Maintaining Item Master Records
From the Main Menu, go to Distribution\Inventory\Maintenance\Inventory Items\Item Master
Item Master records are used by the Order Entry module, the Inventory module, and the Purchase Order module. The subsequent sections of this document will outline how to define item master records, vendors from which items are purchased, means by which inventory items can be stored, how to create inventory transactions and perform cycle counts.
Items can be manually inserted at the Item Master screen by first populating item number (traditionally the manufacturer's item number) as well as up to two descriptions, each 55 characters in length.
The Allow in Order Entry flag can be unchecked in the event that items become discontinued or obsolete.
List of Values are provided for Product Line, Category, and Type Codes – which subsequently drive revenue and cost account values. Product Line and Type code are used in the Item LookUp process within Order Entry and are important to maintain.
Checkbox values are provided for a variety of item characteristics. Most are for reporting purposes, with the exception of Service Item, Subcontract, and Recurring.
The Service Item flag is used to prevent the creation of purchase order records for items that are labor or service related. Service Items which also bear the Subcontract flag do get generated to purchase order from Order Entry.
The Recurring item flag is required in order for items to be available for selection on Recurring Contract records.
Other important fields when populating the item master manually are the Activity Type Code and Activity Number identification. These values are what link items sold on sales orders to the respective budget / cost buckets in which they will be captured in the Project Accounting module. Item records with the Service Item flag must be connected to the Activity Type code of Labor. Subcontracted Service Items can be connected to the Activity Type Code of Expense. All other standard material items will be associated to the Material Activity Type Code.
A standard Unit of Measure is required at the Item Master. In most cases, this is simply EA for Each but could be supplemented with other values.
The Hours Needed field is used to define the number of installation hours required by the item, and this value is then used within the order entry module to total the number of installation hours required for the entire order.
The List Price field can also be populated if the Manufacturer has assigned a List Price to the item. List Pricing can be used for sales order pricing rules within Order Entry.
