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Do this tutorial after completing the Getting Started Manual Tutorials.
Be sure to read the Building a Price Book Chapter in the Getting Started Manual. It contains different information. It will be easier for you to print this help message by clicking on the Help Menu’s "File" word and then on the word "Print".
A Price Book is your cost and parts book all rolled up in one. The main idea is to build a list of Items that you may transfer to any bid instead of typing in new items for every bid. Each Item transferred can be changed in the bid and will not effect the same Item in the Price Book. An Item contains Divisions/Subdivision Code, Items, Units, Cost Type List, Questions, etc.
A Bid is a combination of Price Book information and the Bid Items quantity and costs which consists of Markups, Budgets, etc. For instance, the Budget descriptions are in the Price Book. If you change one of them, then every Bid using it will be changed. But, the Total Cost and Price is very Bid specific and is not in the Price Book. This is the same for Divisions, Subdivisions, Markups, Cost Types, Questions, etc.
Note: You do not need to go through any of the steps below to add Items to the Bid. The system was designed to automatically calculate your entries by just entering a description, Bid Item Quantity and unit cost on the Bid Item List. At any time, you can always go back and change each item by going through the steps below. You will be able to get much more out of this system when you transfer those "on-the-fly Bid Items" to permanent items in your Price Book.
Building Your
Price Book There are two ways to build your Price Book; "as you go" or "all at once". Starter Price Books come with the system and if one fits, we suggest you "add or change items as you go". You may see these by selecting Open Bid off the File menu and then clicking on the Price Book arrow for a list. If you want to start fresh, then select "Your Price Book."
Note : If you have an organized checklist of "parts or items" broken down into groups and subgroups then you might have someone just type "all of them" in to your Price Book at once. You should have them enter 30 or 40 across several Subdivisions first. Then make those items work the way you want by "using them", changing and adding any more information. Then have the rest entered with the new knowledge you learned.
These are the building blocks the system uses to produce your bids. Being able to define each of them to suit your individual needs is one of the system's major benefits.
Steps to enter a new Item
o. Let’s change an Item in the Price Book. From the Main Menu, select PB Item List from the Price Book menu. This displays your Price Book Item List with all the Items. Browse around and see if you can find an Item you want to change.
Remember: Press Help (Right Mouse Button) on each column if you want to see what you can do there.
Note The Bid Item Qty is only if you are using this list to transfer Items back to the Bid and want to place a quantity here. It is NOT saved in the Price Book. Change the Unit Cost to what you think is appropriate.
Code In order to simplify and speed finding what you need and especially, summarize all the costs automatically, each entry in a Price Book has a Reference Code. Generally, Codes are whole numbers with no decimals but can be alpha-numeric too. The one very important exception is the Item Code. Items belong to Subdivisions, which in turn belong to Divisions. The general format is D.SII as follows, D = Division Code, S = Subdivision Code, and I = Item Code. Example: Item Code 12.314 is Item 14 within Subdivision 3 of Division 12.
o. For the time being, let’s skip the Part Number Column. You can play with that
o. Move to the Bid Item Unit column and enter a Bid Unit, i.e., EA, LF, SF, so you will know how to enter the quantity when you are in the Bid Item List.
o. Move to the Description column and change the description, if needed.
o. For the time being, let’s skip the Question Column. This is one of the most powerful features of this system. It should only be used when you have mastered the other features.
o. The item can have Misc. information for additional sorting and finding purposes. Let’s not enter anything yet.
o. The following five columns are Classes where you can enter Unit Costs without taxes. Taxes/burdens are better to be entered on the Markup List where one change can update hundreds of items instead of you having to go to each one separately. Enter a Unit Cost in a couple of columns.
o. There is another type of view that is different from a List view. It is called a form and it shows all the different parts of an item at one time. The Price Book Item List you are in, can not show everything. The form is more cluttered, but you everything is right there. Press the Price Book Item Form Shift+F9 Key or click on the Price Book Form Icon on the left view bar.
o. You have built an item. Experiment and get comfortable before starting an actual bid.
Note: You can also use the bidding method to building a Price Book. This means we can just enter Items in the Bid, change them and then transfer them back into the Price Book.
Conversion Factors, Rounding Move to each above and play around with these until you have the right combination of factors (maybe even include a waste factor as part of the conversion factor). The system will automatically calculate the conversion factor if you enter the order quantity. You may either enter a Cost Table reference number; or an Adjustment Table reference Code and a Raw Cost. You normally would not enter both a Cost and adjustment table Code since you will be keeping your cost table up-to-date and the adjustment table keeps the raw cost inflated.
o. If you didn't enter a Cost Table Code then: Enter a Raw or Base Cost for this item and notice how all the values change. If you entered a Cost Table Code then when you enter a raw cost, the Cost Table Code will be set to zero. Remember to press the Help key if you have any questions. You may press the List key F7 on the Type Markup and Markup columns to change these percentages.
o. Since you entered a different cost for this item than what is in your Price Book, the cost is now Modified until you either Update it from the Price Book or enter a N under F (for Modified).
o. The Extended cost is the Bid Item Quantity times the raw cost. You can change it and the raw cost will be back calculated.
o. The Cost Type Markup and the Markup amount cannot be entered here since they are calculated percentages. You can press the List F7 key to change the percentages. If you change the percentages in those lists, then all related items will be changed, not just this item.
REMEMBER:
Saving the new Item to your master Price Book You now have customized that item for this bid. It is therefore a "bid specific" item and has not been changed in your Price Book. It will NOT be saved to your Master Price Book unless you specifically ask for it to be saved by pressing the Price Book Save <Ctrl+D> key. This will allow you to use it for future bids. Save as a new Item Code To save the new item to your Price Book so future bids may use it, but not OVERWRITE the original item do the following. Change the Item Code to one which is not in use, then press the Price Book Save key Ctrl+D.
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