Setting Up The Goods And Services

Setting Up The Goods And Services You Use In Your Business

The goods and services we will be discussing in this section are the supplies, equipment, and services your company purchases in order to carry out your daily business operations. It does not include the products that you purchase for resale or the transportation companies you use to ship your product. We will cover those in the following sections.

Tip: You can access Goods and Services directly from the SUPPLIER window, from the PURCHASING MENU GUIDE, or from the SETUP GUIDE.

Each of the products and services that you set up must be assigned to a specific category. The categories you will be using in this section are:

• Services
  Services include your computer repair man, your electrician and plumber, office cleaning service, etc.
• Supplies
  Consumable products you purchase for use within your company like paper, laser or ink cartridges, envelopes and shipping boxes.
• Equipment
  Non-consumable products you purchase for use within your company. Your computer, printer, and fax machine for example.

Assigning these categories allows you to track your expenses for each one.

Once again, you must assign a ITEM ID, just as you assigned a supplier number, in order for the database module to function properly.

Unfortunately, Built for Business does not include an inventory control system for the goods and services that your company uses. However, you purchases of these items will be tracked and you will be able to generate expense reports for them.

Instructions For Setting Up Goods and Services:

1. Assign a category to the product or service you are setting up. The drop-down menu in this field limits your selection to Service, Supplies or Equipment.
2. Next, assign an ITEM ID for the item. This does not need to be a numerical number.
3. The ITEM TYPE field is optional. You can use this field to further categorize the items you set up for more precise sorting.
4. BIN LOCATION is also an optional field. This field actually applies to the inventory location of your products. We’ll discuss it more in those terms when we get to the products section of the manual. In this case, you can use this field for any information you choose, or you can leave it blank.
5. REORDER LEVEL and INVENTORY BALANCE are also designed for your products. These fields can remain blank for goods and services.

The next step after setting up your goods and services is to set up your ordering information. This includes information like the name of the supplier, the cost of the item, the units the item is sold in (each, per dozen, etc.). It is a good idea to do this as you set up your goods and services, so you don’t have to come back and do it at a later date. Of course, you can come back and do it at a later date if you prefer.

Setting Up Ordering Information

The indented frame just below the information section allows you to assign multiple suppliers for each item you set up. The information you will enter here is the supplier code and name, the cost of the item and the units the item is sold in, and the delivery time.

Note: When entering information for services you purchase, you may need to be a bit adaptive in selecting the fields and information you choose to enter.

Instructions For Setting Up Order Information:

1. In the first row, use your mouse to click in the Supplier # field and activate the drop-down list. Scroll down and select the supplier for the item. Once you select the supplier, the supplier number or code and the supplier name should both be visible in their respective fields.
2. Next, enter the price of the item under the COST column. This is the price you pay for the goods or services.
3. The UNIT field identifies how the items are purchased from your supplier. If they are sold individually, then enter "each". Other possibilities are sold in pairs, per dozen, or a specific quantity such as 6 or 24.
4. Next enter the delivery time for the item. We have set up this field individually for each item for those instances where different product may have different delivery times from the same supplier.

If you have more than one supplier for the item, repeat the above steps for each additional supplier on each of the following rows in the frame.

You will notice that there is a button located just in front of the supplier code for each supplier you set up. If you click on this button, an additional ordering information screen will appear. In this screen you will find two additional fields that you can fill in if you choose.

1. SUPPLIER PRODUCT CODE: If your supplier uses a product code that is different from the one you are using, you can enter it in this field. It will then display automatically in your Purchase Order when you are ordering the item.
2. LAST UPDATED: This is a date field. If you want to track how current your supplier’s prices are, you can enter the date of the quote you receive from your supplier in this field.

Once you have completed this information, you are finished setting up goods and services and can check it as finished in the SETUP GUIDE.