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[EricE]

We recently changed some of the product "codes" on the y-store and attempted to have SM do an update of it's database to reflect the new codes, for whatever reason it will not recognize / update the new codes.  Any tricks I should know about?

[David Johns]

Eric,

SuperManager first tries to use the the product code to identify the product.  If it can't find it by product code it will search by product id.  If it still can't be found that way it will just create a new product.  Did it seem that SuperManager matched the new and old product codes?

Thanks,
David

[EricE]

Hi David,

Well, I cant find anywhere in SM that shows the new product codes. The product "ID" didnt change, only the code, I also searched in the variants and didnt find anything there.

I figured that SM would look at the ID and see there has been a change in the code and update the code..

[David Johns]

Eric,

Did it create a new product with the new code or just not create anything when you had it update the product list?  It should have either created a new copy of the product with the new code or given you a dialog and asked you whether to overwrite the existing product.  Did either of these occur?

Thanks,
David

[EricE]

At first it didnt do anything.

I just did another update and it has create all new products with the new codes, so now we have duplicates..

[David Johns]

Eric,

Sorry about that.  I will do some testing and see if I can fix the problem.  For now I guess you could sort by product id on the product list and delete the duplicates.

Thanks,
David

[EricE]

I would be happy to send you the file if you would like to take a look at it.

I was thinking about seeing if we could delete all the products in the SM database and then just do another download, but i wasnt sure if that would effect historical sales etc..

[David Johns]

Eric,

This would also be a way to handle it.  The one problem I see, however, is that SuperManager never creates an explicit link between products and items.  When information from the product is required, for example to debit inventory, The SuperManager just looks up the product on your current product list by the product code.  This being the case it may be best just to hide the old instances of the products rather than deleting them.

There is also a new as of yet undocumented feature in beta 1.1.2.2.  You can enter an alternative product code in the variant's alternative product code field and it will search these if no product code is a direct match with the product code SuperManager is looking for.  This could be another alternative.  You could delete the old products, then put the old product code as the alternative product code for the new product.  That way the linkages to past orders of these products will remain intact.

Thanks,
David

[EricE]

Ok.. Let me ask you this.. We have yet to setup SM to talk to QB.. Roxanne and I are going to be working on that soon..

However, the QB file has the NEW codes in it; thus it shouldnt effect any inventory tables once we do finally get the two programs talking..

Thoughts?? (Not from you Rox.. I already know what your going to say  )

[David Johns]

Eric,

There are a few issues that you need to be aware of when exporting to QuickBooks under these circumstances.

The "Alternative Product Code" is also used preferentially as the QuickBooks item name.  If this value is not blank for a particular variant of a product SuperManager will use this name as the item name when it exports to QuickBooks.  If the item does not exist it will be created.  If the variant alternative code is blank, the sequence product_code:variant_name will be used unless the variant name is the product code, in which case the product_code alone is  as the QuickBooks item name.  So for example:

product_code = "BASEBALL_BAT"
variant_name = "BASEBALL_BAT" (there are no options for this product)
alternative_code = <blank>
SuperManager uses "BASEBALL_BAT"

product_code = "BASEBALL_BAT"
variant_name = "BASEBALL_BAT" (there are no options for this product)
alternative_code = "Baseball Bat"
SuperManager uses "Baseball Bat"

product_code = "BASEBALL_BAT"
variant_name = "Wooden"
alternative_code = <blank>
SuperManager uses "BASEBALL_BAT:Wooden" (This is QuickBooks notation for "Wooden" being a sub-item of "BASEBALL_BAT"

product_code = "BASEBALL_BAT"
variant_name = "Wooden"
alternative_code = "Bats:Wooden"
SuperManager uses "Bats:Wooden" (This is QuickBooks notation for "Wooden" being a sub-item of "Bats"

So - the implications on your situation are that you cannot place your old product code in the alternative product code field without it being used when exporting to QuickBooks.  Therefore the best way for you to handle the situation is to keep both copies of the product in SuperManager and just hide the old ones.  If you need to export items to QuickBooks that use the old product codes you will want to create the new product name as the alternative code for the old products.  I know this may be a bit confusing.  Please let me know if whether it makes sense to you.

Also - a correction about the product_id.  I was wrong about how SuperManager looks for that.  SuperManager onlys looks to match the product_id to an existing product if the product_code is blank.  Otherwise the product_id is not considered in the process of trying to match downloaded products to ones already existing in your SuperManager database.

Thanks,
David

[qbsrox]

Aw Eric, how did you know I might respond  ... I KNEW you would make this interesting for all of us...lololol!

Rox