How kitting works in PVX
The kitting function within PVX manages the delivery of a group of individual product items that can be ordered by customers as a kit. This kit has an item code (or SKU) that is used by both the order processing system and PVX. The kit is called a 'parent' item.
The individual items that make up a kit are called 'child' items. They are often, but not always, available for sale separately as well as in the kit, and so they each have their own item code within PVX and they need to be picked separately to fulfil an order for the parent item.
PVX only manages the inventory levels of the child items, and sends these to the order processing system supporting the website of your e-commerce business. Here, the number of parent items (kits) that can be sold is calculated based on the composition of the kit and the inventory levels of the child items.
Although the parent item codes exist in PVX, they are dormant and their inventory is always zero. They should never be received into the warehouse as inventory; do not scan barcodes for parent items (if they exist). PVX does not manage the levels of parent items because the management of kits is a task for which order processing systems are specifically designed; also, the decision of whether or not to sell child items separately from kits is made by the retailer in their website so probably won't be known to PVX.
When a sales order which contains the parent item code is imported into PVX, the system identifies the items that make up the kit. These can then be picked as usual, at which point the kit is also shown as being picked. The kit can then be despatched in the same way as any other multiple-item order.
Creating parent items
Initially the parent items must be created within your sales order processing system. You should contact your provider if assistance is needed with this.
Once a parent items is created within your sales order processing system, it will automatically be imported as a new item into PVX using your integration.
Once the parent item exists within PVX, the child items which make up the kit can be assigned to it.
Assigning child items to a kit
Before you can assign child items to a parent item (kit), the order processing system must create all the required parent items (as mentioned above) and child items (if these don't exist already in your warehouse). They will then all be imported into PVX using your integration. You also need a list of the items and quantities that are required for each it.
To assign child items to a kit:
Go to the Items tab in the Warehouse module of the web app.
Find and select the parent item for the kit you want to set up in PVX, and click View.
Click Edit in the Edit item dialog.
Click Kitting. The Manage kitting dialog is displayed.
Search for the first child item in the kit, select the item and click Add >. The item will appear on the right side of the dialog under Selected Items.
Enter the quantity of single items required in the kit (EA = each).
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the required child items are selected for the kit. If you make a mistake, click < Remove to take a selected item out of the kit.
Click OK and then Save when finished.
Barcoding of kits
Kitting in PVX requires all the child items to have an individual item code or SKU. If you sell kits containing child items that are only sold as part of that kit and cannot be ordered individually, then it can be tempting to use the same barcode for all the items in the kit. The problem with this is that it prevents pickers from knowing how many items they have to pick to compile the kit, and also that PVX is unable to track the inventory of each item.
These issues can be worked around to an extent by providing special instructions for pickers and by storing all the items needed for a kit in the same location, but both of these approaches are less efficient and more prone to errors. It is far better to keep each item code unique to a particular product and assign child items to a parent kit SKU as described above.