XpertOnline offers a solution to those of you that have product lists that are bulging at the seams.  When used, it helps to streamline the ordering process for your clients by limiting the display of products in a product list to only those products necessary for that individual user.  Overall, the Product Level feature involves assigning individual products to individual users while keeping your same products and product lists.

If you have redundant or obsolete products, or vastly large product lists that you make available to your clients, and want a way to condense product lists that are available for each individual user in your clients’ office, the Product Level feature in XOP is for you.

This document breaks down how Product Levels are used in XOP, defines each aspect of the Product Level feature, offers real scenarios for use, and concludes with a table that identifies all of the possible Product Level settings for users and products.

Content Includes:

• Overview – What is a Product Level?
• Setting Product Levels for Products and Users
  • Product Levels Set for Products
  • Product Level Ranges Set for Users
• Scenarios for Using Product Levels

Overview – What is a Product Level?

A product level is a set of three values – Low, Medium, and High – that, when matched correctly with individual users and individual products, lets you assign individual products to individual users without creating new product lists or modifying your existing product lists.  Product Levels are set in two places: on individual products in a product list, and on individual users for a client company. When the assigned product level for a product matches with an assigned product level for a user, that product is displayed in the product list. When an assigned product level on a product does NOT match with the assigned product level for a user, that product is NOT displayed in the product list.

By purposely not matching product levels, you can trim down your hard-to-manage product lists so only the products that an individual user commonly orders (Infile-type products, for example) are available to a certain user or users.

Don’t worry!  By default, all new and existing products for your Provider company are set so that each of them will always display for all of your client users. This means that if you don’t want to use this feature, no action is required on your part.

To take advantage of this feature, the following values that are located in two places in the XOP software must match:

• When setting up a product from the Setup | Products menu option, look on the Product Detail tab. This feature is located in a drop down list called Product Level.

• When viewing your client companies from the Setup | Clients menu option, click on the Users button. In the Users window, highlight a specific user and switch to the Detail tab. Look for the Product Level Range section – you will see a Minimum and a Maximum drop down list.

When you use this feature, you are essentially assigning a product to a user. And, multiple products can be assigned to multiple users; or, a single product can be assigned to multiple users; or, multiple products can be assigned to a single user. This is a very flexible feature that accommodates your individual business needs.

Setting Product Levels for Products and Users

Now that you can see how product levels are matched between the product and the user, you need to know how to match your Product Levels and your Product Level Ranges.

Product Levels Set for Products

You can get to the Product Level setting on products from the main XOP screen by selecting Setup | Products, then expanding a product list and highlighting any product in the expanded product list.

• Low – when a product is set with a Product Level of Low, this product will be available to all users that have a Product Level Range Minimum of Low.  Products that are set with a Product Level of Low will not be available to users that are set with a Product Level Range Minimum of Medium or High.  Note that any products that are set with a Product Level of Low will always be available as a product no matter the Product Level Range Maximum setting.
  
  
• Medium – when a product is set with a Product Level of Medium, this product will be available to all users whose Product Level Range Minimum is Low or Medium, and whose Product Level Range Maximum is Medium or High.  Products that are set with a Product Level of Medium will not be available to users whose Product Level Range Minimum is High; nor with they be available to users whose Product Level Range Maximum is Low. By default, all new and existing products will be set to Medium.

• High – when a product is set with a Product Level of High, this product will be available to all users whose Product Level Range Maximum is High.  Products that are set with a Product Level of High will not be available to users whose Product Level Range Maximum is Medium or Low.  Note that any products that are set with a Product Level of High will always be available as a product no matter the Product Level Range Minimum setting.

Product Level Ranges Set for Users

When you set a Product Level Range for an individual user, this value must include the Product Level as set on a product. Depending on your Product Level Range setting, a product or products will either be displayed or suppressed. You can set this for an individual user by going to Setup | Clients, selecting on a particular client company, then clicking the Users… button.  On the Users screen, highlight a particular user and switch to the Detail tab.

As you will notice in the Product Level Range section, there is a Minimum and a Maximum drop down list.

• Minimum – when you choose a setting from the Minimum drop down list, this only displays those products whose Product Level (as set on the Product) is GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO the current Minimum setting. From the Minimumdrop down list, you have three choices:
  1. Low – when the Minimum setting is Low, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are greater than or equal to Low will be available to the user in the product list. By default, all new and existing users will be set to Low.
  2. Medium – when the Minimum setting is Medium, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are greater than or equal to Medium will be available to the user in the product list. Any Product Levels set on a product that are less than Medium will be suppressed from the product list.
  3. High – when the Minimum setting is High, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are equal to High will be available to the user in the product list. Any Product Levels set on a product that are less than High will be suppressed from the product list.

Once you have a Minimum set, you can further limit the product list display by applying another layer of limitation via the Maximum setting.

• Maximum – when you choose a setting from the Maximum drop down list, this only displays those products whose Product Level (as set on the Product) is LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO the current Maximum setting. From the Maximumdrop down list, you have three choices:
  1. Low – when the Maximum setting is Low, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are equal to Low will be available to the user in the product list. Any Product Levels set on a product that are greater than Low will be suppressed from the product list.
  2. Medium – when the Maximum setting is Medium, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are less than or equal to Medium will be available to the user in the product list. Any Product Levels set on a product that are greater than Medium will be suppressed from the product list. By default, all new and existing users who are setup with User rights will be set to Medium.
  3. High – when the Maximum setting is High, any Product Levels set on a product(s) that are less than or equal to High will be available to the user in the product list. By default, all new and existing users who are setup with Supervisor or Administrator rights will be set to High.

Important Note

XOP automatically guards against improperly-set Product Level Ranges by making the Maximum and Minimum values equal when you save your changes.  It will always change the Minimum to equal the Maximum when these are improperly set.  For example, if you set the Maximum setting to Medium and the Minimum setting to High, the Minimum will automatically change and be set to that it matches the Maximum when you click the Save button.

Scenarios for Using Product Levels

1. For example, if a particular user only orders Infile-type of reports, you could set the Product Level on the Infile-type of products to Low or Medium, and then set the Product Level Range Minimum to Low and the Product Level Range Maximum to Medium for that user. Then, on all RMCR-type of products, you could set the Product Level to High.  The next time this user logs in to order a new report, the products that are available would only be those products that are set as Low or Medium – all of the RMCR-type of products that are set as High would then be suppressed from the product list.

2. In another example, you may want to have an administrator, supervisor or manager take those Infile-type of reports and evaluate them to see if the Borrower’s credit report should be upgraded to an RMCR for a mortgage loan. If this is the case, the administrator/supervisor/manager could be set with the Product Level Range Minimum of Low and a Product Level Range Maximum to High. That way, they would see all products currently available, and upgrade the report if necessary.

3. Furthermore, if a different type of user only orders fully verified RMCR-type of reports, you could set the Product Level on a product to High, and then set the Product Level Range Minimum and the Product Level Range Maximum to High for that user. Then, the next time this user logs in to order a new report, the products that are available would only be those products that are set as High.
    
4. Or, if a particular user never orders Infile-type of reports, but orders all other reports, you could set all Infile-type of products to a Product Level of Low, and then set this user up with a Product Level Range Maximum of High and a Product Level Range Minimum to Medium.  This suppresses all products that have a Product Level of Low from the product list.

You can use the table on the following page as a guide for setting up Product Levels and Product Level Ranges.  The areas of the table that are highlighted in gray represent improperly-set Product Level Ranges – note that in these sections, you will find what XOP will change improperly-set Product Levels Ranges to when you save your changes.