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Key Steps in the Vehicle Inventory Search Workflow
Before you set up a search configuration, understand the vehicle inventory search workflow in Automotive Cloud.
Required Editions
| Available in: Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions. |
Explore the Vehicle Searchable Field Object
The Vehicle Searchable Field object combines fields from multiple objects and helps users search by using the different fields as criteria. Based on which fields are selected for search criteria and search result display, you must ensure that the source object records are populated with values for those fields.
For example, if Business Brand Name is selected as a search criteria, ensure that the Business Brand field is populated on Product records.
Similarly, if Total Quantity at Location is selected as a search result display field, ensure that the Quantity On Hand field is populated on Product Item records.
Think of the Vehicle Searchable Field object as the dataset that acts as the basis for inventory search. All fields are columns in the dataset and each record is a row. It’s critical to maintain detailed Vehicle, Vehicle Definition, Location, Serialized Product, Account, and Product Item records in your org. The values in the source objects get reflected for each field (column) in the dataset for each searchable record (row).
Explore the Vehicle Definition Searchable Field Object
The Vehicle Definition Searchable Field object also combines fields from multiple objects and helps users search for a vehicle's model specifications by using the different fields as criteria. It acts as the dataset that forms the basis for inventory search but more specifically for vehicle definition details.
Explore the Search Experience
Create a search criteria configuration to specify the following:
- Select which fields users can use as search criteria
- Select which fields are displayed for search results
- Select fields for sorting and aggregating search results
- Specify how the distance is calculated by the search framework to generate results
- Add the types of actions that users can take on the search results
Create a searchable object configuration to specify the following:
- Specify the data synchronization job that creates and updates records in the Vehicle Searchable Field object
- Map the search criteria fields to existing picklist fields on source objects so that users can search by selecting predefined values
- Convert the text-type search result fields into hyperlinks so that users can open a record from the search results
Explore the Data Processing Engines
The Update Vehicle Searchable Field Values Data Processing Engine definition combines fields from multiple objects and transforms source records to write back data into the Vehicle Searchable Field object. Clone the template and activate the definition to use in your searchable object configuration.
You can also create a scheduled flow to run the definition at regular intervals so that users always search on the latest data and get near real-time inventory visibility.
The Update Vehicle Definition Searchable Field Values Data Processing Engine definition also combines fields from multiple objects and transforms source records to write back data into the Vehicle Definition Searchable Field object. Clone this template and activate the definition to use in your searchable object configuration for searching vehicle model specifications for various use cases, such as rehashing an Automotive loan or a lease.
Explore the Stages in a Vehicle’s Lifecycle
| Stage | Scenario | Considered by Search? |
|---|---|---|
| When a vehicle isn’t yet at a dealer location but the serial number is known. | Neo Luxe is a product record that specifies the brand name, make and model name, and the model year. Neo Luxe CD4 LS is a vehicle definition record that specifies additional information about the vehicle model such as transmission type, fuel type, and geo country. Multiple serialized product records are associated with the Neo Luxe product depending on how many vehicles of this specific model are manufactured. Each serialized product record has a unique serial number. |
Yes |
| When a vehicle is at a dealer location and is tracked as inventory. | Dream Dallas Dealers is an account record and Dallas West is an associated location record related to this account. A new vehicle record is created for Neo Luxe CD4 LS 2022 with a vehicle identification number that matches the serial number on the serialized product record. The vehicle record also captures key attributes such as color, odometer status, and gear box type. Each vehicle record in Automotive Cloud is linked to an asset record. The serial number on the asset matches the vehicle identification number. A product item record is created that links the Dallas West location to the serialized product record for a vehicle. |
Yes |
| When a vehicle is sold to a customer and is no longer part of inventory. | The status of the asset and the corresponding vehicle records are set to Sold. The serialized product record is now not related to a product item but to the asset. |
No |
| When a used vehicle is returned to a dealer and becomes a part of the inventory again. | If the vehicle is returned to the same dealer location, the serialized product record is updated to link it to the product item and not the asset. If the vehicle is returned to a different dealer location, a new product item is created with the serialized product and the new location. |
Yes |
