Managing Product Lines
Product lines allow you to group, classify, and describe products.
Depending on your system configuration settings, product lines can also be used to define access rights to product information for internal users in large accounts with diverse product offerings. For example, a product manager for a CRM product might be authorized to view products and entitlements for only CRM products, instead of viewing products across an account’s entire product set. Likewise, product lines can be used on End-User Portal sites to ensure that customer users see only the items related to the product lines to which their accounts are linked.
For many producers, product lines are completely optional. However, there are two scenarios where product lines are required:
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For producers who use FlexNet Electronic Software Delivery, product lines are a high-level organizer for download files. In the End-User Portal, download files are grouped by producer, then product line, and then download package. |
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For producers who use FlexNet Usage Management, product lines play a functional role in searching for and rendering usage history reports. |
Enabling Product Lines
For most producers, product lines are optional. They must be enabled in the Producer Portal via the FlexNet Operations system configuration settings. There are two configuration settings that can be used. The one you choose depends on how your account uses product lines.
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Product lines are available for use as product groups without restricting the visibility of products to different users or accounts. (This product line functionality is enabled by default.) |
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Product lines are available for use as product groups and also restrict visibility of products to different users and accounts. |
Enabling Product Lines for Products
The default product line functionality can be enabled via the system configuration setting, Enable Product Lines for Products.
To enable product lines for products
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Click System > Configure. |
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Click FlexNet Operations to open the configuration page for FlexNet Operations-specific settings. |
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Locate the Enable Product Lines for Products setting and select its check box. |
Note:This setting is only effective if the check box for Enable Product Lines for Products, Users, and Accounts is not selected.
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Click Save Configs to save changes. |
Enabling Product Lines for Products and Visibility Restrictions
The addition of visibility restrictions to product line functionality can be enabled via the system configuration setting, Enable Product Lines for Products, Users, and Accounts.
To enable product lines for products
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Click System > Configure. |
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Click FlexNet Operations to open the configuration page for FlexNet Operations-specific settings. |
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Locate the Enable Product Lines for Products setting and unselect its check box. |
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Locate the Enable Product Lines for Products, Users, and Accounts setting and select its check box. |
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Click Save Configs to save changes. |
You define access rights by mapping products to product lines and then product lines to producer accounts or to customer users.
Two special product lines are automatically defined by FlexNet Operations:
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All—Applied to all customer users by default, this product line includes all products. When implementing product lines, FlexNet Operations includes All as the default to preserve product access for backward compatibility. Later, this product line can be removed and appropriate product lines linked to implement selective product line access for customer users. |
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Uncategorized—Collects the set of products that have not been mapped to a product line. FlexNet Operations treats Uncategorized as a separate product line. Customer user accounts that have not been linked to the Uncategorized line cannot see uncategorized products. |
Product lines can be the object of searches. In addition, product lines can include descriptive attributes that can be used to characterize them.
Adding Product Lines and Product Line Attributes
You can add product lines in the Producer Portal and add product line attributes to those product lines.
To add a product line
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In the Producer Portal, click Products > Product Lines. This link opens the Product Lines page. |
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Click Add Product Line. This button opens the Create Product Line page. |
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On the Create Product Line page, in Name, enter the name of the product line. |
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In Description, enter an optional product line description. |
Product lines can have product attributes. A product line’s product attributes can be added or deleted on the Create Product Line page. (Recall, though, that FlexNet Operations limits alterations to a product line and its attributes after the product line is linked to a product.)
To add a product attribute to a product line
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On the Create Product Line page, click Add Product Attribute. This button opens the Create Product Line Attribute page. |
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On the Create Product Line Attribute page, in Name, enter the name of the attribute. |
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Indicate whether the attribute is required for the product line. |
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In Type, select the attribute type, then specify any additional details as needed. |
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Boolean: A pair of options for mutually exclusive choices, such as Yes or No. |
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Long Text: A text value that can be up to 16384 characters. The value can be typed or pasted into the text box. (The Display Type setting controls how a long text value is displayed: Text Area or Text Field.) |
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Text: An alphanumeric string. Specify Max Length (a number of characters), Text Type (Single Select, Free Form, or Multi Valued Text), and Display Type (Text Area or Text Field). |
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Number: A numeral, for example, 33452. (Value must be an integer.) |
Deleting Product Lines or Product Line Attributes
Product lines that have not yet been mapped to a product can be deleted. Likewise, product line attributes can be added to or deleted from a product line provided that product line has not yet been mapped to a product. After a product line is mapped to a product, it cannot be deleted, and alterations to its product line attributes are highly restricted—only the addition of optional attributes is permitted.
To delete a product line
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In the Producer Portal, click Products > Product Lines. This link opens the Product Lines page. |
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Select a product line, and click Delete. |
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Click OK to confirm the deletion. |
To delete a product line attribute from a product line
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On the Create Product Line page, select the attributes you want to remove, and click Delete. |
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Click OK to confirm the deletion. |
See Also
Mapping a Product to a Product Line
Linking Product Lines to User Accounts
Configuring System Settings