How Is Shortcut Item Different from Kit Item?
Then I can define the corresponding components in Kit File Maintenance. See the example below. What is the difference between a Kit Item and a Shortcut Item?
A - Kit Items and Shortcut Items are very similar. They are both defined through Kit File Maintenance. The main difference is that a Kit Item's components are handled as a whole, while a Shortcut Item's components can be independent of each other.
For example, if you define a kit parent item as KIT-1 with two components (KIT-COMP-1 and KIT-COMP-2), then when you sell KIT-1 you must ship both KIT-COMP-1 and KIT-COMP-2 together. The price for KIT-COMP-1 and KIT-COMP-2 is not important since the pricing is defined at the KIT-1 level.
On the other hand, if you define a shortcut parent item as SHORTCUT-1 with two components (SHORTCUT-COMP-1 and SHORTCUT-COMP-2), then when you enter an order for SHORTCUT-1 in Order Entry or Sales Desk, the system automatically converts it to two line items: SHORTCUT-COMP-1 and SHORTCUT-COMP-2. Since they are two separate line items, they have their own individual prices. As you can see in the above example, you can define pricing in Kit File Maintenance for each component. Also, since shortcut components are tracked as individual line items, you can individually back order them.
If your kit item is primarily set up for pricing/marketing purposes -- i.e., you give customers a good price for buying a complete set and you may ship each component independently in the case of a back order situation -- then you should use a Shortcut Item instead of a Kit Item.
On the other hand, if you don't want to show the individual components on your order or invoice document as separate line items, then you will have to use a Kit Item instead of a Shortcut Item. In that case, you will lose the ability to individually back order each component. The components of a kit either have to be shipped together or not shipped at all.