How to create a product catalog in crm(by the end user of the system)?

Question

how can we an end user create a product catalog?
what is the diff b/n prod cat and prod?
we download the prod from r/3.
how we get the prod cat done in crm for the customers and consumers and how it is done?
thank you,

Answer 1

hi
first of all we need to look at what is catalog management before proceding with product and product catalog.
You use this business scenario to create a centralized product catalog that contains product descriptions, multimedia objects, pricing, and associated literature. The catalog enables quick and easy customer access to timely and personalized product information, structured in such a way that most meets your customers needs.
Product catalogs are implemented in sales processes and are of particular importance in CRM Web Channel for presenting your products in the Web shop.
difference between the product and product catalog
this is not the thing that product and product catalog are completely different entity.
Product catalog :   A grouping together of products from your product master data, in a structured hierarchy.
You use product catalogs to group together products to present them in the Web shop, Interaction Center, or in other forms of media, for example printed format or CD-ROM.
You can create various catalogs for your products in the product master and use them according to a validity date. For example, you could use certain products for the summer season, and other products for the winter season.
You can also tailor your product catalog to meet other needs by creating catalog variants. For example, you can create a catalog in English with the prices displayed in US Dollars.
so by above definition it is very much clear that products are actually assign to the catalog,i will give you an analogy that museum is a kind of catalog and you add different pictures to the museum,in the same way you add product to the product catalog according to the acatlog variant.
Now how you assign product to product catalog
Product Assignment
You assign products manually or automatically to a catalog area, depending on the catalog type. The product ID, product description, and status of all products is displayed, as is the information as to whether the item contains accessories or if it is a configurable product.
Prerequisites
You have created products in your product master in SAP CRM under Accounts and Products
Process
You select a catalog area in your product catalog, and edit the item list by assigning products to the area.
Manual Assignment
You can assign products manually on an individual basis or by copying a catalog area. You tend to choose manual product assignment for marketing-oriented catalogs that are subjected to editorial controls.
      Individual assignment
      In this case you select the catalog area in which the product should be assigned, manually search for the product in the product master, and assign it to the area.
      Copying items from catalog areas
      You select an area or subarea from another catalog and copy it to your new catalog. The system copies all products from the copied area to the new catalog, as long as they belong to the distribution chain assigned to the target catalog variant. From these products, you can then manually determine which products from the copied area you want to keep and which items you wish to delete.
The following is true for manually assigned products:
      You can activate or deactivate items on an individual basis.
      You can edit the list of accessories for manually assigned products. The system determines which accessories are maintained for the product in the product master and displays them in the item area of the catalog. You select which accessories should be displayed for the product in the catalog and activate them.
      Manually assigned products can be included or removed from catalog views on an individual basis.
Automatic Assignment
You can assign products automatically to a catalog by transferring product hierarchies from your product master to the catalog areas. The categories, items, attributes, and documents contained in the product hierarchy are copied to the new catalog.
You use automatic product assignment mainly for functional catalogs, where products can be copied with very few changes, from the product categories of the product master. It enables a standardized characterization of your products in the catalog.
The following is true for products assigned to the catalog using product hierarchy transfer:
      Product categories which make up the hierarchies become catalog areas in the catalog.
      Product categories in the product hierarchy must be assigned to the distribution chain to which the target catalog variant is assigned. Otherwise the category is not transferred. The same applies to the items, texts, and documents assigned to the category.
      Items are always active and cannot be individually activated or deactivated.
      Accessories maintained for transferred product in the product master are automatically included and displayed in the catalog.
      Transferred items cannot be individually included in catalog views or removed from them. Instead all items of the hierarchy are always contained in the view.
      Lists of characteristics for transferred categories and items can be automatically created when transferring product hierarchies. The transferred values are included in the item overview of the product catalog.
how to create a product catalog
just have a look at this link
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm60/helpdata/en/1c/12b2dc57d644d19ea3a5c4156f904f/frameset.htm
your query regarding the products you have uploaded from the R3,now as above i said how you maintain and create the product catalog ,you just assign the products uploaded from the R3 to the product cataloag created in CRM.
more detail info you can see in these links
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm60/helpdata/en/91/be9642e5ef0731e10000000a1550b0/frameset.htm
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm60/helpdata/en/46/27f09d25da5a68e10000000a1553f7/frameset.htm
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm60/helpdata/en/46/037716cfc604a9e10000000a114a6b/frameset.htm
if you read carefuly what i have said,it is pretty easy to implement ,you will see it yourself
guess it will help you
do revert back in case of any doubt
best regards
ashish