Merge Products
The product merge feature is a powerful tool for managing your product master data. This feature allows a user with appropriate permissions to merge two duplicate products into one without losing important transactional data.
Required Permissions: Because this feature is incredibly powerful, it requires an additional permission to access. To allow a user to merge products, first ensure their default role has product edit permissions (meaning admin or superuser). Then add the additional role "Product Manager"
Before you use this feature, be sure you read and understand this article in full. Merging products changes data throughout nearly every aspect of the system, and the merge is NOT REVERSIBLE. Administrators should be extremely thoughtful and meticulous when using this feature to avoid making major data errors.
Initiate a Product Merge:
First, determine which product you want to be the primary product (the one that will remain after the merge) and the obsolete product (the one that will be deactivated after merge). There is more information on how to make this decision below. Once you have chosen your primary product, open the stock card. You will see a button at the far right of the actions called "Merge Products." Click that button to start the merge process.
This will bring up a pop-up where the primary product is autofilled for the stock card you are on. Search and select the obsolete product, then press "Merge Products."
You will get a final popup asking you to confirm again that you wish to proceed with the merge. Confirm by entering the word "MERGE" and clicking the merge button.
Be patient - it will often take some time to complete the merge process! Once the merge is complete, you will see that a red label "Merged" has been added to the primary product. Hover over the label with your cursor to see the code of the obsolete product that was merged into this one.
The obsolete product still exists but it has been deactivated. If you go to the stock card, you will see that it also has a merged tag.
Make sure to notify affected users before initiating a product merge! They may find it very confusing if a product code that they have memorized, printed out, or written on boxes suddenly is not the right code.
Effects of Product Merge on data:
| Data type | Primary Product | Obsolete Product |
|---|---|---|
| Lot #s and expiry dates (inventory items) | The primary product will now have all the lot numbers of both products associated with it. If the products had the same lot number, it will not be duplicated. | Lot numbers will no longer be associated with this product |
| Inventory | All current inventory for both products (across all locations) will now be reflected under this product | This product will now have zero inventory |
| Stock History | All stock history for both products will now be reflected under this product. If there are data conflicts in the stock history, OpenBoxes will add an inventory count to ensure the current inventory is not affected | This product will no longer have stock history |
| Product details | All product details, including but not limited to category, substitutions, catalogs, attributes, and description, remain the same. No product details are moved from the obsolete product to this product. A merged tag is added to show that the product was part of a merge. | The product is deactivated, but all product details and associations remain the same. A merged tag is added to show that the product was part of a merge. |
| Orders (including purchase orders, transfer orders, putaway orders, and return orders) | This product code now appears on all orders where it previously appeared, AND on all orders where the obsolete product previously appeared in its place | This product code will be replaced with the primary code on all orders regardless of status |
| Shipments and Requisitions (including inbound, outbound e-request, outbound paper request, and all picklists and receipts) | This product code now appears on all requisitions and shipments where it previously appeared, AND on all orders where the obsolete product previously appeared in its place | This product code will be replaced with the primary code on all requisitions and shipments regardless of status |
| Invoices | This product code now appears on all invoices where it previously appeared, AND on all orders where the obsolete product previously appeared in its place | This product code will be replaced with the primary code on all invoices regardless of status |
| Consumption and demand | All consumption and demand for both products will appear under this product code | This product will now have zero consumption and demand |
| Product sources | All product sources for both products will now be visible under this product associated with this product | This product will no longer have any product sources |
| Stock lists | This product code now appears on all stock lists where it previously appeared, AND on all stock lists where the obsolete product previously appeared in its place | This product code will be replaced with the primary code on all stock lists. |
Validation errors:
You will be prevented from completing a product merge if either of the products is in a pending outbound shipment from a depot. The validation error will list all pending shipments preventing the merge. You will need to either ship or delete all of the pending outbounds and re-initiate the merge.