Introduction

Managing wire or cable in inventory and for jobs can be a challenge for integrators because of the different options that exist. For example, when dealing with 700 ft of wire, you might have the following questions:

• Is the wire a single 700 ft spool broken up into smaller spools?
• How do I sell wire on projects and service jobs?
• How do I purchase wire that is sold in spools but tracked by feet in inventory?

Since the cost of wire is generally inexpensive, the objective is to effectively manage wire while reducing unnecessary effort and cost. Therefore, wire should be tracked by the spool and used for projects, while leftover wire in pieces and partial spools should be added to gray stock and used for truck stock and service calls. The term gray stock refers to non-inventoried items that have been previously expensed.

 

Key Takeaways

• Buy and track only full spools of wire
• Sell full spools of wire on projects
• Store leftover or partial spools as gray stock wire
• Use gray stock wire for technician truck stock and service calls
• Replenish gray stock wire by moving inventoried full spool wire to gray stock

 

In Q360

Wire master items

• Add a Q type item to manage spools for purchasing wire and selling on projects
• Add an M type item to manage wire on service calls. When added to a call for billing purposes, you can edit the quantity and description as required within the call.

For project jobs order fulfillment and billing

• Quote and charge wire in unit of full spools
• Ship full spools of wire. This will be expensed on the project.
• Use full spools of wire as quoted for the job. Add leftover wire and partial spools to your gray stock.
• If the wire length can be fulfilled from gray stock, use gray stock and create an ICO to remove the full spool. This reduces the cost with the price unchanged.
• Generate change orders or return RMAs to return full spools back into your inventory

For service call jobs order fulfillment and billing

• Use wire from gray stock
• Charge for gray stock wire using the M type master item, then edit the quantity, description accordingly on the call

For technician inventory

• Replenish truck inventory from gray stock
• Technicians should use partial spools to fulfill service call needs

Replenish gray stock when empty

• Move a full spool out of inventory and place it in the gray stock inventory bin
• Adjust down the quantity for the Q type master item for the full spool of wire

Published: March 15, 2020
Revised: April 27, 2020