Product Configuration and Variant Configuration –
an overview of the basic tasks of a CPQ solution

Product Configuration and Variant Configuration –

an overview of the basic tasks of a CPQ solution

Configuration – An overview

Configuration in the sense of product configuration or variant configuration includes processes that consider the assembly of parts and modules into individual products or the finding of variants in a product range. Configurator software has found its way into many areas of life: in the B2C scenario, end customers configure their individual products with visually elaborate 3D configurators; in the B2B scenario, manufacturing companies sell complete plants and fleets with sales configurators. In production, configurators also help with the correct filling of parts lists or with the creation of complete work plans.

In sales and marketing, the term CPQ (Configure – Price – Quote) has been established for configurators that primarily support the sales process. These are applications which configure products or services (Configure), determine a price for the configured product in parallel or downstream (Price) and finally create a quotation document with this information (Quote). However, the use cases of an elegant CPQ solution are certainly broader. A configurator can be operated as a sales tool for sales and dealers and at the same time as an online configurator for the end user. It can be integrated into the process landscape and thus support the entire sales process or it can map ETO (Engineer-To-Order) processes because it involves all departments in the complex product finding and product development.

Configure

Configure (configuration, product configuration, variant configuration) includes all processes that manage the assembly of parts into individualised products or the finding of variants in a product range. This is used in areas with multi-variant products on the basis of super bills of material as well as for products and services that require explanation. The more complex the composition of a product or the need for explanation, the greater the requirements for the CPQ solution used. For Configure, the possibility of arbitrary dependency definition, i.e. the definition of all relevant rules and contexts, constraints and exclusions, is an indispensable function. Based on this, an engine is required that handles the entire dependencies completely and without errors.

Around 200 users from fifty countries use the multilingual product configurator from Otto Christ AG – Wash Systems to design vehicle wash systems in a knowledge-driven way.

Otto Christ AG – Wash Systems offers the right gantry wash system for any requirements. With currently around 200 users from fifty countries, about 30 to 50 configurations are generated per day. The high acceptance is explained by the comfort offered. Clear formulations, freedom from errors and overcoming possible language barriers play an essential role in this. The clear and intuitive user interface enables the configurator to be used without time-consuming training. The provision of a stringent selection of the desired components at any time greatly facilitates the work and provides security with regard to feasibility. Generally, enormous time savings are recorded concerning the entry of purchase orders. The simplified process flow structure in order processing contributes to this significantly.

Price

Price (pricing, price calculation, price setting) includes all processes and information that deal with price structures and calculation schemes of the multi-variant products and services. Prices can be composed of individual part prices and prices can play a role in combination with other parts. The type of pricing can be expanded through calculation schemes in which, for example, market and country-specific factors, price scales or discount structures influence the final price. If no individual parts or assemblies are available as a basis for BOM-based pricing, the prices are defined on the basis of other structures such as product requirements or deployment scenarios. In addition to pure pricing, other price-related content can also be mapped. This includes calculations such as leasing, financing or hire purchase and market-dependent price structures and temporal validity, always taking into account the roles of the users and their market affiliation.

Toyota Material Handling Deutschland optimises the quotation process for the three sales pillars by introducing the sales configurator: Direct sales, key account and independent dealers

With the CREALIS® product configurator, Toyota Material Handling Deutschland‘s daily business shows a clear improvement regarding the quality of offers and orders. Customers receive a flawless offer in the shortest possible time. Queries regarding the follow-up order processing have also dropped rapidly. In addition, the preparation of a quotation for several units, including their financing, yields time savings of around 94 %. Price management and the credit approval process are fully mapped within the configurator, taking into account the different requirements of direct sales and retailers.

Quote

Quote (offer documents, calculations, product brochures) summarises the possibility of creating an offer for a specific, individually configured product or service, which can be made available to interested parties. The necessary mapping of correct pricing in the document is also a fundamental task. An offer can be supplemented with a wide variety of documents derived from the individual configuration. This includes, for example, data sheets on specific assemblies of the individual configuration, installation instructions, country-specific regulations for use or CO2 efficiency class certificates and much more. By linking the contents of the configuration to the correct documents, all information in the offers is correct.

ORISA Product Configurator CREALIS® as a Cloud Edition

Rollo Solar® Melichar GmbH successfully uses the ORISA product configurator CREALIS® as an elegant cloud edition to efficiently support the sales of customised pool covers in the preparation of quotations. The configurator met with a great response due to its simple intuitive operation, rapid deployment and the high degree of perfection regarding the output. Rollo Solar® recognised that there is definitely further potential for automation. For instance, it is being considered to offer maintenance contracts along with the quotation in the future. A further step could be to automatically generate production orders with the bills of materials resulting from the configuration.

Prozess integration and flexibility

The functions that a CPQ application can map depend on the possibilities and freedoms of the solution used. Naturally, the technical basics play an important role in order to be prepared for future requirements. Technical security in the cloud combined with maximum usability on all devices is only one aspect that needs to be considered. The flexibility of data maintenance and modelling and the possibilities of integrating further systems are topics that play important roles in a CPQ application. ORISA has been a software provider for variant configuration and knowledge management for over 30 years and has a wide range of experience due to the large number of projects with the most diverse solution approaches. Many aspects and ideas from the various customer projects have been included in the in-house product CREALIS® CPQ, resulting in a comprehensive portfolio of functions. If you like to know more about product configuration, variant management and CPQ, please contact us. We gladly advise you!