Catalogs (form)

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Click Procurement and sourcing > Common > Catalogs > Procurement catalogs. On the Procurement catalogs list page, on the Action Pane, on the Catalog tab, click Catalog. Enter a name for the catalog, and then click OK.

Use this form to create a new catalog, define the catalog navigation structure, and add products, vendors, and external vendor catalog links to categories.

Tasks that use this form

Key tasks: Create procurement catalogs

The following tables provide descriptions for the controls in this form.

Tabs (Action Pane)

Tab

Description

Catalog

Modify, activate, inactivate, or preview a catalog, or publish catalog updates to the procurement site. You can also attach documents to the catalog and create, delete, enable, or disable individual catalog categories in the catalog.

Tabs (lower pane)

Tab

Description

Catalog settings

Enter the overall parameters for the catalog, such as the catalog name and description, the user who is responsible for maintaining the catalog, the default update type, and the catalog status.

Price range

Set up price ranges for the overall catalog or for individual catalog categories. The range of values that you add can be used to filter search results by price when a user is looking for products in the catalog on the procurement site.

Presentations

Enter the welcome text that you want to appear for the Order products section on the procurement site in Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Product relation types

Select the product relationships that you want to be displayed for the products in your catalog. You can also select the order of precedence that will be used when search results are displayed.

For example, you might want to show related products and product accessories for a selected product on the procurement site. When you add product relationship types to your catalog, employees can see and order related products and accessories when they order a product. You can also select the order in which the product relationship types are displayed.

Note

This setting applies to the whole catalog and cannot be overridden at the individual category level.

Navigation category settings

Enter a name and description for the navigation category, set the navigation category options, and set the display settings for the procurement site.

Note

You can only set the Default update type at the category level if the Default update type on the Catalog settings tab is set to Both. In this case, both manual and automatic updates can be applied by category.

If the category is a navigation shortcut for the procurement site, you must identify the category that you want to open when the user clicks the navigation shortcut on the procurement site.

Products

Manually add products to a catalog category. If you used the procurement category hierarchy to create your catalog structure, you can also view a list of products that were automatically added to the category. You can hide products that were added automatically to the catalog category if you do not want them to appear on the procurement site.

Vendors

Manually add vendors to a catalog category. If you used the procurement category hierarchy to create your catalog structure, you can also view a list of vendors that were automatically added to the category. You can hide vendors that were automatically added to the catalog category if you do not want them to appear on the procurement site.

External catalog links

Add external vendor catalogs to a selected catalog category. If an external catalog is assigned to the procurement category, the link will automatically appear in the External catalog links list. You can hide the link if you do not want it to appear on the procurement site.

Filter range

Add one or more attributes to a selected category for the procurement catalog. For attributes that have a data attribute type of currency, decimal, or integer, you can define a range of values for the attribute. For attributes that have a text attribute type, you can view a list of values. The attributes and value ranges that you add will appear for the category on the procurement site. They can be used to filter search results when a user is looking for a product on the procurement site.

Buttons (Action Pane)

Button

Description

New child

Add a new subcategory to the catalog navigation hierarchy.

Delete

Delete a category from the catalog navigation hierarchy. This action deletes the catalog category node, any child nodes that are associated with the catalog category node, and any data that is associated with the catalog category or child nodes, such as products or vendors.

Enable

Enable a disabled category and all of its subcategories so that they are displayed on the procurement site.

Disable

Disable an enabled category and all of its subcategories so that they are no longer available on the procurement site. Disabling a category makes the category unavailable, but does not delete it from the system.

Publish catalog

Publish catalog updates and product images on the procurement site. This button applies only to existing catalogs for which the Catalog status field is set to Static.

Note

When you create a procurement catalog for the first time, you must click the Publish catalog button so that the catalog can be displayed on the procurement site. However, actual availability of the catalog is controlled by the catalog policy rule that is defined for the requester’s organization. For more information about how to set up a catalog policy rule, see Set up a procurement catalog policy rule.

Activate catalog

Activate a catalog so that it can be published. When a catalog is published, the contents of the catalog can be viewed on the procurement site.

Inactivate catalog

Remove a catalog from the procurement site, but maintain it in the catalog list.

Preview catalog

View the catalog in the Web browser before you give users access to it on the procurement site.

Translations

Open the Text translation form to enter the catalog text entries, such as the category name or description, in additional languages.

Buttons (lower pane)

Button

Description

Edit

Open the Editor form to enter the welcome text that appears on the procurement site when a user first opens the Order products site in Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Translate

Open the Text translation form to enter the welcome message in other languages.

Move up

Change the order in which a selected product relation type will appear on the procurement site. For example, if you add product relation types for accessories and related products, the order in which they appear on the Product relation types tab is the same order in which they will appear on the procurement site. If you want product accessories to be displayed first when there are accessories available for order for a selected product, the product accessories product relation type must be in the first position on the Product relation types tab.

Move down

Change the order in which a selected product relation type will appear on the procurement site. For example, if you add product relation types for accessories and related products, the order in which they appear on the Product relation types tab is the same order in which they will appear on the procurement site. If you want product accessories to be displayed after related products, select the product relation type of accessories and use the Move down button to move the product relation type below related products.

Details

Open the Product details form, Vendors form, or Maintain details for an external catalog form to view the details for a selected product, vendor, or external catalog configuration.

Show

Display the selected product, vendor, or external catalog link on the procurement site. This button applies only to products, vendors, or external catalog links that were automatically added to the catalog category from the procurement category.

Hide

Hide the selected product, vendor, or external catalog link on the procurement site. This button applies only to products, vendors, or external catalog links that were automatically added to the catalog category from the procurement category.

Filter range

Add

Open the Add attributes form to add an attribute to the selected catalog category. If the attribute is associated with the data type of decimal, integer, or currency, you can also add a range of values for the selected attribute by clicking the Add button for the Filter range. The filter range appears on the procurement site for the category and can be used by requesters to sort their search results.

Note

Before you can add a product attribute to a selected category, you must define the attribute in the Attributes form. Then, in the Procurement categories: %1 form, on the Product attributes FastTab, assign the attribute to the procurement category for the product.

For more information about how to define attributes, see Set up attributes and attribute types. For more information about how to add product attributes to a category, see Key tasks: Set up a category hierarchy.

Fields

Field

Description

Default update type

The method that is used to add product changes to the procurement site. Values include the following:

  • Static – Changes to the catalog must be reviewed and then manually published to the procurement site.

  • Dynamic – Changes to the catalog are automatically updated to the procurement site. No manual intervention is required.

  • Both – The update type can be set to either Static or Dynamic at the individual category level.

Owner

The user who is responsible for maintaining the selected catalog.

Catalog status

The status of the catalog. The following values indicate whether the catalog is available to be published on the procurement site.

  • Active – The catalog is active and available to be published on the procurement site.

  • Inactive – The catalog cannot currently be accessed on the procurement site.

Note

The catalog policy rule controls when the catalog appears on the procurement site.

Number of search results to display per page

Enter the maximum number of search results that you want to be displayed per page on the procurement site.

Lower limit

Enter the starting value for the filter range for the price or attribute. The range of values that you define lets users filter their search results for the overall catalog by a selected numeric range. You can also set price or attribute filter ranges at the category level.

Upper limit

Enter the ending value for the filter range for the price or attribute. The range of values that you define lets users filter their search results for the overall catalog by a selected numeric range. You can also set price or attribute filter ranges at the category level.

Map text

Select this check box to use the name, description, and all translated text from the procurement category for the selected catalog category on the procurement site.

  • If this check box is selected, changes that you make to the name, description, or translated text for the category are displayed in the Catalogs form. The data is also updated on the procurement site when the catalog is published.

  • If the check box is cleared, the navigation category text is displayed on the procurement site. Changes that are made to the procurement category are not displayed on the procurement site.

This check box applies only when the catalog navigation categories are created from the procurement category hierarchy.

Procurement category name

The name of the procurement category that is mapped to the catalog navigation category. If the Map text check box is selected, this is the name that is displayed for the category on the procurement site.

Parent navigation category

The category node that is used to group a set of subcategories in the catalog navigation hierarchy.

Shortcut display category

Select to indicate that the category is a navigation shortcut. Navigation shortcuts let you include product categories under more than one parent category. For example, you could create a catalog navigation category that is labeled “Computer mouse devices” and then add the category to both the “Office Supplies” and “Computer Hardware” catalog categories. The “Computer mouse devices” category will appear for users who are searching in either category.

Target navigation category

The category that opens when the user clicks the navigation shortcut category on the procurement site.

Hide all sub-categories

Select this check box to limit the number of catalog navigation categories that appear on the procurement site. When the check box is selected, only the selected catalog category appears on the procurement site. All navigational subcategories for the selected category are hidden. However, products that are available under the selected category and its subcategories will appear under the selected category on the procurement site.

Show order from category

Select the check box if you want users to be able to request products that are not found in the catalog. Users must enter the request by catalog category.

If the check box is selected, a link will appear on the procurement site. The user can click the link to enter a request when they search in the selected category. If the check box is cleared, the link does not appear on the procurement site. Users can only request products from that category if the products are included in the catalog.

Default browsing page

Select the page that appears by default when the user clicks the selected category on the procurement site. The available options are Product, Vendor, or External websites.

Product origination

Indicates whether the product was manually added to the selected category or was automatically imported from the procurement category when the catalog navigation structure was created.

Display

Indicates whether the product, vendor, or external catalog link will appear on the procurement site. This setting only applies to products, vendors, or external catalog links that were automatically added to the catalog category from the procurement category.

Legal entity

The legal entity that the vendor is assigned to and in which they are authorized to supply products.

Vendor origination

Indicates whether the vendor was manually added to the selected category or the vendor association was copied from the procurement category. Only vendors that were manually added to the category can be removed.

Catalog origination

Indicates whether the external catalog link was manually added to the selected category or was automatically imported from the procurement category when the catalog navigation structure was created.

Unit of measure

Select the unit of measure to use to define the filter ranges for the selected attribute. You can only define filter ranges for attributes that have a data type of decimal, integer, or currency.

See also

Key tasks: Create procurement catalogs

Add new vendors (form)

Add products (form)

Add new external catalog link (form)

Announcements: To see known issues and recent fixes, use Issue search in Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS).