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Configurator User Guide - Document Library

1. The option list shows all the options that have been set up for this feature with their descriptions The buttons in the Move column let you rearrange the options in the order you want The top five Move buttons operate on a selected option in the list First click the option you want to reposition in the list then click the required Move button For example clicking the second Move button moves the selected option up one position in the list In the bottom frame of Move buttons the Sort button sorts the list in alphanumeric sequence while the Reverse button toggles your selections in the option list if you select one option and click Reverse the one option becomes deselected and all the others selected You can select more than one option by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking additional options and you can select a consecutive range of options by holding down the Shift key while clicking the option at the other end of the required range When you have arranged the options in the required order click OK to return to the Feature Option Maintenance screen Feature Sequence Maintenance Use Feature Sequence Maintenance to control the sequence in which the questionnaire presents the questions relating to the features for a generic item The extent to which you can control the sequence depends on the FAQAD 128 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 13 Feature Sequence Maintenance AQAD dependencies betw
2. In the Master Group field you can create a new group or select an existing group to view modify or delete Use the Description field to enter a description of the group The next frame on the screen is used to specify the number of digits and decimals default rounding method and initial unit of measure to be used for variables and features in this group The Settings frame is used to specify the following Multi Level BOM Select this option unless all BOMs are single level Routings Select this option unless you do not want QAD Configurator to calculate variant routings Unknown Answer Select this option to enable COP Rule Table and COP Detail Rule Table to overcome problems where variables used in selection formulas are not valid features of the generic item Sid options Select this option to force only the standard options of variables to be used as feature options Deselect this option to allow feature options to be defined in addition to the standard options The Item Types frame is used to specify the types of QAD 2008 Standard item that can be selected as generic items in Generic Item Maintenance The Documentation frame is not currently used System Setup Functions 57 Functional Group Maintenance Use Functional Group Maintenance to add view modify and delete functional groups which are used to categorize variants and features by their functions for example you can group features of a comput
3. Alternatively you can create a new variable by clicking the Copy button on the toolbar to copy the characteristics of an existing variable The system displays a list of the variables in this group that you can copy from Select the variable and click OK You return to the Variable Maintenance screen with all the characteristics of the variable you have copied with the cursor waiting for you to specify a name for the new variable You can change any of the field values for the new variable before you save it Variable Option Maintenance Use Variable Option Maintenance to create possible values options for variables and to select existing variable options to view modify or delete All variables are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the variables you are maintaining then select Variable Option Maintenance When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Variables and Features option the system displays the following screen Knowledge Building Functions 115 Fig 5 4 Bl variable Option Maintenance STD ariable ai 4 4 E lol xl Variable Option i View Tools Tp mm Help Maintenance Option z 2 sec Text C Calculable Description Red Short Answer Red V Long nsw Done Comment Priorities Cancel New Delete Pricing Part 2l r ee Erea m UM The title bar of the screen shows the gr
4. Last matching No No Customer Duplicates The Result Selection browse is opened and the last matching customer result or if not available the last matching result if available is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line If a customer result match was found the new result is deleted and the existing resid is returned to pcsod_det If a Result match were found for a different customer the matching variant part number is assigned to the new result and the new result is assigned to pesod det Last matching Retain All Results The Result Selection browse is opened and the last matching result if available is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line The variant part number is assigned to the new result and this new result is returned to pesod det If the new result is selected and accepted it will create a new variant from this result and this result is returned to pcsod det System Setup Functions 79 Adding a Generic Item When you click the New button to add a new generic item the system displays the following screen Generic Item Maintenance Item Maintenance T 4 T3 Item Number Additional Selections Description Pur Mfg Rev Prod Line 8 J 7 Group Drawing Item Type Parent Item Reference ted Components
5. eeeeeeeeeeeeA 305 Editing Comment sleeeseeeee eee eee 306 Customize the Questionnaire 0 cee nee 306 Review and Submit Configuration 0 0 0 0 2c eee eee eee 308 Submitting Configuration 0 0 eee eee eee 312 Chapter 11 Additional QAD Configurator Features 315 QAD Configurator Reports 0 0 e 316 Question Type Report 317 Sales Quote Report 317 Variable Report 22e cotes sede dut Ce tae aa n 318 Variable Option Report 0 0 cece eens 318 Feature Report 0 ee cee ee 319 Feature Option Report 0 0 c cece eee ee 319 Rule Report sacos bore bi data Repas ES Pati e ions 320 COP Report i ented beset eem d Re he cad eee Wade howe gus 321 COP Rule Table Report llleseeeeeee eA 321 Where Used Report i2 d Re t papau Ku dada ee 322 Result Configuration Report 0 0 eee eee eee 322 Manual Result Maintenance sssleleee I 323 AQAD Contents vii About Manual Result Maintenance 0200000008 325 Running Manual Result Maintenance leeeses esee 327 Creating a New Result 0 2 eee eee eee 328 Archiving Results idea tu cer wes aO as ela A ahaa cues 329 GIOSBBIV edic xn he a REC RP APA p GR RO a QUO QU haw UR RA 331 Index Jad srk deteesin dS a dua a REA WA VERE Y REA eR RE E 335 AQAD viii User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 2 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD This gu
6. lslleeee eens 108 Variable Maintenance 0 cece eee eee 108 Variable Option Maintenance 0 0 cece eee eee 114 Maintaining Features 0 0 eee cece eens 117 Feature Maintenance 0 cece eee eee ees 117 Feature Option Maintenance 00 0 ce eee ee eee 122 Feature Sequence Maintenance 0 0c cee eee eee 127 Updating Comments 6s ade pa ee ee eR RR RR a 131 Comment Types lees 131 Editing Comments 0 00 eee eee eee eee 133 Maintaining Basic Rules eee 134 General Rule Maintenance 00 ee eee eee eee 134 Grouping and Applying Rules 0 0 0 cece eee eee 146 Rule Group Rule Maintenance eee ee eee 146 Item Rule Maintenance sseeeeee ee 149 Item Rule Group Maintenance eseeee eee eee 152 Using Rule Tables 2 2 0 0 cee tne een eee 154 General Rule Table Maintenance 0 00000 eee eee 154 Item Rule Table Maintenance 0 2 0 0 cece eee ee eee 173 iv User Guide QAD Configurator Rule Table Accelerator 00 0 eee eee eee 176 Maintaining Results Keys 0 0 cece eee eee eee 178 Adding and Removing Features 0 0 0 e eee eee ee 180 Result Key Maintenance and Pricing 200005 181 Copy Function sese ctes diee ce be eee eee ee a ee ee 181 Selecting Elements to Copy 0 0 cece eee eee eee 182 Chapter6 Knowledge Exploitation
7. this condition cannot be evaluated as true so the component will not be selected There are two methods by which you can avoid the situation where a component is not selected because one of the variables in the selection formula cannot be answered 1 Runthe Cross Validation Analyzer This function detects any variables that are used in selection formulas but are not defined as features and produces a report It does not correct the errors automatically you have to resolve the problems using the relevant maintenance functions 2 Turn on the Unknown Answer field in Group Maintenance When the Unknown Answer field is on QAD Configurator generates for each variable an additional variable selection line with the unknown value as the option See Group Maintenance on page 55 for description of the Unknown Answer field Example A part of the COP Rule Table is filled in as follows cloth environment of use paint 100 100 01 Sunset Orange Heavy Yes 100 100 02 Sunset Orange none no 100 100 03 lt gt __ Sunset Orange none no AQAD 206 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Without the Unknown Answer field turned on clicking the Formula Preview button for the formula for component 100 100 01 displays the following formula cloth sunset orange AND environment of use heavy AND paint yes In the example described earlier where paint is not a feature of this
8. The Feature field shows the name of the most recently maintained feature for this item The details of this feature are shown in the other fields on the screen To select another feature click the Browse button to the right of the Feature selection key field then click the required feature in the displayed list or use the navigation buttons in the button area You can assign the variable to a functional group Functional groups are used to categorize variables and features and are maintained in Functional Group Maintenance When you have selected a feature you can view or modify the details of the feature or you can click the Delete button to delete the feature if you no longer require it The system displays a message for you to confirm the deletion Before deleting the feature the system first makes sure that the feature is not used anywhere such as in a rule If the feature is in use you cannot delete it Knowledge Building Functions 119 Details of Features The top frame on the screen shows the fields used to record general information about all features the feature name extent description question type and short question for the questionnaire The type of variable on which the feature is based such as numeric is shown to the right of the Feature Name field and you cannot change this Click the button to display a window for the long question which provides a more detailed explanation of the choice you are asking t
9. FAQAD 4 User Guide QAD Configurator If you see It means Important Alerts the reader to critical information Warning Used in situations where you can overwrite or corrupt data unless you follow the instructions FAQAD 6 FAQAD User Guide QAD Configurator System Overview QAD Configurator is a module designed to work with the QAD 2008 Standard software QAD Configurator provides powerful but flexible product configuration features that enable sales personnel to configure customer specific products without having to know the technical details of the products Using QAD Configurator engineering personnel first define product features to determine how the product can be configured and set rules and formulas to define components and routings for the product to be configured depending on selected features Sales personnel then run QAD Configurator s questionnaire to configure products when creating sales quotes or sales orders within the QAD 2008 Standard environment QAD Configurator also provides a range of control inquiry and reporting functions that let you run the system efficiently on a day to day basis Currently QAD Configurator only runs in GUI under Windows and is not supported in Oracle environments In the Knowledge Building phase of using QAD Configurator engineering personnel define all the product characteristics that determine the way in which the product can be confi
10. Fig 1 10 Selection Key Field FAQAD FA Generic Item Maintenance HOU 4 3 Ol x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help DB S ei CS Se Item 10 2000 2 I lock Item Description arctic cooling syste 0 Type B 0 HM X Analysed no 01 18 06 16 33 58 Iv Cost Price Roll up Cost Set scandara Analyse V Use Pricing Allow Net Price Changes IV Store all pricing info V Allow Manual Price List Changes IV Create a pricelist List Price Variable 2 Done Nett Price Variable 2 Lene Cancel Variant P M fr Generic P M M New Delete Result selection Just Created Result Auto Select 4 gt acp Result retention Retain all results The top part of this screen shows the standard Windows features described in Windows Features on page 12 The button toward the right end of the toolbar is the Master Browse button which you can use to browse through the available selections for the entity you are maintaining Two other specific QAD Configurator features are the use of the Selection Key Field the field immediately below the toolbar and the button area the group of buttons in the bottom right part of the window These two features are explained as follows Using the Selection Key Field Each entity in QAD Configurator items variables features is identified with a unique key A key can consist of characters digits
11. Fig 5 11 Feature Option Maintenance HOU Variable usage 4 3 Feature Options el PAEXEX 3Truj Detaili Option domestic Description Jaaestid Pricing Part se 100 2 aty Based Pricing UM Jea OK Cancel You must provide values for the pricing fields if pricing is to be incorporated into the model Pricing Part This is the item number that will be supplied to the QAD pricing engine on answering a question with this option The value of this field should be an existing item number in QAD 2008 Standard There is no validation on the existence of the entered value This is done so that items in QAD 2008 Standard and variables in QAD Configurator can be created simultaneously by different people Qty Based You can select the Quantity Based field only if the type of the variable is numeric or discrete set calculable If you select this check box the QAD pricing engine will be run with a quantity equal to the value entered for the feature in the questionnaire If you do not select this check box there are two possibilities either the pricing engine will be run with the value 1 as quantity or the pricing engine will be run with the value of the pricing attribute of the feature You can set the pricing attribute of a feature using a pricing rule as explained in Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 This quantity is FAQAD 126 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD
12. Fig 5 8 Selecting Variables AQAD Ee a Available Selected ablup n Backup abnup Backup type housing area coolant housing height Incl All gt gt power converter housing length pump housing width region salesprice paint housing vol usage OK Cancel The left list shows the variables that are available in the current group The right list shows the variables that have been selected to use as features in this group Highlight the variables in the Available list that you want for the new feature and click the Add button to move them to the right list Now highlight the variable in the Selected list and click OK The system returns you to the Feature Maintenance screen Click the Browse button to the right of Feature Name field and select your newly created feature from the list The values in the Feature fields are taken from the values set for the selected variable in Variable Maintenance but you can change these values for the feature as required For example you can change the wording of the long question or change the numeric settings before you save your entries for the new feature Feature Option Maintenance Use Feature Option Maintenance to create lists of possible values Options that the customer can select for features and to select existing feature options to view modify or delete All features are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you
13. QAD Configurator FAQAD This is a secured function used only by system administrators to modify the QAD Configurator menus Unauthorized users cannot access this function If you have the authority you select the QAD Configurator menu to modify as follows 1 2 Select a menu in the lower left list window Change the label for the menu by entering the new label in the Label field at the top of the screen The symbol gt at the end of a menu label indicates the presence of a submenu You can double click such a menu line to display the submenu The parent menu is indicated by a dot If you select a line with a dot you cannot change the label The lower left list window shows all the options in the currently selected menu or submenu You can use the buttons to the right of the list window to add new menu options or separator rules to skip or delete menu options and to move options up or down within the menu list You can also define an accelerator key which is a keyboard shortcut to the function such as Shift F4 or Ctrl A using the button on the right of the screen You can use the Toolbar Button window below the Menu Label Selection field to define menu buttons for use on the optional menu bar which you can select from the Options menu Click OK to save your entries and leave Menu Maintenance Maintaining QAD Configurator Messages If you have the authorization you can use Messages accessed from the ToolslCustomi
14. When engineering changes occur to a generic item it is often necessary to modify features options rules and COP rules for that item These changes must be tested prior to incorporation into the production system System Setup Functions 65 Use the Model Management module to perform all necessary data modifications in a test environment and then after sufficient testing move the entire model over to the production environment The Model Management module includes these tools Create Data Package Load QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configuration Data Component Effectivity Routing Effectivity Active User Manager Create Data Package Use the Create Data Package function to create a data package file that contains all QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configurator records associated with the selected generic item The package includes the tables listed in the following two tables Table 3 1 Table Description QAD Configurator agd det COP Generic BOM Quantity Formula table Eus E pam agpd det COP Part Master table agqd det Holds the rules for the fields to be set in Sales Quote Detail agrd det COP Generic Routing Quantity Formula table agr mstr COP Routing Master table agsd det Holds all the rules for fields to be set in the sod det table ag mstr COP Generic BOM Master table ans mstr Structure of questionnaire features per generic item cee mst External Entity Master table een mstr Element Entity Master table effc mstr Compon
15. n H 1 5 eG RR Item 10 2000 2 Lock Item Description arctic cooling system S0 Type B 0 HM Y Analysed no 01 18 06 16 33 58 IV Cost Price Roll up Cost Set scandara v Use Pricing Allow Net Price Changes v Store all pricing info V Allow Manual Price List Changes IV Create a pricelist List Price Variable 2 Done Nett Price Variable 2 Cancel Variant P M B Generic P M M New Delete Result selection Just Created Result Auto Select 4 gt Result retention Retain all results In the lower frame of the screen you can now select the characteristics of the cost price roll up for the generic item that is shown in the Item field Select the Cost Price Roll Up check box if you want to roll up the costs of the item and select a cost set from the list to indicate the set of prices to be used You will always be presented with the choices standard for standard costs and current for current costs If the QAD 2008 Standard Cost Management module is being used you can pick any cost set that has been defined using this module Knowledge Exploitation Functions When QAD Configurator creates a variant item it refers to the entries in Generic Item Maintenance It performs a separate routing roll up for every variant item in the product structure for which the Cost Price Roll Up check box is selected and it performs one product structure ro
16. 278 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 9 4 Lower Part of the Result Inquiry Selection AQAD When you have either chosen an existing configuration or chosen not to select an existing configuration you select the next action by clicking one of the options in the lower part of the Result Inquiry Selection screen Buttons that do not apply to your particular circumstances are dimmed ACTION SELECTION Create Variant C New Configuration C N Reload Configuration ona C Select Existing Variant Item Level v Reprice Create Variant Cancel New Configuration Select this option if you want to create a new result new configuration by completing the question list When you click OK after choosing this action you move on to the question list part of the questionnaire Reload Configuration Select this option if you have found an existing configuration that has Open status showing that the questions were not all answered when the result was created and you want to finish off the question list to complete the result When you click OK after choosing this action you move on to the question list part of the questionnaire Select Existing Variant Select this option if you have found a configuration that matches the customer s requirements and that result already has a variant item defined for it When you click OK after choosing this action you exit from the questionnaire function with the chosen variant
17. 3 14 M Component Effectivity ADMIN 4 3 nl xl Component File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Effectivity Generic Item Ded conponent rem Reference scare wei ina eft S eS EU CU Current Effectivity Information Component Item Start in Source Reference Start in Dest Information New Start Effectivity o ome Cancel New End Effectivity Delete The Component Effectivity window displays all the components of the selected generic item along with their reference start and end effective dates in the source database To update the effective dates of a component double click the component and the two bottom frames become active Enter new start and end effective dates in the destination database in the New Effectivity Information frame Leave the New Start and End effectivity dates blank to remove the dates in the destination database Click the Save button and the browse is updated with the new information The Def column is changed to Y to indicate that there is an active rule for this component To disable a rule click the Delete button when the component is highlighted This removes the new dates and returns the Def field to N Routing Effectivity Use Routing Effectivity to update effective dates in the destination database when routings are added to the production QAD 2008 Standard database with start or end effectivity dates that prevent the selection of
18. 4 Click Search 5 To refine your search further click the plus icon to add another search row You can add as many rows as needed each with different search values and operators When you specify several criteria note that multiple criteria for the same field are treated as a logical AND condition 6 To remove a search criteria row click on the delete X icon FAQAD 302 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Ordering an Existing Variant Item If you find an existing variant item that exactly matches your specific configuration requirements you can directly order the variant by clicking the Submit icon next to the variant item number This closes the Questionnaire window and returns the variant item number to the item number field in the Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance order line Existing variant items are configuration records that have variant item numbers and are marked with the F status Creating a Variant Item From an Existing Configuration If an existing configuration exactly matches your specific requirements but no variant item has been created from it no variant item number is displayed in the variant item field you can create a variant item from it and order the new variant item by clicking the Create Variant icon next to the Configuration ID This closes the Questionnaire window and returns the newly created variant item number in the item number field to the Sales Order Maintenance or Sal
19. 50 from the QAD 2008 Standard main menu You are prompted for correct user ID and password to access the QAD Configurator main screen Choose MenulQuestionnaire QAD Configurator supports multiple QAD 2008 Standard domains QAD Configurator data is domain wide and pertains to the same QAD 2008 Standard domain from which you launch QAD Configurator When you start the QAD Configurator questionnaire you select the customer and enter the item number of the particular product you want to configure in the first questionnaire screen and then select the action you want to take such as configuring a new variant in the second screen QAD Configurator then displays the main questionnaire screen Fig 1 1 Questionnaire fie Edit View Tools Options Window Help Huic cu v R gm Groups mjCumuaive 1876 00 Net Price ci e S E SEARS E age Industrial 2 DetalSpec Pump Low capacily 500 00 2 Detail Spec Medic grade Ce 0 00 sioj x Coolant 2 Detail Spec 3 Accessories 3 Accessories 1 Housing 1 Housing 1 Housing 2 Detail Spec 1 Housing 1 Housing ar Region Backup Backup type Housing height Housing length Housing width power converter Housing area Paint housing UK yes Alkaline batt 70 70 70 Smart 23400 no 1176 00 0 00 gt T Comment Answer All The selected item number is shown in the window title bar The
20. If you change an existing result key you must specify whether you want any existing results to be updated automatically to reflect the changes you have made to the result key To do this click the Automatic Update results button at the bottom of the screen If you do not click the Automatic Update Results button QAD Configurator will not update the keys of results that already exist As a consequence only the results created from now on can be selected automatically by QAD Configurator The old result keys cannot be used as they do not match the new definition If you click the Automatic Update Results button QAD Configurator updates all existing result keys so that they can be used for automatic selection in future When you have finished creating or modifying a result key click OK to save the new result key in the database FAQAD Knowledge Building Functions 181 Result Key Maintenance and Pricing In Result Key Maintenance you define which features are used to uniquely identify a result In models where pricing is used it is strongly recommended that you include the customer and all features that are used in pricing rules as key features This is because prices may depend on the customer and quantities of components ordered Copy Function When you want to set up the Knowledge Base data for a generic item you can either build up the variables features and rules individually using the relevant maintenance options
21. Knowledge Building Rules on page 90 explains using rule tables as a simple method for entering straightforward rules General Rule Table Maintenance A general rule table is a rule table that is not linked to an item Use General Rule Table Maintenance to create new general rule tables and to select general rule tables to view modify or delete All general rule tables are attached to a group so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the general rule table you want to maintain When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen PI General Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 ON xi File Edit view Tools Options Window Help n mu v o 2 eS I Table ID cnroo1 2l eS Jetandara Select Variables w s 1 SHEN value Fl power converter val mb xi i smart igh capacity fitina dard 2 domestic low capacity x 3 us jnduwi smat high capacity ummm 4 usa domesic standard high capacity 5 Westem Europe industrial smat medium capacity zl 6 Westem Europe domestic standard medium capacity Exclusion B Reposition EM L1 a 8 ee 3 Cancel 10 New Delete E FEDT a Interpolation Table ia Accelerator i4 gt I The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen The Table ID field shows the name of the most recently maintained general rule table
22. Minimize Maximize Close Alt F4 Refer to your Microsoft Windows documentation or online help for full explanations of using the control menu options to move or resize the window The icons on the right of the frame provide shortcuts to minimizing maximizing and closing the window respectively When the middle of these three icons shows a double window symbol you can click it to restore the window to its original size and position Menus Like all Windows applications QAD Configurator makes use of menus of options across the top of the screen to let you access system functions The menus consist of a horizontal list of option names below the screen title Fig 1 3 Menus F QAD Configurator Main Menu DEMO 4 3 JAU File Menu Options View Tools Window Help You can select an option from a menu with the mouse by positioning the cursor over the option name and clicking the left mouse button Alternatively you can use the keyboard by pressing the Alt key and the underlined letter of the option you want The following example shows how the menu display changes when you click menu or press Alt M You can select options from the drop down menus in the same way click the left mouse button over the option or press Alt and the underlined letter from the option For example to start the questionnaire you can press Alt M to display the menu then keep the Alt key pressed and press Q FAQAD 14 User Guide Q
23. Questionnaire 2 Generic Item Maintenance 3 Question Type Report 4 COP Maintenance 5 Question Type Maintenance Logon Exit Editor provides a Progress Procedure Editor window This is a secured function used only by system administrators to modify the way that QAD Configurator operates Typical users cannot access this function Items numbered 1 to 5 on the menu are the five most recently used QAD Configurator functions Selecting a function from this list is quicker than finding the option again through the normal menu structure Logon takes you back to the QAD Configurator log in screen where you can enter a user ID to access the system Exit closes the QAD Configurator window and exits from the system Introduction to QAD Configurator 29 Options Menu When you select the Options menu a drop down menu is displayed similar to the following example Fig 1 20 F QAD Configurator Main Menu STD 4 3 Options Menu File Menu Options View Tools Window Help Menu Buttons v Confirm Exit Save Settings on Exit Messages If you select the Menu Buttons option by clicking it to display a check mark against the option QAD Configurator will display an additional function button bar containing buttons that you define for specific QAD Configurator functions When Confirm Exit is selected QAD Configurator displays a message prompting you to confirm that you want to exit when you select Exit from
24. between simple COP rules and complex COP rules It also explains how you can use COP Rule Table Maintenance or COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance to set up and maintain default selection formulas that are independent of any generic item You can use COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance to maintain complex selection formulas that cannot be maintained by means of the rule table When you select this function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen Knowledge Exploitation Functions 251 Fig 7 22 Fl cop Detail Rule Table Maintena HOU 4 3 mfx COP Detail Rule File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Table Maintenance Wee e e c REN B Item Number 50 100 2 BATTERIES ALKALINE STD Formulas ok ENDURACELL Maintained by COP Rule Table Maintenance Clear Window help I backup AND backup up AND coolant AND housing height yes alkaline batt medic grade Done thousing hight 1 5 Cancel Delete Esci aed A f gt The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar The Item Number field shows the number of the most recently maintained component item The description of the item is displayed alongside the field You can select another item in the group either by using the navigation buttons in the button area or by clicking the Browse button to t
25. generic item and therefore does not get answered the paint variable will have an unknown value so the component will not be selected If the Unknown Answer field is now turned on for the group clicking the Formula Preview button for the formula for component 100 100 01 will now display the following formula including unknown answer lines cloth sunset orange OR cloth AND environment of use heavy OR environment of use AND paint yes OR paint Comparison of the selection formula values with the answers to the questionnaire will now produce a true result so the component is selected cloth environment of use paint Selection Sunset Orange or Heavy or Yes or formula Questionnaire Sunset Orange none answers TRUE TRUE TRUE Dynamic Update of Routing Operation Comments Answers to the QAD Configurator questionnaire can be used to dynamically update the comments for operations in the variant routing This is discussed in detail in Updating Comments on page 131 Routing Maintenance in QAD 2008 Standard has a Comments field When this is set to Yes you can add comment text that is printed on shop floor documents for work orders for the item Sometimes it can be very helpful to inform the shop floor of one or more answers from the questionnaire such as a situation in which items have to be made to the right dimensions To include
26. h ss OK Max procedure fi ss Cancel Enter values for the following fields Qsinr dir Use this field to specify the directory other than the QAD Configurator startup directory where files used by the questionnaire will be stored These files are generated by the Analyzer and contain the inclusion and exclusion logic for features and options Variant dir Use this field to specify the directory other than the QAD Configurator startup directory where files created by Variant BOM Generator will be stored These files contain the variant BOM and variant routing information Download dir This field is used with Nomadic features which are not supported in this version Leave the field blank Perm Prg You can use this field to enter a specific UNIX command to allow overwriting of other users files Leave this field blank to prevent overwriting of files when security is set on file level Physical DB name Network Protocol Host Name Database Server These fields are used with Nomadic features which are not supported in this version Leave the fields blank System Setup Functions 55 Re analyze If you select the Pegging for Re analyze check box QAD Configurator will force re analysis of the relevant generic item and all higher level generic items whenever a rule is changed at some level of the product structure QAD Configurator enters No in the Analyzed field of the Generic Item Maintenance window for the affected gener
27. maintained generic item To select another generic item click the browse button to the right of the selection key field then click the required item in the displayed list or use the navigation buttons in the button area Click the Selection option to specify a range of generic item numbers You specify the range by entering generic item numbers in the From and To fields Again you can select generic items for these fields by clicking the browse buttons to the right of the fields and selecting the items from the displayed lists When you have specified the items to be analyzed the next stage is to specify what checks you want the Cross Validation Analyzer to make Note The routing checks will only be available if the Routings field is set on in Group Maintenance for the group If the Routings field is set off the routing checks will be dimmed Knowledge Exploitation Functions 261 Refer to About Cross Validation Analyzer on page 211 for a detailed explanation of the checks made depending on the selections you select for the check boxes in the Check frame of the screen When you have made your selections click OK to run the Cross Validation Analyzer When the analysis is complete the system displays a report of the analysis on the screen You can print or save the report using the buttons on the toolbar or click the green check mark button to acknowledge that you have finished examining the report The system displays a message p
28. so that the result of the dependent relationship can now be established In the previous question list questions D and F are in the first category while questions B and C are in the second category Feature Sequences Each feature corresponds to a question in the questionnaire which the customer must answer to define the configuration of the product Using Feature Sequence Maintenance you can control the sequence in which the questions are asked but only within the limits imposed by the logical structure of the interdependence of the features The Analyzer examines the relationship between the possible feature options for the product and determines any sequences of questions that must be imposed because of the logical dependence of one feature on another However within the limits of the logical constraints you can determine the order in which the questions are asked If you specify a sequence that goes against the logical structure the Analyzer modifies your specified sequence to account for the dependence between the features AQAD 192 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Example Consider a product that includes three features width of frame operation type and voltage The width of frame gives a range of options for the dimensions of the frame the operation type is manual or electric and the voltage applies only when the operation type is electric The feature voltage is therefore dependent on the feature operation ty
29. these routings FAQAD 70 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 15 Routing Effectivity AQAD M Routing Effectivity ADMIN 4 3 E maxi File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Eae 3 2 RS EU Generic Item Ded _oplscare ema src Stare pest start ew start fe mma Current Effectivity Information Operation 0 Start in Source Start in Dest New Effectivity Information New Start Effectivity Cancel New End Effectivity Delete The Routing Effectivity window displays all the routings of the selected generic item along with their reference start and end effective dates in the source database To update the effective dates of a routing double click the routing and the two bottom frames become active Enter new start and end effective dates in the destination database in the New Effectivity Information frame Leave the New Start and End effectivity dates blank to remove the dates in the destination database Click the Save button and the browse is updated with the new information The Def column is changed to Y to indicate that there is an active rule for this routing To disable a rule click the Delete button when the routing is highlighted This removes the new dates and returns the Def field to N Active User Manager The Active User Manager window automatically appears if any active user is detected during the QAD Configurator Data load process You can also manua
30. 00000774 I3 Variant Item 10 20001 BDI 9 10 20001 BDG 9 10 20001 BDE 9 j Customer 4000 4000 4000 Status F F F List Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 Net Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 Create date 0349 08 0349 08 03 9 08 User ID mfg mfg QAD usage industrial industrial industrial Coolant medic grade medic grade medic grade region UK UK UK backup yes yes yes backup type alkaline batt alkaline batt alkaline batt pump medium capacity medium capacity medium capacity housing length 70 70 70 housing width 70 70 70 BI housing height 70 70 70 power converter smart smart smart 4 pe Id 4 Page 1 of 1 P P Displaying 1 to 3 of 3 Items per Page5 v Cancel Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 293 The title bar of the Configurator Questionnaire window displays the following information Group The group that the generic item you are configuring belongs to Groups are defined using QAD Configurator s Group Maintenance function Customer Shows which customer you are configuring the item for This is the same customer ID in the Sold To field in the header of the sales order or sales quote from which Questionnaire was launched Item Shows the generic item that you are configuring This is the same generic item number that you selected in Sales Order Maintenance 7 1 1 or Sales Quote Maintenance 7 12 1 Navigating in Questionnaire NET UI The Questionnaire NET user interface organizes task oriented information
31. 1000 BATTERIES ATOMIC STD MFG Type P Reference Start Effective Vv Formulas MASTER SELECTION PREPOSITION Use Default backup type atomic batt Quantity Formula inquiry Selection L1 Add Modify Field The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group or generic item you must return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen The top frame of the screen shows brief details of the component that you highlighted on the single level or multi level component selection screen The second frame shows the selection formula that has been defined for this component if any The bottom frame shows the quantity formulas that have been defined for this component if any You can select other components from the list that was displayed in the component selection screen by using the navigation buttons in the button area The display changes to show the formulas that exist for each component as it is displayed Selection Formula Maintenance The Master Selection Preposition window shows the selection formula that has been defined for this component If no selection formula is defined the component will always be selected unless a higher level component has been excluded Selection formulas entered in this function are component specific formulas for the current generic item Use COP Rule Table Maintenance or COP Detail Rule Tabl
32. 322
33. 9 100 100 003 COP Modules Used for Maintaining Formulas Within COP Maintenance there are four modules that let you maintain formulas relating to different aspects of product configuration These modules are Part G BOM G Route and variant item number The following table summarizes the use of these four modules Module Formula Type Description Table Part Quantity Assigns values to the fields of the newly created variant item in QAD 2008 Standard pt mstr G BOM Selection Defines whether or not to select the component from the generic BOM If the condition specified in the selection formula is not met the component is not included in the variant BOM Otherwise the component is included and the quantity formulas are used to give values to the component information of the new variant for example the quantity required ps mstr ps qty per Quantity Assigns values to the fields of the newly created variant BOM entries ps mstr Table 6 2 COP Modules AQAD 198 User Guide QAD Configurator Module Formula Type Description Table G Route Selection Defines whether or not to select the operation ro_det from the generic routing If the condition as specified in the selection formula is not met the operation is not included in the variant routing Otherwise the operation is included and the quantity formulas are used to give values to the operations o
34. Adding a Specific F1 Rule Group Rule Maintenance HOU RuleGroup general 4 3 Rule File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Rule GK D m o p x Be e e 86 S Eu a 4 gt Gorr C mem Cosse formal gt indov help Done 3 NH Attr value p fetal fia Al epu Click the New button in the button area to compose the new rule In the ID field specify a reference ID for your new rule When you save your newly composed rule the system returns you to the main Rule Group AQAD Knowledge Building Functions 149 Rule Maintenance screen with the new rule added to the list of rule group rules See Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 for details on rule composition Note The General Rule check box is not checked for the new rule as this is a rule group specific rule Maintaining and Deleting Rule Group Specific Rules To change the details of a rule group specific rule highlight the rule in the Rule group Rules window then click the Maintain button The system displays the Rule Maintenance screen as in the adding a rule example with the details of the selected rule displayed You can now change the syntax of the rule as required If you want to delete the rule click the Delete button in the button area The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion Converting a General Rule to a Specific Rule If you have included
35. Concepts 185 About the AmalyZer soc esa sese e oe ke eR eed SU a dede 186 Feature Relationships 0 0 0 cece cece ee eee 187 Feature Sequences 0 0 0 cece eects 191 Multi Level Analysis 0 0 cee eee eee 192 About the Configuration Output Processor 0 000 c eee eee eee 194 COP Maintenance Formulas 0 0 0 e ee eee nee 195 How COP Relates to Other QAD Configurator Functions 198 About COP Rules 0 0 00 een eens 198 Dynamic Update of Routing Operation Comments 206 About Cost Roll Up 0 0 0 ccc cece eens 207 About Element Roll Up 20 0 0 0c ccc e 209 About Cross Validation Analyzer lees 211 What the Cross Validation Analyzer Checks 04 212 Example of Using the Cross Validation Analyzer 213 Cross Validation Analyzer Report 0 0 0 0 eee eee ee 215 Chapter 7 Knowledge Exploitation Functions 217 Running the Analyzer 0 0 eee eee eee 218 Results of the Analysis 220 COP Matihtenati6e es es Bod Fe meos ee oo dos Beaded Gaels 221 Using the COP Part Module lesse 222 Using the COP G BOM Module 00 00 e eee eee 224 Using the COP G Route Module 000 c ee eee eee 231 Using the COP Variant Item Number Module 235 COP Rule Table Maintenance 0 cece eee ee 240 Selecting Components for Rule T
36. D Data Dictionary Xref Report 62 E Element Roll Up Maintenance 255 External Entity Maintenance 59 F Feature Maintenance 117 Feature Option Maintenance 122 Feature Option Report 319 Feature Report 319 Feature Sequence Maintenance 127 G General Rule Maintenance 134 General Rule Table Maintenance 154 Generalized Code Maintenance 49 61 Generic Item Maintenance 71 254 Group Maintenance 55 57 Index l Item Element Roll Up 257 Item Master Maintenance 52 Item Rule Maintenance 149 Item Rule Table Maintenance 173 Item Rule Group Maintenance 152 L Load QAD Configurator Data 67 Load QAD ERP Data 67 M Manual Result Maintenance 323 Message Report 63 P Product Structure Maintenance 52 Q QAD Configurator Main Menu 27 QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance 53 Question Type Maintenance 57 Question Type Report 317 Questionnaire NET user interface 292 Questionnaire Sequence Maintenance 261 R Result Key Maintenance 181 result keys 102 178 Result Configuration Report 322 Routing Effectivity 69 Routing Maintenance 53 Rule Group Maintenance 58 Rule Report 320 Rule Table Accelerator 176 rule tables 96 Rule Group Rule Maintenance 146 FAQAD 336 User Guide QAD Configurator S Sales Quote Report 317 System Management 48 System Management Menu 60 V Variable Maintenance 108 FAQAD Variable Option Maintenance 114 Variable Option Report 318 Variable Report 318 W Where Used Report
37. File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Maintenance A eS e e I Entity H fprodext 2 snow generic item product line descriptions in quest Database qadab z Table File ei oae QD Syntax ook Variable Selection paint housing power converter Done Cancel New pl prod line linenumber Delete a eos z l4 rl In the Entity field you can create a new external entity or select an existing external entity to view modify or delete Use the field to the right of the Entity field to enter a description of the external entity At the Database and Table fields use the drop down lists to select the database and table containing the external entity When you have made your selection the fields of the table are shown in the Field Selection window To define a WHERE clause to control selection of the external entity first select the required field from the Field Selection window by double clicking the field name Then click once on the required operator Finally select the required variable from the variable selection window by double clicking the required variable name FAQAD 60 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The WHERE clause you have created is shown in the WHERE criteria window You can extend the clause by clicking the AND or OR options and then enter another field operator and variable When you have finished generating the WHERE clause you can check the syntax by sa
38. Item screen to correct your answers Unanswered questions and answers that conflict with variable rules will prevent successful submission of your configuration You can view similar configurations by filtering existing configurations using your configuration as a criteria You can then choose to order a similar variant item create a new variant item from a similar configuration or continue with your own configuration Unless the result selection method is set to Always Create New Variant in Generic Item Maintenance the system finds existing configurations that match the configuration you just created based on result keys You can choose either to create a new variant item using your configuration or associate an existing item number with your configuration View Existing Configurations Before you start actually configuring an item for a customer browse through existing variant items associated with the current generic item in the Existing Configurations screen You can see if the configuration you are looking for has already been created or a similar configuration already exists that you can further customize to meet your specific requirements Configuring Variant Items in NET UI F 2an configurator BITTE A 97 15 QAD Configurator March Customer 4000 Item 10 20001 Existing Configuration Configure Item guration Summary Search Select criteria Select Y To kW w Search Clear All existing co
39. Re enter field 4 Click OK Your user ID password combination is stored in the QAD Configurator User table Depending on your user ID you are allowed to access certain QAD Configurator functions Ask your system administrator for access to the functions you need Introduction to QAD Configurator 27 QAD Configurator Main Menu After you log in the system displays the QAD Configurator main menu Fig 1 18 M QAD Configurator Main Menu STD 4 3 QAD Configurator Fie Menu Options View Tools Window Help Main Menu QAD configurator Access most of QAD Configurator functions by selecting menu options from the menus on the menu bar When a function is already open you can access it from the Window menu option If the option is not currently open but you have used it recently you can access it from the File menu option which lists the five most recently used QAD Configurator functions Exiting QAD Configurator When you have finished working in QAD Configurator select Exit from the File menu or press Esc The system prompts you to confirm the exit Click Yes to exit the module and you are returned to the QAD 2008 Standard main menu AQAD 28 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 19 File Menu AQAD Standard Menu Functions File Menu When you choose the File menu a drop down menu displays A QAD Configurator Main Menu STD 4 3 JAD File Menu Options View Tools Window Help Editor 1
40. Standard Menu Functions 0 0 0 0 c eee es 28 File Menu i eas boi ceva ciao mia diaa ed ed oe ed ee d 28 Options Menu soised esia ser ed we Wa slo e hoe ee 29 View Menu 4 biased er rip A py ed ei dad bia edis 30 ii User Guide QAD Configurator Tools Menu 1 ve se eR ek ead eet vb ES ER 31 Chapter 2 System Setup Concepts Lleusse 39 Understanding QAD 2008 Standard Setup 0 000000 0 08 40 Generic Items BOMs and Routings 0 0002 ee eee 40 What to Set Up in QAD 2008 Standard 0 42 Understanding QAD Configurator Setup 0 0 cece eee eee eee 44 Setting System Wide Parameters 0 0 0 0 nunne eee eee 44 Setting Up GroUps 2 6 0 6s sees eee ew ea eee eee aa 45 Setting Up Questionnaire Defaults and Controls 48 System Management 0 0 c eee eee ee eee 48 Chapter3 System Setup Functions 51 Setting Up QAD 2008 Standard 2 eee 52 Creating Items 224s eee ld ete die ee a eae 52 Creating Generic Bills of Material 0 0 e eee eee 52 Creating Generic Routings 0 cee eee ee eee 53 Setting Up QAD Configurator 0 0 2 eee 53 QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance 04 53 Group Maintenance 2 eee ees 55 Functional Group Maintenance 0 0 eee eee eee eee 57 Question Type Maintenance seee eee 57 Rule
41. The option is moved to the variable options list on the left Include All moves all the variable options to the feature options list Exclude All moves all the variable options in the feature options list back to the variable options list Click the Add button to add a unique option for this feature The system displays a screen similar to the following example Feature d Maintenance Yariable usage 4 3 Option siix iinen Description siix iinen mix Pricing Part 2 bal Qty Based Pricing UM OK Enter the name of the option in the top field and a description of it if required in the lower field then click OK The Feature Option Maintenance screen displays your new feature option added to the list Click the Details button to display the option name description and pricing fields for the currently highlighted feature option Knowledge Building Functions 125 Pricing Values for Feature Options The pricing fields are displayed when you click the Details button on the Feature Option Maintenance screen The default values displayed for the pricing fields are those that have been set in Variable Maintenance Variable Option Maintenance or Feature Maintenance Whether you accept those defaults or override them the values you set here in Feature Option Maintenance are the ones that will be used in the questionnaire When you click the Details button the system displays the following Screen
42. View Similar Configurations Configuration Summary Configuration Summary Submit Configuration Matching Configurations Exiting Questionnaire NET UI You exit the Questionnaire module when you either complete or cancel the configuration process When you have gone through all the configuration steps and successfully submitted your configuration the Questionnaire window closes and a variant item number is returned to the Item Number field in the order line in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance This could be an existing variant item number or a newly created variant item number depending on the configuration you submitted Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 295 You can cancel at any point in the configuration process by clicking the Cancel button in the Questionnaire screen A confirmation window displays Fig 10 3 Exit Confirmation WARNING x A Save this configuration before exiting m Cem When you cancel the configuration process the Questionnaire window closes and no item number is returned You then either select a different item in the order line in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance or launch the Questionnaire window again if you continue with the original generic item number Note Do not exit Questionnaire by clicking the Close Window button X in the upper right corner of the Questionnaire window or pressing Alt F4 You are not prompted to confirm the ex
43. a rule ID and optionally a description of the rule 2 Selecta clause for a line or statement in the rule IF and THEN clauses are mandatory in a rule but the ELSE clause is optional 3 Select a variable for the clause if the expression mode is normal or advanced 4 Specify the operator such as equal to or not equal to 5 Specify the option or value for the expression When you have created all the required clauses for the rule you can either save the rule which generates an automatic syntax check or you can click the Syntax Check button on the toolbar to initiate a manual syntax check In each case QAD Configurator checks the syntax of the rule you have created to make sure that the clauses are valid Progress syntax The syntax check generates a syntax error report if any errors are found You can then identify the errors and correct the syntax See Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 for more details on creating and modifying rules Note When you modify existing rules you must run the Analyzer again to analyze the effect that your rule changes have made on the questionnaire and the way that your products can be configured Applying Rules When the sales personnel run the questionnaire they specify a particular generic item which is the product they are trying to configure During the Knowledge Building phase of using QAD Configurator you must specify which rules are to be applied to each generic item so that the questionnair
44. an important input parameter to the QAD pricing engine because prices of components can depend on the number of components that are sold Pricing UM Enter a value in this field for the unit of measure which will be fed into the QAD pricing engine Note The example in the previous screen specifies that if in the questionnaire the Low Capacity option is selected for the feature pump net and list prices for item 66 100 will be selected by the QAD pricing engine Remember that the values entered here for the fields Pricing Part Qty Based and Pricing UM are the only ones that are used in the questionnaire to provide input to the QAD pricing engine Exceptions to this rule are when the Std Options check box is selected in the Feature Maintenance screen in which case pricing information is taken from the variable option A second exception is when the feature type is logical in which case pricing information is taken from the feature Changing the Feature Option List Order You can modify the order for the list of options that will be presented in the questionnaire for the question relating to this feature To modify the option list order click the Pri for Priorities button to the right of the Details button The system displays a screen similar to the following example Knowledge Building Functions 127 Fig 5 12 Feature Option Piel NEST A Trj Ordai domestic domestic Select All Deselect all
45. and you enter a manual result B4 for B If you run the questionnaire for item A and the configuration contains the variant of B that corresponds to B4 then B4 will be automatically inserted in the product structure of the variant of A If you run the questionnaire for item B B4 will be presented in the post Questionnaire Result Inquiry screen where you can decide whether or not to insert it in the product structure of the variant of B Additional QAD Configurator Features 327 Running Manual Result Maintenance When you select Manual Result Maintenance from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays a screen similar to the following example Fig 11 2 M Manual Result Maintenance HOU Generic Item 10 20000 4 3 Manual Result File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Maintenance nD 8 v o 1 5 e ERE I Y Variant 2 Pur Mfg Result ID Status Date Time a Only Result Key Features Answer Question al Backup USA Western Europe Backup type Other power converter zi Done Cancel Un New Delete jee exc I4 rl The name of the current group and the most recently maintained generic item are shown in the title bar of the screen To select another generic item click the Master Browse button on the toolbar If you need to select another group click the Master Browse button then in the window that is displayed click the Master Browse button again T
46. and feature options are used to link variables to generic items to define the possible configurations of your products Feature Maintenance Feature Maintenance is used to create new features and to select existing features to view modify or delete All features are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the features you want to maintain When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Variables and Features option the system displays the following screen FAQAD 118 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 6 Feature Maintenance AQAD B reature Maintenance STD Item 10 20000 4 4 8 ni xi File Edit View Tools Options Window Help La 4 8 eS E x Feature backup 2 Description Question Type Normal 2 Short Question Backup Extent 1 V Long Qstn Select Variables Functional Group 3 Accessories 2 Multiple 1 Value 0 0 Default 0 00 Infinite Is UN Question C Teuporary Done Vv Mandatory Cancel I Fill in r Comment a Monitor aes Delete Pricing Part J 2 4 b un ty Based l4 b The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another generic item click the Master Browse button on the toolbar By clicking the Master Browse button again in the browse window you can select another group
47. and status F the system can display the post Questionnaire Result Inquiry Selection screen depending on the setting you have chosen for the result selection method in the Generic Item Maintenance screen see Generic Item Maintenance on page 71 If your selection method is anything other than Always create new variant the system displays the result selection window as in the following example Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 289 FA Questionnaire HOU Customer 1004000 Item 10 20000 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help A js el vss Result Inquiry Selection Description 20000 Customer 1005000 Customer 1005000 00000060 10 20000 14 Customer 1005000 00000057 10 20000 13 Customer 1005000 00000054 10 20000 12 Customer 1005000 00000051 10 20000 11 Customer 1005000 M Roll Up C None scandara zi Item Level V Reprice The Result Inquiry Selection window lists the configuration you have created and all other configurations both result only configurations and also those that have had variant items created that match the result key for the generic item The result that QAD Configurator highlights in the list depends on the setting you have chosen for the result selection method in the Generic Item Maintenance screen see Generic Item Maintenance on page 71 You can select the highlighted result or any other result shown in the list You select th
48. be selected for a variant item You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details Selection formulas must conform to Progress syntax rules See Selection Formulas on page 195 for details Deleting a Selection Formula To delete an existing selection formula that is no longer required either click the Clear button to remove the formula from the window or highlight the entire formula in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the module the formula is automatically deleted Knowledge Exploitation Functions 229 Copying From a Default Selection Formula To use the default selection formula for this component you can select the Use Default check box However you can also copy the default selection formula for example if you want to make some changes to the formula and then save it as a component specific selection formula To copy the Default click the Default button to the right of the editor window The default selection formula if any is copied into the editor window You can now make your changes to the formula then click Save or OK to save your changes Copying to a Default Selection Formula This option is possible only if a default selection formula does not already exist for this component You cannot overwrite an existing default selection formula If you have cr
49. can use help windows to select various terms for the expressions you want to use when composing rules Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details The following example shows the variable help window i FA General Rule Maintenance HOU 4 3 Loix Backup type If coolant housing area housing height Before selecting a term from a help window click in the field where you want to use the term For example if you want to insert a variable from the variable help window first click in the Variable field in the rule composition part of the screen Then click the Up arrow button on the window help frame This brings the selected help window to the top Now you can select the variable you want either by double clicking it or by highlighting it and clicking the green check mark button The selected variable is inserted in the Variable field Knowledge Building Functions 143 Copying One Rule to Another Instead of writing all the rule clauses from scratch you can copy an existing rule and then modify it as required To do this click the New button and enter a new rule ID then click the rule Copy button in the toolbar which looks like the following Fig 5 24 630 E38 Rule Copy Button The system displays a browse window that shows the rule IDs of the existing rules Select the rule you want to copy and click OK The clauses of the selected rule are copied
50. changes have been made in the rules that control the Knowledge Base for that item Specifying whether QAD Configurator will create a variant BOM automatically when a result is created the Item BOM option or create a result without creating a variant BOM the Off option or let the user select from these two options in the questionnaire the User option All of these parameters can be viewed and if necessary modified using the QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance option on the QAD Configurator Setup menu It is unlikely that you will need to change these settings during normal use of QAD Configurator and this function is usually used only at installation Setting Up Groups Whenever you have a large quantity of manufacturing data in your QAD 2008 Standard database you can simplify the process of using QAD Configurator by setting up additional groups to subdivide and categorize the products and product families that your company produces The standard group STD is provided as a default because the system must have at least one group The generic items you define and the variables features and rules that you create in the Knowledge Building phase of using QAD Configurator are automatically attached to the group you were working in when you created them The group name is usually a part of the unique key that identifies the variables features and rules that you create The way in which you assign product families to groups depends
51. code list shown by the sequence number to the right Use the navigation buttons to move through the sequence of code values for this code The remaining fields show the type of code value which you cannot change after the code has been created the value of the entry in the code list and free text showing comments relating to the code entry Data Dictionary Xref Report The Data Dictionary Xref Report provides information about the database M Data dictionary Xref Report ADMIN 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help A e NNNM Y From file To 3 Database usar J C Excel IV create Cross Reference Word Print System Setup Functions 63 From file Specify the beginning of a range of database tables to be reported in the report To Specify the end of a range of database tables to be reported in the report Database Select the database to report on Excel Word Select the type of output file to use Create Cross Reference Choose whether to create a cross reference overview Printer Choose whether to send the report directly to a printer Click OK when you have made your selection to display the report The output of the data model consists of Current QAD Configurator version List of table names and their descriptions The structure of each table The output of the cross reference consists of Current QAD Configurator version Cross reference of field meanings to d
52. display the formula You can then change the terms in the expression or click the Clear button to clear the entire editor window and enter a completely new expression When you have finished creating or modifying a quantity formula click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to have QAD Configurator check the syntax of the formula All quantity formulas must conform to Progress syntax rules refer to the Progress Programming manuals for further information If the syntax is correct the system inserts a check mark in the Formulas OK check box If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax errors have been found You can then correct the errors before saving the formula QAD Configurator does not use quantity formulas that do not have a check mark in the Formulas OK check box AQAD 224 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD To delete an existing quantity formula that is no longer required either click the Clear button to remove the expression from the formula or highlight the entire expression in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the module the formula is automatically deleted because the expression is empty When you have finished maintaining quantity formulas in the COP Part module click OK to close the module and return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen where you can select another module or click the Cancel button
53. entered value This is done so that items in QAD 2008 Standard and variables in QAD Configurator can be created simultaneously by different people The value in this field is not used in the questionnaire Qty Based You select the Quantity Based field only if the type of the variable is numeric or discrete set calculable UM Enter a value in this field for the unit of measure which will be fed into the QAD pricing engine Note For logical features you cannot specify feature options so QAD Configurator s pricing functions cannot use the pricing part and UM value from Feature Option Maintenance Instead it uses the pricing part and UM value that you enter in Feature Maintenance In the questionnaire if the answer to the logical feature question is No or False the Pricing column will remain empty if the answer is Yes or True the price based on the Feature Maintenance information is shown Adding a New Feature When you want to create a new feature for a generic item first make sure that the correct item is named in the title bar of Feature Maintenance To select another generic item click the Master Browse button on the toolbar Next click the New button in the button area The general information fields in the top frame are blanked out ready for information about the new feature Now click the Select Variables button The system displays a window similar to the following example AQAD 122 User Guide QAD Configurator
54. every result variable This is true when you are adding rows and also when you are deleting AQAD 170 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 39 Value List Window AQAD 4 Ifyou only entered lt blank gt for every condition variable but you entered at least one value for every result variable your entries are meaningless They concern at most one row for which you only specified the outcome but not the conditions In this case you will stay in the main screen of the Wizard until you have made some changes Value List Window In the value list window you enter the values that you want the Wizard to use in the process of adding or deleting rules The Wizard subsequently generates all possible combinations of these values of the variables and creates a rule that is a row in the table for every combination it generates When you double click a variable in the Main Wizard Window the system displays the value list window General Rule Table Maintenance HOU Table GRTO01 Variable usage 4 3 E3 a Variable Options AIL Values Blank Clear Clear All The current group the ID of the current rule table and the ID of the current variable are shown in the title bar of the screen The list on the left shows the values you have entered since you started the Wizard for the current rule table In general this list will be empty when you call this window for the first time for a given variable Howeve
55. example using the Windows File Manager Explorer without any problem The QAD Configurator Analyzer will create them or refresh them automatically when they are next needed When there is any doubt about the validity of the object codes you should always delete them and run the Analyzer again to rebuild them COP Maintenance About the Configuration Output Processor on page 194 explains the purpose of the Configuration Output Processor COP and describes the different types of formulas you can create and maintain in order to control the way that variant items are created from the questionnaire answers When you select COP Maintenance from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen Fig 7 3 M COP Maintenance HOU 4 3 BEES COP Maintenance File Edit View Tools Options Window Help es E Item 10 20000 2 arctic cooling system Modify C Part c BOM Multi Level SES C G Route Cancel C Variant Item Nbr C Sales Order Line 4 d C Sales Quote Line Show Details 14 gt l The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar The Item field shows the name of the most recently maintained generic item To select another generic item click the Browse button to the right of the Item selection key field then click the required item in the displayed list Al
56. for each element in its respective subsidiary window Component Parameters to complete in the subsidiary window Fixed Fixed string of characters Sign Separator to use between elements of the number The default is a hyphen but you can specify another separator if required Curr G Item Position from and position to the specified positions are copied from the current generic item number Mstr G Item Position from and position to the specified positions are copied from the top level generic item number Knowledge Exploitation Functions 239 Component Parameters to complete in the subsidiary window Field The QAD 2008 Standard database element field name the position from and the position to the character values in the specified positions are copied from the specified field Feature The feature the position from and the position to the character values in the specified positions are copied from the value selected for this feature in the questionnaire for the variant item Alphabetical Length multiplier increment and start value Sequence Length multiplier increment and start value Example Consider a variant item number definition formula consisting of the following elements Curr G Item positions 1 to 5 e Sign e Feature color positions 1 to 3 e Sign Sequence length 3 multiplier 1 start value 1 If the current generic item is 3 1
57. generate variant items and can also be stored for future use In order to identify unique results and therefore unique variant items you must specify for each generic item the features that will be used to determine whether a particular configuration is unique You can specify up to ten features for a generic item that together form a result key When you run the questionnaire for this item QAD Configurator will examine the options chosen for the result key features Knowledge Building Functions 179 for previous results and compare them with the equivalent options chosen for the current result In this way you can avoid duplication of results and variants You carry out the process of defining the features that form the result key for a generic item using Result Key Maintenance which you select from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the rules option When you select this option the system displays the following screen Fig 5 44 P Result Key Maintenance HOU 4 3 ioi x Result Key File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Maintenance MS S ERE RI Iten 44 100 2 CONTROL UNIT HOME USE Include gt pump usage Incl All gt gt x Exclude lt lt Excl ai1 z a Cancel ewes es The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar The Item field shows the most recently ma
58. in the figure You can close a help window either by clicking it again in the View menu list or by clicking the Close Window icon in the top right corner When you have selected the help window you require move to the field where you want to enter the value in a formula expression Find the value you want in the help window and select it either by double clicking it or by highlighting it and clicking OK The selected value is inserted in the expression Syntax Checking All rules used in Knowledge Building and formulas used in Knowledge Exploitation have to be built according to Progress syntax For a detailed description of this syntax refer to the Progress Query and Programming manuals Introduction to QAD Configurator 23 You can check the syntax either manually or automatically The syntax can be checked manually by clicking the Syntax Check button in the button bar The system then displays a message telling you that the syntax is OK or where the problems are The syntax is checked automatically when you save the rule or formula by clicking OK or Save If the syntax is correct no message appears If the rule or formula is not syntactically correct the system displays an error report showing the Progress program code created by QAD Configurator and the errors encountered Output Selection The output selection options let you either print or save a report directly or view it on the screen first and then decide what t
59. in a rule table A rule table consists of rows and columns The intersection of a row and a column is called a cell Only twelve rows and a limited number of columns depending on column width are shown at the same time The numbers of the rows are shown on the left Fig 4 3 Rule Table pump THEN value 1 industrial smart high capacity 2 a domestic standard f low capacity 3 jusa industrial smart high capacity 4 Us a domestic standard h high capacity 5 he Europe industrial smart medium capacity 6 westem Europe domestic standard medium capacity FAQAD Knowledge Building Concepts 97 The variables that are involved in the relationships in the table are shown above the columns Because a rule generally consists of a number of clauses the type of clause to which the variable belongs is shown as well Each row of the table corresponds to a single rule The cells on a particular row specify the values of the variables that make up the rule Suppose you have the following two rules Rule A if coolant standard and usage industrial then pump high capacity and power converter standard Rule B if coolant standard and usage domestic then pump medium capacity and power converter standard The part of the rule table containing these rules would look like this coolant usage pump power converter IF IF THEN THEN standard industrial high capacity standard 2 standard dom
60. in the rule table Ctrl C Copy current row Ctrl D Delete row Ctrl G Go to the row with the given row number Ctrl R Start the search and replace function AQAD Knowledge Building Functions 163 Keyboard Keys Meaning Ctrl S Start the search function Right mouse button Start Rule Table Wizard Rule Table Wizard The Rule Table Wizard offers an easy way to add rules to or delete rules from a rule table You can start the Wizard after you have specified the variables in the rule table by selecting this option from the Edit menu on the menu bar by clicking the right mouse button or by clicking the Wizard button which is located to the left of the variables right above the column containing the row numbers Position the cursor in one of the cells of the table before clicking the Wizard button or clicking the right mouse button You can call the Wizard from the following functions General Rule Table Maintenance Item Rule Table Maintenance You can start the Wizard at any time both when the rule table is empty and when it is already partly filled Every time you start the Wizard you can add a new set of rows to the table or delete a new set of rows from the table About the Rule Table Wizard The Rule Table Wizard is designed to make it easier for you to add rules to or delete rows from a rule table The Wizard is especially useful if you want to add or delete a number of rules that look very mu
61. in turn As you reach each question the details of the possible answers are displayed in the Answer Question frame on the right side of the screen Depending on the type of feature you can select an option from a list click a option to select an option select or deselect a check box or type in an answer in a fill in field You can click the Long Answer button to view a longer version of the answer Click the green check mark OK button to confirm your selected answer As you answer each question the answer you provide is displayed in the Answer column in place of the Default answer and the status changes accordingly Depending on the rules for the generic item sometimes answering one question will force the automatic answering of one or more other questions This is shown in the Status column The Option Pricing column the column on the right in the Answer Question frame shows the relevant price for the option Depending on the setting you have selected for the Pricing selection list this will be the best net price the best list price the discount percentage the name of the manual price list or blank the Empty option The buttons below the Answer Question frame have the following purposes Background check box This check box is enabled when there is at least one background question in the question list If you select the check box all background questions are shown in the question list If you deselect the check box the
62. include the following elements in the report Question type e Rule group Variable Feature e Rule Generic item Click OK when you have made your selections to send the report to terminal printer or file Result Configuration Report The Result Configuration Report provides details of results that is configuration definitions in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of generic items to report on Results are always grouped by generic item Per generic item the output is sorted according to the entry in the Sort field If this entry is date or variant then for each particular date or variant the output is sorted by result ID The range of result IDs to report on The result date range to report on After having used a date field you can only clear this field by positioning the cursor in the field and then clicking the question mark on your keyboard The question mark will not be shown in the field but the field will be empty afterwards The range of item variants to report on The user ID to include only results created by the specified User Additional QAD Configurator Features 323 The result status to be included Whether to include results that have variants or results that do not have variants The report type Summary or Detail The sort sequence by item by result or by variant yes no If yo
63. information from questionnaire answers Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 207 you can refer to the QAD Configurator feature name in the comments of the applicable operation by putting the name of the feature in brackets For example when length width and color are QAD Configurator features Comments Operation 10 Generic routing Please be aware that the required specifications for the product are Length length Width width Color color As soon as a new variant routing is created the customer s selected values answers for these questions are used to fill out these fields In the previous example Comments Operation 10 Variant routing Please be aware that the required specifications for the product are Length 120 Width 80 Color white You do not need to set up anything in QAD Configurator to make this work It requires the definition of the routing comments for the relevant operations in the generic routing in QAD 2008 Standard About Cost Roll Up The cost roll up functionality offered by QAD 2008 Standard enables you to calculate the costs of manufacturing an item In order to do this QAD 2008 Standard takes into account the various types of costs that appear in the product structure of the item Because QAD Configurator adds the product structure of the items that you configure to the QAD 2008 Standard database the cost roll up functionality is incorporated in QAD Configurator as we
64. into your new rule You can now modify these clauses and save your new rule You can also use this function in Item Rule Maintenance Modifying and Deleting Rules To modify or delete an existing rule you first have to select the required rule using either the Rule ID Browse button or the navigation buttons in the button area When the required rule is displayed you can modify it by inserting changing moving or deleting lines in the rule or you can delete the entire rule if it is no longer required Inserting a Line in a Rule To insert a new line in a rule for example an AND line in an IF clause select the appropriate option for the clause IF THEN or ELSE and then compose the line as previously described in Composing a New Rule on page 135 When you click the green check mark button to accept the new line it is added to the appropriate place in the rule Note If you select a variable that is already present in the clause QAD Configurator will modify the existing line rather than adding a new line If you want to insert additional lines using the same variable you can hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the options values and make multiple selections In the following example the Ctrl key was held down while three options were selected for the variable region AQAD 144 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 25 Inserting a Line in a Rule AQAD n General Rule Maintenance HOU 4 3 D x File Edit V
65. is an extra fill in field in which you can enter a date The correct format is two positions indicating the month a slash two positions indicating the day another slash and two positions indicating the year Entering a value creates the condition result variable value FAQAD 158 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Discrete Date Fixed There is an extra fill in field in which you can enter a date format see Discrete Date Current The fixed date that was entered in Variable Maintenance is shown below the field in a list Entering a value creates the condition result variable value Discrete Date Other There is an extra fill in field in which you can enter a date format see Discrete Date Current The options of the variable are shown in a list Entering a value creates the condition result variable value Discrete Logical There is an extra check box in the window The variable extent and attribute to which it refers are shown next to it Select the check box to enter the condition or result variable yes in the table deselect it to enter variable no in the table The variable is shown above the column the cell will contain yes or no Note You can use other operators instead of as well See Entering Data in a Cell of the Rule Table for a detailed description of the options Select Reposition to position the window always immediately to the right of the cell in which the cursor is currently positioned I
66. item locking Generic items in question will first be locked to ensure that no one can start a questionnaire while the load is in process If the user tries to start a questionnaire in a group that is being loaded a message displays showing that the generic item is currently unavailable QAD 2008 Standard data comparison The QAD 2008 Standard data is compared against the data in the data package Item masters product structures and routings are all checked to ensure data consistency If any differences such as missing item masters components or operations are detected an error report is generated and the process stops Any discrepancies must be corrected before the load is allowed to continue Active User Check Once the data comparison has passed the system determines if there are any users currently processing questionnaires within the groups being loaded If active users are found the Active User Manager displays showing which users are currently active and prompting to cancel the load or wait until no user is active If you choose to wait when all users have completed their questionnaires the load process will automatically continue Component Effectivity Use Component Effectivity to update effective dates in the destination database when components are added to the production QAD 2008 Standard database with start or end effectivity dates that prevent the selection of these components System Setup Functions 69 Fig
67. list If you press the Enter key without having entered anything in the Value field you also return to the value list window without adding anything to the list When you leave the Value field the system checks the validity of the entry The entry is converted to the data type of the variable to verify it is correct There is also a check on the syntax which must conform to the syntax rules described in General Rule Table Maintenance on page 154 Note The entries are not checked against the standard options of a variable any value that passes the previous tests is allowed If a rule entered by the Wizard is based on a value that is not an option and only options are allowed as answers in the questionnaire for the particular variable then the conditions of the rule will not be met Item Rule Table Maintenance An item rule table is a rule table that is linked to an item It can be a general rule table a modified general rule table or an entirely new rule table that is not based on a general one You can use Item Rule Table Maintenance to create an item rule table and to select an item rule table to view modify or delete FAQAD 174 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 41 Item Rule Table Maintenance AQAD When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen M Item Rule Table Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 Me xi Fie Edit View T
68. made such an indexed search possible Any obsolete information will then be deleted from the database and after that the system can only perform a sequential search When you select Rule Table Accelerator from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rule option the system displays the following screen Fig 5 43 n Rule Table Accelerator HOU 4 3 D x Rule Table File Edit View Tools Options Window Help A RE General Rule Tables Item Rule Tables G Item fi 2 C From i ZY Ton 2 From 2 To 2 i Accelerate JV Not accelerated only C Undo Acceleration cou 00 Start I The current group is shown in the title bar of the screen Click the Master Browse button if you want to select another group Rule Table Accelerator can operate on general rule tables or on item rule tables but it cannot accelerate both types of tables at the same time Select general rule tables if you want to accelerate one or more general rule tables Select item rule tables if you want to accelerate one or more item rule tables When you are accelerating item rule tables you must also specify from which generic items you want to accelerate the tables You can indicate one specific generic item by selecting G Item and entering the item Accelerator 177 FAQAD 178 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD number in the appropriate field You can specify
69. of existing results After answering the question list in the questionnaire that is by comparing your new result with details of existing results Checking Existing Configurations Before the Questionnaire If you have a description of the required configuration you can let QAD Configurator compare it with the descriptions of existing configurations before you answer the questions in the questionnaire By specifying the required values for the relevant features you can narrow down the number of suitable results until only a configuration with the required characteristics remains After you have defined the customer and generic item for which you want to run the questionnaire selecting a customer is compulsory only if you plan to use customer defaults the system displays the Result Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 271 Inquiry Selection screen In this screen QAD Configurator displays a complete list of the available configurations without comparing against the result key for the generic item These available configurations may be only results or may have already been converted into variant items Using the filter button on the toolbar you can manually filter the results displayed The manual filter screen lets you specify particular feature options answers to questions in order to select results with common characteristics You can also select results within a specified range results of a certain date or status or resul
70. on the characteristics of the products you manufacture Note Variables and therefore features and rules are set up within a group and are available for use in Knowledge Building only when you are working in the associated group You maintain all the product families with the same variables in the same group and they will therefore have similar features and rules to govern the way in which products are configured AQAD 46 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Example The arctic cooling system is a part of a product family covering industrial and domestic heating cooling and humidity control equipment Despite major differences in the component parts included in the generic BOMs for different products many of the variables are common to the entire range The region where the product is to be used and therefore the electrical voltage The usage from domestic through heavy industrial The paint color for the equipment housing The rules set up to control the configuration of products in this range will in many cases be very similar You would therefore benefit from setting up a group to include all these products The group in this example could be called ENVCON with a description of Environmental Control products Now whenever you work on Knowledge Building activities for any of the products in this range you first make sure that you have selected the ENVCON group In this way all the variables that have a
71. on the left of the screen shows the items available for selection QAD Configurator shows all the items it finds in the QAD 2008 Standard database The Selected components window on the right of the screen shows the component items that have been selected for the current table display e You can add a component to the table display by highlighting it in the list on the left and clicking the Add button The component is moved to the list on the right Youcan remove a component from the table display by highlighting it in the list on the right and clicking the Remove button The component is moved back to the list on the left Note The maximum number of components you can include in the Selected components list is limited by the number of rows you have specified for the table display You can use the fields in the upper part of the screen to limit the number of component items shown in the Component Review Selection window This can speed up the process of finding the required component in the list Enter a value in one or more of the fields for example the first character of the item number or a parent item number then click the filter button to the right of the Select All and Deselect All buttons above the Component Review Selection window The displayed list of components is now restricted to only those items that match the values you entered in the fields in the top part of the screen The process of selecting component items from th
72. qaddb During initial startup of the application physical databases are connected with these logical names The list of federated databases holds the logical database names that should be used to address each QAD 2008 Standard table supported by the performance improvement mechanism Generalized Code Maintenance can be used to create any kind of list that might be required for user developed customized programs that could enhance the functionality of QAD Configurator 52 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Setting Up QAD 2008 Standard Understanding QAD 2008 Standard Setup on page 40 explains the elements of QAD 2008 Standard that require setting up before QAD Configurator can be used The QAD 2008 Standard user guides provide detailed instructions on the use of the relevant functions that you need for setup The QAD 2008 Standard functions used during setup include the following Creating items for sites using Item Master Maintenance Creating generic bills of material using Product Structure Maintenance Creating generic routings using Routing Maintenance These functions are described in other areas Creating Items All the items in the generic BOM for the products you want to configure must exist in QAD 2008 Standard before you start using QAD Configurator to configure variant items If you are setting up QAD Configurator to configure products that already exist in the QAD 2008 Standard data
73. questions in the questionnaire you can let QAD Configurator compare your new configuration with the descriptions of existing configurations If QAD Configurator finds that a result or a variant already exists with the same configuration description you can then decide either to use the already existing result or variant or to continue with your new result and variant To check on existing configurations QAD Configurator uses the result key defined for the generic item This result key specifies which features uniquely describe a variant QAD Configurator displays the results that correspond to the new configuration as far as the features in the result key are concerned Other features not in the result key will be ignored These configurations are displayed in the post Questionnaire version of the Result Inquiry Selection screen Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI In the Post Questionnaire Result Inquiry Selection screen you can decide what further action you want to take concerning using or creating variants You make your choice by selecting one of the action selection options The particular situation regarding the existence of existing results and variants will determine which actions are permitted Youcan use the newly created configuration result to create a new variant Youcan select a previously defined configuration result and use it to create a new variant e You can ignore the newly created configuration res
74. rule can state that a combination of values of a set of variable determines the value of another variable representing the answer to another question In this case the latter variable is called the result variable because its value is the result of the value of other variables Rule A specification of a relationship between various variable feature options A rule consists of a preposition IF a conclusion THEN and optionally an alternative ELSE Variable A general characteristic of a product that can have different values for example the color Glossary 333 Variable Option A possible value of a Variant Generator The QAD Configurator variable for example the color red is a function contained within the questionnaire variable option of the variable color that converts a result into a new variant item complete with variant BOM and variant routing if requested The Variant Generator is also referred to as the Variant BOM Generator or the Variant BOM Routing Generator AQAD 334 MFG PRO eB2 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD A Active User Manager 70 Analyzer 186 218 C Component 68 Configuration Output Processor COP 194 COP Batch Compiler 60 COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance 250 COP Maintenance 221 COP Report 321 COP Rule Table Maintenance 240 COP Rule Table Report 321 Copy Function 103 181 Create Data Package 65 Cross Validation Analyzer 211 259 Cross Validation Analyzer Report 215
75. rule tables back to general rule tables Rule Table Accelerator Rule Table Accelerator performs all actions necessary to make an indexed search on one or more rule tables possible If you do not accelerate a rule table you cannot perform an indexed search on that table When you accelerate a rule table the Accelerator stores additional information needed for the indexed search in the database Suppose that you use one of the Rule Table Maintenance functions to delete a rule table and also suppose that you accelerated this same table sometime in the past If QAD Configurator not only deleted the rule table itself but also started searching the database for any corresponding additional information that may have become obsolete as a result the deletion of the table would take quite some time To avoid this Rule Table Accelerator rather than Rule Table Maintenance takes care of getting rid of this information It starts searching the database and deleting the information as soon as it has finished accelerating the tables you specified Knowledge Building Functions Note The additional information will also become obsolete when the search mode for the rule table is switched from indexed to sequential This happens whenever the data in the rule table is changed When a rule table has been accelerated the system will automatically use an indexed search when searching the table Rule Table Accelerator can also be used to undo the actions that
76. run the questionnaire and answer the questions with exactly the same answers as in a previous result QAD Configurator will not create a new variant but offer to use the existing result and thus limit the number of variants being created This can significantly reduce the effort and the time involved in creating the variant BOM It is possible that there can be items in the QAD 2008 Standard item and product structure tables that are valid variants but that were not created using the QAD Configurator questionnaire and variant creator These variants do not have a configuration description that is a result in QAD Configurator and can never be selected as an existing variant Using Manual Result Maintenance you can create this configuration description afterwards and link it to the item in QAD 2008 Standard Note The variant that is linked to the manually created result must be an item in QAD 2008 Standard but cannot be a generic item in QAD Configurator because a generic item can never be a variant of another generic item Additional QAD Configurator Features 325 About Manual Result Maintenance Consider the following diagram of a product structure o m p Normally whenever a variant of item A is created QAD Configurator adds a list of component items or product structure of the variant to the QAD 2008 Standard data
77. screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar There are two methods you can use to specify the results you want to delete or transfer The first method is to enter the result IDs of the particular results to be transferred or deleted The second method is to specify the variant numbers that correspond with the particular results to be transferred or deleted You can enter the result ID or variant item number of an individual result in the result ID or item variant field or you can specify a range of results in the result from to or variant from to fields The navigation buttons in the button area let you browse through the available result IDs Click the Browse buttons to the right of the selection fields to display selection windows to help you to find the correct numbers The item variant selection windows have filter fields in the top part of the screen that you can use to narrow the search If you enter one or more result IDs and one or more variant numbers QAD Configurator will only transfer or delete the results in the specified range for which the associated variant number is entered as well That is the result must be specified by both methods to be included in the archiving process Warning If you do not enter any result IDs or variant numbers QAD Configurator will transfer or delete all the available results in the group When you have specified the results to be archived click the appr
78. set a default fill in field or not for all features based on the variable This default can be overridden for the features of individual items using the fill in field check box in Feature Maintenance If the variable does not have options such as a numeric variable the value set in Feature Maintenance is used If the variable has options you can select or deselect the fill in field check box in Feature Option Maintenance This overrides the setting in Feature Maintenance and enables you to enter a field for a feature option other than those defined in the variable options without having to go back to Feature Maintenance first Maintaining Feature Options Using Feature Option Maintenance you can Include Use a variable option as a feature option FAQAD 88 User Guide QAD Configurator Table 4 2 Possible result of Using Feature Option Maintenance to Change the Available Options FAQAD Exclude Do not use this variable option as a feature option Add Add a new feature option that does not exist as a variable option Example The variable cloth has three variable options Sunset Orange Tropical Blue and Arctic White the Std Options field has not been set so feature options can be included and this variable has been linked to the Sunblind generic item 9 100 100 to create a feature also called Cloth The following table shows a possible result of using Feature Option Maintenance to change the availab
79. signs or a combination of these For example variables are uniquely identified with the combination of group and variable ID features are uniquely identified with the combination of group item number and variable ID You use the key to select a specific entry of the entity Each maintenance screen contains a key selection field to find the specific entity that you want to maintain Item 10 z0000 2 Introduction to QAD Configurator 19 This example shows the selection key field on the Generic Item Maintenance screen where you select the particular generic item that you want to maintain The button with the red question mark to the right of the field is the Selection Window button You can click this button to display a list of the available entities and select the one you want Using the Button Area The button area is positioned in the bottom right corner of the QAD Configurator windows The buttons in this area vary from screen to screen Most windows have OK and Cancel buttons some windows also have New Delete and navigation buttons Fig 1 11 Button Area Done Cancel New Delete Er CERTE Done Saves any changes you have made in the window and exits to the previous window or to the menu Note The Done button is sometimes replaced with the OK button these two buttons perform exactly the same function and are used interchangeably throughout the system Also in some windows a green check mark button is used
80. specified QAD Configurator functions When you select this option the system displays the following screen FA SECURITY MAINTENANCE HOU 4 3 OF x File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Weie i l Function pup amp Load Procedures 2 TRU hes Manager Select All __Setect aii OK Deselect All Cancel die z User group z mm This is a secured function used only by system administrators to control access to QAD Configurator programs Unauthorized users cannot access this function Introduction to QAD Configurator 35 If you have the authority you select the QAD Configurator function to which you want to control access using either the Browse button to the right of the function field or the navigation buttons in the button area The full list of users is shown in the left window You can use the right arrow key between the windows to move individual users into the right window which shows only those users who are authorized to use the selected function You can also use the left arrow key to deselect users in order to remove authorization for the selected function By entering a user group in the User Group field you can give permission to use the function to every member of the user group Dump Procedure If you have the authorization you can use Dump Procedure accessed from the ToolslCustomize menu to store the contents of one or more QAD Configurator database tables
81. that you can use to create a format for variant item numbers Fixed a string of characters that does not vary with variant item Sign a separator between elements of the number such as a hyphen Curr G Item the number of the current generic item Mstr G Item the number of the top level generic item Field an QAD 2008 Standard database element field name Feature a selected feature for the variant item Alphabetical alphabetically sequenced character incremented for each variant item Sequence a sequential number incremented for each variant item You can specify any combination of these elements by highlighting them in the components list and clicking the Add button The elements you add are shown in the Selected window on the right The Format line above the AQAD Knowledge Exploitation Functions 237 two windows shows an example of the appearance of the item number format you are building using the character 9 to represent numbers and the character x to represent alphabetic characters Every component except sequence can be used more than once in a formula provided that the total length of the number does not exceed 18 character positions which is the maximum field length in QAD 2008 Standard You can remove elements from the Selected window by highlighting the element you want to remove and clicking the Remove button The appearance of the Format line is adjusted accordingly You can have only one sequence eleme
82. the QAD Configurator training examples the generic item is the arctic cooling system which has a QAD 2008 Standard item number 10 20000 This item though cannot be manufactured because it is a parent item for all the components that can be included in any of the variants of air conditioner in the arctic cooling system product family When you configure a variant item it can have an item number related to the generic item for example 10 20000 015 and will include a subset of the components in the generic BOM System Setup Concepts 41 Generic Bill of Material A bill of material for a product consists of a parent item and component items The parent item is effectively the product and the component items are the various parts and subassemblies that are manufactured or assembled together to make the product If there is only one parent item in a product structure the bill of material is called single level It is also possible to have a multi level bill of material This means that more than one parent item is defined within the product structure but on different levels For example some of the component parts of a product may themselves be configurable assemblies that can contain a different selection of parts depending on which variant of the product is being manufactured A generic BOM means that all possible components are defined within the product structure even mutually exclusive components Example An electrical product h
83. the environment of use is neither medium nor easy Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 203 Combining Formulas for a Component You can include combinations of single and multiple formulas and inclusive using and exclusive using lt gt formulas for different variables relating to a component for example cloth arctic white OR cloth tropical blue AND environment of use medium AND environment of use easy AND coating lt gt anodise AND paint yes The previous example includes an inclusive multiple selection formula for the cloth variable an exclusive multiple selection formula for the environment of use variable and single selection formulas for the coating and paint variables All these separate formulas can be entered in the cells for the respective variables on the table row for the component You can preview the resulting overall formula by clicking the Formula Preview button Complex COP Rule Table Rules You can create and maintain more complex COP rules using COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance Complex rules can use ANDs ORs and brackets that are available for simple rules but can also use complex expressions with variables equations and functions Complex rules may involve elements of the same kind of formulas that you find in simple rules However if the conditions for selecting the component require calculations For example you cannot maintain the rule in COP Rule Table Mainte
84. the only operators you can use are equal to and not equal to and lt gt You select the required operator by clicking it in the list Specify the expression by entering it into the expression window to the right of the Operator field The expression can contain any combination of values variable options and Boolean operators that satisfies the requirements of Progress source syntax FAQAD 140 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 21 Composing a Free Format Expression AQAD When you have composed the expression click the green check mark button to accept the line for the rule The clause you have composed is displayed in the main rule display window You can now click another clause selection option and continue composing the other clauses of the rule Composing a Free Format Expression When you select the free format mode the composition part of the screen looks like the following example ir C THEN ELSE Free Format gt Erf rrt al Free format expressions take the form of a Boolean expression that will evaluate to true or false You can use all the normal Boolean operators brackets ANDs and ORs as well as variable names and option names Option names for discrete set text variables must be enclosed in double quotes but this does not apply to options for date other variable options or discrete set calculable variable options The free format mode is applicable only to the IF clause of
85. the rule A rule can contain only one free format block which must define the whole of the IF clause you cannot combine a free format IF line with further AND lines for the IF clause in normal or advanced format The process of composing a free format expression consists of entering the details of the expression into the expression editor window The expression can contain any combination of values variable options and Boolean operators that satisfies the requirements of Progress source syntax The word IF will be inserted automatically as for normal and advanced expressions so you do not need to type this word as part of the expression Knowledge Building Functions 141 When you have composed the expression click the green check mark button to accept the line for the rule The clause you have composed is displayed in the main rule display window You can now click another clause selection option and continue composing the other clauses of the rule Composing Pricing Rules There is an attribute available for pricing rules called pricing qty which you can use when entering lines in the THEN or ELSE parts of the rule This attribute is not available for features that are numeric type or discrete set calculable type so you cannot compose pricing rules for these types of features Note You cannot create assignment rules using the pricing qty attribute Fig 5 22 P General Rule Maintenance HOU 4 3 Oy x Composing Pricin
86. this field is not used in the questionnaire The only function of this field in this window is to set the default for the same field in Variable Options Maintenance Qty Based You select the Quantity Based field only if the type of the variable is numeric or discrete set calculable UM Enter a value in this field for the unit of measure which will be fed into the QAD pricing engine This field is only used to set the default for the same field the Variable Options Maintenance Questionnaire Characteristics of Variables To the right of the logical frame are two options and three check boxes that you can use to control the way the questionnaire handles questions relating to this variable The settings can be modified at the feature level for individual features based on the variable For the two options you can select Question or Temporary Question The questionnaire displays a question for any feature based on this variable Temporary The questionnaire answers questions automatically for any feature based on this variable A temporary question can be made to appear in the questionnaire by selecting the check box in the Customize function within the questionnaire The purpose of temporary questions is to store information that does not have an associated question Example Area is the product of length and width You can define a temporary variable called area that will depend on the answers to the two variables length and width Yo
87. type of the questions Question Answer Status Type Question 1 default 1 Answered M Foreground Question 2 default 2 Foreground Question 3 default 3 Foreground Question 4 default 4 Answered A Foreground Question 5 Temporary FAQAD 270 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD e Question 1 is the first question in the list and has been answered manually Question 2 is the current question not yet answered status blank and depends on the answer to Question 1 which is a higher level question The dot before Question 2 disappears when Question 1 is answered Question 3 is a lower level unanswered question It depends on the answer to Question 2 Question 4 is also a lower level unanswered question which can be answered automatically by a rule However the rule requires the answer from Question 2 before it can provide the answer to Question 4 automatically When it has done so the status Answered A will be filled in for Question 4 Question 5 is a temporary question for which QAD Configurator will calculate the answer based on the answers to previous questions Using Existing Results or Creating New Ones When running the questionnaire there are two points at which you can decide whether to use an already existing result or variant Before answering the question list in the questionnaire that is by comparing a description of the required configuration with details
88. value Value Backup type C Minimum coolant C Maximum housing area f Default housing height Duseeeng uy Show housing length i i Extent housing width linenumber Include gt paint housing lt Exclude lIpower converter pump region salesprice usage Interpolation Table The name of the current group is shown in the title bar of the screen The list on the left shows the variables that are available in the current group The options in the middle show the attributes Attributes that are not valid for the selected highlighted variable are dimmed Below the attributes FAQAD 156 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD the currently selected extent of the highlighted variable is shown If a variable has no extents its extent equals one by default and this field will be dimmed There are two lists on the right The uppermost list shows the variables that will appear in the IF clauses of the rule table the other one shows the variables that will appear in the THEN clauses of the rule table The Include and Exclude buttons to the left of each list are associated with that particular list To include a variable in one of the lists on the right highlight the required variable in the list on the left select the correct attribute and extent if any and click the appropriate Include button To remove a variable from one of the lists on the right highlight it in the list and click the Exclude button ne
89. were encountered for which no features or rules have been entered You can print or save the report using the buttons on the toolbar or click the green check mark button to acknowledge that you have finished examining the report If no problems were encountered during the analysis QAD Configurator updates the status of the analyzed generic items by modifying the Analyzed fields on the Generic Item Maintenance screen n Generic Item Maintenance HOU 4 3 D x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help DE e 8 EE E Y Item 10 20000 2 Lock Item Description arctic cooling system S0 Type B 0 M Y Analysed no 01 18 06 16 33 58 lv Cost Price Roll up Cost Set scanaara v Use Pricing Allow Net Price Changes v Store all pricing info JV Allow Manual Price List Changes IV Create a pricelist List Price Variable 2 gt Done Nett Price Variable 2 Cancel Variant P M fix Generic P M M New Delete Result selection Just Created Result Auto Select 4 gt Result retention Retain all results I4 gt I Fig 7 2 Generic Item Maintenance FAQAD 220 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The first Analyzed field shows Yes to indicate that the item has been successfully analyzed The second and third fields show the date and time of the analysis If problems were encountered during the analysis the status of the generic item remains No in the Analyz
90. which are usually answered by QAD Configurator calculating values according to the rules When you customize the question display you can select which levels and types of question are shown in the display and how many levels should be displayed If you select only one level only the questions currently ready to be answered are displayed if you select two or more levels that number of levels of dependent questions is also displayed Questionnaire Results When you have finished answering the questions in the questionnaire QAD Configurator generates a result This is a uniquely identified configuration The result is an intermediate stage between answering the questions and generating the new variant item and its BOM and routing QAD Configurator can automatically check if a result already exists thus preventing sales personnel from configuring the same item twice QAD Configurator records each result that is generated by the questionnaire Whenever a result is converted into a variant item the new variant is assigned a unique item number according to the item number definition formula defined for the generic item Consequently when you FAQAD 266 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD want to use the questionnaire to define a product configuration for a customer you may find that the required configuration has already been defined either as a result or else as a variant item To avoid variant redundancies you can let QAD Con
91. will be designated as a memo line The pricing for the entire kit will display on this line Each level one component of the kit will have its own quote or sales order line The line item quantity will be set to the quantity defined in the kit BOM The price for each component will be 0 00 Pricing for the kit can use all standard pricing methods including QAD Configurator feature options based pricing System Setup Functions 73 Phantom A phantom kit is used in situations where the kit will be assembled and shipped using the QAD 2008 Standard pick list and will never be placed in inventory If a generic item is designated a phantom kit the following will apply No final assembly item or bill of material is retained Each component of the kit will have its own quote or sales order line The line item quantity will be set to the quantity defined in the generic BOM or COP rule Pricing for each individual component can be turned on or off in BOM COP Maintenance for example a free user manual when a system is purchased Pricing for the kit can use all standard pricing methods including QAD Configurator feature options based pricing Lock Item Indicate whether to start a questionnaire for this item This is automatically updated during the load process Yes The user cannot start a questionnaire for this item No The user can start a questionnaire for this item Analyzed This field indicates whether the generic
92. you would set the number of columns to 9 and the Number of rows to 16 The maximum number of columns in the table is 10 and the maximum number of rows is 18 Click OK when you have set the size of the table The system then displays the main COP Rule Table Maintenance screen as in the following example Fig 7 15 COP Rule Table File Edit View Tools Options Window Maintenance 3 5 000 Working on EVAPORATOR SERIES 10K Formula Preview Equation lt gt lt gt lt gt Features region Backup type eme 22 100 vs 86 100 II TT TI lI ss 100 E hediun capacit The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar The rule table is divided into cells each cell being the intersection of a component row with a variable column In each cell you can specify a simple selection formula that controls the selection of the component on this row depending on the condition of the variable in this column FAQAD 242 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 16 Selecting Components for the Rule Table AQAD Example If you have a component that is power cord UK you might want to specify a simple rule stating that this component is selected when the variable region UK You specify the simple selection formulas using the two fields within the cell the fie
93. 00 150 and the color selected for the first variant item is tropical blue the first variant item number will be 3 100 tro 001 If the color for the second variant item is sunset orange the second variant item number will be 3 100 sun 002 Copying from an Existing Variant Item Number Definition Formula If you want to create a definition formula for a generic item that is similar to an existing formula you can click the Copy button to the right of the Definition of window The copy function works only when the Selected list is empty The system displays the item number Copy window as in the following example AQAD 240 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 13 Item Number Copy Window AQAD COP Maintenance HOU 4 3 ES 10 20000 01 arctic cooling system 10 20000 05 arctic cooling systemruiting s testing 32 100 housingfor ruiting s testing 44 100 CONTROL UNIT HOME USE Function Item C Sales Quote C Sales Order C Work Order OK Cancel The main frame shows the generic items within the current group Select the item from which you want to copy the definition formula then select the option for the function to specify which of the four possible types of formula you want to copy When you have made your selection click OK The system returns you to the item number definition formula maintenance window with the structure of the copied definition formula in the Selected window and wit
94. 008 Standard and must not be defined as a generic item in QAD Configurator To define the details of the result enter answers to the questionnaire questions shown in the feature option list window Select the question you want to answer by highlighting it in the list then specify the answer in the Answer Question frame You can also enter a description and a status for the result if required You can select the Only Result Key Features check box to show only those features that make up the result key of the current generic item When you have entered answers for the questions required to create the result click OK or the Save button to save the result If you chose a variant item from the displayed list the system displays a message prompting you to confirm the creation of the new result This does not happen if you chose an item that was not created by QAD Configurator Click Yes to save the new result QAD Configurator assigns it a result ID number and the new result can now be used in the questionnaire or in the product structure of a variant of a higher level generic item Additional QAD Configurator Features 329 Archiving Results Each time you complete the questions in the questionnaire and click OK QAD Configurator generates a new result in the database containing all the answers to the questions for the generic item The result is created even if no variant is generated As a consequence the result table in the QAD Configur
95. 3 1 QAD Configurator does not use any of the standard functions in QAD 2008 Standard s Configured Products module AQAD 12 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD System Features Windows Features This manual assumes a familiarity with the basic essentials using the mouse to control the cursor clicking and double clicking the mouse buttons using the keyboard and identifying the active window on the screen Refer to your Microsoft Windows documentation or online help for full explanations of all Windows features This manual only summarizes some of the most common features that you will encounter when using QAD Configurator The features that are briefly described include e Control menus and icons Menus Toolbars Buttons Options Check boxes Scroll bars Drop down lists Dimmed options Control Menu and Icons At the very top of the main application windows not individual dialog boxes Windows provides a control panel The square icon at the left end of this frame provides access to the control menu for the window Separate icons at the right end of the frame provide shortcuts to some of the control menu options The following example shows part of the QAD Configurator main menu screen after you have clicked the control menu icon at the top left Introduction to QAD Configurator 13 Fig 1 2 F1 QAD Configurator Main Menu DEMO 4 3 Control Meru Tools Window Help amp Restore Move Size
96. AD Configurator Fig 1 4 Toolbar AQAD Toolbar The toolbar also known as icon bar or button bar provides a quick method of selecting frequently used system functions F Group Maintenance 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Delo j e The icons or buttons on this toolbar provide access to common functions such as New Save Undo Redo Cut Copy and Paste Buttons Buttons provide an easy way to select an option or a feature Many of the QAD Configurator screens provide buttons that enable you to choose your next action such as OK or Cancel To use the buttons move the mouse to position the cursor over the button you want then click the left mouse button once This selects the option represented by the button For example if you click OK the system accepts the entries you have made on the screen saves your work and exits from the function Note The OK button is sometimes replaced with the Done button these two buttons perform exactly the same function and are used interchangeably throughout the system Options Options are small circular buttons adjacent to a description of a feature or option On the Group Maintenance Main selection screen there are options to select the rounding method Down Standard or Up Options are mutually exclusive if you click one of the group you select that option and automatically deselect the other options They are used when you can select only one of th
97. AD Web account product documentation is available for viewing or downloading from the QAD Online Support Center at http support qad com You can register fora QAD Web account at the QAD Online Support Center Your customer ID number is required Access to certain areas is dependent on the type of agreement you have with QAD Most user documentation is available in two formats Portable document format PDF PDF files can be downloaded from the QAD Web site to your computer You can view them with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader HTML You can view user documentation through your Web browser The documents include search tools for easily locating topics of interest Features also include an online solution database to help QAD Configurator users answer questions about setting up and using the product Additionally the QAD Web site has information about training classes and other services that can help you learn about QAD Configurator Conventions This document uses the text or typographic conventions listed in the following table If you see It means monospaced text A command or file name italicized A variable name for a value you enter as part of an operating monospaced text system command for example Your CDROMDir indented A long command that you enter as one line although it command line appears in the text as two lines Note Alerts the reader to exceptions or special conditions
98. Bar 00 184 10 20000 21 F Customer 00000079 10 20000 20 Customer 1005000 00000076 10 20000 19 Customer 1004000 00000073 10 20000 18 Customer 1004000 00000070 10 20000 17 Customer 1004000 00000066 10 20000 16 Customer 1005000 FAQAD 16 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 7 Drop Down List AQAD Scroll bars consist of arrows at each end and a square slider in between There are three ways of using the scroll bars e Click the left mouse button on one of the arrows to move the view in that direction the view moves only a short distance in that direction Click the left mouse button on the scroll bar between the slider and one of the arrow buttons to move a greater distance in that direction Usually the distance is approximately the width or height of the window Position the cursor over the slider click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the slider along the scroll bar the view changes depending on how far you drag the slider and stops when you release the mouse button Drop Down List In some cases where you enter information on the system there are a number of predefined entries that you can make for a field For example when you are using the COP Maintenance Part window there are set values that you can enter for the QAD 2008 Standard item fields Instead of typing the entry for fields like these you click the mouse button on the Down arrow at the right of the field to display a dr
99. Cancel button to end the process When the process is complete the Cancel button is dimmed and the new variant you have created is available for use in QAD 2008 Standard Click OK to close this screen and return to the item and customer selection screen where you can start another session with the questionnaire or click Cancel to exit Configuration 308 292 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 1 Questionnaire Window FAQAD Overview of Questionnaire in NET UI QAD Configurator s Questionnaire module features a NET user interface that is integrated with QAD 2008 Standard using QAD NET UI 2 7 It performs the same functions as the Questionnaire Windows user interface but has a more intuitive and consistent look and feel and offers richer data search and browsing capabilities Launching Questionnaire NET UI The Questionnaire NET user interface window is automatically launched in the QAD 2008 Standard NET UI environment when you select a generic item in the order line in Sales Order Maintenance 7 1 1 or Sales Quote Maintenance 7 12 1 Selecting a variant item in the order line does not trigger the product configuration process mx Fi 07 15 QAD Configurator March Customer 4000 Item 10 20001 Existing Configuration er Configuration Summary prenota Search Select Sele v To kou Search Clear J E existing configurations for Item 10 20001 Configuration ID 00000780 M 00000777 M
100. D Configurator as a generic item The way you use variables and features depends on the way in which your products can be configured Example You could have a variable color When you link this variable to your product s generic item you have a feature color which could be applied to the frame the cloth and the frames of your product If when the customer selects red as the color this automatically results in a red frame red cloth and red frames you can manage with a single feature color and you control the selection of the particular parts the red frame the red cloth and the red frames using the selection formulas in the Configuration Output Processor If your customers can select the color of the frame the cloth and the frames individually you would find it easier to control the configuration by using three features and therefore three variables frame color cloth color and frame color This will result in three separate questions in the questionnaire and will let your customers select a red frame blue cloth and white frames for example When you create features you are effectively creating the questions for the questionnaire Each feature links an existing variable to the selected generic item When you create a feature and select the variable the variable name becomes the feature name for the generic item When defining a feature the default characteristics of the selected variable are offered as the charact
101. D Configurator as described in Installation Guide QAD Configurator and set up QAD 2008 Standard as described previously there is only a little more that you need to do before you can start using QAD Configurator to build the Knowledge Base for your configurable products See Setting Up QAD Configurator on page 53 for details QAD Configurator setup functions can be divided into three main areas Setting system wide parameters that govern the way QAD Configurator operates Setting up groups to categorize information within QAD Configurator Setting up defaults and controls to govern the way that the QAD Configurator questionnaire operates There are also maintenance functions on the QAD Configurator Setup menu These functions include a Batch Compiler for the Configuration Output Processor COP and a function for Generalized Code Maintenance To access these two functions choose MenulQAD Configurator Setup Menu and choose the option from the submenu Setting System Wide Parameters When you install QAD Configurator you are prompted to specify directories where QAD Configurator stores certain files It is best to verify that these directories are correct before using QAD Configurator to configure products Other system wide QAD Configurator parameters cover the following subjects Setting security for UNIX files System Setup Concepts 45 Specifying whether QAD Configurator should reanalyze generic items when
102. ER housing for ru CONTROL UNIT Done 22 100 yes P p Pp P P P n P The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group or generic item you must return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen The single level display shows all the components for the selected generic item for which selection formulas or quantity formulas can be entered You can filter the component items to display by clicking the filter button to the right of the Cut Copy and Save icons on the toolbar The system displays a window where you can selectively check the Mfg types check boxes to limit the components displayed To display the Formulas Maintenance screen for a component highlight the required component in the list and click the Show Formulas button or double click the highlighted component This function is described after the multi level component selection display G BOM Single Level Component Selection FAQAD 226 User Guide QAD Configurator G BOM Multi level Component Selection When you select the G BOM module and select the Multi level check box clicking the Show Details button displays the following screen Fig 7 6 G BOM Multi FA COP Maintenance HOU for Item 10 20000 4 3 oix Level Component File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Sein ENNNENNM S fa Y Show Formulas no P BATTERIES THE
103. FAYQAD QAD Enterprise Applications 2008 Standard Edition User Guide QAD Configurator Introduction to QAD Configurator System Setup Concepts System Setup Functions Knowledge Building Concepts Knowledge Building Functions Knowledge Exploitation Concepts Knowledge Exploitation Functions Variant Configuration Concepts Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI Configuring Variant Items in NET UI Additional QAD Configurator Features 78 0733A QAD 2007 QAD 2007 1 and QAD 2008 Standard QAD Configurator 4 4 April 2008 This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws No part of this document may be reproduced translated or modified without the prior written consent of QAD Inc The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice QAD Inc provides this material as is and makes no warranty of any kind expressed or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose QAD Inc shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages including lost profits in connection with the furnishing performance or use of this material whether based on warranty contract or other legal theory QAD and MFG PRO are registered trademarks of QAD Inc The QAD logo is a trademark of QAD Inc Designations used by other companies to distinguish their produ
104. File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Wee es m The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another generic item click the Master Browse button on the toolbar Knowledge Exploitation Functions 223 The main frame of the screen shows details of the most recently accessed quantity formula for the selected generic item You can select another formula to view or modify using the navigation buttons in the button area or by clicking the Browse button between the Field name and the equals sign and then selecting the required Field formula from the displayed list Because quantity formulas are value assignments the formula always takes the form field expression You select the field from the drop down list the equals sign is automatically included and you specify the expression in the quantity formula editor window To create a new formula you must first specify the database field to which you want to assign values Select the field from the drop down Field list This list contains all the data elements in the QAD 2008 Standard Item Master table pt mstr Then specify the expression for the quantity formula in the editor window You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details To modify an existing formula first select and
105. Group Maintenance 0 0 eee eee 58 External Entity Maintenance sees 59 System Management Menu 0 0 cee eee e 60 Generic Irem Maintenance sseeeeeee eee nee 71 Adding a Generic Item 0 eee ee 79 Deleting a Generic Item llseeeeee eese 80 Chapter 4 Knowledge Building Concepts 81 Variables Options and Features 00 00 cece eee eee eee 82 About Variables i52 stladteacdata tes dorm edwards 82 About Features o ces cci cea cite eine aie iea de iaa ea eens 85 Knowledge Building Rules 0 0 cece eee esee 90 AQAD Contents About Rules coepere Iob Rn EC VERE e 91 Composing Rules 00 eee cece eee 93 Applying Rules 2 icc da cee eed deed eed ae aia ea 94 Rule Tables sis mein Mer elei se x RO Eia etaed 96 Rule Table Limitations 0 0 0 0 cece IA 99 Interpolation code Poe rtr eoa eg p Ep d 99 Result Keys 2 2 eiia i mega eiaa bod kies his P eec bbdabadats 102 Creating Knowledge Base Data Using the Copy Function 103 PriCIBg ueste ee duet Een Ete So o date ned dea rt ee 103 Inputs a s ood aed etuer ue ceo ede Se iere bete eres ree arce s 104 OUtDUtS eee ce e OUR passae ao der nte c Ra E 104 How QAD Configurator Calculates Prices 0 104 Pricing Rules i2 5 22s cisco sas sea lea ERRARE ER Ee bend 105 Chapter5 Knowledge Building Functions 107 Maintaining Variables
106. Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 1 Variable Maintenance AQAD Maintaining Variables Variables Options and Features on page 82 explains how variables and variable options are used to describe the configurable aspects of your products Variable Maintenance Use Variable Maintenance to create new variables and to select existing variables to view modify or delete All variables are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the variables you want to maintain When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of Variables and Features the system displays the following screen li variable Maintenance STD 4 4 E lol x File Edit view Tools Options Window ff o mes cy BN Variable fal 2 Extent 1 Description Shell Colour Question Type Norma 2 nore PA short Colour 7 Long Qstn Functional Group 0 Value 0 o Default 0 Infinite mi at UM Default Yes ne e Question Entity E Interznen p C Peerna z Field I z Extent 0 sui HDTuHCS C Temporary m D Fill in ancel Date type V Mandatory E Courren I Parea oher Monitor New Delete Field Help Executable 4 gt Pricing Part 2 Un i Comment A gt t i Gty Based The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master B
107. Item Field then click the required item in the displayed list or use the navigation buttons in the button area Click the From option to specify a range of generic item numbers You specify the range by entering generic item numbers in the From and To fields Again you can select generic items for these fields by clicking the browse buttons to the right of the fields and selecting the items from the displayed lists Knowledge Exploitation Functions 219 Click the File option to specify the name of an ASCII file that contains the item numbers of all the generic items you want to analyze You must already have created the ASCII file to use this option You can either enter the name of the ASCII file in the File field or you can click the Browse button to display a normal Windows File Browser from which you can select the required file When you have selected the generic item or items to analyze click OK The system displays a message to warn you that the analysis procedure can take a long time When you click OK to confirm this message the system starts analyzing your specified generic item or items When the analysis is complete the system displays a report specifying the analyzed details of the selected generic items The report includes lower level generic items within the generic items you select and gives details of the feature lists that will be used for the questionnaire The report also identifies whether any generic items
108. OF x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help ESA Clear gt if width lt 200 then 2 else 3 Field Done Cancel fos kg fel I gt The screen shows details of the quantity formula you highlighted in the Quantity Formula Inquiry Selection window You can select another formula to view or modify using the navigation buttons in the button area or by clicking the Browse button between the Field name and the equals sign and then selecting the required Field formula from the displayed list Because quantity formulas are value assignments the formula always takes the form field expression You select the field from the drop down list the equals sign is automatically included and you specify the expression in the quantity formula editor window To create a new formula you must first specify the database field to which you want to assign values Select the field from the drop down Field list This list contains all the data elements in the QAD 2008 Standard routing detail table ro det Then specify the expression for the quantity formula in the editor window You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details To modify an existing formula first select and display the formula You can then change the terms in the expression or click the Clear button to clear the entire
109. Options View Tools Window Help v Logo w Full screen Menu Introduction to QAD Configurator 31 Select Logo if you want the QAD Configurator Logo displayed on the main menu Select Full Screen if you want the main menu to display a full size window If you deselect Full Screen Logo is dimmed as there is no room for the Logo on the small screen main menu Tools Menu When you select the Tools menu and then the only option Customize a drop down menu is displayed similar to the following example Fig 1 23 Tools Window Help Tools Menu nl Customise Menu Messages Users Security Dump amp Load Procedures gt Dump Procedure Load Procedure Maintaining QAD Configurator Menus If you have the authorization you can use the menu option accessed from the ToolslCustomize menu to modify the structure and appearance of the QAD Configurator menus When you select this option the system displays the following screen Fig 1 24 MENU MAINTENANCE STD 4 3 x Menu Maintenance mum simu QAD Configurator setup Menu Disabled Iu Ac startup F gsppe QAD Configurator setup Menu gt Knowledge Base Menu gt Security Knowledge Exploitation Menu gt Neu RULE Accelerator Questionnaire RULE Nomadic gt EFR RULE Uj QAD Configurator Report Menu gt Up Po Dx RULE lt gt Cancel MFG PRO Limited Software gt a Lopeeee FAQAD 32 User Guide
110. QAD Configurator questionnaire can be used to dynamically update the comments for operations in the variant routing Using the COP Variant Item Number Module The COP Variant Item Number module is used to define how QAD Configurator should assign item numbers to new variant items You do this by defining definition formulas for each generic item from which you intend to create variant items That is for items for which you run the questionnaire and for every lower level generic item in the BOM because variants of these lower level items are created in the same process See Item Number Definition Formulas on page 196 for details FAQAD 236 User Guide QAD Configurator When you have selected the group and the generic item on the first COP Maintenance screen and you select variant item number and click the Show Details button the system displays the following screen Fig 7 11 COP Maintenance F1 Cop Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 Variant Item File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Number Ee e es Format 10 20000 99 Repos Window C Sales Quote C Sales Order 0K Cancel The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen The Master Browse button does not appear on this screen To select another group or generic item you must return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen The components window shows a list of all the elements
111. R Pricing Y N no housing for ru no sheet metal 10 no sheet metal 50 no paint white Ru no CONTROL UNIT no standard power EVAPORATOR SER MOTOR 440AC3PH no od o o doo og no The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group or generic item you must return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen The multi level display shows all the components in the generic BOM for the selected generic item for which selection formulas or quantity formulas can be entered When the Multi level check box on this screen is selected lower level components in the list are indicated by a dot before the item number If you deselect this check box the display changes to only the components of the currently selected generic item that is single level component selection To display the Formulas Maintenance screen highlight the required component in the list and click the Show Formulas button or double click the highlighted component G BOM Selection Formula Maintenance When you highlight a component in either the single level or multi level component selection screens and click the Show Formulas button the system displays a screen similar to the following example AQAD Knowledge Exploitation Functions 227 F1 COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000 4 3 Afel xi File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Eiuj ije e EE Component Item 30
112. Rows the entry lt all gt will be automatically removed from the list and it is not the intention that you should lose other entries in the list as well If you want to delete both the rows for which the cell of the current variable is empty and the rows for which it is not you must add both lt all gt and lt blank gt to the list The entries lt blank gt and lt all gt will be regarded as regular values so if you select lt blank gt the number of values shown in the Main Wizard Window will read 1 if you select both the number will be 2 and so on Knowledge Building Functions 173 Add Value Window When you click the Add Value button in the value list window the system displays the Add Value Window as in the following example Fig 5 40 General Rule Table Maintenance HOU Table GRTOO1 ariable usage 4 3 Ea Add Value Window Value The title bar shows the current group the table ID of the current rule table and the ID of the current variable To add a value to the list of values of the current variable enter the value in the Value field When you press Enter the value is added to the list in the value list window but you stay in the Add Value window so that you can add another value directly You can leave the Add Value window by pressing the Escape key on the keyboard When you do this you return to the value list window but the value that you entered in the Value field if any is not added to the
113. Rule Maintenance Setting Up Questionnaire Defaults and Controls The basic structure of the questionnaire consists of a list of questions relating to each of the features of the product about which the customer has to make a decision The answers to these questions then determine the precise configuration that the customer requires The QAD Configurator setup functions provide three options to help you control the way your questionnaire operates Setting up default types that specify whether the default answers to questions in the questionnaire relate to the customer or a combination of the customer and the item Setting up question types to specify whether questions in the questionnaire must be answered directly by the customer foreground questions or whether they can be answered automatically by QAD Configurator applying the Knowledge Base rules to the answers already given background questions Creating External Entities that allow the questions in the questionnaire to be linked to fields in tables in another database This lets you set up a link to any element of information relating to the customer or the item that is held in the QAD 2008 Standard database and use the correct record as a default answer in the questionnaire You use each of these functions within a group and the settings you specify apply only within that group You can therefore specify different default types for one group than those you specify for ano
114. Rules Knowledge Building Rules on page 90 explains how rules are used to translate the engineering restrictions on your product into limitations regarding the customer s choice of product configuration General Rule Maintenance Use General Rule Maintenance to create new rules and to select existing rules to view modify or delete All rules are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the rules you want to maintain When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen Knowledge Building Functions 135 Fig 5 17 General Rule FA General Rule Maintenance HOU 4 3 Of xi Maintenance File Edit View Tools Options Window Help EERE Cn gt lt 2 r Rule OK Backup type Backup type lt gt n a a Done KA Cancel 1 reser ow help The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar The ID field shows the reference ID of the most recently maintained rule The field to the right shows the description of the rule The check box shows whether the syntax of the rule has been checked and found correct The clauses of this rule are shown in the main window below the rule ID To select another rule click the Browse button to the right of the Rule ID Selection Key Fiel
115. SCII file You can also load the contents of QAD 2008 Standard database tables provided they are related to QAD Configurator In some cases this procedure deletes the contents of a table before it copies the data from the file When you select this option the system displays the following screen P QAD Configurator Loader 4 3 MFG PRO Tables QAD Configurator Tables var mstr Variable Master Table fea mstr Feature Master Table for mstr Rule Master Table Delete first Select All Tables Select All Sequences QAD Configurator Sequences Load Directory Browse Introduction to QAD Configurator 37 This is a secured function used only by system administrators to control retrieval of stored QAD Configurator data Unauthorized users cannot access this function If you have the authority you specify in the first field the database you want to update then in the second field you specify the tables in that database to be updated If you select the Delete First check box the original contents of the table are deleted before the data is read from the file Finally you specify the directory in which the files to be read are stored in the Load Directory field Click the Load button to read in the data for the tables Tables and Sequences Refer to the following table for relations between tables and sequences when dumping and loading tables Table 1 1 Sequence Table Tables and Sequenc
116. Select All Deselect All Item Review Selection rem Number Description 10 20000 01 arctic cooling syst 10 20000 02 arctic cooling syst 10 20000 03 arctic cooling syst 10 20000 04 arctic cooling syst 10 20000 05 arctic cooling syst 10 20000 06 arctic cooling syst v The Item Review Selection window in the lower left of the screen shows the items available to define as generic items in the currently selected group To define an item in QAD 2008 Standard as a generic item in QAD Configurator highlight it and click the Add button to add the item to the Selected components window in the lower right of the screen You can select more than one item from the left window Click OK to return to the initial Generic Item Maintenance screen The selected item is now marked in QAD Configurator as a generic item and you can use it in the Knowledge Building and Knowledge Exploitation phases of QAD Configurator If the selected item is not a generic item in QAD 2008 Standard the system displays a message asking whether you want to change the item s type to Generic The Generic type concerns the item s type as it is known in QAD 2008 Standard Converting the QAD 2008 Standard type to Generic enables QAD 2008 Standard to select this item when preparing reports for generic items Fig 3 18 Adding a Generic Item FAQAD 80 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD You can use the fields in the upper part of the screen to limit the nu
117. Specific Rules Items Rule Group Rules General Rules D y Item Item Specific i Rules The first stage covers the definition of general rules setting up rule group IDs and descriptions and defining generic items AQAD 96 User Guide QAD Configurator The second stage covers the process of applying the rules specifying which rules are linked to a rule group specifying which rules are linked directly to an item and specifying which rule groups are linked to an item The final stage covers the running of the Analyzer to process all the rules that now apply to the item You use Rule Group Maintenance to set up rule groups and Generic Item Maintenance to define generic items in QAD Configurator You use General Rule Maintenance to create general rules as briefly explained previously and described in detail in Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 You use Rule Group Rule Maintenance to link general rules to a rule group You use Item Rule Maintenance to link general rules directly to a generic item and to create item specific rules You use Item Rule Group Maintenance to link the rules in a rule group to a generic item See Grouping and Applying Rules on page 146 for details Rule Tables Rule tables are used as an easy way to enter one or more straightforward rules Each rule in a rule table specifies an IF THEN relationship between variables You cannot enter rules containing ELSE clauses
118. To select another general rule table click the Browse button to the right of the Table ID field then click the required table ID in the displayed list or use the navigation buttons in the button area Knowledge Building Functions 155 The selected table is shown in the middle part of the screen The field to the right of the Table ID field shows the description of the selected table the field below it shows the contents of the cell in which the cursor is currently positioned this cell is highlighted in the table When you have selected a general rule table you can view or modify the details or you can click the Delete button to delete it if you no longer require it If Delete Question in the Options Messages menu is active the system displays a message for you to confirm the deletion Before deleting the general rule table the system makes sure that the rule table is not used anywhere If the table is in use you cannot delete it How to add a New General Rule Table To add a new general rule table click the New button The system displays a rule table screen without any entries enter the table ID and if necessary a description Next click the Select Variables button to define the variables you want to use in the rules of the rule table The system displays the following screen Fig 5 33 General Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 Variables Selection Eri S i a 1 Exclude usage value power converter
119. a complete range of generic items by choosing From To and entering the item numbers that identify the range To indicate which tables you want to accelerate specify a range by entering tables IDs in the From To fields of the table ID frame You can enter a value either by entering it directly in the field or by clicking the Browse button next to the field and selecting the required generic item or table ID in the displayed list If you select both one or more generic items and a range of table IDs only the tables that satisfy both conditions will be accelerated or de accelerated Select Accelerate if you want to accelerate one or more tables If you want to switch from an indexed search to a sequential search select Undo Acceleration If you have undone an acceleration for a certain table and you want to use an indexed search on it you must run Rule Table Accelerator using Accelerate for that table first Select the Not Accelerated Only check box if you only want to accelerate rule tables that have not yet been accelerated Deselect this check box if you want to accelerate all rule tables that meet the criteria in the rule tables frame and the table ID frame You can start the process of accelerating the rule tables by clicking OK Click Cancel if you decide not to start the process after all Maintaining Results Keys Result Keys on page 102 explains how the results defined by answering questions in the questionnaire are used to
120. a drop down list For an advanced rule you compose the expression for the rule in an editor window An advanced rule can contain any of the elements listed in the following tables Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 211 BOM Roll Up pt mstr The elements of the master item variant item number can be used By using the element name without prefix or by adding the prefix master the values of the master item pt mstr are selected The elements of the component item component item number can be used By adding the prefix component to the element name the values of the component item pt mstr are selected ps mstr The elements of the product structure ps mstr can be used Routing Roll Up pt mstr Only the elements of the master item variant item number can be used no prefix or prefix master wc mstr The elements of the work center can be used ro det The elements of the variant routing variant routing number variant item number can be used You cannot use variables features or options in element roll up rules and only one roll up rule can be defined for each master item element About Cross Validation Analyzer Because the Knowledge Base data and the Knowledge Exploitation data are maintained separately it is necessary to check that there are no discrepancies between the two sets of data for particular generic items For example you may have included variables in the COP Ru
121. a general rule in the rule group and you want to make it specific to this rule group highlight the rule in the Rule Group Rules window then click the General Rule check box to remove the check mark The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the conversion to a specific rule If you click OK the rule is converted you can now maintain the rule only by way of the Maintain button in this rule group Note You cannot convert rule group specific rules back to general rules Item Rule Maintenance You use Item Rule Maintenance to add general rules to an item to review the rules that are linked to an item and to delete rules from an item You can also convert general rules to specific rules for an item or add new specific rules for an item and maintain these by using this function When you select Item Rule Maintenance from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen AQAD 150 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 29 Item Rule Maintenance AQAD M Item Rule Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 D xi File Edit View Tools Options Window Help mtU I je EQ AEN I General Rule IF region UK OR region USA OR region Western Europe v 2 Item Rules Include gt peoe a ee peo Done Cancel ec e ae The names of the currently selected group and the most recently accessed item are shown in the title bar o
122. a variant However if the Item 1 generic item is used as the top level item to create a variant an error situation occurs Correct The V 4 variable is defined as a feature for the next higher generic item Item 3 so the selection formula can always be verified Warning Error component name variable V1 not defined as feature for item name The V 1 feature is not defined for generic item Item 3 but for a higher level generic item Item 1 When creating a variant of the top level generic item or of Item 1 this will not cause difficulties but when creating a variant of Item 3 QAD Configurator cannot verify this selection formula and an error occurs Error Variable V 9 not defined as feature for top level item name The V9 variable is used in the selection formula but is not defined as a feature for any of the generic items in the BOM Warning Error Broken Chain of generic items The Item 4 parent item is not a generic item As a result Item 5 will be handled as a normal item and all its components will be selected Defining Item 5 as generic is therefore meaningless Defining lower level items as generic requires a linked chain of generic items up through the higher levels Warning Error Selection formula found for non generic component item or quantity formula found for non generic component item in the case of a quantity formula The Item 4 parent item is not a generic item As a result every generic component
123. able If you leave this as a Yes or No choice the question will be presented in the questionnaire as a check box which you can select or deselect If you enter two values in the fields adjacent to the Yes and No buttons the questionnaire will present two options with your specified values as labels for example Manual and Automatic Date Type Frame The frame below the logical variable fields applies to date variables and is used to specify the default value for date variables Current Fixed or Other Field Help Executable Field Below the date type frame is the Field Help Executable field where you can enter the field help window program name for questions relating to this variable When you enter a program name the questionnaire displays a help button next to the answer fill in field Clicking this help button in the questionnaire calls this program which displays a list of possible answers to the question from which you can select a value to use as the answer Pricing Frame Below the Field Help Executable frame are the fields used to provide pricing information AQAD 112 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Pricing Part The value of this field should be an existing item number in QAD 2008 Standard However there is no validation on the existence of the entered value This is done so that items in QAD 2008 Standard and variables in QAD Configurator can be created simultaneously by different people The value in
124. able If you enter values after double clicking the variables and click Done the Wizard will generate all possible combinations of the values you entered However before the Wizard can add any rows to the table it must know what to do if it generates a combination of the values of the condition variables that happens to be already somewhere in the table remember that the Wizard can also be run for a partly filled rule table Select the Overwrite Existing Rows check box if you want the Wizard to overwrite an existing row in AQAD 168 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD the rule table in this case If you do not select this check box the existing row will remain in the table and the Wizard will disregard the combination it generated Click Cancel to quit the Rule Table Wizard You will return to the main screen of the function from which you called the Wizard The rule table will be shown the way it was before the Wizard was started Any data that was entered after the Wizard was started will be lost and no rows will be added to or deleted from the table Click Done if you want the Wizard to generate combinations complete any other necessary actions and then return to Rule Table Maintenance from which it was called During this process the Wizard will perform the following actions 1 It will check whether or not the numbers of values that you specified for the variables meet the requirements 2 It will generate all possible co
125. ables 04 242 FAQAD Contents v Selecting Variables Features for Rule Tables 244 Specifying the Selection Formulas 0 00 0 000 245 COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance 0 0 2 eee eee eee 250 Defining the Selection Formula 0 0 00 ee ee eee 252 Cost Roll Up os ce essa ches ev eb ee Se ee ee eae cd d 254 Element Roll Up 032 4 opere eee CR E Ro eee 255 Element Roll Up Maintenance 0 0 ce eee eee ee 255 Item Element Roll Up 0 0 0 eee eee 257 Running the Cross Validation Analyzer 0 0 0 cc eee eee eee 259 Questionnaire Sequence Maintenance 0 0 ee eee ee eee 261 Chapter8 Variant Configuration Concepts 263 Questionnaire Overview 1 0 0 cece eee as 264 Questionnaire Questions 2 6 6 ce cence eens 265 Questionnaire Results esso eeens riar cece e 265 Chapter 9 Configuring Variant Items in Windows Ul 267 Using the Questionnaire Windows User Interface 0004 268 Using Existing Results or Creating New Ones issus 270 Selecting a Generic Item for the Customer 0 00 00 eee eee 274 Checking Existing Configurations 0 0 cee cece 275 Filtering the Result Inquiry Selection List 276 Selecting the Next Action for the Questionnaire 277 Completing the Questionnaire 2 0 02 eee eee eee 280 Question L
126. adjust the sequence of the current feature in the questionnaire Repeat step 3 and 4 until you have defined the sequence of all the features in the questionnaire Click Done to save the sequence 264 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Questionnaire Overview The Questionnaire module is the front end of QAD Configurator that lets you configure products for specific customers by selecting product feature options in the form of a questionnaire Questionnaire results or product configurations can be saved and used to create new variant items Questionnaire can be started from the QAD Configurator menu or automatically launched from Sales Order Maintenance 7 1 1 or Sales Quote Maintenance 7 12 1 when you enter a generic item in the order line Questionnaire features two user interfaces for corresponding QAD 2008 Standard user interfaces The Questionnaire Windows user interface like all other Configurator modules only works with Windows based QAD 2008 Standard The Questionnaire NET user interface is integrated with QAD 2008 Standard using QAD NET UI 2 7 The two user interfaces of the Questionnaire module provides the same product configuration functions However the NET user interface offers a more intuitive look and feel and provides richer data search and browse capabilities When you configure a product for a specific customer in Questionnaire you are presented with a list of questions that corres
127. al to a printer or to a file Click Start when you have made your selections to display the report The report shows the following information Information about the customer for whom the sales quote was created customer name address city state zip code and country name of contact person at customers address telephone number of contact person Sales Quote Number Sales Quote Line Number Quote Date on which the sales quote was created Master Group Generic item Variant item on the sales quote Result that is linked to this variant item FAQAD 318 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD A list of all Features the corresponding Short Questions and the answers that were given Variable Report The Variable Report provides information on the variables that have been defined in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of variables to report on The range of question types to report on The variable types to include Document and Monitor are for future use The report type Summary or Detail The sort sequence by variable by variable type or by question type Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen Variable Option Report The Variable Option Report provides information on the variable options that have been assigned to variables in the current group When yo
128. all the sources objects It is in these circumstances that you would want to use the COP Batch Compiler Using the COP Batch Compiler you can create a new file containing source code based on an existing set of selection and quantity formulas as defined in the COP without investigating whether this is necessary This guarantees that the source file that is used by the questionnaire is always compatible with the current set of COP formulas About Generalized Code Maintenance Generalized Code Maintenance lets you maintain lists of values and descriptions that are attached to particular fields in QAD Configurator Users can enter values for the field by selecting one from the drop down list displayed for the field The particular lists of values are identified by unique identification codes FAQAD 50 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The three lists currently used in QAD Configurator are identified by the following three codes Functionbuttons Specifies the Progress functions that can be selected from the function Help window in rule maintenance Pt_pm_code Specifies the purchase manufacturing codes that are valid in QAD Configurator Federated databases For reasons of performance a system administrator or database administrator can decide to extract tables from the main QAD 2008 Standard database and put them in another one While running a Progress application databases are addressed using a logical name for example
129. ample if you have a rule in which the answers to two questions affect the possible answer values for a third question using the monitoring process will let you see how the answers to the first two questions affect the value for the third question Adding a New Variable When you click the New button in the button area to add a new variable the system displays the following screen Adding variable x Ccoa AAN on Type Text f Set C Calculable E C pate OK C Element C Logical Cancel Click the appropriate option to specify the type of variable you want to create See Variables Options and Features on page 82 for details on variable types Fig 5 3 Adding Variable FAQAD 114 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD When you click OK the system displays the Variable Maintenance screen again with the type of variable shown in the upper right corner of the window The cursor waits at the Variable Name field Enter values for the new variable in the general fields in the top frame and also in any other frame that applies to the type of variable you have selected Frames that do not apply to your selected variable type are dimmed The characteristics you can specify for the different types of variable are described in Details of Variables on page 109 Note You cannot use spaces in variable names use hyphens or underline characters instead such as frame color or environment_of_use
130. an either enter the name of the ASCII file in the File field or you can click the Browse button to display a normal Windows file browser from which you can select the required file Click the Current G Item Variants option to select all the variant items for an individual generic item to roll up The field shows the name of the current generic item To select another generic item click the browse button to the right of the selection key field then click the required item in the displayed list or use the Master Browse button on the toolbar Click the G Item Variants option to specify a range of generic item numbers for which you want to roll up all the variant items You specify the range by entering generic item numbers in the From and To fields Again you can select generic items for these fields by clicking the browse buttons to the right of the fields and selecting the items from the displayed lists Click the G Item File Variants option to specify the name of an ASCII file that contains the item numbers of all the generic items for which you want to roll up all the variant items You must already have created the ASCII file to use this option You can either enter the name of the ASCII file in the field or you can click the Browse button to display a normal Windows file browser from which you can select the required file When you have selected the variant item or items to roll up click OK The system starts the roll up process for
131. andard stores information on customers items and prices for these items in the database The QAD Configurator pricing functions let you store a lot of other pricing information for items customers or combinations of these Additional information is stored in price lists The QAD pricing engine is a QAD 2008 Standard program that provides the best price for a specified item when you enter some input information During configuration of a product you sometimes want to be given pricing information on the product you are configuring QAD Configurator creates a bill of material based on the answers given in the questionnaire QAD Configurator can also calculate the price of the selected components and therefore the price of the total Variant Item To enable this to happen all you need to do is to provide the QAD pricing FAQAD 104 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD engine with the component the quantity needed of this component and some other input parameters The QAD pricing engine then provides the best net list price and best unit list price of that component Adding the prices of the components provides the total price of the variant item The following lists show all the inputs and outputs of the QAD pricing engine Inputs Customer Code read from the sales order the sales quote or entered by the user at the start of the questionnaire Item Code defined at the feature option level in the Pricing Part field Quantity
132. andatory questions Questions that can be answered using their default values need not be answered although the defaults can be overridden if required You can either configure an item from scratch or pick up an existing configuration and modify it When you have finished answering the questions in the questionnaire QAD Configurator generates a result This is a uniquely identified configuration The result is an intermediate stage between answering the questions and generating the new variant item and its BOM and routing QAD Configurator can automatically check if a result already exists thus preventing sales personnel from configuring the same item twice When the result is created the new item and its sales price BOM formula and routing process can be generated at the same time The new item number is automatically put into the sales order or sales quotation line if you started QAD Configurator from one of these functions From that moment on all information relating to the new item is available in QAD 2008 Standard and can be used to create work orders purchase orders and so on This whole process can be completed in a matter of minutes QAD 2008 Standard Integration QAD Configurator is integrated with the following QAD 2008 Standard functions Sales Quote Maintenance 7 12 1 Sales Order Maintenance 7 1 1 tem Master Maintenance 1 4 1 Product Structure Maintenance 13 5 e Routing Maintenance 14 1
133. ariables window on the right of the screen shows the variables that have been selected for the current table display Youcan add a variable to the table display by highlighting it in the list on the left and clicking the Add button The variable is moved to the list on the right e You can remove a variable from the table display by highlighting it in the list on the right and clicking the Remove button The variable is moved back to the list on the left The maximum number of variables you can include in the Selected Variables list is limited by the number of columns you have specified for the table display You can use the fields in the upper part of the screen to limit the number of variables shown in the Feature Review Selection window This can speed up the process of finding the required variable in the list Enter a value in one or more of the fields for example specify a generic item or select check boxes for the types of variable such as only discrete set Knowledge Exploitation Functions 245 variables Then click the filter button to the right of the Select All and Deselect All buttons above the Feature Review Selection window The displayed list of variables is now restricted to only those variables that match the values you entered in the fields in the top part of the screen The process of selecting variables from the list remains the same as described previously You can adjust the order in which the variables are listed
134. as three different power cords for use in different countries but each variant of the product that you configure for each country will select only the appropriate power cord for that country The generic BOM includes all three power cords but each variant BOM includes only one You can also create a multi level generic BOM in which one or more of the components of the generic BOM is itself a generic item In such cases QAD Configurator also creates a lower level variant item which identifies a configured subassembly Generic Routing Routings are manufacturing processes or operations Examples of routings are steel cutting electroplating assembly cutting cloth painting A generic routing consists of all possible manufacturing operations that can be performed to produce any variant of the product Generating a variant routing means selecting the correct operations for your configured variant from the generic routing AQAD 42 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD In a similar way to the generic BOM the generic routing does not define a specific list of operations that would ever be carried out during manufacture of a configured product This is because some of the operations would be dependent on the variant configuration and could be mutually exclusive Example A variant routing for a product that has only one control panel includes either anodizing an aluminium control panel or electroplating a steel control panel but no
135. as well Knowledge Building Functions 175 To remove a general rule table from the item rule table list highlight the required table in the list on the right then click the Exclude button The table is moved back to the available rule tables list on the left and is no longer linked to the item Include All moves all the available rule tables to the item rule tables list Exclude All moves all the item rule tables back to the available rule tables list Adding Item Specific Rule Table You can add a specific rule table to the currently selected item Such a rule will be applicable only to this item To add an item specific rule table click the Maintain button below the item rule tables list The system displays the following screen Fig 5 42 Fl Item Rule Table Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 mf x Adding Item File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Specific Rule Table nD 8 S 8 e RR Table 1D 2j Select Variables iw omwm 5 v 2 es L zs T X T 4 5 L DI uu Ll 6 1T T T Exclusion J Reposition uu ur P DL A Done of jf 7d o a Sane eei ond interpolation Table r Accelerator i4 bl The current group and the current item are shown in the title bar of the screen See General Rule Table Maintenance on page 154 for details on the screen When
136. at are defined for each of them Example of Using the Cross Validation Analyzer The following diagram shows a schematic representation of an example generic item structure Items annotated with G are generic items Fig 6 7 Features Example Generic v Variant Qty Formulas vi Item Structure Variant Item Number Def v2 v3 Features Features T Component v5 v4 v6 Variant Qty Formula v5 v Variant Qty Formulas v7 Variant Item Number Def 7 Features ENIRO LE is paid tem v5 v8 eS Selection Formula Component Component Selection Formula Component Selection Formula Selection Formula Selection Formula 2 5 6 The paragraphs below show example checks and the warnings or errors reported for the situations numbered 1 to 7 in the diagram when analyzing the top level generic item 1 Warning Error component name variable V 6 not defined as feature for item Item number Feature V 6 is defined for generic item Item 2 which is a component item of the top level Item T As all features of all generic items in the BOM are collected into the highest level and as a result the selection FAQAD 214 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD formulas on every level can be verified this does not cause an error situation when the top level generic item is used to create
137. atabase fields Cross reference of labels to database fields Message Report The Message Report provides a list of messages that exist in QAD Configurator Fig 3 10 B X Message Report File Edit view Tools Options Window Help e Cpu BIN a Message Number o To sss Language fus nd Print Type IV Information IV attention IV Question Done IV Error Cancel FAQAD 64 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 11 Itemnumber Change AQAD Message Number Specify the beginning of a range of message numbers to be included in the report The smallest number allowed is 0 To Specify the end of a range of message numbers to be included in the report The largest number allowed is 9999 Language Select a language for the report Only languages available in the database are listed for selection Type Select message types to be included in the report Printer Choose whether or not to send the report directly to a printer Itemnumber Change Use Itemnumber Change to make changes to item numbers M ttemnumber change ADMIN 4 3 El xl File Edit View Tools Options Window Help E e e E teen oor 2 Description Item mi Upload tables only Existing Item Enter the old item number New Item Enter the new item number Upload tables only Choose whether to only upload tables for the item Model Management Menu
138. ation steps If you find a configuration that exactly matches your requirements but no variant item has been created from it you can create a new variant item based on this configuration and add it to the sales order line If you find an existing configuration that partially matches your requirements load the configuration into the questionnaire to reuse it You can then customize the configuration as needed in the Configure Item screen and proceed to review and submit the configuration to create a new variant item from it If a saved configuration is unfinished you can load it to complete the configuration Of course if there is no existing configuration that you can reuse you can always create a new configuration from scratch 2 Configure item Whether you load an existing configuration or create one from scratch you customize your configuration in the Configure Item screen You do this by answering a list of questions that correspond to the current generic item features When you finish answering the questions you have created a configuration result and you then proceed to review and submit your configuration 3 Review and submit configuration After you have completed the Questionnaire questions review the complete configuration summary information to make sure that everything is correct FAQAD 298 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD If you find errors in your answers you can always go back to the Configure
139. ator database can grow rapidly You can use Archive Results to transfer one or more results to a file for later use or to permanently delete results from the set of results available in QAD Configurator The variant BOM generator in the questionnaire uses results to create variant items When you archive and delete a result this result is no longer available for creating a variant or for selection by means of the unique result key Archive Results lets you select one or more results and either transfer them to an archive file or delete them Results that you transfer to an archive file remain available in QAD Configurator Results that you delete directly are not stored anywhere QAD Configurator produces a report of the results archived or deleted and displays it on the screen This report can be printed if required When you select Archive Results from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays a screen similar to the following example Fig 11 3 FA archive Results HOU 4 3 oix Archive Results File Edit View Tools Options Window Help E e l Result ID 00000003 P Result from 2 Eu 2 Item Variant 3 100 100 01 2 Variant from 2 To 2 What to delete copy Terminal z LOI Copy to history Start C Delete result Cancel ef ura 1 j i rir 1 AQAD 330 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The name of the current group is shown in the title bar of the
140. attribute of the variable is value Interpolation Interpolation is a method by which the system can determine values for result variables that lie between the specific values that you specify in the rule table This method only works for rule tables with two numerical conditions IF clauses and one numerical result THEN clause that have the interpolation switch turned on Interpolation will only work properly if real numerical values are entered for the conditions and the result It cannot handle complex formats such as ranges lists and exclusions If both conditions exist in the rule table interpolation returns the specified result but if one or both of the conditions cannot be found simple linear interpolation is used to calculate the result AQAD 100 Table 4 3 Production Density Table 4 4 Production Density FAQAD User Guide QAD Configurator For such numerical value rules the rule table will only define the measure points The following table shows Production densities result for a given Density condition 1 and Width condition 2 Note This is a table of values not an example of a rule table Width Density 1000 1500 2000 0 8 25 30 40 1 0 32 35 40 2 0 36 42 48 Example If the Density is 0 8 and the Width is 1500 the production density would be 30 However if the Density was 0 9 and the Width was 1250 there is no specified value in the rule table Without interpolat
141. ature option comments relative to the associated variable option comments will be lost Chosen Option Incorporated in Comment You can also incorporate an answer that you give in the questionnaire in the routing comment of the variant item To do so add feature name fo to the routing comment of the generic item in QAD 2008 Standard Editing Comments Fig 5 16 T variable Maintenance 001 4 3 Bl xl PN in ariabie Language vs Maintenance ig lt lt gt gt From the Language drop down list select the language of the comment you wish to add modify or delete Enter the comment text in the text box below Click OK to save the comment and exit the comment window FAQAD 134 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Click Cancel to exit the comment window without saving the comment If you select another language the changes made in the previous one are automatically saved If you ever saved a comment for a certain language the Delete button is also available Click it to remove the existing comment text for the current language Use the First Previous Next and Last buttons to navigate through the texts for different languages this automatically saves the most recent entry Note You can save an empty comment if you want to Empty lines at the end of the QAD Configurator comment are truncated when the comment is incorporated into the routing comment of the variant item Maintaining Basic
142. background questions are not displayed If there are no background questions the box is checked but the check box is not enabled Answer All Click this button to answer all the questions in the question list by accepting their default answers You can still select individual questions to change the default answers so you can use this option even if you do not want the default answers for all of the questions Customize Click this button to change the question display parameters The system displays the following window AQAD 284 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 9 6 Customize AQAD EE xi Answered Iv Lower Level Iv Background IV Temporary Levels ho Question C Feature ID Short Qstn C Long Qstn Iv Pricing info The first two check boxes relate to the display of questions that have already been answered You can select the display of Higher Level answered questions Lower Level answered questions both or neither Foreground questions are always displayed The next two check boxes let you display Background questions and Temporary questions in the question list although you will not normally need to supply answers for these The Levels field lets you set the number of question levels each level is shown by an additional dot and indentation If you select only one level only the questions currently ready to be answered are displayed if you select two or more levels that number of
143. base This list contains every component of the variant some of which are components that make up the particular variant of B that is part of the variant of A So variant Al will contain B1 variant A2 will contain B2 and so on and the product structures of B1 B2 and so on will be stored as well Consequently if B1 B2 and so on are the same the same subset of components of item B will be stored each time which causes redundancy of data Suppose that there exists a variant of A A6 that contains variant B1 so that B1 already exists Furthermore suppose that you define a result key for B containing the same answers and that you update the existing result variant B1 If you create a variant of A A7 after this giving the same answers that correspond to B1 QAD Configurator will automatically insert B1 in the product structure of A7 and it is not necessary that a new product structure for B1 is created since it already exists Fig 11 1 Product Structure Example AQAD 326 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Manual Result Maintenance does essentially the same thing you define a set of answers to the questions of item B link a variant ID B4 to it and QAD Configurator will offer to substitute B4 in the product structure of every variant of A that contains that particular variant of B without having to create a new product structure for the variant of B Note In both cases QAD Configurator enters an existing variant i
144. base you only need to ensure that all the item details are present and correct If you are setting up QAD Configurator to configure a new product range you will need to create all the item details in QAD 2008 Standard Refer to the QAD 2008 Standard documentation for details about creating and modifying item details in Irem Master Maintenance 1 4 1 Creating Generic Bills of Material You must ensure that the multi level or single level generic BOMs for the products you want to configure exist in QAD 2008 Standard including all the possible components that could be configured for a product You do this using Product Structure Maintenance 13 5 Refer to the QAD 2008 Standard documentation for details about creating and modifying product structure details System Setup Functions 53 Creating Generic Routings QAD Configurator requires the existence of the items and generic BOMs in QAD 2008 Standard for the products you want to configure but the generic routings are optional However if you intend to use QAD Configurator to configure routings as well as variant BOMs you must ensure that the generic routings exist in QAD 2008 Standard including all possible processes that could be required for the manufacture of any configurable variant item You do this using Routing Maintenance 14 13 1 Refer to the QAD 2008 Standard documentation for details about creating and modifying generic routing details Note You may nee
145. bed in Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 and Grouping and Applying Rules on page 146 You can create a general rule table and link it to one or more items afterward without modifying it You can link a general rule table to an item and modify it to make it specific for that item Knowledge Building Concepts 99 Youcan create an item specific rule table without using a general rule table as a basis Both General and Item Rule Table Maintenance are explained in detail in Using Rule Tables on page 154 Rule Table Limitations The number of rows in a rule table is currently limited to 9999 because this is the maximum number that can be displayed in the Rule Table Maintenance programs The number of columns variables in a rule table is currently limited to 20 Any mix of condition and result variables that is IF and THEN columns is valid as long as you use at least one condition and one result variable Cells have the following limitations Progress statements and operators are not allowed An empty range specified by only a colon is not allowed Ranges and exclusions are not allowed for logical variables Empty dates cannot be handled by the rule tables Even when using an empty cell the empty date will not fit the range For a result variable lists and exclusions are allowed only if the variable is of the type discrete set text discrete set calculable or discrete date other and only if the
146. bottom frame shows the quantity formulas that have been defined for this operation if any You can select other operations for this generic item by using the navigation buttons in the button area The display changes to show the formulas that exist for each operation as it is displayed Selection Formula Maintenance The Master Selection Preposition window shows the selection formula that has been defined for this operation If no selection formula is defined the operation will always be selected unless a higher level operation has been excluded Using this window you can add a new selection formula modify an existing selection formula or delete a selection formula that is no longer required Knowledge Exploitation Functions 233 Adding or Modifying a Selection Formula Specify the terms of the formula in the editor window The selection formula must take the form of an expression that can be evaluated as TRUE or FALSE and specifies the conditions under which this operation from the generic routing will be selected for a variant routing You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details Selection formulas must conform to Progress syntax rules See Selection Formulas on page 195 for details Deleting a Selection Formula To delete an existing selection formula that is no longer required either click the Clear butt
147. by the rules and builds a question tree that shows all the dependent links between the features Running the Analyzer for the rules in previous table would produce a question tree as in the following diagram Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 189 Low Level Code 0 Low Level Code 1 B C Low Level Code 2 Low Level Code 3 The top row of the diagram shows that variables A D and F are independent questions that can be answered without reference to any other features However the final rule in the table specifies that variable D is dependent on the answer to question G the diagram shows that this creates a cyclical loop When the Analyzer finds a cyclical loop it reports the fact in the Analyzer Report The Analyzer also turns off the field that indicates Generic Item Analyzed in Generic Item Maintenance This makes it impossible to use the generic item in the questionnaire until the loop has been resolved To complete the analysis the Analyzer skips the relationship that gave rise to the cyclical loop in this example the dependence of D on G and continues the analysis process When you resolve the cyclical loop by removing the rule that creates the dependence of D on G the question tree will be the same as in the previous example but without the lowest level D and its loop back to the top level Fig 6 1 Qu
148. c items In the To field select the last in the range of generic items to be compiled or leave blank when compiling a single generic item When you click OK the system displays a message asking for confirmation and then begins the compilation for the specified generic items Generalized Code Maintenance Use Generalized Code Maintenance to maintain code values that are displayed in drop down lists attached to certain fields in some QAD Configurator windows Users can select values from the list for use in the particular field For example the functionbuttons code provides a list of Progress functions that can be selected from the function Help window in Rule Maintenance When you select this option from the QAD Configurator Setup menu through the System Management menu the system displays the following screen AQAD 62 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 8 Generalized Code Maintenance Fig 3 9 Data Dictionary Xref Report AQAD PI Generalised Code Maintenance HOU n 3 of x File Edit View Tools Options Window DJG X S a Code reaeratea databases c ertESCH Description Location of pt mstr Type G Character Decimal integer Logical f Date Value qaddb In the Code field you can create a new code or use the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select an existing code to view modify or delete The Description field shows the value of the particular entry in the
149. ce width length This assigns to the variable surface the product of the two values the customer selects for the variables width and length You may not want the surface variable to be answered as a question in the questionnaire but you may need its value for calculations such as the quantity of paint required When you have selected the option for the clause you want to compose you must next select the format Click the arrow by the drop down list to the right of the clause options then select normal advanced or free format The fields in the composition part of the screen change according to the format you select Note There are restrictions on the way you can combine the format types particularly when you are modifying existing rules or modifying clauses that you have already composed The drop down list shows only the formats that are valid for the type of rule you are composing You can convert a normal or advanced expression into a free format expression but you cannot convert back from a free format expression to normal or advanced Composing a Normal Expression When you select the normal format the composition part of the screen looks like the following Knowledge Building Functions 137 IF C THEN ELSE norma RE Eso BJF UK a z USA Attr va1ue z Western Europe Other z Normal format expressions take the form variable option You can use other operators instead of the equals ope
150. ce of the variant item can be calculated Note Ifa generic item that contains sub level generic items all pricing part associated features of sub level generic items must also be defined for the top level generic item for the pricing function to work for that generic item For detailed information on the QAD pricing engine refer to the QAD 2008 Standard user documentation Pricing Rules You use pricing rules to set the quantity to be used by the QAD pricing engine for non numeric features You can maintain pricing rules in General Rule Maintenance and Item Rule Maintenance You cannot maintain pricing rules in General Rule Table Maintenance or Item Rule Table Maintenance See Maintaining Basic Rules on page 134 for more details on creating and maintaining pricing rules For numeric and discrete set calculable features there are two ways in which the questionnaire can determine the quantity that will be fed into the QAD pricing engine The value of the feature if the Quantity Based field for the feature is selected The value 1 if the Quantity Based field for the feature has not been set For non numeric variables there are similarly two ways in which the questionnaire can determine the quantity that will be fed into the QAD pricing engine The pricing qty attribute of the feature which is set in a pricing rule The value 1 in all other cases FAQAD 106 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 146 108 User
151. ch the same See Rule Table Wizard Windows on page 165 for a complete view of the possibilities that the Wizard offers The following example gives an idea of what the Wizard can do for you The example treats the case of adding rules rows to the rule table but the Wizard works exactly the same if you want to delete existing rules rows AQAD 164 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Example Suppose you want to add a number of rules to a rule table that look almost the same for instance f Region hen Pump f Region hen Pump f Region hen Pump i UK and Usage industrial t i t i t if Region t x t i t low capacity UK and Usage domestic medium capacity USA and Usage industrial low capacity USA and Usage domestic low capacity W Europe and Usage industrial medium capacity W Europe and Usage domestic medium capacity hen Pump f Region hen Pump f Region hen Pump You immediately recognize that Region is UK USA or Western Europe Usage is either industrial or domestic and Pump is either low capacity or medium capacity In order to add these rules to the rule table in an easy way all you have to do is to start the Wizard and enter the options mentioned for the three variables they apply to then indicate that you want to add rows to the table The Wizard will then generate all possible combinations of the options you entered and add a rule to the table for every combinat
152. check mark OK button Manual List You can enter in this field the name of a manual price list that will be used to calculate the best net price and the best list price for the number of pricing parts of the feature option that is the answer of the current question Browse button You can click the question mark browse button to display an item browser window where you can select the required manual price list If there are a lot of price lists shown you can enter the first few characters of the required list in the List field at the top of Fig 9 9 Manual List Pricing FAQAD 288 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD the browse window to move to that particular price list Double click the required price list in the browser to insert that list name in the Manual List field OK button green check mark When you have selected a manual price list click OK The system starts the QAD pricing engine which calculates the best net and best list prices using the specified manual price list The Final Stage of the Questionnaire When you have finished answering the questions and you create a result with Full status the final stage is the selection of a result from which to create a new variant See Selecting a Result to Create a New Variant on page 288 for details Selecting a Result to Create a New Variant When you click OK to complete the question list and you create a complete result that is with all questions answered
153. ching Yes No Duplicates The first matching result if available is selected This variant part number is automatically returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse The new result is deleted and the selected result is returned to pcsod det First matching Yes No Customer Duplicates The first matching customer result or first matching result if available is selected This variant part number will automatically be returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse If a customer result match was found the new result is deleted and the existing resid is returned to pcsod det If a result match were found for a different customer the matching variant part number is assigned to the new result and the new result is assigned to pesod det Table 3 3 Field Combination Effects AQAD 76 User Guide QAD Configurator Result Selection Auto Select Result Retention Effect First matching Yes Retain All Results The first matching result if available is selected This variant part number will automatically be returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse The variant part number is assigned to the new result and this new result is returned to pesod det First matching No Duplicates The Result Selection browse is opened and the first matching result if available is highlighted The variant par
154. creen If you have made any changes to the standard options for the feature options you can then modify the default order of the feature options using the Priorities button on the Feature Option Maintenance screen About Feature Sequences Each feature corresponds to a question in the questionnaire that the customer must answer to define the configuration of the product You can control the sequence in which the questions are asked but only within the limits imposed by the logical structure of the interdependence of the features Example If one of the questions asks if the customer wants a backup power unit and another question asks what kind of backup power unit it would be illogical to ask what kind of unit before asking if the customer wants backup power The Analyzer is the function in QAD Configurator that analyzes the relationship between the possible feature options for the product and determines any sequence of questions that must be imposed because of the logical dependence of one feature on another However within the limits of the logical constraints you can determine the order in which the questions are asked If you specify a sequence that goes against the logical structure the Analyzer modifies your specified sequence to account for the interdependence Example A product includes three features length width and material The length and width are numeric values within a range and the material offers a choice of five dif
155. cts are often claimed as trademarks In this document the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters Contact the appropriate companies for more information regarding trademarks and registration Copyright 2008 by QAD Inc QAD Inc 100 Innovation Place Santa Barbara California 93108 Phone 805 684 6614 Fax 805 684 1890 http www qad com Contents About This Guide iiia hk hx RRERERRENARR EO RR ARRA 1 Other Documentation lseeeeeeeee RI n 2 QAD Web Sit 2 neice ceri hee ne ARR RUBENS BET LC UY Euer ded 3 Conventions ues bene Ie b eR ade eee US CPI E REA 3 Chapter1 Introduction to QAD Configurator 5 System OVerVIe W secon cx a Rd e eddie eae E ba EES 6 Knowledge Building eleeeeee eee 8 Knowledge Exploitation 0 0 cece eee eee eee 9 Configuring an Item 2 ice eee de ed ee Pe P ERI 10 QAD 2008 Standard Integration 0 eee eee ee 11 System Features osese ia dos se eta Ee ee a eed ee 12 Windows Features 0 eee eee eens 12 QAD Configurator Window Features 0 0 000005 17 Techniques of Using QAD Configurator 000 20 Access QAD Configurator 0 0 ec eee nee 24 Logging in to QAD Configurator 0 0 0 0 0c eee eee ee 24 Changing Your QAD Configurator Password 26 QAD Configurator Main Menu 2 0 0 0 eee ee eee 27 Exiting QAD Configurator 2 eee eee 27
156. d then click the required rule in the displayed list Alternatively you can use the navigation buttons in the button area When you have selected a rule you can view or modify the details of the rule or you can click the Delete button to delete the rule if you no longer require it The system displays a message for you to confirm the deletion providing that Delete Question has been selected from the Options Messages menu Composing a New Rule Click the New button in the button area to create a new rule Specify the reference ID for the new rule in the ID field You can also enter a description of the rule at this time or you can wait until you have composed the clauses of the rule and then enter a description AQAD 136 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The next step involves choosing the clauses you want to compose and also choosing the format normal advanced or free format See Knowledge Building Rules on page 90 for details on rule formats You select the clauses by clicking the options marked IF THEN and ELSE You can only compose an ELSE clause when the rule already has an IF clause The IF button is initially selected as the default because most rules will start with a preposition However it is possible to specify assignment rules that consist of only a THEN clause Assignment rules are executed whenever a question is answered in the questionnaire The following is an example of an assignment rule surfa
157. d in QAD 2008 Standard s Routing Maintenance Generating a variant routing means selecting the correct operations for your configured variant from the generic routing Interpolation A method by which the system can determine values for result variables that lie between the specific values that you specify in the rule table FAQAD Question Type A means of categorizing questions to help users of the questionnaire to obtain an overview of the product configuration Questions are either foreground these always appear in the questionnaire or background these can be answer automatically by the system Questionnaire A process that presents questions designed to obtain details of the customer s specification for a variant item The questions in the questionnaire use the information that was entered during the building of the Knowledge Base to control the way in which the product can be configured The questionnaire is the QAD Configurator function used by salespeople Result The set of answers to the questions in the questionnaire for one particular customer configuration Each result is stored individually and is a uniquely defined record in the QAD Configurator database The result can be used to create a variant item Result Key To avoid variant redundancies you can let QAD Configurator check if a variant already exists A result key is the combination of features that uniquely defines a variant Result Variable A
158. d returns the variant item to the order line in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance To submit your completed configuration click the Submit Configuration button at the bottom of the Configuration Summary screen If the configuration you are submitting was loaded from an incomplete configuration in the previous step the system prompts you to update the original configuration or to create a new one If you choose to update the original configuration it is overwritten by your current configuration If you choose to create a new configuration a new configuration record is created with a new configuration ID The Matching Configurations window displays when the current configuration is submitted Note If Auto Select is set to Yes in Generic Item Maintenance the Matching Configurations window does not display and the Questionnaire window closes Different combinations of result selection auto select and result retention values determine how the system behaves when a configuration is submitted and how variant items are created Configuring Variant Items in NET UI All existing configurations for Item 10 20001 Configuration ID Variant Item Customer Status List Price USD Net Price USD Create date User ID usage Coolant region backup backup type 00000780 4000 800 00 800 00 industrial medic grade UK yes alkaline batt I4 4 Page 1 of 1 gt bi Your current configuration is displayed o
159. d to create departments work centers and standard operations before you start creating the routings Setting Up QAD Configurator The QAD Configurator Setup menu has the following menu options QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance Group Maintenance Functional Group Maintenance Question Type Maintenance Rule Group Maintenance External Entity Maintenance System Management Menu QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance Use QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance to maintain a number of parameters that govern the overall running of QAD Configurator When you select this option from the QAD Configurator Setup menu the system displays the following screen FAQAD 54 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 1 Parameter Maintenance AQAD PI QAD Configurator Parameter Et 3 Be x File Edit View Tools Options Window HG X 5 E ERR 4 Qstnr dir xufgsvrvepdast tt ssi s lt i stsS Variant dir uafgsvrwepdivar Download dir re Perm Prg 0 0 0 Appserv Qstnr dir Ee AppServ Var dir p Physical DB name Host Name AppServ Host Network Protocol DB Server AppServ Broker SQ Maintenance SQ BOM Item BOM User Off S0 Maintenance 0 BOM Item BOM User C Off WO Maintenance WO BOM Item BOM C User C oft Minimum Current lv Pegging for Re analyse Variables h fio analyzer Procedures h fio Max case h ss C 0 P Max assign
160. ding to some common aspect of their use or application Use Rule Group Rule Maintenance to add general rules to rule groups to review the contents of rule groups and to delete rules from rule groups You can also convert general rules to specific rules Knowledge Building Functions 147 for a rule group or add specific rules for a rule group and maintain these by using this function The rules in a rule group can subsequently be linked to generic items in QAD Configurator by linking the associated rule group to the items using Item Rule Group Maintenance When you select Rule Group Rule Maintenance from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen Fig 5 27 Rule Group Rule A Rule Group Rule Maintenance HOU Rule Group general 4 3 Bf xi Maintenance File Edit View Tools _ Options Window Help E EA E a m VV General Rule IF region UK OR region OR region Rule Group Rules The names of the currently selected group and the most recently accessed rule group are shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar To select another rule group use the navigation buttons in the button area The Available Rules window in the lower left of the screen lists the rules that are available within this group The Rule Group Rules window in the lower right of the screen lists the rules that hav
161. displays the following screen Fig 1 26 FI USER MAINTENANCE HOU 4 3 mix User Maintenance File Edit View Tools Options Window Help D H p e ERR 7 e User ID mm Language US tal Usergroup 1 New Password Re Enter Done Cancel V Editor IV User Maintenance IV Menu Maintenance Vv Security Maintenance L IV Message Maintenance IV Load amp Dump Procedures Delete FAQAD 34 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 27 Security Maintenance AQAD This is a secured function used only by system administrators to maintain authorized users of QAD Configurator Unauthorized users cannot access this function To enter a new user click the New button in the button area Enter the new user ID in the User ID field then complete the remaining details language user group and password Confirm the new password in the Re enter field You can then select the check boxes that authorize use of the listed functions To modify the details for an existing user select the user ID using the navigation buttons then modify the details as required To delete a user select the user ID using the navigation buttons then click the Delete button Save your entries then click OK to leave User Maintenance Maintaining QAD Configurator Security If you have the authorization you can use Security accessed from the ToolslCustomize menu to control which users are authorized to use
162. e details of the rule as required To create a new rule click the New button in the button area then select the Master Element Database field that you want to roll up to There are two types of rule normal and advanced For normal rules you specify in the drop down list field only one database field to roll up for the component items If you select the BOM option you can select this field from the item data pt_mstr or product structure data ps_mstr by clicking the relevant option Knowledge Exploitation Functions 257 f you select the routing option you can select this field from the work center data wc mstr or routing data ro det again by clicking the relevant button For advanced rules you can define more complex relationships between more than a single element that you want to roll up See About Element Roll Up on page 209 for details on the elements you can include When you have finished creating or modifying an advanced rule you can click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to cause QAD Configurator to check the syntax of the rule The syntax is also checked automatically when you click OK or Save If the syntax is correct the system inserts a check mark in the Formulas OK check box If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax errors have been found You can then correct the errors before saving the rule To delete an element roll up rule se
163. e Answer Question frame of the questionnaire window enables you to look at the rules that are related to the variable in the selected row of the questionnaire When you click the Rule View button having ensured that the required variable is highlighted in the Question list the system displays the following screen Fig 9 8 Viewing Rules for FA Questionnaire 001 housing width 4 3 Bl xl Questionnaire File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Variables EN M Short Question housing width Background question Long Question TABLE ID IRTOOL IF housing length THEN value IF housing length gt 50 THEN value gt 50 of The current group and the current variable are shown in the title bar of the screen The upper part of this window shows the long question if any that is associated with the current variable The lower part shows the rules in which the current variable appears as a result variable The way a rule is shown depends on the function that was used to enter it A rule that was entered using General Rule Maintenance or Item Rule Maintenance is shown in full Rules that were entered by way of a rule table function are not shown separately in order to limit the total number of rules shown and to make it easier to find a particular rule you are looking for AQAD Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 287 In the case of rule table rules the window shows the table ID of the releva
164. e Maintenance to create and maintain default selection formulas that are independent of a particular generic item Fig 7 7 G BOM Selection Formula Maintenance FAQAD 228 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Using this window you can add a new selection formula modify an existing selection formula or delete a selection formula that is no longer required You can also copy to and from the default selection formula for this component The Use Default check box is used to specify whether a selection formula defined in this window is to be used for selecting this component If this check box is blank the selection formula defined here will be used If no selection formula is defined the component will always be selected If the Use Default check box is selected QAD Configurator will use the default selection formula defined for this component in COP Rule Table Maintenance or COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance If neither of these formulas is defined the component will always be selected Note For an explanation of how QAD Configurator determines which rule to use refer to About COP Rules on page 198 Adding or Modifying a Selection Formula Specify the terms of the formula in the editor window you do not need to enter the word IF The selection formula must take the form of an expression that can be evaluated as TRUE or FALSE and specifies the conditions under which this component item from the generic BOM will
165. e been included in this rule group The frame above the two lists shows the details of the currently highlighted rule If the General Rule check box is checked the rule is a general rule and can only be maintained using General Rule Maintenance If the General Rule check box is not checked the rule is specific to this rule group and can only be maintained using the Maintain button below the Rule Group Rules window FAQAD 148 User Guide QAD Configurator Adding and Removing General Rules To add a general rule to the selected rule group highlight the required rule in the Available Rules window then click the Include button The rule is moved to the Rule Group Rules window and is now included in the rule group It is still a general rule though and can be included in other rule groups as well To remove a general rule from the selected rule group highlight the required rule in the Rule Group Rules window then click the Exclude button The rule is moved back to the Available Rules window and is no longer included in the rule group To include or exclude all the rules in the lists use the Incl All and Excl All buttons Adding Maintaining and Deleting Specific Rules You can add a specific rule to the currently selected rule group Such a rule will be available only to this rule group To add a specific rule click the Maintain button below the Rule Group Rules window The system displays the following screen Fig 5 28
166. e can build the appropriate restrictions into the configuration process You can link general rules to items either directly or through rule groups which is time saving If you know that a number of rules all apply in a particular set of circumstances you can link these rules together in a rule Knowledge Building Concepts 95 group You can then attach that rule group to a generic item in a single operation which has the same effect as linking all the rules to the item separately When you link a general rule to an item directly you have the option of making the rule an item specific rule that applies only to this item or leaving the rule as a general rule that can also be applied to other items An item specific rule is a copy of the general rule but the general rule remains available to be applied to other items An item specific rule does not need to be based on a general rule You can also create an entirely new rule using the Maintain button in Item Rule Maintenance Before the Analyzer can prepare the questionnaire for correct configuring of the product you must provide the following information Which rules have been linked individually to the item both general rules and item specific rules Which rule groups have been linked to the item Which general rules are in each of the linked rule groups This process is shown in the following diagram Fig 4 2 Linking General Rules and Rule Rule Group Group Rules to
167. e component Review Selection window The displayed list of components is now restricted to only those items that match the values you entered in the fields in the top part of the screen The process of selecting a component item from the list remains the same as described previously highlight it and click OK Defining the Selection Formula When you have selected the component item for which you want to create or modify a selection formula the next stage is to enter the terms of the formula in the editor window You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu Alternatively you can enter the terms of the formula directly into the editor window Whichever method you select the terms of the selection formula must conform to Progress syntax rules refer to the Progress Programming manuals for further information To modify an existing formula first select and display the formula You can then change the terms in the expression or click the Clear button to clear the entire editor window and enter a completely new formula When you have finished creating or modifying the selection formula you can click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to cause QAD Configurator to check the syntax of the formula The syntax is also checked automatically when you click OK or Save If the syntax is correct the system inserts a check mark in the Formulas OK check box Knowledge Expl
168. e corresponding feature is not used to compare configurations If none of the questions are answered all existing configurations associated with the current generic item are considered similar configurations To use this feature click the View Similar Configurations button in the Configuration Summary screen A Similar Configurations window displays All existing configurations for Item 10 20001 Configuration ID 00000780 00000780 I3 00000777 I3 00000774 3 Variant Item 10 20001 BDIS 10 20001 BDG 9 10 20001 BDE 9 2 Customer 4000 4000 4000 4000 Status F F F F List Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 800 00 Net Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 800 00 Create date 0349 08 0349 08 0319 08 User ID mfg mfg QAD usage industrial industrial industrial industrial Coolant medic grade medic grade medic grade medic grade region UK UK UK UK backup yes yes yes yes backup type alkaline batt alkaline batt alkaline batt alkaline batt id 4 Page 1 of 1 P Di Displaying 1 to 3 of 3 Items perPage5 v Your current configuration is displayed on the left of the screen with all the generic item questions and the answers you have provided On the right of the screen all similar configurations with identical feature options to the answers you have answered are displayed in a comparison table After you compare features between your current and similar configurations you can perform one of the following actions Order an
169. e following screen F1 COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000Component 30 1000 4 3 D x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Me lt e e e UU Field es res cxi i Clear gt it width lt 200 then Z else 3 Done Cancel Ema ap The screen shows details of the quantity formula you highlighted in the Quantity Formula Inquiry Selection window You can select another formula to view or modify using the navigation buttons in the button area or by clicking the Browse button between the field name and the equals sign and then selecting the required field formula from the displayed list Because quantity formulas are value assignments the formula always takes the form field expression You select the field from the drop down list the equals sign is automatically included and you specify the expression in the quantity formula editor window To create a new formula you must first specify the database field to which you want to assign values Select the field from the drop down Field list This list contains all the data elements in the QAD 2008 Standard product structure table ps mstr Then specify the expression for the quantity formula in the editor window You can use Help windows to select terms for the expression Select the Help window you want from the View menu See Using Help Windows on page 22 for details To modify an existing formula first select and display the for
170. e group To select an option position the cursor over the white circle and click the left mouse button The option shows a black center when you have selected it and an empty white center when it is not selected Introduction to QAD Configurator 15 Check Boxes Check boxes are like options but present a white square next to the option description When selected a check box shows a black check mark in the white square Check boxes are not mutually exclusive where a list of check box features is presented you can select as many of them as you want Fig 1 5 Check Boxes V Features IV Feature options V Result Key V Rules v General Rules v Rule Groups E Item specific Rules v New General Rule Table Vv Item specific Rule Table M cop data VV Part v c BoM Iv G Routing Iv Variant Item Nbr In this example from the copy function main window the Features Feature Options Rules and General Rules check boxes have been selected but the Rule Groups and Item Specific Rules check boxes have not been selected To select or deselect a check box position the cursor over the check box and click the left mouse button Scroll Bar When there is too much information to be displayed in a screen window Windows automatically provides scroll bars either horizontal or vertical or sometimes both so that you can move the view of the window to see the rest of the information Fig 1 6 Result Inquiry Selection Scroll
171. e if the given values equal the to values If only the given Density equals the from value or to value of Density cases a and e the system uses interpolation formulas to calculate the Width If only the given Width equals the from value or to value of Width cases b and c the system uses interpolation formulas to calculate the Density If the given Density is unequal to the from or to value of Density and the given Width is unequal to the from or to value of Width case d it is necessary for the system to calculate two extra points based on either the given Density or the given Width representing the closest range for either Density or Width Interpolation formulas then provide the calculated result If the given value for Density or Width is outside the scope of the rule table it is not possible to calculate a result because the system only handles interpolation and not extrapolation AQAD 102 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Result Keys Whenever all the questions in the questionnaire are answered for a product configuration QAD Configurator defines a new configuration This configuration is called a result and is used by the Variant Generator which is a part of the questionnaire to construct a new variant item BOM and routing The step from creating a result to generating a new variant is not automatic unless you did not define a result key You can choose to save the result as a description of a product c
172. e list remains the same as described previously You can adjust the order in which the component items are listed using the Up and Down buttons below the Selected Components window Highlight the component you want to move in the list and click the appropriate button When you have selected the required components click OK to return to the main Rule Table Maintenance screen with the new selection of components AQAD 244 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 17 Selecting Variables Features for the Rule Table AQAD Selecting Variables Features for Rule Tables To select the variables or features that you want to use in the rule table selection formulas click the variable Features button at the bottom of the screen The system displays a screen similar to the following example COP Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 xi A x Variable s s CSstsSSCS Question fnormal 2 go E Document V Discrete Vv Logical A v Element lv Date Monitor off v Generic Item J 2 Select All Deselect All I Selected Variables Variable Review Selection Variable Short Question abnup ra Backup coolant housing height housing height housing length housing length DK Up Down Gane linenumber linenumber The Feature Review Selection window on the left of the screen shows the features that are available for selection in the current group The Selected V
173. e logic You need to run the Analyzer in any of the following circumstances 1 You have added or deleted features 2 Youhave added modified or deleted rules 3 You have changed a parameter using QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance 4 You have changed feature sequences In any of situations 1 2 or 3 you must run the Analyzer before you can start the questionnaire The questionnaire checks if the generic item has been analyzed and forces you to analyze the item first whenever something significant has been changed In situation 4 running the Analyzer is not required but optional QAD Configurator does not automatically offer to analyze the generic item However to make the feature sequence modifications active you must run the Analyzer manually by selecting the Analyzer function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 187 Feature Relationships See Chapter 4 Knowledge Building Concepts on page 81 for a detailed explanation of features and rules and the way they are used in QAD Configurator A simple example of a Knowledge Base rule could state the following IF variable A option 1 THEN variable B option 2 AND variable C option 3 You could have another rule attached to the same item stating the following IF variable C option 3 AND variable D option 4 THEN variable E option 5 This relationship shows that variable E can be dependent on the options chosen for all of variabl
174. e name fc instead of feature name vc Feature Option Comment If the Standard Options check box is selected in Feature Option Maintenance then you cannot enter a comment text in this function As the feature options are in this case identical to the variable options the comment texts of the variable options are used in the variant routing comment even if you use the code that indicates the feature option comments If the Standard Options check box is not selected in Feature Option Maintenance you can enter comment text in this function unless the type of the feature is logical You should use feature name foc instead of feature name vc You can enter a comment only when one option in the list on the right is highlighted Knowledge Building Functions 133 If the feature type is logical then this feature does not have options It is useless to incorporate the codes feature voc and feature foc in the routing comment of the generic item These codes will never be replaced because there is no comment text to replace the code with Note Be careful when clearing the check box Std Options and then saving the changes the feature options themselves are immediately deleted as are the feature option comments When you select the Std Options check box and save the changes variable options are copied to feature options and the variable option comments are copied to become feature option comments Any changes you made earlier in the fe
175. e next action by clicking one of the options in the lower frame of the screen Buttons that do not apply to your particular circumstances are dimmed You can always select the first option to use the just created configuration to create a new variant If you select a result in the Result Inquiry Selection window that has not had a variant item created you can select the second option to create a new variant from that existing result If you select a result with an existing variant item in the Result Inquiry selection window you can select the third option to skip variant creation and select that variant item When you click OK after choosing this action you exit from the questionnaire function with the chosen variant selected So if you started QAD Configurator Fig 9 10 Result Inquiry Selection Window FAQAD 290 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD from Sales Quote Maintenance or Sales Order Maintenance in QAD 2008 Standard you will now return to that function and the chosen variant will be entered in the SQ SO line When you select either of the first two options and click OK the next stage is the creation of the new variant from your selected result The system displays the Variant Creation screen The Action Status frame shows the various stages of the variant creation process The field at the bottom shows the part number or operation number being created During the creation process you can click the
176. e of variable For example with numeric variables you can use any of the operators but with discrete set variables you can only use the equal to and not equal to operators AQAD 246 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 18 COP Rule Table Option Window AQAD To select an operator click the left field of the cell in which you want to define a selection formula then click the required operator button Alternatively you can enter the operator directly into the cell The next stage is to specify the value of the variable option for the selection formula Select the option Window option from the View menu The system displays an additional option selection window which changes depending on the variable column that you are working in P COP Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Weie Ey Working on paint white Ruiting s testing Formula Preview Equation m 2i pes Features fregion Backup type pump LI I 22 100 26 100 5 100 Option Selection lt low y medium capacity high capacity Lol Single z C Multiple oT ej ej pj raj If you click the cursor in a different variable column the option selection window changes to reflect the options available for that variable To select an option for your selection formula click the cursor in the cell where you want to enter the formula then highlight the option in the o
177. e roll up You cannot change these settings on the questionnaire screen Reprice Function If you are using the pricing functions and you select the Reprice check box all prices in the questionnaire will be recalculated using the current date among other parameters as input to the QAD pricing engine This date is important because prices of components can change with time If you do not select this check box the prices stored as part of the result will be used If you are reloading an existing configuration with the Reprice check box not selected no new prices are calculated if the existing configuration was stored saving all pricing information Repricing will occur only if an answer to a question changes into an option that did not exist at the time the reloaded configuration was saved If you are reloading an existing configuration with the Reprice check box not selected and the existing configuration was stored without saving all pricing information prices will be recalculated in case any answers in the questionnaire are changed AQAD 280 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 9 5 Questionnaire Main Screen AQAD Note Whether pricing information for all possible options is stored depends on the field Store all pricing info in the Generic Item Maintenance screen as described in Generic Item Maintenance on page 71 When you have chosen your next action click OK to continue Completing the Questionnaire When you
178. eated a selection formula for the component and you want to make it the default selection formula click the Default gt button to the right of the editor window The selection formula is copied to COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance You can subsequently maintain the formula using this function Quantity Formula Maintenance The third frame in the screen displayed when you click the Show Formulas button is the Quantity Formula Inquiry Selection window This window lists all the quantity formulas that have been defined for the component shown in the top frame of the screen You can only define one selection formula for a component but you can define a number of different quantity formulas to assign values to different database fields for the component item You can use the scroll bars to view the quantity formulas in the list To maintain a formula highlight the required formula in the list and click the relevant button below the list window Clear Clicking the Clear button deletes all the quantity formulas in the list When you click this button the system displays a message prompting you to confirm your decision as it is not possible to undo or cancel the deletion AQAD 230 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 8 Adding Modifying Field AQAD Delete Field Clicking the Delete Field button deletes the selected quantity formula from the list Add Modify Field When you click the Add Modify Field button the system displays th
179. ed QAD Configurator will report this and you must change your entry The following table lists all possible formats and their meaning Note is used to exclude certain values from a range Applying this information to the first five entries in the table will help you to understand the meaning of the entries in the other rows Entry Meaning valuel valuel valuellvalue2lvalue3 valuel or value2 or value3 valuel value2 gt valuel and lt value2 valuel valuel valuel gt valuel valuel not valuel valuellvalue2lvalue3 not valuel and not value2 and not value3 valuel value2 valuel or value2 valuel valuel valuel valuel valuel value2 valuel and value2 valuel value2 gt valuel and lt value2 valuel value2 gt valuel and lt value2 value 1 valuel valuel valuel value1 value2 valuel or value2 valuel value2 valuel or value2 valuel value2 valuel or gt value2 value1 gt valuel value1 lt valuel Note In the case of result variables you can only use lists and exclusions if the type of the variable is discrete set text discrete set calculable or discrete date other and its attribute is value at the same time Table 5 1 Rule Table Formats AQAD 160 User Guide QAD Conf
180. ed field Results of the Analysis The Analyzer creates Progress source and object code to be run by the questionnaire This source and object code contains the Inclusion and Exclusion logic as defined by the rule maintenance functions and the rule tables The object code files are stored in the directory that was defined as the questionnaire object directory in QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance See QAD Configurator Parameter Maintenance on page 53 for details Each generic item has a unique 6 digit object code number pcpt rcode This code is used to create the object code file names and directories specific to that generic item Example Consider a generic item G1 with an object code number 000100 The directory structure for the object code files looks like this e mfg84gus mfgdemo qu000100 r Nqu000100Nqu0001 r Nqu000100Nqu0002 r The first line specifies the generic item control program the following lines specify the feature rule files 0001 to 9999 For performance reasons a maximum of 10 features are included in each feature rule file then a new file is created These feature rule files are stored together in the directory with the object code number preceded by qu The control program takes care of the process of finding the correct feature rule file for the questionnaire Knowledge Exploitation Functions 221 The feature rule object files with the x extension for a generic item can be deleted for
181. ed if the cloth color variable is tropical blue AND the paint frame variable is yes Unknown Answer Lines If the Unknown Answer field has been turned on in Group Maintenance for this group you can preview the formula and see the effect of the Unknown Answer lines Note Using this feature does not have the effect of turning on the Unknown Answer field you can do that only in Group Maintenance To see the effect of the Unknown Answer lines select Unknown Answer Ln from the View menu Now when you click the Formula Preview button the formula syntax includes the possibility of unknown answers in the selection process for the component as in the following example FAQAD 250 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 21 Unknown User Lines AQAD Terminal Output xi Backup type Alkaline batt Backup type Unknown answer puup medium capacity punp Unknown answer region USA region Western Europe region Unknown answer This selection formula specifies that the component will be selected if the cloth color variable is tropical blue OR unknown AND the paint frame variable is yes OR unknown Saving Your Table Entries When you have finished maintaining the simple selection formulas in the rule table click OK in the button area to save your entries and exit Rule Table Maintenance COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance About COP Rules on page 198 explains COP rules and the difference
182. editor window and enter a completely new expression Knowledge Exploitation Functions 235 When you have finished creating or modifying a quantity formula you can click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to cause QAD Configurator to check the syntax of the formula All quantity formulas must conform to Progress syntax rules refer to the Progress Programming manuals for further information However QAD Configurator will automatically check your syntax when you click the OK or Save button on the main COP G Route Maintenance screen so using the 4GL syntax check button is not compulsory If the syntax is correct the system inserts a check mark in the Formulas OK check box If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax errors have been found You can then correct the errors before saving the formula QAD Configurator does not use quantity formulas that do not have a check mark in the Formulas OK check box To delete an existing quantity formula that is no longer required either click the Clear button to remove the expression from the formula or highlight the entire expression in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the screen the formula is automatically deleted because the expression is empty You can also delete quantity formulas from the Quantity Formula Inquiry Selection window Dynamic Update of Routing Operation Comments Answers to the
183. ee of questions Checks for cyclical loops Creates one program for the total BOM of the top level generic item to control the questionnaire logic for the complete generic BOM The lower level generic items in a multi level generic BOM are automatically analyzed when the higher level generic item is analyzed In the following example when generic item G1 is analyzed the generic item G2 is analyzed automatically as well You can run the questionnaire for item G2 without first analyzing it separately Example The top level generic item G1 includes another generic item G2 at a lower level Fig 6 3 Multi level Single level Analysis question tree for E ri generic item G1 G1 Single level question tree for generic item G2 BEN C1 c2 c3 In this example features F2 and F3 occur for both generic item G1 and generic item G2 When the Analyzer is run for generic item G1 it also analyzes generic item G2 and produces a question tree for the multi level item This question tree will be applied when running the questionnaire for the higher level item Gl AQAD 194 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD About the Configuration Output Processor The Configuration Output Processor COP is the QAD Configurator function that processes the answers given to questions in the questionnaire and converts the information
184. een the feature options When the Analyzer processes the Knowledge Base for a generic item it imposes a sequence for the questions so that questions that depend on answers to other feature questions are asked after the questions on which they depend However within the constraints of the logical structure of the questions you can arrange the sequence of feature questions in any way you want If you specify a sequence that ignores the logical structure the Analyzer will rearrange the sequence so that the logical requirements are satisfied All features are attached to groups so you must first ensure that you select the correct group for the feature lists you are maintaining then select Feature Sequence Maintenance When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Variables and Features option the system displays the following screen M Feature Sequence Maintenance HOU Item 44 100 4 3 oi x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Wee e e ERR E coolant power converter punp Sort Select Done Cancel Fel etant zb The title bar of the screen shows the currently selected group and generic item You can use the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select another group Use the navigation buttons in the button area to select another generic item within the group The feature list window on the left of the screen shows a list of all the features relating to this g
185. em you can either click the Browse button to the right of this field highlight the required item in the list in the displayed window and click OK or use the navigation buttons in the button area Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 275 To select the customer click the Browse button to the right of the Customer field then highlight the required customer in the list in the displayed window and click OK The customer account name is shown alongside the field Note It is important to select the correct customer when you are using the Pricing functions since the customer is one of the input parameters that is supplied to the QAD pricing engine When you have selected the generic item and the customer click OK to continue with the next stage checking the existing configurations Checking Existing Configurations When you have selected the generic item and the customer the system displays the pre questionnaire version of the Result Inquiry Selection window A Questionnaire HOU Customer 1004000 Item 10 20000 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help ss S el Vs Result Inquiry Selection oot 6 10 20000 16 F Customer 1005000 00000063 10 20000 15 Customer 1005000 00000060 10 20000 14 Customer 1005000 00000057 10 20000 13 Customer 1005000 00000054 10 20000 12 Customer 1005000 00000051 10 20000 11 Customer 1005000 C New Configuration p MV roll up Reload Configurat
186. eneric item The default sequence if you have not performed any sequencing maintenance on the list is by alphanumeric sequence of the feature names that is the variable ID on which each feature is based Knowledge Building Functions 129 There are three basic methods of rearranging the list Moving individual features Using the Select button Using the Sort button When you have finished rearranging the feature list sequence click OK to save the new sequence and exit from the function The system displays a message to advise you that you need to run the Analyzer to activate the question sequence in the questionnaire Moving Individual Features Click a feature to highlight it in the feature list window then click the required button in the Move column to reposition the feature For example if you click the To button the feature is cut from the list you then move the cursor to the new position in the list and click again the feature is moved to the new position You can select more than one feature in the list to reposition by holding down the Shift key while clicking to highlight features The Move buttons then operate on all the selected features You can always undo moves by clicking the Undo Last Action button Using the Select Button If you click the Select button the system displays a screen similar to the following example for you to specify the criteria by which you want to select features from the list on the lef
187. eneric item component specific selection formula available Is a COP detailed rule table selection formula available Is the Maintained by COP Rule Table flag set to On or Off No Off noir Use the COP detailed rule table selection formula On Use the COP rule table selection formula Is a COP rule table selection formula available Yes Use the COP rule table selection formula No Select the component regardless of any rules Simple COP Rule Table Rules You can create and maintain simple COP rules using COP Rule Table Maintenance Simple rules can use ANDs ORs and brackets that are automatically included by the table according to logical rules but they cannot use complex expressions such as calculations Simple rule formulas are built up in the form Variable Operator Option Because the COP operates independently of the Knowledge Base and because variables can occur with different generic items in the generic BOM all COP rules use variables instead of features to define selection and quantity formulas Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 201 You can use the Cross Validation Analyzer to check that the variables used in your COP rules correspond to valid features in the generic BOM See Chapter 6 About Cross Validation Analyzer on page 211 for details Examples of simple rule formulas are Cloth Arctic White Cloth lt gt Tropical Blue The first form
188. ent Effectivity Update Master table effr mstr Routing Operation Effectivity Update Master table eru mstr Element Roll Up Master table fea mstr Feature Master table fed det Feature Detail table fg mstr Functional Group Master table fod det Rule Detail table FAQAD 66 User Guide QAD Configurator Table 3 2 QAD 2008 Standard Tables Associated with a Generic Item FAQAD Table Description for_mstr Rule Master table fpg_mstr Xref Rule table for part or rule groups ftb_mstr Formula Rule table Master table grp_mstr Master Group table pcpt_mstr Generic Item Master table prg mstr Item Rule Group Master table prid det Option Priority Default Detail table pri mstr Option Priority Default Master File ptn mstr Part Number Master table qst mstr Question Type Master table rea mstr COP Rule table rg mstr Rule Group Master table tb det Detail Rule table tb find Search Logic table for Rule tables tb mstr Master table for Rule tables tb pack Cell expressions for Rule tables tb xref Expression to column Xref for Rule tables tpt mstr Xref table for Item and Rule table vad det Variable Detail table Options var mstr Variable Master table Table Description pt mstr Item Master Table ps mstr Product Structure Master Table ro det Routing Detail Table System Setup Functions 67 Fig 3 12 iB xd Create Model Groups Management i TE File Name Loc Browse Package Current Status Fite Records 4
189. entries you make are to give the rule group an identifying name and a description there are no settings or defaults to define When you subsequently want to construct a group of rules you first create the individual rules as general rules and then you add these general rules to the selected rule group The way that you can link general rules and rule group rules to items is shown in the following figure Rule Group Specific Rules Rule Group Rules General Rules Item Item Specific Rules The first stages in the rule definition process cover the setting up of the rule groups and the creation of the general rules Subsequent stages cover adding some of the general rules to rule groups and linking these rule group rules to items and linking some of the general rules directly to items All the general rule and rule group rule interaction is explained in Chapter 4 Knowledge Building Concepts on page 81 At the setup stage all you need to do is use Rule Group Maintenance on the QAD Configurator Setup menu to create the empty rule groups You can always return to this Fig 2 2 Linking General Rules and Rule Group Rules to Items AQAD 48 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD option later when you want to create additional rule groups You do not need to create them all in advance However both the rule group and the general rule must exist before you can link them together in Rule Group
190. equire identical data types QAD Configurator supports Element variable links to two types of entities Internal Entities which are defaults within QAD Configurator and External Entities which you have to define using External Entity Maintenance The type of a variable cannot be changed after it is created This is because the options you define and the rules you create for one type of variable do not apply to another type For each variable you create you can enter a description and define the question type and a short and long version of the question that will be used as the default for features that use this variable You also define other AQAD 84 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD details for the variable depending on the type minimum and maximum values for numeric variables for example or the two choices for a logical variable You set up and maintain the variables in a group using Variable Maintenance within the selected group See Maintaining Variables on page 108 for details About Variable Options The options for a variable are the possible values for the variable that are generally available within the group Further options can be specified when the variable is applied to a specific component but these become feature options as they apply only to the variable when it is linked to that item Not all types of variables can have options defined Numeric variables for example can have any nu
191. equirement the three italic rows in the table You could then choose to proceed using variant item number 9 100 100 53 for example without creating a new variant from your configuration Selecting a Generic Item for the Customer When you run the questionnaire to configure a product for a customer the first stage is to select the generic item for the product and to select the customer It is not compulsory to enter a customer unless you are planning to use customer defaults or the pricing functions When you select the questionnaire function from the QAD Configurator menu the system displays the following screen When you start the questionnaire from Sales Quote Maintenance or Sales Order Maintenance in QAD 2008 Standard the customer is selected in the header and the following screen is not shown n Questionnaire HOU 4 3 OF x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help ES e es Item 10 20000 2 arctic cooling system Customer 1004006 2 Lomo HOURT __Sencei_ EC LAT 14 gt I The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen You must make sure you are working in the correct group before you access this function since there are no programs for changing the group from within this function The Item field displays the most recently maintained generic item A description of the item is shown beneath the selection field To select another generic it
192. er product into hardware software and accessories When you select this option from the QAD Configurator Setup menu the system displays the following screen Fig 3 3 l Functional group Maintenance STD 4 4 E Functional Group z Maintenance Dele eee specifications 2 Specifications Functional Group Enter functional group name Description Enter a brief description of the functional group Question Type Maintenance Use Question Type Maintenance to add view modify or delete the types of question that can be used in the questionnaire When you select this option the system displays the following screen Fig 3 4 Question Type Maintenance FAQAD 58 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 5 Rule Group Maintenance FAQAD In the Question Type field you can create a new question type or select an existing question type to view modify or delete Use the Description field to enter a description of the type of question The only detail to specify for the question type is to select either Foreground or Background as the Level for the question type Foreground questions always appear in the questionnaire Background questions can be answered automatically by QAD Configurator according to the Knowledge Base rules but can be answered manually if required Also you can suppress Background questions from appearing in the questionnaire Rule Group Maintenance Use Rule Group Maintenance to add view mod
193. er this configuration was created for Status Specifies the status of the configuration Fig 10 5 Existing Configurations Screen 299 FAQAD 300 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD O The configuration has not been completed yet that is not all required questions in the Questionnaire have been answered You can load and proceed with the configuration Unfinished configurations can not be used to create variant items F The configuration has been completed You can load the configuration to modify it or directly create a new variant item from it List Price Displays the configured item s list price as calculated by Configurator when the configuration was created You can reprice it when you load the configuration to bring the configured item s list price up to date Net Price Displays the configured item s net price as calculated by Configurator when the configuration was created You can reprice it when you load the configuration to bring the configured item s net price up to date Create Date Shows when the configuration was created User ID Shows which QAD Configurator user created this configuration Item Features All features of the current generic item are listed along with their values By default five configuration records are displayed on each page You this using the Item Per Page value at the bottom of the screen If the configuration display exceeds the screen size use the horizontal scro
194. eric item components only Only the components that are one level lower than the generic item are checked not the components on lower levels Variant quantity formulas The variables used in the quantity formulas must be valid features for the relevant generic item or higher level items Features of a higher level generic item are also available on lower levels if the relevant higher level generic item is the generic item for which the Cross Validation Analyzer is run or is a component of that generic item If the Unknown Answer field is set on in Group Maintenance this is taken care of automatically Formula syntax The Cross Validation Analyzer checks the syntax of all selected formulas by compiling the code using the Progress Compiler Set field to yes when formula OK If this field is on the Cross Validation Analyzer automatically checks the selected formulas again and updates the Formulas OK fields of the selected formulas Variant item numbers Checks if a variant item number exists for every generic item in the product structure QAD Configurator cannot create a variant of the current generic item if it does not have a variant item definition formula to specify the number to be used when storing the new variant item data Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 213 Variables used known as features This routine checks if all features are used properly given the generic items in the generic BOM and the features th
195. eristics of the feature AQAD 86 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Feature Maintenance lets you select the variables from a list of those available within the group You can make alterations to parameters such as the maximum or minimum for numeric variables and there are additional options for making features mandatory where the question must be answered by the customer or fill in where the customer can provide a free format entry for the feature option value You set up and maintain the features in a group using Feature Maintenance within the selected group See Maintaining Features on page 117 for details About Feature Options When you create a feature you base it on an existing variable Depending on the type of variable that variable can already have an associated list of variable options numeric variables do not have options In Group Maintenance a field will have been set to control whether the features in this group must use only the variable options or whether additional feature options can be specified This is the Std Options check box on the Group Maintenance screen If the Std Options check box is selected for this group only the variable options are available However some of the questions may be designated as fill in indicating that you can make a free format entry If the Std Options check box is not selected you can customize the variable options to include or exclude particular options and
196. es agq crc ags crc fmt idseq for forid pcm index pcm mstr pept rcode pcpt mstr res resid res mstr rg rgrpid tb uniq id user id AQAD 38 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 40 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Understanding QAD 2008 Standard Setup QAD Configurator is designed to work with the QAD 2008 Standard database of manufacturing data it does not maintain a separate database of item data bills of material BOMs or routings To use the functions of QAD Configurator you must define which items in QAD 2008 Standard are to be interpreted as generic items by QAD Configurator QAD 2008 Standard does not itself use the term generic item This then gives access to the relevant product structures as generic BOMs and the relevant routings as generic routings Generic Items BOMs and Routings Before starting to perform QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configurator setup it is worth taking some time to make sure that you understand what is meant in QAD Configurator by generic items generic BOMs and generic routings Generic Item A generic item is the parent item for a particular generic bill of material It is usually not an item that can be manufactured It is an identifier for the complete list of component items that can be configured in a product From the generic item you can configure a variant item that can be manufactured In some of
197. es Options are possible values for variables Features are variables that have been linked to a generic item Feature options are possible values for features Example You can define color as a variable for your product You can then define available colors as variable options blue red white and so on When you link this variable to a generic item you then have a feature for the product You can define the feature options as being the same as the variable options blue red white and so on Or you can also define additional values or extra colors that apply only to this feature Variables options and features are maintained within groups Always make sure that you have selected the correct group before you create or modify any variables options or features You can select another group using the Master Browse button on the toolbar of the relevant screen About Variables Variables are used to define the general characteristics of your products that your customers must make decisions about when choosing a product configuration QAD Configurator recognizes a number of different types of variable such as numeric variables text variables and logical variables When you add a new variable the first decision you have to make is to define the variable type Knowledge Building Concepts 83 The following table summarizes the types of variable you can use in QAD Configurator Table 4 1 Variable Type Description QAD Con
198. es A C and D It therefore follows that the questionnaire must present the questions relating to variables A C and D before the question relating to variable E The following table shows a development of this example where the variables are identified by the letters A to G and the options are represented by numbers Each row in the table shows the relationship between different variables specified by a particular rule that has been attached to the item The column on the right shows the relationship in graphic form AQAD 188 User Guide QAD Configurator Table 6 1 Feature Relationships FAQAD Rule Proposition Conclusion Description Graphical Relation A 1 B 2 Questions B and C are C 3 dependent on the answer to A PU question A so you must Ww answer question A before B and C can be answered WA f B d C v ww C E 5 Question E is dependent on pea the answers to questions C fe C EN and D so you must answer Ww M questions C and D before E N can be answered Dok E ww E 5 G E F Question G is dependent on the answer to questions E g E g F and F Question E itself L d y depends on question D N G uM G 6 D 4 Question D is dependent on the answer to question G so d m you must answer question G G before you can answer question D AA D bd When you run the Analyzer for this generic item it examines the relationships between the features that have been specified
199. es Quote Maintenance order line Only completed configurations with a status of F can be used to create new variant items Incomplete configurations with a status of O must be completed first before they can be used for item creation Loading an Existing Configuration When an existing configuration partially matches your requirements or is incomplete you can load the configuration and modify or complete it in the Questionnaire To load an existing configuration click the Load Configuration icon next the Configuration ID This directs you to the Configure Item screen which displays all the configuration questions and answers All existing configurations can be loaded but configurations with different statuses are processed differently when loaded Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 303 f you load a finished configuration with a status of F a duplicate of the existing configuration will be created with a new configuration ID All the questions and answers in the Questionnaire will be the same but you will actually be working on a new copy of the original configuration f you load an incomplete configuration with a status of O the original configuration with the same configuration ID will be loaded Creating a New Configuration To create a new configuration from scratch click the New Configuration button in the Existing Configurations screen to go to the Configure Item screen Configure Item Whether you load an exist
200. es for a given variable Click the Variable Options button to add all variable options of the current variable to the list at once If you called the Wizard from Item Rule Table Maintenance the label of this button will be Feature Options and when you click the button all feature options will be added to the list If an option is already in the list it will not be added so that every option occurs at most once in the list Click the Add Value button to enter a value that is not an option This button calls the Add Value Window in which you can enter that particular value The AII Values button is only available when you are deleting rows When you click it the entry all is added to the list This entry represents all values except the value empty As a result if you are deleting rows and select all for a variable the Wizard will delete all rows except those for which the cell for this variable is empty provided that these rows meet the conditions specified for the other variables If you only used variable options in the cells of the rule table clicking the Options button will have the same effect You can use the Blank button to indicate that a cell for the current variable should be empty On clicking it the value blank is added to the list If you are adding rows this indicates that these rows will have no entry in AQAD 172 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD the cell of the current variable If you are dele
201. estic medium capacity standard Rule A corresponds to row 1 in the rule table and rule B to row 2 A rule table can contain one or more conditions IF variables and one or more results THEN variables the only restriction is that the total number of variables cannot exceed 20 The various clauses that are specified in a table are linked in an AND relationship as you can see in the previous example A variable can appear both in the IF clause and in the THEN clause of a single rule table Apart from its actual value a variable can also have an extent a minimum value a maximum value and a default value Because of this you must specify not only the variable ID and the extent of the variable you want to use in a certain clause of a rule but also the type of value you are testing for condition or manipulating result The various types of value are called attributes of the variable Attributes are displayed after variable IDs in the rule table header A particular variable is therefore characterized by the combination of its ID its extent and its attribute It is in fact this AQAD 98 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD combination that can be used only once in a clause the same variable with another attribute can be used in the same clause without any problem Example coolant housing height housing height housing width IF value IF value THEN max THEN min standard 200 400 100 2 s
202. estion Tree Diagram 1 AQAD 190 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 6 2 Question Tree Diagram 2 FAQAD This question tree would correspond to the following list of questions in the questionnaire Question A B C D sE F G Independent questions are not indented in the list of questions The independent questions in this list are A D and F as in the question tree The amount of the indentation shows successive levels of dependence The question tree and the question list are dynamic and change each time a question is answered In the current example the following diagram shows the question tree after question A has been answered Low Level Code 0 Low Level Code 1 Low Level Code 2 c D F aae EE Because question A has been answered questions B and C now become independent questions along with D and F Questions E and G move up a level but are still not independent because of their relationships with C D and F Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 191 This question tree is represented in the question list as follows Question B C D E F G This example shows that there are two ways that questions can become independent and therefore ready for answering Genuinely independent questions that never were dependent on other questions Questions that are dependent on other questions that have been answered already
203. existing configuration you are prompted to reprice the item Always reprice You are prompted when loading an existing configuration the item price is always recalculated based on current component prices Never reprice The item price is not recalculated the original price stored as part the configuration result is used After you complete all the questions click the View Summary button or the Configuration Summary tab to proceed to the next step in the item configuration process Review and Submit Configuration The Configuration Summary screen lets you review the answers you have provided so far save your configuration and view similar configurations and finally create and order a variant item based on your configuration Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 309 Fig 10 11 LT utei Configuration QAD Configurator March Customer 4000 Item 10 20001 Summary Screen Existing Configuration Configure Item T Configuration Summary Review your configuration View similar configuration Summary gt Question Group Question Answer Net Price Configuration ID 00000780 2 Detail Specs Usage Industrial List Price 800 00 USD 2 Detail Specs Coolant Medic grade Net Price 800 00 USD 2 Detail Specs Region UK Discount 0 00 3 Accessories Backup yes Description 3 Accessories Backup type Alkaline batt No Description 2 Detail Specs Pump Medium capacity 600 00 1 Housin
204. existing variant item Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 311 Create a variant item from an existing configuration Load an existing configuration Continue with the current configuration Ordering an Existing Variant Item If you find an existing variant item that exactly matches your specific configuration requirements you can directly order the variant by clicking the Submit icon next to the variant item number This closes the Questionnaire window and returns the variant item number to the item number field in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance Existing variant items are configuration records that have variant item numbers and are marked with a status of F Create a Variant Item from an Existing Configuration If an existing configuration exactly matches your specific requirements but no variant item has been created from it no variant item number is displayed in the variant item field you can create a variant item from it and order the new variant item by clicking the Create Variant icon next to the Configuration ID This closes the Questionnaire window and returns the newly created variant item number to the item number field in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance Only completed configurations with a status of F can be used to create new variant items Incomplete configurations with a status of O must be completed first before they can be used for item creation Load an Existing Confi
205. f answering questions At the top the Summary panel displays the current configuration ID and item price information Item price is updated each time you answer a question You can customize the Questionnaire settings to specify which type of price information you want to see The summary panel includes a running summary of questions and answers you have supplied for each functional group You can click a question in the panel to access it making it easy to locate a question and navigate in the questionnaire Viewing Question Rules If a question has rules a question mark icon displays next to it Move your cursor over it to view its rules Fig 10 8 Question Help zi PrinterCable Qe USB Cable 10 Rule H IF PrinterType Officejet 5700 C Starter Kit 20 0 THEN value Starter Kit Cna FAQAD 306 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 9 Comment Window FAQAD Editing Comment To view or edit a comment for a configuration click the Edit Comment button In the Comment widow edit the comment description or details You can search for configurations in the Existing Configurations screen based on the comment description Comment x Description Comment E Save Cancel Customize the Questionnaire You can customize whether to display certain elements in the questionnaire and how they are displayed To customize the questionnaire click the Customize icon next to the message bar in the Configu
206. f the new variant for example run time ro_det ro_run Quantity Assigns values to the fields of the newly created variant routing entries Variant Definition Defines how to build up the new variant item ps_mstr Item numbers The variant items created by QAD pt mstr Number Configurator get new unique item numbers E according to these formulas How COP Relates to Other QAD Configurator Functions The features options and rules in the Knowledge Base are used by the questionnaire to generate a result which is a description of the required product configuration This result and the generic BOM and generic routing information from QAD 2008 Standard are used as inputs to the COP The four modules of the COP process the information from the result to select and modify data from the generic BOM and routing in order to create a new variant BOM and routing About COP Rules Using COP Maintenance you can set up and maintain selection and quantity formulas that are specific to a selected component within the generic item You can also use COP Rule Table and COP Detail Rule Table to set up and maintain default selection formulas that are independent of any generic item e COP Rule Table is used to maintain simple selection formulas by way of a table FAQAD Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 199 COP Detail Rule Table is used to maintain complex selection formulas that cannot be maintained by way of a table T
207. f the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar To select another item use the navigation buttons in the button area The Available Rules window in the lower left of the screen lists the rules that are available within this group The item rules window in the lower right of the screen lists the rules that have been linked to this item The frame above the two lists shows the details of the currently highlighted rule If the General Rule check box is checked the rule is a general rule and can only be maintained using General Rule Maintenance If the General Rule check box is not checked the rule is specific to this item and can only be maintained using the Maintain button below the item rules window Adding and Removing General Rules To add a general rule to the selected item highlight the required rule in the Available Rules window then click the Include button The rule is moved to the item rules window and is now linked to this item It is still a general rule though and can be linked to other items or included in other rule groups as well Knowledge Building Functions 151 To remove a general rule from the selected item highlight the required rule in the item rules window then click the Exclude button The rule is moved back to the Available Rules window and is no longer linked to the item To include or exclude all the rules in the lists use the Incl All and Excl All buttons Ite
208. f you do not select this check box the Help window will stay in the same place on the main screen regardless of the cell the cursor is in Select the Exclusion check box to indicate that you want to enter a condition or result of the type Variable lt gt value the variable is NOT equal to the value you enter in the cell This check box is dimmed in the case of THEN variables except for the following types of THEN variables discrete set text discrete set calculable discrete date other provided that their attribute is value and in the case of an IF variable of the type logical because using exclusions in these clauses would be meaningless Click the green check mark button to confirm your entries and to transfer them to the current cell in the table Entering Data in a Cell of the Rule Table To enter a value in a cell first select the cell by positioning the cursor in it You can then either enter the required expression in the cell create it in the small help window and click the green check mark button or enter it in the large field directly below the table ID Knowledge Building Functions 159 The expressions you enter in a cell of the rule table must conform to the format rules that were defined for the rule tables The exact choice of formats for a certain cell depends on the type of clause you are specifying and on the type of variable for which you are entering the expression If you enter an expression that is not allow
209. ferent materials However only two of the materials are available in widths greater than 1 5 meters Material is therefore dependent on the answer to width AQAD 90 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Without any user controlled sequencing the Analyzer would present the questions in the following sequence width material length The indentation of material indicates that it is dependent on a previous independent feature in this case width Using Feature Sequence Maintenance you could manually set the feature sequence as follows length material width When the Analyzer processes the features and rules for your product it determines that material is dependent on width and modifies the sequence length width material The part of the sequence that does not affect the logical structure remains the same as you set so length is now the first question However the Analyzer has changed the sequence of the width and material questions to keep the dependency of the latter to the former Knowledge Building Rules Whenever you have a number of features defined for a generic item you will usually find that the options of one feature will have an effect on the choices that can be made for the options of another feature Example In the automobile industry the generic item could be a family of different models of a type of car If a customer selects the 1 1 liter engine option the 5 speed gearbox is not an option
210. figurator Variables Numeric An unlimited range of numeric values which can be used for calculations You can restrict the range by specifying minimum and or maximum values and a multiple value that determines the increments between acceptable values Some examples are Width Length Price Discrete Set Text A limited range of predefined text values Options which cannot be used in calculations Some examples are Color with options red blue white and so on or Body Type with options saloon coup hatchback Discrete Set Calculable A limited range of predefined numeric values Options which can be used in calculations Some examples are Engine Capacity with options 1300 1600 1900 2300 and so on or Voltage with options 115 220 and so on Discrete Date A limited range of predefined date values Discrete Logical A Boolean Yes No decision or any two mutually exclusive choices These can be presented in the questionnaire as a check box which you either select or deselect or as a pair of options where you can select one or the other Some examples are Battery Backup Yes if selected otherwise No or Manual or Automatic select one Element A variable directly related to a field in a database table You will see a variable of the type element but in the background QAD Configurator changes the type so that the value of the variable can be compared to the value in the database Comparisons r
211. figurator Features 321 COP Report The COP Report provides information on the COP rules that have been defined in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of generic items to report on The range of component items to report on You can then select check boxes to include formulas for the following elements in the report Variant item Part and external entities Generic BOM Generic routing Variant item numbers Multi level the report includes all lower level items as well Finally you can select Whether to include comments Whether to organize the report by page Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen COP Rule Table Report The COP Rule Table Report provides information on the COP Rule Table rules that have been defined in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The master item to report on The range of component items to report on Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen FAQAD 322 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Where Used Report The Where Used Report provides information on where variables are used in QAD Configurator that is which generic items in which groups use each variable You can then select check boxes to
212. figurator check if a result or variant item already exists that matches your required configuration To do this QAD Configurator uses the result key of the generic item which specifies what combination of features uniquely describes a variant If QAD Configurator finds that a result or a variant already exists with the same configuration description you can then decide either to use the already existing result or variant or to continue with the questionnaire and create a new result and variant reate a New Variant 288 268 FAQAD User Guide QAD Configurator Using the Questionnaire Windows User Interface You enter the customer s answers to the questions in the Answer Question frame of the screen The details of each question in turn are displayed in this frame You can either select the customer s choice of options from a displayed list or enter the answer into a fill in field In some cases only one answer is possible and all you have to do is confirm the customer s acceptance of the answer Buttons are provided below the Answer Question frame for the following functions Answer All Answer all the questions at once by accepting default values Customize Change the way that questions are displayed in the list Correct Change the answer to a question that has already been answered Comment For future use The Status column in the question list frame shows the status of each question This column
213. figure a variant item If this is the case you do not have to set up the generic routings in QAD 2008 Standard for your product family When all the correct product related data is present in QAD 2008 Standard you can define the parent item for the product as a generic item in QAD Configurator This is necessary as the first step in the process of building the Knowledge Base for the product because all the QAD Configurator programs make reference to the generic item The following figure illustrates the relationship between QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configurator Fig 2 1 Relationship between QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configurator QAD ERP Base Data QAD Configurator Data Gewetm Components s Generic Routing oes Create Generic Item Knowledge Building V Knowledge Exploitation b Run Questionnaire Create Variant bs Variant Item p sene Variant Routing Operations AQAD 44 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The parent item generic BOM and generic routing information from QAD 2008 Standard is used in QAD Configurator by way of the generic item When you configure a product in QAD Configurator to create a variant item the variant BOM and the variant routing you create can be used by QAD 2008 Standard to manufacture the configured product Understanding QAD Configurator Setup When you have installed QA
214. from the Knowledge Base menu or else you can use the copy function to copy the variables features and rules from an existing generic item and then use the relevant maintenance options to make whatever changes you need for the new generic item When you select Copy Function from the Knowledge Base menu the system displays the following screen Fig 5 45 FA Copy Function HOU 4 3 Inixi Copy Function File Edit view Tools Options Window Help EE EE RE Multi Copy Generic Item Maintenance New item 44 100 2 conrnon UNIT HOME USE Copy from item 10 20000 2 Geka ne en V Features V Feature options IV Result Key v Rules v General Rules v Rule Groups M Item specific Rules M New General Rule Table IV Iten specific Rule Table Terminar y IV cop data v Part t 1 v c BoM v G Routing Iv Variant Item Nbr arta KI The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar AQAD 182 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 46 Copy Function Report AQAD The New item field shows the most recently maintained generic item in the current group To select another item click the Browse button to the right of the New item field then click the required item in the displayed list Alternatively you can use the navigation buttons in the button area The i
215. function is included on the Knowledge Base menu under Rules because it deals with specifying the features for a generic item that will be used to uniquely identify variant configurations The selection of the key features therefore forms part of the Knowledge Base for that generic item See Maintaining Results Keys on page 178 for more details Knowledge Building Concepts 103 Creating Knowledge Base Data Using the Copy Function Because families of products frequently use similar bills of material and variables and are governed by similar product configuration rules it is often quicker to generate the Knowledge Base for a new generic item by copying the Knowledge Base data for an existing generic item and then modifying the elements that are different The copy function which you access from the Knowledge Base menu lets you copy Knowledge Base data from one generic item to a new one in the same group You can choose to copy a combination of the following elements Features Feature options General rules that are attached to the source item Rule groups that are attached to the source item tem specific rules See Copy Function on page 181 for more details Pricing The QAD Configurator pricing functions provide pricing information of the components that are selected in the questionnaire Components are selected based on COP rules and the selected feature options answers in the questionnaire QAD 2008 St
216. g Rules File Edit View Tools Options Window Help v Rule OK EET E E m salesprice lt gt 0 00 pump pricing_qty pricing punp pricing qty E id Done v Cancel o New Attr Pricing aev Delete E eres Window help In the previous example a general pricing rule has been entered The variable pricing is a numeric feature which gives the quantity of variant items to be configured This quantity is important because prices for components can differ depending on the number sold The pricing variable will be filled by answering one of the first questions in the questionnaire This is because the pricing variable will be one of the subset of independent questions FAQAD 142 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 23 Variable Help Window AQAD The previous rule states that if a number of generic items is to be configured and the user is selecting a feature option for the feature pump the QAD pricing engine will calculate prices based on the value of pricing entered in the questionnaire Pricing rules differ from ordinary rules in that the right side of the equation contains a feature instead of an option In this example the value of the feature pricing will be used as the pricing quantity for the pump Note Using the value of feature pricing in the right side of the THEN part of the rule is only possible in advanced mode Using Help Windows for Composing Rules You
217. g Housing length 70 Comment 1 Housing Housing width 70 No Comment 1 Housing Housing height 70 2 Detail Specs power converter Smart 200 00 1 Housing Housing area 29400 1 Housing Paint housing no Reviewing Current Configuration The configuration summary table displays question group functional group question feature answer selected feature option and net price of components calculated based on selected feature options for each question The hideable Summary panel on the right displays general information about the generic item you are configuring All the questions or features of the generic item you are configuring are displayed in the configuration grid Unanswered questions show Select an Option in the Answer column When you review your answers you can always click the Back button or the Configure Item tab to return to the questionnaire to change your answers To jump to a specific question in the questionnaire click the answer in the configuration grid FAQAD 310 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 12 Similar Configurations Window AQAD Viewing Similar Configurations When you have completed or partially completed the questionnaire you can view existing configurations that are similar to the configuration you have created so far The system searches for similar configurations by filtering existing records using your answers as search criteria If no answer is provided to a question th
218. g them in the Fields list then clicking the Add button The field or fields are moved to the Sort by list on the right You can change the order of the Sort by fields by highlighting a field and clicking the Up or Down buttons until the sort sequence is as you want it Then click OK to perform the sort Knowledge Building Functions 131 Updating Comments In QAD 2008 Standard you can add one or more pages of comment text in different languages to the routing of an item When you configure an item in QAD Configurator the system creates a variant item and copies the routing comment from the generic item to the variant item You can incorporate comments entered in QAD Configurator into the QAD 2008 Standard routing comment of the variant item In order to incorporate QAD Configurator comments into the QAD 2008 Standard routing comment you put special codes in the routing comment These special codes refer to the various comments in QAD Configurator When QAD Configurator copies a routing comment from the generic item to a variant item whenever it encounters such a special code it replaces this code with the correct QAD Configurator comment QAD Configurator copies the routing comments for all QAD 2008 Standard supported languages However it only replaces codes with QAD Configurator comments if the language of the QAD Configurator comment is the same as the language of the routing comment that is being copied If the required QAD C
219. guration When an existing configuration partially matches your requirements or is incomplete you can load the configuration and modify or complete it in the Questionnaire window To load an existing configuration click the Load Configuration icon next the Configuration ID This directs you to the Configure Item screen which displays all the configuration questions and answers All existing configurations can be loaded but configurations with different statuses are processed differently when loaded AQAD 312 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD If you load a finished configuration with a status of F a duplicate of the existing configuration is created with a new configuration ID All the questions and answers in the Questionnaire window are the same but you are actually working on a new copy of the original configuration If you load an incomplete configuration with a status of O the original configuration with the same configuration ID is loaded Continue with the Current Configuration If you do not find any existing configurations that you can reuse click Cancel to close the window and continue with your current configuration Submitting Configuration This is the final step in the item configuration process After you have gone through all the questions in the questionnaire and created a configuration based on your answers you submit the configuration The system saves it as a new variant item or a matching one an
220. gured In the Knowledge Exploitation phase engineering personnel specify all the formulas and rules needed to define which components and processes are required for the product depending on the features selected by the customer The Knowledge Building and Knowledge Exploitation information is used by QAD Configurator when sales personnel run the questionnaire to configure the product for customers Using QAD Configurator in a selling situation you need to enter details of the customer s configuration requirements for the product you are selling You do this by running the questionnaire in QAD Configurator There are two ways you can access the questionnaire n Sales Order Maintenance 7 1 1 or Sales Quotation Maintenance 7 12 1 enter a generic item number in the order or quote line and QAD Configurator automatically starts questionnaire Introduction to QAD Configurator 7 Note To activate the questionnaire during sales order or quote entry QAD Configurator must be set to Yes in CPD Products Control File 99 You must then exit QAD 2008 Standard and log in again for the setting to take effect See Installation Guide QAD Configurator for more information Note You must enter the generic item number in the order line by directly typing it in the field or selecting it from the lookup Do not use the up and down arrow keys to select a generic item number otherwise the questionnaire will not display Start QAD Configurator
221. h all the relevant subsidiary windows open You can now add extra components remove unwanted components or make modifications to the parameters for particular components before clicking OK to save your new definition formula COP Rule Table Maintenance About COP Rules on page 198 explains about COP rules and the difference between simple COP rules and complex COP rules It also explains how you can use COP Rule Table Maintenance or COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance to set up and maintain default selection formulas that are independent of any generic item You can use COP Rule Table Maintenance to maintain simple selection formulas through a table When you select this function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen Knowledge Exploitation Functions 241 Fig 7 14 Specifying Table 555 E EST 3 rij Size Nbr of columns fo max 10 Nbr of rows hs max 18 OK Cancel This screen is used to specify the size of the table you want to use for the current session of Rule Table Maintenance The table used for maintaining rules shows the component items for which you are maintaining rules listed down the left side of the table as rows and the variables features to which the rules relate listed across the top of the table as columns Note The minimum value for Nbr of Columns and Nbr of Rows is 2 Example If you want to maintain rules for 16 components and the rules relate to 9 variables
222. h color sunset orange You could also use the not equal to operator lt gt arctic white sunset orange This would create a selection formula where the component is selected on the following condition cloth color arctic white AND cloth color lt gt sunset orange When a multiple option selection has been specified the cell shows an M in front of the equation operator and shows only the first option specified The option is shown in white text on a blue background To see the other options in the Multiple selection first position the cursor in the cell then click the right mouse button over the cell to display a pop up window as in the following example n COP Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help CG Ey EN Working on CORD POWER UK RT S TESTING Formula Preview Features 22 100 26 100 55 100 a Knowledge Exploitation Functions 249 Formula Preview If you want to see the selection formula you have defined by the entries you have made in the cells for a component first select the component row then click the Formula Preview button to the left of the Equation operator buttons The system displays a window showing the complete syntax of the formula as in the following example Fig 7 20 Formula Preview cloth color AND paint frame tropical blue yes This selection formula specifies that the component will be select
223. have chosen to create a new result or modify an existing result the next stage is to supply answers to the questions in the question list The system displays the questionnaire main screen as in the following example 4 Questionnaire STD customer 4000 Item 10 20000 4 4 E lolx File Edit view Tools Options Window Help m EN Li All Groups Cumulative 187500 Net Price aa 2 DetalSpec Pump Low capacity 500 00 2 DetalSpec Coolant Medic grade Ce 0 00 2 DetalSpec Region UK 0 00 3 Accessories Backup yes Ce 0 00 3 Accessories Backup type Alkaline batt 0 00 1 Housing Housing height 70 0 00 1 Housing Housing length 70 0 00 1 Housing Housing width 70 0 00 2 DetalSpec power converter Smart 200 00 1 Housing Housing area 29400 A 1176 00 1 Housing Paint housing no 0 00 Lut The group the customer if available and the item number are shown in the title bar of the screen for information but you cannot change these selections on this screen Question List The main part of the questionnaire screen on the left displays the question list for the selected generic item The Question column lists the short question the feature ID or the long question depending on the selection you make in the Customize window The normal default is the short question The Answer column shows the selected set of default answers to the questions If you are creating a new configurat
224. he actual configuration processes QAD Configurator uses an Analyzer to check the dependency rules Note The Analyzer checks loops and sequences of questions based on dependencies between product features Knowledge Exploitation includes the following steps 1 Analyze rules Analyzer 2 Define Configuration Output Processor COP rules Selection and quantity rules for components generic bill of material Selection and quantity rules for operations generic routing Rules for assigning values to fields in the item of the variant item e Definition of the item number of the variant generated by QAD Configurator 3 Analyze COP rules using Cross Validation Analyzer optional 4 Start questionnaire Configuring an Item To configure a variant item of a particular generic item you start the QAD Configurator questionnaire for this generic item You can do this either as a separate process within QAD Configurator or you can make use of the integration of QAD Configurator with QAD 2008 Standard and link to the questionnaire directly from Sales Quote Maintenance or Sales Order Maintenance The questionnaire leads you through the item s features and options in a structured and efficient way QAD Configurator does not request answers for questions that can be answered automatically according to the rules that have been set up unless confirmation of the answer is specifically Introduction to QAD Configurator 11 required m
225. he customer to make for this feature The second frame applies only to features based on numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables It shows the minimum and maximum values for the feature or else indicates that the range is infinite at either or both ends This frame also shows the multiple used to determine the increment between acceptable values within the range the default value of the feature and the unit of measure UM If you click the numeric button at the right of this frame the system displays a window where you can change the settings for the number of digits and decimal places whether negative values are allowed and the rounding method Fig 5 7 Feature Maintenance HOU 4 3 Feature Numeric HU NISI d Details E sir OK DIViVE m r Negative Standard Decimals Jz C Up Cancel The default values for these numeric settings are defined for the group in Group Maintenance and may have been modified for the variable in Variable Maintenance but you can modify them for individual features if required If you have changed them you can use the Defaults button to restore the numeric settings to the ones specified in Variable Maintenance Questionnaire Characteristics of Features Below the numeric frame in the Feature Maintenance screen are two options and three check boxes that you can use to control the way the questionnaire handles the question relating to this feature FAQAD 120 Use
226. he previous paragraphs for selecting the Printer and File options the system displays the Printer or File window and you can then proceed to print or save the report Access QAD Configurator Before you can use QAD Configurator you must set up the system first See Installation Guide QAD Configurator for additional information on setting up QAD Configurator Logging in to QAD Configurator QAD Configurator is a standard QAD 2008 Standard module and is accessed from within QAD 2008 Standard Since the module has its own exclusive access control you must first log in to QAD 2008 Standard then log in to QAD Configurator to access the module Note If a QAD Configurator user ID identical to the user ID you used to log in to QAD 2008 Standard you will not be required to log in again when you access QAD Configurator The system will automatically log you in even if the passwords for the two user IDs are different Introduction to QAD Configurator 25 After you have logged in to QAD 2008 Standard perform the following steps to access QAD Configurator 1 From the Windows Start menu choose All Programsl ConfiguratorFolderNamelStart CPD 2 The QAD Configurator database starts From the Windows Start menu choose All ProgramslCon iguratorFolderNamelGUI client for CPD 3 Inthe QAD 2008 Standard main menu do one of the following to run QAD Configurator e Click the Custom button and click 50 QAD Configurator in the menu
227. he right of the item number field The Item Selection window displays Fig 7 23 COP Detail Rule Table Maintena HOU 4 3 Item Selection o Item Number 2 Additional Selections Description Pur Mfg I E Rev Prod Line J Item Type Drawing Lr MFG PRO group Parent Item 10 20000 Reference Component Review Selection i Component Item Description Description p MOTOR DODGE 440CC GAS POWERED 350 HP PUMP l000GPH SERIES 10K PUMP 10000GPH SERIES 10K PUMP 100KGPH SERIES 10K CASE HOME INDUST UNIT KOOLAIRE TM COOLANT STANDARD SCENTED The Component Review Selection window in the lower left of the screen shows the items that are available for selection in the QAD 2008 Standard database FAQAD 252 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD You select a component for Detail Rule Maintenance by highlighting it in the component Review Selection window and clicking OK The system returns you to the Detail Rule Table Maintenance screen with the selected component in the item number field You can use the fields in the upper part of the screen to limit the number of component items shown in the component Review Selection window This can speed up the process of finding the required component in the list Enter a value in one or more of the fields for example the first character of the item number or a parent item number Then click the filter button to the right of th
228. he variant field shows the variant item number for the manually maintained result that has been most recently accessed The result ID status date and time are shown in the frame below this field and the details of the questionnaire answers that make up the result are shown in the feature option list window To select another result to maintain you can either use the navigation buttons in the button area or you can click the Browse button to the right of the Variant field The system displays a screen where you can select the required variant item using filter fields in the top part of the screen to narrow the search FAQAD 328 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD When you have selected a manually maintained result you can modify it by changing the answers to the questionnaire questions in much the same way as when using the questionnaire If you no longer require the result you can delete it by clicking the Delete button The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion See Chapter 9 Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI on page 267 for details on completing questionnaire questions Creating a New Result If you want to create a new result click the New button in the button area Enter the variant item number in the variant field or click the Browse button to select the variant item from the selection screen The screen shows all available items in QAD 2008 Standard The variant must exist in QAD 2
229. hese typically contain more complicated conditions for selection such as the use of calculations and logical expressions All of these COP selection and quantity formulas are known collectively as COP rules since they govern the way that components and routings are selected in much the same way that the Knowledge Base rules control the way that features and options are selected When the COP processes a result relating to a generic item it must examine every component in the generic BOM and check to see whether there are COP rules that specify whether the component should be included or not If there is no rule that applies to the component it will always be selected If there is a rule the COP uses a standard algorithm to determine which rule should apply a component specific rule a detail rule table rule or a rule table rule In the COP G BOM Maintenance module a Use Default field can be set to indicate that a default rule should be used from either COP Rule Table or COP Detail Rule Table There is also a field in COP Detail Rule Table that indicates whether a rule is maintained in COP Rule Table The following shows the decisions made in the COP algorithm to determine which rule to use AQAD 200 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 6 4 COP Rule Selection Decision Tree AQAD Is the Use Default flag set to On or Off Off No noir Use the component component specific selection formula On Is a g
230. ht of the variant product Before you can run Item Element Roll Up you must first define the element roll up rules for generic items You do this using Element Roll Up Maintenance See Element Roll Up Maintenance on page 255 and Item Element Roll Up on page 257 for details Depending on whether you want to roll up component related elements or routing related elements you can use Element Roll Up Maintenance to compose roll up rules from either of the following sources Product structure ps mstr and or item data pt mstr both using either master data or component data e Routing data ro det and or Work Center data wc mstr AQAD 210 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 6 6 Element Roll Up Process FAQAD The following diagram illustrates the element roll up process G1 G2 Roll up one level E Roll up rules can consist of simple expressions containing only one element which are called normal rules or complex expressions containing more than 1 element which are called advanced rules Roll up one level Roll up all levels Example A normal rule that rolls up the production lead time of all components could take the following form x pt mfg lead Example A more complex rule could take the following form x component pt abc qty master pt dec01 ps qty per Within Element Roll Up Maintenance for a normal rule you select the single element to roll up from
231. i gt f ndow help Done Bisco iF 220 00 fa UR en ond acp Select the Operator by clicking the down arrow by the short field between the variable and options values windows For numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables you can use any of the usual comparison operators For other discrete set variables the only operators you can use are equal to and not equal to and lt gt You select the required operator by clicking it in the list Select the option or value by highlighting it in the options values window For some variables such as some numeric variables there is no list of options to select from and you enter a value in a fill in field For variables that are defined as fill in you can enter values in rules that are not included in the list of options for the variable When you have composed the expression click the green check mark button to accept the line for the rule The clause you have composed is displayed in the main rule display window You can now click another clause selection option and continue composing the other clauses of the rule Knowledge Building Functions 139 Composing an Advanced Expression When you select the advanced format the composition part of the screen looks like the following example Fig 5 20 rr C THEN ELSE faavancea sts fe Composing an Advanced Expression mE 2 F osx Attr Value f al Advanced for
232. ic items This check box is normally deselected only when you are testing temporary rule changes and want to save excess analysis time SQ SO WO Maintenance Use these options to select the type of entry that QAD Configurator will use to store sales quote sales order and work order information The first buttons SQ BOM SO BOM and WO BOM are not currently in use The Item BOM buttons cause QAD Configurator to generate a variant item BOM and routing when the questionnaire creates a result The User buttons let the user decide whether to create an item BOM and routing when creating a result The Off buttons prevent the creation of an item BOM and routing Group Maintenance Use Group Maintenance to add view modify and delete groups which are used to categorize the contents of Knowledge Base for example to group related families of products together When you select this option from the QAD Configurator Setup menu the system displays the following screen AQAD 56 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 2 Group Maintenance AQAD M Group Maintenance 4 3 OF x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help DO Bo ois Cs Master Group std 2 I Comment Description Digits s Rounding C Down UM Decimals E Standard Negative C up Settings V Multi Level BOM Iv Routings Done V Unknown Answer Item Pur Mfg types Cancel T sta Options New Delete Eaj mwa l4 gt
233. ide covers the use and administration of the QAD Configurator product QAD Configurator lets sales personnel configure customer specific products without having to know the technical details of their products Using QAD Configurator you can Set up variables options features and rules as the basis of customer specific product configuration Maintain and validate configuration rules Generate variant items through questionnaires This guide applies to QAD 2007 QAD 2007 1 and QAD 2008 Standard This product was initially called MFG PRO eB2 1 As of Service Pack 5 it was renamed QAD Enterprise Applications 2007 QAD 2007 with a subsequent release called QAD 2007 1 Now the product name is QAD Enterprise Applications 2008 Standard Edition QAD 2008 Standard This document uses QAD 2008 Standard throughout to refer to those products except in situations where it discusses a specific release Other Documentation For QAD Configurator installation instructions refer to Installation Guide QAD Configurator For QAD Enterprise Applications software installation instructions refer to the appropriate installation guide for your system For information on using QAD Enterprise Applications refer to the User Guides About This Guide 3 QAD Web Site QAD s Web site provides a wide variety of information about the company and its products You can access the Web site at http www qad com For users with a Q
234. iew Tools Options Window Help 2A A E E m en X v Rule OK ID g4 OR USA region UK OR Western Europ AND usage domestic Backup no AND pump lt gt medium capacity AND lt gt high capacity l4 f 7 help KA Cancel al gs 2 F sx Attr fvaiue 7 QAD Configurator automatically links the multiple options with OR if you are using the equal to operator or with AND if you are using the not equal to operator Changing a Line in a Rule To change a line in a rule first highlight the line to be changed by clicking it You can now use the rule composition functions to change the variable operator option value or expression as required When you click the green check mark button to accept the modified line it replaces the original version of the line in the rule Moving Lines in a Rule You can move a line in a rule but only within the clause it is currently part of First select the line by clicking it then click the Up or Down buttons on the toolbar between the Cut Copy Paste buttons and the 4GL syntax check button The line moves up or down one position for each click of the relevant button Knowledge Building Functions 145 Deleting a Line in a Rule To delete a line in a rule first highlight the line to be changed by clicking it then click the red cross button to delete the line If the line was an essential par
235. ific Rules To change the details of an item specific rule highlight the rule in the item rules window then click the Maintain button The system displays the Rule Maintenance screen with the details of the selected rule displayed You can now change the syntax of the rule as required If you want to delete the rule click the Delete button in the button area The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion Converting a General Rule to an Item Specific Rule If you have linked a general rule to the item and you want to make it specific to this item highlight the rule in the item rules window then click the General Rule check box to remove the check mark The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the conversion to a specific rule If you click OK the rule is converted You can now maintain the rule only by way of the Maintain button for this item Note You cannot convert item specific rules back to general rules Item Rule Group Maintenance Use Item Rule Group Maintenance to link rule groups to an item to review the rule groups that are linked to an item and to delete rule groups from an item When you select Item Rule Group Maintenance from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Rules option the system displays the following screen Knowledge Building Functions 153 Fig 5 31 A Item Rule Group Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 Item Rule Group File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Main
236. ify or delete groups that you can use to categorize the Knowledge Base rules Each rule group belongs to a group within QAD Configurator and will typically contain rules that all relate to a particular aspect of the product structure for generic items in that group When you select this option the system displays the following screen n Rule Group Maintenance HOU 4 3 Ol x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Di Bel UES e I Rule Group ID fllectronic 2 Comment Description Rules for electronic components In the Rule Group ID field you can create a new rule group or select an existing rule group ID to view modify or delete Use the Description field to enter a description of the rule group The Comment button is not currently in use System Setup Functions 59 External Entity Maintenance Use External Entity Maintenance to add view modify or delete external entities for use in QAD Configurator An external entity is a reference to a table in a database When you link a variable to an external entity you cause the questionnaire to look up the default value of the feature in the specified field of a particular record in the specified database table The correct record is determined by the WHERE clause defined for the external entity When you select this option the system displays the following screen Fig 3 6 FA External Entity Maintenance HOU 4 3 External Entity
237. igurator Fig 5 35 Search Window AQAD Search Function Rule Table Maintenance lets you search for certain character strings in the cells of the current column in the rule table Press Ctrl S to display the following search window in which you can enter the characteristics of the search FA General Rule Table Maintenance HOU Search 4 3 oi x Find What Find Next Match whole word only Search All m Match case Done A search is always conducted within a column of the current rule table Enter the string you want to search for in the Find What field Make a choice in the Search field to indicate the direction of the search Up to search upward from the present position of the cursor Down to search downward from the present position of the cursor The option All also leads to a downward search but the search will start in the first row of the rule table whenever you change any of the following The string to be searched for The rule table to search in The column to search Your choice concerning Match whole word only Your choice concerning Match case Select Match whole words only to find only the cells in which the complete entry of the cell equals the search string Select Match case to find only the cells in which the entry equals the search string and the case of the characters is the same as the case of the characters in the search string Select the Find Next button to find the next
238. ing configuration or create one from scratch you customize your configuration in the Configure Item screen You do this by answering a list of questions that correspond to the current generic item features AQAD 304 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 7 Configure Item Screen AQAD A oan configurator T a Key 5 QAD Configurator March Customer 4000 Item 10 20001 Existing Configuration Configure Item Configuration Summary Summary 1 Housing 2 Detail Specs 3 Accessories Configuration ID 00000780 a Net Price 800 00 USD Housing lengthMax 100 Min 30 1 Housing e 70 Housing Housing widthMax 100 Min 20 7 Housing heightMax 100 Min 30 70 Housing area e 0 00 29400 UM EA Min 0 29400 Paint housing G no C yes 90 00 UM LT 2 Detail Specs 3 Accessories Reset Answer Aff Edit Comment View Summary Cancel Answering Questions In the Configure Item screen questions are grouped under corresponding functional group tabs You can switch among different functional group tabs to view and answer questions If no functional group is defined all questions are listed under a single tab For information on maintaining functional groups see Functional Group Maintenance on page 57 By default ten levels of foreground questions are displayed in the short question format You can customize the questionnaire settings to display temporary and backg
239. ing the rules that relate to any of the variables that appear in the question list First highlight the row in the question list that contains the particular variable then click the Rule View button in the Answer Question frame See Completing the Questionnaire on page 280 for more details QAD Configurator displays the list of questions in an order that accounts for the dependence of some questions on the answers to other questions The dependence between questions is indicated by dots When a question is preceded by one or more dots that question is dependent on one or more of the features above it in the list that have one less dot of indentation You must answer the independent undotted questions above a dependent dotted question When you have done so the dot will disappear and you can now answer the question If you try to answer a dependent question before answering the question on which it depends QAD Configurator displays a message to warn you In describing the question display questions that are independent of the present question are shown with fewer dots or the same number of dots and are referred to as higher level questions Questions which depend on the answer to the present question are shown with more dots and are referred to as lower level questions Example The following example shows a part of a question display The first three columns represent the columns of the question list and the last column indicates the
240. inition formula defines how to build up the new variant item numbers When you create a new variant item you will need to generate a unique item number for it By defining a formula for each generic item you enable the Variant BOM Routing Generator to standardize the structure of the variant item numbers it creates from that generic item In the item number definition formula the structure of the item number consists of one or more of the following components Current generic item number position From To Master generic item number From To Feature position From To QAD 2008 Standard database element position From To Fixed text e Sign Alphabetical length multiplier and start value Sequence number of digits start value and multiplier You can combine these components in any order you want to create new variant item numbers The maximum number of positions you can use is Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 197 18 With the exception of the sequence component you can use the individual components more than once in an item number definition Example If your master generic item number is 9 100 100 and you specify in the item number definition formula that the item number is to include the master generic item number followed by a sign followed by a sequence number of three digits starting at 001 multiple 1 you will generate successive variant item numbers as follows 9 100 100 001 9 100 100 002
241. intained generic item in the current group To select another item click the Browse button to the right of the Item field then click the required item in the displayed list Alternatively you can use the navigation buttons in the button area The features window on the left of the screen lists the features that are available in this generic item The result key window on the right of the screen lists the features that have been selected to use as a result key for this item FAQAD 180 User Guide QAD Configurator Adding and Removing Features To add a feature to the result key for the selected item highlight the required feature in the features window then click the Include button The feature is moved to the result key window and is now part of the result key Note You can specify a maximum of ten features for any result key To remove a feature from the result key for the selected item highlight the required feature in the result key window then click the Exclude button The feature is moved back to the features window and is no longer part of the result key To include or exclude all the features in the lists use the Incl All and Excl All buttons You can select more than one feature by using the Control or Shift keys when clicking to select features Click one feature then Shift click another feature to select a block of consecutive features click one feature then Ctrl click others to make multiple feature selections
242. into an ASCII file This procedure does not empty the tables but copies the contents When you select this option the system displays the following screen M gap Configurator Dump 4 3 MFG PRO Tables QAD Configurator Tables var_mstr Variable Master Table fea mstr Feature Master Table for mstr Rule Master Table Select All Tables Select All Sequences QAD Configurator Sequences Dump Directory Browse e X E This is a secured function used only by system administrators to control storage of QAD Configurator data Unauthorized users cannot access this function Fig 1 28 QAD Configurator Dump FAQAD 36 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 29 QAD Configurator Loader AQAD To dump the tables 1 Select the QAD 2008 Standard tables QAD Configurator tables and sequences you want to dump Click Select All Tables to select all QAD Configurator tables and click Select All Sequences to select all QAD Configurator sequences 2 Inthe Dump Directory field click Browse to select a directory for the output files 3 Click Dump to start the dumping process Load Procedure Note Take extreme caution when using the load program since it can make your databases inconsistent Provided that you have the authorization you can use Load Procedure accessed from the ToolslCustomize menu to read in the contents of one or more QAD Configurator database tables from an A
243. into the form necessary for defining a variant configuration The output from the questionnaire is known as a result and is a description of a particular product configuration When a particular set of answers to the questionnaire produces a unique result this does not automatically translate into a variant item unless you did not specify a result key in which case QAD Configurator will automatically create a variant You control the decision as to whether you want to convert the result into a new variant item When you make this decision the Variant BOM Routing Generator which is a part of the questionnaire function converts the result into real components and manufacturing processes At the end of this process you will have a new variant BOM defining the components that are to be included and their respective quantities and a variant routing defining the processes required in making the new variant item Note You can define in Group Maintenance whether a group is to use routings or not If you select not to use routings the Variant BOM Routing Generator will not calculate operations In order to convert the result from the questionnaire into the necessary component selection quantities and routings the Variant BOM Routing Generator requires a set of formulas and rules that specify exactly what components and processes should be used Example If the customer selects the Sport model and this automatically includes the feature al
244. ion the rule could not provide the required result The next table is similar to the previous one but expanded with interpolated values for production density Bold values represent the measure points from the previous table Italic values represent condition values and calculated result values that do not exist in the rule table Width Density 1000 1250 1500 1600 2000 0 8 25 275 a 30 32 40 0 9 28 5 b 30 5 d 32 5 c 34 40 1 0 32 33 5 e 35 36 40 12 34 36 25 38 5 39 6 44 2 0 36 39 42 f 43 2 48 The letters a to f identify particular cases that are explained later Knowledge Building Concepts 101 Description of the Process of Interpolation The system first determines the closest range from to for both Density and Width The nearest values are determined by searching in the rule table For sample values this means that for cases a b c d e and f the ranges are as follows Density Width Case Value From To Value From To a 0 8 0 8 0 8 1250 1000 1500 b 0 9 0 8 1 0 1000 1000 1000 c 0 9 0 8 1 0 1500 1500 1500 d 0 9 0 8 1 0 1250 1000 1500 e 1 0 1 0 1 0 1250 1000 1500 f 2 0 2 0 2 0 1500 1500 1500 If the given Density equals the from value of Density and the given Width equals the from value of Width case f the result can be taken from the rule table without any calculation The same is tru
245. ion the IF clause is true The last line is the ELSE clause which acts in the same way as the THEN clause but specifies the option to be defined for the specified variable when the preposition IF clause is not satisfied Example Consider an example of a sunblind where the feature width specifies the width of the sunblind cloth in centimeters and the feature cloth has three options Sunset Orange Tropical Blue and Arctic White but only the Sunset Orange cloth can be supplied in widths greater than 200 cm To build this restriction into the QAD Configurator questionnaire logic you need to create a rule as follows IF width 200 THEN cloth sunset orange You do not need an ELSE clause in this case If the cloth width is not greater than 200 cm the customer can select any of the cloth options without restriction Knowledge Building Concepts 93 Example Consider another example where the cabinet height variable can have any value between 50 and 250 centimeters The cabinet frame variable can be made of wood plastic aluminium or steel However the restriction is that all cabinets with a height greater than 200 cm must have a steel frame and the steel frame is not available for cabinets less than or equal to 200 cm high The rule for this restriction could be as follows IF cabinet height 200 THEN cabinet frame steel ELSE cabinet frame steel This specifies that if the cabinet height is over 200 cm the frame mus
246. ion these default answers depend on the default type selection you made on the Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 281 previous screen If you checked the Init from above check box on the previous screen the default answers are taken from the selected existing configuration If you are modifying an existing result the answers you gave previously are shown with default answers for the questions you did not answer The Status column shows blank if the question has not yet been answered When you answer a question the status changes to one of the following M The question has been answered manually that is by entering an answer in the Answer Question frame A The question has been answered automatically by QAD Configurator The answer given is not correct that is not compatible with the other answers C The question must be confirmed by accepting the displayed answer The Pricing column shows the component prices according to the selection made in the Pricing selection list box described as follows If you select to display best net prices or best list prices in this column the value shown for each component is the component best net or best list price multiplied by the quantity of components that has been supplied to the QAD pricing engine You can check this quantity by examining the relevant rule for the feature using the rules button Pricing Parameters Immediately above the question list are the pricing
247. ion Hone scandara 7 C Select Existing Variant c genie E e ten eve i fl Creste Variant M paprice This screen is used to examine existing results and variants to see if the customer s required configuration already exists or whether you will need to continue with the questions in the questionnaire The group the customer if available and the item number are shown in the title bar of the screen for information but you cannot change these selections on this screen Fig 9 2 Result Inquiry Selection window FAQAD 276 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 9 3 Result Inquiry Selection AQAD The Result Inquiry Selection window displays a list of all the existing results and variants for the selected generic item This list is not filtered by the result key for the item Each result is identified by its result ID The list shows the variant item number if one has been created and the status which can be F if the questions have been answered in full or O if the question list is still open uncompleted The two main courses of action are as follows f you have a description of the customer s required configuration you can filter the results and variants displayed in the window to find if there is an existing configuration that matches the requirement If you do not have a description of the customer s required configuration you can skip the pre questionnaire configuration check select the next actio
248. ion it created As a result of entering the options the following rows will be added to the rule table indicates the same as the previous row Region value IF Usage value IF Pump value THEN 1 UK industrial low capacity 2 medium capacity 3 domestic low capacity 4 m medium capacity J USA industrial low capacity 6 ise medium capacity 7 domestic low capacity 8 medium capacity 9 Western Europe industrial low capacity 10 medium capacity 11 domestic low capacity 12 medium capacity Knowledge Building Functions 165 When you have returned to the main window of Rule Table Maintenance from which you called the Wizard you can manually delete rules 2 3 6 8 9 and 11 This only requires that you position the cursor in one of the cells of these rows and press Ctrl D This example shows the basic functionality of the Wizard it is capable of generating rows for the rule table and does so by generating every possible combination of the options that you enter for the variables The main advantage of using the Wizard is that you only have to enter the options of the variables once If you do not use the Wizard you must enter each option separately for every rule in which it appears by entering it on the appropriate row of the table Clearly the gain of using the table Wizard will be larger the more
249. ions The system displays a message Not all questions are answered Continue Click OK to end the question answering process and create an Open status result Click Cancel to continue answering the questions Monitoring Related Questions QAD Configurator lets you monitor the available answer values for interrelated questions To enable questions to be monitored you must first set up the variable or feature to which the question relates so that the Monitor check box is selected See Maintaining Variables on page 108 or Maintaining Features on page 117 for details To start the monitoring process click the Monitor button in the toolbar of the questionnaire The system displays a window that is continually updated while you answer the questions in the questionnaire This monitoring window contains all the features in the model for which the Monitor check box was selected in either Variable Maintenance or Feature Maintenance An example of this window is shown below Fig 9 7 M Questionnaire 001 4 3 Monitoring File Edit view Tools Options Window Help Window S e a housing height housing width region FAQAD 286 User Guide QAD Configurator As you answer each question in the questionnaire the system updates the related answers in the monitoring window so that you can see how the values of the monitored features change Viewing Rules for Questionnaire Variables The Rule View button in th
250. is blank for questions that have not yet been answered When you reach a question in the list and answer it the status changes to one of the following Answered M The question has been answered manually that is by entering an answer in the Answer Question frame Answered A The question has been answered automatically by QAD Configurator that is the answer to this question has been determined by a rule and the answer to some previous question Error The answer given is not correct for example out of the numeric range or an invalid option Confirm The question has been defined as mandatory which means that it must be answered but the answer has already been determined automatically All you can do for the customer is confirm the displayed answer When you answer a question QAD Configurator checks the Knowledge Base rules for the item In some cases the answer you enter can make the default answer of some other question as shown in the Answer column Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 269 not valid This causes the status of the invalid answer to be set to Error until you substitute a correct answer This is why you can sometimes encounter Error in the initial presentation of the questions when the default answers are given by QAD Configurator in the Answer column For each specific question only the answers to other questions that remain valid are shown in the Answer column You can display a screen show
251. ist 22e et eae heed oe lw ae a le ele 280 Pricing Parameters 0 2 eee eee ee 281 Answer Question Frame 0 0 0 c cee eee eens 283 Monitoring Related Questions llle eese 285 Viewing Rules for Questionnaire Variables 286 Using Manual List Pricing 0 eee eee eee 287 The Final Stage of the Questionnaire 0 0 e eee eee 288 Selecting a Result to Create a New Variant 0 0 0 ce eee eee 288 FAQAD vi User Guide QAD Configurator Chapter 10 Configuring Variant Items in NET Ul 291 Overview of Questionnaire in NET UI 0 0 ccc eee 292 Launching Questionnaire NET UI 00 0000 000 292 Navigating in Questionnaire NET UI 0 02 00 000 293 Exiting Questionnaire NET UI 0 eee eee eee 294 Variant Item Configuration Workflow 00005 295 View Existing Configurations 00 0 c eee cece eee eee 298 Browsing Existing Configurations 0 000000 eae 299 Ordering an Existing Variant Item 00 0 0000005 302 Creating a Variant Item From an Existing Configuration 302 Loading an Existing Configuration 0 0 00 02 ee eee 302 Creating a New Configuration 0 0 e eee eee eee 303 Configure Item sers viausd5 elacube ies Siew sad di cro e d peo ied oes 303 Answering Questions l l 304 Reviewing Answer Summary
252. it this way and may lose your changes to the configuration Variant Item Configuration Workflow The following figure outlines the general variant item configuration workflow AQAD 296 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 4 General Item Configuration Workflow Enter Generic Item View Existing Configurations Create a Variant Item From a Configuration Load an Existing Create a New Configuration Configuration Configure Item Review Configuration Summary Order an Existing View Similar Variant Item Configurations Submit Configuration Create a New Variant Item Number Reuse an Existing Item Number Exit to Sales Order Sales Quote Maintenance AQAD Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 297 As indicated by the three tabs in the Questionnaire window you go through three major steps to configure a variant item 1 View existing configurations Before you start actually configuring an item for a customer browse through existing variant items associated with the current generic item in the Existing Configurations screen to see if the configuration you are looking for has already been created or if you can modify a similar configuration to meet your specific requirements If you find an existing variant item that exactly matches your requirements you can directly submit it to add it to the sales order line and skip all the subsequent configur
253. item has been processed by the QAD Configurator Analyzer If it has been analyzed the other two fields show the date and time the generic item was last analyzed You can click the Analyze button to force re analysis of this generic item Cost Price roll up Indicate whether the cost roll up function is to be applied to this item The Cost Set field shows whether cost price calculations should use current or standard prices This field only applies when cost roll up is in use Applying cost roll up calculations is explained in Cost Roll Up on page 254 Use Pricing Select the check box if you want to use pricing for this generic item If you do not select this check box the Pricing column will appear in the questionnaire but no pricing information will be shown The remaining pricing fields on this screen apply only when you select the Use Pricing check box Allow Net Price Changes Select the check box if you want to change the calculated net price for a specific component that is selected in the questionnaire AQAD 74 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Allow manual price list changes Select the check box if you want to update the manual price list of a selected component while running the questionnaire Store All Pricing Info Specify how much pricing information is stored by QAD Configurator If you select this check box QAD Configurator stores the pricing information of all the components that can be selected in the
254. l values blank and all are available in the Wizard for each variable The entry blank indicates an empty cell all represents all possible values for the variable The following four examples give an idea of the way in which the Wizard processes these values when you click the Done button in the Main Wizard Window Examples 1 and 2 occur when you are deleting rows examples 3 and 4 occur when you are adding rows 1 If you specified one or more values for every result variable but you entered all and blank for every condition variable the Wizard will delete every row that contains the specified values for the result variables regardless of the values of the condition variables on those TOWS 2 If you entered all and lt blank gt for every result variable and you specified at least one value for each of the condition variables the Wizard will delete every row that contains the specified values of the condition variables regardless of the values of the result variables in those rows 3 If you only entered lt blank gt for every result variable but you did specify at least one value for every condition variable the Wizard will assume that you will enter the values of the result variables directly in the table It will create rows in which the cells of the result variables are empty If you decide that you do want to enter values you must enter at least one value for every condition variable and for
255. layed in the questionnaire for the customer to supply a free format answer to the question relating to this feature Deselect this check box if you do not want a fill in field If you select the Mandatory check box the user of the questionnaire must confirm the answer to the question for this feature if only one option is left and the question could be answered automatically Deselect this check box for QAD Configurator to answer the question for you automatically the question will be presented in the questionnaire but you cannot modify the answer Fig 5 9 Feature Option Maintenance FAQAD 124 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 10 Adding Feature Option AQAD The list on the left in the lower part of the screen shows the variable options that can be selected for the feature The list on the right shows the options that have been selected for the feature Including Excluding and Adding Feature Options You can include exclude and add feature options if the Std Options check box is not checked If it is checked the Include Exclude and Add buttons are all dimmed To include a variable option as a feature option highlight the required option in the variable options list on the left then click the Include button The option is moved to the feature options list on the right To exclude an option from the feature options list highlight the option in the feature options list on the right and click the Exclude button
256. ld on the left is for specifying the equation operator such as or lt gt and the field on the right is for specifying the value of the Variable option You can specify more than one selection formula on the row for a component This links the selection formulas in an AND relationship Example If you have a component that is evaporator you might want to specify a simple rule stating that this component is selected when the variable backup type thermonuclear batt for batteries AND the variable pump medium capacity You achieve this by entering the formula thermonuclear batt in the backup type column and the formula medium capacity in the pump column for the component Selecting Components for Rule Tables You set the number of rows in the table on the initial Rule Table Maintenance screen The next stage is to select the components that will appear in those rows To do this click the components button at the bottom of the screen The system displays a screen similar to the following example ee C 3H Item Number Additional Selections Description Pur Mfg Rev Prod Line E 7 Group Drawing Reference l Item Review Selection 10 20000 16 22 110 CORD POWER EUROPE 22 120 CORD POWER USA 22 130 CORD POWER UNIVERS 30 100 BATTERIES ALKALINE 30 1000 BATTERIES ATOMIC S Knowledge Exploitation Functions 243 The Component Review Selection window
257. le Table rules that are not used in the features of the generic item This can give rise to unknown answers in the questionnaire and a failure to select a component You can use the Cross Validation Analyzer to check if the COP rules and COP formulas Knowledge Exploitation match the Knowledge Base data features and rules This analyzer detects any discrepancies between the two modules and produces a report The Cross Validation Analyzer is a reporting function only It does not correct any errors that it finds To do that you must use the standard QAD Configurator maintenance functions For example you might add a feature to the generic item using Feature Maintenance or modify a COP selection formula using COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance AQAD 212 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The Cross Validation Analyzer has multi level capabilities it takes into account all lower level items and components of the selected generic item The Cross Validation Analyzer checks for any inconsistencies in the model from the current generic item downwards It not only reports errors it finds during the cross validation of the current generic item but also reports inconsistencies that may lead to errors during a cross validation of a lower level generic item What the Cross Validation Analyzer Checks You control what the Cross Validation Analyzer checks by means of the selection flags in the Cross Validation Analyzer main window Gen
258. le options Variable Options Feature Dependent Options Generic item 9 100 100 Options Variable Option Feature Available Cloth Sunset Orange Cloth Sunset Orange Included Tropical Blue Excluded Arctic White Arctic White Included Royal Blue Added 1 Tropical blue is not a possible cloth for the Sunblind 9 100 100 generic item and has been excluded 2 The additional option of Royal Blue cloth is unique for the Sunblind 9 100 100 generic item and has been added The order in which you carry out the various steps of defining options for the features of your products is as follows 1 Decide whether you want to use only variable options as standard options for features in the group If so select the Std Options check box in Group Maintenance If not deselect the Std Options check box 2 Setup the options for the variable on which the feature is based using Variable Option Maintenance 3 Setup the options for the feature to include or exclude the standard variable options and to add in any unique feature options using Feature Option Maintenance Knowledge Building Concepts 89 You can control the default order in which the feature options are displayed in the questionnaire so that for example the most frequently selected options appear first in the list You can set the default order for the variable options using the Priorities button on the Variable Option Maintenance s
259. le options for the variable you are currently working on that is the current column Below the list of options in the window are two options labeled Single and Multiple These buttons are dimmed for variables that cannot have multiple options such as discrete logical variables You can use the options as follows Single Option Selection If you click the Single option which is the default setting for the options you can specify only one option for the selection formula For example in the cloth color variable column you could specify arclic white This would create a selection formula where the component is selected on condition that the cloth color is arctic white Multiple Option Selection If you click the multiple option you can specify more than one option for the selection formula Click Multiple once then subsequently highlight the option to select and click the green check mark button for every option you need The options you specify will automatically be linked in an AQAD 248 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 19 COP Rule Table Multiple Option Window AQAD AND or OR relationship depending on the operator you specify in the formula For example in the clothcolor variable column for a component you could specify in the same cell arctic white sunset orange This would create a selection formula where the component is selected on the following condition cloth color arctic white OR clot
260. lect the rule then click the Delete button in the button area The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion When you have finished maintaining element roll up rules click OK in the button area to save your entries and exit from the function Item Element Roll Up The item element roll up function can be run in either of two circumstances QAD Configurator runs item element roll up automatically after the Variant BOM Routing Generator has created a new variant BOM Routing The newly created variant is rolled up Youcan run the item element roll up function manually by selecting the function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu and specifying which variant or range of variants you want to roll up When you select this function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen AQAD 258 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 26 Item Element Roll Up AQAD M Item Element Roll up HOU 4 3 D x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help ll RN Y up Current Variant 2 C Variant from gl to z J 2 C Variant File Browse C Current G Item Variants 10 z0000 2 from 2 to z 2 C G Item Variants Terminal gt C G Item File Variants Browse zE Start p 4 E The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen and the most recently maintained generic item is shown in the C
261. left part of the screen shows a list of the questions that must be answered to configure the product The right part of the screen shows the different answers that are available for each question FAQAD 8 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Dependencies and automatic inclusions or exclusions of particular feature options are built in to the product configuration process by means of rules When you have answered the questions QAD Configurator can generate a new variant item with its own bill of material and its own routing which is stored in the QAD 2008 Standard database From this point forward the resultant configuration is an item like any other standard item in QAD 2008 Standard The operation of QAD Configurator can be viewed as a two phase process Knowledge Building Knowledge Exploitation Knowledge Building The first phase is Knowledge Building This is where you collect and store the data needed to build up a questionnaire and where you define all the features and options for each configured item This is also where you define the dependency rules for the options These rules make automatic inclusions or exclusions of options possible so that sales people are prevented from inadvertently choosing some wrong combination of options while configuring an item The following example explains the effect of the dependency rules on the questionnaire Example A certain product can be made in various heigh
262. levels of dependent questions are also displayed The Question options let you specify the wording for the question column on the left in the question list The default is the short question but you can change this to the feature ID or the long question Click the green check mark button when you have finished customizing the question display Correct This button is only shown when you have switched off the display of Higher Level answered questions in the Customize window Clicking this button overrides that selection and displays all the answered questions so that you can select individual questions for correction Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 285 Net Price This field and its associated green check mark OK button are displayed only when you select Net Price from the Pricing selection list as described in Pricing Parameters on page 281 When you are using net prices you can enter in this field a best net price for the pricing parts of the feature option which is the answer of the current question in the question list You confirm this best net price by clicking the green check mark OK button adjacent to the field To create a finished result with status F you must continue to answer questions until all the questions have a status of A or M The configuration cannot be completed while any questions have a status of blank C or However you can click OK to end the question answering process without finishing the quest
263. ll up for the top level item again if the Cost Price Roll Up check box is selected Both types of roll ups are handled through a call to the standard QAD 2008 Standard programs The cost set that will be used is shown in the questionnaire but cannot be changed there Element Roll Up About Element Roll Up on page 209 explains the element roll up functions provided in QAD Configurator that enable you to roll up selected non cost related data elements for variant items Element Roll Up Maintenance Use Element Roll Up Maintenance to define element roll up rules for generic items These rules are applied by QAD Configurator when running the questionnaire or the item element roll up function When you select this function from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen 255 Fig 7 25 FA Element Roll up Maintenance HOU 10 20000 4 3 BEES Element Roll Up File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Maintenance DAY oS e e e A A ERI Vv Take BOM qty s into accou Vv Formulas OK Roll up pom Rule Normal C Routing C Advanced Normal Roll up Rule Item C Prod Str ere M Work Center r Routing pt net wc Done Advanced Roll up Rule carcel gt New Delete FAQAD 256 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The name of the currently selected group and the most recently maintained generic item are shown in
264. ll Calculating the costs for an item involves adding the following five types of costs e Material costs Labor costs Burden costs Subcontract costs Overhead costs AQAD 208 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 6 5 Multi level Cost Roll Up FAQAD The roll up of the total costs consists of one product structure roll up and one or more routing roll ups For an example of how the cost roll up is performed consider the following diagram and the explanatory notes that follow it Item A This Level Costs Lower Level Costs Item B tem C Overhead Costs l This Level Costs J Material Costs a Lower Level Costs 1 Routing Costs This Level Costs 1 Lower Level Costs Item D emE This Level Costs This Level Costs Lower Level Costs Lower Level Costs Routing Roll Up If an item B in the product structure of a certain variant consists of one or more component items D E then these component items must be assembled by way of a routing step to form the item B The costs of this routing step are calculated and stored in the this level costs of the item B These routing costs consist of the labor costs the burden costs and the subcontract costs A routing roll up calculates this level costs for a single item Knowledge Exploitatio
265. ll bar at the bottom of the grid to view all configuration records If there are multiple pages use the navigation controls at the bottom of the screen to page through the records or jump to a specific page The existing configurations grid provides flexible ways to display configuration records and lets you easily compare configurations You can change the position of a configuration record by dragging and dropping its configuration ID column header This way you can place configurations of interest side by side for easy feature comparison You can also sort configuration attributes and features by clicking on the column header displaying the configuration ID Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 301 Searching for Configurations The Questionnaire NET UI provides extensive configurable search capabilities that let you create both simple and complex queries Fig 10 6 peri i c MI us itj w Search Jy Clear Configurations Search Box Search Status m aK m ES Search Customer Range 001 m Je a 1 Initially one search condition displays Choose the attribute or feature that you want to search from the drop down list 2 Choose a search operator from the drop down list The search operators include the following gt e lt e l e gt e lt e Range 3 Ifyou choose the Range operator enter a beginning value of the range in the first search box Optionally enter an ending value of the range in the second search box
266. lls of materials and routings for the configured variant The COP links QAD Configurator to QAD 2008 Standard and enables you to store calculated values in database fields of the pt mstr ps mstr and ro mstr tables Glossary COP Detail Rule Table In the COP Detail Rule Table you can define more complex selection rules for components where the selection formulas cannot be maintained or can only partly be maintained within the COP Rule Table COP Rule Table In the COP rule you can define selection rules in a table format It is an alternative way of defining the COP selection rules stating under which conditions the various components from a generic BOM must be selected into the variant BOM Cross Validation Analyzer A tool within QAD Configurator that you can use to check whether the COP Detail rule table and COP formulas Knowledge Exploitation match the Knowledge Base data features and rules This can be necessary because the Knowledge Base and Knowledge Exploitation data are maintained separately The Cross Validation Analyzer detects and reports any discrepancies between the two modules Default Type In QAD Configurator you can define default answers to the questions in the questionnaire This setting of defaults can be done per customer per item per customer per item and so on Default answers can be preferences or fixed values preferences are default answers that can be overruled fixed values are defa
267. lly launch it from the menu System Setup Functions 71 Fig 3 16 ziB x Active User Group Admin Manager Refresh Rate Delete User Exit er F Clear All Inactives Refresh Now The Active User Manager window displays all the active users currently processing questionnaires within the selected group with detailed information including the generic items in use user IDs user names and QAD 2008 Standard sessions Adjust the refresh rate using the sliding bar Click Refresh Now to immediately refresh the screen to view the most updated information User records could be orphaned due to a database crash leaving inactive users in the browse In the Act column N indicates an inactive user Click Delete User to delete inactive users Click Clear All Inactives to remove all inactive users Generic Item Maintenance Use Generic Item Maintenance to add view and delete generic items in QAD Configurator You can also define some default settings that will be used for variant items that you create from a generic item Adding a generic item in QAD Configurator is a process of selecting a parent item in QAD 2008 Standard and defining it as a generic item You can then use it as the basis for product configuration in QAD Configurator When you select this option the system displays the following screen FAQAD 72 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 3 17 Generic Item Maintenance AQAD FA Generic Item Maintena
268. loy wheels you will need to define which components from the generic BOM must be included in order to produce this feature SELECT alloy wheels qty 5 SELECT sport wheel nuts qty 20 SELECT sport tyres 185 70 SR13 qty 5 The COP Maintenance functions lets you define the formulas and rules that enable the Variant BOM Routing Generator to generate detailed specifications for new variant items Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 195 COP Maintenance Formulas You can use COP Maintenance to add review modify and delete formulas There are three types of COP formulas Selection formulas these specify that a component or routing is to be selected for inclusion in the variant item Quantity formulas these specify alterations to the default values specified in the generic item BOM and routing for new variant items tem Number definition formulas these specify the structure of the item number for new variant items Selection and quantity formulas are optional When no selection formula is available for a component or an operation that component or operation will always be selected When no quantity formulas are available the values from the generic BOM Routing are used The item number definition formula is required for each generic item to be used to create a variant See COP Maintenance on page 221 for more details on maintaining these formulas Selection Formulas A selection formula is a Progress expression that m
269. lready been used within this group are available to you Customizing QAD Configurator Using Groups When you create a new group you can also set up various defaults and settings that control the way QAD Configurator operates within this group only For example you can set up the default number of digits and decimals that are used for numeric variables and features created in the group you can select a default rounding method you can specify whether single level or multi level BOMs are used and you can specify whether you require QAD Configurator to generate variant routings for products configured in this group This lets you customize the way QAD Configurator operates in a different manner for each group of products If variant routings are required for some products but not for others you can create one group with the routings option selected and another with it deselected You can create as many different groups as you need You create and maintain groups using the Group Maintenance option which you access from the QAD Configurator Setup menu System Setup Concepts 47 Setting Up Groups for Rules Within any of the main groups that you have created in QAD Configurator you can set up further categories to associate groups of rules together When you are building the Knowledge Base for a configurable product you can then link rule groups to items as well as linking general rules to items When you set up a rule group the only
270. ls relating to the element you have added AQAD 238 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 12 Item Number Subsidiary Windows Table 7 1 Variant Item Number Definition Parameters AQAD Example If you select the element feature you select the required feature from a drop down list and specify the positions you want to use from the character string that defines the feature If the feature you select is color and the positions you select are from 1 to 6 and the color options are sunset orange tropical blue and arctic white the variant item number will include the string sunset tropic or arctic that is the first six characters depending on the color chosen for the variant item You do not need to save your entries in the subsidiary windows they are saved automatically when you save your entries in the main screen You can move the subsidiary windows around while you build up the structure of your item number If you want to reposition the subsidiary windows click the Repos Window button beneath the Selected window The system arranges the subsidiary windows you have open in a cascade to the right of the main screen as in the following example M curr G Item HOU 4 3 oO x M Sign HOU 4 3 Gf xil M Sequence HOU 4 3 OR x M Field HOU 4 3 Jon M Feature HOU 4 3 or xi From Position fu To fa Feature Backup we The following table shows the parameters that you have to fill in
271. ly found and Replace All to replace all occurrences in the direction of the search as indicated by the entry in the Search field See Search Function on page 160 for details on the buttons and fields Formula Window If you position the cursor in a cell of the rule table and select the Formula Window option from the menu bar by way of the View option the system displays the following screen Fig 5 36 Search and Replace Window FAQAD 162 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 37 Formula Window FA General Rule Table Maintenance HOU 4 3 OT xj IF region value UK industrial smart high capacity usage value power converter value pump value eT 7 This window shows the rule associated with the current cell It lets you see the contents of the complete row even though not all the columns of the rule table are visible on the screen Navigating and Performing Simple Actions When you are working in a rule table there are some special keys you can use Table 5 2 Special Keys Keyboard Keys Meaning Arrow key up Go one cell up Arrow key down Go one cell down Enter Go one cell down Page up Go 12 cells up if available Page down Go 12 cells down if available Home Go to the first row in the rule table End Go to the last row in the rule table Tab Go one column to the right Shift Tab Go one column to the left Delete Clear cell Insert Insert an empty row
272. m Pricing Rules You can create item pricing rules so that the pricing rule is linked to a specific item Item pricing rules are created in exactly the same way as general pricing rules See Composing Pricing Rules on page 141 for details Adding Maintaining and Deleting Specific Rules You can add a specific rule to the currently selected item Such a rule will be applicable only to this item To add an item specific rule click the Maintain button below the item rules window The system displays the following screen Fig 5 30 FA Item Rule Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 Adding an Item File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Specific Rule Rule OK Bl taj ih x 8 ell fic ES gt ET E a s I Gir C men C ELSE uoraal zi f TER Done LET 2 zl industrial Edi cancel xe gt a domestic New mdi eo h Delete 4 ET Eg ap FAQAD 152 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Click the New button in the button area to compose the new rule In the ID field specify a reference ID for your new rule When you save your newly composed rule the system returns you to the main Item Rule Maintenance screen with the new rule added to the list of item rules See Composing a New Rule on page 135 for details Note The General Rule check box is not checked for the new rule as this is an item specific rule Maintaining and Deleting Item Spec
273. mat expressions take the form variable expression You can use other operators instead of depending on the type of variable For example with numeric variables you can use operators such as less than or greater than or gt The process of composing an advanced format expression consists of selecting the variable specifying an operator and entering the terms of the expression Select the variable by clicking the Browse button to the right of the Variable field then highlighting the required variable and clicking OK You can also enter the name of the variable into the field For numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables you can select an attribute of the variable to use in the expression such as the minimum the maximum or the default Click the down arrow by the Attr field to display a drop down list of the available attributes Note The recommended sequence of steps is to select the variable before selecting the expression mode as the expression mode may change to its former value when you select another variable However as the three expression modes are described separately the selection of the variable is shown as part of each process Select the operator by clicking the down arrow by the short field between the variable window and the expression window For numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables you can use any of the usual comparison operators For other discrete set variables
274. mber of items shown in the Item Review Selection window This can speed up the process of finding the required item in the list Enter a value in one or more of the fields for example group or item type then click the filter button to the right of the Select All and Deselect All buttons above the Item Review Selection window The displayed list of items is now restricted to only those items that match the values you entered in the fields in the top part of the screen The process of selecting items from the list remains the same as described previously Deleting a Generic Item If an item has been declared generic and is no longer required for product configuration you can delete it as a generic item by selecting the item on the initial Generic Item Maintenance screen and clicking the Delete button This deletes the item s generic item status but does not delete the original item record from QAD 2008 Standard Before deleting a generic item the system checks that there are no data elements in QAD Configurator relating to the generic item for example rules The system does not let you delete a generic item when related QAD Configurator data exists 82 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Variables Options and Features Variables options and features are the means by which you define all the aspects of your products that can be configured Variables are characteristics of products that can have a range of different valu
275. mbinations of the selected values of the variables 3 If you are adding rows the Wizard will check for every generated combination of values of the condition variables whether or not this combination is already in the table If the combination does not exist the Wizard will automatically insert it in the table If it does exist the Wizard will overwrite the existing row if the Overwrite Existing Rows check box is selected Otherwise it will disregard the generated combination 4 If you are deleting rows the Wizard will automatically delete the existing rows for which every cell contains one of the values that you specified in the value list window of the Wizard 5 The Wizard will show a message after completing the process number of rows added number of rows overwritten number of rows deleted The maximum total number of rows in a table is 9999 If this limit is exceeded when the Wizard is adding rows to the table the Wizard will report this and will stop the process of generating combinations and adding rows Knowledge Building Functions 169 These are the requirements for the number of values that you must enter for the variables in the table e You can decide not to enter any value at all for the variables in the table As a result the Number of Values field will remain equal to 0 for every variable In this case no combinations can be generated and no rows will be added to or deleted from the table TOWS Two specia
276. mer selects the 1 1 liter engine the gearbox can be anything other than 5 speed The 5 speed gearbox has been excluded Rule Formats The clauses that you can use in the basic rule structure of QAD Configurator have three possible formats normal advanced and free format FAQAD 92 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Normal format clauses take the form of a simple variable option for example IF operation manual Advanced format clauses take the form of variable expression for example IF width 0 5 length Free format clauses take the form of a Boolean expression which is either true or false for example IF width gt 200 and color arctic white In addition to these clause formats for rules you can include Boolean operators such as AND and OR in the lines that specify a rule Using these techniques you can construct quite complex conditions for the Knowledge Base rules as in the following example IF variable 1 gt value 1 AND variable 2 lt value 2 AND variable 3 option x THEN variable 4 option y AND variable 5 option z ELSE variable 6 1 5 value 1 The first three lines in the previous example are all part of the preposition and cause QAD Configurator to make a comparison between the specified variables and values or options The next two lines are the conclusion they cause QAD Configurator to set the specified variables to include and exclude the named options when the preposit
277. meric value within the limits of the range and incremental multiple that you specify when defining the variable You can define variable options for the following types of variable Discrete Set Text Discrete Set Calculable Discrete Date if you have selected the date type as Other in the Variable Maintenance screen If you selected the date type as Fixed you specify the date value in the same window but you cannot enter options The following example shows some options you could create for variables Variable Variable Type Options Cloth Discrete Set Text Cotton Cotton Polyester Nylon Cabinet height Discrete Set Calculable 100 125 150 175 Knowledge Building Concepts 85 You can control the default order in which the variable options are displayed in the questionnaire so that the most frequently selected options appear first in the list Do this using the Priorities button on the Variable Option Maintenance screen You set up and maintain the variable options in a group using Variable Option Maintenance within the selected group See Maintaining Variables on page 108 for details About Features Features are used by QAD Configurator as the method of linking a general variable in the group with a particular item When you create features the variables you use must already be defined Also the item to which you link the variable must already have been defined to QA
278. mula You can then change the terms in the expression or click the Clear button to clear the entire editor window and enter a completely new expression Knowledge Exploitation Functions 231 When you have finished creating or modifying a quantity formula you can click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to cause QAD Configurator to check the syntax of the formula All quantity formulas must conform to Progress syntax rules refer to the Progress Programming manuals for further information However QAD Configurator will automatically check your syntax when you click the OK or Save button on the main COP G BOM Maintenance screen so using the 4GL syntax check button is not compulsory If the syntax is correct the system inserts a check mark in the Formulas OK check box If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax errors have been found You can then correct the errors before saving the formula QAD Configurator does not use quantity formulas that do not have a check mark in the Formulas OK check box To delete an existing quantity formula that is no longer required either click the Clear button to remove the expression from the formula or highlight the entire expression in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the screen the formula is automatically deleted because the expression is empty You can also delete quantity formulas from the Quantity Fo
279. mum and maximum values for the variable or else indicates that the range is open at either or both ends This frame also shows the multiple used to determine the increment between acceptable values within the range the default value of the variable and the unit of measure UM If you click the numeric button at the right of this frame the system displays a window where you can change the settings for the number of digits and decimal places whether negative values are allowed and the rounding method Bi 67 oo EN C Down Me Digits s f Negative Standard c i Decimals B C Up M The default values for these numeric settings are defined for the group in Group Maintenance but you can modify them for individual variables if required If you have changed them you can use the Defaults button to restore the numeric settings to the ones specified in Group Maintenance Knowledge Building Functions 111 Element Variable Frame The frame below the numeric frame applies to element type variables and is used to specify the entity to which the variable is linked The options let you specify internal or external entities The two fields with drop down lists let you select the entity and then select the field from within that entity to use for the variable Logical Variable Frame The frame below the element variable fields applies to logical variables and is used to specify the meaning of the Yes No choice for this vari
280. n and move on to the question list Filtering the Result Inquiry Selection List If you want to check the existing configurations click the Filter button on the toolbar to the right of the Cut Copy Paste buttons The system displays the following screen M Questionnaire HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 icu xi File Edit View Tools Options Window Help BG lt 3s S e ERN Result ID Jocoooo000 To o0000000 Result Date f User ID Status HH Customer Variant kots Description Clear housing height fro B Turn On Features with Answer Inquiry Selection mes memi iem Poneto Foreground do yo Alkaline batt Foreground what standard Foreground coola Foreground housi Foreground hous Foreground housi housing width Foreground housi X This screen lets you specify the characteristics of the configurations you want listed in the Result Inquiry Selection window Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 277 The top frame of the screen provides fields where you can specify particular types of configuration to display A range of result ID numbers in the result ID and To fields Results that were created on a specified date Results created by a particular user ID Results that have or have not had a variant item created from them Results with a particular variant description The lower part of the screen shows the features relating to the generic item You can cho
281. n Concepts 209 Product Structure Roll Up Material costs and overhead costs are stored in the this level costs of each item For all component items B C on a certain level that are part of the same assembly the this level costs can be added and stored in the lower level costs of the assembled item A Thus the lower level costs of an item in the product structure represent the material costs and overhead costs of all component items of that particular item on lower levels The product structure roll up calculates these costs for every level in the structure When a routing roll up has been completed on every level in the product structure and a product structure roll up has been done for the top level item the lower level costs and this level costs of this top level item can be added They constitute the total costs of the top level item For a detailed description of the cost roll up functionality refer to the relevant QAD 2008 Standard guides About Element Roll Up When the Variant BOM Routing Generator creates a new variant the process normally includes the element roll up calculations You can use the item element roll up function subsequently to execute a calculation to roll up selected data elements for a variant for example if the original formula has been changed The function operates only on non cost element related data elements such as lead time or weight to produce figures for the total lead time or total weig
282. n the product structure of the configured item In the first case this variant is created by running the questionnaire QAD Configurator automatically creates B1 during the process of configuring a variant of A In the case of Manual Result Maintenance however the variant ID already exists in QAD 2008 Standard and the list of answers is created manually by going through a similar process of answering questions in Manual Result Maintenance Using Manual Result Maintenance is a way to enable QAD Configurator to substitute existing variants in a product structure without having to go through the entire process of analyzing and answering all the questions in the questionnaire One situation in which this could be helpful is when you want to include a variant in a product structure that can no longer be created with the current model because you changed the model recently Linking answers to the variant by running the questionnaire is not possible in this case but you can still manually link the variant to the combination of answers using Manual Result Maintenance thus forcing QAD Configurator to include it in the product structure whenever it encounters the same set of answers Note When using Manual Result Maintenance a result key must be entered for B as well otherwise QAD Configurator will not start checking existing results and thus will never identify manual result B4 Example Suppose B is a generic item in the product structure of A
283. n the left of the screen with all the generic item questions and the answers you have provided On the right of the screen the system displays all matching configurations with identical result keys Compare matching configurations with your current one to make sure you do not create redundant variant items with identical configurations 00000780 10 20001 BDIEI 4000 F 800 00 800 00 039 08 mtg industrial medic grade UK yes alkaline batt 4 00000777 10 20001 BDGEI 4000 F 800 00 800 00 0349 08 mtg industrial medic grade UK yes alkaline batt 00000774 Displaying 1 to 3 of 3 10 20001 BDEF mn 4000 F 800 00 800 00 0349 08 QAD industrial medic grade UK yes alkaline batt gt Items per Page 5 Y Depending on displayed data you can perform one of the following actions in the Matching Configurations screen Create a new variant item from the current configuration Click the Create Variant Item icon in the Variant Item field of the current configuration to create a new variant item After a brief display of the variant item creation process bar the Questionnaire window closes and the newly created variant item number is returned to the Item Number field in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance Assign an existing variant item to the current configuration Click the Use This Variant Item Number icon next to a matching variant item number to save
284. nance because the table in that function do not allow for this kind of expression The following is an example of a more complex rule cloth arctic white OR cloth tropical blue AND length width 2 OR length gt 250 AQAD 204 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD When you select a component item in COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance the system displays in the editor window any default rule that exists for the component If the syntax of the rule is simple and the rule can be maintained using COP Rule Table Maintenance the system inserts a check mark in the Maintained by COP Rule Table check box You maintain this rule using the simple formula functions of the table If the syntax of the rule contains complex expressions the system removes the check mark in the Maintained by COP Rule Table check box You can now maintain this rule using COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance Complex rules can contain any combination of variables options operators and values that satisfies the requirements of Progress syntax Unknown Answer Lines You use COP Rule Table Maintenance and COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance to create standard selection formulas for components not related to a generic item The formulas in these rules refer to variables rather than features because the components are not linked to a generic item so features cannot be used However later on in the process when the selection formula is used
285. nce HOU 4 3 Ol x File Edit Yiew Tools Options Window Help Lf i e ERE I Y Item 10 20000 2 Lock Item Description arctic cooling syste 0 Type B 0 H v Analysed no 01 18 06 16 33 58 Iv Cost Price Roll up Cost Set fscandara gt Analyse Iv Use Pricing Allow Net Price Changes v Store all pricing info Iv Allow Manual Price List Changes Iv Create a pricelist List Price Variable 2 Done Variant P M fr Generic P M M New Delete Result selection Result retention Nett Price Variable 2 Cancel Auto Select Just Created Result Retain all results Eom mea xx Item Select a generic item to view modify or delete Click the New button to add a new generic item Description The field displays the item description from the QAD 2008 Standard item details SO Type Designate the generic item as a BOM a physical or a phantom kit The default type is BOM BOM Just one sales order or quote line is created for the variant item Physical A physical kit is used in situations where the kit is pre assembled and can be placed in inventory If a generic item is designated a physical kit the following applies A final assembly item is generated and retained A standard bill of material is generated and retained The first line of the quote or sales order will be the top level kit This line
286. ncepts of QAD Configurator is the use of generic items bills of material BOMs and routings A generic item is a special kind of item Its generic BOM includes all possible components ingredients even mutually exclusive ones that might be needed to manufacture any particular configuration Similarly a generic routing contains all possible operations that could be needed to manufacture any possible variant of the product Both the generic BOMs and the generic routings can be multi level which means that components on lower levels in the BOM can be generic items themselves In the knowledge exploitation part of QAD Configurator you define the selection rules for the components in the multi level generic BOM and the operations in the multi level generic routing These selection rules use the answers given to the questions in the questionnaire Rule tables make the entry of selection rules very user friendly and make the rules easy to maintain As well as selection rules you can also set up quantity rules so that elements like quantity per setup time and run time can be calculated within QAD Configurator again based on the answers in the AQAD 10 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD questionnaire This enables you to create very detailed and accurate BOMs and routings so that the new variant item needs no further maintenance in QAD 2008 Standard once it has been created In order to prevent errors from occurring during t
287. nfigurations for Item 10 20001 Configuration ID 00000780 I3 00000777 I3 00000774 I3 Variant Item 10 20001 BDI 9 10 20001 BDG 9 10 20001 BDE 9 zx Customer 4000 4000 4000 Status F F F List Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 Net Price USD 800 00 800 00 800 00 Create date 034 9 08 0319 08 0319 08 User ID mfg mfg QAD usage industrial industrial industrial Coolant medic grade medic grade medic grade region UK UK UK backup yes yes yes backup type alkaline batt alkaline batt alkaline batt pump medium capacity medium capacity medium capacity housing length 70 70 70 housing width 70 70 70 zu housing height 70 70 70 power converter smart smart smart 4l s 4 Page 1 of 1 b P Displaying 1 to 3 of 3 lemsperPage5 v Cancel Browsing Existing Configurations The Existing Configurations screen displays all existing configurations and variant items associated with the generic item you are configuring side by side in the form of a comparison table Key attributes and all item features are displayed for each configuration Configuration ID Configuration ID or result ID uniquely identifies a configuration or result stored in the system Variant Item Number Variant item number uniquely identifies a variant item created in the system A configuration ID is associated with a variant item number only when a variant item has been created from the configuration Customer Specifies which custom
288. nt If you want QAD Configurator to use the simple selection formula specified for this component in COP Rule Table Maintenance you must select this check box The system displays a message prompting if you want to overwrite with the default If you click OK the detail rule is cleared from the editor window The rule table rule will then become the default rule to use for the component when no component specific rule exists or when the Use Default field is set on in the COP G BOM Maintenance function for the component When you select a component and this field is on the editor window displays the simple rule from COP Rule Table Maintenance If you make any changes to the simple rule in the editor window QAD Configurator AQAD 254 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 24 Generic Item Maintenance AQAD automatically turns off the field so that the modified rule becomes a detail rule which you maintain using this COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance function Saving Your Detail Rule Entries When you have finished maintaining complex selection formulas click OK in the button area to save your entries and exit from COP Detail Rule Table Maintenance Cost Roll Up To activate the cost roll up select Generic Item Maintenance and select an item See About Cost Roll Up on page 207 for details The system displays the following screen A Generic Item Maintenance HOU 4 3 ic xi File Edit View Tools Options Window Help
289. nt in a variant item number Consequently when you have added the sequence element to the Selected list it disappears from the components list so that you cannot add it again It is advisable always to include a sequence number in order to ensure that variant item numbers are unique You can change the order of the elements in the Selected window by highlighting an element in the list and clicking the Up or Down buttons The appearance of the Format line is adjusted accordingly The Definition of frame lets you define up to three different variant item number formulas Each option represents the point from which a variant item can be created item the Variant BOM Routing Generator sales quote or sales order The options for the QAD 2008 Standard database element fields vary depending on the function where the variant item is created so up to three different definition formulas can be specified for each generic item Creating a Variant Item Number Definition Formula When you first create a variant item number definition formula for a generic item the Format line will be blank and no elements are shown in the Selected window As you select elements from the components window and click the Add button the elements are added in the order you select them and the Format line shows the structure of the item number you are building Each time you select an element the system displays a subsidiary window in which you can specify the detai
290. nt rule table the variables that appear in each of the clauses and the attribute that is determined by the rules in the table To identify the rule that applies in a particular situation you must investigate the table itself using the appropriate Rule Table Maintenance function Using Manual List Pricing If you select Manual List from the Pricing selection list the questionnaire screen changes as in the following example Sl Questionnaire STD customer 4000 Item 10 20000 4 4 lolx File Edit View Tools Options Window Help PaT R oes E y 187600 Net Price a 7 RR RR Deal Spec Pump Low capacity 500 00 2 DelalSpec Coolant Medic grade Ce 0 00 2 Detail Spec Region UK 0 00 3 Accessoies Backup yes Ce 0 00 3 Accessoies Backup type Alkaline batt 0 00 1 Housing Housing height 70 0 00 1 Housing Housing length 70 0 00 1 Housing Housing width 70 0 00 2 DetalSpec power converter Smart 200 00 1 Housing Housing area 29400 A 1176 00 Comment 1 Housing Paint housing no 0 00 KUNA z Le The screen changes relate to the Pricing fields In the Pricing column of the question list and in the Option Pricing column of the Answer Question frame the system shows the names of the assigned QAD 2008 Standard manual price lists The Net Price field and its associated green check mark OK button are replaced with the Manual List field and its associated Browse button and green
291. o do with it The main window of every function that generates a report shows a list of possible directions for the report Printer File and Terminal Fig 1 13 FA Question Type Report HOU 4 3 OF x Output Selection File Edit View Tools Options Window Help mm coc An Question Type 2 To Terminal Level lt ott gt gt Terminal If you select Printer the system generates the report and sends it to the printer immediately without showing it on the screen The system helps you to specify the details of the print job by presenting the Print screen If you select File the system generates the report and saves it in a file The report will not be shown on the screen You have to specify a file name for the report Both of the screens shown previously are standard features of the Windows operating system it is assumed that you are familiar with the way they are used FAQAD 24 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 14 Terminal Output AQAD If you select Terminal the system displays the report on the screen As an example part of a Question Type Report is shown as follows Terminal Output Expert Questions for engineers Foreground Normal Questions for customers Background End of Report Report submitted by hes The button bar contains two buttons one for printing and one for saving When you click either of these buttons the system responds in the same way as described in t
292. occurrence of the search string in the column given the direction of the search Select the button Done to stop the search process If the search string occurs more than once within a certain cell for instance when you search for e and the cell contains Western Europe the same cell will be found as often as the string occurs in it Knowledge Building Functions 161 If the search string is not found in the column the system will report this as end of search Search and Replace As well as the search function described in Search Function on page 160 Rule Table Maintenance also offers the function to perform a search and replace action on the rule table Press Ctrl R to call the following Search and Replace window JA General Rule Table Maintenance HOU Search Replace 4 3 Find What l Find Next Replace With Beplace Replace All E h x Match whole word only Search All E Match case Search and replace is always conducted within a column of the current rule table If the search string occurs more than once within a cell the system will find every occurrence in that cell and you can replace every one of them separately Enter the string you want to search for in the Find What field Enter the string with which you want to replace the search string in the Replace With field Click Find Next to start the search Click Replace to replace the occurrence the system has most recent
293. oitation Functions 253 If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax errors have been found You can then correct the errors before saving the formula QAD Configurator does not use selection formulas that do not have a check mark in the Formulas OK check box To delete an existing selection formula that is no longer required either click the Clear button to remove the formula from the editor window or highlight the entire expression in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the module the formula is automatically deleted because the editor is empty When there is no detail rule for a component item the item will always be selected unless there is a rule table rule or a component specific rule for the item or unless a higher level component has been excluded Maintained by COP Rule Table Field Immediately above the editor window is a check box labeled Maintained by COP Rule Table This check box determines whether QAD Configurator will use the detail rule in the editor window or the default rule table rule defined in COP Rule Table Maintenance If you want QAD Configurator to use the complex detail rule displayed in the editor window you must deselect this check box This rule will then become the default rule to use for the component when no component specific rule exists or when the Use Default field is set on in COP G BOM Maintenance for the compone
294. omatically the question will be presented in the questionnaire but you cannot modify the answer The Monitor check box is used to provide functions for you to monitor the answers to interrelated questions in the questionnaire When you select this check box for a feature or for a variable in Variable Maintenance questions relating to this feature will be included in the question monitoring process While answering questions in the questionnaire you can click the Monitor button to start the monitoring process The system displays a browse window which shows all the features for which the Monitor check box has been selected The values in this browse window are continually updated while you answer the questions in the questionnaire For example if you have a rule in which the answers to Knowledge Building Functions 121 two questions affect the possible answer values for a third question using the monitoring process will let you see how the answers to the first two questions affect the value for the third question At the bottom of the screen are the fields used to provide pricing information One function of these fields in this window is to set the default for the same fields in the Feature Options Maintenance window For logical features though you maintain the pricing information here Pricing Part The value of this field should be an existing item number in QAD 2008 Standard However there is no validation on the existence of the
295. on a lower level will automatically be selected into the variant BOM Selection formulas on lower levels are therefore meaningless Selection formulas are only active if the parent item of the component is a generic item Error No variant item number definition found for generic item Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 215 It is not possible for QAD Configurator to generate a new variant in QAD 2008 Standard for the top level generic item since it does not know how to store its findings Cross Validation Analyzer Report Cross Validation Analyzer Report is displayed on the screen in the standard output window and can be printed using the standard print routine The report looks like the following Fig 6 8 Cross Validation Analyzer Report Item l0 20000 Type Gen arctic cooling system Variant Quantity Formula 0K From C 0 P Maintenance Syntax check OK Variant Item Number OK l Item 22 100 Type Conp Parent Item 10 20000 CORD POWER UK Selection Formula OK From C 0 P Maintenance Quantity Formula OK From C 0 P Maintenance Syntax check OK l Item 22 110 Type Comp Parent Item 10 20000 CORD POWER EUROPE WEST Selection Formula OK From C 0 P Maintenance Syntax check OK l Item 22 120 Type Comp Parent Item 10 20000 CORD POWER USA Selection Formula OK From C 0 P Maintenance Syntax check OK 1l Item 22 130 Type Comp Parent Item 10 20000 CORD POWER UNIVERSAL Selection Form
296. on to remove the formula from the window or highlight the entire formula in the editor window and press the Delete key When you save or click OK to close the module the formula is automatically deleted Quantity Formula Maintenance The third frame in the screen displayed when you click the Show Formulas button is the Quantity Formula Inquiry Selection window This window lists all the quantity formulas that have been defined for the operation shown in the top frame of the screen You can only define one selection formula for an operation but you can define a number of different quantity formulas to assign values to different database fields for the operation You can use the scroll bars to view the quantity formulas in the list To maintain a formula highlight the required formula in the list and click the relevant button below the list window Clear Clicking the Clear button deletes all the quantity formulas in the list When you click this button the system displays a message prompting you to confirm your decision because it is not possible to undo or cancel the deletion AQAD 234 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 10 Adding Modifying Field AQAD Delete Field Clicking the Delete Field button deletes the selected quantity formula from the list Add Modify Field When you click the Add Modify Field button the system displays the following screen Fl COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000Component 30 1000 4 3
297. onfigurable sunblind where the customer requires Sunset Orange cloth Heavy environment of use 250 cm width and Manual operation The following table shows how QAD Configurator compares these requirements with the existing configurations AQAD 272 User Guide QAD Configurator Table 9 1 Generic Item 9 100 100 Variants FAQAD The first row in the table shows the description of the customer s present requirement The other rows show details of existing results and variants Options Result ID Environment Number Variant Cloth of Use Width Operation Sunset Orange Heavy 250 Manual 00000101 9 100 100 45 Sunset Orange Medium 250 Electronic 00000105 9 100 100 46 Tropical Blue Heavy 210 Electronic 00000111 9 100 100 47 Tropical Blue Medium 280 Electronic 00000227 9 100 100 49 Sunset Orange Heavy 210 Manual 00000230 9 100 100 50 Sunset Orange Medium 250 Electronic 00000237 9 100 100 51 Tropical Blue Heavy 250 Manual 00000240 9 100 100 52 Tropical Blue Medium 300 Electronic 00000241 9 100 100 53 Sunset Orange Heavy 250 Manual The characteristics of result 00000241 match the requirements as stated by the customer which is the required configuration You therefore do not need to start up the questionnaire and answer all the questions separately Checking Existing Configurations After the Questionnaire After answering the
298. onfiguration without generating the corresponding variant It is quite possible therefore that some previous use of the questionnaire has produced either a result or a variant that matches the specifications of your present customer s configuration requirements To avoid result and variant redundancies you can have QAD Configurator check if a result configuration already exists To do this QAD Configurator uses the configuration characteristics that is the answers to the questions When a result already exists there may already be a variant available with the same configuration description that matches your current customer s requirements You can then decide whether to use the existing result or variant or to continue with the questionnaire to create a new one To find a specific configuration QAD Configurator needs a key to use as an index Due to performance aspects and Progress limitations it is not advisable to include the complete configuration description as the index In most cases only a subset of all the configuration elements that is the result details is needed to uniquely describe a variant You can use Result Key Maintenance to select the features that uniquely describe a variant Note Ifa feature is added to or removed from an existing result key all unique variant keys for the generic item must be rebuilt Although Result Key Maintenance is more concerned with Knowledge Exploitation than Knowledge Building the
299. onfigurator comment is not available in the language of the routing comment no replacement is carried out This will always be true for the languages that are not supported in QAD Configurator Codes have a special format x y where x is the name of a feature and y is a replacement function Comment Types You can incorporate several types of QAD Configurator comments in the variant routing comment each by way of its own code Variable Comment Variable Option Comment Feature Comment Feature Option Comment Chosen Option AQAD 132 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Variable Comment You can add comment text to any variable in QAD Configurator To do so just click the Comment button in the Variable Maintenance window and enter variable comments for the languages you want After you have returned to the Variable Maintenance window the check box to the left of the Comment button is checked This means that for the current variable a comment exists in at least one language In order to incorporate the variable comment into the variant routing comment you should add the code feature name vc to the routing comment of the generic item in QAD 2008 Standard at the position where you want the variable comment to appear Note The name of a feature is always identical to that of the associated variable Variable Option Comment Use feature name voc instead of feature name vc Feature Comment Use featur
300. ools Options Window Help Waie i e el GRTOOL W General Rule Table IF region value usage value power converter value THEN pump value Available Rule Tables Item Rule Tables GRTOOl Include gt IDDI ALD SS Maintain The title bar of the screen shows the group and the currently selected generic item You can use the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select another generic item The list on the left shows the rule tables that you can select for the item The list on the right shows the rule tables that have been selected for the item The frame above the lists shows the variables including extent and attribute that are used in the currently selected rule table and the clauses in which they are used If the General Rule Table check box is checked the rule table is a general rule table and can only be maintained using General Rule Table Maintenance If the General Rule Table check box is not checked the rule table is specific to this item and can only be maintained using the Maintain button below the item rule tables list Adding and Removing General Rule Tables To add a general rule table to the selected item highlight the required table in the list of available rule tables on the left then click the Include button The table is moved to the item rule tables list on the right and is now linked to the item It is still a general rule table though and can be linked to other items
301. op down list of all the available options ps pe net wt ipt net wt um pt ord max pt ord min pt ord mult pt ord per pt ord pol pt ord qty When you click the Down arrow at the right of a field the drop down list shows all the available fields you can select When there are too many options to fit into the list window the drop down list has a vertical scroll bar on the right so that you can view the rest of the list To select an option from the drop down list position the cursor over the option you Introduction to QAD Configurator 17 want and click the left mouse button to highlight that option in the list Double click the left mouse button to select that option The drop down list closes and your selected option is automatically inserted in the field Dimmed Options Whenever a function in the application is unavailable for use Windows dims the option This applies to menu options buttons options and check boxes The following example shows part of the Rule Group Rule Maintenance screen where the Exclude and Exclude All buttons are available but the Include and Include All buttons are dimmed and unavailable Fig 1 8 Disabled Options Exclude a Excl all Clicking a dimmed option has no effect QAD Configurator Window Features Generic Item Maintenance illustrates a typical QAD Configurator window AQAD 18 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 9 Generic Item Maintenance
302. opriate option to select Transfer to history or Delete result Click OK to carry out the archiving process QAD Configurator displays a report showing the results that have been transferred or deleted You can then use the buttons on the toolbar to save the report as a file print the report or close the report window when you have read the information When you close the report window the system displays a message prompting if you want to print another report Click Yes if you want to continue to enter archiving selections otherwise click No to exit Analyzer The Analyzer is a tool within QAD Configurator that checks rules for loops and also checks the sequences of questions based on the dependencies between product features After making these checks the Analyzer proposes a sequence for the questions in the questionnaire Bill of Material BOM A parent item and component items needed to build a specific item If there is only one level in a product structure a single level bill shows only those items directly below the parent item In a multi level bill of material more than one parent item is defined within the product structure but on different levels and the structure shows all the items below the master parent item at all levels BLUP Best List Unit Price BNUP Best Net Unit Price COP Configuration Output Processor The COP is the part of QAD Configurator that converts the answers from the questionnaire into actual bi
303. option list Enter 50 in the Menu Selection field and press Enter The QAD Configurator splash screen displays Fig 1 15 QAD Configurator Welcome x QAD Configurator x Splash Screen 4 The splash screen automatically disappears in a few seconds You can also click OK to manually close the window The QAD Configurator log in window displays FAQAD 26 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 16 QAD Configurator Log in Window Fig 1 17 Change Password Window FAQAD W QAD Configurator Login ojx File View r1 vene O O OO QAD Passwora T cance 5 Enter your user ID and password and click OK If the user ID and password combination you provided is invalid you will be prompted to enter them again The log in window closes after three log in failures 6 The QAD Configurator main menu displays Changing Your QAD Configurator Password You must change your password if your password and log in ID are identical The system displays the Change Password window Change Password Lx pO I ial New Password E Re enter iud 1 Enter your old password in the Old Password field QAD Configurator checks if this password matches your old password You are allowed only two retries If the third password you enter is not valid the system denies you any further attempts 2 Enter your new password in the New Password field 3 Confirm your new password by re entering it in the
304. ose a feature from the list by highlighting it then specify the option and the operator in the fields to the right of the Clear button to give the required answer to the feature question The Turn Off button changes to Turn On when a feature has been selected Clicking the button selects the feature Example If you want to review existing configurations that have arctic white for the cloth color feature and medium duty for the environment of use feature you can turn on these two feature selections in the list Only existing configurations that have these feature options will be included in the list The Clear button clears all the fields in the filter so that you can start to specify a new filter Feature criteria are de activated but the option you chose previously will not be changed back to the default value When you have specified the characteristics of the filter click OK to return to the Result Inquiry Selection screen with the filtered list of existing configurations Selecting the Next Action for the Questionnaire If you have used the filter the Result Inquiry Selection window now lists only those results that matched the configuration characteristics you specified You can select a result to use by highlighting it in the window The field above the window shows the result ID of the currently selected configuration You can browse through the configurations in the list using the navigation buttons in the button area AQAD
305. oup and the name of the most recently accessed variable You can use the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select another variable The Option field shows the most recently accessed option for the currently selected variable You can select another option to display using either the Browse button to the right of the field or the navigation buttons in the button area The Description field shows a description of the option if one has been entered Option descriptions are not required but can be used when the option name is not self explanatory When you have selected a variable option you can modify the details as required or you can click the Delete button to delete the option from the list for this variable Only discrete set variables and discrete date variables can have options specified for them For discrete set variables the dimmed options show whether the variable is text or calculable For calculable variables the frame below the Comments and Priorities buttons shows the settings for the number of digits and decimals and whether negative values are allowed The settings shown are the defaults defined in Variable Maintenance You can change these settings for the first option you define for the variable However for subsequent variables you cannot change the numeric settings otherwise the existing options could be incompatible with the new format FAQAD 116 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 5 Variable Option Orde
306. p and the currently selected rule table The lower frame shows the following data The variables in the rule table including their extent if any and their attributes The variables are shown in the order in which they appear in the rule table The type of clause IF or THEN each variable is in The number of values that have been entered for each variable during the current visit to the Wizard A value is an expression that you want to put in a cell of the table for that variable Refer to General Rule Table Maintenance on page 154 and Item Rule Table Maintenance on page 173 to find out what an entry in a cell that is a value can look like A value need not necessarily be an option The content of the Number of Values fields depends on the circumstances under which you called the Wizard If you start the Wizard for the first time for a certain table the Number of Values field will equal 0 for all variables AQAD Knowledge Building Functions 167 f you start the Wizard for a table that contains different variables than the table for which the Wizard was most recently run the Number of Values fields will equal 0 for all variables If you call the Wizard twice and the combination of variables for which it is called has not been changed in between the Wizard will recognize that it is either called twice for the same rule table or called for two rule tables that look very much the same Because of this the Wizard
307. parameters which you use to control the display of prices in the question list The Total selection list box offers two options Progressive and Cumulative If you select Cumulative the value shown in the Total Value box will be the sum of all prices in the Pricing column In this case it is irrelevant whether the question is answered and it is even irrelevant whether the current answer is possible If you select Progressive the value which is shown in the Total Value box will be the sum of all prices in the Pricing column of answered questions AQAD 282 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD The Total Value field shows the Progressive or Cumulative total of the prices shown in the Pricing column according to the selection you make in the Total selection list box This total can vary because the prices in the Pricing column will vary according to the selection you make in the Pricing selection list A progressive or cumulative discount percentage can be shown in this field if you select Discount as the value in the Pricing selection list The Total Value shown can differ from what you expect to see because some background features which are not displayed in the question list can have pricing information that affects the total price The Pricing selection list box offers five options Empty No prices are shown in the Pricing column or in the Option Pricing column The Total selection list is not available and the Total Val
308. pe Without any user controlled sequencing the Analyzer would present the questions in the following sequence operation type voltage width of frame The indentation of voltage indicates that it is dependent on one or more of the features above it in the list that have one less dot of indentation In this case voltage is dependent on the previous feature operation type Using Feature Sequence Maintenance you could manually set the feature sequence that is the order in which the questions are asked as follows width of frame voltage operation type When the Analyzer processes the features and rules for your product it determines that voltage is dependent on operation type and modifies the sequence width of frame operation type voltage Aspects of the sequence that do not affect the logical structure are left as you set them so width of frame is now the first question However the Analyzer has changed the sequence of the voltage and operation type questions to allow for the dependence between them Multi Level Analysis The Analyzer has multi level capabilities it can handle generic item BOMs with lower level component items that are themselves generic items Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 193 When dealing with a multi level generic item the Analyzer performs the following activities Collects all the features and rules on the different levels so that each question occurs only once Creates one tr
309. pes to include The report type Summary Detail or Detail with feature Details The sort sequence by feature option that is within each feature by option or by generic item feature Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen AQAD 320 User Guide QAD Configurator Rule Report The Rule Report provides information on the Knowledge Base rules defined in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of generic items to report on The range of rule groups to report on The range of rule IDs to report on You select one of these three options using the options Depending on the option you select you can then select check boxes to include the following elements in the report tem specific rules tem general rules Rule group specific rules Rule group general rules Tables rule table rules Rules with the syntax OK or Not OK off indicates that all rules are reported OK indicates that only rules with correct syntax are reported Not OK indicates that only rules with incorrect syntax are reported Finally you can select The report type Summary or Detail The sort sequence by rule ID by syntax OK or by rule type Whether to include comments Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen FAQAD Additional QAD Con
310. pond to the product s features As you answer each question you select options for each feature of the product When you finish all the questions you have a combination of answers or feature options that is called a result in QAD Configurator Each result represents a product configuration and you can save it so that it can be loaded and reused later When a firm order is placed for a new product configuration you convert the questionnaire result to a new variant item with its own item number variant BOM and if required variant routing Variant Configuration Concepts 265 Questionnaire Questions Each question corresponds to a configurable product feature and each option in a question corresponds to a feature option How questions are generated and how you can answer them are determined by questionnaire related Knowledge Based data including feature and option sequence feature and option characteristics as well as inclusions exclusions and interdependency rules See Chapter 4 Knowledge Building Concepts on page 81 and Chapter 5 Knowledge Building Functions on page 107 for details The main types of questions recognized by QAD Configurator are as follows Foreground questions which require answers from the customer Background questions which can be answered by the customer but do not need to be If no answer is supplied the default is used even if there is no rule to cover the question Temporary questions
311. port or close the report window when you have read the information When you close the report window the system displays a message prompting if you want to print another report Click Yes if you want to run another of the same type of report otherwise click No to exit The selections you can make for each type of report are briefly explained in other areas Examples of reports are not provided The best way to see the contents of each type of report is to run the reports for your own data Remember if you are trying to run a sample report that leaving a range blank when selecting what to include will cause the entire range to be included Additional QAD Configurator Features 317 Question Type Report The Question Type Report provides information on the question types that have been set up in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of question types to report on The question level setting to report Off Foreground or Background Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen Sales Quote Report Sales Quote Report provides details of Sales Quotes You can select the following options for the report The range of Master Groups to report on The range of Result IDs to report on The range of variant items to report on The method of sorting to use You can send the report to the termin
312. ption selection window and click the green check mark button The chosen operator and option are now shown in the cell such as yes Because the available operators change when you change the selected variable the best way to proceed is as follows 1 Select the required variable by clicking once in the field on the right of the column under that variable name The operator buttons you can use now become available 2 Click once on the required operator button it will be shown in the equation field in the operator bar Knowledge Exploitation Functions 247 3 Now click in the field on the right of the required cell select the option and click the green check mark button Both the operator and the selected option will now be entered in the table Do not try to enter an operator directly in the cell first and then select the option afterwards The size of the cells varies depending on the number of columns you have chosen for the table display If you cannot see enough of the option in the cell position the cursor in the cell then click the right mouse button in the cell to display a pop up window showing the option value in full To clear a cell of its specified option display the option selection window for the cell and click the red cross Clear button Alternatively you can highlight the option in the cell and press the Delete key Single and Multiple Option Selections The option selection window displays the list of availab
313. questionnaire according to the possible options for each feature in the model This may cause performance problems because many records could be created In such cases it is recommended that you do not select this check box in which case only the pricing information of the actual option chosen is stored in QAD Configurator Result Selection Method specify the method to be used to select a result in the questionnaire for variant items created from this generic item When you have finished answering questions in the questionnaire QAD Configurator displays a browse window showing all the results that have the same answers for the result key features It can also highlight one particular result in the browse window You can then select either the highlighted result or another result from the list The options for the selection method are as follows Just created result QAD Configurator always highlights the result you have created regardless of the other existing results Last matching result QAD Configurator highlights the most recently created matching result First matching result QAD Configurator highlights the oldest matching result List Price Variable Specify the variable to store the list price List price represents the unit price before applicable discounts or markups are applied This value is used by the system to calculate the net price The list price is posted to the Sales account during invoice post If there is a diffe
314. r AQAD The frame at the bottom of the screen shows the pricing fields The settings shown are the defaults defined in Variable Maintenance You can change these settings for each variable option The values you set for the pricing fields will be used as the defaults in Feature Option Maintenance However if the Std Options check box is selected in that window the settings you have entered for the variable option will be used and you cannot change them for the feature option See Variable Maintenance on page 108 for details on the three pricing fields Changing the Option List Order You can set a default order for the list of options that will be presented in the questionnaire for questions that relate to the selected variable The list is default rather than final because further changes can be made using Feature Option Maintenance to include or exclude variable options and to add unique feature options To modify the option list order click the Priorities button to the left of the button area The Variable Option Order window displays ariable Option Maintenance HOU 4 3 SE majojo fi A USA Western Europe Other D pcd 1 Up Tb 1 Down EL Undo Last Move Sort Select All Deselect all OK Cancel The option list shows all the options that have been set up for this variable The buttons in the Move column let you rearrange the options in the o
315. r if you start the Wizard for a second time and the set of variables has not changed since the previous visit to the Wizard the list will initially contain the values that were entered during that previous visit This will even be true if the action in the previous visit was delete rows although this means that the rows that contain these values have been deleted from the table The purpose of showing these values is to make it Knowledge Building Functions 171 easier for you to undo your previous deletion if you want to add the deleted rows again the Wizard helps you to select the values by presenting them directly in the list There is only one situation in which the number of values that can be entered is restricted This is when you are adding rows and defining values for a result variable Obviously a certain combination of the values of the condition variables can lead to only one combination of values of the result variables which is why the number of values that you are allowed to enter in this case cannot exceed one To ensure that this condition is not violated some buttons are disabled when you have entered one value in the list If you specify one value for the result variable every row that the Wizard adds later on will show this same value This value can of course be overruled at any time by modifying the appropriate cell manually You can use the buttons to the right of the list to speed up the process of selecting valu
316. r Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD For the two options you can select Question or Temporary Selecting Question causes the questionnaire to display a question for this feature Selecting Temporary causes the questionnaire to answer questions automatically for any feature based on this variable A Temporary question can be made to appear in the questionnaire by selecting the check box in the Customize function within the questionnaire The purpose of Temporary questions is to store information that does not have an associated question Example Area is the product of length and width You can define a Temporary variable called area which will depend on the answers to the two variables length and width You can then use the value of the area variable as a factor in other rules The Fill In check box is used only for features based on discrete set variables and Discrete Date Other variables Check this box to specify that an additional field is to be displayed in the questionnaire for the customer to supply a free format answer to the question relating to this feature The Mandatory check box is used to specify whether or not an option must be approved by the questionnaire user When you select this check box the user of the questionnaire must confirm the answer if only one option is left and the question could be answered automatically When you deselect this check box if QAD Configurator can answer the question for you aut
317. rator depending on the type of variable For example with numeric variables you can use operators such as less than or greater than lt or gt The process of composing a normal format expression consists of selecting the variable specifying an operator and selecting an option or value Select the variable by clicking the Browse button to the right of the Variable field then highlighting the required variable and clicking OK You can also enter the name of the variable into the field The recommended sequence of steps is to select the variable before selecting the expression mode as the expression mode may change to its former value when you select another variable However as the three expression modes are described separately the selection of the variable is shown as part of each process For numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables you can select an attribute of the variable to use in the expression such as the minimum the maximum or the default Click the down arrow by the Attr field to display a drop down list of the available attributes Fig 5 18 Composing a Normal Expression AQAD 138 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 19 Using the Attr Field to Compose an Expression FAQAD FA General Rule Maintenance HOU 4 3 mf x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help YA LT A RE Se f m n coo1 FO A Rule OR industrial salesprice max S l4 C IF THEN ELSE norua
318. rder you want Knowledge Building Functions 117 The top five Move buttons operate on a selected option in the list First click the option you want to reposition in the list then click the required Move button For example clicking the top Move button moves the selected option to the top of the list In the bottom frame of Move buttons the Sort button sorts the list in alphanumeric sequence while the Reverse button toggles your selections in the option list If you select one option and click Reverse the one option becomes deselected and all the others selected You can select more than one option by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking additional options and you can select a consecutive range of options by holding down the Shift key while clicking the option at the other end of the required range When you have arranged the options in the required order click OK to return to Variable Option Maintenance Adding a New Variable Option When you want to add a new option to a variable first make sure that you have the required variable selected the name is shown in the title bar of the Variable Option Maintenance screen Then click the New button in the button area Type in the name of the new option and a description if required Save your entry and click the Priorities button if you want to change the position of the new option in the default order Maintaining Features About Features on page 85 explains how features
319. re Item screen A Customize screen displays Change the settings and click OK to save your changes Note Display settings only apply to the Questionnaire window you are currently working in Your customized settings are not saved when you exist Questionnaire Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 307 Fig 10 10 Customize x Customize Screen Show temporary questions V Show background questions v Show question type Short question Y Show low level questions Yes 10 C No Show price info Vv Price type Net Price Y Pricing Method Absolute Y Reprice the configuration Prompt for Reprice x Show temporary questions Specify whether to show temporary questions in the questionnaire Temporary questions are automatically answered by QAD Configurator according to rules The default is No Show background questions Specify whether to show background questions in the questionnaire Background questions are those that always have default answers and do not need to be answered by the user However users can manually answer background questions and override default answers The default is No Show question type Specify whether to display long questions and answers or short questions and answers in the questionnaire Short questions and answers are displayed by default Show low level questions Specify whether to show low level questions in the questionnaire Question levels are determined by question dependencies A lower level que
320. rence between the net price and list price the difference is posted to the Sales Discount account Net Price Variable Specify the variable to store the net price The net price represents what the customer pays It prints on all formal documents and helps calculate taxes sales margins and commission amounts Any difference between the list and net price is posted to the Sales Discount account during invoice post System Setup Functions 75 Auto Select Specify whether variant item number is selected automatically by QAD Configurator or manually by the user Result Retention Specify how QAD Configurator handles generated variant items The following table lists the effects of different combinations of choices for Auto Select Result Selection and Result Retention Result Selection Auto Select Result Retention Effect Just Created Yes Retain all Results and Disabled QAD Configurator always creates a new variant and keeps all results Just Created No Retain all Results and Disabled The Result Selection browse is opened and the Just Created Result is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line The variant part number is assigned to the new result and this new result is returned to pesod det If the new result is selected and accepted it creates a new variant from this result and this result is returned to pcsod det First mat
321. riable downward select the variable and click the button with the downward pointing arrow until the variable is in the correct position Knowledge Building Functions 157 Click Cancel if you do not want to save the entries you made in the window Click OK to save your entries The system returns you to the main screen and the variables you selected will be shown above the columns of the rule table Using the Small Help Window When you have entered the table ID and selected the variables you can start to fill in the cells of the rule table The small Help window you see on the screen is intended to help you with this The appearance of the Help window depends to a certain extent on the type of variable relating to the active cell that is the cell your cursor is in Fig 5 34 F region value Miel x DEM e Ks br x USA Western Europe Other zl Exclusion E Reposition The part of the window to the left of the green check mark button can show a check box a field and or a list The check boxes Exclusion and Reposition and the green check mark button are always available Numeric Element There is an extra fill in field Entering a value creates the condition result variable value Discrete Set Text Calculable There is an extra fill in field in which you can enter a value The options of the variable are shown in a list Entering a value creates the condition result variable value Discrete Date Current There
322. ric item 10 20000 modify the generic item store the generic item data Start Feature Maintenance the master generic item will become 10 20000 Select another generic item if needed using the Browse button from the toolbar Select feature coolant update coolant and store the data leave Feature Maintenance Start Feature Maintenance again Feature Maintenance will start with generic item 10 20000 as Master Entry and feature coolant as Feature ID Selecting Adding Saving and Deleting Entries Selecting an Entry With the cursor positioned at the selection key field you can select the key value in one of the following ways Introduction to QAD Configurator 21 Click the selection window button immediately to the right of the field The entity selection browse is displayed Select the correct occurrence in the browser either by double clicking the entity with your left mouse button or by clicking once on the entry and clicking OK Enter the unique key of the entry you want to select and press Tab or F1 to initialize the QAD Configurator find routine Use the navigator keys in the button area to navigate through the available entries When the entry you want is displayed continue with your processing Adding a New Entry To add a new key value to create a new entity click the New button in the button area then move to the selection key field and enter the new key value Add the remaining data for the new enti
323. rmula Inquiry Selection window Using the COP G Route Module The COP G Route module is used to create and maintain selection formulas and quantity formulas for operations in the generic routing for a selected generic item This module lets you select operations and then enter new formulas for the selected operation or modify or delete existing formulas When you have selected the group and the generic item on the first COP Maintenance screen and you select G Route and click the Show Details button the system displays the following screen AQAD 232 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 9 COP Maintenance G Route AQAD Beles n COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Wee e es Operation 10 Description Assembly Machine Start Date MASTER SELECTION PREPOSITION Quantity Formula inquiry Selection Window help aper ai ERI run Run Time Table Field ro d rios det if backup yes then Add Modify Field Delete Field The name of the currently selected group and generic item is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group or generic item you must return to the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen The top frame of the screen shows brief details of the first operation for the current generic item The second frame shows the selection formula that has been defined for this operation if any The
324. rompting if you want to run another report If you click No you exit from Cross Validation Analyzer Questionnaire Sequence Maintenance The sequence in which questions are presented in the questionnaire is determined by the Analyzer Questionnaire Sequence Maintenance lets you manually rearrange the questions 1 From the QAD Configurator main menu choose MenulKnowledge Exploitation MenulQuestionnaire Sequence Maint The Questionnaire Sequence Maintenance window displays Fig 7 28 M Questionaire Sequence Maint HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 Questionnaire File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Sequence Maintenance S EE Analyser Sequence usage usage coolant coolant Backup Backup Backup type Backup t region region power converter power co pump puup salesprice salesprice housing length housing housing height housing housing width housing housing area housing paint housing paint ho Undc Last Action FAQAD 262 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Select the item for which you want to define the question sequence in the questionnaire Click the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select an item or use the navigation buttons below the Cancel button to cycle through available items In the Analyzer Sequence list select the question of which you want to change the sequence in the questionnaire Use the buttons in the Move frame to
325. round questions as well and show questions in the long question format You can also specify how many dependency levels of questions to display in the questionnaire If you display multiple levels of questions since higher level questions are dependencies of lower level questions lower level questions will be disabled until prerequisite higher level questions have been answered Default answers are highlighted but are not automatically selected or entered for foreground questions Configuring Variant Items in NET UI 305 If valid answers to a question must fall within a value range the beginning and ending values of the range will be displayed next to the question Use this as a reference to provide valid answers To reset questions click the Reset button to revert all the questions to the unanswered state To automatically answer the questionnaire click the Answer AII button to answer all the questions using their default options For questions with no default answers the first option will be used Errors occur when you provide an invalid value for an answer or when your answer violates option dependency rules When this happens an alert icon appears next to the question and the message bar displays relevant error messages You must fix all errors to successfully complete the questionnaire Reviewing Answer Summary The hideable Summary panel lets you review at a glance all the answers you have provided so far in the process o
326. rowse button on the toolbar Knowledge Building Functions 109 The Variable field shows the name of the most recently maintained variable The details of this variable are shown in the other fields on the screen To select another variable click the Browse button to the right of the Variable selection key field then click a variable in the displayed list or use the navigation buttons in the button area You can assign the variable to a functional group Functional groups are used to categorize variables and features and are maintained in Functional Group Maintenance When you have selected a variable you can view or modify the details of the variable or you can click the Delete button to delete the variable if you no longer require it The system displays a message for you to confirm the deletion Before deleting the variable the system first makes sure that the variable is not used anywhere such as for a feature for an individual item If the variable is in use you cannot delete it Details of Variables The top frame on the screen shows the fields used to record general information about all variables the variable name extent description the question type and the short question for the questionnaire Variable type is shown to the right of the Extent field but you cannot change this for an existing variable Click the button to display a window for the long question which provides a more detailed explanation of the choice yo
327. select the correct group for the features you are maintaining then select Feature Option Maintenance When you select this option from the Knowledge Base menu by way of the Variables and Features option the system displays the following screen Knowledge Building Functions 123 n Feature Option Maintenance HOU Item 10 20000 4 3 File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Eee i e e N v r Feature usage 2 a net qa for sha qa testing r7 RECEPTORS industrial domestic The title bar of the screen shows the group and the currently selected generic item You can use the Master Browse button on the toolbar to select another generic item The Feature field shows the most recently accessed feature for the generic item You can select another feature to display using either the Browse button to the right of the field or the navigation buttons in the button area The description of the feature is displayed under the Feature Name field The check boxes at the right end of the frame have the following uses If you select the Std Options check box only the variable options will be available for the customer to select for this feature You cannot exclude any of the variable options or add any unique options for this feature Deselect this check box if you want to modify the standard variable options for the feature If you select the Fill In check box an additional field will be disp
328. selected So if you started QAD Configurator from Sales Quotation or Sales Order in QAD 2008 Standard you will now return to that function and the chosen variant will be entered in the SQ SO line Create Variant Select this option when you have found a matching configuration that exists only as a result and you want to create a new variant item from that result When you click OK after choosing this action you start the variant creation process described in Selecting a Result to Create a New Variant on page 288 Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 279 Default Types If you are creating a new configuration the first of the four options you can use the Default Type field to define the type of default answers that you want displayed in the question list Click the down arrow by the field and select the required default type from the drop down list Create Variant Options If you are creating a new result or completing an Open status existing result you can click the None option to cause the questionnaire to create only a result and not a variant item Click Item Level if you want the variant item created as well Cost Price Function The Cost Price group box indicates whether the cost price roll up is in use for the selected generic item You can specify the use of cost price roll up on the Generic Item Maintenance screen If cost price roll up is in use the list box shows the cost set that is to be used for the cost pric
329. single selection formula contains only one option per variable but you can specify conditions for more than one variable on the row for the component for example cloth arctic white AND coating anodise AND environment of use medium AND paint yes You could also use a different operator such as lt gt for example cloth lt gt arctic white AND coating lt gt anodise AND environment of use lt gt medium Multiple Selection Formulas A multiple selection formula contains two or more options per variable The relationship between the options for the variable is OR if the operator is any of the following lt lt gt gt The relationship between the options for the variable is AND if the operator is lt gt Again you can specify conditions for more than one variable on the row for the component for example cloth arctic white OR cloth tropical blue AND environment of use medium OR environment of use easy This formula would cause the component to be selected if the cloth is arctic white or tropical blue AND the environment of use is medium or easy The following is a similar example using the not equal operator cloth arctic white OR cloth tropical blue AND environment of use medium OR environment of use easy This formula would cause the component to be selected if the cloth is neither arctic white nor tropical blue AND
330. stion is dependent on the answers to a higher level question and cannot be answered before the higher level question is answered Yes Low level questions will be displayed in the questionnaire Specify the number of levels to display The default is 10 No Only the first level questions will be displayed Show price info Specify whether to show price information for the item being configured Price is not displayed by default Note If your transaction currency is different from the domain currency the price will be converted from the domain currency and displayed in the transaction currency AQAD 308 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Price type Choose the type of the price to be calculated for the item being configured list price and net price Pricing method Specify the method to use to calculate and display the price of the configured item Absolute The item price is calculated by adding up the prices of all the components in the item based on configuration answers Relative The item price is displayed as a price variance relative to the default item price Reprice the configuration Specify whether to reprice the configured item when you load an existing configuration An item price is the cumulative sum of the prices of all its components Since component prices may change over time repricing an item recalculates the item price based on the most current component prices Prompt for reprice When you load an
331. system displays a message prompting if you want to run the Analyzer for the new generic item You cannot use the item in the questionnaire until it has been analyzed However you may want to make changes to the Knowledge Base elements you have copied before running the Analyzer If you copy features feature options or rules to a new item in which some of these elements already exist no new copy will be made and no error will be reported New features feature options and rules will be added to those that already exist AQAD 184 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 186 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD About the Analyzer Each feature that you define for a generic item becomes a question in the questionnaire The rules that you define in the Knowledge Base establish the relationships between features However before the questionnaire can be used to configure products the features and rules for each generic item must be analyzed to determine the interdependencies between the product features This analysis is performed by the Analyzer which carries out the following activities Extracts all features used in the Knowledge Base rules Establishes the relationships between the features builds a question tree Checks for cyclical loops in the Knowledge Base rules Establishes priorities between questions and branches of question trees Creates and compiles Progress source code programs to control the questionnair
332. t be steel but otherwise the frame can be any of the available options except steel The rules are the way you can translate the engineering restrictions of your product into limitations regarding customer choice of product configuration Composing Rules Choose MenulKnowledge Base MenulRuleslGeneral Rule Maintenance to compose rules There are also functions for maintaining special types of rules in tables using rule table but it is best to understand the process of creating general rules before using the rule table functions When you create new rules you attach them to a particular group in QAD Configurator so you must ensure you have the required group selected before you start General Rule Maintenance Within the group you can use any of the available variables in constructing your rules The rules that you create in this way are called general rules because they apply generally to the variables you specify wherever those variables are used The rules are not initially attached to features or generic items QAD Configurator provides separate functions that let you select which of the general rules you want to apply to a particular generic item The advantage of using general rules is that you only need to maintain a rule once and then link it to all the generic items to which it applies AQAD 94 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Use the following steps to compose a rule in normal or advanced expression mode 1 Enter
333. t both The generic routing however includes both processes What to Set Up in QAD 2008 Standard QAD 2008 Standard must contain all the item BOM and routing details for the products you intend to configure using QAD Configurator If you are setting up QAD Configurator to configure products that already exist in the QAD 2008 Standard database you need only ensure that all the item details BOMs and routings are present in QAD 2008 Standard and represent current information If you are setting up QAD Configurator to configure a new product range you will need to create the following All the item details in QAD 2008 Standard Item Master Maintenance All the bills of material in QAD 2008 Standard Product Structure Maintenance All the possible operations in QAD 2008 Standard Routing Maintenance See Setting Up QAD 2008 Standard on page 52 for brief descriptions of these functions You may also need to create or modify records of other QAD 2008 Standard elements such as sites and work centers relating to the product range you want to configure System Setup Concepts 43 Note The item details and the product structure details BOMs are necessary for QAD Configurator you must set these up in QAD 2008 Standard before you can use QAD Configurator However use of generic routings is optional in QAD Configurator You can set up QAD Configurator so that it does not generate variant routings when you con
334. t in Feature Sequence Maintenance The list on the right shows the selected features AQAD 130 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 14 Selecting Features Fig 5 15 Sorting Features AQAD Feature Sequence Maintenance HOU 4 3 FIEIET FREIE Tu Sub selection C al Begins Matches FI EL Nuneric m Discrete ij Logical r Date E E Element Cancel Specify the characteristics by which you want to select features using the various options on the screen For example you can select all features that have a variable ID beginning with a certain string of characters or you can select all features based on the discrete set variable type Click OK when you have specified your selection criteria and the system returns you to the Feature Sequence Maintenance screen with the specified features selected You can now reposition or sort your selection as required Using the Sort Button If you click the Sort button the system displays a screen similar to the following example for you to specify the criteria by which you want to sort features in the list on the left in the Feature Sequence Maintenance window The list on the right shows the selected features Feature Sequence Maintenance HOU 4 3 Bajek e EE Discrete Type Monitor Variable Type l Varisble Id z z Down Loma el Select the fields you want the sort to be based on by clickin
335. t number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line The new result is deleted and the selected result is returned to pcsod det First matching No No Customer Duplicates The Result Selection browse is opened and the first matching customer result or if not available the first matching result if available is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line If a customer result match was found the new result is deleted and the existing resid is returned to pcsod det If a result match were found for a different customer the matching variant part number is assigned to the new result and the new result is assigned to pcsod det First matching Retain All Results The Result Selection browse is opened and the first matching result if available is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line The variant part number is assigned to the new result and this new result is returned to pesod det If the new result is selected and accepted it will create a new variant from this result and this result is returned to pcsod det FAQAD System Setup Functions 77 Result Selection Auto Select Result Retention Effect Last matching Yes No Duplicates The last matching result if available is selected This variant part number will automa
336. t of the rule syntax you may need to insert a new line to replace the one you have deleted Deleting a Rule Select the rule you want to delete then click the Delete button in the button area The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion Checking Rule Syntax When you have finished composing or modifying a rule you can click the 4GL syntax check button on the toolbar to cause QAD Configurator to check the syntax of the expressions you have composed If the syntax is correct the system selects the Rule OK check box above the rule display window If the syntax is not correct the system displays a window showing where the syntax error or errors have been found as in the following example Fig 5 26 Rule Syntax Error amp ULUBAL DKKINK MAX VAL amp max val amp GLOBAL DEFINE MAX INF amp max inf amp GLOBAL DEFINE DEFAULT amp default amp GLOBAL DEFINE MLTP V L amp mltp val amp GLOBAL DEFINE PRIC V L amp pric val amp GLOBAL DEFINE SHOW VAL amp show val IF region UK region Western Europe AND usage domestic ELSE ASSIGN Backup true XPCNO222 prg Line 15 THEN is missing from IF statement 195 AQAD 146 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD When you have reviewed the reported syntax errors click the green check mark button to return to the General Rule Maintenance window to correct the errors Note Saving a rule or clicking OK on the button area
337. tandard 300 400 200 Rules in a table can only be built from the variables that appear in the table However a rule in a table need not use every variable that is available in the table This means that a column relating to a variable can have empty cells for one or more rules rows in the table Note The rule table functions only check the syntax of the values in the cells Thus it is possible to enter values that are not in the list of options and values that are outside the range between the minimum value and the maximum value of a variable In addition in the case of item specific rule tables it is possible to use variables that are not defined as features for the item By allowing this kind of entry it becomes possible to define rule tables for future models and there is no need to postpone the definition process for rule tables until changes in current models have been made You can move through the cells of a table in the following way To move one cell to the right press the Tab key To move one cell to the left press the Tab key while holding down the Shift key To move one cell up or down use the up arrow and down arrow cursor keys on the keyboard Continuing down through a column reveals the rows beyond the originally displayed 12 The two Rule Table Maintenance functions General Rule Table Maintenance and Item Rule Table Maintenance are used in the same way as the normal Rule Maintenance functions descri
338. tem you specify is the one to which you are going to copy elements of Knowledge Base data The field to the right shows the description of item you select In the Copy From Item field enter the number of the generic item from which you want to copy elements of Knowledge Base data You can click the Browse button to the right of the field then click the required item in the displayed list Selecting Elements to Copy The What To Copy frame contains check boxes for you to specify the Knowledge Base elements that you want to copy to the new item you can select as many of these as you want Note You can only select feature options if you have already selected features and you can only select general rules rule groups item specific rules and rule tables if you have already selected rules Click OK when you have made your selection the copying process is started and the system displays the copy function report window as in the following example Multi Copy Report xi The Action Status frame shows the progress of the copying process If the copy is performed successfully the system displays OK in the bottom field You can now click the green check mark OK button to confirm the copy or the red cross Cancel button to cancel the copy If any errors are encountered in the copying process the system will display an error report on completion of the copy Knowledge Building Functions 183 When you confirm the copy the
339. tenance Waie i e el EREREREREEREIBMHI EN Available Rule Group Item Rule Groups pharmaceutical electronic ia general Include gt Incl ALIUD EE Exclude lt lt Excl all The names of the currently selected group and the most recently accessed item are shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar To select another item use the navigation buttons in the button area The Available Rule Groups window in the lower left of the screen lists the rule groups that are available within this group The Item Rule Groups window in the lower right of the screen lists the rule groups that have been linked to this item Adding and Removing Rule Groups To add a rule group to the selected item highlight the required rule group in the Available Rule Groups window then click the Include button The rule group is moved to the Item Rule Groups window and is now linked to this item To remove a rule group from the selected item highlight the required rule group in the Item Rule Groups window then click the Exclude button The rule group is moved back to the Available Rule Groups window and is no longer linked to the item To include or exclude all the rule groups in the lists use the Incl All and Excl All buttons FAQAD 154 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 32 General Rule Table Maintenance AQAD Using Rule Tables
340. ternatively you can use the navigation buttons in the button area A description of the selected generic item is displayed below the item number field FAQAD 222 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 4 COP Part Maintenance Formula AQAD Click the Relevant option to select the COP Module that you want to use Part G BOM G Route or variant item number You can also select or deselect the Multi level check box depending on whether you want the single level or multi level display in the COP G BOM module When you have selected the module you want to use click the Show Details button to start the module Using the COP Part Module The COP Part module is used to assign values to database fields in newly created variant items You do this by defining quantity formulas for the generic item which specify how the values are to be assigned to the database fields When the Variant BOM Routing Generator creates a variant item for that particular generic item it applies the quantity formulas defined for that item in order to assign the required database values to the specified fields After a variant item has been created by QAD Configurator you can carry out any further maintenance of the database field values for the new item using the QAD 2008 Standard Item Master Maintenance function When you select the COP Part module the system displays the following screen M COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000Component 22 100 4 3 DI x
341. that can be selected if the customer selects the Sport model alloy wheels are automatically included if the customer selects the cabriolet model the sunroof is not a possible option and so on Knowledge Building Concepts 91 In QAD Configurator you can control all these decisions regarding which options automatically include or exclude other options You do this using rules About Rules In its simplest form a rule states that IF a specified condition occurs THEN a particular conclusion results The IF clause specifies what the condition is for which you are testing which is also known as preposition The THEN clause specifies what the conclusion should be when the preposition is satisfied You can extend your control by adding an ELSE clause to specify what happens when the IF condition does not occur The ELSE clause is optional and specifies the alternative conclusion IF a specified condition occurs THEN a particular conclusion results ELSE an alternative conclusion results Rules that have as a conclusion the automatic selection of an option are known as inclusions IF model type sport THEN wheel type alloy The alloy wheels option is automatically included when the customer selects the sport model type Rules that have as a conclusion the automatic removal of an option from the available choices are known as exclusions for example IF engine capacity 1 1 THEN gearbox 5 speed If the custo
342. the File menu If you deselect this option the exit confirmation message is not displayed When the Save Settings on Exit option is selected QAD Configurator saves all the system settings you have made and uses them the next time you access the system If you deselect this option the default settings are used when you next access the system Messages displays the following submenu AQAD 30 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 21 Messages Submenu Fig 1 22 View Menu AQAD Options View Tools Window Help Menu Buttons v Confirm Exit Save Settings on Exit Messages DEFAULTS to Save Save Message v Delete Question Delete Message v Undo Question Undo Message v Redo Question Redo Message OK Question All these message options are used to control whether QAD Configurator displays confirmation messages in particular situations For example checking Delete Question causes QAD Configurator to display a message prompting you to confirm that you want to delete an entity when you click the Delete button Checking Delete Message causes QAD Configurator to display a message after an entity has been deleted You can select the message options you want to display or you can click DEFAULTS to use the system default settings View Menu When you select the View menu a drop down menu is displayed similar to the following example A QAD Configurator Main Menu STD 4 3 JAL File Menu
343. the current configuration and associate it with that variant item number The Questionnaire window closes and the newly assigned variant number is returned to the Item Number field in Sales Order Maintenance or Sales Quote Maintenance 313 Fig 10 13 Matching Configurations FAQAD 314 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 316 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD QAD Configurator Reports The QAD Configurator Reports menu gives access to the following list of reports Question Type Report Sales Quote Report Variable Report Variable Option Report Feature Report Feature Option Report Rule Report COP Report COP Rule Table Report Where Used Report Result Configuration Report When you select any of the reports from this menu the system displays a screen on which you select the details of what you want the report to include All the Report selection screens include a Master Browse button which you can use to change the group to which the report relates except the Where Used Report which you can use to report on different groups When you have made your selections for the report and click OK the system extracts the requested information and displays it on the screen prints it or saves it according to the selections you made See Output Selection on page 23 for details For each report you display on the screen you can use the buttons on the toolbar to save the report as a file print the re
344. the title bar of the screen You can use the Master Browse button to select another generic item within the group If you need to select another group click the Master Browse button then in the window that is displayed click the Master Browse button again The Master Element frame contains the item pt_mstr field where you select the element to roll up to This is the database field for the variant item into which you want to roll up the accumulated values for the component items within the variant In the second frame there is a check box labeled Take BOM qtys into account Select this check box if you want QAD Configurator to automatically correct the values resulting from the roll up rules to take account of the quantities of the component needed according to the product structure ps_qty_per The Formulas OK check box is used by the system when you create or modify an advanced rule to indicate whether the syntax of the rule is correct Selecting Modifying and Creating Element Roll Up Rules Element roll up rules are identified for each generic item by the database field to which the accumulated totals are rolled up You select a rule by browsing through the entries in the Master Element frame You can do this using the down arrow on the item pt_mstr field or using the Browse button to the right of this field or using the navigation buttons in the button area When you have selected an element roll up rule you can modify th
345. the value of a numeric feature or defined by pricing rules Unit of Measure defined at the feature option level in the unit of measure field Currency read from the sales order the sales quote or the base currency as defined in QAD 2008 Standard Effective Date read from the sales order the sales quote or the current date Manual Price List entered by the user while running the questionnaire Outputs Best List Unit Price BLUP Best Net Unit Price BNUP How QAD Configurator Calculates Prices QAD Configurator calculates the best net price and the best list price of the generic item when you run the questionnaire Each questionnaire question is answered with one of the possible feature options for that question In Feature Maintenance you can associate with each feature a pricing part a unit of measure and for numeric features a Quantity Based field The pricing part of a feature option is the item number that will be fed into the QAD pricing engine This item number can differ from the component that is selected by way of the COP rules When you answer a Knowledge Building Concepts 105 questionnaire question QAD Configurator starts the QAD pricing engine if there is a pricing part associated with the given answer The QAD pricing engine supplies to QAD Configurator the best net price and the best list price for the pricing part By adding these prices for all pricing parts the best net price and the best list pri
346. ther System Management The options you find on the System Management menu which is accessed from the QAD Configurator Setup menu are the COP Batch Compiler and Generalized Code Maintenance Both these options are System Setup Concepts 49 concerned more with routine ongoing maintenance of the system than with setting up the system before using QAD Configurator to start building your Knowledge Base About the COP Batch Compiler The COP is the Configuration Output Processor The COP is used to convert the answers from the questionnaire into a product configuration It does this using a set of selection formulas and quantity formulas that prescribe the conditions under which a component is selected for the variant item and the quantities of the selected components QAD Configurator converts COP selection and quantity formulas to Progress source code and compiles these code files to object files Each time a COP formula changes these object files must be regenerated to use the latest formulas Normally the Questionnaire Variant Generator checks if the object file is still valid If not it creates and compiles a new one in the background a process that is transparent to the user However when this process is necessary the variant creation procedure takes a little longer In some circumstances for example after a re creation of the database or if there is doubt as to the validity of the object files it is necessary to re create
347. tically be returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse The new result is deleted and the selected result is returned to pcsod det Last matching Yes No Customer Duplicates The last matching customer result or last matching result if available is selected This variant part number will automatically be returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse If a customer result match was found the new result is deleted and the existing resid is returned to pcsod det If a result match were found for a different customer the matching variant part number is assigned to the new result and the new result is assigned to pesod det Last matching Yes Retain All Results The last matching result if available is selected This variant part number will automatically be returned to the SO line bypassing the Result Selection browse The variant part number is assigned to the new result and this new result is returned to pcsod_det Last matching No No Duplicates The Result Selection browse is opened and the last matching result if available is highlighted The variant part number selected and accepted in the browse is returned to the SO line The new result is deleted and the selected result is returned to pcsod det AQAD 78 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Result Selection Auto Select Result Retention Effect
348. ting rows the entry lt blank gt means that only rows for which the cell for the variable is empty will be deleted To ensure that a value occurs only once in the list some buttons may become disabled after you have pressed them You can select a value in the list by clicking it with the left mouse button The value will become highlighted Click the Clear button to remove the selected highlighted values from the list on the left and the Clear All button to remove all values at once Both the OK button and the Cancel button mark the end of the process of entering values for the current variable Click OK if you want to save the list of selected values The system returns you to the Main Wizard Window where you can either select another variable to define values for or indicate that you want to stop the process of entering values If you click Cancel the changes you made in the list of values for the current variable will not be saved and the system returns you to the Main Wizard Window The reason for not offering the button All Values in the case of adding rows is that its meaning all values except blank cannot be interpreted because the number of possible values may be unlimited If you click All Values the values that are already shown in the browser will remain there even though some of them may already be in the table and thus may be part of the lt all gt This decision is made because when you go from Deleting Rows to Adding
349. to add further options that are unique to this feature The following figure summarizes the results in the questionnaire from the various combinations of variable and feature option selections Knowledge Building Concepts 87 Fig 4 1 Is the Std Option check box selected for the group Variable and Feature Option Selections e lt en z Therefore features options must be the same as variable options Are any variable options available Y No No Therefore the selection list in the questionnaire will be empty It is necessary to provide a fill in field for entry of the selection Yes Is a fill in field specified No Yes No The questionnaire displays the variable options in the selection list Yes The questionnaire displays the variable options and a fill in field Are any feature options available Therefore the selection list in the questionnaire will be empty It is necessary to provide a fill in field for free format entry of the selection Therefore the questionnaire will use these in preference to the variable options Is a fill in field specified When an otherwise empty selection list in the questionnaire necessitates a fill in field you can specify one in three places Variable Maintenance Feature Maintenance and Feature Option Maintenance The system interprets the fill in field requests as follows In Variable Maintenance you can
350. to exit Using the COP G BOM Module The COP G BOM module is used to create and maintain selection formulas and quantity formulas for component items in the generic BOM for a selected generic item This module lets you select components and then enter new formulas for the selected component or modify or delete existing formulas For the component selection stage you can select either a single level display of components or a multi level display e For a single level display deselect the Multi Level check box before clicking the Show Details button on the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen For a multi level display select the Multi Level check box before clicking the Show Details button on the COP Maintenance generic item selection screen Use of both of these component selection functions is described before explaining the selection formula and quantity formula maintenance functions Knowledge Exploitation Functions 225 G BOM Single level Component Selection When you select the G BOM module and deselect the Multi level check box clicking the Show Details button displays the following screen F1 COP Maintenance HOU for Item 10 20000 4 3 Mel xi File Edit view Tools Options Window Help A o e o E Multi level Couponene teen ieterence _ Svare fi pric p Mpescripeion P CORD POWER UK Pricing Y N CORD POWER EUR CORD POWER USA CORD POWER UNI BATTERIES ALKA BATTERIES ATOM BATTERIES TH
351. to indicate the OK function and a red cross button to indicate the Cancel function although in some cases the green check mark and the red cross are used only to approve or disapprove the information displayed Cancel Discards any changes you have made in the window and exits to the previous window or to the menu New Clears any data from the fields on the screen and lets you enter details of a new entry for the entity you are maintaining You must use this button whenever you want to add new data Delete Deletes the currently selected entry AQAD 20 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Navigation buttons Moves to the Previous or Next entry for the entity top two buttons or to the First or Last entry for the entity bottom two buttons All of these buttons let you save any changes you have made to the current entry before moving to another entry Techniques of Using QAD Configurator Using Key Values Key values let you identify the particular entities items variables features that you want to use or maintain within QAD Configurator Each entity is identified by its own unique key value QAD Configurator remembers all key values last used and stores them in your personal Progress ini file for later use The next time you select a QAD Configurator function even if you exit from the system the selection key field will offer you the last entry that you used Example Start Generic Item Maintenance select gene
352. to select the component items of a generic item a formula will be meaningless if it contains variables that are not defined as features for that particular generic item Furthermore a variable that is not a feature for a particular generic item will not appear in the questionnaire and will not be assigned a value The value of the variable then becomes unknown and is represented by a question mark The variant BOM generator checks whether the conditions in the general selection rule are met for the component and because the value is unknown the condition will not be true As a result the component will never be selected Example Generic item 9 100 100 Features cloth and environment of use Component 100 100 01 Selection formula cloth sunset orange AND paint yes Knowledge Exploitation Concepts 205 When answering questions in the questionnaire the customer answers the question cloth with Sunset Orange and environment of use with Heavy The question paint does not appear in the questionnaire and the value is defined as unknown When the Variant BOM Routing Generator examines the selection formula for component 100 100 01 it replaces the variables or features with the values specified in the questionnaire result and compares the two sides of the equations in the formula The evaluation of the selection formula becomes Selection formula sunset orange sunset orange AND yes Because of the unknown value
353. ts but the bigger ones are only made in blue You can define a rule stating that when the height entered is bigger than a certain value the only option for color is blue As a result of this rule the height question appears first in the questionnaire and the color question is answered automatically when the height exceeds the specified value Knowledge Building includes the following steps 1 Define complete set of items generic bills of material and generic routings 2 Define variables and options for each generic item Introduction to QAD Configurator 9 3 Define features for the generic item 4 Define dependencies between the variables and options rules inclusions and exclusions See Chapter 2 System Setup Concepts on page 39 and Chapter 3 System Setup Functions on page 51 for details When you have defined the elements of the Knowledge Base you can start the second phase Knowledge Exploitation Knowledge Exploitation The second phase in the operation of QAD Configurator is called Knowledge Exploitation This is where you define formulas for each configured item in order to enable QAD Configurator to translate the answers to the questions in the questionnaire into actual bills of material or formulas and actual routings or processes Knowledge Exploitation is where QAD Configurator performs the translation from functional requirements into actual components and operations One of the fundamental co
354. ts for which a variant was or was not created In the Pre questionnaire Result Inquiry Selection screen you can decide what further action you want to take concerning using or creating variants You make your choice by selecting one of the action selection options The particular situation regarding the presence of existing results and variants will determine which actions are permitted However you will always be allowed to create a new configuration and a new variant The other possible actions are available in the following situations You have previously defined a configuration but you did not create a variant at the time In this case you can decide to create a new variant using the existing configuration You have previously defined a configuration and a corresponding variant You can now select the existing variant which means that you do not have to answer the questions in the questionnaire again You started answering the questions before but did not complete the questionnaire There now exists a configuration without a variant of which the status is open You can modify this configuration to complete the questionnaire and create a new variant corresponding to it To do this you should select the appropriate action selection option The Answer column now contains your previous answers and default answers for the questions you did not answer previously Example Consider configurations of generic item 9 100 100 a c
355. ty and save your changes Saving an Entry When you have created a new entry for an entity or modified an existing entry you can save your changes in any of the following ways Click Save in the menu bar toolbar or button area Click the New button if you want to create another new entity Click OK which also exits from the current QAD Configurator window Click any of the navigation buttons Click the Browse button in the toolbar Deleting an Entry You can delete an entity by selecting its key value in the selection key field and then clicking the Delete button in the button area AQAD 22 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 1 12 Help Window Options AQAD Using Help Windows In all QAD Configurator windows in which you can maintain formula expressions you can display help windows that list all the available values that you can use in the formula expressions When these help windows are available you will find them listed in the drop down View menu selected from the menu bar F1 COP Maintenance HOU 10 20000 4 3 File Edit view Tools Options Window Help EE gl v Button Bar Save Settings on Exit C ind Variable Window Feature Window Option Window Feature Option Window Operator Window Function Window DB Field Window region To select a particular help window click the required one in the menu list It will now have a check mark next to it like the one next to Button Bar
356. u are asking the customer to make for this variable The short and long questions are used as defaults for the feature questions when you link this variable to a generic item to create a feature but you can change the details of the questions for the feature if required The Extent field is used to specify the number of times the variable appears as a question in the questionnaire Example Ifthe questionnaire must provide answers for the variable color in three instances the frame the cloth and the frames you can select from two methods Create three variables frame color cloth color and framecolor FAQAD 110 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 5 2 Variable Numeric Details AQAD e Create one variable color with extent of 3 The questionnaire users will need to know which question relates to which usage color 1 frame color color 2 cloth color and so on It is also important that you use the correct variable extent number when creating rules that involve the variable The other frames on the screen relate to the different types of variable numeric calculable element logical and date Each frame is active only for the relevant type of variable and is dimmed for variables of other types Discrete set text variables require only the general information in the top frame Numeric Details Frame The numeric details frame applies to numeric variables and discrete set calculable variables It shows the mini
357. u can then use the value of the area variable as a factor in other rules The Fill In check box is used only for discrete set variables and discrete date variables Check this box to specify that an additional field is to be displayed in the questionnaire for the customer to supply a free format answer to questions relating to this variable Knowledge Building Functions 113 The Mandatory check box is used to specify whether or not an option must be approved by the questionnaire user When you select this check box the user of the questionnaire must confirm the answer if only one option is left and the question could be answered automatically When you deselect this check box if QAD Configurator can answer the question for you automatically the question is presented in the questionnaire but you cannot modify the answer The Monitor check box lets you monitor the answers to interrelated questions in the questionnaire When you select this check box for a variable or for a feature in Feature Maintenance questions relating to this variable or feature are included in the question monitoring process While answering questions in the questionnaire you can click the Monitor button to start the monitoring process The system displays a browse window that shows all the features for which the Monitor check box has been selected The values in this browse window are continually updated while you answer the questions in the questionnaire For ex
358. u choose Date in the Sort by field then the most recent date is shown first However you should note that as the results are sorted on Result ID per date so that you first see that all today s results in the order in which they were made then yesterday s results in the order in which they were made Whether to include comments Note Note the following rules in selecting the ranges Empty From fields are treated as if they contain the smallest possible value Empty To fields are treated as if they contain the largest possible value If more than one criterion is used only the results that meet all criteria are shown Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen Manual Result Maintenance You can use Manual Result Maintenance to enter and maintain configuration descriptions that is results which were not generated by the questionnaire A result is the configuration description of a variant extracted from a generic item The description consists of answers to all the questions relating to the generic item QAD Configurator uses results in two ways For creating a variant from the generic item For selecting already existing variants with the same configuration description FAQAD 324 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Selecting already existing variants reduces the number of variant items that are created in the QAD 2008 Standard item BOM and routing tables When you
359. u select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of variables to report on The variable types to include The report type Summary Detail or Detail with variable details The sort sequence by variable option that is within each variable by option or by type variable that is within each type by variable Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen Additional QAD Configurator Features 319 Feature Report The Feature Report provides information on the features that have been defined for generic items in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of generic items to report on The range of variables to report on The variable types to include Document and Monitor are for future use The report type Summary or Detail The sort sequence by item or by variable type Click OK when you have made your selections to display the report on the screen Feature Option Report The Feature Option Report provides information on the feature options that have been assigned to features in the current group When you select this report the system displays a screen for you to select the following options for the report The range of generic items to report on The range of features to report on The variable ty
360. ue box shows no total value The Net Price field and its OK button below the Answer Question frame are not visible List price The prices shown in the Pricing column and the Option Pricing column are the best list prices as calculated by the QAD pricing engine The Net Price field and its OK button below the Answer Question frame are not visible Net Price The prices shown in the Pricing column the Option Pricing column and the Net Price field are the best net prices as calculated by the QAD pricing engine or entered using the Net Price field If you previously entered a manual price list for the pricing part based on which the QAD pricing engine calculated a best net price this calculated price will be shown here when you return to showing best net prices Discount The prices shown in the Pricing column and the Option Pricing column are discount percentages calculated according to this formula best list price best net price best list price 100 A progressive or cumulative discount percentage is shown in the Total Value box according to the setting you select in the Total selection list The Net Price field and its OK button below the Answer Question frame are not visible Manual List if you select this option the Pricing parameter fields change See Using Manual List Pricing on page 287 for details Configuring Variant Items in Windows UI 283 Answer Question Frame You answer each question in the question list
361. ula OK From C 0 P Maintenance Syntax check OK 1 Item 30 100 Type Comp a FAQAD 216 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD 259 Maintenance 261 218 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 1 Analyzer AQAD Running the Analyzer About the Analyzer on page 186 explains the purpose of the Analyzer why it is necessary to analyze items before running the questionnaire and what happens when you use the Analyzer to analyze the Knowledge Base data for a generic item When you select Analyzer from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen A Analyser HOU 4 3 OF x File Edit View Tools Options Window Help S a c Item 0 200006 2 2 From 2j To 2 Terminal C File Browse Start Cancel lv Not analyzed only 4 gt iv Re use old Analyzer Sequence tai oF pe 4 gt The name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar There are three options for choosing the generic item or items to analyze You select a method by clicking one of the options at the left side of the screen e Click the G Item option to select an individual generic item to analyze The G Item field shows the name of the most recently maintained generic item To select another generic item click the browse button to the right of the G
362. ula states that this component will be selected when the option selected for the feature cloth is Arctic White The second formula states that the component will be selected when the option selected for the feature cloth is NOT Tropical Blue When you are using COP Rule Table Maintenance to maintain simple COP rules the components and the variables that you use in the rules are shown as the row and column headings of the table Each of the table cells can then contain an operator and an option to define the formula Using the preceding example if you want to define a selection formula for component 2 100 150 based on the variable cloth you locate the row for that component and the column for cloth and then enter the condition Arctic White You can enter selection formulas for more than one variable on the row that relates to a component This forces all the conditions you specify into an AND relationship That is the component will be selected if the formula for the first variable AND the formula for the second variable AND the formula for the third variable are all satisfied You can create two types of selection formula for a variable e Single selection formulas where only one option is specified for the variable Multiple selection formulas where you can specify more than one option for a variable linked in an AND or OR relationship FAQAD 202 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Single Selection Formulas A
363. ult and select an existing variant Example Suppose that the result key of generic item 9 100 100 specifies that the features cloth and environment of use uniquely describe a variant of this item QAD Configurator compares the customer s requirement of Sunset Orange cloth Heavy environment of use 250 cm width and Manual operation with the existing configurations that match the result key The following table shows how QAD Configurator compares these requirements with the existing configurations The first row in the table shows the description of the customer s present requirement The other rows show details of existing results and variants Options Result ID Environment Number Variant Cloth of Use Width Operation Sunset Orange Heavy 250 Manual 00000237 9 100 100 51 Tropical Blue Heavy 250 Manual 00000240 9 100 100 52 Tropical Blue Medium 300 Electronic 00000241 9 100 100 53 Sunset Orange Heavy 250 Manual 00000245 9 100 100 54 Sunset Orange Medium 210 Electronic 00000247 9 100 100 55 Tropical Blue Heavy 245 Electronic 00000254 9 100 100 57 Tropical Blue Medium 300 Manual 00000259 9 100 100 58 Sunset Orange Heavy 280 Electronic 273 Table 9 2 Generic Item 9 100 100 Variants AQAD 274 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 9 1 Questionnaire AQAD Using the result key QAD Configurator will find three results that meet the r
364. ult answers that cannot be AQAD 332 MFG PRO eB2 User Guide QAD Configurator overruled You define the actual list of options in the correct order for a specific default type using the Customer Defaults Maintenance function Feature A characteristic of a particular product In QAD Configurator a feature is a variable linked to a generic item For example if you link the variable color to the cloth used in manufacturing an item you have a feature color Feature Option A possible value of a feature for example the cloth color blue Generic Bill of Material A bill of material that includes all possible even mutually exclusive components defined within a product structure The generic BOM is defined using the QAD 2008 Standard product structure maintenance function It represents a product that in general cannot be produced However by selecting a number of components from the generic BOM you can create a product that can be produced a variant Generic Item The parent item for a particular generic bill of materials It is usually not an item that can be manufactured It is an identifier for the complete list of component items that can be used to configure a product From the generic item you can configure a variant item that can be manufactured Generic Routing All possible manufacturing operations that can be performed during any aspect of producing any variant of a product These operations are define
365. under three tabs that from left to right represent the sequential steps in a normal configuration workflow You normally proceed from the first tab to the second then to the third by choosing actions in the screens When the Questionnaire window is first launched the system displays the Existing Configurations screen The other two tabs are disabled After you load an existing configuration or create a new configuration and a configuration ID is created you can then freely switch among the tabs at any point in the configuration process to jump ahead or go back to a specific step The following figure depicts a general navigation flow of screens in a normal configuration process Squares represent Questionnaire screens lines represent actions that trigger flows among screens As the figure shows the configuration process is not linear You can take actions that skip some steps or revert to a previous step However if you perform an action that will disrupt the current configuration process and cause you to lose current configuration data you will be prompted to confirm the action AQAD 294 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 10 2 Questionnaire Screen Navigation AQAD Sales Order Sales Quote Maint Create Order Enter Generic Item Variant Item Existing Configurations Load Configuration Create New Configuration Order Variant Item Configure Item Review Configuration
366. urrent G Item Variants field You can use the Master Browse button to select another generic item within the group If you need to select another group click the Master Browse button then in the window that is displayed click the Master Browse button again There are six options for choosing the variants to roll up You select which method by clicking one of the options at the left side of the screen The top three options relate to a specific variant or a range of variants the bottom three relate to the variants for a specific generic item or a range of generic items Click the Current Variant option to select an individual variant item to roll up The field shows the name of the most recently maintained variant item To select another variant item click the browse button to the right of the variant item selection key field then click the required item in the displayed list Click the Variant option to specify a range of variant item numbers You specify the range by entering variant item numbers in the From and To fields Again you can select variant items for these fields by clicking the browse buttons to the right of the fields and selecting the items from the displayed lists Knowledge Exploitation Functions 259 Click the Variant File option to specify the name of an ASCII file that contains the item numbers of all the variant items you want to roll up You must already have created the ASCII file to use this option You c
367. using the Up and Down buttons below the Selected Variables window Highlight the variable you want to move in the list and click the appropriate button When you have selected the required variables click OK to return to the main Rule Table Maintenance screen with the new selection of variables Specifying the Selection Formulas When you have selected the components for the rows and the variables for the columns of the rule table the next stage is to specify the selection formulas in the individual cells of the table The line on the screen immediately below the toolbar provides an indication of what you are working on that is the position in the table where you have clicked the cursor Click a component in the column on the left to see the Working on display change then click in one of the cells in the row for that component to see the variable added to the Working on display Simple selection formulas that you can maintain in the rule table take the form Variable Operator option The variable for the formula is determined by the column in which you enter the formula The only parts of the formula you have to enter are the operator and the variable option Below the Working on display line is a row of buttons for selecting the Equation operator This is where you select the operator for the left field in a cell when you define a selection formula The buttons that are available vary depending on the typ
368. ust be true or false When a selection formula is applied to an item the Variant BOM Routing Generator tests the condition specified in the formula and selects the item if the condition is true Example A certain component might only be included in the variant BOM if color Sunset Orange and Environment of use Easy Another component might be selected if length width 100 300 Selection formulas are similar to the expressions used in Knowledge Base rules and make use of variables options values and Boolean operators AQAD 196 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD You can use standard formulas for frequently used expressions which you want to include in a number of different selection formulas See Grouping and Applying Rules on page 146 for details on standard formulas Quantity Formulas A quantity formula is an assignment of a value to a database element in QAD 2008 Standard Although modifying the quantities of components used in variant items is the most obvious use for quantity formulas you can also use them to assign values to any other database element held for the component in the QAD 2008 Standard pt_mstr ps_mstr and ro_det tables for example pt ord qty 100 safety stock 100 pt descl Item with color color For a detailed review of all available data elements refer to the QAD 2008 Standard Data Definitions manual Item Number Definition Formulas An item number def
369. utput To Terminal 7 OK Exit Groups Select the groups you want to include in the package File Name Loc Specify the name and location of the package pkg file to be created You can select an existing file using the Browse button and the existing file will be overwritten Output to Select a device to save the creation report to Load QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configuration Data Use the Load QAD 2008 Standard Data and Load QAD Configurator Data modules to load data from data package files into the QAD 2008 Standard and QAD Configurator databases respectively The user interfaces of the two modules are exactly the same Fig 3 13 igi xi Apply Model Groups Management i File Name Loc CO Browse Package test Current Status File Records _Errors 4 utput To Terminal v OK zl Exit Groups This option list is disabled and you cannot select groups for data load here File Name Loc Specify the name and location of the package pkg file to load data from FAQAD 68 User Guide QAD Configurator FAQAD Output to Select a device to save the creation report to The load process first deletes all associated item product structure and routing records in the database and then loads data from the package file to ensure exact data duplication Prior to deleting associated records and loading data into the QAD Configurator database the load process also performs these steps 1 Generic
370. variables and or the more options you use in the rules Of course any rules that you add to a rule table by means of the Wizard can be modified manually at any time The Rule Table Wizard has other characteristics that make it an interesting alternative to entering each rule separately Rule Table Wizard Windows Note When you start the Wizard from General Rule Table Maintenance this word refers to the variable options When you start the Wizard from Item Rule Table Maintenance it refers to the feature options Using the Wizard involves the following steps Calling the Wizard for the correct rule table Indicating whether you want to add rows rules to the table or to delete rows from the table Entering one or more values for each of the variables in the table Telling the Wizard to generate all possible combinations of the values you entered and to add the associated rows to the table or to delete them from the table AQAD 166 User Guide QAD Configurator Main Rule Table Wizard Window When you start the Rule Table Wizard by clicking the Wizard button in a Rule Table Maintenance function or by selecting this option from the Edit menu the system displays the following window Fig 5 38 Rule Table Wizard General Rule Table Maintenance HOU Table GRTOO1 4 3 xi usage value i Clear All power converter value pump value Done Cancel The title bar of the screen shows the current grou
371. ving or by clicking the Syntax Check button on the toolbar If the syntax of the clause is correct QAD Configurator displays a check mark in the Syntax OK check box If not QAD Configurator displays a window showing the pseudo code and a description of the syntax error System Management Menu The System Management Menu includes these functions COP Batch Compiler Generalized Code Maintenance Data Dictionary Xref Report Message Report Itemnumber Change Model Management Menu COP Batch Compiler Use the COP Batch Compiler to compile the Progress source code for COP selection and quantity formulas for one or more selected generic items Recompiling the code after significant changes have been made for example after re creation of the database can save considerable time in subsequent Variant Creation processes When you select this option from the QAD Configurator Setup menu through the System Management menu the system displays the following screen System Setup Functions 61 Fig 3 7 FA cop Batch Compiler HOU 4 3 mix COP Batch File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Compiler ENENH 1 5 NENNEN Item 10 20000 2 re 44 100 IV BOM VB Objects v Routing VR Objects IV Sales Order Sales Quote Objects COPS External Entity VC Objects In the Item field select the generic item to be compiled by the COP Batch Compiler or the first in the range of generi
372. will automatically invoke a syntax check but you only see the error report screen if syntax errors are found Grouping and Applying Rules Applying Rules on page 94 explains how you can link general rules to items either directly or by way of rule groups When you link a general rule to an item directly you can make the rule an item specific rule that applies only to this item or leave the rule as a general rule that can also be applied to other items You can also create item specific rules that are not based on a general rule by using the Maintain button in Item Rule Maintenance The process of grouping and applying Knowledge Base rules for a generic item involves specifying which rules have been linked individually to the item both general rules and item specific rules which rule groups have been linked to the item and which general rules are in each of the linked rule groups You use Rule Group Maintenance to set up rule groups and Generic Item Maintenance to define generic items in QAD Configurator You use General Rule Maintenance to create general rules as described in General Rule Maintenance on page 134 You use Rule Group Rule Maintenance to link general rules to a rule group You use Item Rule Maintenance to link general rules directly to a generic item You use Item Rule Group Maintenance to link the rules in a rule group to a generic item Rule Group Rule Maintenance Rule groups categorize rules accor
373. will remember the values that were entered in the previous visit to the Wizard and show the corresponding number of values in the Number of Values field As will become clear later on this lets you undo a previous deletion without having to enter the values that were used for that deletion all over again Click the Clear All button to set the contents of the Number of Values field to 0 for every variable at once By doing so you empty the lists of values that you entered previously by way of the value list window for all variables in the rule table You will want to do this when the lists that the Wizard comes up with are no longer of any use to you You can also clear the lists of values for each variable separately using the value list window In the Main Wizard Window you must specify the action you want to do on the rule table Select add rows in the upper frame if you want to add rules to the table select delete rows if you want to delete rules from the table remember that each row in a rule table corresponds to a rule You can always change your mind about this click the other action if you want to change your choice Double click a variable in the list if you want to specify the values that the Wizard should use for that variable in the process of generating combinations If you do so the system displays the value list window The buttons Cancel and Done both mark the end of the process of entering values for the variables in the t
374. xt to the list Interpolation is a mathematical technique that is used to calculate values of a result variable for a combination of values of the condition variables that is not specified in the table This calculation is based on the assumption that the combinations of values that are entered on the rows in the table represent points on a straight line The value of the result variable that can be associated with a combination of values of condition variables that is not in the table is calculated by assuming that the values constitute another point on the same straight line Select Interpolation Table to indicate that you want to make it possible to use interpolation on the values you enter in the table This is only possible for tables that consist of two numeric condition variables and one numeric result variable in other cases the Interpolation Table check box is dimmed Click the Accelerator button if you want to prepare the table for accelerated searching See Rule Table Accelerator on page 176 for details The variables you select will be shown in the columns of the rule table in the order in which you enter them in the lists on the right You can change the order of the variables in each list by using the buttons with the blue arrows to the right of the lists To move a variable upward select the variable by clicking it then click the button with the upward pointing arrow until the variable is in the correct position To move a va
375. you save your newly composed rule table the system returns you to the main Item Rule Table Maintenance screen with the new rule table added to the list of item rule tables Note The General Rule Table check box is not checked for the new rule table since this is an item specific rule table FAQAD 176 User Guide QAD Configurator AQAD Maintaining and Deleting Specific Rule Tables To change the details of an item specific rule table highlight the rule table in the item rule tables list then click the Maintain button The system displays the Rule Table Maintenance screen with the details of the selected rule table displayed You can now change the rule table as required If you want to delete the rule table click the Delete button in the button area If the Delete Question option in the Options Messages menu is active the system displays a message prompting you to confirm the deletion Converting a General Rule Table to an Item Specific Rule Table If you have linked a general rule table to an item and you want to make it specific to this item highlight the rule table in the item rule tables list then click the General Rule Table check box to remove the check mark The system displays a message prompting you to confirm the conversion to a specific rule table If you click OK the rule table is converted you can now maintain the rule table only by way of the Maintain button for this item Note You cannot convert item specific
376. your specified variant item or items Running the Cross Validation Analyzer About Cross Validation Analyzer on page 211 explains the purpose of the Cross Validation Analyzer and describes what it checks depending on the selections you make when running it When you select the Cross Validation Analyzer from the Knowledge Exploitation menu the system displays the following screen AQAD 260 User Guide QAD Configurator Fig 7 27 Cross Validation Analyzer AQAD Th M Cross Validation Analyser HOU 4 3 Blea File Edit View Tools Options Window Help S a fio zo000 2 C Selection From To Generic Item Components only V variant Quantity Formulas SEG Rout ing Terminar ki M V Formula Syntax Start Iv V set flag to yes when formula OK p p Cancel iv IV Variables Used known as Features 4 gt IV Variant Item Numbers TERE 4 L4 e name of the currently selected group is shown in the title bar of the screen To select another group click the Master Browse button on the toolbar Th Yo ere are three options for choosing the generic item or items to analyze u select which method by clicking one of the options at the left side of the item frame Click the All option to analyze all generic items in the group Click the Current option to select an individual generic item to analyze The Current field shows the name of the most recently
377. ze menu to modify the wording of QAD Configurator system messages When you select this option the system displays the following screen Introduction to QAD Configurator 33 Fig 1 25 V MESSAGE MAINTENANCE HOU 4 3 OF x Message File Edit View Tools Options Window Help Maintenance D8 lt gt 4 2 6 A Msg Nbr ooo1 Language Message f not installed Contact your system administrator Message Type Information sreention OK C Error C Gueseaon Cancel New Delete qj I4 gt i This is a secured function used only by system administrators to modify the standard QAD Configurator messages Unauthorized users cannot access this function If you have the authority you select the QAD Configurator message to modify by using the navigation buttons in the button area You can then modify the wording and the message type as required You can also use the New and Delete buttons to add or remove messages but you will need to know how messages are called within QAD Configurator to achieve the correct display of the appropriate message during system operation Click OK to save your entries and leave Message Maintenance Maintaining User Details If you have the authorization you can use Users accessed from the Toolsl Customize menu to add new users to the system to modify the details stored for existing users or to delete a user from the system When you select this option the system

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