Build a product configurator: Checklist, steps & project
Blog // Product Configurator CONFIGON
How a product configurator is created, which steps are necessary for success and what you can contribute as a company is explained in our guide: Checklist, steps and project process
How do you build a configurator?
Every project is different and therefore begins with many unanswered questions and tasks to be completed. What information and data is required to build your configurator? Which steps and tasks can you complete yourself? What requirements should your product configurator fulfill? What should the configuration look like? This article will bring some light into the darkness.
All of these are important questions that you should discuss with the configurator developer. It is important to work closely together right from the start. The more specific the requirements are defined and the better you work together, the faster you will reach your goal.
Build a configurator: Questions and answers – an overview
Important questions for your individual configurator
- What is the purpose of the product configurator?
- Which products or product groups should be included?
- Where should the limits of the configurator be? For example, should component X be configurable even though it is currently sold out?
- What (rough) budget has been set so far?
- What rules and dependencies are the products subject to? Are there components that are not compatible with each other?
- How is the product data available? Are image files (CAD) and/or 3D models already available?
- Where is the product data consolidated within the company (PIM)?
- Which features should the product configurator include? You can find out which range of features is suitable for which company here.
- Which systems (interfaces) should be connected? ERP, PIM system, online store (e-commerce), ...
- What information should the customer receive after configuration? Parts lists, dimensional drawings, ...
- Should the configurator software be free to use or only available after registration?
- Which wizards should be made available to the user? Pre-configured products, configuration wizard, ...
- From which system do the product data and rules be sourced? How should they be maintained? Connection to external tools (e.g. social media)?
The project – the steps to the configurator
Step 1: Getting to know each other
Personal meeting to achieve the following goals:
- Getting to know all the people, company and products involved
- Define first requirements for the configurator
- Demonstration of existing configurators
- Planning and conceptualization of further joint steps
Step 5: Further development
- Ongoing expansion and optimization of the product configurator
- Integration of customer and employee feedback
Congratulations! You've done it, your product configurator has been built and is live. The benefit: your employees are less stressed, customers can configure your products themselves via self-service and much more.
Would you like to have your individual configurator developed or build it yourself and are still looking for the right partner?
With the CONFIGON product configurator, we offer a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution consisting of a basic module (CONFIGON Core) with many upgrade options. This allows us to offer a quick and inexpensive start for your configurator based on a modular principle. This means: You choose the features you need – we take care of the implementation!
Features such as a customized design, 3D configuration and access to the Admintool (tool for rule and product maintenance) are included in CONFIGON Core. Additional features can be added without any problems. Whether the creation of documents or the connection of various interfaces (PIM, ERP, store, etc.) – simply select a feature and book it.