How To Build A Product Configurator In Excel
9 Minute Read
How to Build a Product Configurator: Choosing Engineering
Product configurators enable sales teams, dealers, distributors and even customers to configure complex, custom products accurately. The best solutions also automatically create all the documents and data required by sales and manufacturing and integrate with other company systems to ensure accurate information.
In this article, nosotros look at the key technologies needed to build a product configurator and the different implementation methods available.
Key Technologies
Allow's begin past looking at the cardinal areas of technology production configurators typically require. One time you lot have an thought of the technology you crave, you tin evaluate the solutions that meet your needs.
Rules
A product configurator needs a way of capturing the noesis, experience and processes your sales, design, and engineering teams use to configure a production manually, so it tin can make decisions and calculate outputs automatically. These 'rules' can be equations, sums, logical expressions, business concern logic, legislation, or product requirements.
For case, rules could exist based on the following statements:
- "We employ a central support if the length of the conveyor is greater than 3 meters"
- "Nosotros always take a one/iv inch gap around the door frame, unless the frame is over 4ft broad, in which instance the gap is increased to 5/16th of an inch"
- "Customers with a delivery accost in the Us are charged in Usa Dollars, and those in the European Wedlock are invoiced in Euros"
Rules are the brain of your configurator. A powerful rules engine and simple method of edifice and maintaining rules is central to successfully building a product configurator. The complexity of your rules will depend on the production, simply even uncomplicated products with a limited set of options tin can become complex to manage without the right tools.
User Interface (UI)
You lot'll demand to build a user interface to enable users to configure your products and specify options. User interfaces oft comprise input fields, text, images, and 3D visualizations.
Information technology's of import to think about who volition be using your configurator and their requirements to get an idea of the features you'll need.
- Practice yous need to guide users as they configure by only offering valid options?
- Practice you desire to show images of product options or update images to evidence the configured product?
- If your product configurator will exist used externally by sales teams, dealers, distributors, or customers, you need to consider how the UI volition brandish on the unlike devices used to view the configurator.
Think about how frequently you volition make updates to the UI of your configurator and how quickly you might need changes to be fabricated too. The easiest method of edifice a UI is with a visual builder that makes setting up the user interface of your product configurator uncomplicated. They often have a toolbox with different inputs and UI elements that can be customized and positioned without coding knowledge.
3D Visualization
3D enables users to visualize product details and communicate complex design details easily. 3D visualizations can either be static 3D models of production options or interactive previews that update in existent-time as you configure. Interactive 3D previews are the virtually immersive and offer the best user feel but are more time-consuming to ready.
Workflow
With customizable workflows, y'all tin can replicate your company processes and security procedures. They requite you lot control over what happens, when it happens, and who tin can brand it happen.
- Do you need to control who can configure products, approve designs, and sign off orders before they're sent to manufacturing?
- Control when documents and data are created
- Transport notifications at different stages of the lodge process
Documents and Data
Outputs, similar sales documents, BOMs and manufacturing data are one of the main reasons companies await to implement a product configurator. Information technology's of import to ensure that whatever solution you choose can create the outputs you need and offer the ability to make changes to them quickly and hands.
Call up about your typical sales procedure and the documents, data and emails you need to create when you manually configure a product. The product configurator solution you choose should automatically create these.
For many companies offering custom products, creating engineering drawings for quotes is a clogging in the sales procedure that uses upwards valuable engineering science resources on work that might not lead to an order. Production configurators that offer CAD automation automatically generate approval drawings, saving your engineering squad time and enabling sales to answer faster and win more orders.
Once an order is confirmed, CAD automation ways all the manufacturing data and drawings required for your products to exist manufactured, including drawings, cut lists, and BOMs, are automatically created. Products tin can be sent direct to industry, removing fault-prone repetitive pattern tasks and freeing up engineers to focus on high-value tasks such equally solving customer-specific challenges and product innovation.
Integration
Integrations enable company systems, web services and databases, such as SQL, CRM, ERP and MRP to communicate and share data. They're an essential role of whatever scalable product configurator solution and should be as automatic as possible.
When you lot configure a product manually, do you lot update multiple systems and/or rely on information stored in different systems? If you practise, look for the power to integrate with other systems when choosing your production configurator solution.
Examples of integrations include:
- Reading and writing data to and from files, such equally Microsoft Office, XML, CSV
- Reading and writing data to and from databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, mongoDB, IBM DB2, SQLite, SAP HANA
- Sending and receiving data via a spider web service, such as your CRM system, shipping availability/pricing from logistics partners, ERP systems, and more than
- Bidirectional integration using an Awarding Programming Interface (API)
The benefits of choosing a product configurator solution that supports integrations include:
- Increased productivity by removing bottlenecks in data availability
- Improved the accuracy/consistency of data
- Remove manual processes
Reporting, Diagnostics, and Auditing
Reporting and diagnostic tools are invaluable, providing insight into the performance of your product configurator and information for troubleshooting. During the setup of your configurator, detailed information nearly calculations, decisions, and the data created enables you to test and ensure outputs are correct. If you're experiencing issues, diagnostic tools assist in speedily identifying and rectifying problems so yous're product configurator isn't out of action. This is essential if your configurator is a critical part of your processes.
- Simplify implementation by validating outputs
- Resolve problems faster
- Know exactly what was configured and what was created
Build a configurator using Microsoft Excel
For smaller companies with limited needs, it'south possible to build a bones production configurator using Microsoft Excel. It'south where many companies start their journeying every bit they already use information from spreadsheets to configure their products. An obvious benefit is that virtually companies already take access to Microsoft Excel and teams are often familiar with the software. Microsoft Excel offers powerful calculation capabilities and the ability to manipulate tabular data efficiently.
Whilst teams might be familiar with spreadsheets and making basic edits, setting upwardly a configurator in Microsoft Excel requires a deep understanding of the software. At that place's lots of Excel assist available online, but because it'south a general tool for business, rather than a defended product configurator solution, documentation to guide configurator setup is limited to outdated user forums.
Information technology'southward important to call up nigh the outputs y'all need as well. Excel can be set up to create basic sales documents, just the range of outputs is limited and may crave the use of complex macros to achieve exactly what you need.
If you plan on deploying your Excel product configurator to a squad or distributors, consider how multiple users volition access your product configurator concurrently. 1 of the most useful features of a product configurator is the ability to accept a single source of truth that ensures multiple users are always accessing authentic, up-to-date information. If your Excel-based configurator involves distributing static files, consider the risk of outdated data and siloed data. If you desire to build an online product configurator, Excel isn't for you.
The ability for company systems and data to integrate seamlessly is becoming increasingly important. Consider how you volition integrate your Excel-powered product configurator with your other systems and ensure that it will encounter the needs of your business concern now and in the future.
Custom code your own product configurator
If yous demand more than functionality than a configurator built using Microsoft Excel tin can offer, then custom coding could be an choice. When you think about custom coding a configurator you accept two options: in-house custom coding or consultant-led custom coding.
Coding your own product configurator in-house is an choice if you have a team with the right skill set, but remember it isn't piece of cake and building a custom product configurator is far more circuitous than writing a bit of code. On the surface, a homegrown solution may appear cost-effective, but there are costs y'all must consider. You demand experienced developers, IT infrastructure, code management, ongoing maintenance, release testing, documentation, training for users… and 1 of the biggest expenses is not benefiting from having a configurator faster, because your custom solution takes a long time to create.
If you lot don't accept resources internally, yous could choose to use a development partner to custom code a solution for you. This is usually more expensive and introduces the complexities of having an integral part of your business processes congenital and managed by an external squad. Ongoing maintenance is more challenging, and whatsoever future updates outcome in direct costs as you pay for the fourth dimension of the consultants. You are also restricted by their availability in the future.
Choose a product configurator software solution
Using a proven product configurator software solution, like DriveWorks, is often the least expensive and most successful way to successfully implement a 3D product configurator. DriveWorks has been developed to meet the needs of users worldwide and the powerful technology stack in DriveWorks solves the challenges manufacturers of custom products face, with no circuitous custom coding required.
DriveWorks is unproblematic to set upwards and maintain, enabling the people who know your products all-time to set up and manage your configurator. The powerful rules builder in DriveWorks uses a familiar Excel-style syntax to build rules that store your business and product knowledge. It's easy to build the User Interface (UI) of your configurator using the form designer, which offers avant-garde control over styling and the ability to add together inputs, text, images, and interactive 3D visualizations.
DriveWorks can communicate with any arrangement using native Microsoft SQL integration, ODBC drivers, the ability to import and export files or through the fully documented DriveWorks API. You can likewise communicate with web services, such equally your CRM system, logistics partners, ERP organisation and more than without custom lawmaking. Bidirectional data transfer removes the need for manual data entry between systems, reducing errors and improving quality.
Gratis plugins adult by DriveWorks tin can also add together specialized features and functionality enabling communication with Syspro and Salesforce, automatically generating chiliad-code and manufacturing information for SOLIDWORKS CAM, processing payments with PayPal and more.
Ensure your production configurator doesn't permit you down
When you choose a product configurator solution to become a critical part of your business, it's important that y'all are confident it'southward robust and reliable and if there is an event, it tin be resolved speedily.
Consider what happens if your configurator stops working. Exercise you have access to technical support and implementation guidance? Are there dedicated learning resources and online help? Or are you completely reliant on the cognition of ane person to resolve whatsoever problems?
Thousands of customers worldwide trust DriveWorks software in business-critical processes. We take this responsibleness seriously and utilize strict quality control and quality assurance measures to ensure our software is robust and reliable.
Our worldwide network of authorized resellers provide technical support in your time zone and our online assistance and all-encompassing learning resource make implementing and maintaining a production configurator built with DriveWorks piece of cake. The DriveWorks community is too active with users around the world discussing ideas, sharing their elevation tips, and celebrating what they accept accomplished.
Suggested
How to Build a Production Configurator: Planning, Pattern & UX
Now you've got a adept thought of what'south required from a product configurator and the different solutions available, y'all're set to acquire virtually projection planning, designing your product configurator, and the user feel (UX).
Source: https://www.driveworks.co.uk/articles/how-to-build-a-product-configurator-choosing-technology/
0 Response to "How To Build A Product Configurator In Excel"
Post a Comment