Chapter 5 Item
Item lets you manage products you sell, materials you buy, and everything in between.
Inventoried items keep counts and costs and automate their accounting. Built items are kits or bom's, and automate cost, allocating or purchasing components, and much more.
Items Search lets you Find items, Add columns to view, Update many at once, and see what is Available to sell, Needed to purchase, and ready for Orders to help fulfillment.
Item Automation
Item Automation includes automatic accounting, costing, inventory tracking, and more.
Accounting is created automatically in real time so you are always in balance, trued up. When you save an invoice it is added to sales, subtracted from inventory, and balanced.
Items and their costs and quanties are also updated in real time so you can see results. When you save invoices it reduces inventory, fills order, triggers reordering, and more.
Item Cost
Item Cost shows cost of an item, is used on PO's, and is used to calculate replacement.
When you create a new Purchase Order (PO) and add an item its Item Cost is filled in. If you sell into negative quantities, Item Cost is used to estimate the replacement cost.
When you change Cost on PO, BigBusiness will ask if you want to change Item Cost. Yes, only if this is new cost for your primary vendor. No, if it is just a one-time cost.
Built Item Cost
Item Cost for Built Items is automatically updated as sum of the costs of components.
When the Item Costs of components change, or the components in the bill of materials change, the Item Cost of built items are updated to the sum of costs of its components.
The Last Cost Update Date is set to today's date for every item changed so you know. Go to Items Search and find Last Cost Update Date is today or Add (+) it as a column.
Inventory Costs
Inventory Costs are tracked coming and going to keep your accounting and inventory.
Item Cost is filled in on PO's and used if an item runs out. It is the cost for new items.
Average Cost is the value of items you have in stock based on the costs of those items.
Item Comments
Item Comments help you record Serial Numbers, Lot Numbers or other item specifics. Prefs let you automatically fill in Detail Descriptions, Vendor Part Numbers and more.
On an Item Adjustment, also used for a Build, you may want to record Lot or Batch #. Then, use Item Comment in the Find Dialog in Item Adjustments Search to bring it up.
For Serial Numbers, UPC's, or other barcodes you can scan into Comments as needed. You can also scan into Item Code and have it lookup your item from the barcode scan.
Item Comments on Item Adjustments can be:
• entered by typing or scanning into the Comments column
• entered, edited, spell-checked on the Comments window
• searched in the Item Adjustment Search
• exported from the Item Adjustement by clicking Export and choosing the Include Detail
• imported using the Item Adjustment Import
Item Adjustment
Item Adjustment lets you change item quantities or build items from component items.
If you need to adjust for missing damaged or inventory shrinkage use Item Adjustment. Enter the Item and the Adjust or New Qty and use Avg Cost and Category pre-loaded.
If you need to build an item from components enter the Item in your Item Adjustment. A dialog will ask how many to build. Enter a number and it will fill in the Components.
Item ETA's
Item ETA's let you know the next estimated time of arrival based on your PO's entries.
On a Purchase Order, BigBusiness helps you estimate ETA's using Vendor ETA Days. You may also set individual PO Line Item ETA's based on feedback from your vendor.
At a glance,you know the next date a shipment is expected, and if you need more detail you can Show, Allocated to see a list of Orders by Ship Date and PO's by your ETA's.
BB tracks several ETA dates including:
• P.O. ETA - the ETA of the Purchase Order as a whole
• P.O. Line Item ETAs- the ETAs of Line Items on the Purchase Order
• Item ETA - the ETA of the Item as a whole (next expected shipment)
• S.O.. Line Item ETAs - the ETAs of Line Items on the Sales Order
1. When you create a new Purchase Order (and select the Vendor), Big Business sets the PO Date to Today (using the Date&Time on the Server for Multi-User), then sets the P.O. ETA to Today plus the number of Vendor ETA Days listed on the Vendor Card.
2. P.O. Line Item ETAs are set to the P.O. ETA automatically and can be overwritten with individual ETAs (if these vary for various Line Items).
3. If you change the P.O. ETA, you will be asked if you want to "Change the ETAs of all Line Items?".
4. When a PO is Saved, Modified, or filled by a Bill, the Item ETA is updated to the next (chronological) P.O. Line Item ETA, which has an Open Quantity (is not yet filled).
5. When an Line Item is entered on a Sales Order the S.O.. Line Item ETA is automatically set to:
- today if it's (inventoried) On Hand
- the Item ETA if it's not on hand, but on order
- Today plus Vendor ETA days if it neither on hand, nor on order, but has a Vendor listed
- today if none of the above apply
Item Labels
Item Labels let you print price labels, barcode labels, and allocation tags for each item.
Big Business designates labels in physical dimensions and references Avery(R) label numbers to help you easily select compatible labels from the many standardized sizes available.
Big Business prints Price Labels for Items using a standard 30 label per sheet layout. Price Labels can be printed from:
• Vendor Bills
• Item Cards
• Item QuickSearch
To Print Price Labels:
1. Find the Item Card or QuickSearch the Items for which you want to print Price Labels.
2. Click Print and select the Price Labels with the appropriate Price Level.
3. Click the OK button, then enter the number of labels for each Item and the position of the beginning label.
Big Business includes the ability to print on a previously used sheet of labels to assure that no labels go to waste. Always check that the labels you are using are compatible with your printer. Check your printer documentation for any warnings about printing labels or printing on partially used sheet of labels. Missing labels, high temperatures and a convoluted paper path increase the risk of a label detaching from its sheet while printing, which may cause serious damage to your printer.
Inventoried Items Prompt for Cost
Selling (or Building from ) Items which are Inventoried which have a negative Quantity on Hand uses the Cost, rather than the Average Cost, for any postings. If this value is zero when it should be a positive dollar amount, Inventory valuations and Cost of Goods Sold numbers may be out of balance until the Item is purchased and its Quantity on Hand restored to a zero or positive value.
Big Business 2.5 continues to allow you to overdraw your inventory (Invoice an Item prior to entering the Vendor Bill for the Item) and incorporates numerous new features to prevent anticipated problems. (3210)
When saving a Sold, Inventoried Item in Big Business 2.5, you may encounter the dialogue, "Big Business recommends that Items which are Sold and Inventoried have a nonzero cost." Big Business is asking you to provide the anticipated Cost of the next unit to be purchased. In the event that you sell this Item into a negative Quantity on Hand, this Cost will be used for the Cost of Goods Sold posting.
Under normal circumstances, you will purchase this Item before selling it. When you create a Purchase Order or Vendor Bill, Big Business will ask if you would like to update the Cost of the Item. The Cost field, found on the History tab of the Item Card can be thought of as your expected price for your next purchase. If you purchase the Item after selling it, Big Business will make a correction, if necessary, to your Cost of Goods Sold Category.
Once updated, the Cost will automatically be filled in on new Purchase Orders and Vendor Bills. If you a receiving a special pricing on one Purchase Order or Vendor Bill, you might choose not to update the Cost of the Item. In general, you will want to keep your Costs updated.
If the Item in question is Inventoried but has no dollar value, simply click, "Leave Cost Zero," when saving the Item.
Item Batch Delete
The ability to delete unused Items en masse has long been requested by Big Business Users who generate numerous Quotes. Many companies want to be able to Quote from an imported catalog of Items. In the end, they may only end up selling a fraction of the Items they imported for Quotes.
The Items that are sold contain historical transaction information and can not be deleted. The Items that have only been used in Quotes can be deleted by first deleting the expired Quotes, then the Item Card.
Item Batch Delete (and Quote Batch Delete) facilitate this process.
In the picture above is the dialog for the Batch Delete, but notice also the Item List behind. The Batch Delete has already been run on the entire list, leaving the 65 Items that contain transaction histories. All other Items were deleted. (3126)
Big Business 2.5 allows you to Batch Delete Item Cards which have no transaction history. Because this Delete is permanent, you should exercise proper caution in its use. Items which have been used in any transaction cannot be deleted. Refer to the section on Employee Access Privileges for restricting Access to the Batch Delete tool. You may also want to Back Up your Company data file, or export the selection of Item Cards you are attempting to Delete, prior to deleting them.
To Batch Delete Items, using the Item QuickSearch:
1. Find the selection of Item Cards to Delete.
2. Click the Batch Delete tool to Delete all Item Cards in the current List.
Big Business will display a confirmation dialogue offering to Continue or Cancel.
3. Select Continue to attempt to permanently delete all Items in the List.
Big Business will provide you a list of those Items which could not be Deleted.
If you select one Item in the List and click Batch Delete, Big Business will display a dialogue with a choice of Deleting the selected Item, Deleting all Items in the List, or Canceling.
This feature is designed to clean up after erroneous imports of Items or if you have a number of Item Cards that were never used. In addition to Bills and Invoices, which display on the Item history; Quotes, Sales Orders, and Purchase Orders which include an Item will prevent its being Deleted, as will its being a component in a Built Item. You may use the Batch Delete tools for these transactions to eradicate an old Item.
Marking Items Obsolete
Big Business includes the option to mark Items as Obsolete. Marking an Item Obsolete removes several Item attributes including Bought, Sold, Inventoried, and the values in Order At Least, When Below, and Quantity Needed.
Once an Item has been marked Obsolete, it can no longer be added to any transaction (e.g. Invoice, PO, Item Adjustment). It is recommended that you wait to mark an Item Obsolete, until the possibility of a customer return, special order, or correction becomes unlikely.
If an Item has inventory values, clicking Obsolete will give an error, "You can only Obsolete Items for which all inventory totals are zero". (5538)
Big Business includes an Obsolete option on Item Cards with the following features:
• Testing to see if an Item can be marked Obsolete including checking that all inventory quantities (On Hand, On Order, etc.) are zero (0). Big Business also tests that the Total Cost is zero (0).
• Obsolete Items are suppressed from the Item Listing making them unavailable for buying and selling.
• Obsolete Items are included on reports and searches, and can be excluded using the Obsolete or other (Qty On Hand, etc.) search criteria.
• You can readily remove the Obsolete attribute of Items, to accommodate a return or similar situation, where the Item becomes active again.
To Locate and/or Remove the Obsolete attribute on an Item:
1. Use the Item QuickSearch to find the Item
2. Open the Item Card from the QuickSearch, by double-clicking or selecting the Item and clicking the Go button.
3. To remove the Obsolete attribute, click the Obsolete checkbox, so it is unchecked.
4. Save the Item Card by clicking the OK button.
5. Quit and Restart Big Business (single-user) or click the Update List button on the Item Listing (Big Business Client, only) to load the un-Obsoleted Item.
Update Items as Obsolete
Big Business 7 adds the option to Update Items as Obsolete. (6127)
Marking Items as Obsolete:
• tests that the Item can be marked Obsolete including checking that all inventory quantities (On Hand, On Order, etc.) are zero and Total Cost is zero
• suppresses Obsolete Items from the Item Listing
• includes Obsolete Items in reports and searches unless they are excluded using the Obsolete or other (Qty On Hand, etc.) search criteria
To Update Items as Obsolete:
1. On the Item toolbar, click Find Item and find Items you want to mark Obsolete.
2. On the resulting Item List window click Update.
3. In the Apply To Selection dialog choose Obsolete and Yes.
4. Click the OK button.
5. Click Continue on the confirmation dialog.
If there are Items in the selection that cannot be marked Obsolete, because they have quantities, the result list will tell you that some Items could not be Updated.
In other words, it is safe to attempt to Update Items as Obsolete. If they are not ready, they will not be marked Obsolete.
One approach to consider is to add a Tag to Items that you plan to mark as Obsolete once they are depleted. You can Add a Tag on the Folder tab of the Item Card, using the Update Item Import, or using the Update button on the Item List window as above. Then Find Items with the Tag in the first step above.
Adjust Preprinted Statements
Big Business uses Preprinted Statement forms from Deluxe, which must be correctly aligned. Settings in the Cusomer Prefs let you make an adjustment to the position of the printing (6171).
To Adjust Preprinted Statements:
1. Go to Customer Prefs
2. Go to the Bookkeeping tab
3. Enter the number of points to adjust Left or Up
For Right or Down enter a negative number.
Select Sales Tax on Invoice
Big Business lets you select the Sales Tax on an Invoice. This is convenient if Sales Tax on the Customer Card is different--for example an out-of-state customer who is normally exempt, purchases in person and needs to pay local sales tax rates. (6173)
Big Business lets you select the Sales Tax on an Invoice. When you enter a Customer on an Invoice, their addresses, Terms, and so on are copied from the Customer Card, including their Sales Tax.
To change the Sales Tax setting:
1. Click on the pulldown arrow in the Sales Tax label
2. Select a Sales Tax entry
The Tax will update using the new rate selected.
Item QuickSearch Fields
(3125)
There are 58 searchable fields for Items in Big Business. Use the Item QuickSearch to find items by:
Item Code Taxable Customer Listing on Order
Description 1 Item Type Customer Listing on Invoice
Description 2 Vendor Listing Vendor Listing on P.O.
Price Level 1 Vendor Part # Vendor Listing on Bill
Margin Level 1 Item Cost Note Title
Price Level 2 Average Cost Tag
Margin Level 2 Total Cost Custom 1
Price Level 3 Quantity on Hand Custom 2
Margin Level 3 Quantity Allocated Custom 3
Price Level 4 Quantity Available Custom 4
Margin Level 4 Last Bought Date Custom 5
Price Level 4 Last Sold Date Custom 6
Margin Level 5 Order at Least... Custom 7
Buy Item ...When Below Custom 8
Sell Item Qty on Order Custom 9
Inventory Item Qty Needed Custom 10
Obsolete Item ETA Date Custom 11
Expense Category Ship Weight Custom 12
Asset Category Build/Bundle Item
Cost of Goods Category Customer Listing on Quote
Item QuickChange Options
(3127)
There are 24 fields that can be changed on set of found Items in the Item QuickSearch using the QuickChange tool:
Vendor Part # Custom 1
Item Type Custom 2
Ship Weight Custom 3
Cost Custom 4
Price Level 1 Custom 5
Price Level 2 Custom 6
Price Level 3 Custom 7
Price Level 4 Custom 8
Price Level 5 Custom 9
Royalty Rate Custom 10
Royalty Amount Per Item Custom 11
Tags Custom 12
To use Item QuickChange:
1. Use Item QuickSearch to find the Items you wish to change.
2. Click the QuickChange tool.
3. Specify the field to change, and the information to be entered.
4. Click the OK button.
NOTE: There is no Undo option for QuickChange. Exercise caution in its use, that you do not write over valuable information
Building Items Prompts to Update Cost
Selling (or Building from ) Items which are Inventoried which have a negative Quantity on Hand uses the Cost, rather than the Average Cost, for any postings. If this value is zero when it should be a positive dollar amount, Inventory valuations and Cost of Goods Sold numbers may be out of balance until the Item is purchased and its Quantity on Hand restored to a zero or positive value.
Big Business 2.5 continues to allow you to overdraw your inventory (Invoice an Item prior to entering the Vendor Bill for the Item) and incorporates numerous new features to prevent anticipated problems. (3219)
When Building an Item in Big Business 2.5, you may encounter the dialogue, "Would you like to update the cost of the built item on the item card?". Big Business is asking you to update the anticipated Cost of future units of this Built Item. In the event that you sell this Item into a negative Quantity on Hand this Cost will be used for the Cost of Goods Sold posting.
Under normal circumstances, you will maintain a positive Quantity on Hand for this Built Item. When you create a Purchase Order or Vendor Bill for this Item's components, Big Business will ask if you would like to update the Cost of the the component Items. By accepting all Cost updates, you maintain the most accurate picture of your Cost of Items.
See other entries in this section, for information on Warning or Preventing the sale of Items into negative Quantities on Hand.
Correcting Item Average Costs
(3220)
Big Business 2.5 incorporates numerous improvements to prevent problems caused by selling Items into negative Quantities on Hand. In short, all known problems with Average Cost in previous versions of Big Business reduce to the problem of selling an Item before its correct Cost is known.
Defining Royalty Terms for Items
Defining Royalty Terms for Items
Big Business Version 2.0 lets you define royalty or licensing fees for items you sell. You can define the terms as a percentage of the sales price or as a fixed amount per item sold.
You can find out how much you owe in royalty fees by generating a Royalty Report in the Info Center. For more information about reports, see “Using Reports” in Chapter 8 of the Big Business User’s Guide.
To define royalty terms:
1. Click the History tab in an Item Card.
2. Choose either Royalty Percentage Rate or Royalty Amount per Item from the Royalty Percentage Rate Pop-Up list.
3. Enter the royalty percentage or amount. (3087)
Inventory Items Which You Never Stock
“I want my special order Items that are drop shipped to post directly to my Cost of Sales account, but I don’t want to Inventory this Item.”
In some instances, Items which would normally be inventoried (e.g. physical goods of value) may not need to be tracked as inventory. Check with your C.P.A.
(3165)
Items that you specify as Inventoried, by checking the Inventory checkbox on the Item tab of an Item Card, need to have an Asset Category and Cost of Goods Sold Category specified in the History tab of the Item Card. Items that are not Inventoried and do not have the Inventory checkbox checked, require only an expense account.
In the case of Items that you sell and then order for drop shipment directly to your customer, you may never actually stock the Item. You may find it easier to track these as non-inventoried Items which post directly to a Cost of Sales Account. Check with your C.P.A. to confirm that this method is acceptable. You may want to simply create one non-inventoried Item, which is Bought and Sold, as your Special Order Item. Check the Bought and Sold checkboxes, and on the History tab in the Expense Category select a Cost of Sales Category.
Keep in mind that by turning off Inventoried on an Item, you are turning off the ability to track Item Quantities. For Items that have a Quantity on Hand or a Total Cost, you cannot turn off Inventoried unless you zero these quantities using an Item Adjustment (or by selling your remaining stock).
Reporting Royalties
Big Business provides straightforward reporting of Royalties. This Solution outlines a few of the Settings that can be used to produce desired output. Additionally, suggestions are offered for extracting data from Big Business for more complex Royalty calculations. (3215)
Big Business reports Royalties for Items sold, based upon a Royalty Amount Per Item or a Royalty Percentage Rate.
• The Royalty Percentage Rate is applied to the Extended Price of each Item sold.
• The Royalty Amount Per Item is multiplied by the Quantity of each Item sold.
Items which use either method will appear on the same Royalty Report.
The ReportSearch for the Royalty Reports searches Invoices, allowing you to narrow the report.
To report Royalties over a date range:
1. Select Reports from the File menu.
2. Select Vendor from the Toolbar Pull-Down menu to view the Item Reports.
3. Select a Royalty Report (Summary or Detail).
4. Click the Print button (or Save to Disk to export the Report).
5. On the ReportSearch dialogue, select "Date is on or after..." and enter a start date.
6. Click More Choices and select "Date is on or before..." and enter an end date.
7. Click the OK button.
The Royalty Reports are sorted and summarized by the Vendor specified on the Item Card.
Defining Royalty Terms for Items
How do I define Royalties? Can I QuickChange Royalty Amounts or Percentages? (3230)
Big Business lets you define royalty or licensing fees for items you sell. You can define the terms as a percentage of the sales price or as a fixed amount per item sold.
To define royalty terms:
1. Click the History tab in an Item Card.
2. Choose either Royalty Percentage Rate or Royalty Amount per Item from the Royalty Percentage Rate Pop-Up list.
3. Enter the Royalty Percentage or Amount.
To apply a specific Royalty to a number of Item Cards at once, using the Item QuickSearch:
1. Find the Items to change.
2. Click the QuickChange tool.
3. Select Royalty Percentage Rate or Royalty Amount Per Item and enter the the value to be assigned to all Items in the current selection.
4. Click the OK button.
Adjusting Average Cost
Big Business calculates Item Costs on an Average Cost basis. This means that if you purchase an Item for $1.00 and purchase a second of the same Item for $2.00, your Total Cost for this Item will be $3.00. Average Cost is then calculated based on the Total Cost of the Item, divided by the Quantity on Hand. In this case, the Average Cost would be $1.50.
You may have problems with erroneous Item Average Costs if you sell into negative quantities. Since an Invoice will reduce you Inventory Asset Account and increase your Cost of Goods Sold Account, if you do not have the Item on hand, an incorrect value may be posted to these accounts, and to your Item Average Cost and Total Cost. For example, if you had zero widgets on hand, and last time you sold the Item, your Average Cost was $1.00, Big Business would use this last Average Cost. If you were to sell 10 widgets, you would now have -10 widgets on hand, at a Total Cost of -$10.00, and an Average Cost of $1.00. If you then purchased 11 widgets at $2.00 each, you would add $22.00 to the Total Cost, bringing the Total Cost up to $12.00. Because you now have 1 widget on hand, your new Average Cost will be $12.00.
If you are using Big Business 2.0.6 or above, when you enter your Bill for 11 widgets, Big Business will alert you that an Item Adjustment needs to be made in order to bring your Item Average Cost, Inventory Asset Account, and Cost of Goods Sold Account into line. This adjustment will occur if you click OK and continue to Save the Bill. Due to the nature of the Adjustments, the Bill will be permanently locked and cannot be modified or deleted at a later date.
Additionally, if you are using Big Business 2.0.7, you may encounter a bug which prevents your Item Total Cost and Average Cost from updating at the time that you sell into a negative Quantity on Hand. This will then cause the automatic adjustments that are made when saving a Bill for this Item to be incorrect.
Given the accounting ramifications of selling into negative quantities, and the potential problem created by the aforementioned bug, we recommend that you do not sell into negative quantities.
This Big Help document will describe in detail the steps involved in making Item Adjustments to correct for the incorrect Item Average and and Total Costs. If you continue to sell into negative quantities after making these adjustments, you are likely to continue to have problems with your Average and Total Cost values. (3052)
Begin by printing an Item Status Report, which will give you a list of all of your Inventory Items, along with Total Costs and Average Costs. Use this report to determine which Items have incorrect values and should be adjusted.
Before proceeding with Adjustments, verify the accuracy of the values you wish to adjust. Open the Item Card and recalculate the values of, in order, the Quantity on Hand, Total Cost, and Average Cost. To recalculate, hold down Shift-Option-Command (MAC) or Shift-Control-Alt (WIN) and click on the number to recalculate. At the “Big Business will now verify this value” prompt click Continue. If Big Business reports a difference, opt to change to the correct value. First recalculate QOH, then click the History Tab and recalculate Total Cost, then Average Cost. Now you have correct values with which to perform Item Adjustments. Be sure to close the Item Card so that these values are update and available for the Item Adjustment you will be performing.
Warning: Do not perform the recalculation if you have cleared transactions in previous periods. The calculated totals will not include cleared information.
Open the Item Adjustment tool and begin by setting the Date and Category correctly. The Date should be, if possible, in the month during which the error occurred, the objective being to post the Adjustments in the same reporting period as the error. The Category must be your Cost of Goods Sold Category for the Item. You will find the Cost of Goods Sold Category on the History Tab of the Item Card (most companies have only one COGS account).
Enter the Item on the first line of the Adjustment. If this is a Built Item, Big Business will ask if you want to Build or Adjust the Item. Select “Adjust.” Enter 0 (zero) in the New Qty column. Leave the “incorrect” Average Cost that is automatically entered in the Avg. Cost column. This line effectively zeroes out your Inventory offsetting to the Cost of Goods Account.
Add a second line to the Item Adjustment for the same Item. Enter the correct QOH into the Adjust column. The New Qty will be overstated since the first line of the Item Adjustment reducing QOH to zero has not yet posted. Ignore the New Qty column. Enter the correct Average Cost in the Avg. Cost column.
Save the Item Adjustment by clicking the OK button. If you open the Item Card, you will find the correct Quantity on Hand, Average Cost, and Total Cost. The Inventory Asset Account and Cost of Goods Sold Account have now been corrected for the net of errors caused by this Item. When all erroneous Items have been corrected, profitability on some Invoices will remain incorrect, but in the aggregate your Inventory Asset Account(s) and Cost of Goods Asset Account(s) will be corrected.