Infor Configure Price Quote (CPQ) is a state-of-the-art product configurator that integrates with many Infor ERP software packages, including Infor XA. Much more than a tool to simply select features and options, Infor CPQ allows complex engineering and manufacturing rules to be stored, driving a configuration process where the configuration options are constantly being validated. Infor CPQ provides users with a rich graphical user interface and generates configurations for quotes and customer orders that include:
- a configured price
- a full bill of material
- a list of routing operations
- optional dynamically-generated “as-configured” drawings (in 2D or 3D)
- an impressive collection of proposal packages
Infor XA is itself a very mature and robust ERP software package with a very flexible Enterprise Product Data Management (EPDM) application – that fully supports site-level control, revision-level control, effectivity dates, alternate bills of material, alternate routings, etc. for items. The flexible XA EPDM engineering database can accommodate the multitude of various configuration combinations that can be produced for configurable items by a product configurator such as Infor CPQ.
The normal process flow that exists within the interface between the Infor CPQ Configurator and Infor XA involves the creation of a new XA EPDM item process record for each unique configuration of a configured item. Every configured line item entered on a Quote or Customer Order ends up either producing a new item process record or updating an existing item process record. Each of these item process records references a unique combination of a bill of material and a routing that are linked back to a user’s responses to the various questionnaire options in a CPQ Configurator session.
Infor’s “vanilla” CPQ to XA interface ends with the creation or updating of an XA EPDM item process record, along with the associated bill of material and routing. But many XA customers desire, and even expect, the CPQ-to-XA interface to go further and generate a unique item revision record for each unique configuration. But the existing interface stops at the item process level, and “therein lies the rub.”
Why is the lack of unique item records such an important issue? Besides being linked to a bill of material and a routing; XA EPDM configured item processes contain a configured price, configured cost elements and a configured description, all of which are necessary. There are, however, many, many other attributes associated with an EPDM item revision record that are cannot be included in item process records. One such example would be the “Unit weight” field that is stored at the XA item revision level. XA uses the value in this field when accumulating a total weight for a customer order or quote, and this total order weight is usually very important when calculating freight rates.
Order weight is just one example illustrating why most XA customers using the CPQ configurator have a strong preference for unique item revision records being created, instead of the current model where only unique item process records are created. Other examples where a CPQ configuration can generate useful field values that exist only at the XA item revision level are:
- unit volume
- height
- length
- width
- value class
- item / accounting class
- item sales group
- engineering drawing number
- stocking location
- department number
- the 2 extra item description fields
- and others…
In addition, if unique item revision records are generated for each unique CPQ configuration, that allows for the creation of XA item warehouse records for each unique item revision record. Additionally, all of the stocking, planning, scheduling, cycle-counting, and sales fields belonging to an XA item warehouse can be populated differently for each unique item according to an enterprise’s business logic. Moreover, values in both XA user fields can also be populated on an item-by-item basis per the enterprise’s business logic. This can also be done in custom extension file fields at the XA enterprise item, item revision, item revision base price, and item warehouse levels.
Overview of the UIG Application
ISE’s Unique Item Generator (UIG) application loops through all the line item records on a customer order (or a customer quote), replacing each line item containing a configured item process with a line item containing a unique item revision. These new unique item revisions will retain all the characteristics of the original configured item process and are fully functional item revisions inside XA. All the required underlying EPDM, MM and CSM records required for the unique item revision and the new customer order line item are automatically created. The item numbering scheme for the new unique item revision records is flexible and can be set up to accommodate your company’s needs.
Fourteen custom integrator primary business objects, plus other associated secondary and text business objects are the backbone of the UIG application. These custom business objects allow for UIG application configuration, CPQ interface configuration, UIG runtime control and UIG detailed logging. All XA record processing (i.e. creating, updating, and deleting records) carried out by the UIG is done through XA System-Link, so that all of XA’s built-in business logic edits and security are fully honored.
A listing of the fourteen UIG primary business objects is shown below:
The UIG functionality can be summarized in this way:
(could these be further leaned down either in number &/or in description length?)
- UIG functionality enhances the interface between the Infor CPQ Configurator and the XA ERP system.
- The core functionality of the UIG replaces configured line items with line items containing a unique non-configured item revision.
- The unique non-configured item revisions are analogous, using the same bill of material and routing generated by the CPQ configuration process.
- Along with configured end items, the UIG can also be tailored to generate unique item revisions for each unique item process for configured sub-assemblies.
- UIG contains multiple options to tailor the application; at the application level, the XA site level, the XA product level and the XA user level.
The UIG contains multiple business objects capturing logging information to make any required analysis or troubleshooting as easy and straightforward as possible.
