Product Family feature key concepts

Prerequisites

You have completed the Step 1 and Step 2 of the Post-installation setup topic. The mdmce-env.zip data model file import automatically introduces the following basic Product Family feature artifacts in the Persona-based UI.
 Other artifacts 
  • Product Family Hierarchy Attribute Collection in the Attribute Collection tab of the Spec console
  • Product Family Hierarchy Spec in the Hierarchy console
  • Product Family LookUp Spec in the Lookup table tab of the Spec console
Table 1. Product Family Hierarchy
Product category This category contains all the items that are Base items.
Variant This category contains all the items that are derived from the Level 1 differentiator.
SubVariant This category contains all the items that are derived from the Level 2 differentiator.
SubVariant2 This category contains all the items that are derived from the Level 3 differentiator.
Note:
  • A Primary key cannot be edited.
  • You cannot add a category to this hierarchy.
Table 2. SYS_Product Family Configuration Lookup table
Base product category Specifies the parent category for the primary hierarchy of the items.
Catalog name Specifies the name of the Product Family catalog to which the items belong.
Level 1 differentiator Specifies the attribute path for the differentiator at the Variant level of the hierarchy and defines how the Variant items are differentiated within the Product Family hierarchy.
Level 2 differentiator Specifies the attribute path for the differentiator at the SubVariant level of the hierarchy and how the SubVariant items are differentiated within the Product Family hierarchy.
Level 3 differentiator Specifies the attribute path for the differentiator at the SubVariant2 level of hierarchy and defines how the SubVariant2 items are differentiated within the Product Family hierarchy.
Table 3. Other artifacts
Product Family Hierarchy Att Coll Specifies a set of Entry Reference attributes that are inherited or associated with each hierarchy level in the Product Family Hierarchy.
Product Family Hierarchy Spec This is a primary spec for the Product Family Hierarchy.
Product Family LookUp Spec This is a Lookup table spec for the SYS_Product Family Configuration LookUp table.
Variant Management Report This report is responsible to create Variants, link, and unlink items.
Table 4. SYS_Product_Family_Verification report
SYS_Product_Family_Verification report This report runs SYS_Product_Family_Verification script and is responsible to check and validate whether all the following Product Family configurations are correct.
  • If the Product Family Hierarchy imported?
  • If the SYS_Product Family Configuration Lookup table that configures differentiators is imported?
  • If the Variant Management Report imported?
  • If the catalog is configured as a Product Family catalog?
    • Product Family Hierarchy is mapped to the catalog as the secondary hierarchy.
    • Primary spec of the catalog contains Product Family Type attribute configured correctly.
  • If the Entry Reference attribute configured correctly?

This report and the inbuilt script need to be manually triggered and is available at the upper-right corner of the page, click > Completed jobs. The report job result states whether the Product Family configurations were successfully done or lists errors, if any.

Basic flow

After you Configure the Product Family feature, following is the basic flow for usage.

A new IBM® Product Master user
  1. Create Base item > Map primary hierarchy > Enter required fields and differentiator values > Save
  2. Create Variant > Variant tab > Open Variant > Attribute tab > Inherited and Overidden attribute
An existing IBM Product Master user with data
Variant Mapping console > Appropriate catalog > Enter the primary key of the parent and child > Click Link