TROPOS Attributes
When standard products do not apply

In many industries standard products do not apply. In these industries customers can order in an 'attribute' of a product group, for instance a specific dimension, grade, quality, catchweight, or pack type etc. If there had to be an product and process code for each potential ordered item then product and process maintenance would be unwieldy and the resultant planning, production, inventory, allocation and despatch processes very difficult to manage.

TROPOS Attributes functionality is specifically designed for industries which sell many derivatives of a standard product. A single product code and process of manufacture per product group/type can be complimented by user defined attributes (dimensions, grades, quality, packtype etc.) on the sales order which in turn can influence pricing, planning, provisioning, production, inventory allocation and despatch. The result is slicker business processes and a system which is easier to use and maintain.

User definable 'intelligent' attributes can be set-up by applicability for all key data entities and contexts e.g. Product Group, Product, Customer, Customer/Product, Sales Order Line etc. Attributes default according to a defined hierarchy of data entities e.g Product or Customer/Product to Sales Order Line. There can be multiple attributes (up to 1000!) defined for each data entity and they can be numeric, calculated, selected from a menu or free text.

User defined calculations can be added to calculate attribute values from other attribute values or even from custom access to the database for additional data. Unit of measure conversions can be attribute based and are automatically linked to inventory movements e.g. inventory can be moved in units of a defined attribute in addition to the default inventory and ordering units for the product.

The allocation of inventory is also sensitive to attributes, whereby only lots with matching attribute values will be allocated to orders which specify a required attribute or range of attributes.

The ability to search by attribute e.g dimension, is fundamental and needs to be fast. Up to 30 attributes can be searched at one time and numeric ranges (<1.2m and > 0.6m), specific values (Black and Grey) and wild cards can be used to qualify searches.

TROPOS attributes provide a powerfull facility for those industries whose ordered products are not discretely definable. They also represent an ideal place to store customer specific data on the TROPOS database, with the added advantage being that it can be flexibly searched on.

• User Defined Attributes
  • Sales Order
  • Sales Order Line
  • Customer
  • Customer Item
  • Product Group
  • Item
  • Process Header
  • Process Stage
  • Production Order
  • Production Order Stage
  • Lot Number
  • Purchase Order
  • Purchase Order Line
  • Supplier
  • Supplier Item
  • Resource
• Attribute Types
  • Numeric
  • Menu
  • Calculated
  • User defined calculations
  • Free Format
• Attribute Applicability
  • Item type
  • Customer type
• Unit of Measure Conversion by attribute
  • Linked to inventory movements
• Attribute Searching
  • Multiple attributes
  • Ranges < 2m and > 0.5m
  • Specific values
  • Wild cards
  • By Group e.g. Dimensions
• Sales Ordering by Attribute
  • Pricing
  • Lead times and promising
  • Transport requirements
  • Extras
• Production Process Configuration
  • Additional process stages
  • Adjusted stage costs and times
  • Sales specific instructions
  • Calculated material/packing requirements
• Production Planning
  • Attributes available for scheduling
  • Calculation of material quantities by attribute
• Inventory Allocation on Matched Attributes