Key Features of QAD Configurator
- Highly intuitive questionnaire for rapid product configuration
- Clear separation between model creation and actual product configuration
- Flexible and highly configurable model creation
- Allows inheritance, variables, features, rules
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities
- Multi-language enabled
- Seamless integration to QAD Enterprise Applications
Product Configuration
Based upon a two-phased process:
- Knowledge Building—Engineer stores complete engineering knowledge of all product-related technical details about features, options, rules, dependencies, inclusions and exclusions in a structured manner
- Knowledge Exploitation—Salespeople are able to quickly and accurately configure a customer-specific item without needing any technical knowledge of the product
General Setup
System-level settings and definitions of codes critical for later processing, including:
- Master Groups—Partition all product characteristics and rules into disjoint sets
- Question Types—Classify the kinds of questions end-users will be asked to answer
- Rule Groups—Group sets of related configuration rules together for convenience
- External Entities—Link configuration questions/features to data element values from QAD Enterprise Applications database
Knowledge Building
- The collection of features, options and related rules, constraints, and/or dependencies governing the configuration of a particular type of make-to-order product. In QAD Configurator, this is known as a "generic item"
- Provides the data used to create the questionnaires seen by end-users and validate the responses
Knowledge Exploitation
- The set of rules used to build a configured product, including item number, BOMs, routings and costs based on the results of the Questionnaire (see below)
- Contains an Analyzer to cross-check the consistency of the rules, a Configuration Output Processor (COP) that generates the QAD Enterprise Applications product definitions, and settings for cost and price roll-ups for the configured products
Questionnaire
- Used by salespeople during sales quote/order entry to capture the selections for a particular configured product
- Generates a list of questions corresponding to the features to be selected for the configuration, using the knowledgebase created by the Knowledge Building functions, and obtains the user's selections.
- Generates the variant product data in QAD Enterprise Applications using the rules established in Knowledge Exploitation
Configuration Output Processor (COP)
- Typically runs at the end of the Questionnaire dialog with input from the result generated by the first portion of the Questionnaire process
- Combines the result with the rules established earlier in Knowledge Exploitation to generate and load variant items, BOMs and routings that are used to build the customer's selected configuration
QAD Configurator - Implementation Services
Plan
Business Process Review involves reviewing your processes for maintaining routings and bills of material required to accommodate each customer’s special configuration.
Development of Plan includes a definition of scope (business requirements), the assignment of a complete project team with roles and responsibilities, technical requirements, integration needs, detailed budgets, and project risks with appropriate mitigation.
Design
Questionnaire Design involves developing the rules for which product options influence other options, and modeling existing and planned product configurations to ensure a flexible approach. The questionnaire serves as the vehicle for gathering the information needed to establish a particular configuration.
Configurator Output Processing ensures that rules applied in the Questionnaire will result in the correct BOMs, routings, and product pricing.
Implement
Final Rollout involves creating the implementation approach: companies may prefer to implement QAD Configurator for one product at a time, a group of products, all products at once.
Final Configuration/Technical Setup involves fine-tuning the configuration and/or technical setup of QAD Configurator based on feedback obtained during the “Design” (pilot/prototype) stage of the project.
Final Data Conversion involves the full data load of all data required to enable the process (as opposed to a subset of data used during a pilot/prototype environment).
System and Compliance Testing involves developing a complete test plan, including execution and documentation of tests, based on the level of testing required by your company and/or industry.
End User Training incorporates your learning preferences and gives your super-users the opportunity to train all end users on QAD Configurator just prior to rollout of the application.
Manage
Value Audit involves evaluating the level of benefits achieved and identifying additional areas of opportunity for your organization.
Application Management Services (optional) involve keeping your system up to date and running optimally with QAD services that include help desk support, development services, performance tuning and software administration.
Typical Implementation Plan for One Site
