Introduction

The term “Master” is used to represent Products or Services that can be sold or purchased.  A Master can be designated as one of the following eight predefined types:

A	Serialized and uniquely identifiable resale inventory or fixed assets
Q	Non-serialized resale inventory measured by quantity
K	Containers for one or more A and Q type masters items that are often purchased and sold together
M	Non-inventory consumable materials or miscellaneous items
F	Shipping and handling
L	Internal to the company, and most commonly measured in hours
S	Labor that is external to the company
B	Mimics the behavior of M types but offers a distinct type to track budgetary amounts on projects

As Q360 manages Master Types in different ways, this document outlines best practices for assigning Types to Masters

 

Business Challenge

Understanding which Master Types should be allocated for specific Parts, Products and Services is essential for successfully working with Q360. This includes the following processes:

• Quoting and estimation
• Inventory control and Warehouse procedures
• Job Costing

 

Recommended Practice

A Type Masters for Serialized Equipment

• Tracking individual Equipment or Material Item by Serial Number is important for installation and servicing, especially for tracking Manufacturer warranty, recalls and traceability for scenarios such as inspections
• Value of the Equipment or Material Item is significant, ensuring it exceeds a threshold of your choice
• Shipped Materials need to be job costed at actual purchase cost, which can vary significantly between Projects
• Master represents an internal tracked Fixed Asset such as Vehicles

Q Type Masters for Equipment or Materials

• Tracking Items by Serial Number is not possible, cost-effective, or even desired. Instead, counting “how many” is the preferred approach
• Value of Equipment or Material Item is not significant, ensuring it is below a threshold of your choice
• Shipped Equipment or Material Item can safely be job costed using the up-to-date Average Cost of buying this Master across all jobs. This implies any special discounts negotiated for one job will be averaged with the running average cost of this Master. See table below for more details

M Type Masters for Miscellaneous Materials (e.g. cables, j-hooks)

• Counting Items is not possible, cost-effective, or desired
• The intent is to stock up on those Materials and use them on jobs without inventory control procedures in Q360
• You do not want Q360 to automatically handle the costing of consumable Materials on jobs, but you may want to manually apply costs to jobs

The following table outlines the recommended usage for the above Master Types:

Type	Quoting	Inventory	Job Costing
A	No partial quantities allowed	Multiple purchased items need to be individually serialized upon receiving. Tracked individually thereafter.	Actual purchase cost of individual equipment or material.
Q	No partial quantities allowed	No serialization required. Can receive multiple items in one shot.	Average cost of the master, irrespective of job-specific purchase cost. Note: Q360 can be made to use actual PO cost if you drop-ship your Q-types.
M	Partial quantities allowed	No inventory tracking	No automatic job costing

For more information on using M Type Masters to manage cables, see the best practice topic Wire Management for Inventory and Jobs

K Type Masters for containing multiple or bundled A and Q Type Masters (Kits)

• You may either assign K Type Masters a Cost or Price, or derive the Cost and Price from the individual Q and A Items themselves
• When used in estimation or on Projects, the system automatically adds the bundled Q and A Master Items
• Shipping and cost recognition are tracked on the Q and A level, in line with corresponding job costing rules as outlined above

M Type Masters for Service Contract related services

• Services offered as part of a time bound agreement, such as inspections or monitoring
• Any required purchasing related to a Service Contract should be M Type, except when it relates to physical Equipment or Materials

Also note:

• When adding an M Type Master as a Line Item to a Service Contract, ensure the Warr / Def Rev box is checked. Be sure to fully understand the impacts on Orders and Projects
• When adding an M Type Master for purchasing related to a Service Contract (e.g. 1-year manufacturer software upgrade), ensure the Special Order box is checked

F Type Masters for Freight and Shipping charges

• You may have one or more F Type Masters to represent different modes of Freight for jobs. Freight is costed to the job or your Company when included on a posted Vendor Invoice
• It is recommended that you estimate Cost and Price of Freight during pre-sales cycle. Doing so later in the process will require going through the CCO (Customer Change Order) process to increase the projected revenue of the Project accordingly

L Type Masters for internal, time-keeping labor

• You may have one or more L Type Masters to represent different Types of Labor that you typically estimate and track through time billing. This type of Labor is usually expended by your own Employees or temporary hires, as opposed to external Subcontractors
• On Projects, time billing uses Categories that map to your sold Labor. This allows the analyzing of Estimated vs. Actual Labor Variance on a per Labor Type basis, as well as advanced Labor Capacity planning
• Labor is job costed when each Time Bill is posted

S Type Master for external Subcontract Labor and services

• You may have an S Type Master to represent Subcontractor services. This Master can be reused for any Vendor, with the Cost and Price varying based on the nature of the job.
• S Type Masters are usually included in a Purchase Order (PO) that is sent to the Vendor. When the services are completely or partially rendered, “receiving” the PO signals that it’s ready for Accounts Payable
• Subcontractor services are job costed when the Vendor Invoice is posted

B Type Masters for budgetary amounts on Projects

• Use when including a monetary Budget Amount on a Quote. This Budget would be expected to cover future costs arising from incomplete upfront estimation or changes to the Project
• Typically used on Quotes that turn into Q360 Projects, because Internal Change Orders (ICOs) will be the vehicle by which you transform the entire or part of the B Type Master Budget into Equipment, Materials or Labor

 

Frequently Asked Questions

During estimation, can I quote a Part that does not yet have a Master defined?

Yes.  We also recommend providing additional information about the Part, including Manufacturer, Part Number, Vendor Quote attachment, and quoted Cost. While this allows you to send a Quote to the Customer, your Purchasing department will need to assign a newly created Master to the Part prior to the Quote being converted to an Order

Can I drop ship to a different location than the Customer’s Site?

Yes.  This typically happens when the Site is not yet ready to receive the Equipment or Materials. You may specify any Address on the drop shipped Purchase Order. Keep in mind that once a drop shipped PO is received, the Equipment is technically shipped and job costed at Actual Cost, for both A and Q Type Masters. We recommend consulting with your Accounting and Inventory subject matter experts on the implications of alternate shipping locations

Can I vary the Standard Price or Standard Cost of a Master based on Branch, or for a specific Customer?

Yes.  You may vary the Standard Price of a Master based on Branch or for a specific Customer, and may vary the Standard Cost by Branch only.