Introduction
Assignments are essential to the e-commerce portion of the Configio System. It is where you setup Users to receive things like Courses and Videos upon the purchase of a Product. It is how a Product can get a Discount or a custom Form. You can assign these types of things (and many other types of things) to Products via the Assignments tab, or assigning at the Category or Region levels. Because there are so many types of things that can be assigned, the Assignments tab is organized into groups. For your convenience, there is a "View All Assignments" button to see everything that is assigned to a Product in a single list. This is especially useful as a Product can inherit Assignments from their Category and their Region, so it is good to audit their Assignments before making the Product live.
Important Note: It is important to understand that Assignments should primarily be done at the Region/Category level. This allows for Products to inherit those Assignments by setting their Region and Category. Product Assignments should just be exceptions to your business rules.
Product Assignments
Finding the Assignments Tab
Login to the Administrative side of your Configio database, and navigate to Products. Create a new Product (or select an existing Product), and click on the Assignments tab.
Navigating the Assignments Tab
There is a bar of groups of Assignable items. You are shown All Assignments by default .As the list is quite long, you can select other tabs (such as Product Addon) to get a constrained list of Assignments. There are three columns on the Assignments tab.
- Assignments: These are the types of things that can be assigned to the Product.
- Unassigned: These are things that can be assigned to the Product.
- Assigned: These are things that are currently assigned to the Product.
Select something to see the what is (and what could be) assigned to the Product.
As the list of assignable things could quite long, there is a searchbox for convenience. Once you have found something that you would like to assign to your Product, drag it from the Unassigned to the Assigned Column. The assignment's status will be whatever is set as the default (in the picture, "Apply"). Change the status if necessary.
Assignable Item Statuses
Assignable objects have statuses. Here is a list of statuses and their definitions:
Users and Groups have four permissions:
Activate – complete Admin access to Inactivate/Activate, Read, and Write the Product
Write – ability to see and modify the Product, but not change its status from InActive to Active
Read – ability to see the Product, but make no changes
Deny – the Products will be hidden to this User or Group
Required Products have five permissions:
Apply Inventory - the customer must purchase the Required Product and the Product is reflected in Product Inventory Modal
Apply - the customer must purchase the Required Product
OptOut Inventory - the customer has the option to Opt Out of purchasing the Required Product and the Product is reflected in Product Inventory Modal
OptOut - the customer has the option to Opt Out of purchasing the Required Product.
Deny - the Required Product is not required for purchase
Dependent Products have three permissions:
Apply Inventory - the customer has the option to purchase the Dependent Product and the Product is reflected in the Product Inventory Modal
Apply - the customer has the option to purchase the Dependent Product
Deny - the Dependent product is not available for purchase
All other Assignments have two permissions:
Apply – the Assignment will attach to the Products within the Region (Attachment will attach to the Email Confirmation, Disclaimer will be presented during Checkout, etc.)
Deny – if an Assignment is inherited from a Parent Region, changing the Permission to Deny and dragging the Assignment from the UnAssigned (left) to Assigned (right) column will remove the Assignment from the Products within the Region. (Discount offered on other products in this Category/Region will not be offered on this Product, etc.)
Higher Level Assignments
If your Product has inherited an assignment from a higher level, it will be shown as grayed-out. You can override the status for your product, as needed. When overridden, it will change colors from grayed-out to black.
View All Assignments
Click the "View All Assignments" button to see a list of everything that is assigned to your Product, and the statuses of those things. This is useful to audit all of a Product's Assignments prior to activating it, or to debug issues with it.
Links to Other Sections of the Database
For many types of Assignable things, there is an "Open" button to easily navigate to where those things are managed. Clicking it will open that page in another browser.
Category Assignments
There may be instances where you need to assign objects at the Category level. Assignments at the Category level are used when you want the Assignments to affect everything listed under that Category. For example, if you wanted a Discount to apply to all Products under the "shirt" Category, you could assign a Discount to the "shirt" Category.
Selecting the Category
Navigate to Settings<Categories and select Select Category to open the Choose Category menu:
Here, you will need to select the Parent or Child Category.
For more information on Parent and Child Categories, visit the Categories article.
If you select a Parent Category, then all Child Categories will receive the Assignment. If you choose a Child Category (without any other Child Categories under it), then only the Child Category will receive the Assignment.
In this example, if we choose the Events Parent Category, then every Product with Conference, Day Camp, and Summer Camp will receive the Assignment. If we choose the Summer Camp Category, then only Products with the Summer Camp Category will receive the Assignment.
Making the Assignment
To Assign objects, select the Assignment type from the Assignments column. Then select the desired Assignment from the Unassigned column and drag it to the Assigned column. You will need to make sure the status is set to "Apply."
Region Assignments
There may be instances where you need to assign objects at the Region level. Assignments at the Region level are used when you want the Assignments to affect everything listed under that Region. For example, if you wanted a Discount to apply to all Products under the Midwest Region, you could assign a Discount to the Midwest Region.
Selecting the Region
Navigate to Settings<Regions and select Select Region to open the Choose Region menu:
Here, you will need to select the Parent or Child Region.
For more information on Parent and Child Regions, visit the Regions article.
If you select a Parent Region, then all Child Regions will receive the Assignment. If you choose a Child Region (without any other Child Regions under it), then only the Child Region will receive the Assignment.
In this example, if we choose the Pacific Northwest Parent Region, then every Product with Seattle and Southern will receive the Assignment. If we choose the Seattle Region, then only Products with the Seattle Region will receive the Assignment.
Making the Assignment
To Assign objects, select the Assignment type from the Assignments column. Then select the desired Assignment from the Unassigned column and drag it to the Assigned column. You will need to make sure the status is set to "Apply."
This knowledge article provides information on specific Configio features. To ensure continuity with documentation and product functionality, Configio reserves the right to amend or update this knowledge article as needed. For more information, reach out to Configio Support.