Manage Products
Go to Production > Production management > Manage manage products. This is one of the most important modules to manage well in UNOSOF. It is very dynamic and can be called "complex".
We strongly recommend assigning a data manager to this module. It might speak for itself but, organizing and managing data well, is the key to the success of the usage of the system in almost every area.
Each SKU (stock-keeping unit) has a Compound (recipe) in this manual we shall teach you how to create-, manage- and define SKUs and Compounds.
SKUs and Products
SKUs are re-sellable items that we sell, process, and pack.
Products we use for the recipes (compounds) of an SKU, each SKU has a composition that needs to be defined with units that are needed to sell and process the SKU.
SKU
An SKU is a Stock Keeping Unit. That identifies the exact characteristics of a product that can be processed and sold, and that is countable in inventory. Every physical difference of a product, (variety, length, cut-stage, stem count, package, presentation, painted, etc) requires the creation of a new SKU.
Do never create two SKUs, for the SAME physical bunch. Those are causing conflicts between the supply (inventory, SKUs) and demand (POs, SKUs), in which both items do not match / not cross each other / and that causes a + and a - in inventory, which causes HUGE operational problems to analyze inventory compliance and packing (S3) the boxes with.
An SKU is a re-sellable unique unit. We can sell units as Materials like Thermometers, Vases, etc; or sell units (a single stem, a bunch, a bouquet, a box) of Flowers (or any other product) that is being Dried/Fresh/Painted/Glittered/Waxed/etc in a solid or mixed form. What is important, is that whatever your SKU is looking like, the description of the SKU identifies exactly what it is, or it is something (a code) recognizable across any department that uses the SKU to sell, process, pack, etc.
Products
A product is a unique unit that is produced or bought, that we can use in the recipes of the SKUs. Those recipes, we call compounds. By creating good product units, it is possible to keep excellent track of the usage (produced & sold) of how many amounts x product units got used for each SKU.
Create SKU's
Find an SKU to copy the information from.
Please direct to the column called "COPY", please click on the Copy icon.
After clicking on that button a new screen "Product" will appear.
Please replace the information necessary to create the new SKU.
Is really fundamental to change does 2 names, in the "Product Name" and the "Commercial Name" fields.
Also is really important to take into consideration the "Product Length", "Cut Stage" and "Packaging Code".
If the size, Cut Stage, and Packaging Code are different, they must be changed.
After revising please hit the save button.
Services
A service is an SKU (item) that is not been placed into a box. It is an SKU (item) that gets placed on top of the PO value, as a separate line item.
How to set an SKU as a service in the SKU form:
Copy SKU's
Please first direct to the Manage Products section.
Now is needed to find a COMPOUND (Variety), so the user can use the copy button to be able to create a new variety.
After the user finds de variety please press click on the COPY button, which is located in the penultimate column.
Change the first two fields, "Product name" and "Commercial name".
Please always check that the Status field is set to Active.
Click on the SAVE button.
After hitting the Save button, the variety will be displayed in the "Manage Products" section.
Delete SKUs & Products
Because an SKU or a Product Unit can have history data assigned to it, an SKU can never be deleted. It is only possible to in-activate an SKU or a Product.
Before in-activating an SKU, make sure the SKU has not been used in any Purchase Order (demand), especially not in any Standing Order (which would get replicated with an in-active SKU), and also make sure the SKU has no physical inventory being processed in the cooler.
It is only possible to truly delete an SKU, with the help of UNOSOF. Please contact your account executive of UNSOF that is assigned to your account and place the request. Before the request, please make sure the SKUs have no history assigned to them (which UNOSOF also checks).
Compounds
Now please find the new SKU the user just created and add the Compound (Variety).
Click on the Create Compound button.
A new screen called Product Compounds will appear.
In that section, we must select the variety that must be assigned to that new SKU in the Product Name field.
Also in the Quantity column, add the # of stems according to the SKU creation.
Hit the save button, to save the compound inside the SKU.
Compound Editing
We recommend, NEVER editing a compound. History data can be assigned to it, we don't want you to modify history. The only and correct way of working is to activate the SKU and create a NEW SKU for the need.
However, IF it is needed to edit compound data: never change the total stem count. In theory, you can change the variety, but that has big consequences (history needs to be re-assigned, and UNOSOF has to run some scripts. If you do this, you HAVE to contact your sales executive.
Compound Recipe Management
Inside a compound, it's possible to input multiple Flowers and/or Packing Materials. It is essential that this recipe will never change and has a fixed composition in the compound. This management is useful for fixed flower composition or fixed flower+material composition.
Fixed Flower Composition
A fixed flower composition is a recipe that indicates how many stems per variety are utilized per SKU. The SKU name should have a recognizable name, that indicates as well for the commercial department as for the post-harvest, what the SKU looks like (what compositions are assigned to it).
We recommend that all flowers used inside a fixed recipe (compound), are present in the consolidated warehouse field plan and that non of these varieties has to be transferred bruto or exportable from other packing locations and/or bought flowers.
Compound SKU naming
In this case: Rainbow (Welylfor) 40cm US 25st WF, is not a good name that indicates well what has been used inside the SKU. BQT 3558 40cm US 25st WF, for instance, can be a code that can be connected to a commercial program that the customer has with the farm, for probably a certain amount of time. A code is unique, and every time this composition gets sold, the code is a recognizable identity for all departments involved, incl the customer(!).
If the compositions have a partially fixed composition and a partially variable composition, we suggest using the word RAINBOW. The word RAINBOW automatically will force the PH to identify after the fact which flowers they used, but it DOES indicate a composition that matches your commercial need. Rainbow Rainbow Red Rainbow Yellow etc. It is not possible to restrict variety usage on the compound level.
Compound fixed flower+material composition
It's possible to track in each compound also all the bunch packing materials being used. These recipes are fixed. The variety and materials are all pre-defined, and used for every SKU being sold & processed.
An example of this kind of compound can look as follows:
In this way, it's possible to report all the materials being used, and to export that data to a report of rest API for any cost analyses.
if a recipe is used for multiple group of SKU's, please create those Bunch Packing Material SKU's and ask UNOSOF to assign those materials to your SKU's massively via the Data Base.
Pricing
As certain SKU's cost more than others, Painted roses, Bouquets, Solid bunches, etc.
The pricing is established per commercial name.
Each different commercial name, creates a new price item, Meaning:
If you have 10 SKU's of Akito 50cm, and the commercial name is cross those 10 SKU's the same, you have 1 item to price.
However, if you have a second commercial name, such as the WHITE-YELLOW TINTED 003, you created a second item to price separately from the Akito.
Even a space or a (.) behind the commercial name, is recognized as an extra character and will create a new item to price. This example are 3 items to price:
Akito Akito. Akito (with space)
To edit the commercial name, click on the SKU and edit in the SKU-form the commercial name.
All SKU's that have the same commercial name, will get clustered into 1 item to price.
Real variety vs Non-Real Variety
It is important to set color and real varieties correctly. a real variety = a variety that truly exist (known by the breeder). a non-real variety = a commercial variety (example: colors, etc). For our reporting, and functionality in our consumer bunch station 2, its extremely important to set these setting well.
SKU Color Management
Go into the SKU form, and click on the option (tab) Measurements. Here the SKU color can be set.
We strongly recommend to define a short colorlist, thats easy to manage, in the same language. Do not create Red and Rojo, thats the same. Do not create 100 bicolor options, that unmanageable.
Colors have a strong impact on the commercial and operational usage inside any farm. The colors are used to filter with (inventory selections by color), to set rules with in case of alternative SKU management (mix box management) and to report with (how much % red is planted at the farm? Red vs Color Sold? etc.).
Bouquet Product Management.
To create Flower and Material SKU's, please follow the instructions been given in Bouquet Product Management.
Fix Duplicated SKUs
There are different reasons for having duplicated SKUs, mostly related to modifications in the database from a requirement of the farm itself. The farm could have asked UNOSOF to massively upload SKUs or to mass change SKUs.
Double SKUs are different products with the same attributes and name. It is a problem having double SKUs because demand and supply may not relate to each other on the same product and get split. Although the name is the same, the passports of those SKUs (GU_IDs) are different. This would cause a problem at the moment of trying to scan a bunch into a box in the Inventory Shipping S3 station which means that the PO has an X product and the bunch was labeled with another despite the same name.
Example Case: Red 40cm N 12st BLRT
Step 1) Recognize the duplicated SKU
It is possible to identify which SKU names are duplicated via the View Inventory Page.
Only SKUs with the exact same name from the exact same warehouse, are duplicated SKUs.
Step 2) Identify which SKU to keep, and/or inactive.
GOAL: Keep only one SKU active. The SKU that we recommend keeping active is the SKU with the inventory, the INVENTORY SKU, and renaming the SKU with the demand, DEMAND SKU, always to avoid relabeling within the PH.
Take into account the following analysis to recognize which SKU to modify and in-activate and which SKU has the inventory and needs to stay active
One SKU has an inventory of 163 bunches, which we call the INVENTORY SKU.
the Other SKU, the duplicated SKU has 0 bunches in inventory, and only negatives, which we call the DEMAND SKU.
The DEMAND SKU needs to be modified & inactivated.
Once the Demand- and Inventory SKUs are been defined, you need to identify them in Manage products (although they have the exact same name) via the web URL link.
Please enter the Hyperlink Demand Form of the SKU.
Inside that new page URL, it's possible to find the unique SKU GU_ID code. That code is unique and must be used to recognize and compare the SKU that needs to be modified in Manage products.
The passport of that SKU is the code after the text gu_product
Copy the GU_Product ID, gu_product=5372804BB2324836B36D91898AD3E547, you will needs this code for the next step.
Step 3) Modify & in-activate the Demand SKU Name
Go to Manage Products and search for the SKU Red 40cm N 12st BLRT using the filter NAME. Note that the SKU name that you enter should not have any spaces after nor behind the name.
The result will show you, 2 SKUs with the exact same name: RED 40CM N 12ST BLRT
It's possible that both are active, but it's also possible that one of them is been deactivated already. That does not change the case: both SKUs have the same name, and both show up on the inventory page. That's because 1 of the 2 has demand, and the other has Inventory. Again, we want to keep active the Inventory SKU.
First, it's necessary, to keep one of the two SKUs active (the Inventory SKU). But, once the Demand SKU is modified and in-activated, it does not mean that the case is solved forever from seeing and having the 2 SKUs in inventory.
The reason is that the Demand SKU comes from POs that were containing the Demand SKU from an original standing order that got replicated, or from copied POs that contained that in-active SKU. We CAN adjust the Demand SKU for the Inventory SKU in the Original Standing orders, that is a must. But we cannot prevent that from happening that a sales representative would copy an old PO with the Demand SKU that we're going to modify & in-activate. However, over time, this will fix itself, simply by the fact that we only move on with 1 SKU, the Inventory one.
It's necessary to keep active the one that has Inventory. As we learned earlier, the GU_Product ID will show you which one to keep or not.
We are seeking the DEMAND SKU( gu_product=5372804BB2324836B36D91898AD3E547) and to inactive, because our goal is to keep active the INVENTORY SKU and inactive the DEMAND SKU.
Open up the SKU form in Manage product of 1 of the 2 SKUs to compare the GU ID with via the URL bar.
If you see that the GU_Product ID is gu_product=5372804BB2324836B36D91898AD3E547 in the URL, that means this is the one to modify and inactive.
How to rename?
We recommend renaming the Demand SKU to in-activate (the commercial one) as follows: Red 40cm N 12st BLRT (inactive). Write out the word (inactive) behind the original SKU name. That will identify to the commercial department, in any PO, that they are demanding an inactive SKU.
If it was the opposite case, and the SKU that got opened up DID NOT match the GU_Product ID, then that's the SKU to keep active. In case that SKU is actually set at inactive, you first have to modify & inactivate the other SKU, and then activate the one that matches the Inventory SKU.
See how you need to modify the SKU in the below picture:
Then, hit Search to refresh the result, and will show up as follows
Step 4) Analyse modification and in-activation SKU results.
After modifying the names, it's really important to open up the inventory page again and to see if the result, matches the inventory. Also, open up the PO page, and see if you can select only 1 SKU out of the Product List. We should never show an "In-active" named SKU in the PO product list. As we can see, the re-named SKU is not appearing anymore on the PO page.
And as we can see, we no longer have duplicated SKU names in the same warehouse.
Master server Synch
In case you manage SKUs with a master structure, synch the re-named SKU down to the farms to see the renamed result on the farm level.
How to synch the SKU change down to the farms: Search for the SKU in master, and hit SYNCH.
Step 5). Replace the inactive SKU with the active one in the POs
Once the demand SKU is inactive, the sales department has to be instructed to change all their demand with the only available SKU that's left and selectable: the Inventory SKU.
You can make use of the Mass Swap functionality to mass replace the demand.
If it's too much work for sales to make the changes in all the POs, in order that all the demand matches the supply, it's possible to contact UNOSOF and request a merge via the database. That can possibly have a cost involved, since we need to process a backup, make the modification, and verify the result, of 30 min per merge.
Last updated
