There can be many reasons why a particular product may not appear on the web for a particular customer.
The "Product Enquiry Tool" allows you to determine why that might be happening. It will provide a step by step analysis of the product and customer data and tell you why a product is not appearing for a particular customer, and what steps you should take if you would like the product to be available to the customer.
Step-by-step guide
To determine why a product is not appearing:
- Navigate to the "System Preferences" page in the Admin menu
- Select the "Tools" tab
- Select the "Product Enquiry" tab
- Enter the following information:
- the Customer Code you wish to test
- the Product Code you wish to test
- the Role the user is logged in as
- Click the "Enquire" button, and the system will perform the check for the parameters specified
- The checks performed are listed
- Checks that have passed are shaded green
- Checks that have not passed are shaded red, and will include an explanation of why the check did not pass
- If any check has failed and displayed red, some action will need to be taken to make the product available for the customer
- Click the "Details" link on any of the check results to see a full description of the check performed and its results.
Checks Performed
Customer Exists
- Checks that the customer code exists in the web site database
Role Exists
- Checks that the role exists
Product Exists
- Checks that the product exists in the web site database. If it does not, you should check the product integration settings
Product is valid for display on the web
- Checks that the product is valid for display on the web. The product may exist in the database, but other flags and product field values can make the product invalid, and therefore not display. An explanation of any conditions not met will appear in the "details" section
Stock Security allows product display for the customer
- Data can be setup in your ERP system to restrict access of products to certain customers. If this setup is causing the item to not display for the customer you chose, you will be notified here. See below for explanations of what the various stock security rules mean.
Stock Security Cache allows product display for the customer
- Stock security (which products a customer can see) is generally figured out when a user logs in, and cached for rest of the day. This avoids the system having to continually apply the stock security rules to determine what products to display. The results are cached. If the cache is causing a product to not display, the cache can be cleared. See below for explanations of what the various stock security rules mean.
Product restrictions
- You can setup additional restrictions on the web site that may stop a product from appearing for a customer. If any of these restrictions are impacting the customer and product you have specified, this check will determine which restriction is causing the problem.
Stock Security Rules Explanation
SI: The item must exactly match the entered item code for the customer to be able to purchase the item. If it does not match then this item can not be purchased. Several SI entries can be made for the customer. These SI items will be the only items that the customer can purchase. The range of items that may be purchased, once an SI is in place, can be extended through the use of SI, GI, SM and GM
SE: The item code may not be purchased by the customer. Several SEs can exclude several items and can be used in conjunction with GE. An example of this is when a customer may have a contract with us that allows them to purchase red and blue staplers but not green staplers.
SM: Any item that matches this stock mask may be purchased by this customer, unless it is specifically excluded (using SE, GE, SZ or GZ) or if a masking code exists but none match this customer, then the item is unavailable to this customer. A mask consists of a partial code filled by question marks as wild cards. For example AB??? Matches any five character code starting with AB. To match all codes enter
SY: Only this customer can buy this item. All other customers are automatically excluded, unless this item is specifically included using a SI or GI so that it can be purchased by other customers. This provides the assurance that items that are sold exclusively to one customer are not sold to another customer. An example of this is when only the police force is allowed to purchase handcuffs.
Note: SY will override a SM or GM (masking type).
SZ: This is the opposite of SY. All customers besides the one entered can purchase this item. This can be used in conjunction with GZ and SE. An example of this is where the customer may have a policy of not allowing the purchasing of chocolates, but all other customers may.
GI: The item must exactly match the entered item group for the customer to be able to purchase the item. If it does not then this item can not be purchased. This will be the only group of items that the customer can purchase. Multiple GI entries can be made for a customer. A GI can be paired with a SE to enable a customer to purchase all the items belonging to the item group except for those specified by the SI or multiple SEs. The range of purchasable items can be extended through the use of SI, GI, SM and GM.
GE: The item group may not be purchased by the customer unless there is a specific inclusion (using SI or SY). Several GEs can exclude several item groups and can be used in conjunction with SE.
GM: Group mask. Similar to the stock mask (SM), except that this code looks at the item group to find a match.
GY: Only these customers can buy items in this group. All other customers are automatically excluded, unless the items are specifically included using a SI or GI so they can be purchased by other customers. This provides the assurance that items that are sold exclusively to one or more customers are not sold to other customers.
Note: GY will override a SM or GM (masking type).
GZ: This is the opposite of GY. All customers besides the one entered can purchase these items, unless those items are specifically included so they can purchase them (using SI and SY).
