Object Manager - Services, Material, Expenses

Extras are objects that are not bookable in the Timelines, but that can be added directly to the Project, to a Booking, to a Media Order, or to a Project Work Order.

Materials can include tape stock and other consumables like CDs. Services and Expenses may include external costs such as lunches, hotel accommodation, taxis, couriers etc. 
There is a fine line in the definitions between Services and Expenses and in setting up the database perhaps the most important is that mark-ups can be added to Services, but not to Expenses.

There are three settings to consider:

• Allow Custom Materials: This setting is set to Yes by default. After setting it to No, it will not be possible anymore to create Custom Materials.
• Allow Custom Services: This setting is set to Yes by default. After setting it to No, it will not be possible anymore to create Custom Services.
• Allow Custom Expenses: This setting is set to Yes by default. After setting it to No, it will not be possible anymore to create Custom Expenses.

Materials

To create a new Material click on the green plus icon next to Materials. The Add New window will appear in which the required details can be defined.

• Name: Define the name of the Material.
  
  
• Buy/ Sell Rate: The cost of the Material to the company (Buy) and the cost of the Material to the client/customer (Sell).
  
  
• Tax: Tick the checkbox if the default tax defined in the Financial Tab of the Server Setup applies to this Material.
  
  
• Note: Any additional information for the Material.
  
  
• Icon: Click here to choose an icon for this Material.
  
  
• Media Format: Tick the checkbox if the Material format should also be available in the Media Library (licensed module).
  
  
• Stock: Enter how many pieces of this Material are currently in stock.
  
  
• Low Stock: On Enter the level at which the User is to be notified that the Material is becoming low on stock.
  
  
• Ref: Enter a reference ID for the Material, for accounts or Financial Reports purposes.
  
  
• Force Unit/ Units: The default unit name of a new Material is Unit/Units. Type here to add a new unit name, such as Tape/Tapes (the first field is for singular and the second for plural).
  
  
• Menu Group: This field allows to add the Material under a Menu Group. All Materials sharing the same Menu Group will be grouped under this Menu, in the Edit Project window and in the Timereport window. In the example below, a Card is selected from the Material drop-down menu, a second cascade menu displays all the options for this Material: Compact Flash Card (8 GB), Compact Flash Card (16 GB), etc.
  

Press OK to submit any additions or changes or Cancel to discard changes or the creation of a new Material.

Services and Expenses

The windows for Services and Expenses have similar fields. To create a new Service/ Expense click on the green plus icon next to Services or Expenses. The Add New window will appear in which the required details can be defined.

• Name: Define the name of the Service/Expense.
  
  
• Buy/ Sell Rate: The cost of the Service/Expense to the company (Buy) and the cost of the Service/ Expense to the client/ customer (Sell).
  
  
• Tax: Tick the checkbox if the default Tax defined in the Financial Tab of the Server Setup applies to this Service/ Expense.
  
  
• Note: Any additional information concerning the Service/ Expense.
  
  
• Icon: Click here to choose an icon for this Service/ Expense.
  
  
• Ref: Enter a reference ID for the Service/ Expense, for accounts or Financial Reports purposes.
  
  
• Markup (Services only): Markups are only available for Services. If a Markup is entered for a Service, it calculates the Sell rate from the Buy rate (x) times the Markup.
  If needed, enter the default percentage required for this Service here. But Markups can also be added manually to a Service when the Services is added to a Project, a Booking Timereport, a Media Order or a Project Work Order.
  
  As in the Courier example above, when a Courier costs needs to be added to the Project, just fill in the actual Courier's costs into the Buy Rate (in the example above it is empty) and the markup of 25% (as setup on the Object in the database) calculates the Sell Rate once you click on the grey square and confirm to use the default markup.
  
  

• Force Unit/ Units Name: The default unit name of a new Service/ Expense is Unit/ Units. Type here to add a new unit name, such as Tape/ Tapes (the first field is for singular and the second for plural).

In e.g. Budget module and print outs this shows as follows:

• Menu Group: This field allows to add the Service/ Expense under a Menu Group. All Services/ Expenses sharing the same Menu Group will be grouped under this Menu, in the Edit Project window and in the Timereport window. See the example of Menu Group for Materials.

Press OK to submit any additions or changes or Cancel to discard changes or the creation of a new Service/ Expense.

Editable Extra's Note

When adding Extras to the Timereport, the note added to an Object Custom field with label name "Timereport Note" will be copied to the Extra’s Note, and you will be able to edit it, see details

Use this option if you need to display some details about a Service, Material or Expense, and at the same time have this note available for editing when the Extra is added to a Booking.

Create an Object Custom Field with label name "Timereport Note" and apply the template containing this custom field to all of those Extras (Services, Materials and Expenses) for which you need to add some details or conditions etc.

When you add one of these Extras to the Timereport, this note will be copied over to the Extra's Note (accessed via the Extra's menu in the Timereport window > Edit), for you to amend if needed.