Inventory

Overview

Inventory items are listed under the Inventory object in alphabetical order in the left pane of the screen. Clicking on one of the Inventory items will open the corresponding Inventory form in the right pane of the screen. The Inventory form allows you to edit your inventory items, as well as manage prices and quantities.

Fields

Item:	When adding a new record, @Quote Plus 32 will assign an internal part number, constructed similarly to the client and job numbers.
Retire:	Checking this box will retire the inventory item, taking it off of the Item Lookup list. In addition, if your purge option in Optimize defaults is set to delete retired inventory items, running a purge will cause a search for the retired items in all current jobs. If the item is no longer being used on any jobs, the retired item will be taken out of the table. If the item is still being used on one or more jobs, it will remain in the table in a retired state for reports to be able to locate.
Hide:	Check this box to make sure the item is not displayed on any proposals or invoices. This field can be used in connection with normal built-in job charges that you do not want the client to see, such as job site cleanup, travel charges, etc.
In-House:	The description of the item you will use internally, shown on work orders and reports.
Outside:	The description of the item that your customers will see on proposals and invoices.
Mfg Part #:	You can specify the OEM part number here, which will be listed on reorder and out-of-stock reports to make reordering easier.
Group:	Allows you assign items to one of the defined list of Inventory Groups. This grouping will be reflected in inventory reports. In addition, the icon assigned to the Group you select will show up next to that item in inventory.
Unit:	This is where you specify the unit of measure and the amount of material in one unit that you receive from the manufacturer. For example, insulation would be listed with a unit of measure of sqft and the number of square feet in a bag, while a fireplace would be listed as ea with a unit of 1, and closet shelving would be listed by the linear foot (lft) with the number of feet per box from the manufacturer. It is very important to have this information correct, as @Quote Plus 32 will use it to determine prices and costs when this item is added to jobs.
Par:	The number of units you expect to maintain in inventory at all times. When the On Hand quantity falls below this level, the item will be flagged to appear on the Reorder report.
Count:	The number of pieces per unit. This number is used on the work order to determine how much material is required for a job.
Reorder:	The typical number of units to be reordered when levels fall below Par.
Multiplier:	[030306] If you are using the Cavities method to add items/sequences to a phase, you must enter a multiplier for each inventory item. It will be used to calculate square feet required based upon the # cavities * length * multiplier formula. For insulation, the Multiplier typically represents the width of the material (in feet); i.e. a 15" wide batt would have a multiplier of 1.25.
Time:	The time it takes, in hours and minutes, to install one unit of the inventory item. This number will be used to calculated estimated install times for your work orders. This feature is not yet implemented. In the future, this number will be used to calculated estimated install times for your work orders. While you do not have to enter anything in this field at this time, we do hope to get this feature up and running in the near future, so you may wish to get a head start and enter times now.
On Hand:	This field indicates the quantity that should currently be on-hand in your inventory. The number is adjusted downward when Usage is Accepted, when you deduct inventory with the Inventory Add/delete utility, or if you tell the printed Work Order to deduct inventory (when Returns Method set to "Dollar" or "Grid"). This number is incremented when you add inventory with the Inventory Add/Delete utility, when Returns Method is set to "Grid", by inputting Returns.
Back Order:	This field is only enabled if Inventory Tracking is turned on. If the On Hand quantity should fall below zero, this number will reflect the difference. When using the Inventory Add/Delete utility or inputting returns by the piece, quantities going back into inventory will be applied against the Back Order amount before the On Hand quantity.
Deduct:	This field allows you to have the given item deduct from the On Hand quantitiy of a different item when Usage is keyed. Use the Select button located to the right of the field to open the Select Item window, from which you can choose the item to deduct from. The primary practical application for this field deals with tracking the inventory of blow-in materials. To clear this field, simply set the material to deduct from itself.
Base Cost:	This is the actual cost of the item, net of any discounts, rebates, surcharges, etc.
Sell Cost:	This is basically what you want your salespeople to think is the actual cost of the item. This field allows you to establish an "artificial" base cost in order to force some profit margin into the item, even when sold "at cost".
Price Levels:	These are the amounts per sqft to charge for this item at each of the different price levels. Recall that the Pricing level names are set on the Inventory defaults tab. Note that an (*) asterisk before a Price Levels indicates that the Price Level is defined by a caluculation.
Difficulty Levels:	The Difficulty Levels are the amount of money per sqft that will go into the labor pool for this item. You can set these to any amounts you wish, but we recommend that you use a "rule of thumb" to assign them. For example, a contractor may pay $0.03/sqft for sidewalls up to 8 feet high, $0.04/sqft for sidewalls from 8 to 12 feet high, and $0.05/sqft for sidewalls over 12 feet high. An easy way to set this up would be to set Difficulty level 1 to $0.03, Difficulty level 2 to $0.04, and Difficulty level 3 to $0.05, then simply pick the corresponding difficulty level when adding that item to the phase.

Menu

To access the Inventory item menu box, click on the desired Inventory item then right click. An example of this menu box is show below.

Edit:	If Edit Protection has been turned on in General defaults, you will need to use the Edit command before you can edit data on the Inventory form.
New Item:	This command allows you to add a new inventory item. It will open a window that asks you to enter a new item name. Upon entering the name, the corresponding Inventory form will open in the right pane in which you can enter your information for that inventory item.
Copy to New:	When adding an inventory item which is similar to an item you already have in the system, you can use this feature to as quick way to copy the new item from the current one. Simply click on the inventory item you are copying from, then right click, opening the menu box. Select Copy to New and a window will open asking you to enter the name of the new item. Enter the name and click OK. The Inventory form for the new item will open in the right pane with its fields filled in--the information copied from the old item. From here, you can edit the Inventory form as necessary.
New Kit:	This feature lets you bundle a group of items that are used together on a regular basis into a kit. The feature is geared more towards non-insulation product lines such as fireplaces and shelving which regularly use the same sets of items. When printing a work order which contains a kit, the kit will be listed along with a breakout of the individual items that make up that kit. When viewing the usage of a phase that contains a kit, the Usage window will not list the kit; rather, it will list the individual items that make up the kit. Note that you must populate the usages quantities--it will not be done automatically. To add a new kit, click any Inventory item, then right click anywhere in the left pane, opening up the menu box. Select New Kit from the menu box, opening a window for you to enter a name for the new kit. Enter the name then select OK. This will open a form for the new kit in the right pane. @Quote Plus 32 will automatically assign the kit a Kit #. In addition, the kit window contains the In-House, Outside, Hide, Retire, Price Level and [030221] Difficulty Levels inventory fields. These fields work the same way they do on any Inventory form and are discussed in detail above. The UoM field lets you select a default "unit of measurement". Note that labor on a kit is normally calculated by determining the labor of each item in the kit with respect to the chosen difficulty level for that item and the quantity specified in the kit, then adding them all up. [030221] This calculation can be overridden by specifying a difficulty levels directly on the kit screen. If specified, these amounts will be used first when calculating labor. If nothing has been specified in Difficulty Levels on the kit screen, labor will be calculated the standard way. To add an inventory item to the kit, simply right click anywhere in the large grid area located in the right pane, then select Add from the popup memo that opens up. This will bring up the Item lookup window. Select the desired item from the list, then click OK. You can then add the quanitiy and units of the item required for the kit. To delete an item, click on the desire item, right click, then choose Delete from the menu box. The menu box also lets you change the order of the item listed in the kit. Simpy click on an item you want to move, then right click. You can choose Move up or Move down, moving the item up or down one place.
Refresh Inventory:	When adding inventory items, this command allows you to "refresh" the list of items, allowing you to see the newly added items.