Company Parameters

Company Parameters define the rules, tables or values used in price calculation. During price calculation, based on the calculation logic, values from the tables and rules are used (via the VLookup command). For example, if you use a volume discount in your price calculation, you need to set up and maintain a parameter table with volume breaks and discount values.

The Company Parameters page consists of three panes:

  • Categories – Folder structure to organize all the parameters.

  • Company Parameters – List of all parameters where new ones can be added.

  • Company Parameter Values – Values of the parameters which can be edited.

 You can change the word "Company" to any string of your choice in General Settings.

Add Parameter

To add a parameter:

  1. Click the Add Parameter button.

  2. Enter a Name (with no spaces). Optionally, enter a Label.

  3. Enter a Valid After (valid date).
    Parameters can have the same name if they have different Valid After dates. For the price calculation, the most current parameter will be used.

  4. Select the Table Type from the drop-down menu:

    • Simple, Simple (key:Real), Simple (key: Integer), Simple (key:Date) – Each parameter value has a corresponding value (e.g., A = 0.2). The price calculation uses the corresponding value for the parameter.

    • Range – Allows you to define ranges (using 'Low' and 'High') and assign 'Value' to each of them. The lookup checks in which range its parameter belongs and the Value assigned to the given range is used in the price calculation. The range definition is min-inclusive (Low, High), so that you can cover the whole interval without any gaps (e.g., in the below example the value 10 belongs to the second range, as the first range ends with the value 9).

    • Matrix – Each parameter value has more than one value (e.g., customer CD-00001: Revenue 1 = 2,000,000, Revenue 2 = 2,500,000). The price calculation uses either some specific values or all. A value is specified by the first column (e.g., CustomerID) and second column (e.g., Revenue 2). If you want to use more values, you need to use a function for the values (e.g., Sum, Max, Min, Average).

    • JSON – A JSON table – each parameter value is an OJAI document (a tree of fields). Values are defined as attribute extension.

    You can rename and customize the header. Not all cells need to have values. For the price calculation, empty cells will not be considered.
     When changing the parameter type, ALL values of this parameter will be deleted.

  5. Select the Value Type from the drop-down menu. It sets the type of the value you can store and retrieve from the column 'Value'.

    • Real – Floating-point/decimal numbers (only for types Simple and Range).

    • Int – Integer / whole numbers (only for types Simple and Range).

    • String – Text (only for types Simple and Range).
       If you enter a number in a String field, it will be saved and used as text (and not as a number) and it will lead to incorrect arithmetic operations.

    • Date – Valid date (only for types Simple and Range).

    • Matrix, Matrix2, Matrix3, Matrix4, Matrix5, Matrix6 – (only for type Matrix) Defines how many key columns this table will have. A matrix table can have multiple columns with a value and their data types are defined in the columns of the Company Parameter Values table directly (right-click on the column name, and select Rename and Customize).
       If you increase the number of key columns (e.g., from Matrix2 to Matrix5), all the existing values will be preserved. The default values for the new keys are defined in a dialog that opens when you change the value type.

      If you decide to decrease the number of key columns, bear in mind that this action will truncate ALL the data from the table.

    • JSON, JSON2 – Attribute extensions – see Customize Columns for details. This type can have one or two (JSON2) key columns.

  6. For each of the Parameters, there is the option Hide Warnings. If set to true, no warning will be shown in the Price List nor in Quoting when no value can be found in the Parameter for a specific product.

  7. Select a Status from the drop-down menu:

    • Inactive – Default for new Parameters. The parameter will not be used in price calculations.

    • Active – The Parameter will be used in the price calculation. When more than one parameter with the same name has the status ACTIVE, the parameter that is valid on the selected Target Date will be used (see above).

    • Simulation Only – The Parameter will only be used in simulations. Optionally, the name of a simulation set can be set (e.g., Worst Case) to further specify when the parameter is to be used.

    When the Parameter type is set to Simple, the format of the values can be defined (e.g., percentage or currency). The formatting does not convert the currency. In order to make the formatting visible, you must log out and log in again.

  8. Select the data Format Type.

  9. Click the Add button.

  10. (Optional) Set which user groups can edit or view the Parameter. It can be assigned in the column 'User Group'. Users belonging to this user group are allowed to change the values of this parameter.
     User groups that are not permitted to view a Parameter table cannot see its values but can still see the table name and other properties in the list of Parameters. If you want to completely hide Parameters for groups that are not entitled to see them, use the advanced property hidePPTablesBasedOnUserGroups.

  11. Select the new parameter and click the Add Value button to add a new value to the Parameter.

  12. Enter a Name and value(s).

  13. Repeat until all values have been entered.

When you select a parameter from the list, the following actions are available:

  • Delete a single selected parameter. Make sure the deleted parameter is not used in a calculation logic.  For the price calculation, the parameter with the most relevant (to the Target Date) 'Valid After' date is used.

  • Duplicate the selected parameter. The 'Valid After' value is automatically set to the current day and can be changed manually.

  • Edit the selected parameter's settings in a dialog.

  • Move to a different category.

Edit Parameter Values

The following actions are available:

  • Add Record to the Company Parameter table.

  • Edit the data by double clicking the field. All changes are automatically saved and are active immediately. If you change a parameter name, you need to change it in the price calculation as well. Otherwise the arithmetic operations could be incorrect or not work at all.

  • Mass edit the values of all, filtered or selected parameters at once.

  • Mass delete is available only for parameter values (you can delete all, filtered or selected values).

  • Duplicate a value. Edit the data in the Copy Value dialog – you must change at least the Name/Key. In a matrix, if the feature flag autogenerateKeysInPP is set to true and you do not change any key, a new value of key1 will be autogenerated.

  • Import parameters by exporting the table to XLSX or CSV, modifying the table and importing the file back. See How to Import Company Parameters for details.

  • Export the table to Excel.

 To modify/add the parameters, you can also use the Excel Client.

 

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Pricefx version 12.0