Product Catalog

The Product Catalog workspace displays a list of standard assets that can be requested by users. The Procurement Manager user role typically manages this workspace, though Asset Administrator and Asset Manager roles can access it as well.

Although users can request items that aren't in the Product Catalog, this is typically a longer process with additional steps. Items in the Product Catalog have agreed costs from selected, approved vendors, which means that if an item needs to be purchased because it's not in stock, much of the procurement process can be bypassed.

Catalog items are standard hardware, software, and consumables (or bundles of those items). A bundle can be any grouping of items currently available from the Product Catalog list view. Bundles are useful for streamlining the request process if certain items are generally purchased together—pricing is the sum of all items found within the bundle. Currently, a bundle can only support one of each catalog item shown in the catalog list view, so you cannot create one bundle with two of the same monitor, for example.

When you create a catalog item, you're not creating a record for an actual item, but rather the definition of an item to be requested:

1 – Product Catalog item, the template for the assets that are requested.

2 – Individual asset records created after being requested from the Product Catalog.

The Product Catalog workspace displays a list of the price list items that are in your system. You can use the saved searches drop-down to view a variety of Product Catalog lists—for example, all products, products in stock, products out of stock, and so on.

After creating the catalog items, the next step is to design the Product Catalog form for making those items available to users online. For details, see Designing the Product Catalog form.

1.Open the Product Catalog workspace and click the New drop-down to select the item type you want to create—types include bundle, consumable, hardware, and software.

2.At the top of the page, enter summary information about the item, such as its Status, Requestor, Item Name, Expiry Date (after which time the item will no longer be available from the catalog), Support Team, and Support Lead (this is the team and team member responsible for getting the item added to the catalog).

You can also specify the Est External Cost (the estimated price the organization paid for the item) and the Est Internal Price (the estimated price charged internally, which includes any additional maintenance costs, for example).

3.Next, complete the other associated tabs as required. Tabs that differ depending on the item you're creating:

•Bundle Items – For bundles only. Add existing catalog items to the bundle by linking them here.

•Item Details – This information is used when a user orders one of these items to create a corresponding asset record when procurement is completed. Includes details such as the Manufacturer, Model, and Asset Type, and a check box that indicates if the item is a standard catalog Item. Also, the Manufacturer and Model fields are used to reconcile the catalog item with existing assets in the system.

When the catalog item becomes obsolete, complete the Replacement Model field to indicate the item that is to be used in its place.

To automate the reordering process for catalog items (hardware or consumables, not software), the Asset Administrator can turn on a global constant to display two fields that are disabled by default—Reorder level Qty and Reorder Quantity. For details, see the "To enable automatic reorders" procedure below.

Click Browse beneath Catalog Image to associate an image with the catalog item. This image will also display in the Hardware Assets workspace > asset record page for all assets with this item set as the Catalog Item on the Details tab, and in the Purchase Line Item workspace for a purchase order associated with this item. We recommend that you use images that are either .PNG or .JPG and no larger than 150 x 150 pixels.

When you update the Description or a value on the Item Details tab, this change is also made to all asset records associated with the catalog item.

•Assets – Maintain the list of assets that are associated with this catalog item by linking them here. You can also see the Status of the assets associated with the catalog item, which helps you to identify which assets are suitable to fulfill an asset request.

•Stock Levels – Shows the locations where this catalog item may be currently in stock.

•Active Orders – Lists the purchase orders associated with the catalog item that are not at one of the statuses of Cancelled, Rejected, or Completed.

•Organizational Units – Link to relevant organizational units that you want to associate with this catalog item.

•Approved Vendors – Shows details about the vendors that have been approved as suppliers for the catalog item:

•Click Add Approved Vendor to add vendors that have been approved for this catalog item and, if appropriate, enter the associated Vendor's SKU for the item from that vendor. Enter the Retail Price and any Discount you have negotiated. Asset Manager can then calculate the Price that you are charged.

•Click Assign Recommended Vendor to select one of the vendors as the preferred supplier.

•Suggested Alternatives – Link to alternative items already in the Product Catalog that are appropriate substitutes if this item is unavailable when fulfilling a request.

•Journal – Add emails or notes to the catalog item.

•Attachments – Attach a document to the record, or add a URL link to a relevant website. URLs must include the https:// prefix.

•Audit History – Automatically tracks changes made to key attributes of this record.

4.After entering the required data, click Save or Submit for Approval. Saving the item changes its status to Created, which is an interim status allowing you to change the item details if necessary. Submitting the item changes the status to Approved for adding to the Product Catalog, or if an approval process is in place, submitting starts that process and changes the status to Under Review.

To enable an automatic reordering process for catalog items, the Asset Administrator can turn on a global constant to display two fields that are disabled by default—Reorder level Qty and Reorder Quantity.

By entering a Reorder level Qty threshold for an item, a purchase order is automatically triggered when the in-stock quantity meets that threshold or drops below it. Once triggered, this order displays under the Active Orders tab. Enter a Reorder Quantity for the number of items to be automatically reordered each time the Reorder level Qty threshold is met.

Even if the reorder threshold is met, users can continue to request this item if the quantities specified are currently available in inventory (as viewable from the Stock Management workspace > Storage Space Summary tab). If requested quantities exceed the number of available items, an email is sent to the customer stating that their request is on hold. The request status changes to Waiting for 3rd Party until the restock purchase order is completed. At that point, asset fulfillment can continue.

Asset Administrator and Storage Manager user roles can edit these fields; for other roles, these fields are read-only.

1.Click in the menu bar at the top of the page. The Configuration Console displays in a new tab.

2.Under Build in the left navigation, click Global Constants. Look for Show Reorder level and Reorder Quantity in the list.

3.Double-click in the Value column and type True, then click Save.

4.Close the Configuration Console and refresh the Product Catalog workspace.

To turn this global constant off again, enter a value of False and click Save.

By default, when you submit a new catalog item, its status changes to Approved. However, the Asset Administrator can configure an approval process to ensure that the catalog item becomes approved only after the majority of the Product Catalog Item Approvers contact group has approved the item.

1.Click in the menu bar at the top of the page. The Configuration Console displays in a new tab.

2.Under Build in the left navigation, click Global Constants. Look for ivnt_ProductCatalogThreshold in the list.

3.Double-click in the Value column and set the number to something other than 0, then click Save.

4.Under Configure in the left navigation, click Users and Permissions > Groups.

5.Double-click the group called Product Catalog Item Approvers.

6.On the Member tab, click Link and select the users you want on the approvers list. Click Select.

7.Click Save and close the Configuration Console. Refresh the Product Catalog workspace.

Now when you click Submit for Approval when creating a new catalog item, the status changes to Under Review and approval requests are sent out to the appropriate people.

When over 50% of the group has approved the item, the approval is completed and the status changes to Approved. If a majority rejects the request, the status changes to Rejected. The status can also change to Canceled, Timed Out, or No Approvers Found depending on the outcome. For each change of status, the Audit History is updated as part of the request record.

For more information, see Employees, departments, teams, and contact groups.

If a catalog item can no longer be purchased, you can set its Status to No Longer Purchasable. The item remains in the catalog, but can no longer be purchased. You can use the Item Details tab > Replacement Model field to direct users to the catalog item that you want to use as a replacement.

Alternatively, set the Status to Expired to remove the item from the Product Catalog completely.