Product Attributes Login

Contents

  1. Prerequisites
  2. Overview
  3. Product Attribute Profiles
  4. Product Attribute Searching
  5. Product Attributes Administration Centre Interface
  6. Dependent Configurations
  7. Recommendations
This document describes the details about the Product Attributes feature that exists within the TOTECS platform. Product attributes allows any additional amount of fields to be created for a product, which can also be used to filter products in product searches, and provide more information about a product in a structured way.

Prerequisites

Please ensure that you have read and understand the following topic links before reading on.

Overview

For each TOTECS project there is the ability for administrator users to create additional fields for all products. These fields are called "attributes" and can be used to describe more information about each product.

An example might be a "pencil" product. There are no specific fields in the TOTECS platform to allow an administrator to set a color value for a product. In normal circumstances an administrator user instead might put the colour data in an empty product description field, or even in the product name field. With product attributes there is no need to do this since an administrator can create a new attribute called "colour", and assign a colour value, such as "green" to a product. Product attributes can go a step further where an administrator can assign multiple values to a single attribute. A pencil may be painted with 2 colours, "green" and "blue", so an administrator user can assign green and blue to the colour attribute for a single product.

Many attributes can be created for products. In the example above a pencil may have the attribute "colour", and it may have another attribute called "size", as well as an attribute called "grading scale". So for our green and blue pencil an administrator user could set the size attribute to have a value of "medium", and the the grading-scale attribute to have a value of "HB".

Example: Product Attributes Set For A Pencil Product

Product Attribute Attribute Value
Colour Blue Green
Size Medium
Grading Scale HB

By being able to add additional attributes to products, these attributes and their values can be shown to users when they view the details of a product, giving users more information about of product, as well as allowing administrator users to manage the data in a structured way within the Administration Centre.

Any number of attributes can be created for products, so have a think about the characteristics that users would look for when viewing the details of your products when setting up attribute data.

Product Attribute Fields

Below are the fields that can be set for each product attribute:

Product Attribute Field Description
Name Name of the product attribute to describe the kind of data it stores.
Data Type Set to either:
  • STRING - the attribute may store any kind of text values
  • NUMBER - the attribute can only store numeric values

The data type is used to control how the attribute values are ordered, and searched on.

Last Modified Date that the product attribute was last changed.
Accounting Attribute ID ID of the attribute that is linked to an external business system. This is used in data imports to locate the attribute to update it, and its values.

Product Attribute Profiles

Each product attribute must be assigned to a "Product Attribute Profile". A product attribute profile groups many attributes together, and makes it more logical on how the attributes are displayed together. In the previous example we created "colour", "size", and "grading scale" attributes. Each of these could be assigned to the product attribute profile called "appearance". We could then create a different profile called "use" that could have different attributes such as "feel", "grip", and "strength". When a user is viewing the details of a product they will be able to see each of these attributes grouped together under the name of each attribute profile, giving greater context to the the user when viewing many attributes of a product.

Example: Product Attribute Profiles And Attributes Set For a Pencil Product

Product Attribute Profile Product Attribute Attribute Value
Appearance Colour Blue Green
Size Medium
Grading Scale HB
Use Feel Soft
Grip Round Solid Flexible
Strength Tough

 

Product Attribute Profile Fields

Below are the fields that can be set for each Product Attribute Profile:

Product Attribute Profile Field Description
Name Name of the product attribute profile to provide an overall meaning of the profile.
Description Description of the profile to explain in more detail the kind attribute data that the profile covers.
Last Modified Date that the product attribute profile was last changed.
Accounting Profile ID ID of the attribute profile that is linked to an external business system. This is used in data imports to locate the attribute profiles to update it, and its attributes.

Product Attribute Searching

One of the most powerful aspects of the product attributes feature is the ability to use them to help users find products that they are looking for from within product searches in the Trade interface, or on content managed web sites. In the product search forms there is the ability to display all the unique values that attributes have been set for products. Users can then choose the attribute values that they wish to find matching products with. This can allow the user in a few clicks to find a range of products that they are interested in viewing, which can be far quicker then having to navigate through a category tree.

Product Attribute Search Profiles

To allow attributes to be displayed in a product search form a "Product Attribute Search Profile" first needs to be set up. The search profile controls which product attributes will display in search form, and the way each attribute's values will be displayed in the form. The search profiles can be set up and managed by administrator users within the Administration Centre by using the Search Profiles interface found within the Inventory menu. 

In a Product Attribute Search Profile attributes and their unqiue values can be set to display in one of the following ways:

  • Drop Down List - Allows a user to choose from one attribute value in a drop down to find matching products.
  • Select List - Allows a user to choose from many attribute values using a select list to find matching products with.
  • Checkboxes - Allows a user to choose from many attribute values by ticking checkboxes to find matching products with.
  • Radio Buttons - Allows a user to choose from one attribute value by clicking on one radio button to find matching products with.
  • Textbox - Allows a user to type in an attribute value to find matching products with.
  • Page Links - Allows a user to click on one attribute value link to find matching products with.
  • Page Links With Product Count - Allows a user to click on one attribute value link to find matching products with. The amount of products containing an attribute value will also be shown to the user and update once a selection is made. The previous clicked attribute will be remembered unless the user clicks on a "clear" link next to the attribute's value.
  • Drop Down Range - Allows a user to choose one or two attribute values in drop down elements to find matching products based on the values matching within the value range set.

Once an attribute search profile exists it then can be configured to display from the Home page of the trade interface either in the left hand navigation bar, or from the Home page. It can also be set to display on a content managed webpage through the setup of a Product Search Form (Using Search Profiles) area.

Product Attributes Administration Centre Interface

Within the Administration Centre of a TOTECS project, under the Inventory menu there is a menu item labelled Product Attributes that takes administrator users to the Product Attributes interface. Within the interface administrator users can view and manage all of the product attribute profiles that exist within the TOTECS project, view the attributes assigned to each profile, as well as set attribute values to the products within the project.

Create A Product Attribute Profile

For administrator users to create a new product attribute profile 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Click on the Create Profile tree node.
  5. Within the Create New Profile dialog, for the Name field set text to describe the profile.
  6. In the Description field set any text used to describe the profile.
  7. Click on the Create button.

The product attribute profile will be added to the Product Attribute Profiles tree.

Modify A Product Attribute Profile

For administrator users to modify an existing product attribute profile 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree and click on the Edit menu item.
  5. Within the Edit Profile panel, in the Name field set text to describe the profile.
  6. In the Description field set any text used to describe the profile.
  7. Click on the Save button.

The details of the product attribute profile will be updated on the server.

Delete A Product Attribute Profile

For administrator users to delete an existing product attribute profile 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree and click on the Delete menu item.
  5. In the Warning dialog click on the Yes button..

The product attribute profile, and all of its attributes, as well as attribute values assigned to products will be permanently deleted. Please make sure that you wish to delete the data before following the steps. Note that this may have an effect on the search forms within the Trade interface, as well as on content managed web pages if they displayed the attributes associated with the profile. 

Create An Attribute

For administrator users to create a new product attribute 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree and click on the Add menu item.
  5. Within the Create New Attribute dialog, for the Name field set text to describe the attribute.
  6. Click on the Create button.

The attribute will be then added to product attribute profile add will appear in the Product Attribute Profile tree as a child node of its profile.

Modify An Attribute

For administrator users to modify an existing product attribute 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree.
  5. Right click on the relevant product attribute and then click on the Edit menu link.
  6. Within the Edit Attribute panel, in the Name field set text to describe the attribute.
  7. In the Accounting Attribute ID field optionally set the ID of the attribute if it is linked to another business system. Otherwise leave the field empty.
  8. In the Data Type drop down choose either the option "STRING" if you want product attributes values to be able to store any characters, set the option to "NUMBER" if you only want numeric values to be stored for the product attribute values. The Data Type will control how attribute values are ordered.
  9. Click on the Save button.

The details of the attribute will be saved to the server. If the Data Type had been changed from STRING to NUMBER, then any product attribute values that were previously saved and were not numeric values will be set to zero.

Delete An Attribute

For administrator users to delete an existing product attribute 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree.
  5. Right click on the relevant product attribute and then click on the Delete menu link.
  6. Within the warning dialog click on the Yes button.

The product attribute will be removed from its profile, and any product attribute values set for the attribute will be permanently deleted. Make sure that you wish to delete the attribute's values before following these steps.

Set An Attribute Value For A Product

For administrator users to assign attribute values 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree then click on the Edit link.
  5. Within the Product tab, in the Search drop down choose a product field to search for a product with.
  6. In the Search text field begin typing text to match a product on. An auto-complete drop down will display under the text field if any products could be matched.
  7. In the autocomplete drop down choose a product to add attribute values to.
  8. Click on the Add/Edit button.
  9. In the attribute dialog enter text for each attribute that the product contains a value for. Click on the Plus button to add multiple attribute values for the given product.
  10. Click on the Save button.
  11. Click on the OK button.

The attribute values will be assigned to the product, and the product will be added to the table that displays within the Products tab. The product may appear when users search using attributes within the Trade interface, or content managed web pages if attribute searching has been set up. Note that the attribute dialog will only allow values to be assigned to the product for attributes associated with the Profile displayed in the interface. To add values for a product for attributes assigned to a different profile follow the steps from 4 to 10 but change the product attribute profile that is being edited.

Modify An Attribute Value Set To A Product

For administrator users to assign attribute values 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree then click on the Edit link.
  5. In the Products table click on the Edit icon for the revelant product.
  6. In the attribute dialog change the values for an attributes in the text boxes provided.
  7. Click on the Save button

The attribute values assigned to the product will then be updated.

Remove An Attribute Value From A Product

For administrator users to remove attribute values from 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 Attributes menu link.
  4. Right click on the relevant profile in the Product Attribute Profiles tree then click on the Edit link.
  5. In the Products table click on the Delete icon for the revelant product.
  6. Click on the YES button.

Any attribute values associated to the profile being edited will be removed from the product. This may affect product attribute search forms displayed within the Trade interface, and on any configured content managed web sites, any the ability for users to find the product using the previous deleted attribute values. Ensure that you wish to permanently delete the attribute value data before following these steps.

Dependent Configurations

  • For administrator users to be able to access the Product Attributes Administration Centre interface, the users must be assigned to a Administrator Permission Role that has the "View And Modify Attribute" permission set to Allow. If the permission is not set to Allow then the Admistrator users will not be able to click on the Product Attributes menu item link in the Inventory menu of the Administration Centre.

Recommendations

  • Set up product attribute search forms within the Trade interface, or on content managed webpages to give users another way to find products. Make it easy as possible for users to search using attributes by setting the names of attributes and product attribute values that use will identify with. You can create many search forms displaying different attributes to allow for contexualised searching.
  • Product attribute searching may be faster way for users to find products that they are looking for instead of using category trees. For some projects having both set up allows for flexible and helpful product searching.
  • If possible manage product attribute data in the same system with the product data. The Connector software can be setup to connect with business systems that support product attribute data structures, and import the data into a TOTECS project using the Connector Product Attribute data imports.
  • Product attribute data can be managed within a spreadsheet CSV file. and imported into a TOTECS project using the Product Attributes text file data import. This is useful when a business system does not support product attribute data structures, and allows administrator users to efficiently use a spreadsheet application to manage the data.