Data model: Product

Product can be defined as a single item, a group of equivalent products, a grouping of goods or services, or an industrial classification for the goods or services. Generally products are classified as:

• Goods - products that are more tangible in nature and generally created in advance for sale
• Services - products that involve the use of parties’ time and are less tangible in nature.


We can classify products in many different ways like by model, by product line, by industry segments and by various other product categories. This classification is main aspect of maintaining product information.

All the products have their own features which are also known as options, variations, characteristics or modifiers. Thanks to them we can either describe the features of the product or customize it. Examples of features include the product quality, brand name , color, size, dimension, style, hardware features, software features, or billing options.

Every enterprise have their own price policy. Because of that the pricing model is very flexible and can handle many pricing scenarios. In order to avoid confusion each enterprise should determine business rules.

Having good information on product costs is very important for organizations to be sure that the products are priced profitably. You can easily determine appropriate commissions if you have product cost information.