Adding noncatalog items to a quote

A Field Sales Representative may want to offer an item that is not listed in the catalog of products, such as an item from a different manufacturer or a special engineering request.

For example, consider a two-tier sales and distribution organization model, where a manufacturer may sell its products through a dealer network or a network of franchise owners. A dealer may create a quote that uses the manufacturer's IBM® Sterling™ Order Management System quoting system, and that contains products provided by the dealer as well as products provided by the manufacturer. Even though the manufacturer has given permission for the dealer to include the dealer's own products in the quotes, the products in the dealer's system may not be integrated with the catalog of products in the manufacturer's Sterling Order Management System quoting system.

A special engineering request is another example of a noncatalog item in a quote. For example, a Field Sales Representative may be aware that a manufacturer can make certain configuration changes to an item, but the configured item is not defined in the catalog of items.

To prevent such noncatalog items from failing validation when either the createOrder API or the changeOrder API is run, the ValidateItem flag must be set to N at the appropriate header level or line level in the quote in order to ignore validations from occurring against the catalog for such noncatalog items.