A Conversion offers the ability to convert one product (source product) into another product - a Conversion Target. Product A can convert to:

• One product B.
• Multiple product Bs.
• One or multiple product Cs.

For each conversion target, you need to define what happens to the child materials on a slot-by-slot basis. 

Example

You may have a standard model of a laptop that includes a base chassis, battery, cooling assembly and a 256 GB solid-state drive. To convert the standard model to a performance model, you remove the 256 GB solid-state drive and fit a 1 TB solid-state drive instead.

During the conversion, some child materials do not transfer to the target product. For instance, the original thermal pads attached to the removed drive are single-use and must be discarded rather than reused. These materials are not carried over from the source BOM to the target BOM.

In this scenario, the slot associated with the original drive is removed when mapping from the source product to the conversion target, and only the required components for the target configuration are retained.

To set up a Conversion, start by building a new Conversion Profile from the Products screen. Conversion profiles define what product conversions are permitted and how to map the child material in the BOM from the source product to the target product. You can adjust the mapping as desired. Finally, you will usually convert the item through workflow although it can also be done from the Stock Items screen.

Conversion Profile

Configure Conversion Profile in Products 

1. Navigate to the Products screen, select the product you will convert from, and click Conversions.
2. The conversions pop-up is displayed which lists all products the selected product can be converted into. Click New to display the New Profile pop-up.

New/Edit Profile input screen

Blue fields in the form are required and are flagged with an asterisk (*) in this document. 

• Source Product: Name of the product that will be converted. This field is not editable.
• Search: Text entered here is used to filter the Target Product list.
• Target Product*: Product that the source product will be converted into.
• Ratio*: Ratio of Source Product to Target Product. For example, you may receive a box of 10 items of Product A which can be converted into 10 individual items of Product B. In this case the ratio is 1:10.
• Is Active*: Specifies if the target product is active.
• Inherit Parent Serial*: Select Yes for the target product to inherit the visual serial number of the source product. Note that a unique ID will be assigned to each individual target product spawned.
• Inherit Notes*: Select Yes to inherit the source product's notes.
• Inherit Case Data*: Select Yes to inherit the source product's case data.
• Target Product Version: Version of the target product when it's spawned.
• Target BOM: If no target BOM is selected, every slot in the source product will be left at conversion.

Conversion BOM Slot Mapping

You can specify to either convert, leave, remove or transfer the item per BOM slot when converting from a source product to a conversion target.

1. Navigate to Products and select the source product and click Conversions.

The Missing Maps column shows the number of BOM Slots that aren't mapped against the target product.

2. Select the target product and click Conversion BOM Slot Mapping. 

3. Select the slot (source slot) and click Set to display the Slot Map pop-up.

Slot Map screen

• Action: Action to take on the source slot when converting. Specify whether to:
  • Convert: The child item gets converted. This is where the child item is transferred to the target item but then the child item gets converted. It's the conversion of the child item that transforms the parent item into the conversion target.
  • Leave: Leave it against the original item. For example, the thermal pads.
  • Remove: The items removed and returned to stock. For example, the slot that contained the original drive.
  • Transfer the Slot: Item is transferred to the conversion target.
• Target Slot: Where the source product BOM slot maps to in the target product.

Convert product in workflow

The Start Post Conversion is the start of the workflow required when you convert Product A to Product B. At the end of workflow to produce an A, you will have a Convert end node that will convert the A to the B and the B would pop up on a workflow that starts with Start Post Conversion.

Convert product in Stock Items 

In Stock Items, select an item of Product A. If a conversion is available, click Convert Item to view the products it can be converted into. Select the item to convert to in the Convert Item pop-up and click Convert.