Matrices

Matrices are a great tool to use for a lot of apparel retail environments. Rather than manually creating each piece in every size/color combination, matrices allow you to create multiple items at once.

To create a Matrix, navigate to the Matrices section under Item Management, then choose “Create New Matrix”.

Matrix Editor

The requirements of what needs to be filled in for a matrix will vary depending on your company standards and user permissions. Yellow Dog requires the following be filled out:

• Description – The extended description of a Matrix, typically without any size or color references.
  
• Level – Department or Category that the Matrix belongs to, for reporting.
  
• Store – the Store(s) the Matrix belongs to.
  
• Vendor – Primary Vendor that you order the Matrix from.
  
• Manufacturer – This will be auto-filled by the Vendor unless you set it differently.
  

Optional fields:

• Style – this can be used to form a bond between items, inside or outside of a Matrix, that will allow grouped reporting by all items with the same Style number.
  
• Short Description – a truncated description, usually 16 characters, that can be pushed into the POS description field.
  
• POS Description 1 – this is typically the description sent to your POS.
  
• POS Description 2 – this is typically the second description sent to your POS.
  
• Default Vendor Price & Current Retail – set these as necessary. If items are at different vendor prices and retails depending on size, etc., uncheck “Update Default Vendor Price & Default Retail’ to be able to control those per item. You can also use the Markup and Margin calculators to determine what to charge.
  
• Evergreen – Check this box to mark the Matrix items as Evergreen. Evergreen items can be included, excluded, or the only items returned as a filter option in most reports, including Aging reports. Any non-seasonal item available in your store may be an Evergreen item.
  
• Notes – use this field for any additional information you’d like to note about the matrix.
  
• Additional Dimensions – if set up, you can also choose to assign additional dimension attributes to the Matrix item you are creating.
  

Once your base information is set, you are ready to choose the Dimensions that will make up your Matrix items. Choose “Select Dimensions” in the bottom right of the Editor and use the checkboxes to make your selections. You can either create a Matrix based on Dimensions 1 (Size), Dimension 2 (Color) or Dimensions 1 and 2 (Size and Color).

Once you have selected all the dimensions needed for your Matrix, click OK. The system will prompt you to confirm whether or not you want to create the new items. If you are creating a brand new Matrix with brand new items, click “Yes Create Items Now”. However, if your items already exist and you are trying to connect them together into a Matrix, choose “No Do Not Create”.

Once the Matrix items have been created, clicking on the ellipsis next to the item brings up several options.

Choosing “Remove Item from Matrix” disassociates the selected item from the Matrix, but saves it as an individual item.

Matrix Item Details Tab

You can add more information for the individual items you’ve created in this tab. The following options exists:

• Vendor SKU
  
• UPC 1
  
• UPC 2
  
• Retail 1-10 (Used for multiple price levels needed by some POS)

On Hands by Store Tab

This tab will display the current on hands for each store the item is assigned to as well as a cumulative total.

On Order by Store Tab

This tab will display all the current on order quantities for each store the item is assigned to as well as a cumulative total.

Calculated Cost by Store Tab

Like the previous two tabs, this tab allows you to view the calculated cost of the item for each store it’s assigned to.

Reorder/Par by Store Tab

This tab allows you to set up reorder points and par levels for each store the item is assigned to. You can maintain different pars and reorders for each location. This will aid in reordering. Both must be filled out to use this feature.

Pictures Tab

This tab will display all pictures attached to the items in the Matrix. Clicking on the picture field will bring you to the Item Editor for the individual item, where you can use the Pictures tab to add pictures and alternate text. Once the items have pictures, they will display on this tab with each picture and text label associated with the item.

POS Description Tab

This tab is a quick way to view all the POS 1 and POS 2 descriptions for each item in the Matrix. Remember, these are typically the two fields that get sent to your POS for customer receipts.

Matrix Dimensions 

Matrix Reports Tab

This tab allows you to run specific reporting tied to the Matrix you’re editing. The only detail returned here belongs to any item that is part of the Matrix. Use this to quickly analyze your data without having to go to the Standard Reports section of Yellow Dog.

Purchasing Activity Tab

Here you can view every purchasing document that the items in your Matrix were included in. You also have the ability to open the source document directly from this Tab.

Web Properties Tab

The Web Properties tab will be used if you have a web cart integration.

Propagate Web Settings to all Matrix Items 
Checking this box will apply the web properties set in this tab to all items in the Matrix.

If you uncheck this box, you’ll be able to set each item’s web properties individually. This is helpful for products where certain items aren’t available yet, but you want to publish the available items now.

Web Cart Settings 
All web cart integrations will have their own specific requirements. Yellow Dog has a variety of fields that may or may not be used depending on your web cart. Most fields are Rich Text formatted and allow you to attach links and convert what you type to HTML.

• Title
  
• Short Description
  
• Extended Description
  
• Product Type
  
• Tags
  
• Send to Website – allows you to publish the Matrix to your web cart and gives you the ability to create Matrices in advance.
  
• New Item
  
• Last Chance
  
• Taxable
  

Associated Web Items 
This is the last section of the Web Properties Tab and allows you to control the order that items push to the web cart.  Items will push in the order they appear. Highlight an item and then use the arrows on the right-hand side to set them in the desired order.