Specifying in Design Manager refers to the entering of information about the materials that will be used in your client’s project. At the time that you begin specifying, you may not know all of the details about these materials. For example, you may know that a custom sofa you intend to use on this project will require a certain number of yards of fabric. You may also know the vendor you intend to use. But you may not yet know the specific fabric that will be used. It is not necessary to enter all of the information about the sofa at the same time. In our example you can enter the yardage and the intended vendor. The specific fabric may be entered later when the client has made a final decision. If you should decide to use a different vendor for this fabric, you may also change the vendor. From this example you can see that entering of specifications is a dynamic process.
After setting up the project in the computer, which was done under Project Setup in the previous section, you can begin entering the specification information. This information is broken into two areas. The first area consists of project items which will be proposed and later invoiced to the client. The second area consists of project components, which will be purchased from vendors to create the items that will be sold to the client. We will look at each of these areas in detail.
From the main Design Manager window, begin by clicking on the word Project at the top of the window. From the menu that drops down, choose projects. A list will appear showing all of the projects that have been defined in the system, and your project should be among them. Highlight your project by clicking on it one time and then Click on the items button at the bottom of the window. A new window, titled specifications, will appear. The specifications window will list all of the items that are to be proposed or sold to your client for this project. When you first begin, this list will be blank. Click the Add button in the lower left of this window to create a new item in your
on the toolbar and entering the project code at the top of the window.
The Add button should be used to create a new item in the project, see Entering Project Items, below. The Inventory, Catalog, and Group buttons allow items to be added from you stock inventory, catalog list, or from a pre-defined group of items from both stock and the catalog. Each of these buttons is described in detail in the following sections of this manual. The Edit button can be used to make changes to the highlighted item on the grid and the Delete button will delete the highlighted item. The Store button stores the highlighted item into the item catalog. The Tree View tab displays the items in a hierarchy format.
At the top of the window there is a Show selection. This selection defaults to Active. Active means that the grid will display only items that are not marked inactive and not marked
completed. Items can be marked inactive by click on the box in the inactive column next to the item in the grid. Inactive items do not show on any reports or windows. Completed items are items that are completely billed and shipped to the client. Items can be marked complete by placing a check into the complete column next to the item. Completed items show on most reports but do not show as items that can be proposed, purchased, or billed. To display inactive or completed items, change the Show drop-down list to inactive or complete. Items can be made active again by un-checking the respective box next the item.
Inactive and completed items and well as the Tree View tab are describe in more detail at the end of this section.
Entering Project Items
When you click the Add button, a new window, titled Item, will appear. You will use this window to enter information about the merchandise that will be sold to the client. The information we enter here is what will be seen by the client on proposals and invoices. Begin by entering the
description of the item in the large white box in the upper left corner of this window. Always keep in mind that this description is what will be seen by your client. The symbols on the right side of this large white box may be used for special printing features such as underlining, bold print, and italics. You may also choose to have some of the printing appear in color if you have a color printer.
There are several optional boxes to the right of this large description area. Use the Location box if you would like to assign this merchandise to a particular room or area of the building. To see which locations are available, simply place the cursor in the Location box and click the binoculars in the lower left area of this window. If the list of choices is blank, or if your choice does not appear on the list, you may add it at this time by clicking the Add button. The list of locations you are viewing will apply to this project only. You may view a company wide list by clicking on the Global List button at the bottom of your list of choices.
On the item window a quantity may be entered in the Quantity box if appropriate, and a unit of measure may also be entered into the Units box.
The Sales Category box is used if you would like to organize your sales into various types, such as furniture, antiques, wall covering, case goods, etc. Again, you may choose the sales category from the list of possibilities by placing the cursor and the Sales Category box and clicking the binoculars in the lower left area of this window. Keep in mind that these boxes we have been discussing are optional and they may all be left blank if desired. If you always want to specify a sales category there is a setting in the company advanced settings you can use. It will force you to enter a sales category before you save the item (see Company Information).
If you have Groups selected in the company information you will also have a Group field displayed (see the section on groups).
The purchase order component grid appears next and is used to list the materials and
components that must be purchased to create the item we are entering. We will describe its use shortly.
The Deposit % box in the lower left portion of this window will have been filled in by the computer based upon the information that you entered when defining the project. At the time that you defined the project you indicated a default deposit percent that the computer should assume. That default percent automatically appears in the Deposit % box. If you choose to request a different deposit percent for this item for some special reason, simply type the percent you would like to receive into this box. If you would like to request a specific dollar amount as deposit rather than a specific percentage, you may type the dollar amount in the Deposit Amount box just to the right of the Deposit % box. The Total Estimated Cost box, which is the amount you expect to be charged by the vendor, will be filled in by the computer as you enter information about purchasing this merchandise. If you are not ready to enter the purchasing information but would still like to see an estimated cost, you may enter the cost directly into this box now. Similarly, the total estimated price will be filled in by the computer as you enter purchasing information. If you are not ready to enter purchasing information, but would like to prepare a proposal, you may enter the
selling price to the client directly into this box. If you are opting not to enter purchasing details at this time, you may simply click the OK button and at the bottom of the window to add this item to the project.
If you have purchasing information and are ready to enter it into the computer at this time, then you may do so by clicking the Add button to the right of the purchase order components grid. The Component window will appear. You will use this window to enter information that is only seen by the vendor (the client will not be able to view component information). Often items are made up of many components and you can associate up to 999 separate components to make up one client item. Each component can have a different vendor and PO.
In many cases the information seen by the client will be the same as the information that is seen by the vendor. The computer attempts to help speed your input in these cases by automatically showing the client’s description in the PO Description box in the upper left corner of the
Component window. If this description is sufficient for the vendor then you need do nothing more. If, however, you would like to include more detailed information in this description, such as Part # or special instructions, you should type it in now. Remember that everything you type here will not be seen by the client.
A box entitled Type will be found to the right of the purchase order description. You can see a list of the various types of components that are available by clicking on the down facing arrow to the right of this box. In many states there are different sales tax rates for these various component types. One reason for selecting a component type is to indicate to the computer whether or not that component is taxable and if so at what sales tax rate. Another reason to use the different Types is that they will be listed on the PO and many reports so you can keep track of things such as freight, installation and time. Also when you set up your sales categories the revenue and costs on each type may be set to go to different G/L accounts for financial reporting. If you are not sure what to choose, simply leave the component set for merchandise. See the reference
manual for more specific information on component types.
If you have determined the vendor you will use to purchase this merchandise than you can put the code of that vendor in the box titled Vendor. If you cannot remember the code of the vendor that you would like to use, you may click the binoculars in the lower left hand corner of this window to search through the list of vendors in your computer. If the vendor you would like to use is not on the list, then you may add it to the list at this time by clicking the add button at the bottom of the vendor search window. The computer will have chosen a ship to destination based on the defaults that you have entered into the project when you set it up. Look at the information
in the Ship To box and be sure that this is the location that you would like the merchandise shipped to from the vendor. If it is not, simply enter the code of the desired destination. Once again, you may search the list of destinations if you are unable to remember the code of the destination you would like to use. The % Type box is used to indicate whether this component will be priced to the client by marking it up from your cost, discounting it from list, or considering it a fee. The entry that you initially see in this box will come from your project defaults. You may select a different choice for this particular component if so desired. We will discuss the terms box a bit later. The taxable box, of course, indicates whether or not this component is taxable to the client. The initial value comes from the project the faults, but may be changed here at any time. The Vendor Deposit % box is used to hold with the percent that the vendor will typically require of you when you place your purchase order for this merchandise. The computer will default this value from the information in the vendor record. The Manufacturer’s Catalog box is used to hold a catalog number if such a number is necessary on the purchase order.
There are three methods of entering cost information, which will be used by the computer to help you calculate the selling price to your client as well as to indicate your cost when the purchase order is printed. The first of these methods will be used when the % Type box is set to "mark up". In this case you will see on the left hand side of the window a box titled markup percent. The computer intends to take your cost from the vendor and mark it up by this percentage to obtain a selling price to the client. Enter your unit cost in the Cost/Pricing area of the window. Next enter the quantity that you are ordering. The computer will calculate an extended cost, markup
amount, and selling price based on the markup percent. The second method is used when the % Type box is set to "discount". In this case you will see on the left hand side of the window a box titled Discount %. The computer intends to calculate the selling price to your client buy with lowering the list price that you enter by this percentage. You will need to enter a unit cost and also a unit list price. The computer will calculate your extended cost for the purchase order and also the selling price and a discount dollar amount for the client. The third method is used when the % Type box is set to "fee". In this case you will see on the left hand side of the window the box titled Fee %. This setting indicates that you will not be charging the client for the
merchandise itself, but are simply charging your client a fee for locating the merchandise. You will enter a unit base cost, which is the amount that your client will pay to the vendor, and the computer will calculate your fee based on the percentage in the Fee % box. The fee itself will be shown in the box titled Sell Price. Remember that if the % Type box is set to "Fee" then you will not be purchasing the merchandise for the client. You will only be charging the client a % of the merchandise cost usually as a design fee.
If the % Type box is set to use "markup" or "discount", you may wish to take advantage of a built in calculation for finding your cost. When either of these two selections is chosen you will be allowed to put a checkmark in the box to the right titled Terms. When the terms box is checked you will see three additional boxes appear in the Cost/Pricing area. These boxes are to be used to calculate your cost by taking a discount from unit list. These discounts are normally indicated using one, two, or three numbers. An example with be a vendor giving you terms of 50, 10 and 10. These terms mean that you would find your cost for the merchandise by taking the list price and reducing it by 50 percent. The result of that calculation is then reduced by ten percent. This result is then reduced ten percent more. This unwieldy the calculation is done for you
automatically by simply entering the figures into the three boxes and putting the list price in the Unit List box. These buying terms can be entered into the vendor record to make using them even easier. In this case when the Terms box is checked the computer with will look up the three discount percentages for you in the vendor record and show them automatically.
Sometimes additional charges will be incurred in respect to a particular component. Usually these charges are not known at the time of purchase, but in some cases they are or estimated amounts may be known. The most typical example would be a freight charge and design fee. At the bottom of the component window you will find room to include two of these additional
charges. You will be required to select the type of charge from the drop down list. Once the type of charge is selected, you may also enter the cost you expect to be charged along with any markup to the client. The computer will then calculate the additional charge to the client for this additional cost. Should you find it necessary to add more than two charges, you can click the More button in the lower right portion of the window to enter two additional charges for a total of four.
At this point you will have entered all of the purchasing information required to make a purchase order for this particular component. Click the OK button at the bottom of the window to record this component in your project. You may then click the add button again to enter any additional components for this item. Keep in mind the fact that it is not necessary to enter all of this
information at the same time. You may come back and fill in additional information as it becomes available.
Next to the price is a small lock button. This button can be used when the cost needs to be changed but you do not wish to change the price to the client. This button will “lock in” the sell price so that changes to the cost become independent of changes to the price as in a mark-up cost situation. This is the same as putting the component into discount mode with a zero