Product Alternate Codes Login

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For each TOTECS project there is the ability for products to contain any number of alternate codes. These alternate codes can be used to help users search for products based on codes that they know of, such as supplier codes, industry codes, stock keeping unit codes (SKU), or any old redundant product codes. Additionally for some businesses they have used alternate product codes to assign their competitor product codes to their own products. This makes it easier to facilitate customers transitioning across from their competitor websites to their own.

In typical situations product search profiles are configured to match products on their alternate product codes. This allows users within the Trade interface and content managed websites to use a search form to enter a product code, and find a corresponding match to a product based on the either a matching alternate product code, or the product's code itself.

Each product alternate code can have the following data set:

Displaying Related Products Based On Alternate Codes

In a content managed website there is the ability to have a web page display a Related Products area that shows related products, based on matching a product's alternate codes to other product's codes. For example if a webpage was showing a product with the code "ABC", and it had two alternate codes assigned to it "DEF-1" and "DEF-2". If another product had a product code set to "DEF-2", then the related products area could show product DEF-2.

What this means is that administrators can set up product alternate codes to control related products that users may also be interested in. Note that the TOTECS platform also has separate data structures around related products as well.

Import Product Alternate Codes From External Business Systems

These alternate product codes can be imported into a TOTECS projects using the platform's Data API, as well as through the Connector software. This means that the alternate code data can be managed within an external business system, or data source such as a CSV spreadsheet file, then imported into a TOTECS project.

Currently the TOTECS platform does not allow administrator users to add or remove product alternate codes directly from within the Administration Centre.

Within the Administration Centre of a TOTECS project, under the Inventory menu there is a menu item labelled Product Editor that takes administrator users to the Product Editor interface. Within the interface administrator users can find, create and update details of products, including the ability to see all the alternate codes assigned to each product.

View Alternate Codes Assigned To A Product

For administrator users to view alternate codes assigned to a product follow these steps:

1. Open a web browser and go to the Administration Centre for the relevant TOTECS project.
2. Click on the Inventory menu button.
3. Click on the Product Editor menu link.
4. In the Product Code text box type a unqiue code for the product.
5. Click on the Alternate Codes tab.

The alternate codes tab with display a table showing all the alternate codes assigned to the product.

• For administrator users to be able to access the Product Editor Administration Centre interface to view product alternate codes they must be assigned to an Admin Permission Role that has the "Inventory" permission set to Allow.
• To import product alternate codes through the Connector Data Import, or through the platform's Data API an administrator user be assigned to an Admin Permission Role that has the "Modify Data with Data Import and API" permission set to Allow.
• For Administrator users to set up product search profiles that are configured to search product alternate code data, an administrator user must be assigned to an Admin Permisions Role that has the "Search Profiles" permission set to Allow.

• Its advisable to manage product alternate code data in an external business system that the Connector software can obtain. If no business system is available then the alternate code data can be set up in a CSV spreadsheet file, and imported into a TOTECS project using the Connector software.
• Assign alternate product codes to products that contain other existing product codes to allow Related Product content managed web page areas to display products.