How do I use product substitutions?

Add the list of products that can be substituted under the product window and choose from them on sales orders by clicking the Substitutions button.

Acctivate allows you to define which products can be substituted for another product. Defining substitutes for a product will allow the user to select from the approved list of substitutes on the sales order screen. This can be useful in the event that you are out of stock of an item that has been ordered. When you see that you are of of that item, you can check to see what substitutes are available, allowing you to ship orders more quickly.

Add substitutions to a product:

1. Open the Product window that you want to assign substitutes to.
2. Click Edit.
3. Click on the Substitutions tab and lookup the substitute in the Substitution ID column. You can also define an Effective and Expires date if the substitution can only be made for a specific period of time.One substitute product can be defined as the preferred substitute.
4. Once you have added all the substitutable products, click Save.

Now that you have added acceptable substitutes to the product, you can select the substitute from the sales order screen.

Select a substitute on a sales order:

1. Open a sales order that contains a product that has substitutes.
2. If the item has substitutes defined, then the Substitutions button above the order line items will be lit up, indicating there are substitutes available. To select a substitute, click Edit and then click on the row containing the product you want to substitute. Click the Substitutions button to open the list of substitutes.
3. In the window that appears, select which substitute you would like to use and click the Substitute button.

The item on the sales order will change to the substitute item. If the price of the substitute is different the the price of the originally ordered product, Acctivate will prompt with a message asking if you would like to keep the original price. Select Yes or No.

Acctivate users who have a web store integration may have the export shipments option enabled. With this option, Acctivate will export the items and quantities shipped. If you use the method above to substitute a product on a web order, Acctivate will export the original item, not the substitute. Web shopping carts typically don’t allow you to ship something that was not ordered, but by using the substitution button to select an approved substitute, Acctivate will export the original product ID and the shipped quantity.