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Generating SKUs

Once a Style has colours and sizes, you generate the sellable units. There are three ways: one cell at a time from the matrix, several cells at once with Bulk Create Cells, or a whole worksheet at once with the SKU Import.

One at a time or in bulk​

Clicking an empty cell in the Style Matrix generates that one SKU immediately.

To generate several cells at once, run Bulk Create Cells on the Style Card:

  1. The Style must already have a Size Scale, at least one Colour, and at least one size on its scale; otherwise the action stops with a specific error.
  2. Choose the colours to include from the Select Colours picker (multi-select).
  3. Choose the sizes to include from the Select Sizes picker (multi-select). Cancelling either picker aborts without creating anything.
  4. The combined selection is capped at 500 cells per run. A larger selection is rejected up front, naming the count and the limit, and nothing is created; split the selection and run it again.
  5. Every chosen colour and size combination that does not already have a SKU is created; one that already exists is counted as skipped, not duplicated. The whole run is atomic: if any single cell fails, nothing in the batch is created, and the error names the offending cell.

Result: the SKU Generation Result page opens, listing every cell with its Outcome (Created or Skipped), Colour, Size, Item No., and Variant Code.

Bulk SKU Import: loading many rows at once​

For loading a whole worksheet's worth of Style, Colour, and Size combinations in one pass, rather than working through the matrix cell by cell, open the SKU Import page (from Apparel PIM Setup's Data Import group).

Filling the worksheet​

Either:

  • Run Export Template to download a blank Excel workbook with the correct column headers, fill it offline, and run Import from Excel to load it. A row counts as data if it has any of Style Code, Colour Code, or Size Code filled in; fully blank trailing rows are ignored. Importing prompts once for where a brand-new Style's Brand and Size Scale should come from (Apparel PIM Setup defaults, or a choice made right there), and bakes that answer into every row so the worksheet shows exactly what Process will use.
  • Or type rows directly into the grid.

Setting the Item Category Code​

The import can also set the standard Business Central Item Category Code on the Items it creates, in either of two ways:

  • Fill the Item Category Code column on individual rows to set a value per row.
  • Or choose a single Item Category Code at import time, which fills any rows that were left blank.

An unknown category code is rejected with a clear message, so a typo does not quietly create an item with no category.

New and generated items also default their base unit of measure from the Default Unit of Measure set on Apparel PIM Setup (for example Each). That default applies to every item created from the point it is set.

Running the import​

Run Process. This creates any Colour, Style, or Size named on a row that does not already exist, and generates the SKU for every unprocessed row. It is safe to re-run: a row already marked Processed is skipped on the next run, so a weekly file can be reloaded and only the new rows do work.

Style Code, Colour Code, and Size Code are still required before a SKU can be generated. If any of the three is blank, the row fails with "Style Code, Colour Code and Size Code are all required." This does not mean the master records themselves have to exist first: a code that names a Style or Colour that does not exist yet is simply created (a genuinely new Colour or Style needs its own Brand and Size Scale to resolve, from the row itself, the import dialog, or the Apparel PIM Setup defaults, in that order). It means every row needs an actual code typed into those three columns, whether that code matches something existing or names something brand new.

Leaving Style Code or Colour Code blank on purpose​

You do not have to know or invent a code in advance. Leave the Style Code and/or Colour Code column blank on a row, and Process (or Import from Excel, if the file itself has blank codes) offers a dialog asking how to resolve it:

  • Use the value on the row (the default): unchanged behaviour, a blank code stays required and errors as above.
  • Create from next number: draws the next number from the Style Nos. or Colour Nos. series configured on Apparel PIM Setup. Rows that share the same blank Style Code and the same Style Name are treated as one new style split across several colour or size cells, and all get the same generated code; a different Style Name gets its own, different generated code. The same logic applies to Colour Code, grouped by Colour Name. This option is refused with a clear error if no series is configured.
  • Use this code for all new records: stamps one code you type directly onto every blank row. This is refused if the blank rows name more than one distinct new Style (or Colour), since applying one fixed code across two genuinely different new products would otherwise merge them together under the same record. Use "Create from next number" instead, or type an explicit code on each row, if a single import batch is introducing more than one brand-new Style or Colour.

This dialog only appears when a pending row actually has a blank code, so a worksheet that already names every code runs Process with no extra prompt at all. A code drawn from a series is recorded against the row so the Style or Colour created from it still carries its "No. Series" traceability field, the same as if it had been auto-numbered directly on its own card.

Use Delete Processed Rows to clear out rows already imported, keeping only what is still pending, or Delete All Rows to clear the whole worksheet.