Packages are a type of Product Bundle. Similar to parent-child bundles in some ways, packages allow items to be linked together from quotation stage all the way through to Data Capture and Customer Asset stages.

There is some additional behaviour that is specific to package bundles, namely:

A package is essentially composed of two main parts - the Package Parent, and the Package Bundle attached to it.

Package bundles are defined in Settings, and are comprised of a number of package items. This bundle is then assigned to one or more Package Parent item in inventory.

The package parent will be the core item in the package. For example, a tariff or primary hardware. The package items will be linked to this parent item. Example package items could be bolt-ons, a router for a broadband contract, peripherals etc.

Settings -> Product Bundles

Clicking Product Bundles will show you a list of existing bundles and allow you to create a new one.

• Bundle Name: This should be indicative of the bundle items
• Bundle Type: Select Package

Next, you can start adding items to your bundle. This is done by way of the Product Browser. You can filter, and use the check boxes to add multiple products at a time.

Both products and services can be added to the same bundle.

Package item default options

The following defaults can be set on a per-item basis:

These values can be amended but you may wish to configure default settings.

You can hide package items from quotations, allowing you to show e.g. only the main package parent details, with any costs rolled up.

Defaults can be set in the package bundle settings against each item, but you can also change these settings by editing the line item on the quote.

Bundles will be easier to manage if their names are a reflection of what they contain. This will also make it easier when assigning a tariff to parent items.

Use the filters on the price book to get a view of tariffs that are likely to be relevant. You can do this by attributes such as sub-category, core / non-core, supplier etc.

It is important to note that, due to the quotation and invoicing options that package bundles provide, the classifications available to package items must match those of the package parent item.

Item classifications can be seen on the Classification tab on an item record.

Once you have created your bundle, you can assign it to items in the price book

This is possible via two methods.
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From the package parent item's record in the inventory, go to the Bundle Details tab. Select the package bundle from the Package Items Group drop-down.

You can also assign a bundle to a parent service via Price Book Import, if you have access to it. This is done by entering the name of a bundle into the Package Items Group column. If it doesn't exist, a new, empty one will be created. This can then be populated from Settings.

Items with a child bundle attached will display a box icon in the second column in the Product Browser.

Please note that it can take up to one day for the icon to appear next to an item, after the bundle is assigned to the parent.

Click the chevron to expand the line, and preview any available package items.

Double click the item or select it and click Add. This will open the configuration window, allowing you to view and amend parent item details.

Configure the parent item as required.

Note: You can click Add to add the item on its own, without any package items attached.

To add as a package, click Add Bundle.

From here, you have two options:
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Add all available package items in one go by clicking Select All Items. This will add items with quantities based on how the package is configured in Settings - Product Bundles (shown below). There's no need to click Add. The package items will use default settings.

Note: to change the quantity of a child service that has been added, you must click Remove, amend the quantity and Add the item again.

Once all child services have been added, click Finalise Bundle.

You'll be returned to the product browser view, and your items will appear in the basket. Add any other items you need, and click Update Quote / Update Order.

You can choose instead to add package items individually by clicking on them in the side panel, and then clicking Add. By adding the items individually, you will be able to configure item details as they are added, and also set whether or not the item should be shown in the quotation sent to the customer.

N.B. the default setting of whether a package item should be shown quotation or not is set by your system administrators in the Settings zone.

When you have added all required items select Finalise Bundle. This will add your items to the basket, as shown. Add any other items or bundles you want, and click Update Quote / Order.

Note for users who use the product rename feature: You can edit the package items individually after being added by clicking on the item name, if you have the user role that allows item renaming.

The P/C column on the quotation grid indicates parent and child, or bundle status for each line. The large box indicates a package parent, and small boxes indicate a package item.
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Items are ordered automatically with child lines following their parents. You can also mouseover the parent and child icons to confirm the linked parent or child.

You can see that the package items have a faded icon. This indicates that these items have been configured to be hidden on customer-facing quotations and invoices.

It's possible to do the following even after a package has been added to a quotation:

This can be done by clicking on the package parent name. This will open the Edit Line Item window. You can then use the Package Parent Item menu to set or unset a parent.

Note: if you have multiple parent lines of the same name, you can identify them by checking the order in which they appear - they will be displayed in the same order as on the quotation.

Deleting a package parent will warn you that this will also delete all other items in the package.

You can delete individual items from the package.

Package parent and package item relationships should be carried through from quotation to sales order, and then to Data Capture. Establishing this link in Data Capture is called mapping.

The Auto-Map feature in Data Capture should be used to perform this mapping. It will look for item relationships in the sales order, and recreate them in Data Capture.

To perform the auto-map, click the arrow next to Auto-Map and click Package Items. This will populate the Parent Order Item column with the correct item, based on the sales order data.

This will populate the Package Parent field.

Sales orders that have been converted from quotation will have package items auto-mapped already.

If any packages or items are added subsequent to conversion from quotation, you will need to open Data Capture and either perform the Auto-Map, or manually populate the Package Parent column.

You will see the following when you auto-map. This is relevant when an order has already had some package items linked in Data Capture. If you select No, child lines that do not have a parent item already assigned will be mapped per the original quotation. If you select Yes, all lines will be remapped.

This is useful if you think you have changed / overridden mappings incorrectly, and would like to restore the defaults as they were on the quotation.

If a child asset has been assigned to the wrong asset at the sales stage, it should be amended by the order processor at the Sales Order stage.

To help maintain data integrity, changes should be made on the sales order grid first, then pushed to Data Capture:

All package items will be shown individually on the Assets tab of a customer record, once converted. Package parent items will show the package icon. This can be clicked to display a list of all items in this package.

The main benefit of this is that it lets you see assets across all categories, not just the ones that belong to the currently-selected tab.

No, a parent item can only have one bundle assigned to it, across all bundle types.

Yes, there is no limit to how many bundles an item can be part of.