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Alternates

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Feature

 

Alternate Products can be added to Products. Alternate Products are only displayed on Proposal reports and their pricing is not calculated into any totals on the report. A Product can have multiple Alternate Products.

 

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What are the benefits of this feature?

 

Alternate Products are one way to provide options within a Project, not to be confused with Optional Items.

When to use this feature?

 

When you want to give your clients a choice between Products.

Details

Product Explorer

 

In the Product Explorer you can add Alternates to multiple Products at a time. Select the Products in the grid and then from the Tools menu click Alternates->Selected:

 

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This will open the Update Alternates form:

 

update_alternates_form.png

 

Here you can Add, Delete, or Paste Products that you wish to add as an Alternate Product.

 

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There are two options when adding Alternates in bulk:

 

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When adding Alternates this way, the "parent" Products will also automatically be added as an Alternate to the selected Alternate(s).

 

You can also add Alternates to individual Products by opening the Product for edit and then clicking the Alternates tab in the Edit Product form:

 

alternates_tab_on_edit_product_form.png

Project Editor

 

You can also add Alternates to Products within a Project, very similar to the two methods above. In the Project Editor there is no option to add to "All" so you first select the Product(s) that you want to Alternates to and then from the Tools menu click the Alternates button.

 

alternates_button_on_ribbon_in_project.png

 

You can also add Alternates to individual Products by opening the Product for edit and then clicking the Alternates tab in the Edit Product form:

 

alternates_tab_on_edit_product_form_in_project.png

 

 

In the Project Editor, Alternates display beneath the "selected" Product:

 

alternate example in project grid.jpg

 

The default color of an Alternate row is shown above but you can change this via an Application Setting.

 

Under the Layouts tab you can choose whether or not to display Alternates Products in your Project Grid:

 

hide_alternates_in_ribbon.png

Promoting an Alternate Product

 

If a choice is made to use an Alternate Product over the "selected" Product, you can promote the Alternate to be the "selected" Product via the [Promote] button on the Tools tab:

 

promote button.png

 

You can also access this via a right-click on the Alternate Product:

 

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When you promote an Alternate Product, you are prompted with options:

 

promote_alternates_form.png

 

Maintain Installation Price

This option will allow you to not affect the price of the Project by maintaining the installation price of the Product being demoted

 

Keep Accessories

This option allows you to maintain the accessories of the Product being demoted and associate them as accessories to the Product being promoted

 

Discard other alternates

This option will remove the demoted Product as well as any other Alternate Products

Discarding Alternates

 

If at any time you want to remove Alternates from a Project, you can remove just the selected or all Alternates via the Tools tab:

 

discard alternates.png

 

Note: Discarding Alternates does not count towards Change Order report run against Revisions. Alternates are not "real" until Promoted.

Proposals

 

The only reports that "recognize" Alternate Products are the Proposal reports in SI 2015. Alternates display beneath the "selected" Product with the title "Alternates". The price that displays is the difference in price between the Alternate and the "selected" Product. If the difference in price is positive, the word "Add" displays by the price difference. If the difference in price is negative,  the word "Subtract" displays by the price difference.

 

alternates example on report.jpg

alternates example on report 2.jpg

 

You can change the wording and color for Alternate Products via Report Settings:

 

report_settings.png

 

On the Reports tab you can choose not to display Alternates on your Proposals:

 

include_alternates_reports_tab.png

 

You can also choose not to include Alternates on a Proposal via a Parameter within the Report Definition:

 

report_definition.png

 

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