Welcome to BRC Retail Extension

BRC Retail Extension enhances your Business Central environment with advanced variant management capabilities designed specifically for retail businesses. This guide will help you understand the key concepts and get started with your daily tasks.

Key Concepts You Need to Know

What Are Variants?

In retail, products often come in multiple versions - different sizes, colors, styles, or other characteristics. BRC Retail Extension helps you manage these variations systematically:

The Two-Dimension System

BRC Retail Extension uses a powerful two-dimension variant system:

Dimension 1 (Primary): Usually the most important characteristic

Dimension 2 (Secondary): Additional characteristic for further specification

Combined Code: System automatically creates codes like “M-BLU” (Medium Blue)

Variant Templates

Think of variant templates as blueprints that define how variants work for different product categories:

Use Business Central’s search function to quickly locate pages:

Setup and Configuration:

Daily Operations:

Reporting:

Enhanced Standard Pages

BRC Retail Extension enhances existing Business Central pages:

Item Cards: Now include variant template assignment and variant counters Sales Orders: Lines show variant information and matrix views Purchase Orders: Enhanced with variant selection and matrix capabilities Inventory Pages: Display inventory across variant combinations

Your First Variant Setup

Follow these steps to create your first variant structure:

Step 1: Understand Your Products

Before starting, identify:

Step 2: Create Variant Dimensions

  1. Open Variant Management

    • Search for “BRC Retail Variants”
    • Click New to create a dimension

  2. Set Up Size Dimension

    Code: SIZE
Name: Size  
Variant Type: Size
Description: Product Size Dimension

  3. Set Up Color Dimension (if needed)

    Code: COLOR
Name: Color
Variant Type: Colour  
Description: Product Color Dimension

Step 3: Create Variant Values

  1. Open Variant Values

    • Search for “BRC Retail Variant Values”
    • Create values for each dimension

  2. Size Values Example:

    Variant Code: SIZE
Code: S, Name: Small, Sorting: 10
Code: M, Name: Medium, Sorting: 20  
Code: L, Name: Large, Sorting: 30
Code: XL, Name: Extra Large, Sorting: 40

  3. Color Values Example:

    Variant Code: COLOR  
Code: BLK, Name: Black, Sorting: 10
Code: WHT, Name: White, Sorting: 20
Code: RED, Name: Red, Sorting: 30

Sorting Tips:

Step 4: Create a Variant Template

  1. Open Variant Templates

    • Search for “BRC Retail Variant Templates”
    • Click New

  2. Configure Template

    Code: APPAREL
Description: Apparel Products  
Variant Code 1: SIZE
Variant Code 2: COLOR
Variant Code Separator: -

This creates variants like “M-BLK” (Medium Black), “L-RED” (Large Red), etc.

Step 5: Apply Template to an Item

  1. Open Item Card

    • Find an existing item or create a new one
    • Go to the item card

  2. Assign Template

    • Set field “BRC Retail Variant Templ Code” to “APPAREL”
    • Save the item

  3. Generate Variants

    • System will automatically offer to create variants
    • Accept to generate all combinations (S-BLK, S-WHT, S-RED, M-BLK, etc.)

Working with Variants Daily

Creating Sales Orders with Variants

  1. Create Sales Order

    • Standard Business Central sales order creation
    • Add customer information as usual

  2. Add Variant Item

    • In sales lines, select your variant-enabled item
    • System shows variant selection options

  3. Select Specific Variant

    • Choose the exact variant needed (e.g., “Medium Blue”)
    • Quantity and pricing work normally
    • Repeat for additional variants

  4. Use Matrix View (Advanced)

    • Click matrix view action for grid-style variant selection
    • Useful for orders with multiple variant combinations

Checking Inventory by Variant

  1. Open Item Card

    • Navigate to your variant-enabled item
    • Inventory information now shows by variant

  2. View Variant Inventory Matrix

    • Search for “BRC Retail Var by Location”
    • See inventory levels across all variant combinations
    • Filter by location, item, or date as needed

  3. Run Inventory Reports

    • Use enhanced inventory reports showing variant breakdowns
    • Matrix-style formatting for easy analysis

Common Beginner Workflows

Workflow 1: Adding a New Variant Value

When you need a new size (like XXL):

  1. Open “BRC Retail Variant Values”
  2. Create new entry: Code: XXL, Name: Extra Extra Large, Sorting: 50
  3. For existing items, manually create new variants or regenerate

Workflow 2: Setting Up a New Product Category

For a new product type requiring different variants:

  1. Create new variant dimensions if needed (e.g., “STORAGE” for electronics)
  2. Create variant values for the new dimension
  3. Create new variant template combining appropriate dimensions
  4. Apply template to items in that category

Workflow 3: Handling Seasonal Products

For seasonal products:

  1. Use the Season field on item cards
  2. Set up seasons in “BRC Retail Seasons”
  3. Configure seasonal delivery management in BRC Retail Setup
  4. System automatically manages seasonal information

Best Practices for Beginners

Start Simple

Plan Your Structure

Data Quality

User Training

Getting Help

Built-in Help

When You Need Assistance

Next Steps

Once you’re comfortable with the basics:

  1. Explore Daily Operations

    • Review Daily Operations for detailed procedures
    • Practice with real business scenarios

  2. Learn Advanced Features

    • Explore Advanced Features for power user capabilities
    • Investigate matrix reporting and barcode features

  3. Optimize Your Setup

    • Fine-tune variant structures based on experience
    • Consider additional features like multi-language support

Quick Reference

Essential Pages

Common Tasks

You’re now ready to start working with BRC Retail Extension! Remember, start simple and build complexity gradually as you become more comfortable with the system.