Introduction
The Model Definition app in the Product Manager (PDM) role allows you to seamlessly manage the definition of products with the high variability, complex set of configuration rules and product configurations representing specific product offerings.
This blog explains a few enhancements delivered in the R2025x FD02 release that help in reducing time required for accurately defining the product configurations and efficiently manage associated effectivities.
Defining the Type of Variant
While creating the variability, you can now also define the purpose of the variant:
In the Variability tab, a new “Variability Usage” column is provided with the following three options in the drop-down menu:
- Primary:
It indicates that it is a key variant which must be defined while creating the Base Configurations.
For example:
Let’s say you want to create a Base Configuration (Premium) with the condition that all the Product Configurations created within it must have:
Type = Traction & Style = Bamboo.
To achieve this, you can mark the Style & Type variants as a Primary variant.
This allows you to select their values during the Base Configuration definition and ensure that all the Product Configurations created referring to it, inherit the correct values i.e. Type = Traction & Style = Bamboo.
This also ensures that number of buildable Product Configurations for the given Base Configurations are reduced because values for the two Primary variants are already pre-defined.
- Mandatory:
When the variant is marked as Mandatory, its value must be selected to complete the Product Configuration. If the values for Mandatory variants are not selected, the Product Configuration is marked as Partially Complete.
- Optional:
When the variant is marked as Optional, the Product Configuration can be completed even if the value for such Optional Variant is not defined.
Overwriting Default Values
When creating the Enterprise Variability, you can set the default values for the variants. This default value definition remains consistent for all the Model Versions in which the selected variant is used.
However, for the few Model Versions, there can be an exceptional need to assign different default values. To cater for such needs, this enhancement is provided that lets you leverage the Matrix Rule to overwrite default value definition set in the Enterprise Variability.
While defining a Matrix Rule, an icon and message are displayed indicating the default value selected in Enterprise Variability.
You can select the different default value which overwrites such default values.
When you perform the Product Configuration, the default values set in the Matrix Rule are considered over the default values set in the Enterprise Variability.
“Where Used” Assessment for Variability
In the configured product structure, product instances are mapped with the variability defined in the contextual Model Version. This is typically referred to as ‘effectivity definition’.
While modifying or removing any variant values in the model definition, it is important to assess its impact on the effectivity definition in the configured structure.
To quickly perform this assessment and enable informed decision making, you can now refer to the new “Effectivity Where Used” tab in the Information panel. This lists all the effectivities where selected variant value is used.
Please refer to the following video for more information on these enhancements.
