How to Manage Project Stock

Overview

Manage your stockClosed US: Inventory. Materials currently in your storage devices. Not to be confused with the catalogue. for each individual cost centre in a project in the Stock tab. You can view and adjust materials still required, materials in stock, and materials already assigned. You can also manually add items from stock and view and create purchase orders.

To learn about viewing materials and creating purchase orders for multiple cost centres, see Create a purchase order from the Project Overview tab.

In order to view content or perform actions referred to in this article you need to have the appropriate permissions enabled in your security group. Go to System A screenshot of a schedule icon with a grey calendar icon and an arrow. > Setup > Security Groups and access your security group to update your permissions. The relevant security group tab and specific permissions for this article can be found here:

Assign and Transfer Stock

Orders

Before performing the steps detailed below, ensure that this part of your build is set up correctly. The relevant steps to set up the features and workflows detailed in this article can be found here:

How to Manage Stock

Stock items are assigned to individual cost centres. To manage your stock, go to the Stock tab within the cost centre.

Learn more about the difference between assigned stock and billable items in How to Manage Allocated Materials in Simpro Mobile.

In the All sub-tab, view a list of all materials associated with the cost centre, including materials still required, assigned materials, and materials on order.

Name Click the name to open the catalogue item.
Required This is the quantity of this item added in the Parts & Labour tab of the cost centre.
Assigned

This is the quantity of this item that has been assigned from stock, or ordered to the cost centre. The value in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered but not yet receipted.
Needed

This is the difference between the Required and Assigned quantities.

If the Required quantity is greater than the Assigned quantity, this value is red. If the Assigned quantity is equal to or greater than the Required quantity, this value is green.
Value This is the total value of the assigned stock. The number in brackets is the value of the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Stored at

This is the storage device where the item is located.

If the item is not in stock but has been ordered, this displays the storage device selected on the order. If the item has not been ordered and is not in stock, this is blank.
In Stock This is the quantity of item currently available in a storage device. The number in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Move Difference To

This is the storage device that assigned stock moves to if removed from the job.

To change the storage device, click the name and select a different storage device.
Assigned

To assign stock:

  1. Enter a value to assign to the cost centre. Alternatively, click the up arrow to assign more stock, or click the down arrow to remove stock.
  2. Click Update Materials to update the Assigned column in the table.
  3. Click Save and Finish > Save.

To search for specific items in the list, you can:

  • Select a Storage Location to search for items in a specific storage device.
  • Enter keywords in the Search field.
  • Select Exact Match to match your keywords exactly.
  • Select Only Show Job Materials in Stock to only include items that are in stock.

Finally, click Search.

To remove all billable items and only bill materials currently assigned to the job, click Rebill Materials > OK.

The Rebill Materials button only appear if you have at least one item assigned and at least one item unassigned.

In the All sub-tab and the Required sub-tab, you can automatically assign any required items from a storage device.

  1. Under Auto Assign Stock, select a Storage Device.
  2. Click Apply.
  3. If the selected storage device has any items still needed in stock, those items are assigned.
    • For example, if the item has 12 in the Needed column, and the storage device has 11 in stock, those 11 items are assigned and the Needed column is updated to one.

The Required sub-tab displays a list of materials that have been added to the Parts & Labour tab, but not yet assigned from stock.

Name Click the name to open the catalogue item.
Required This is the quantity of this item added in the Parts & Labour tab of the cost centre.
Assigned

This is the quantity of this item that has been assigned from stock, or ordered to the cost centre. The value in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered but not yet receipted.
Needed

This is the difference between the Required and Assigned quantities.

If the Required quantity is greater than the Assigned quantity, this value is red. If the Assigned quantity is equal to or greater than the Required quantity, this value is green.
Value This is the total value of the assigned stock. The number in brackets is the value of the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Stored at

This is the storage device where the item is located.

If the item is not in stock but has been ordered, this displays the storage device selected on the order. If the item has not been ordered and is not in stock, this is blank.
In Stock This is the quantity of item currently available in a storage device. The number in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Move Difference To

This is the storage device that assigned stock moves to if removed from the job.

To change the storage device, click the name and select a different storage device.
Assigned

To assign stock:

  1. Enter a value to assign to the cost centre. Alternatively, click the up arrow to assign more stock, or click the down arrow to remove stock.
  2. Click Update Materials to update the Assigned column in the table.
  3. Click Save and Finish > Save.

To search for specific items in the list, you can:

  • Select a Storage Location to search for items in a specific storage device.
  • Enter keywords in the Search field.
  • Select Exact Match to match your keywords exactly.
  • Select Only Show Job Materials in Stock to only include items that are in stock.

Finally, click Search.

To remove all billable items and only bill materials currently assigned to the job, click Rebill Materials > OK.

The Rebill Materials button only appear if you have at least one item assigned and at least one item unassigned.

In the All sub-tab and the Required sub-tab, you can automatically assign any required items from a storage device.

  1. Under Auto Assign Stock, select a Storage Device.
  2. Click Apply.
  3. If the selected storage device has any items still needed in stock, those items are assigned.
    • For example, if the item has 12 in the Needed column, and the storage device has 11 in stock, those 11 items are assigned and the Needed column is updated to one.

The Allocated sub-tab displays a list of materials that have been assigned from stock, regardless of whether they were added in the Parts & Labour tab.

Name Click the name to open the catalogue item.
Required This is the quantity of this item added in the Parts & Labour tab of the cost centre.
Assigned

This is the quantity of this item that has been assigned from stock, or ordered to the cost centre. The value in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered but not yet receipted.
Needed

This is the difference between the Required and Assigned quantities.

If the Required quantity is greater than the Assigned quantity, this value is red. If the Assigned quantity is equal to or greater than the Required quantity, this value is green.
Value This is the total value of the assigned stock. The number in brackets is the value of the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Stored at

This is the storage device where the item is located.

If the item is not in stock but has been ordered, this displays the storage device selected on the order. If the item has not been ordered and is not in stock, this is blank.
In Stock This is the quantity of item currently available in a storage device. The number in brackets is the quantity that has been ordered, but not yet receipted.
Move Difference To

This is the storage device that assigned stock moves to if removed from the job.

To change the storage device, click the name and select a different storage device.
Assigned

To assign stock:

  1. Enter a value to assign to the cost centre. Alternatively, click the up arrow to assign more stock, or click the down arrow to remove stock.
  2. Click Update Materials to update the Assigned column in the table.
  3. Click Save and Finish > Save.

To search for specific items in the list, you can:

  • Select a Storage Location to search for items in a specific storage device.
  • Enter keywords in the Search field.
  • Select Exact Match to match your keywords exactly.
  • Select Only Show Job Materials in Stock to only include items that are in stock.

Finally, click Search.

To remove all billable items and only bill materials currently assigned to the job, click Rebill Materials > OK.

The Rebill Materials button only appear if you have at least one item assigned and at least one item unassigned.

The In Stock tab is where you can view all items currently in stock, and assign them to the cost centre.

To assign a stock item:

  1. Go to the In Stock sub-tab.
  2. Use the search bar to find the item. Alternatively, click through the groups.
  3. Enter the quantity of items you wish to assign. You can only assign up to the quantity that is currently in stock.
  4. Click Add Items.
  5. To view what you have just assigned, go to the Allocated sub-tab.
  6. Click Save and Finish > Save.

Items assigned from stock are automatically added to parts and labour. If the cost centre is locked with price and items, they are added as non-billable parts.

Remove items from a job if an excess of items has been assigned. For example if a 200 metre roll of wire was ordered for a job, but only a portion of the wire was used, unassign the excess to ensure it is kept in the correct storage device for future use.

To unassign stock:

  1. In the job, go to the Cost Centre List, open the relevant cost centre and click Stock.
  2. In the Move Difference To column click on the storage device name to select a different storage device to assign excess stock to.
  3. In the Assigned column update the quantity of the item so that only the amount used is entered.
  4. Click Update Materials.

Note that updating the assigned quantity of stock does not update the billable quantity added to the job. You may wish to retain the billable quantity of items added to the job, despite unassigning stock. If there are fewer items assigned from stock than there are added as billable, the difference in quantity is displayed in the Required column. Alternatively, if the billable quantity should match the assigned quantity click Parts & Labour to access the Billable items and update the quantity as required.

To order materials for a specific cost centre, you can Create purchase orders from the Stock tab within the cost centre.

To order materials for multiple cost centres, you can Create purchase orders from the Project Overview. Learn more about the project overview in How to Use the Project Overview in Jobs.

To order materials for a specific cost centre:

  1. Access the cost centre.
  2. Go to Stock > Order.
  3. To automatically add all items that are still required, select Stock Still Required.
  4. Select the Purchasing Stage if required. Learn more in How to Set Up Purchasing Stages.
  5. Select if you want Purchase Prices to be Based on Supplier or Based on Job.
    • Purchase orders based on supplier reference the supplier price listed in the catalogue item. Purchase orders based on job reference the price displayed in Parts & Labour > Parts in the cost centre.
  6. If you use multiple currencies, select the Purchase Currency.
  7. Click Create Purchase Order.
  8. Continue creating the purchase order as normal. Learn more in How to Create a Purchase Order.

To order materials for multiple cost centres at once:

  1. Access the project job and go to Project Overview > Materials.
  2. Select the check boxes for the cost centres you want to include. All items within these cost centres are included in the purchase order.
    • Alternatively, select Select All to include all cost centres.
  3. Select the Purchasing Stage if required. Learn more in How to Set Up Purchasing Stages.
  4. Select if you want Purchase Prices to be Based on Supplier or Based on Job.
    • Purchase orders based on supplier reference the supplier price listed in the catalogue item. Purchase orders based on job reference the price displayed in the cost centre parts table.
  5. If you use multiple currencies, select the Purchase Currency.
  6. Click Create Purchase Order.
  7. Continue creating the purchase order as normal. Learn more in How to Create a Purchase Order.

To view purchase orders raised for a cost centre, access the cost centre and go to Stock > Order.

To view purchase orders raised for all cost centres, go to Project Overview > Orders.