Product entry form

Product Entry Form

To open the Product entry form, click on Setup in the shortcut menu, then click on Lists, then click on Products.

The Product form allows you to create a list of products used in jobs. Each product can store prices for multiple vendors, and inventory count and cost for multiple storage locations.

Smart Contractor does not come with any products pre-defined. You must either enter these as they are needed in a job, or import them. Once you have imported or entered product records, they are available for use in all jobs.

The Product form allows you to update the prices of products used in jobs. Each product can have any number of different prices - one for each vendor.

Because there can be so many different products used in construction projects, Smart Contractor allows you to group products into any number of groups, and any number of levels of groups - just like products in a job estimate.

The Enter Products form consists of the job product selection box on the left side of the screen, and a "tabbed" box with prompts for product information on the right side of the screen.

The product selection box is discussed here.

Product Selection Box

The product selection box is on the left side of the screen. It allows you to...

Select a product to edit
Add a new product
Add a sub-product (under the current product)
Delete a product

To use the product selection box:

Select a product:

To select a product, click on the product in the list box on the left side of the form. You can also select products by pressing the arrow keys to move the highlight to the desired product.

When a product in the product selection box is selected, it becomes highlighted, and information about that product appears in the prompts on the right side of the screen (see below).

To Add A New product:

Click Add Item. Fill in the prompts on the right side of the screen. Then Click Save at the bottom of the screen. The new product will appear in the list directly below the previously selected product.

To Add A New Sub-product:

Click Sub-Item. The program will create a copy of the current product, indented beneath it. Change or add to the prompts on the right side of the screen. Then Click Save.

To Delete a product:

Highlight the product to be deleted and click Delete.

Note: You cannot delete a product if any of the following conditions are true:

The product (or any of its sub products) is on a change order.
The product (or any of its sub products) has been invoiced. a product has been invoiced if it appears in an invoice in the Invoice entry form.
The product (or any of its sub products) has been purchase ordered. a product has been purchase ordered if it appears in a purchase order in the Purchase Order entry form. Purchase Orders can be viewed in the Purchase Order Listing Report.
The product (or any of its sub products) has been purchased. a product has been purchased if it appears in a purchase transaction entered in the Purchase entry form. Purchases can be viewed in the Purchase Listing Report.

To expand a group product:

To expand a group product (make all of the sub-products visible), you can:

click on the group product name, or
click on the "+" to the left of the product name, or
highlight the product and press the right arrow key.

To expand all products:

Click Expand (or Alt-E) to display all of the products in all of the groups in the list box. Click Shrink (or Alt-H) to hide all of the products in all of the groups in the list box.

Note: The expanded state of all products in the list will be restored the next time you enter the job Edit Job Estimate form. The same expanded state of the product list is also restored in the Job Progress entry form. The Job Progress entry form can re-arrange the expanded state of products in the list, but it is not saved, so it does not affect the expanded state stored by the Job Estimate Information entry form.

To move products:

You can arrange the products in the list box in any order, and in any grouping, as follows.

You can move products using the arrow buttons to the right of the list box:

To move a product up, click the up arrow button.
To move a product down, click the down arrow button.
To move a product in one level, click the right arrow button.
To move a product out one level, click the left arrow button.

Or, you can move products using the arrow keys on the keyboard:

To move a product up, hold the Ctrl key and press the up arrow key.
To move a product down, hold the Ctrl key and press the down arrow key.
To move a product in one level, hold the Ctrl key and press the right arrow key.
To move a product out one level, hold the Ctrl key and press the left arrow key.

To save changes:

Click Save, or select another product. Changes are automatically saved when you select another product.

To cancel changes:

Click Cancel.

To exit the form:

Click Cancel (if any changes were made), then click Exit to close the job estimate form.

Product Info Tab

Product Name:

Enter the name of the Product. This should uniquely describe the product, including the manufacturer, so that if you need to enter the same product from another manufacturer, the name will be different. Also, the name should be descriptive enough to be used to order or purchase the product from a vendor. When you generate purchase orders, this is the name of the product that will appear on the purchase order. (The product description, entered below, will also appear on purchase orders.)

Product Group:

Select or enter the product's Product Group.

Manufacturer:

Select or enter the product's Manufacturer.

Code:

Enter the product's Code.

Product Notes:

Enter any notes regarding the Product. This can be used to additionally describe the product. When you generate purchase orders, these notes will appear in the purchase order as the Product Notes.

Disclaimer:

Enter any product disclaimer notes to appear in the printed proposal/contract with any estimate items that use this product.

Preferred Vendor:

Select or enter the preferred vendor for this product. This vendor will be used used as the default vendor for products that use this product (in the Edit Estimate form).

Update Job:

The Update Job prompt allows you to update estimated cost and lead time for job products with the current product and preferred vendor.

Select a job, and a preferred vendor. Then click OK.

The following information will be updated for all job products that use the current product:

The product vendor (if one has not been assigned in the Edit Job Estimate form).
The estimated product material cost.
The product count unit.
The order lead time.

Minumum Order Qty:

Enter the minumum quantity in which this product can be purchased.

Purchase Unit:

Enter the count unit in which the product will be purchased.

Estimate Unit:

Enter the count unit in which the product will be estimated. This will be used as the default estimated cost unit when you select this product for a estimate item in the Edit Estimate form.

1 Purchase Unit...

Enter the number of estimate units in 1 purchase unit. For example, if the Purchase Unit is "Case", and the Estimate Unit is "Each", and there are 10 Each's in a Case, then enter 10.

Material Markup:

Enter a material markup percent to override the default estimate item markup percent.

Percent Waste:

Enter the percent waste (in Purchase Units) associated with installing this product.

Materials that have waste associated with their installation include things like floor covering, ceramic tiles, etc. If you enter a waste percent, the program will estimate the correct amount of materials needed based on the dimensions of the area to be covered.

To make the program automatically calculate and add the waste amount, you must check the Prompt For % Waste: box in the Job Options form.

Minumum Labor:

Enter the minumum labor cost associated with installing this product.

The minumum labor cost can be entered in either hours or dollars. To enter minimum hour labor cost in hours, click the button to the right of the prompt until it says "hrs". To enter minimum hour labor cost in dollars, click the button to the right of the prompt until it says "$".

Min Labor Rate:

Enter the hourly labor rate (in dollars) associated with installing this product.

Note: The labor rate is used as the default labor rate (to calculate labor hours) when a vendor's labor cost per unit is pulled into a job estimate product.

Purchase Wholesale:

Check if this product is normally purchased wholesale. This will be used as the default setting of the Purchase Wholesale check box when you select this product for an estimate product in the Edit Estimate form.

Prices Tab

Enter the vendor's quoted prices and lead times. You can enter a separate price and lead time for each vendor.

Enter the vendor prices in estimate units. The program will automatically convert estimated count units to purchase units when you create a purchase order (in the Create Purchase Orders form).

When you select this product in an estimate, the program will insert the price for the vendor selected in the estimate item.

Inventory Tab

Enter the count (in estimate units) of any inventory of this product that you have stored in any warehouse locations. Warehouses are defined in the Edit Vendor/Sub form by setting the Vendor Type to "Warehouse".

Attachments Tab

The Attachments Tab contains a grid that allows you to store attachments to external documents that are associated with the current job.

The Attachments grid has the following columns:

Description

Enter a description of the external document file.

Attached Document

Displays the path to the external document file.

Click the "..." button to browse for, open, or delete the attachment.

Important: Files must be located in a "network share folder" in order to be accessible from all computers on a network! Please consult your network administrator for assistance with setting up network share folders.

Notes

Enter any notes for the attachment.