Siebel Product Administration Guide > Smart Part Numbers for Products with Attributes >

Process of Creating Dynamically Generated Smart Part Numbers

When you create dynamic part numbers, you first create a template that contains a placeholder for each attribute you want to include in the part number. You then define mappings that specify how attribute values replace the placeholders. When the user chooses attribute values, the application inserts the mappings into the part number template to generate the part number.

The following definitions are important to understanding dynamically generated part numbers.

• Part number template. A sequence of sections in a specified order.
• Section. A portion of a part number template. Each section contains one attribute name that acts as a placeholder. Sections can also contain a prefix and a postfix.

  For example, you want to create part numbers that begin with ENU- and end with -MC. You want to include values for two attributes, Attrib1 and Attrib2, and separate them with a dash (-). Here is an example: ENU-S-GRN-MC. In this part number, S is the value substituted for Attrib1 and GRN is the value for Attrib2.

  To create a part number template, you would define two sections. In Table 10, the first row is the first section of the part number. The second row is the second section.

  Table 10. Part Number Template

  Prefix	Attribute Name (Placeholder)	Postfix	Sequence
  ENU-	Attrib1	-	1
  	Attrib2	-MC	2

• Mapping. A mapping is a string of characters you define for an attribute value. The mapping is what the abbreviation method uses to determine what characters to insert in the part number. If you do not define a mapping, the abbreviation method uses the attribute value itself.
• Abbreviation method. The abbreviation method determines how the characters are derived from the mapping. These characters replace the attribute's placeholder in the part number template. The mapping methods are: Abbreviation, Acronym, First Two Symbols, First and Last Symbols, First Symbol.
  • Abbreviation. Inserts the whole mapping.
  • Acronym. Inserts the first character in the mapping plus the first character following each space in the mapping.
  • First Two Symbols. Inserts the first two characters in the mapping.
  • First and Last Symbols. Inserts the first and last characters in the mapping.
  • First Symbol. Inserts the first character in the mapping.

An example of how abbreviation methods determine which characters to insert in part number templates is shown in Table 11. The first column shows the mapping. The remaining columns show the characters that would be inserted in the template for each abbreviation method.

Only attributes with a list of values domain can be used to create dynamic part numbers.

Before creating part numbers using this method, determine which attributes you want to use in the part number. Then write down the sections of the part number, including the prefix and postfix for each attribute.

To creating dynamically generated part numbers, perform the following tasks:

1. Creating a Part Number Generation Record
2. Defining the Part Number Templates
3. Mapping Attribute Values to the Template
4. Testing the Part Number Templates