TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Access to Material Library
• Add New Material
  • Material Card General
  • Add Material Picture
  • Vendor and Pricing
    • Project Price List
    • Vendor Prices
• Additional Actions in Material Card (Transform, Change UOM, Adjust QTY)
• Watch a video

The Material List reference is a library of all material items that presented in your instance. Each Material Item contains all necessary information about the material: category, part number, unit of measurement, Vendor prices, COGS value, Marked Up Price and so on.

Access to Material Library

The “IC Administrators” user group has full access to the Material Library components: 

• Material List
• Material Categories
• Unit of Measurement
• Unit of Measurement Transformation.

Add New Material

Tools and Equipment, like trucks and test gear, are handled by Asset Management and go in the Asset Library.

Consumable Materials, like wire, bolts and connectors are handled by Inventory Control and go in the Material Library.

Today we have a new “Seal Tight” Connector which we have found on our Vendor's website with the Vendor Part#.

1. At first open the Material List reference via Quick Launch. There are many Materials under each Subcategory, and multiple Subcategories per Main Category.

2. Check the material list for possible duplicates. Turn off hierarchy and search for duplicates by Material Name, Vendor Part # or Category.

3. Click “Create Record” to add a new material. If the hierarchy is enabled, you can first select the category and then create a record. In this case, the category will be filled in automatically.

4. Fill in Material card.

Material Card General

The General tab holds regular material details: fields that mandatory to fill in.

Name describes the material name. The name is filled in automatically according to naming conventions. The Name is an editable field. You can enter a custom name or use the Build Name option. Our recommendation is to use of a consistent naming convention for materials.

Build Name tool helps you standardize naming. It allows you to define a name consisting of the specific material properties: primary size, secondary size, color, material, type, other.

Current Category — is used to group materials by their material properties. The selection is from Material Categories reference.

Internal Part No. — is filled automatically in numerical order.

UOM —  the material's unit of measurement. 

UOM Rule of Thumb: select the smallest unit possible, which still makes sense. For example, you usually buy ground wire by 100ft. But, what if you change vendors, or have a cash-flow issue and need to buy less? So do you go to “50ft”, “10ft”? What if you need 45 ft, or 15ft? 

To be safe, go with the smallest unit. 

How small? Well, you probably won't buy by the inch. That does not make sense. “1 FOOT” is the smallest unit which still makes sense.

COGS ($) — material's cost of sales. COGS ($) — material's cost of sales. COGS are important for determining Material Cost per build. They also tell the PM team how much they can bill the client for Materials (where allowed).

The COGS can be:

• Added during material list import. For example, from other accounting system where you usually keep an inventory control.
• Or entered manually. You must set an Initial COGS when you add a new material. After that, the COGS will be updated as an average of all purchases of the material (plus a percent markup for tax and delivery). 

We recommend using the price from your primary Vendor's website for a Material's Initial COGS.

Read more about COGS calculation here.

Preferred Vendor — select a preferred Vendor from the list of Vendors. This will be populated to a Material Purchase Request to the “PV” column. So if multiple Preferred Vendors are utilized in the MPR, you can select for which of them create a record in the Inventory Transactions Journal.

URL — the URL from the Vendor's website for the material.

Description — some additional material information.

Category Tree show the entire hierarchy of a material category from child category to main category.

Previous Part No. is simply an informative field that not available for editing. It stores all Internal Part numbers a material had.

Add Material Picture

Use the Upload Main Picture tool to add a material photo. If the button is not available, save the record first.

Vendor and Pricing

Here, we keep details about materials marked up prices for certain Projects, related price list items, Vendor prices.

Project Price List

In the first table, we specify the material's marked up price across a Project. This information is stored in a price list item.

The system creates the material's price list item as soon as you save a new material card. You should create a price list item for each material to include this material in a Sales Order. 

To add project-specific pricing, use the Add to Project Price List button.

Click on the button → select a Project → it will add a project pricing in the material's price list and display you this price in the material card.

Marked Up Prices = COGS + Mark Up %. This percentage is set in the calculation specification for each combination of Project, Price List Item Class and Material Category.

Billable mark indicates that a Client can reimburse the cost of this material. Billable items can be added to a Sales Order. Find more about T&M contracts billing here.

The “billable or not billable” marker is set up according to settings in the Calculation Specification reference. The calculation can be set up in the context of Project, Price List Item Class, and Material Category.

So if the marked up price and billable marker are filled in based on the calculation specifications, the Has Calc column will be Yes and the Fixed Price = No.

If a Material has unique pricing, change the Fixed Price to Yes, enter the Marked Up Price and change the Billable to the required value.

Billable and non-billable materials are charged to the difference financial accounts (FAs) in Financial Distributions. We set up these FAs in a system setting. 

Vendor Prices

In the Vendor Prices table, we provide information about the purchase price of material from different Vendors and additional details about Material Vendor Part Number and Vendor URL Link.

Vendor Price is populated to Material Purchase Request and Inventory Transaction Journal.

Vendor Part No is filled in Inventory Transaction Journal.

Additional Actions in Material Card (Transform, Change UOM, Adjust QTY)

View Current Balance – generates an Excel report showing the balance of the material: QTY in stock, QTY in process, etc.

Transform – replaces one material with another in the selected warehouse (location).

Click on the action → Select a leading material to replace the current material → Select a warehouse where you want to adjust the inventory balance.

To correct the balance, the system:

• Removes the current material from the location — creates the Adjust (-) Transaction Journal and the PULL (-) Transaction Entry.
• Adds a new material to the location — creates the Adjust (+) Transaction Journal and the PUSH (+) Transaction Entry.

Transformation is only possible if the materials have the same UOM or there is a UOM transformation for these materials.

Change UOM – changes the material's UOM to the new one. Click on the tool → select a new UOM → here we will see the list of new UOMs the material can be converted to. This is set up in the Unit of Measurement Transformation reference.

When you select a new UOM → click OK → the material's UOM will be changed, the COGS will be recalculated.

Adjust QTY — adjusts the amount of material remaining in stock by the specified quantity.

How it works:

You set a new QTY in the warehouse→ the system checks the actual material QTY in the selected warehouse and creates:

• the “Adjust +” transaction if the new QTY is greater than the current QTY.
• the “Adjust -” transaction if the new QTY is less than the current QTY.

The created ITJs are in the Executed stage and only need to be completed.

The Adjust QTY action is available for employees assigned to the Material Library Administrator role.

Watch a video 

How to enter a new Material to Library.