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About Smart Part Numbers

Smart part numbers can be used to generate part numbers for the following types products in quotes, orders, agreements, and for products added to shopping carts:

• Simple products
• Bundles
• Products with components

Smart part numbers allow you to automatically generate part numbers for different combinations of product attributes. You do not have to make an entry in the product table and provide a part number for each combination of product attributes that a customer can purchase.

For example, you sell shirts in three sizes: small, medium, and large. You also sell them in three colors: red, green, and blue. There are nine possible combinations of size and color that customers can purchase. Each combination needs a part number that can be passed to a back-end application at the time of purchase.

One way to set this up is to make an entry in the product table for each combination. In other words, you create nine separate products. This is time consuming and does not take advantage of the attribute features in the class system. It also does not take advantage of the attribute-based pricing features in Siebel Pricer.

Another way to set this up is to make one entry in the product table for the shirt. You then define color and size attributes on the class to which the shirt belongs. Finally, you use smart part number to define which part number to assign to each combination of attributes. For example, when the customer selects the shirt in size small and color blue, smart part number generates a part number for this combination and displays it in the quote. You can also use attribute-based pricing in Siebel Pricer to determine the price of the shirt.

There are several advantages to this method:

• It makes managing the product table easier. You make one entry for a product and then use the class system to define and manage its attributes. If you enter a product's attribute combinations as products in the product table, you must manually edit the table when attributes change.
• It makes managing part numbers easier and more accurate. You can make one entry for a part number definition and it will be applied to all the forms of the product consistently and accurately.
• It allows you to take advantage of important features in related products such as attribute-based pricing in Siebel Pricer.