Product Links

Product Links is a feature that allows you to automate attaching Products to Records that are sent to you or requested from you. Product Links are automatically created for you as Records are approved, but you may also create and manage them manually, even before any Records have been created.

Overview

A Product Link has three components:

1. A Product from your registry

2. A Counterparty from your registry

3. A counterparty product number

   1. If you are the customer, this is the supplier’s product number

   2. If you are the supplier, this is the customer’s product number

A Record matches a Product Link if the Counterparty is the same across both, and the Product the Counterparty has attached to the Record has the same number as the counterparty product number on the Product Link.

When a Record is sent to or requested from you and a matching Product Link is found, your Product on the link is automatically attached to the Record.

For example, if you have a Product Steel and a Counterparty Steel Supplier, and their product number is Steel (Hardened), you may define the following Product Link.

If Steel Supplier opens a Record to you with their Product Steel (Hardened) attached, the above Product Link matches, causing your Product Steel to be automatically attached to the Record.

How do you create a Product Link?

There are two ways to create a Product Link.

1. Manually create a Product Link on the Product Links page

   • You may also edit and delete Product Links from here

2. Approve a Record where you and the Counterparty have both attached a Product

   • A Product Link is automatically created between your Product, the Counterparty and their product number.

   • If this conflicts with a Product Link according to Product Links | Product Links must be unambiguous, the new Product Link overwrites the old one.

When are Product Links evaluated?

Product Links are evaluated and the linked Product is auto-attached to any matching Record every time:

1. A Record is sent to you or requested from you

2. The Counterparty that created the Record changes their Product on the Record

3. A Product Link is created

   • All your open Records are scanned and evaluated against the new Product Link

   • For any Record that matches the Product Link that does not yet have a Product attached, your linked Product is automatically attached

Product Links must be unambiguous

There is one fundamental constraint on Product Links: they must be unambiguous. Given a Record with a Counterparty and their product number, there may be at most one matching Product Link. If there were several, it would not be possible to uniquely identify your Product, and therefore not possible to automatically attach it.

Therefore, there may be at most one Product Link per pair of Counterparty+counterparty product number.