Managing Product Attributes

Attributes define product features, such as color, size and material. In an earlier lesson, we discussed simple products as having fixed attributes and not requiring configuration.

However, configurable products have attributes with multiple values and other options. Attributes are the building blocks for product configuration and allow products to be configurable.

• Attributes allow products to be customized based on customer preference.
• An attribute can have different values for each associated configurable product.

A good analogy is going online to shop for a cellphone. Depending on the manufacturer, you may be offered a choice of screen sizes, storage, and networks. The cellphone is the configurable product. Screen size is one attribute, and its values are the available diagonal measurements.

All attributes defined in SAP CPQ define configurable products.

Some of the ways an attribute can be used are to:

• Provide a list of selectable values.
• Provide a free-form input field.
• Display text.
• Display a computed value.
• Enter a measurement.

Again, configured products are configurable because of the attributes. Many attributes are defined with a list of values consisting of a display value normally shown to the user. Other values include a value code used internally as expressions, rules, and scripts.

An attribute is referenced by more than one product. Each product determines which of the attribute's values it will use and how they are priced.

Alternatively, the Cellphone Case attribute values could have been references to standalone products. This would make sense if the Cellphone Cases in question were available for sale on their own.

Attribute values can also be stand-alone simple products:

• They can be sold as part of a configurable product or on their own.
• Pricing is determined by the simple product.

An attribute may be associated with a simple product, provided one of its values is preselected:

• Appears in Product details page.
• Can be used for Guided Selling.

Attributes can be created by:

• Manually adding them in the SAP CPQ Setup UI.
• Importing them from an Excel spreadsheet using the SAP CPQ Setup Attribute Import.
• Export a template for new items, or export existing items to update them.

1. Attribute Name
2. Attribute Type
3. Attribute Values

Where the attribute type determines the nature of the attribute's data, the product is responsible for defining how each of its attributes displays:

• Some attribute types can be displayed in different ways. Other attribute types can only be displayed one way.
• Be aware that the user interface allows some combinations that will not work properly.

Let's take a closer look at working with attributes in the following exercise!

Importing attributes from an Excel spreadsheet is a more efficient way to import a lot of attributes at once. You can do so in the Attribute Import section of the SAP CPQ UI.

Not only can you import new attributes, but you can also modify existing attributes by exporting them, modifying the exported data, before re-importing it into SAP CPQ.

The Attribute Import feature allows users to:

• Download an Excel template containing sample data (to be replaced with new attribute data).
• Export all the existing attributes in the system to an Excel file.
• Upload an Excel file containing new or modified attribute data.

The downloadable Excel template used to import new attributes includes the following columns:

• System ID
• Index
• Attribute Name
• Display Value
• Value
• Data Type
• Measurement

This template is initially populated with sample data to help you create new attributes. Make sure you delete these sample entries, or they will be uploaded as new attributes.

When creating new attributes, be careful not to enter values in the System ID column. This column will only contain values for rows representing existing attributes you have exported and now want to update. The system will use the System ID column to make sure it's updating the correct attribute. So you either leave the column blank for new attributes, or leave the value that's there for existing attributes you're modifying.

The Index column is used by the system when importing the attributes to uniquely identify each row in the spreadsheet. The first row should be 1, then increment the value by one for each row. Save time by using the Excel fill feature to populate this column (enter 1 in the first row, 2 in the second, then select both cells and drag the bottom right corner dot to extend the selection down across all your rows; the fill feature does the rest).