EXTENDED PRODUCT CONFIGURATION TECHNIQUES

Parameters of a re-configurable product include price and date when product will be available to a requesting party. Availability and or price parameters are integrated or extended into the configuration process of selecting product features to gain a higher level of customer service and satisfaction. The availability and or price parameters can be constrained, and can also be optimized with respect to other constraints. By defining a range of satisfaction that various parameters and product features can operate in, a customer can focus the configuration process on other parameters that are deemed critical. Optimizing focus parameters such as availability and or price with respect to all other parameters constitutes an extended product configuration technique. A dynamic BOM generated by this technique reflects all consumer dictated constraints, including any constraints on price and or availability.