Product Variants

For a given "Product" and a combination of "Supplier"-"Manufacturer"-"Production Site", a "Product Variant" specifies:

•	Current State of the Product Variant (defined by a Product Variant Rule "State")
•	Product Variant Rule
•	Sampling Plan

These associations are made by column mapping in the Sampling Plan Policy, which matches the column values of the Batch SDI with the column values of the Product Variant SDI.

Product Variants let you define different rules for different Suppliers to different sources can have different Rules. For example, if a Product Variant is temporarily "Unqualified", you could use the Product Variant's "Current State" to switch between "Unqualified" and "Qualified".  As another example, anytime a "Preferred" Supplier fails, you can switch back to "Unqualified". You can then see how State changes over time.

The ProductVariant SDC can be linked to any other SDC.

 

Field	Description
Product Variant	Automatically generated KeyId1 of the Product Variant SDI.
Description	An optional textual description of this Product Variant.
Type	The Product Type of the parent Product (automatically populated). Can be either Raw Material or Finished.
Sampling Plan Sampling Plan Version	Sampling Plan used for the Product Variant.
Rule	Product Variant Rule used by the Product Variant.
Product	Product on which the Samples in the Batch are based.
Current State	Current qualification of the "Product" and a combination of "Supplier"-"Manufacturer"-"Production Site". This is a measure of the degree of confidence you have in the Supplier, and determines testing applied to an incoming Batch. See Note 1. This value is taken from the ProdVariantState Reference Type (Unqualified, Qualified, Preferred).
Supplier Manufacturer Production Site	For a given Product, these collectively define the source of the Samples in the Batch. Note that "Supplier" and "Manufacturer" are actually an "Organization" SDI. If the Supplier and/or Manufacturer is left blank, the Product Variant applies to all Suppliers and/or Manufactures (respectively). Using these choices, you can treat Manufacturers and Suppliers separately, or you can have different variants based on combinations of Manufacturers and Suppliers.
Next State	State that will be set by the next transition.

Note 1:

When a Batch arrives, the ApplySamplingPlan Action (called from the postAdd() SDC Rule of the Batch) performs these operations: 1. Identifies a "Product Variant" for a "Product" and a "Supplier"-"Manufacturer"-"ProductionSite" combination. 2. From the "Product Variant", identifies a "Sampling Plan", "Product Variant Rule", and "Current State". 3. Uses the "Product Variant Rule" and "Current State" to determine the level of testing applied to Samples in the Batch. 4. Based on this information, retrieves the number of Samples created and the associated Tests and Specifications from the "Sampling Plan".

Also see the example given in the Level Rules section of the Product Variant Rule document.

You must associate one or more Product Variants with a Product. Do this in the Product Maintenance Page.