Special structures
In order to make an offer for a new product, or to modify of an existing product, a cost price must be calculated. The calculation must take into account the costs of each component, as well as the production costs that goes into the making of the product. The simplest way to do this is to build a structure. Since a structure consists of both components and operations, the cost price gets updated as soon as the structure is activated.
Structures need not be built directly from products. In some situations it may be desirable to build a structure without defining a completely new product. For instance, in response to a customer request, it may be wise to create a structure associated with the offer, the Sales quote (CQU). The product can be defined at a later stage, for instance after a Sales order (COA) has been received. Therefore, structures can be built from Sales quotes (CQU), Sales order requests (CPO), and Sales orders (COA).