reuse of data from previous configurations if needed
• Price calculation based on customers’ choice in variables
• Price calculations can be fixed amount, percentage or even programmed per variable
• Configuration details can be printed on order carrying papers of free choice using the standard Axapta document
handling feature
• Possibility of using submodels with inheritance of variables from top to buttom and visa versa
Dependencies
To obtain all of the features mentioned in this fact <strong>sheet</strong>, the following modules and technologies are required:
• Microsoft Navision Axapta 3.0
• Logistics Series
• Production I and II
• Product Builder I, II, III and IV
• Axapta X++ Source Code
• Enterprise Portal Framework
• Enterprise Portal – Customer Role
• Product Builder for Enterprise Portal
Minimum System Requirements
Client:
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with 64 MB RAM and 200 MB free hard disk space
• Microsoft Windows 2000 with 128 MB RAM and 200 MB free hard disk space
Server:
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 with 256 MB RAM and 1 GB free hard disk space
• Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with 256 MB RAM and 1 GB free hard disk space
AXPO14
Microsoft Business Solutions
Navision US
3505 Koger Boulevard, Suite 400
Duluth, GA 30096
Toll Free: 800-552-8478 Main Office: 678-226-8300 Web: www.navision-us.com
Copyright © 2002 Navision a/s, CBR No. 76 24 72 18. The trademarks referenced herein and marked with either TM or ® belong to Navision a/s. Microsoft, Great Plains and bCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation or Great Plains Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Great Plains Software, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. Navision a/s is a subsidiary of Microsoft
Corporation. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, whole or in
part, without the prior written permission of Navision a/s. Information in this document is based on Microsoft Navision Axapta version 3.0 and subject to change without notice. All rights reserved.
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