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 quantities 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 Adjustment 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.
Item Obsolete vs Inactive
Item Obsolete lets you set an item as discontinued. Inactive is lets you pause the item.
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.
Items Search
Items Search lets you find items, by any field, add columns to view, and make changes.
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
Items Find vs Filter
Items Search shows a Find Dialog and has Filters above each column on the results list.
The goal is to find exactly what you need just like shopping online. Find all Sale items. Filter to my size, color. Except that it is much faster and there are more filter options.
You know your inventory and need a way to find and filter by certail details as needed.
Warehouse Quantities
Warehouse Quantites lets you search stock at multiple locations just like Items Search.
If you don't see the Whse Qtys button on Items toolbar you are not using Warehouses.
Item Materials
Item Materials let you select built item components, subassemblies, and raw materials.
To make kits, create subassemblies, sell bundles, or repackage bulk product, use BOM. Bill of Materials let you choose all Components that make your Built or Bundle Items.
Item Purchases
Item Purchases lets you change cost on a Purchase Order or Bill and save the new cost.
When you add an item to a PO it fills in the Item Cost for you. If you change this cost a dialog will ask if you want to save the new cost. Say, Yes, if this the new Item Cost.
If you are entering a one-time cost for a special order say No to keep its old Item Cost.