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Product Catalog Architecture Changes
One of the key architectural decisions in the migration is the approach to the product catalog.
Rationalize Products in CPQ Through Configuration
In Salesforce CPQ, you can avoid catalog bloat by implementing a rationalized product model that uses configuration attributes and global attributes to manage variations like color and memory on a single product.
Streamline Catalogs in Revenue Management with Advanced Architecture
In Revenue Management, you can streamline category management by using product classifications and product selling models. This architecture enables a clear distinction between the commercial catalog, which includes the customer-facing products optimized for the sales experience, and the technical catalog, which handles the underlying fulfillment logic and downstream system requirements.
Rationalize Product Catalogs
Catalog rationalization isn’t just a technical activity. It requires your product, pricing, and sales operations teams to agree on a new commercial taxonomy. Your team may also need to update downstream integrations based on the rationalized catalog. Define your product classification hierarchy early, ideally before technical configuration begins.
A common learning from early implementations is that inconsistent attribute naming across business units can require significant rework later. For example, one unit might use Storage: 1TB while another uses Disk: 1000GB. Establish a single classification taxonomy before configuration work begins.
Use Guided Product Selection in Revenue Management
Guided product selection replaces guided selling in CPQ, enabling sales reps to navigate complex product catalogs through configurable, step-by-step selection flows without custom development.
Technical Considerations
Migrate your product catalog before any transactional data. The product catalog is a dependency for all downstream migration activities.
- Make sure that your attribute taxonomy is consistent. Run a normalization pass on attribute values to identify duplicates and inconsistent naming across product lines or business units.
- Validate all bundle hierarchies for circular dependencies.
- Create product selling models and product selling model options for each product's selling motions.
After you make the required architecture and technical changes, understand the automation level of your product catalog and then migrate your product data.
