Understanding and Setting up Materials

This Article covers adding Materials to Products through the User Interface of improveit 360 Lightning. 

First, let's make sure we have an understanding of how we use the term "Product" and how we use the term "Material" in improveit 360. 

The Product is what your Sales Reps are quoting and selling.

The Materials are what your company will order from your Suppliers/Vendors in order to perform the installation. 

Once you've configured the Product/Material template, when a Sales Rep quotes or sells that Product, the Job Material records will be auto-populated on the Quote and/or the Sale, anticipating the quantity of Materials needed, and the estimated cost of those Materials.

Example above: A large chocolate producer makes chocolate bars and buys Materials in bulk. How much of a 75lb bag of sugar is needed to make 1 Chocolate Bar? This is the ratio of the Material to Product which you should consider.

Example below: Your finished basement drainage system Product is measured and sold in linear feet (in one-foot increments) but the Material you order comes in 10-foot-long pieces. On the Product Material Template record, you will indicate the Product's Unit of Measure is Linear Feet. On the Material Quantity you will enter 0.1 (one tenth of a 10-foot stick of Material is needed to install one linear foot of Product).

There are 5 Objects you will work with when setting up Products and Materials. 

• Product - the Product is selected by the Sales Rep during the quote or sale creation
• Material - stores the current On Hand Quantity, Location, Cost and Unit of Measure
• Product Material - junction record created when Materials are Assigned to Products. This record stores the Quantity relative to the Product in which the Material is related to. For example, when installing a 10-foot section of Product we use 0.5 bag of concrete but if the Product were a 15-foot section of pipe we would use 0.75 bag of concrete. 
• Vendor Material - these records are created with a Material is Assigned to a Vendor Account. The Vendor Material records are used for ordering Materials from Suppliers or Vendors. 
• Job Material - these records are related to a Quote, Sale and/or Project and contain the Estimated Total Quantity based on the Product chosen as the Quote Item or Sale Item. Job Materials are allocated to Projects when you Assign Sale Items to Projects. 

Watch this video or follow along with the steps below.

In the examples below, we will be using Roofing Singles (quoted and sold per Square) to show where Material records are entered and where they are Assigned to the Product. Once the Material is linked to the Product, a junction record, Product Material record is created. 

Step 1: Create Materials and set Inventory On Hand Qty

From the App Launcher menu, go to the Materials Tab

Check the All Materials List View to make sure you do not create a duplicate Material record. 

Click the New button 

Give the Material a Name, enter the Category, Type and Cost. Be sure to enter the Units of measure for the Material, this is how the Material is packaged from the Supplier/Vendor. Note that while we quote and sell Roofing per Square, these Shingles are priced per Bundle we purchase them three (3) Squares to a Bundle. 

Enter your Quantity On Hand, and if you would like system notifications, enter the Reorder Quantity and Material Health Warning %. 

Note the Material has a Territories field. This allows you to set different Cost pricing when you purchase Materials in different geographic regions. For more information, see also: Using Territories to dictate Product Price and Material Cost based on location 

Click Save & Next to enter another Material.

Our next Material to install these Roofing Shingles is a bucket of Nails. 

Once you have entered all the Materials, you'll need to go to the Products Tab and allocate the Materials to a Product. 

Step 2: Assign Materials to Products creating Product Material records 

Using the App Launcher go to the Products Tab

Then click on the Name of the Product you need to assign these Materials to. 

Then click Assign Materials 

Select the Material record which should be assigned to this Product using the checkboxes to the left of the Material.

As you select them they will move down into the Product Materials section and it is here you will enter the appropriate Quantity. Double-click into the Material Quantity field to set the Quantity that should be allocated when 1 Square is quoted or sold. 

For example, we know the Shingles are sold per Bundle with three (3) squares per bundle. That means when our Sales Rep sells 1 Square we would need .333 Bundles. Your Material Quantity may be a value less than 1. 

Another example is the Bucket of Nails. We know our team will only use a fraction of a bucket of nails to install 1 Square. 

When finished setting the Material Quantity click Save. On the Product Page Related List you will see a Preview of the Product Materials which are now related to this Product. 

These Product Material records will act as the Template each time this Product is quoted or sold.

The Quote Item Quantity or Sale Item Quantity will be multiplied by the Material Quantity to estimate the total Materials needed for the job. Those records which attach to a Quote or Sale to estimate the material usage are called Job Materials. Let's explore how the system creates and tracks Job Materials in Step 4. 

Step 3: Assign the Materials to a Supplier/Vendor Account

You may purchase Materials from different Vendors or Suppliers. The next step is assigning the Materials to a Vendor/Supplier to create a junction records, the Supplier Material records.

First, go to the Accounts Tab and select the Vendor/Lender list view. Be sure the Supplier or Vendor Account has been created. If it has not, you'll want to create it now. 

If the Account already exists, click on the Name of the Supplier/Vendor Account. 

In the upper-right, click Assign Materials.

You will use the checkboxes on the left to move Unassigned Materials down into the Account Materials section. Note that in this example, we do not purchase all the Materials to install roofing shingles from one Vendor/Supplier. We only purchase the shingles, underlayment and plastic caps from CertainTeed. The other Materials we will assign to a different Vendor Account. 

Click Save when finished assigning to this Account. 

Notice from the Account page you will now see those Supplier Material records in the Related list. 

Continue on to the next Account where you purchase the remaining Materials and create Supplier Material records by using the Assign Materials button from that other Vendor Account page. You will want to continue to Assign Materials to Accounts until there are none left, or the Material isn't something that is ordered (like our Labor estimate). 

Step 4: Create a Quote using the Product with Materials

Creating an example Quote after you've created Materials and Assigned them to a Product is an excellent way to test your math and make sure the system is allocating the appropriate Quantities based on what the Sales Rep has quoted. 

From an Account, Sales Opportunity or Sales Appointment, click the Create Quote button to create a Quote. Then click Create Quote Item. 

Select the Product in which you Assigned Materials to. Enter the Quantity and Unit Price, then click Save.

Now on the Quote page in the Job Materials related list you should see a preview of the Job Materials which have been allocated for this Quote. 

Click View All to see all the records and their estimated Quantity of Job Materials needed to perform the quoted work. Note that we do not display Costs here. We do not anticipate most companies using improveit 360 would want their Sales Reps seeing Materials Costs but this page can be customized. 

Creating an example Quote after you've created Materials and Assigned them to a Product is an excellent way to test your math and make sure the system is allocating the appropriate Quantities based on what the Sales Rep has quoted. 

For more information, see also: 

Change Installed Quantity for Job Materials to Create Project Costs