Adding related items to a quote

A related item is an item that is associated with another item by way of a predefined relationship.

For example, a 29'' flat screen television can have a 32'' LCD television as a related item, with the LCD television defined as an up-sell item for the flat screen television. Sometimes a Field Sales Representative may want to add a related item as a separate line item to a quote.

Solution

Sterling™ Field Sales enables a user to view the related items of a line item and add them as separate line items to a quote. A user can add a related item either as a quote line item or a recommended line item. You can configure the related items that should be displayed in the Related Products dialog box, based on the association type of the related items. The getAssociationRelationshipList API is called to verify which association types have the Show In UI rule enabled. The getCompleteItemList API is called to retrieve the related items to be displayed in the Related Products dialog box.

Note: Sterling Field Sales supports only up-sell and cross-sell association types.

You can define the line relationship types to be used when linking two related lines together. The relationship types defined should support sorting.

After the associations and line relationship types are defined, you can specify the line relationship type to be used when related product items are added to a quote. The getAssociationRelationshipList API is called to retrieve the line relationship type to be used for a related item.

Solution for validating items

In the Quote Details screen, when a user adds a related item to a quote, Sterling Field Sales validates whether the item or the quantity of that item is valid for the quote. The validations are performed only if the item validation rules are appropriately configured in IBM® Sterling Business Center.

Based on the rules configured in the Sterling Business Center application, the following criteria are used for validating the items in the quote:

Minimum order quantity and maximum order quantity: The quantity ordered for the item must not be less than the minimum order quantity and not more than the maximum order quantity that is configured for the item.
Item can be sold separately: The item must be configured in such a way that it can be sold separately.
Item entitlement: The customer to whom the order belongs must have entitlements to the item.
Item status: The status of the item must be Published.
Item's effectivity date: The effective start date of the item must not be later than the current date and the effective end date of the item must not be earlier than the current date.

The validateItemForOrdering API is called to validate the items.

End-user impact

In the Related Products dialog box, the user will see only the related items of association types for which the Show In UI rule is enabled.

Implementation

This section explains the configurations for this functionality:

You must configure the following item validation rules to enable Sterling Field Sales to validate the related items before they are added to a quote:
- Enable Extended Item Validation
  For more information about defining installation rules, refer to the Defining installation rules.
- Validate Item
- Validate Item During Order Creation/Modification
  For more information about defining a process type's primary information, refer to the Defining the quote fulfillment process type's primary information.
You can configure the related items that should be displayed in the Related Products dialog box based on the association type of the related items.
You can configure the relationship types to be used when linking two related lines together. Ensure that the Consider For Sorting check box is selected when defining the line relationship types.
You can configure the relationship type to be associated with a particular association type.
You must configure the quote modification rules appropriately to allow the addition of items to a quote in a particular status.