Product Information Management AX 2012

Hi All,

These days I have been a lot dealing with Products in AX 2012. In AX 2012 Inventory structure has been completely changed. So in brief we can understand the same as:

Understanding the Product structure:

Product type

·         Item type - This option will be selected if the product is an inventoried product

·         Service type - This option will be selected if the product is a non-inventoried product

Product sub type

·         Product master - Products of this sub-type must have a product dimension group that specifies the product dimensions that are active for the product (color, size, and configuration)

o    Configuration technology

§  Predefined variant - This type should be chosen if the product will not be configured, but simply rely on the user’s choice of Color, and/or Size, and/or Configuration for each transaction

§  Dimension-based configuration - This type should be chosen if the user will build a configurable BOM that relies on configuration rules to build the Config ID and the BOM lines. (This technology may only be chosen if Configuration is active on the Product dimension group selected for the product)

§  Rule-based configuration - This type should be chosen if the product will use Product builder

§  Constraint-based configuration - This type should be chosen if the product will use the new AX 2009 Constraint based product configuration method. (This technology may only be chosen if Configuration is active and is the lone Product dimension active for the Product dimension group selected for the product)

·         Product - Products of this sub-type do NOT have any product dimensions, and therefore do not have a product dimension group

·         Product variant - A large amount of information may be maintained at the Product master level, including, but not limited to:

o    Product dimensions

o    Images

o    Product categories

o    Product attributes

o   Unit conversions
For Product master products, Product dimensions and Product variants are extremely important. Both may be managed from menu items in the ribbons section of the Products form:

Dimensions

·         Product dimensions: Color, Size, Configuration

·         Storage dimensions: Site, Warehouse, Location, Pallet ID

·         Tracking dimensions: Batch number, Serial number

Release product

Once product variants have been created at the instance level, they must be released to individual companies before transactions may be performed in the respective company. Variants may be released from any of the Products forms (All, Distinct, Product masters), or from the Product variants form by clicking Release products in the ribbon section of the form. 

Tech part (Data model)

AX 2012 Item AIF Web Service (InventItemService) 

Table Name	Table Description
EcoResProduct	The EcoResProduct table stores products and is the base table in the products hierarchy.
EcoResProductMaster	The EcoResProductMaster table stores product masters.
EcoResProductIdentifier	The EcoResProductIdentifier table contains a product identification that is available for users.
EcoResDistinctProduct	The EcoResDistinctProduct table stores products.
EcoResDistinctProductVariant	The EcoResDistinctProductVariant table stores product variants.
EcoResProductDimensionGroup	The EcoResProductDimensionGroup table contains information about a dimension group.
EcoResProductDimensionGroupProduct	The EcoResProductDimensionGroupProduct table stores information about relationships between products and dimension groups.
EcoResColor	The EcoResColor table stores color names.
EcoResSize	The EcoResSize table stores size names.
EcoResConfiguration	The EcoResConfiguration table stores configuration names.
EcoResProductMasterColor	The EcoResProductMasterColor table stores information about colors assigned to product masters.
EcoResProductMasterSize	The EcoResProductMasterSize table stores information about sizes that are assigned to product masters.
EcoResProductMasterConfiguration	The EcoResProductMasterConfiguration table stores information about configurations assigned to product masters.
EcoResProductVariantColor	The EcoResProductVariantColor table stores information about the colors that are assigned to product variants.
EcoResProductVariantSize	The EcoResProductVariantSize table stores information about the sizes that are assigned to product variants.
EcoResProductVariantConfiguration	The EcoResProductVariantConfiguration table stores information about the configurations that are assigned to product variants.
EcoResProductMasterDimensionValue	The EcoResProductMasterDimensionValue table is the base table in the product model dimension hierarchy.
EcoResProductVariantDimensionValue	The EcoResProductVariantDimensionValue table is the base table in the product variant dimension hierarchy.
EcoResProductDimensionAttribute	The EcoResProductDimensionAttribute table contains definitions of product dimension attributes (categories).
EcoResInstanceValue	The EcoResInstanceValue table contains the definitions of the instances of the components or products.
EcoResProductInstanceValue	The EcoResProductInstanceValue table contains definitions of values for the instances of attributes of a product.
InventTable	The InventTable table contains information about items.
InventTableModule	The InventTableModule table contains information about purchase, sales, and inventory specific settings for items.
InventItemLocation	The InventItemLocation table contains information about items and the related warehouse and counting settings. The settings can be made specific based on the items configuration and vary from warehouse to warehouse.
InventItemSalesSetup	The InventItemSalesSetup table contains the default settings for items, such as site and warehouse. The values are related to sales settings.
InventItemInventSetup	The InventItemInventSetup table contains the default settings for items, such as site and warehouse. The values are related to inventory settings.
InventItemPurchSetup	The InventItemPurchSetup table contains the default settings for items, such as site and warehouse. The values are related to purchase settings.
InventItemSetupSupplyType	The InventItemSetupSupplyType table contains information about the sourcing of items.
InventDim	The InventDim table contains values for inventory dimensions.
InventDimCombination	The InventDimCombination table contains variants of items. The variants are created as product variants that are based on product dimensions such as size, color, and configuration. These variants are replicated to the legal entity.

For extended info use the below articles to import\integrate Products using AIF services. 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicsaxscm/archive/2011/07/06/product-item-data-management-services.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2012/04/04/importing-products-into-ax-2012.aspx

http://ax2012exceldataimport.blogspot.in/2012/01/dynamics-ax-2012-products-import-using.html

Cheers… J