Northwind Components: Product Catalog and Pricing for Two Divisions
Northwind Components sells industrial sensors through two divisions: Industrial (USD, US customers) and Retail (CAD, Canadian customers). Both divisions sell the same 40 products, but Retail receives a 12% lower list price and a 5% volume discount at 50+ units. The catalog includes two bundles: Starter Kit (3 sensors plus mounting hardware) and Pro Kit (6 sensors plus gateway plus 2-year support). Field reps frequently create quotes with the wrong price list, omit bundle child items, and manually override prices. Sensors use the unit group "unit," but support is sold in "hours." The company uses a single currency, USD, in Dynamics 365 and does not want custom code. Sales managers want the correct price list selected automatically based on the customer's division and want discount approval when a rep overrides price by more than 8%. There are 18 active price lists, many expired. The implementation must use out-of-box configuration and minimize rep clicks.
1. Design the product catalog and pricing structure to prevent wrong price-list selection and ensure bundle components price correctly.
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Reasoning: The catalog must separate reusable product definitions from division-specific pricing. Create product families for Sensors, Accessories, and Support so that shared attributes and unit groups are maintained once. Define each sellable item as a product with the correct default unit: sensors in "unit" and support in "hours." For bundles, use product bundles with required child products so that quote lines expand automatically; mark hardware and gateway as required and support as optional only if the business allows it. Price lists should be division-specific (Industrial and Retail) and contain price list items for every product, including bundle children. Because the company uses a single currency, currency conversion is not the issue; the risk is wrong price-list association. Therefore, associate the correct default price list to the customer record and drive that association from the Division field. Expired price lists should be deactivated after their end date, and quotes should retain their original price list for historical accuracy. Validate that bundle child pricing rolls up to the bundle total rather than being manually entered.
2. Explain how to default the correct price list automatically and enforce the 8% override threshold using out-of-box configuration.
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Reasoning: Out-of-box price-list defaulting relies on the customer record's price-list lookup. Add the Price List field to the Account form and populate it based on the Division field. A Power Automate flow or classic workflow can set the lookup when an account is created or when Division changes; this is configuration, not custom code. On the quote, reps select the customer, and the quote inherits the customer's price list. To reduce clicks, hide or lock the price-list field after selection with a business rule. For the override threshold, add a business rule on Quote Product that compares the manual discount percentage or overridden price against the price list item. When the override exceeds 8%, set a "Requires Approval" flag and make the quote read-only until approval is recorded. A Power Automate approval flow can route the request to the sales manager and update the flag. Do not rely on rep discipline alone; enforce at the form level and validate with a test quote for each division.
3. What should happen to existing quotes when a price list expires, and how should bundle child items be handled on revisions?
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Reasoning: Price list expiration should not silently change historical quotes. When a price list's effective end date passes, deactivate it so it cannot be selected for new quotes, but existing quotes keep their original price list lookup. If a rep revises an existing quote, the system copies the current quote details; the rep should be prompted to review whether the price list is still valid. For bundles, revisions must recalculate child items because bundle component prices may have changed. Use the out-of-box revision action and verify that required bundle children are copied and repriced. If a bundle child was removed manually, the revision should fail validation or flag the quote for review. Test with a Starter Kit and a Pro Kit that includes support hours.