A Product Family (PF) is a group of SKUs or multiple SKUs that belong to a single product. A PF has a unique PF ID and it belongs to a Taxonomy Node, that is, each node will have its unique PF and all SKUs within that node that belong to this PF will be grouped together.
For example, consider “High End Laptops” as a PF. It has attributes such as CPU Speed, Memory, HD Size, Processor Class. The values of all these attributes are the same for this PF. Now, there can be 3 SKUs within this PF. The PF level attributes are inherited by the children SKUs, that is, all SKUs will have the same attributes as well as the Attribute Values as the PF attributes. The only differentiating Attribute being Screen Size, which is an attribute at the SKU level (not part of the PF attribute). Each SKU has screen size values of 14 in, 15 in and 17 in.
This will help customers in providing concise data in the e-commerce site as now there will not be multiple pages displaying information on High End Laptops as similar attribute values are grouped together and there will be 3 tabs with 14 in, 15 in and 17 in. Users can click on each of these tabs and all information will be displayed.
NOTE | A PF can be created in the primary hierarchy only. One SKU can belong to only one PF. However, a PF can contain multiple SKUs. |
Once you open the Catalog, the SKU view is displayed in the middle panel of the screen, by default. Click the Switch to Product Family View tab as shown below to perform all tasks related to PFs in the middle panel.
Figure 169: Product Family view
You can create a new PF for a node, manage PFs (that is, add relevant SKUs belonging to the PF, edit a PF and delete it as well), move a PF under a different PF within the same node, delete a PF, link/delink assets to/from a PF in this view and download assets linked to PFs.
A detailed description is provided in the following sub-sections.
Adding a PF
You can create a new PF for a node or as a PF under an already existing PF. One PF can have one or more PFs as children. For example, consider the same case “High End Laptops” as a PF. It has attributes such as CPU Speed, Memory, HD Size and Processor Class. Its children PFs are “High End SSD Laptops” and “High End Magnetic Disk Laptops”. These children PFs have the additional attribute Disk Type, with values SSD and Magnetic.
However, any PF which has one or more PFs as children cannot contain SKUs. Thus, in this case, SKUs cannot exist under “High End Laptops” but can exist under “High End SSD Laptops” and “High End Magnetic Disk Laptops”.
Let us understand how to create a root PF.
To add a root PF to a node:
Select the node from the taxonomy tree. For example, let us create a PF for the node Digital.
Go to the PF view and click the Add Product Family (PF)
icon and then click Add Root PF.
The following screen appears.
Figure 170: Add root PF in node
Enter the Product Family ID. It should be a unique ID specific to each product. Let’s say Digi0123. If the ID entered already exists, an error is displayed stating the PF ID already exists.
Enter the Product Family Title. The title should indicate the product in some way similar to the SKU title.
Select the Add Existing Schema Attributes drop-down list to add schema attributes present for the selected node as shown below.
Select All or specific schema attributes as needed and it will be added along with all the relevant information present for that attribute.
Click the Add More SKU Attributes
icon to add more attributes from the Attribute master which are not part of the schema attributes as shown below.
Enter the values for the PF attributes as well. In this case, add LoVs and UoMs as applicable for Brand and Dial Color attributes. If you do not enter attribute values for the attributes, the attributes will not be added to the PF.
The LoVs if defined for attributes will be displayed as shown below.
Click Add and the PF view will be updated with details of PF as shown below.
Similarly, you can create child PFs for the root PF. The child PFs will inherit the attributes from parent PF automatically. However, you need to update the values for the same.
Let us understand how to create a child PF under a parent PF. We will create a child PF for the parent PF Digi0123 created above.
To add a child PF to a parent PF:
Select the parent PF from the PF view and then click the Add Product Family (PF)
icon and then click Add Child PF as shown below.
The following screen appears.
Figure 172: Add child PF in node
Follow the same procedure as for root PF. Select any specific attributes if required for this PF as all the attributes from the parent PF will be inherited by default. However, the values for the inherited attributes should be added.
Click Add and the child PF will be created under the root PF and will be displayed in the PF view as follows.
Figure 173: Updated child PF view
The hierarchy is clearly visible as the parent PF is indicated in green color and the child PF is indicated in blue color.
Managing a PF
Once we have created a parent and child PF, we can add more attributes to the PF, delete attributes from the PF, attach SKUs that are relevant to the PF and so on. A detailed description of how to manage the PF is explained in the following sub-sections.
To perform various operations on the PF created, select the node and click the PF view. Click the Manage Product Families
icon. Also, you can right-click the PF in the PF view and then click Manage Product Family.
The following screen appears.
A list of all existing PFs for the selected node is displayed on the left side. Let us understand the various features available for PFs.
Adding a PF
You can add a PF to a node from the Manage PF in Node screen as well. Click the icon highlighted in the image below and follow the steps mentioned in section Adding a PF.
Click the PF on the left side and the following screen appears.
Based on the PF selected, the details of the PF selected, its attributes and child PFs if any is displayed on the right side.
Also, you can add a child PF directly from the PF view. Right-click the PF and then click Add Product Family (PF) as shown in the following figure.
Editing a Product Family Title
You can edit the title of the PF. The title is a brief description about the PF.
To edit a PF title:
Select the PF and then click the Edit Product Family Title
icon.
The following screen appears.
Edit or enter the title as needed and then click Update Title. The PF title is saved and updated for the PF.
Editing a PF
You can add and remove attributes belonging to PF and child PF. Also, you can add and edit attribute values for the PF attributes. SKUs can be attached and detached from the PF. Following are the sub-sections:
NOTE | You can only add SKUs from the same taxonomy node as the PF. |
Adding Attributes to a PF
You can add more attributes to the PF apart from the ones added from schema attributes.
To add attributes to a PF:
Select the PF and click the Add Attribute(s)
icon.
The following window is displayed.
Figure 178: Add attributes to PF
The list of attributes added in the attribute master list is displayed.
Select the attributes to be added and then click Add Attributes. The attributes are now added to the PF.
If the PF selected is a parent PF with child PFs, the attributes will also be added to the child PFs automatically. However, you need to add values for those attributes.
You can also select a child PF and add attributes specific to this PF. In this case, the attribute will be added and the following is a sample screen for the same.
Figure 179: Attributes specific to child PF
The highlighted attribute is specific to the child PF. However, an error is indicated in red color for all child PF level attributes that have been inherited from the parent PF as the values are missing.
You will be allowed to enter values that are different from the parent PF level values. However, it will still indicate an error until the same values are entered as the parent PF. The main idea here is that since these are inherited attributes, the values also should be inherited.
Adding Attribute Values to PF
You can add attribute values to PF or cascade the parent PF values to child PFs as well.
To add attribute values to a PF:
Double-click the attribute and the following window appears.
Figure 180: Add attribute values to PF
Enter the values and the UoM as applicable and the value is updated.
To cascade the value to the child PF:
Right-click the attribute and the following options are displayed
Figure 181: Cascade value to child PF
For example, the value of Brand from parent PF needs to be copied to child PF.
Click Copy Value > Cascade Value to Child PF and the following screen appears.
A message indicating that the child with the same attribute will be updated with the same values as the parent PF is displayed. Also, if the attribute is locked, the values will not be updated for such attributes.
Click Yes and the value is updated in the child PF as well as shown below.
Figure 182: Updated value in child PF
Similarly, you copy attribute values from child PF to the parent PF. Right-click the attribute value to be copied from the child PF and click Copy Value > Roll Up Value to Parent PF. The value is now copied from child PF to parent PF attribute.
NOTE | You can copy values from child PF to parent PF only if the entire column of the attribute value to be copied from the child PF is selected. |
Removing Attributes from PF
You can remove attributes from both parent as well as child PF. However, removing an attribute from the parent PF will not remove it from the child PF. It will exist as a non-inherited attribute for the child PF.
To remove an attribute from PF:
Select the attribute and then click the Remove Attribute(s) 
icon on the upper-right side of the screen.
OR
Right-click the attribute and then click Remove Attribute(s).
The attribute is successfully deleted from the PF.
NOTE | You cannot remove an inherited attribute in child PF. It can be removed only if it is removed from the parent PF. |
Attaching SKUs to PF
You can attach a SKU to PF. However, any PF which has one or more PFs as children cannot contain SKUs. In this case, we have Wat5896 as the parent PF and Ch1458 as the child PF. Hence, Wat5896 cannot contain SKUs. Let us attach a SKU to Ch1458. Typically, SKUs that belong to this PF will be added here.
NOTE | A node can have multiple SKUs. However, a SKU can be attached to only one PF. If a SKU is already attached to a PF, it will not appear in the list while attaching SKUs for another PF in the same node. |
To attach SKUs to PF:
Select the PF to which the SKU is to be attached. The following screen is displayed.
Click the Attach SKU(s)
icon as highlighted in the figure above. The following window is displayed.
A list of SKUs available in the selected node is displayed.
Select the SKU and then click Attach SKU(s). The SKU is now attached successfully to the PF and is indicated in red color in the PF view as shown below.
Figure 184: Attached SKU in the PF view
NOTE | If there is any mismatch in the SKU attribute value and the PF attribute value, it will be highlighted in red color. The SKU attribute values must match the parent attribute values. |
Copying SKU Value to all SKUs in Current PF
In case of multiple SKUs attached to a PF, each of those SKUs must have the same values. Any mismatch in the value is indicated by a red color. You can easily copy SKU values to multiple SKUs within the same PF.
To copy value to all SKUs in current PF:
Case 1: From the Manage Product Family View
Right-click the SKU containing the value and then click Copy Value > Copy Value To All SKU(s) In Current PF as shown in the following figure.
Figure 185: Copy value to all SKUs in the PF
The value is copied to all the SKUs in the current PF.
Case 2: From the Product Family View
Right-click the SKU value to be copied and then click Copy Value To > All SKU(s) as shown below.
The following screen appears.
Figure 186: Copy value to all SKUs
NOTE | This option is only valid for SKUs having some value. A SKU attribute without any value, will not be updated. Also, the values cannot be copied across PFs within the same node. It is applicable for SKUs within the same PF. |
Click Replace Values to replace any existing SKU value or click Append Values to add selected values to the existing value (this will become a multi value SKU).
Click Next and the selected value is successfully copied to all SKUs in the PF.
Detaching SKUs from PF
You can detach SKUs from a PF. However, detaching a SKU will not delete the SKU, it will only be removed from the PF.
To detach a SKU from PF:
Select the SKU to be detached and then click the Detach SKU(s)
icon or right-click the SKU and then click Detach SKU(s) as shown in the following figure.
Figure 187: Detach SKU from PF option 1
The SKU is successfully detached from the PF. You can detach multiple SKUs from the PF.
You can also detach a SKU from the PF view directly. Go to the PF view and expand the hierarchy to view the SKU. Right-click the SKU and then click Detach SKU(s) as shown in the following figure.
Figure 188: Detach SKU from PF option 2
Moving a PF
You can move a PF into another / move it out of another PF. All SKUs within the moved PF automatically move with the PF, that is, the SKUs continue to stay under this PF.
NOTE | A PF cannot be moved to a different taxonomy node. All movement must happen within the same node where it was created. |
To move a PF:
Select the node and click the PF view.
Click the Move Product Family
icon. The following dialog box appears.
There are two options available:
Move under existing PF – Select this if you want to move the PF under another PF
Move as top level PF – Select this if you want the PF to become the parent PF
Let us consider each option.
Case 1: Move under existing PF
Select Move under existing PF and click Next. The following screen appears.
Figure 190: Move PF under existing PF
Select the destination PF where you need to place the selected PF and click Next. The following screen appears.
NOTE | You cannot move a PF under a PF that contains SKUs. |
A detailed information about the PF to be moved along with the child PFs and SKUs is provided.
Click Move PF and the PF is moved successfully under another PF.
Case 2: Move as top level PF
Select Move as top level PF and click Next. The following screen appears.
Figure 192: Move PF as top level PF
A detailed information about the PF to be moved along with the child PFs and SKUs is provided.
Click Move PF and the PF is moved successfully as top level parent PF.
Deleting a PF
You can delete a PF only if there are no SKUs in the PF. Hence, if you need to delete a PF, either detach the SKUs or move them to a different PF. Also, a PF containing child PFs cannot be deleted.
To delete a PF:
Select the node and click the PF view.
Select the PF and then click the Delete Product Family
icon. The following dialog box appears.
Click Yes and the PF is successfully deleted from the node.
You can also delete a PF from the Manage Product Family screen as shown in the following figure.
Linking/Delinking Digital Assets to/from a PF
You can link/delink digital assets to/from a PF. A detailed description of digital assets, its features, uses and so on are detailed in chapter Digital Assets. Refer to this section for more details. In this section, we will understand how to link and delink assets to/from a PF.
A detailed description of how to link and delink assets is provided in section 6.3.1.7 Linking/Delinking Digital Assets to/from a Node. The only difference is that here the assets will be linked to PFs instead of nodes and will be associated to PFs. However, the procedure to link/delink remains the same.
Also, once an asset is linked to a PF, the column for the respective PF is updated with an icon as shown below.
Figure 194: View linked assets to a PF
You can hover the mouse on the icon and a thumbnail of the asset linked is displayed. Click View Details to view details of active and inactive asset linkages for the PF.
NOTE | You can link/delink assets to only one PF at a time. |
Downloading Assets Linked to PF
You can download assets linked to PFs by selecting the various options available to download all / selected assets for PFs as needed.
To download assets from the PF panel:
Click the Assets
icon and then click Download Assets as shown below.
There are 4 options here.
Case 1: Assets linked to selected PFs
Click Linked to selected PF to download all digital assets linked to the selected PF. In this case, you first need to select a single PF by clicking it and then click this option to download all assets linked to it. Multiple selection of PFs is not supported.
The following screen appears.
Also, in case of PFs, you have an option to select if you want to include assets linked to children as well. Children refers to Child PFs and SKUs here.
By default, No is selected which means assets of only the selected PF are counted.
Click Yes to include assets of child PFs or SKUs associated to the PF selected and the count will be updated accordingly.
Refer section Downloading Assets for detailed steps on how to download the assets.
Case 2: Assets linked to PFs as per the filter applied
Click Linked to filtered PFs to download only those assets which are linked to the PFs based on the filter applied. For example, there are 2 PFs and a filter is applied that PFs with Strap Material as Leather should be displayed. You can select this option to download assets as per the filter.
The following screen appears.
An option to include assets linked to children, that is, Child PFs and SKUs is also displayed.
The count of all assets present in the PF selected by applying filters is displayed. Refer section Downloading Assets for detailed steps on how to download the assets.
Case 3: Assets linked to all PFs of selected node
Click Linked to all PFs of selected node to download all the digital assets linked to the PFs for the node selected in the left panel. You can only select one node and download the assets for all the PFs present in that node.
The following screen appears.
An option to include assets linked to children, that is, Child PFs and SKUs is also displayed.
The count of all assets present in the selected PFs is displayed. Refer section Downloading Assets for detailed steps on how to download the assets.
Case 4: Assets linked to all PFs in a catalog
Click Linked to all PFs in a catalog to download all the digital assets linked to all PFs in the catalog.
NOTE | In this case, all the DAs of child PFs along with child SKUs under the parent PF will also be downloaded, by default. |
The following screen appears.
As shown above, the count is 5, that is, the count of all assets present in PFs for the entire catalog. Refer section Downloading Assets for detailed steps on how to download the assets.
Editing Assets Linked to PF
You can edit assets linked to PFs by selecting the various options available to edit all / selected assets for PFs as needed. A detailed description on how to create templates required to edit the images, the various operations that can be performed on the templates and how to view the processed images is explained in section 0
Batch Editing of Multiple Images. Let us understand how to edit assets linked to PFs from the PF view itself.
To edit assets linked to PFs:
Select the node / nodes containing PFs and then select the PFs with assets to be edited.
Select the Assets
icon and then click Edit Photo Assets as shown below.
OR
Select and right-click the PFs having assets to be edited and then click Digital Assets > Edit Photo Assets as shown below.
NOTE | The Linked to filtered PF(s) option will be enabled only when the PFs are filtered. |
The following 4 options are displayed:
Linked to selected PF(s) – This option will be enabled only when PFs are selected. Select the PFs and then select this option to edit those images which are linked to the selected PFs.
Linked to filtered PF(s) – This option will be enabled only when PFs are filtered. Select this option to edit those images which are linked to the PFs displayed as per the filter applied. For example, you need to edit PFs which have an attribute Strap Material with value Leather. You need to filter the value as shown below and select this option to edit images linked to these PFs specifically.
Linked to all PF(s) of selected node – This option will always be enabled. Select this option to edit images linked to all PFs for the selected node. For example, if a node Watches is selected, assets linked to all PFs present in this node will be edited. In this case, any filters applied on PFs will be ignored.
Linked to all PF(s) in catalog – This option will always be enabled. Select this option to edit images linked to all PFs of the entire catalog. In this case, any filters applied on PFs will be ignored.
NOTE | A catalog might have multiple hierarchies. However, assets linked to PFs present in the primary hierarchy will be edited as PFs can exist in the primary hierarchy only. |
If Linked to all PF(s) in catalog option is selected, the following dialog box appears.
If any of the other options are selected, the following dialog box appears.
Here, an option to include or exclude assets linked to attached SKUs or child PFs of the selected PFs is available. By default, No is selected. If you need to edit assets of all child PFs or SKUs, select Yes and the count will be updated based on the number of assets linked to child PFs or SKUs.
There are 4 steps to be performed to edit the images. Refer section Editing Images from the DA Library for complete details on how to perform these 4 steps to successfully edit the images.
FAQ
What is a Product Family (PF)?
A Product Family (PF) is a group of SKUs that belong to a single product, identified by a unique PF ID and associated with a Taxonomy Node.
Can a SKU belong to multiple Product Families?
No, a SKU can belong to only one Product Family.
What attributes are associated with a Product Family?
Attributes of a Product Family can include CPU Speed, Memory, HD Size, and Processor Class, which are inherited by the SKUs within that PF.
How can I create a new Product Family?
To create a new Product Family, select the node from the taxonomy tree, go to the PF view, and click the Add Product Family icon.
Can I delete a Product Family that contains SKUs?
No, a Product Family cannot be deleted if it contains SKUs or child Product Families.
What happens when I move a Product Family?
When you move a Product Family, all SKUs within that PF automatically move with it, but the movement must occur within the same taxonomy node.
Is it possible to link digital assets to a Product Family?
Yes, you can link digital assets to a Product Family, and the assets will be associated with that PF.
Can I edit the title of a Product Family?
Yes, you can edit the title of a Product Family by selecting it and clicking the Edit Product Family Title icon.
What is the purpose of cascading attribute values to child Product Families?
Cascading attribute values allows child Product Families to inherit values from the parent PF, ensuring consistency across related products.