Because an Estimate might contain different components using the same material items, the Material list on an Estimate will often contain duplicates. To make the cascading transactions (PO, Stock. Etc.) easier, QuickEasy groups duplicate Material items under a Master item.
Unique items in the Material list (items which are not duplicated) attract the behaviour and properties of both the Master and Detail items. When reference is made to Master items, therefore, Unique items are included and likewise too when reference is made to Detail items.
When a Material is added to an Estimate, QuickEasy first checks to see if a group of the same item already exists and if so, the new item is linked to the existing Master item. If a group has not yet been created, the system checks to see if another identical item has already been added to the estimate and if so, a new Master item is created and the new item as well as the other Unique item is linked to the new Master item.
A colour indicator is used in the materials grid as well as in the materials detail form to identify material items as follows:
Blue - Master Item
Yellow - Detail Item
Green - Ungrouped item
You are able to filter the Material list to show Master items or Detail Items - both filters will also display Unique items. By default the Master items are displayed. When an item is added to the Estimate, however, the filter is changed to show Detail items.
Different fields may be edited on the Master items and on the Detail items. The Description, Cost, Minimum Qty and Round-up Quantity fields can be updated on the Master items. When these values are changed, they are are cascaded to the linked Detail items. The Quantity fields can in turn be updated on the Detail items which are then summed to the Master item. In addition, Detail items allow users to link Services and set whether items must display in the Quote Description.
The quantity on the Master item is summed from all the quantities on the linked Detail items and then the minimum quantity and the round-up quantity are applied. The quantity on the Master item can therefore differ to the sum of the quantity on all the Detail items. Likewise the total cost on the Master item may differ from the sum of totals on all the Detail items - especially when the Setup Cost is used. The Total Cost of Master items are added to the Estimate Totals.
Only Master items may be copied to cascading transactions.
Grouping of material items occur when the following fields are identical: MATUNITID, UNITID.
The following fields can be updated on Master items and are then cascaded to the Detail items: DESCRIPTION, CODE, SUPID, SUPREF, UNITCOST, COSTQTY, FIXEDCOST, ADJUSTPERCENT, ADJUSTMENT, ISADJUST. MINQTY, ROUNDUPQTY
The following fields can be updated on Detail items. These fields determine the Detail item Quantity which is then summed to the Master item. QTY_TYPEID, QTYFACTOR, QTYUP, SETUPQTY, SERVICETYPEID, SERVICEID, ISDESC
The field PARENTID controls the Master/Detail relationship - values are set as follows:
-1 = Unique item
0 = Master item
>0 = Detail item - ie. the value equals the value of QUOTEOUTID on the Parent item.