D365 Finance & Operations and Dynamics AX Forum

Hello,

I am wondering what other businesses/organizations use for knowledge-based product configurations.

We sell customer specific water works products with tons of variability:

Size, Color (7 specific items in our final product can vary in color), Thread Specifications, Nut patterns, Bolt Type, Opening direction, Metal Type, Paint thickness, etc.

We have researched Product Configurations and Product Masters with AX 2012, and while it adds a lot of extra benefits, it does not help to streamline the process of creating new part numbers.Unless we setup all of our various configurations and rules for each kind, users will still have to pull together new BOMs/Routes, for each new configuration added.

Is there something in AX that can be used to help streamline this process? If not, is there a 3rd part addition that someone would recommend to look into?

We currently use AX 2012 R3, but will be upgrading to D365 in about 1.5 years.

Thank you for any input you may have! :-) 

#AX2012 #UpgradesandUpdates​​

------------------------------
Christopher Moody
McWane, Inc.
------------------------------

Hello,

In my company we chose "E-con" for the purpose you're describing if I got you right.
But we're not live yet in D365FO with E-Con.  We should be when you'll be looking at starting with D365FO though :)

------------------------------
Alexandra Cadet
Camfil
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Jun 25, 2020 05:30 PM
From: Christopher Moody
Subject: Knowledge-Based Configuration

Hello,

I am wondering what other businesses/organizations use for knowledge-based product configurations.

We sell customer specific water works products with tons of variability:

Size, Color (7 specific items in our final product can vary in color), Thread Specifications, Nut patterns, Bolt Type, Opening direction, Metal Type, Paint thickness, etc.

We have researched Product Configurations and Product Masters with AX 2012, and while it adds a lot of extra benefits, it does not help to streamline the process of creating new part numbers.Unless we setup all of our various configurations and rules for each kind, users will still have to pull together new BOMs/Routes, for each new configuration added.

Is there something in AX that can be used to help streamline this process? If not, is there a 3rd part addition that someone would recommend to look into?

We currently use AX 2012 R3, but will be upgrading to D365 in about 1.5 years.

Thank you for any input you may have! :-)

#AX2012 #UpgradesandUpdates​​

------------------------------
Christopher Moody
McWane, Inc.
------------------------------

Have you thought about an integrating a Product Information Manager (PIM) like PIMCore, Akeneo, Treo, etc or a fully integrated solution including PIM/CMS/eCommerce/eMarketing like DynamicWeb. We are sifting thru all these right now as part of the next stage of our D365 development. 

Product Information Management (PIM) is a set of processes and tools that centralize and manage an e-commerce business' product information to ensure a single, accurate view of product data. PIM offers a centralized platform to, cost-effectively, manage data on an e-commerce business' products and services. PIM facilitates the maintenance of consistent and quality product data and information. The biggest difference between PIM and thematically-similar Catalog Management software is that PIM is more all-encompassing and goes beyond just data enrichment. PIM collects data from multiple data sources and formats and combines them into a single source of master data, has the ability to identify and fix problematic data, and pushes data out to all desired distribution channels. PIM can also integrate with software like catalog management, business process management, and data quality.

To qualify for inclusion in the PIM category, a product must:

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Ian Deynzer
CFO
Jacobsen Creative Surfaces
Auckland
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Jul 02, 2020 10:10 AM
From: Alexandra Cadet
Subject: Knowledge-Based Configuration

Hello,

In my company we chose "E-con" for the purpose you're describing if I got you right.
But we're not live yet in D365FO with E-Con.  We should be when you'll be looking at starting with D365FO though :)

------------------------------
Alexandra Cadet
Camfil

Original Message:
Sent: Jun 25, 2020 05:30 PM
From: Christopher Moody
Subject: Knowledge-Based Configuration

Hello,

I am wondering what other businesses/organizations use for knowledge-based product configurations.

We sell customer specific water works products with tons of variability:

Size, Color (7 specific items in our final product can vary in color), Thread Specifications, Nut patterns, Bolt Type, Opening direction, Metal Type, Paint thickness, etc.

We have researched Product Configurations and Product Masters with AX 2012, and while it adds a lot of extra benefits, it does not help to streamline the process of creating new part numbers.Unless we setup all of our various configurations and rules for each kind, users will still have to pull together new BOMs/Routes, for each new configuration added.

Is there something in AX that can be used to help streamline this process? If not, is there a 3rd part addition that someone would recommend to look into?

We currently use AX 2012 R3, but will be upgrading to D365 in about 1.5 years.

Thank you for any input you may have! :-)

#AX2012 #UpgradesandUpdates​​

------------------------------
Christopher Moody
McWane, Inc.
------------------------------

In D365, the Product Configuration Models have been enhanced to allow you much more flexibility in the part number creation with Product Number Nomenclature.  It sounds like a constraint based configuration model with product number nomenclature could meet your needs out of the box.   In R3, you can set up Product Configuration Models to build your BOM's and Routes automatically, you just wont have the product number nomenclature functionality until you upgrade to D365.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/supply-chain/pim/build-product-configuration-model
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/supply-chain/pim/product-variant-identification-nomenclature

As Alexandra stated, E-Con is another product configurator.  I've worked with E-con and the out of the box solution, and would say they offer similar capabilities.

------------------------------
Colby Gallagher
Managed Application Services Supervisor
RSM
OH
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Jun 25, 2020 05:30 PM
From: Christopher Moody
Subject: Knowledge-Based Configuration

Hello,

I am wondering what other businesses/organizations use for knowledge-based product configurations.

We sell customer specific water works products with tons of variability:

Size, Color (7 specific items in our final product can vary in color), Thread Specifications, Nut patterns, Bolt Type, Opening direction, Metal Type, Paint thickness, etc.

We have researched Product Configurations and Product Masters with AX 2012, and while it adds a lot of extra benefits, it does not help to streamline the process of creating new part numbers.Unless we setup all of our various configurations and rules for each kind, users will still have to pull together new BOMs/Routes, for each new configuration added.

Is there something in AX that can be used to help streamline this process? If not, is there a 3rd part addition that someone would recommend to look into?

We currently use AX 2012 R3, but will be upgrading to D365 in about 1.5 years.

Thank you for any input you may have! :-)

#AX2012 #UpgradesandUpdates​​

------------------------------
Christopher Moody
McWane, Inc.
------------------------------

Christopher,

Another 3rd party product configurator is ExperLogix.  I've been recommending it to our prospects and customers for many years.  You can start with it on your AX2012 on-prem instance, then when McWane upgrades to D365 in 1 1/2 years, you can move it to a cloud version.  It also works with Dynamics CRM and D365 CE which is another plus.  https://www.experlogix.com/cpq-for-microsoft-dynamics.  BTW, I have set up and shown people the in-the-box Product Configurator that Colby mentions, but I find it can get rather clunky to set up and I usually find some limitation to it that pushes me to recommend a 3rd party.  Let me know if I can help any further.

------------------------------
Michelle Monnin
Sr. Manager, Enterprise Solutions
Armanino
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Jun 25, 2020 05:30 PM
From: Christopher Moody
Subject: Knowledge-Based Configuration

Hello,

I am wondering what other businesses/organizations use for knowledge-based product configurations.

We sell customer specific water works products with tons of variability:

Size, Color (7 specific items in our final product can vary in color), Thread Specifications, Nut patterns, Bolt Type, Opening direction, Metal Type, Paint thickness, etc.

We have researched Product Configurations and Product Masters with AX 2012, and while it adds a lot of extra benefits, it does not help to streamline the process of creating new part numbers.Unless we setup all of our various configurations and rules for each kind, users will still have to pull together new BOMs/Routes, for each new configuration added.

Is there something in AX that can be used to help streamline this process? If not, is there a 3rd part addition that someone would recommend to look into?

We currently use AX 2012 R3, but will be upgrading to D365 in about 1.5 years.

Thank you for any input you may have! :-)

#AX2012 #UpgradesandUpdates​​

------------------------------
Christopher Moody
McWane, Inc.
------------------------------