Record the part numbers and other identifiers a version carries, and the supersession, replacement, accessory, compatibility and bundle relationships between products.
Identifiers are the numbers people use to find a product: a manufacturer part number, a customer's own part number, a model designation or a GTIN. Relationships record how products and versions connect: which version took over from which, which product replaces another, and which products are accessories, compatible or sold together. Both are on the product's Overview tab.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Task | Permission |
|---|---|
See identifiers and relationships | View Products ( |
Add or remove identifiers | Manage Product Identifiers ( |
Record, correct or remove relationships | Manage Products ( |
Admins can do all of these. The controls appear only for people who can use them.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
An identifier is recorded against one version, not against the product, because a model number or a GTIN can change from one configuration to the next. Keeping them per version preserves which configuration carried which number.
You add and remove identifiers only while the version is a draft. Releasing the version locks them, and the card then says Identifiers are locked because this version has been released.
A new version starts with no identifiers. Record the ones that apply to it; it can carry the same values as earlier versions of the product.
The register's Search finds a product by an identifier on any of its versions, so a customer's part number from an enquiry leads straight to the product.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Open the product and select a draft version in the Versions card.
On Overview, go to the Identifiers card.
In Scheme, choose the kind of identifier. The list shows the schemes your product's profile declares.
Enter the Value, for example NST-124.
Choose Add.
The value appears in the list with its scheme name underneath. If a scheme or value is missing, the page says Choose a scheme and enter a value.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
Draft versions only | Identifiers can be added or removed only while the version is a draft. |
The profile's schemes | Only schemes declared by the product's profile are offered. A product without a profile cannot hold identifiers until a profile is assigned; see move versions through their lifecycle. |
One value per scheme | A version holds one identifier under each scheme. A second value under the same scheme is refused with a message saying the scheme already has a value on this version. To replace a value, remove the old one first. |
Length | A value is required and can be up to 200 characters. |
Format | A scheme can require a format, for example a fixed number of digits. A value in another format is refused with a message naming the scheme. |
Unique values | A scheme can require unique values across products. A value under such a scheme belongs to one product: its versions may share it, so version 1.1 can keep 1.0's part number, but no other product can use it. Upper and lower case count as the same. A value already used by another product is refused with a message saying so; search the register for it to find that product. |
Required schemes | A profile can require a scheme. Required schemes are marked with an asterisk on the Profiles page, and a version cannot be released until it has a value for each of them. |
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
The General product profile offers three schemes. All are recommended rather than required.
Scheme | Unique across products | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
Manufacturer part number | Yes | The number the manufacturer uses for the product, usually printed on the label and quoted in a purchase order. |
Customer part number | No | A number a specific customer uses for the product. Different customers may use the same string for different products, so repeats are allowed. |
Model or type designation | No | The model or type name the product is marketed and certified under, often the one on a declaration of conformity. |
Other profiles can include further schemes, such as GTIN, the 8, 12, 13 or 14 digit trade barcode number issued by GS1, which must be unique across products, and Serial number format, the pattern individual units are serialised under. The Profiles page lists each profile's schemes; see product profiles.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Select the draft version and find the identifier in the Identifiers card.
Choose the remove button beside it, labelled Remove identifier for screen readers.
The dialog Remove this identifier? explains that the identifier will no longer be recorded against this configuration and that searches by it will stop finding the product. Choose Delete, or Cancel.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Relationships are listed in the Related products panel on Overview. They belong to the product, and each one can name a version at either end or apply to the product as a whole.
Relationship | Meaning | Ends | How it reads |
|---|---|---|---|
Supersedes | Lineage. A later version of the same product takes over from an earlier one; a delivered unit traces up this chain. | Two versions of the same product. | "Supersedes" on the later version's side, "Superseded by" on the earlier one's. |
Replaces | A commercial successor: a different product customers buy instead. | Any two products, whole or one version. | "Replaces" and "Replaced by". |
Accessory of | This product is an accessory to the other one. | Any two products, whole or one version. | "An accessory of" and "Has accessory". |
Compatible with | The two work together. Recorded once and shown on both products. | Any two products, whole or one version. | "Compatible with" on both. |
Bundled with | The two are sold together. Recorded once and shown on both products. | Any two products, whole or one version. | "Bundled with" on both. |
Supersedes and Replaces often have different answers. A version 2.0 supersedes 1.0 of the same product; a new product that customers are offered instead replaces the old one.
Supersession is usually recorded for you. When releasing a version supersedes the one in service, the Supersedes relationship is recorded automatically. Record it by hand only when the lineage must exist before release, for example so that the Qualification tab can explain which results a new version does not inherit; see qualify a version with tests.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Open the product and, in Related products, choose Record a relationship.
Complete the fields.
Choose Save, or Cancel.
Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
Relationship | The kind. The default is Accessory of, and a note under the field explains the chosen kind. |
This configuration | The product as a whole, or one version of this product. For Supersedes, the later version. |
The other product | Not shown for Supersedes, which stays within this product. Type at least two characters of a name, product number or identifier, choose Search, then pick the product under Choose a product. Up to 20 matches are listed. This product and obsolete products are never among them. |
Their configuration | The product as a whole, or one version of the other product. For Supersedes, the earlier version of this product. |
Why | A sentence explaining the relationship for whoever reads it next. Up to 10,000 characters. |
From and Until | The dates the relationship starts and stops being true. Both are optional. |
The page checks the form before saving. It asks you to Choose the product at the other end of the relationship, and for Supersedes it requires a version on both sides and both versions from this product.
Further rules apply when you save:
A product cannot relate to itself, apart from supersession between two of its versions.
The same relationship cannot be recorded twice. For Compatible with and Bundled with, that includes the same pair recorded from the other product; correct the existing one instead.
A version supersedes at most one version and is superseded by at most one.
Supersedes and Replaces chains cannot loop back on themselves.
You can relate only products you are cleared to see. A relationship whose other product is classified above your clearance is not shown to you.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
From and Until record when a relationship holds, for example a bundle offered for one season, or compatibility that ends when a platform is retired. Until must be on or after From. With no Until, the relationship is ongoing.
A current relationship with an end date shows "until" and the date. Once the Until date has passed, the relationship moves under a collapsed "past relationships" line with a count, marked Ended. It stays on record there.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Beside each relationship, current or ended:
Correct reopens the form with the relationship's values. Change any field it shows, including the relationship kind, the configurations, the other product, Why and the dates, and choose Save.
Remove asks Remove this relationship? and names the kind and the other product. Choose Delete, or Cancel.
Ended relationships offer Correct and Remove as well, so you can fix a wrong Until date without recreating the relationship. A Supersedes relationship can no longer be corrected or removed once the later version has been released, because it is part of what that released configuration is. The other kinds stay editable throughout, since accessories, bundles and compatibility change over a product's life. Corrections and removals are kept in the product's history.
Product location: /products/{productId}/overview (fallback: /products). Open the product from the Product register. Select a draft version in the Versions card to add or remove identifiers. Find the Identifiers card and the Related products panel.
Northstar sells a wall bracket, NST-BR2, for its temperature monitor, and is launching Monitor 2 to take over from the 1-series.
Open the bracket and record Accessory of with The other product set to the Northstar temperature monitor and both configurations left as The product as a whole. Why: "Fits every monitor configuration; ordered separately."
Open Monitor 2 and record Replaces with the Northstar temperature monitor, From 1 March 2027 and Why: "Offered instead of the 1-series for new orders; same mounting and sensor range."
On the temperature monitor's Overview, Related products now shows "Has accessory" for the bracket and "Replaced by" for Monitor 2.
