Project Materials

Owned by Stephen Juliano (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Sept 03, 2022 by Colleen Juliano
24 min read

Table of Contents

Overview

The Project Materials screen contains all information pertaining to the materials allocated to the project. Through this screen you can accomplish most tasks related to material handling such as creating PO's, creating and pick or return tickets, and creating change orders. To introduce you to the Project Materials screen we will first view and explain the purpose of each tab on the screen. Then, we will cover the buttons and each of their functions. Since this screen does so much, this section is quite extensive.

Detail


P/A > Materials > Project Materials
The following section covers the functionality of every tab on the Project Materials screen. The tabs are as follows:

  • Sell – Shows quantities and sell prices of each item.

  • Costs – Shows the warehouse and planned costs of each item.

  • FRT & Install – Shows freight and install by line item.

  • PO – Shows the manufacturer and vendor as well as PO's if they have been created.

  • Description – Shows item descriptions both short and long.

  • Misc – Shows miscellaneous info.

  • Other – Shows user defined flex fields set up in project control.

  • Revisions – Shows all changes to item with date/time and user (if revision tracking is turned on in Project Setup.)

The sell tab defaults on startup and displays the following fields for each line item:

  • Unit of Measure – The unit of measure for the quantity ordered.

  • Quantities –

    • Ordered – If this needs to be changed it is best to do so through a change order.

    • Issued – The quantity that has been issued to the project site.

    • Received – The quantity that has been received in a Purchase Order.

  • Unit Price – Changes to the unit price should be made through change orders.

  • Tax – Taxable status of the line item, available values are:

    • N: Non-Taxable

    • P: Tax Paid to Vendor

    • Y: Taxable

    • U: Use Tax

  • Extended Price – Unit price multiplied by the quantity ordered.

  • Tax Amount – The amount of tax to be charged for the item.

There are 2 buttons available to make changes in mass. Use these carefully as they could create more work if used incorrectly.

  • Change – The "Change" button above the unit price will adjust pricing of all items by a percentage of the cost. This will only work if the materials are not locked.

    • Global changes such as this are not recommended. If pricing is this far off we recommend fixing in Auto Quotes and re-importing into TRX.

  • Chg – The "Chg" button above the taxable field will allow you to update the taxable flag of all line items at once.

The cost tab displays the following fields for each line item:

  • Warehouse – The warehouse used for the line item.

  • Quantity Ordered – Quantity Ordered of the line item (same as sell tab.)

  • Planned Cost – The planned cost from AQ.

  • Extended Plan Cost – Planned cost multiplied by the quantity ordered.

  • Planned Margin – Unit price minus planned cost.

Again we have a "Change" button above the planned cost. This function will change the planned cost of all items on the material plan to the current inventory cost. We ask you to confirm before proceeding to prevent accidental changes.

The FRT & Install tab displays the following for each line item:

  • Freight Class – The Freight Class comes in from AQ and can be changed. You can press F9 in this field for a list of available freight classes. You can set up additional freight classes in the SYS > Freight Class menu item.

  • Freight Sell and Cost – Originates from AQ but can be changed. It is recommended that changes are made through change orders especially if using AIA billing. When final invoicing all line item freight and install roll up into one total.

  • Install Price and Cost – Same as freight described above.

There is a button "Set to Zero" that may or may not be displayed, there is a checkbox to toggle it in the Project Setup screen. When pressed we ask you to confirm before we proceed in setting all freight and install sell and costs amounts to zero. 

  • PO # – If a PO has been created for the line item the PO number will show here. If a PO number exists you can double click on it to drill down into the Purchase Order.

  • P – Press the P button to print the PO.

  • Ship Type – Will show if the PO is Drop Ship or Regular Ship. If it is regular ship then the PO will be received into inventory and you will need to ship the item to the project site via a pick ticket. Drop ship PO's go straight into WIP.

  • Mfg. – The manufacturer assigned to the line item. You can change the manufacturer here if needed.

  • Vendor – The vendor that you use to purchase from the manufacturer assigned to the line item. When the project is initially imported we assign the vendor by looking at the manufacturer/vendor cross reference that can be found in the AQ Setup screen. You can change the vendor here if needed.

  • C/O # – If the item was involved in a marked change order we display the last change order number it was involved in.

  • No PO – If checked we do not include the item when "Creating PO's"

  • On Hand – Will show the quantity of the item available in the selected warehouse. If you do not see this field and would like to you can enable it by checking the "Show Warehouse Quantities on Material Plan" checkbox in the Project Setup screen.

  • QtyAvl – Will show the quantity of the item available in the selected warehouse minus any quantity already allocated. If you do not see this field and would like to you can enable it by checking the "Show Warehouse Quantities on Material Plan" checkbox in the Project Setup screen.

The button "Set No PO" will check the "No PO" checkbox for each item in the material plan that has enough quantity on hand to be shipped from inventory.

The Description tab displays the scope of work and the full description of each item. The scope of work can also be described as the AQ Category. Both fields originate from AutoQuotes. You can double click either field to open an editor that will show you all of the text where you can make changes if needed. 
Note: for items like walk in coolers that have huge descriptions many dealers put "Per quote # XXXX" instead of typing the entire description. That way they are covered on the PO to the vendor and with the customer. 

The Misc tab displays the following for each line item:

  • Voltage – The voltage of the item which originates from AQ but can be changed or manually added.

  • Phase – The phase designation of electric items which originates from AQ but can be changed or manually added.

  • Print Category – This is an optional field that can be useful if you are using the Index Report. If any Print Categories are entered for the project you will be provided an option to select a specific category to print when printing the Index Report.

  • Qty Remaining – The Qty Ordered minus the Qty Issued to project.

  • Boxes Issued – If you are tracking boxes we display the total number of boxes issued for the line item.

  • Boxes Received – If you are tracking boxes we display the total number of boxes received for the line item.

  • Sp. Col. – The Special Column from AQ.

  • B/A – Identifies the item as 'B'ase item or 'A'ccessory.

The Other tab displays all user defined fields established in the Project setup screen. If no user defined fields have been set up for the company this tab will not be displayed. 
Note: Since these are company specific user defined fields all data must be input manually. 

The Revisions tab documents changes made to the item following the original import. The date, time, and User ID who made the change are also recorded.
Note: To see this tab and have TRX track changes Revision Tracking must be turned on in the Project Setup screen. 

Buttons and List options on the Material Tracking screen

The "Display" list option gives you a way to filter which items are displayed. You can filter by the following:

  • All Items

  • Items on PO's

  • Items not on PO's

  • Items not received

  • Items issued in full

  • Items not issued 

The "Sort By" list option gives you a choice as to what fields you would like to sort the items by:

  • AQ Line Number

  • Item

  • Purchase Order

The buttons are as follows:

  • Create FRT/INS PO – Allow you to generate a PO for freight or install.

  • Create PO's – Generate PO's by vendor.

  • Create PO by MFG – Old method of creating PO's.

  • Pick Ticket – Create and print pick tickets for plan items.

  • Change Order – Create change orders for plan items.

  • Print PO's – Print PO's created through the project.

  • Ship Pick Ticket – Ship an existing pick ticket.

  • Return Ticket – Create a ticket to return items from the project.

  • Plan Report – Print the project Plan Report.

Create Freight and Install PO

PO's created through this method will post to project expenses not materials and will follow through to the project analysis. Before you can start using this feature there are some setup issues that must be addressed.
You must create items for both freight and install that have the following attributes:

  • Do not have "stocked" checked

  • Do not have "manufactured" checked

  • Do have "Purchases" checked

  • Do have "Sold" Checked

  • "Taxed when Sold" can be checked or unchecked

  • Do have "Backorder Allowed" checked

  • Selling Price should be Zero

  • Minimum margin should be blank

After creating the Freight and Install items you must go to PA > Special Functions > Project Setup and enter your Freight and Install items where indicated.

You are now ready to create a Freight or Install PO. After clicking on the button in the material plan you will be prompted to enter the details.

You can also mark (or unmark) a PO line item as freight or install right in the project PO.

Create PO's

Using this feature will enable you to generate PO's for the entire project by vendor. Because TRX will consider all project material items not already on a PO or pick ticket you should mark the "No PO" checkbox (in the PO tab of the material plan) for any items that you do not want to be added to a PO.

The above screen shows the options available for PO Configuration. The blue arrow buttons at the top of enterable fields will copy the selected value to all PO's so use them wisely.

The "Copy" button
On large jobs there can be hundreds of PO's with differing Expected Dates, Ship To's, Buyers, FOB codes, etc. Although many are different, there are still patterns we can copy to save tremendous time. This is done by pressing the <Copy> button. In the example above we are copying the "Ship To" and "Ship Via" attributes selected for the Berg Company PO and copying them to the Beverage Air and Everpure PO's. 

When you are done press the lightning bolt to just create or create and print the PO's.


Pick Ticket

Use the Pick Ticket button to create a pick ticket to issue items to the project site. 

Upon entering the screen TRX populates the header fields with defaults which can be changed if needed. You can enter comments if applicable and indicate if you wish to print prices on the packing list by checking the appropriate checkbox. 

The assumption is that a new picket is going to be created so we assign a status of "CREATING." If you want to view existing pick tickets for the project you can press F7 to clear the screen and delete the new pick ticket, type the project number, then press F9 to query. Use the toolbar arrow buttons to navigate through the existing pick tickets. If you need to cancel an unshipped pick ticket you can do so by pressing the red "X" toolbar button while your cursor is in the project number field. 

More details regarding Pick Tickets can be found in the section Pick Tickets.

Change Orders

Change orders are designed to accommodate deviations from the original contract which can include the addition, deletion, change, or replacement of items. All changes to the material plan should be made through change orders to maintain an accurate audit trail. 

Change order functionality is covered extensively in the change order section, Change Orders. 

Print PO's

 The print project PO's button is a shortcut to the "Print Purchase Orders" screen. You should use this option if you want to print all PO's for the project at once. TRX automatically enters the project number when you enter the screen. If you wish to print an individual PO the quickest way to do so is from the PO tab in the material plan. 

 Ship Pick Ticket

Pressing the Ship Pick Ticket button takes you to the "Ship Items from Picking Ticket" screen. If you did not ship the pick ticket after it was created this is the quickest way to do so. 

TRX automatically populates most fields from the pick ticket; make sure to verify everything is accurate. You can enter a waybill number if applicable. We assume you are shipping the quantity entered in the pick ticket so adjust any quantities for items that are not being fully shipped. When you are done press the lightning bolt to process the shipment. You are then presented with the choice to print packing slips. The items shipped have now been noted as issued to the project site in the material plan and have moved into WIP. 
Note: Issuing items to a job means shipped from inventory or posted directly to WIP through PO Receipts when Drop Ship or Consolidator orders 

Return Tickets

The "Return Ticket" button will create a return ticket intended to bring items that have been issued to the project site back into inventory. This is a two-step process like creating pick tickets as you must first create the return ticket and then receive the return ticket. Return tickets are received through the menu item.

Return Tickets share the same basic functionality as Pick Tickets. TRX automatically populates all header details so you should verify that all is accurate and enter any comments if applicable. All items that have been issued to the project are available to be included in the return ticket. You can use the "Select All" button or just double click the individual items you wish to return. Verify the quantities and number of boxes if you are tracking boxes. When finished press the "Complete" button. 

Plan Report

The Plan Report displays all items in the project material plan and the quantities ordered, issued, and received. The number of boxes is displayed if using the box tracking feature and if the items are on a PO we display the PO number and date. 

Project Materials

The Project Materials screen contains all information pertaining to the materials allocated to the project. Through this screen you can accomplish most tasks related to material handling such as creating PO's, creating and pick or return tickets, and creating change orders. To introduce you to the Project Materials screen we will first view and explain the purpose of each tab on the screen. Then, we will cover the buttons and each of their functions. Since this screen does so much, this section is quite extensive.
P/A > Materials > Project Materials
The following section covers the functionality of every tab on the Project Materials screen. The tabs are as follows:

  • Sell – Shows quantities and sell prices of each item.

  • Costs – Shows the warehouse and planned costs of each item.

  • FRT & Install – Shows freight and install by line item.

  • PO – Shows the manufacturer and vendor as well as PO's if they have been created.

  • Description – Shows item descriptions both short and long.

  • Misc – Shows miscellaneous info.

  • Other – Shows user defined flex fields set up in project control.

  • Revisions – Shows all changes to item with date/time and user (if revision tracking is turned on in Project Setup.)

The sell tab defaults on startup and displays the following fields for each line item:

  • Unit of Measure – The unit of measure for the quantity ordered.

  • Quantities –

    • Ordered – If this needs to be changed it is best to do so through a change order.

    • Issued – The quantity that has been issued to the project site.

    • Received – The quantity that has been received in a Purchase Order.

  • Unit Price – Changes to the unit price should be made through change orders.

  • Tax – Taxable status of the line item, available values are:

    • N: Non-Taxable

    • P: Tax Paid to Vendor

    • Y: Taxable

    • U: Use Tax

  • Extended Price – Unit price multiplied by the quantity ordered.

  • Tax Amount – The amount of tax to be charged for the item.

There are 2 buttons available to make changes in mass. Use these carefully as they could create more work if used incorrectly.

  • Chg – The "Chg" button above the taxable field will allow you to update the taxable flag of all line items at once.

 
The cost tab displays the following fields for each line item:

  • Warehouse – The warehouse used for the line item.

  • Quantity Ordered – Quantity Ordered of the line item (same as sell tab.)

  • Planned Cost – The planned cost from AQ.

  • Extended Plan Cost – Planned cost multiplied by the quantity ordered.

  • Planned Margin – Unit price minus planned cost.

Again we have a "Change" button above the planned cost. This function will change the planned cost of all items on the material plan to the current inventory cost. We ask you to confirm before proceeding to prevent accidental changes.

The FRT & Install tab displays the following for each line item:

  • Freight Class – The Freight Class comes in from AQ and can be changed. You can press F9 in this field for a list of available freight classes. You can set up additional freight classes in the SYS > Freight Class menu item.

  • Freight Sell and Cost – Originates from AQ but can be changed. It is recommended that changes are made through change orders especially if using AIA billing. When final invoicing all line item freight and install roll up into one total.

  • Install Price and Cost – Same as freight described above.

There is a button "Set to Zero" that may or may not be displayed, there is a checkbox to toggle it in the Project Setup screen. When pressed we ask you to confirm before we proceed in setting all freight and install sell and costs amounts to zero. 

The PO tab displays the following for each line item:

  • PO # – If a PO has been created for the line item the PO number will show here. If a PO number exists you can double click on it to drill down into the Purchase Order.

  • P – Press the P button to print the PO.

  • Ship Type – Will show if the PO is Drop Ship or Regular Ship. If it is regular ship then the PO will be received into inventory and you will need to ship the item to the project site via a pick ticket. Drop ship PO's go straight into WIP.

  • Mfg. – The manufacturer assigned to the line item. You can change the manufacturer here if needed.

  • Vendor – The vendor that you use to purchase from the manufacturer assigned to the line item. When the project is initially imported we assign the vendor by looking at the manufacturer/vendor cross reference that can be found in the AQ Setup screen. You can change the vendor here if needed.

  • C/O # – If the item was involved in a marked change order we display the last change order number it was involved in.

  • No PO – If checked we do not include the item when "Creating PO's"

  • On Hand – Will show the quantity of the item available in the selected warehouse. If you do not see this field and would like to you can enable it by checking the "Show Warehouse Quantities on Material Plan" checkbox in the Project Setup screen.

  • QtyAvl – Will show the quantity of the item available in the selected warehouse minus any quantity already allocated. If you do not see this field and would like to you can enable it by checking the "Show Warehouse Quantities on Material Plan" checkbox in the Project Setup screen.

The button "Set No PO" will check the "No PO" checkbox for each item in the material plan that has enough quantity on hand to be shipped from inventory.

The Description tab displays the scope of work and the full description of each item. The scope of work can also be described as the AQ Category. Both fields originate from AutoQuotes. You can double click either field to open an editor that will show you all of the text where you can make changes if needed. 
Note: for items like walk in coolers that have huge descriptions many dealers put "Per quote # XXXX" instead of typing the entire description. That way they are covered on the PO to the vendor and with the customer. 

The Misc tab displays the following for each line item:

  • Voltage – The voltage of the item which originates from AQ but can be changed or manually added.

  • Phase – The phase designation of electric items which originates from AQ but can be changed or manually added.

  • Print Category – This is an optional field that can be useful if you are using the Index Report. If any Print Categories are entered for the project you will be provided an option to select a specific category to print when printing the Index Report.

  • Qty Remaining – The Qty Ordered minus the Qty Issued to project.

  • Boxes Issued – If you are tracking boxes we display the total number of boxes issued for the line item.

  • Boxes Received – If you are tracking boxes we display the total number of boxes received for the line item.

  • Sp. Col. – The Special Column from AQ.

  • B/A – Identifies the item as 'B'ase item or 'A'ccessory.

The Revisions tab documents changes made to the item following the original import. The date, time, and User ID who made the change are also recorded.
Note: To see this tab and have TRX track changes Revision Tracking must be turned on in the Project Setup screen. 

The "User Defined Fields" displays all user defined fields established in the Project setup screen.
Note: Since these are company specific user defined fields all data must be input manually. 

Buttons and List options on the Material Tracking screen

The "Display" list option gives you a way to filter which items are displayed. You can filter by the following:

  • All Items

  • Items on PO's

  • Items not on PO's

  • Items not received

  • Items issued in full

  • Items not issued 

The "Sort By" list option gives you a choice as to what fields you would like to sort the items by:

  • AQ Line Number

  • Item

  • Purchase Order

The buttons are as follows:

  • Create FRT/INS PO – Allow you to generate a PO for freight or install.

  • Create PO's – Generate PO's by vendor.

  • Create PO by MFG – Old method of creating PO's.

  • Pick Ticket – Create and print pick tickets for plan items.

  • Change Order – Create change orders for plan items.

  • Print PO's – Print PO's created through the project.

  • Ship Pick Ticket – Ship an existing pick ticket.

  • Return Ticket – Create a ticket to return items from the project.

  • Plan Report – Print the project Plan Report.

Create Freight and Install PO

PO's created through this method will post to project expenses not materials and will follow through to the project analysis. Before you can start using this feature there are some setup issues that must be addressed.
You must create items for both freight and install that have the following attributes:

  • “Tangible Item” - Unchecked

  • "Keep in Stock" - Unchecked

  • "Manufactured" - Unchecked

  • "Purchases" - Checked

  • "Sold" - Checked

  • "Taxed when Sold" can be checked or unchecked

  • "Backorder Allowed" - Checked

  • Selling Price should be Zero

  • Minimum margin should be blank

After creating the Freight and Install items you must go to PA > Special Functions > Project Setup and enter your Freight and Install items where indicated.

You are now ready to create a Freight or Install PO. After clicking on the button in the material plan you will be prompted to enter the details.

You can also mark (or unmark) a PO line item as freight or install right in the project PO.

Create PO's

Using this feature will enable you to generate PO's for the entire project by vendor. Because TRX will consider all project material items not already on a PO or pick ticket you should mark the "No PO" checkbox (in the PO tab of the material plan) for any items that you do not want to be added to a PO.

  • Uncheck the "Create PO" checkbox to suppress PO creation for the selected vendor. You can use the "Uncheck All" checkbox to uncheck all vendors.

  • Make sure that the correct vendor contact is selected to send the PO to.

  • Verify your "Ship To" address.

    • If the PO should be shipped to one of your purchasing addresses then choose "You" and select the appropriate "Ship To" address. You can press F9 for a list. Items ordered on PO's created through this option are received into inventory and need to be shipped to the project site through a pick ticket.

      • If you need to add a new address you press the "Create Ship" button.

      • If you need to edit an address you can do so in the "Ship to Addresses" screen in the PUR > Purchasing Special Functions menu.

    • Select "Project Site" if the PO should be a drop ship PO. Drop ship PO's are received into WIP.

    • The "Consolidator" option acts like a drop ship PO but allows you to specify a ship to address other than the default project address. The consolidator ship to address is entered in the "Description" tab of the Project Entry/Edit screen, the "Default Warehouse Address."

  • Add any comments if applicable.

  • The "Mark" checkbox which is checked by default will add the below verbiage to the PO.

The "Copy" button
On large jobs there can be hundreds of PO's with differing Expected Dates, Ship To's, Buyers, FOB codes, etc. Although many are different, there are still patterns we can copy to save tremendous time. This is done by pressing the <Copy> button. In the example above we are copying the "Ship To" and "Ship Via" attributes selected for the Berg Company PO and copying them to the Beverage Air and Everpure PO's. 

When you are done press the lightning bolt to just create or create and print the PO's.


Pick Ticket


Use the Pick Ticket button to create a pick ticket to issue items to the project site. 

Upon entering the screen TRX populates the header fields with defaults which can be changed if needed. You can enter comments if applicable and indicate if you wish to print prices on the packing list by checking the appropriate checkbox. 

The assumption is that a new picket is going to be created so we assign a status of "CREATING." If you want to view existing pick tickets for the project you can press F7 to clear the screen and delete the new pick ticket, type the project number, then press F9 to query. Use the toolbar arrow buttons to navigate through the existing pick tickets. If you need to cancel an unshipped pick ticket you can do so by pressing the red "X" toolbar button while your cursor is in the project number field. 

More details regarding Pick Tickets can be found in the section Pick Tickets.

Change Orders

Change orders are designed to accommodate deviations from the original contract which can include the addition, deletion, change, or replacement of items. All changes to the material plan should be made through change orders to maintain an accurate audit trail. 

Change order functionality is covered extensively in the change order section, Change Orders. 

Print PO's

The print project PO's button is a shortcut to the "Print Purchase Orders" screen. You should use this option if you want to print all PO's for the project at once. TRX automatically enters the project number when you enter the screen. If you wish to print an individual PO the quickest way to do so is from the PO tab in the material plan. 

 Ship Pick Ticket

Pressing the Ship Pick Ticket button takes you to the "Ship Items from Picking Ticket" screen. If you did not ship the pick ticket after it was created this is the quickest way to do so. 

TRX automatically populates most fields from the pick ticket; make sure to verify everything is accurate. You can enter a waybill number if applicable. We assume you are shipping the quantity entered in the pick ticket so adjust any quantities for items that are not being fully shipped. When you are done press the lightning bolt to process the shipment. You are then presented with the choice to print packing slips. The items shipped have now been noted as issued to the project site in the material plan and have moved into WIP. 
Note: Issuing items to a job means shipped from inventory or posted directly to WIP through PO Receipts when Drop Ship or Consolidator orders 

Return Tickets

The "Return Ticket" button will create a return ticket intended to bring items that have been issued to the project site back into inventory. This is a two-step process like creating pick tickets as you must first create the return ticket and then receive the return ticket. Return tickets are received through the menu item P/A>Materials>Receive Returns.


Return Tickets share the same basic functionality as Pick Tickets. TRX automatically populates all header details so you should verify that all is accurate and enter any comments if applicable. All items that have been issued to the project are available to be included in the return ticket. You can use the "Select All" button or just double click the individual items you wish to return. Verify the quantities and number of boxes if you are tracking boxes. When finished press the "Complete" button. 

Plan Report

 The Plan Report displays all items in the project material plan and the quantities ordered, issued, and received. The number of boxes is displayed if using the box tracking feature and if the items are on a PO we display the PO number and date.