Selling rules determine how prices are set. The rules can be used to control the margin and discount that applies or they can set a fixed price.

In general a selling price is constructed by calculating (or looking up) the cost of something, then applying a margin, then applying a discount. The rules can be used to control all the elements involved in this price construction. Note: Match-IT uses a margin and not a markup. In the margin calculation, the sales price is considered to be 100% and the margin is the gross profit proportion of that.

The rules can be specific or general and can be combined in complex ways. Rules are defined by a combination of settings in the material record, the customer part record, system defaults, one or more selling rule records or the customer record.

There are two main price calculation strategies you can use. They are (a) cost plus margin, or (b) price minus discount. In (b) costs and margins are not used in the price calculation but the system will still show you what your gross margin is based on the cost.

Which of the (a) or (b) strategy applies in any particular case is controlled by the Use list price option in the material record, or the Use List Price or the Use Special Price options in the customer part record, or the Use This Price option in the selling rule record.

The cost part of the price can be calculated from the associated method or it can be pre-set or it can be set from a 'what-if' schedule.

Using a pre-set cost is useful when the method is in-accurate or incomplete. If your method is accurate, it's better to let the system calculate the cost for you so that changes are automatically consolidated. This is controlled by the Use Target Costs option in the material record.

Using the result of a what-if schedule is useful if the costs are dependent on the quantity and dimensions of the order in a non-linear way. The system pretends to make the order and then examines the costs involved. This is controlled by the Always re-calculate costs option in the material record or the Use Entire Scheduled Cost or Use Scheduled Cost options in the customer part record.

The customer part record is used for customer specific settings for a specific material and the material record is used for material specific settings. More general settings are controlled through selling class codes. A class code can be assigned to a customer part record (as a customer part class), a material record (as a selling class) and a customer record (as a discount class). These classes are used to look-up selling rule records where margins and discounts can be set for use in cases involving those classes. If no rule is defined like this, the final most general settings are controlled by the Usual Margin and the Discount system defaults.

There may be more than one selling rule record that is applicable. In this case there is a priority order of consideration. The priority order is from most specific to more general. The priority order is as follows:

1.Material selling class + customer + customer part class + customer class

2.Material selling class + customer + customer part class

3.Material selling class + customer

4.Customer (when the rule has no material selling class specified)

5.Material selling class + customer part class + customer class

6.Material selling class + customer class

7.Customer class (when the rule has no material selling class specified)

8.Material selling class + customer part class

9.Material selling class alone

All rules are dated, only rules where their effective date is today or earlier are considered and more modern rules take priority over older ones.

The system installs with a single example selling rule that is inactive. You can see a list of selling rules via Functions | Standing Data | Materials | Selling Rules.