Alternative Item Flow

Requires version 1.49 or higher

Alternative item flow can be used to limit access to a certain item until the parent item is out of stock. Each item can have one Alternative item assigned to it, allowing the operator to see what item can replace the current selection in case of shortage of quantity.

There are a few rules to keep in mind:

• An item can only have one alternative item assigned to it.
• An item can be an alternative item for multiple items at the same time.
• One item's alternative item can hold its own alternative item, which is referred to as a Nested setup.
• When an item is nested, the items in the list can be picked in any order unless the status is set to Phase in
• The item flow, in which order an item is picked, will always remain. E.g. a durable item will keep the picking order of Used, Refurbished, and New.

Note! Removing the alternative item for one of the items in a nested setup will break the chain and the items below the current item will not be visible to those items above it.

Setting up an Alternative item flow

Open an item by going to AP > Data management> Items > Select an item. Click on the button named Related items. A side window will appear with the alternative item tab selected. Click the + sign to add the item you wish should be the alternative for the chosen item.

In this particular example, the item we selected as an alternative already has an alternative item belonging to it already. It will be visible that the alternative item we selected is the parent of the inherited item below.

Status 

There are five different statuses (Defined, Phase in, Released, Phase out, Obsolete). Except for Defined and Obsolete, any status is valid for an alternative item.

• Defined - Not yet available on the SFI
• Phase in - Available on the SFI but hidden from being picked
• Released - Normal status of an item that can be picked and returned, by default visible to everyone
• Phase out - Previously known as Outgoing. Can be picked but won't be ordered.
• Obsolete - Can't be picked and won't be ordered

Phase in is behaving like a released item in the sense of orders. The only exception between the two statuses is that the item is not visible during pick. No operator will be able to select the item unless it's an alternative for an item that is out of stock.

The picture shows the current setup, where the second item only will be available to be picked if the first item is out of stock. The third item will only be available if the first and second item is out of stock.

Note! If an item in the nested alternative item list is of status Released or Phase out then it can be picked at any time, even without the originally selected item being out of stock and even though there are other items before it in the list of alternative items.

SFI

On the SFI the item will be grayed out if it's out of stock. Where it usually says the availability of the item, it now says Alternative quantity.

Selecting the item will bring you to a popup window with the alternative items. Both of these items are of status Phase in and therefore the top one with the quantity of 120 needs to be depleted before the second item can be picked. This is indicated by 0/13. Where the 0 stands for how many can be picked and the 13 for how many there are of that item.

Note! As soon as the first item is depleted the second item's available quantity will change from 0/13 to 13.