Platform - PriceBook

What is the PriceBook?

The PriceBook lists everything your company sells or purchases. Each Item is assigned an item number that can be used on invoices (payable and receivable), inventory requisitions and returns as well as purchase orders. Items in the PriceBook are assigned a Sale Type (for items that can be included on an AR Invoice) and/or and Expense Type (for items that can be purchased, paid for or expensed) which tells Successware which General Ledger account to post to when the item is involved in a financial transaction.

 The advantages of using the PriceBook include:

1. Decreasing the opportunity for error during line-item entry into invoices, purchase orders and during inventory control.
2. Simplifying the accounting process by eliminating General Ledger decisions at the time of entry.
3. The ability to establish flat-rate pricing through the creation of tasks.
4. Allows for the analysis (reporting) of sales and expenses by item number.

For example, when you enter a line item on an invoice (whether Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable), an inventory transaction or a purchase order, you select an item number from the PriceBook that represents that item.  The system automatically completes the description and cost/price entry.

Completing the PriceBook accurately will help to eliminate future errors greatly.

PriceBook Composition

The PriceBook consists of five Sections:

1. Parts
2. Labor
3. Miscellaneous Items
4. Tasks
5. Overhead Items

1. Parts are used individually for Purchase Orders, Accounts payable invoices, inventory, and Accounts Receivable invoices.  Parts can also be added as a detail on task items (flat-rate codes) to record the cost associated with a task to calculate the selling price of the task. Parts can be thought of as tangible objects.

• Buy
• Sold on a Time and Materials Invoice
• Use as Job Cost Detail on an AR Invoice
• Use as detail when building a flat rate task
• Use as Inventory stock items

2. Labor items can be used individually on Accounts Receivable invoices or for labor added as detail on task items. Successware uses the labor cost, along with the pricing formulas, to calculate the selling price of the task.

• Sold on a Time and Material Invoice
• Used as Labor Detail when Job Costing an AR Invoice

3. Miscellaneous items are used individually for purchase orders, Accounts Payable invoices, inventory, and Accounts Receivable invoices.  Miscellaneous items can also be added as details on task items to record the cost associated with the task, through use of pricing formulas, to calculate the selling price of the task. Miscellaneous items are intangibles, such as equipment rentals and permits.

• Buy
• Sold on a Time and Materials Invoice
• Use as Job Cost Detail on an AR Invoice
• Use as detail when building a flat rate task

4. Tasks are a compilation of parts, labor, and miscellaneous items that are used for line item entry on Accounts Receivable invoices. By using pricing formulas, the system will calculate the task price based on the cost of the parts, labor and miscellaneous items.

The Task section is where you will need to make an important business decision; how you intend to price your jobs. To accommodate a number of possible approaches the PriceBook can be set up in a number of ways:

• Comparative Pricing—by using comparative pricing, you will create flat-rate tasks with two prices; the national average retail price and your company’s price for any given task. A third column called “You save” shows your customer’s savings by comparing your company’s price to the national average retail price.
• Standard Pricing (using price levels)—when you use the PriceBook with Price Levels, you are creating a flat-rate task and then applying an additional price or reduce price to that task based upon predetermined circumstances. Successware allows you to add or subtract a flat percentage from the standard price of the task and/or add or subtract minutes of labor from the standard price of the task.

5. Overhead items are used for purchase orders and Accounts Payable invoices to record purchases, and payments, for items that are not direct cost items (i.e. rent, utilities and office supplies).

Each of the five sections of the PriceBook is composed of Categories, Groups, and Items. The diagram below displays the structure.

Keep in mind that a Section, such as Parts, can have any number of Categories, a Category can have any number of Groups, and a Group can have any number of Items.

Categories

Each Section contains Categories. Categories offer a high level of classification in the PriceBook. For example, the Parts Section might contain Categories such as Heating Parts, Plumbing Parts, Cooling Parts, etc. Sale and Expense Types are defined at the category level as well as the method of pricing that will be applied to the items within the category.

Groups

Each Category is further divided into Groups. For example, the Category Plumbing Parts may contain Groups of 1” galvanized pipe extenders, ABS/PVC DWV couplings, etc.

Items

Each Group contains individual PriceBook Items.   For example, the Group ABS/PVC DWV couplings may contain such items as 3” ABS/PVC coupling, 1 ½ “ ABS/PVC coupling, etc.

Pricing (Mark Up) Formulas

The PriceBook in Successware uses formulas, which are applied to the Standard Cost of an item, to determine the selling price of the item. The particular formula that you wish to apply to a PriceBook item is defined when creating the Category in which the Item resides.

Pricing formulas are used to calculate pricing in the following ways.:

• Part & Miscellaneous Item pricing—these formulas will allow you to establish the markup of Part and Miscellaneous items that you sell. This can be done by defining a straight markup or using a "sliding scale", where markup is dependent on price. This is called a Profit Margin Matrix.
• Labor pricing—these formulas allows you to calculate how you will price Labor to create comparative pricing for tasks.
• Task pricing—these formulas will be established based upon which method of PriceBook setup you plan to employ. All task pricing setups allow you to determine whether tax should be applied to items in the task and whether to add surcharges to the price of the task.

There are 3 methods of pricing that can be attached to a Category

• Manual Pricing- No formulas are used. Both the Cost and the Price of the items within the Category must be defined manually.
• Default Pricing- If the majority of your tasks will use the same labor rates, part and miscellaneous item markups, as well as surcharges and other additional charges, you can set up default pricing formulas that will automatically apply to each item that you create. These formulas are defined at the "PriceBook Level" and are then applied to any category as needed.
• Custom Pricing- You also have the ability to set up items to calculate with non-uniform pricing calculations by creating custom pricing formulas for individual Categories.

Each type of Item that you add to the PriceBook, with the exception of overhead items, has formulas that control how the Item is priced. Each Item type must have pricing formulas established before the Item can be created.

Opening the Default Pricing Formula Window

1. Within the PriceBook, click the Select Pricing drop-down in the upper-right corner of the page, and select Default Pricing.

Entering Labor Pricing Formulas

Labor pricing formulas calculate the price you charge for labor by adding benefit costs and profit margins to your labor costs. The profit margin you enter for your labor pricing determines:

• How you price your labor, and
• Your comparative pricing (if you are using this pricing method).

1. Enter your company’s Standard labor cost/hr.
2. Enter your company’s Labor benefits multiplier. This is the a percentage that is added to the hourly wage you pay to account for such extras as payroll tax, unemployment insurance, employer contributed health insurance, etc.
3. Enter the percentage you want for the profit margin on labor.  The multiplier will default based on the percentage entered.  If you enter the multiplier, Successware will calculate the percentage.

NOTE:  The standard labor rate will automatically be calculated based on the standard labor cost, labor benefits multipliers, and labor profit margin that you establish in Successware.

Standard Labor rate = (Standard Labor Price * Labor Benefits Multiplier) * Labor Profit Margin. Example- (25 x 1.15) x 5= $143.75

4. The retail labor rate is entered by default but can be changed. It is used to compare against your labor rate for calculating savings to customers.
5. PriceBook retail margin—displays the difference between your standard labor rate and the retail labor rate both as a percentage and as a multiplier. Entering a percentage or multiplier will automatically recalculate The retail labor rate.

6. Choosing the APPLY RETAIL MARGIN TO LABOR PRICE ONLY WHEN CALCULATING RETAIL PRICE will base markup on the STANDARD LABOR COST instead of the STANDARD LABOR RATE.
7. Selecting calculate margins to greater precision will make multiple decimal places available.
8. Lastly, click Save. To exit without saving changes, click Cancel.  To continue with another pricing setup, click on the appropriate tab.

Entering Part and Miscellaneous Item Pricing

The Part and Miscellaneous pricing setup are both handled in similar ways. In both cases, you will establish how much markup you want to add to the cost of Part and Miscellaneous Items when they are sold. The markup can be accomplished by means of a flat percentage that is applied across the board to all parts and Miscellaneous Items, or the markup can be established based upon the cost of the Item using the Successware Profit Margin Matrix.

1. Click on either the Parts or Miscellaneous tab in the PriceBook default pricing setup
2. Enter the profit margin percentage you wish to apply to parts or miscellaneous sales.  The system will calculate the multiplier and display an example.

3. Click Save to save and exit the PriceBook default pricing setup dialog box. To continue to other pricing setups, click on the appropriate tab.

-Or-

If you want to use the Profit Margin Matrix to calculate the price then select Use Profit Margin Matrix.

4. Click on the Profit Margin Matrix subtab to enter the Profit Margin Matrix:

5. Click the Add button to enter a new line.
6. Enter the minimum and maximum value of a cost you want effected by this level.
7. Enter the profit margin for this cost level or enter the multiplier. Entering either a percentage or a multiplier will automatically calculate the value of the other.
8. Press Save to save the lines.  Click Cancel to delete the line without saving.

Creating Custom Pricing Formulas

If you are creating a Category of Tasks that does not adhere to the default pricing you set up for your tasks, you can create custom pricing for an individual Category. Custom pricing overrides the default pricing only for the selected Category.

Custom pricing can be set up while creating a new Category.  Custom pricing can also be added to an existing Category.

1. If you want to add custom pricing to an existing Category, click on the Edit option next to the Category name.

NOTE: If you are in the process of creating a new Category, move on the next step.

2. In the New/Edit Category Properties window, select the Change Pricing Method checkbox.
3. Select Use custom pricing setup for this category.
4. Click Save

9. If you are editing a Category which has Groups with varying Sale and Expense Types you will be asked to update all Sale and Expense Types to match the Category, or to only apply changes to Groups that match the Category. Depending upon what you want, click either Yes or No.
10. In the Category pricing setup screen, make the need adjustments to the values in the formulas.
11. Click Apply to save the changes
12. Confirm that you want to update the pricing values in the PriceBook.

The PriceBook and the General Ledger

Before using the PriceBook, you will need to understand the relationship between the PriceBook and the General Ledger.

Successware is an accounting program, and its heart is the PriceBook. The PriceBook simplifies the accounting process by pre-establishing a relationship between the items you buy and sell and where they will post in the General Ledger. This is accomplished by assigning Sale and/or Expense Types to all Items in the PriceBook. These Expense and Sale Types are associated with individual account in the Chart of Accounts.

Expense Types and Sale Types

Expense Types and Sale Types are assigned to Categories and Groups in the PriceBook. The individual Items within that Category or Group inherit these Expense and Sale Types. Expense Types and Sale Types are used to determine what General Ledger account will be credited or debited when posting line items.  The General Ledger information included in an Expense and Sale Types includes: account, sub-account, a description and an optional department.

NOTE: Generally you would not set up an Expense or Sale Type with a default department number. By leaving the department blank, you will be prompted to assign a department when you use a PriceBook item that is assigned to that particular Expense or Sale Type. You will only set up a department on a Sale or Expense Type if items that you assign that type to are usually posted to a specific department.  For example, if you were to create an Expense Type of “rent” that is always charged against your administration department, you might include the administration department as the default department on the Expense Type.

For each expense account identified in your Chart of Accounts you need to create an Expense Type, and for each sales account identified in your Chart of Accounts, you will need to create a Sale Type. This allows for the appropriate debits and credits to be applied automatically to the correct accounts at the time of posting, without any further effort on the part of the person entering the transaction in Successware.

Expense Types

When any of these PriceBook items are added as a line item to an invoice or inventory transaction and the transaction is posted, the Item’s cost will be posted to the expense account that is linked to the item’s Expense Type.

Sales Types

When any of these PriceBook items are added as a line item to an Accounts Receivable invoice and the invoice is posted, the Item’s price will be posted to the sales account that is linked to the Item’s Sale Type.

NOTE: As a rule, Expense Types are used when posting Accounts Payable invoices and non-valued inventory items.  Sale Types are used when processing Accounts Receivable invoices.

Setting up the PriceBook

No matter how you plan to run your pricing, there are certain elements of the PriceBook setup that have to be completed. Depending upon how you plan to use the PriceBook to establish your pricing, some of these areas may need to be revisited later to have additional information added.

Before you begin using the PriceBook you will need to:

1. Set Sale and Expense Types,
2. Create Categories and Groups,
3. Set pricing formulas, and
4. Add Items.

Expense and Sales Types

Expense and Sale Types are set up when preparing your General Ledger.

To access the Reference Library, where Expense and Sales items can be entered, follow these steps:

1. From the Main Menu, select Setup, and click on the Reference Library.
2. Under the Accounting drop-down, Expense Types and Sales Types are shown.

 

PriceBook Categories

The first step to entering items into the PriceBook involves determining what categories you will add for each section of the PriceBook.  Categories are used to divide the different items you have within each section.  For instance, in Parts, you may have categories of Plumbing Parts, Heating Parts, Equipment, etc.

Creating a Category

1. Select the PriceBook section that you wish to add the category to.
2. Click the button labeled "+ Add Category" found on the bottom left portion of the screen.

3. Enter the name of the Category that will be stored in the PriceBook section. It can be alpha numeric, may contain spaces.

4. Enter a description of the Category that will appear in the section of the PriceBook. 
5. Click on the drop-down arrow and select the Expense Type for the Category. The Groups and Items that are part of that Category will inherit that Expense Type.
6. Click on the drop-down arrow and select the Sale Type for the Category. The Groups and Items that are part of this Category will inherit that Sale Type.

NOTE:

• When creating a task category you will only be asked for a Sale Type.
• When creating an overhead category you will only be asked for an Expense Type.
• When creating a task category you will not be asked for an Expense Type.
• When creating an overhead task category you will not be asked for a Sale Type.

Successware will track the last price update and price formulas modified dates as you use the system.  The last price update is the date you last ran the automatic price update based on the pricing formulas.  The system does not track the last price update on manually priced items.

7. Select Change pricing method to select the pricing method for items in the category.

Option	Effect
Use manual pricing for this category	You must manually enter prices for each item.
Use the default pricing setup for this category	Will use the default pricing setup as defined in the PriceBook setup menu.
Use custom pricing setup for this category	Will allow you to setup pricing formulas to use for the items in this Category. The effects of this pricing change will only apply to this Category.

8. Click Yes to save the new category.

NOTE: If you opted to use custom pricing for this category, the system will display the custom pricing setup form where you will then define the formulas.

9. When a Category is saved, the system will attempt to update all Groups/Items in the Category to insure that they have the correct Expense and Sale Types.  You will be prompted for appropriate action at that time.

NOTE: If you are editing a Category which has Groups with varying Sale and Expense Types you will be asked to update all Sale and Expense Types to match the Category, or to only apply changes to Groups that match the Category. Depending upon what you want, click either Yes or No.

10. To add a new Category to the same section of the PriceBook, instead of clicking Save, click New at the bottom of the New Category Properties This will save the current Category and allow you to start creating a new one.

PriceBook Groups

Groups are used to further divide the different types of items within a Category.  For instance, in the Category Plumbing Parts, you may have groups of Brass Pipe Extenders, Galvanized Pipe Extenders, ABS/PVC DWV 90 Ells, etc.  You will add at least one Group to each Category.

Creating a Group

1. Select the PriceBook Category that you would like to add the Group to.
2. At the bottom of the Category, click the "+ Add Group" button.
3. Give a name to the Group. 
4. Enter a description of the Group as you want it to appear in the PriceBook section.

5. If you want to assign an Expense Type other than the one assigned to the Category in which this Group resides, choose one from the drop-down list.
6. If you do change the Expense Type, all of the Items that you add to this Group will inherit the Expense Type of the Group, not the Category. Task Groups do not have an Expense Type.
7. If you want to assign a Sale Type other than the one assigned to the Category in which this Group resides, then choose the Sale Type from the drop-down list. If you do change the Sale Type, all of the Items that you add to this Group will inherit the Sale Type of the Group, not the Category. Overhead Groups do not have a Sale Type.
8. The Group Note field allows you to add notes about this particular Group that will print with the Group when you print the PriceBook.
9. Click Save to save the new Group. Click Cancel to exit without saving the Group.

Adding PriceBook Items

PriceBook Items

Items are the codes you will input when entering invoices (A/R and A/P) and maintaining inventory.  The information needed varies depending on the type of Item (Parts, Labor, Miscellaneous, Task and Overhead) and how detailed you have decided to make your PriceBook.

Within the PriceBook, each item is setup with an Item Number and a description.

• A sale price will be recorded for Items that can be sold on receivables invoices.  When entering an Item on a receivables invoice, the description and sale price are referenced. The sale price will be posted to the appropriate General Ledger account as identified by the Item’s Sale Type.
• A cost is recorded for Items that can be used on payables invoices.  For instance, parts can be both purchased and sold; therefore, parts can be set up with both a sale price and a cost.  When using an Item on a payables invoice or inventory transaction, the description and cost will be referenced and posted to the appropriate General Ledger account as identified by the Item’s Expense Type.

Part Items

Part items can be added through the PriceBook or they can be imported using the Part List Import and Vendor Part List Import Functionality. (For information on importing a vendor part list, please review our article on Purchasing and Payables.)

There are some considerations to keep in mind when deciding how you will input your Part Items into the PriceBook based upon how you intend to use Successware.

If you will be using Successware to manage your inventory, as well as to keep item count by warehouse, you must create individual item numbers for each Item to be counted.  If you will not be using Successware to manage your inventory, it will not be necessary to create an item number for every size of a given piece of hardware.  You can create one general item number for that part type and use it for any type (size, color, etc.) of that Item that you stock. You can override the type, description, cost, and price of each line item when you enter it on an invoice or inventory transaction.

NOTE: Even if you are not tracking inventory, the more general your item numbers, the more limited your reporting capabilities will be.  At minimum, you must create an item for every sale and/or expense account you wish to post in the General Ledger.

Another factor to consider for ordering and reporting purposes is whether or not you want to keep track of vendor information for your individual Part Items. Successware gives you the ability to add this information if you choose.

Manually Adding Part Items to the PriceBook

1. Click on the Category and Group to which you want to add the part. Next, select the + Add Item button in the top right corner.                                                                                           
2. Enter an item number for the part. This is the value that you will use when entering line items on Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable invoices, as well as inventory transactions. The item number must be unique; it cannot be used as an item number in any other section of the PriceBook. 
3. Enter a description of the item. Remember that often people will search for the part by this number, so the more descriptive (and less abbreviated) the better.
4. Enter the other required information in the Part window.

NOTE: If you intend to maintain this part item in inventory the part must be marked as “counted.”

6. To save and exit click Save. To exit without saving changes click Cancel.

Adding a Part That Will Be Added to Inventory

When you are tracking perpetual inventory with Successware you must enter some specific information when entering your part items.

• You must enter part numbers for each Item (ex. a separate item number for each size, color, etc. of a given piece of hardware.)
• You must mark the part as counted and/or valued. You may choose to mark the part as serialized as well.

1. Open the Part Item window either by creating a new part or by editing an existing part.
2. Enter the appropriate identification and cost information if necessary.
3. Check the boxes that apply to how you want to track this part in inventory. 

Note: Even if you are not currently using inventory, but may use it in the future, it is highly recommended that you mark items in the PriceBook as counted and valued. While Inventory is not active, the setting will have no effect, however if you do wish in the future to activate Inventory, no editing of the parts will be necessary at that time.

• Counted-- checkmark if you want the Item to be counted and tracked through inventory.
• Valued-- check if you want the part valued. Valued Items will post to the inventory asset account in the General Ledger when the Item is purchased, it will then post to the General Ledger account listed in the Expense Type when the Item is sold. Items that are not valued will post to the General Ledger account that is on the group’s Expense Type.
• Serialized-- check if this will be a serialized Item. Serialized Items require you to enter serial numbers whenever the item is purchased or sold.

4. Click Save to save the changes to the Part Item or click on Cancel to close without saving.

Adding Substitute Items and Vendor Information for a Part Item

To account for a situation where you may be creating a requisition and a particular part is out of stock, Successware allows you to enter substitute Items for a part.

1. To add substitute item information, click Misc.
2. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Substitute Item(1) field to bring up the Parts search screen

3. Find the part you want to list as an available substitute and double-click on it. 
4. Continue the steps above to add Substitute Item(2).

Vendor Part Items

Part items in the PriceBook allow you to record specific vendor information related to the part. This vendor information includes the vendor’s number for the part and the vendor’s price for the part as well as identify primary and secondary vendors for the item. This information can than be used during the purchasing process. For example, when items that contain vendor part information are included on a Purchase Order, the PO will include the vendor’s number for the part and list it at the price you have identified for the part when purchased from that vendor. Additionally, when using the Purchasing Wizard, the process will be further automated by the fact that a primary vendor will already be identified for the parts.

A single item in the PriceBook may have more than one vendor's information related to it. For example, if you purchase a part from multiple vendors, you can attach the vendor part information for each of the vendors to the single PriceBook item.

Vendor Part information can be manually added to parts through the PriceBook, however Successware also allow you to import vendor part information.

Manually Adding a Primary and Secondary Vendor for an Item

1. To add a primary and secondary vendor for a Part, click the Vendor subtab.                                      
2. This will open the Vendor For Add Vendor screen. 
3. Click "Add vendor" button to add a Vendor.
4. Put an “X” in the 1^st or 2^nd field to establish the vendor as primary or secondary.
5. In the VendorNo field, enter the vendor number.
6. Enter the remaining values and click the Save Vendor button to save the vendor information.

The Parts Screen Fields

Field	Description
Category & Group	Fills in automatically based upon the Group you chose. You can accept the Category and Group, select a different Category and/or Group, or  use Quick Add to add the appropriate Category and Group.
Active	If this is a new Item, the Active checkbox will be chosen by default. If you are creating or editing the Item you may choose to activate or deactivate the Item.
Item Number	An item number MUST be unique.  It should be different from item numbers used in all sections of the PriceBook (i.e. you can not have Item 10-10-22 in Parts and Item 10-10-22 in Tasks). The item number can be up to 15 characters in length.
Description	This value will appear in the Description column when searching the PriceBook.
UPC#	Enter the Item’s Universal Product Code if you have it.
Manufacturer	If a particular manufacturer produces this Item, you can pick their name from the list.
Mfr. Part/Model No	Enter the manufacturer’s part number or model number.
Unit of Measure	Enter the unit of measure for the Item as an abbreviation; for example, Ea for each, Doz. for dozen, ft. for foot, etc. This is how you buy the Item.
Minimum Order Qty.	Enter the quantity at which you can order and get the best pricing for the Item.
Label lot qty.	This field is for companies using bar code scanners. Enter a value that quantifies how many labels will need to be printed per unit of the Item received. For example, if a particular Item come in cases of 12, the Label lot qty. would be 12.
Counted	Add a checkmark if you want the Item to be counted and tracked through inventory.
Valued	Add a checkmark if you want the part valued. Valued Items will post to the inventory asset account in the General Ledger when the Item is purchased, then it will post to the General Ledger account listed in the Expense Type when the Item is sold. Items that are not valued will post to the General Ledger account that is on the group’s Expense Type.
Serialized	Add a checkmark if this will be a serialized Item. Serialized Items require you to enter serial numbers whenever the Item is purchased or sold.
Standard Cost	Enter the cost value that you want to use for pricing calculation.
Average Cost	This value will automatically be calculated based upon the amount paid for the Item on payables invoices. Average Cost = Total Cost/Quantity on hand.
Last Cost	This value will automatically be calculated based upon the last amount shown as cost for this item on a payables invoice.
Standard Price	If you have pricing formulas in place, this value will be calculated based upon the standard cost. If you are using manual pricing you will need to enter the price.
Expense Type and Sale Type	Defaults to the type assigned to the Group of which the part will become a member.
Qty on Hand and Total Value	Automatically populated if this is an existing part that is maintained in inventory.

 

Miscellaneous Items

Miscellaneous Items are used for job related Items that are not considered as Parts or Labor.  These could include a subcontractor who does surveys or the cost of a permit. Miscellaneous Items can be used on invoices or for creating Tasks.

Adding a Miscellaneous Item

1. In the Misc subtab of the PriceBook, click on the Group to which you want to add a Miscellaneous Item and click the + Add Items button in the top right corner.

6. Enter an item number for the Miscellaneous Item. This is the value that you will enter when doing line item entry to identify the specific Miscellaneous Item. The item number must be unique; it cannot be used as an item number in any other section of the PriceBook. Item numbers can be up to 15 characters long.
7. Enter a description of the Miscellaneous Item. This is a field that can be used to search for the Miscellaneous Type and will appear as the description when the Miscellaneous Item is used as a line item.
8. Enter the Standard cost for this Miscellaneous Item. This is the amount that you pay for this Miscellaneous Type. If you have created a miscellaneous pricing formula, Successware will use the values that have been entered there, apply them against the standard miscellaneous cost that you enter and calculate the Standard price.
9. In order for the Standard price to calculate, you must click on the Recalc Price button at the bottom of the window.
10. If you are not using pricing formulas, enter the standard price that you will charge for this Miscellaneous Item in the Standard price
11. If  you want to assign Miscellaneous-as-Task Pricing check the box and fill in the appropriate information.
12. If this Miscellaneous Item can be purchased, check the Can purchase If the Can purchase checkbox is not selected, the Miscellaneous Item will not show up in an item search while creating payables invoices, purchase orders, requisitions or receipts.
13. If you have check marked Can purchase, you can select a primary and secondary vendor for the Item.

NOTE: In the other section of the PriceBook, the Category or Group to which the Item has membership defines the Expense and Sale Types. Since there tends to be a limited number of miscellaneous Categories and Groups, you can assign Expense and Sale Types directly to a Miscellaneous Item.

10. If you want to assign a different Expense Type than the one shown for the Miscellaneous Item, click on the drop-down arrow and select it from the list.
11. If you want to assign a different Sale Type than the one shown for the Miscellaneous Item, click on the drop-down arrow and select it from the list.
12. To save and close the Miscellaneous Item, click Save. 

Labor Items

Labor Items are used to calculate cost and price for the different types of labor used by your company.

Labor Items can be created for different labor types that you might provide.  For instance, you may create a separate rate for a second technician on site, apprentice labor or perhaps even weekend or after-hours labor. These Labor Items then can be used as individual line items on an Accounts Receivable invoice or as line items when creating Tasks.

Adding a Labor Item

1. In the PriceBook, navigate to the Labor subtab. From there, select the Category and Group for this new item. Next, click the + Add Item button in the top right corner.

2. Enter an item number for the Labor Item. This is the value that you will enter on Accounts Receivable invoices to identify the specific labor Item. The item number must be unique, it cannot be used as an item number in any other section of the PriceBook. The item number can be up to 15 characters long.
3. Enter a description of the Labor Item.
4. The Standard labor feature allows you to define the default for labor. Only one of your Labor Items can be chosen as the labor default. The labor default item controls the amount that is used when calculating labor costs if a specific labor is not chosen.

NOTE: If Payroll has been activated, this ‘standard labor’ Item is maintained from within the payroll setup and the checkbox on the Labor Item form will be disabled.

5. Enter the Standard cost for this Labor Item. This is the hourly amount that you pay for this labor type. If you have already created a labor pricing formula, Successware will use the values that have been entered and apply them against the standard labor cost that you enter and automatically calculate the Standard price.

6. If you are not using pricing formulas, enter the standard price you will charge for this Labor Item in the Standard price

NOTE: In the other section of the PriceBook, the Category or Group to which the Item has membership defines the Expense and Sale Types. Since there tends to be a limited number of Labor Categories and Groups, you can assign Expense and Sale Types directly to a Labor Item.

7. If you want to assign a different Expense Type than the one shown for the Labor Item, select it from the list.
8. If you want to assign a different Sale Type than the one shown for the Labor Item, select it from the list.
9. To save and close the Labor Item, click Save.

Overhead Items

Overhead Items are those items that represent “the bills” your company must pay. These could include, but are not limited to, rent, utilities, software subscriptions and printing costs. Overhead Items are used as purchasing and accounts payable only.  They are not used as detail in tasks nor are they included on AR invoices. Overhead Items allow you to select an Expense Type for each Item.

Adding Overhead Items

1. In the PriceBook, navigate to the Overhead subtab. From there, select the Category and Group for this new item. Next, click the + Add Item button in the top right corner.

2. Enter an item number for the Overhead Item. The item number must be unique; it cannot be used as an item number in any other section of the PriceBook. The item number can be up to 15 characters long.                                                                                                                           
3. Enter a description of the Overhead Item.
4. Enter the Standard cost of the Overhead Item. This is the cost that will appear when the Overhead Item is added to an AP invoice.
5. Enter an Expense Type for the Overhead Item.
6. To save and close the Overhead Item, click Save. 

Task Items

How you set up your Tasks is determined by how you want to use the PriceBook. There are options available to you in creating tasks in the PriceBook which will affect the Print outputs available to you:

• Comparative Pricing
• Standard Pricing (Price Levels)

You can also create Part and Miscellaneous Items with “as-task” pricing, allowing you another method of creating flat-rate task pricing or allowing the Item to be used as an add-on to an existing task.

Before you begin to create tasks using any of the methods mentioned above, you must complete the required Default Task Pricing Setup for the type of tasks you will be creating.

Adding Part, Labor and Miscellaneous Detail to Tasks

Tasks can be created in the PriceBook either with Part, Labor and Miscellaneous detail or without. Tasks built without detail will have their price determined by an "Override Price" or by using Task Duration (Labor) as the price basis.

Adding detail refers to identifying the amount of labor (in minutes) for which you will be charging the customer, as well as listing any part and miscellaneous items that are generally required to complete the task.

Tasks that are built with part, labor and miscellaneous detail offer many benefits in terms of related functionality throughout Successware, which are not available when tasks are built without detail.

Benefits of adding Part, Labor and Miscellaneous Detail to Task Items:

• If you are using Successware to BUILD your flatrate tasks (Using the system to calculate the flatrate price), adding a list of required parts and miscellaneous items as well as required labor will result in the calculation of a task price which should fall in-line with your Margin expectation. This is because the system will apply the markups identified by you in your Pricing Formulas to the items you expect to use as well as add any additional surcharges or flat charges you have defined.
• When the detailed task is added to an Accounts Receivable invoice, the listed detail will automatically appear as job cost in the job costing screen associated with the invoice. Here the detail list can simply be modified (if necessary) to represent what actually happened on the job.
• The Labor time (task duration) identified in the task is used by the system to represent "Billable Hours". These Billable Hours can then be reported for payroll sake and are compared to technician actual hours when calculating the "efficiency" of your technicians in Scorecard reports as well as Technician Productivity Reports.
• Part and Miscellaneous detail associated with a task can automatically be added to Purchase Orders and Inventory Requisitions via the Sales Quote Process as well as through the Purchasing Wizard.
• Using the PriceBook print options you can print a Jobs Breakdown report, which will print a list of task and for each, identify the listed part, labor and miscellaneous detail along with quantities required. This can be used by technicians when calling in costing information as well as to assure that the required materials are on their truck before they set out to perform certain jobs.

Creating the PriceBook with Comparative Pricing

Using comparative pricing will allow you to create a book of tasks that will give you two columns of prices, in addition to a calculated “You Save” column. When creating comparative pricing you have two options as to how you will build your task:

• With Detail-- This involves adding each individual Part, Miscellaneous and Labor Item that is required to complete the task and allowing Successware to calculate the task price based upon the cost of those Items.
• Without Detail-- This involves entering an amount of time required to complete the task. Successware then calculates the price of the task based upon applying your labor pricing factors and task duration. Additional Part and Miscellaneous costs can be added to the task.

How to Enter Task Pricing Formulas for Comparative Priced Tasks

1. In the PriceBook, navigate to the Tasks subtab. Next, click the Select Pricing drop-down in the top right corner, and select Default Pricing.

2. Click on the Tasks subtab.

3. Enter the percentage to add to the total cost of the task. This is used to cover overhead associated with the task. Enter a value between 0 and 100 percent.
4. Enter a Truck Operating Surcharge (TOS). This is a flat dollar amount that you add to a task to cover vehicle expenses, such as, fuel, maintenance, and insurance.
5. Enter a percentage to add to the task amount to cover the amount you will enter into bonus accounts that have been set up for technicians.
6. By checking the Include tax in pricing check box, tax will be added to the calculated task price.

7. Enter the tax percentage and checkmark whether or not you want to apply tax to Parts, Labor or Miscellaneous task Items.
8. Checkmark the Calculating bonus points before adding tax box if you want bonus points calculated on the pre-tax task price or after tax has been added if you have chosen to include tax and have included bonus points.
9. If you want to round the price of your tasks up to the next whole dollar, checkmark the Round prices to next dollar. The adjustment to the price to accommodate the rounding will effect the miscellaneous sale amount.
10. Click Save to save and exit the PriceBook default pricing setup dialog box. 

Creating a Comparative Priced Task with Item Detail

Before creating Standard Price tasks with item detail you must complete:

• Addition of all Part, Labor and Miscellaneous Items in the PriceBook that you intend to use in the task,
• Labor pricing formulas,
• Task pricing formulas, and
• Part and Miscellaneous pricing setup.

1. From the PriceBook, click on the Group to which you want to add the task and click the + Add Item button.
2. Enter an item number and Description for the task.
3. Enter the Task duration in minutes.
4. Enter the number of technicians required to complete the task.

The task duration and number of technicians required will be used to calculate the labor cost and price based upon your labor pricing setup.

5. To enter task detail, click into the Add Item Detail button. This will add a new line. You can use the Tab key to move through the fields.

6. Enter the number of the Part, Labor or Miscellaneous Item you want to add. 

NOTE: If you enter a labor line item in the detail area, the Task duration will no longer be an editable field. Task duration will equal the number of labor units (quantity) times 60 minutes. This is useful if you are adding Labor Items for technicians with different labor rates.

7. When the item number is entered, Successware will fill in the rest of the item fields.

8. Change the quantity if necessary
9. Click the Save Item Detail button to save.
10. Once you have entered all the detail items you require, click on the Standard Price subtab.
11. If you have entered Part, Labor or Misc. Item detail, Successware will calculate the total cost of those items in the Cost summary. If you have not entered an item of a particular type, such as Misc. you can enter a cost manually in the field.

NOTE: You may need to press the Recalc pricing button to update the price after you have entered your costs.

If you want to set a price for the task that is different than the calculated price, check the Override Our Price check box and type the price in the Override amount field. Successware will either negatively or positively adjust the miscellaneous price of your task to accommodate the new price.

13. Click Save to save and close the task.

Creating a Comparative Priced Task without Item Detail

When creating a comparative priced task, it is not necessary to enter individual item detail to generate a price. You can leave the detail section of the task empty and manually enter your costs in the Standard Cost screen.

1. Enter an item number and description for the task.
2. Enter the task duration in minutes.
3. Enter the number of technicians required to complete the task.
4. Since you will not be entering labor line items you must enter the task duration and number of technicians in order for the labor cost and pricing to be calculated.

5. Click on the Standard Price subtab.

6. Manually enter a part cost if necessary.
7. Enter any additional miscellaneous costs if necessary. Miscellaneous cost will be added to the additional charges you added to the task in the Task pricing setup and will calculate the total miscellaneous sale.

NOTE: You may need to press the Recalc pricing button to update the price after you have entered your costs.

8. If you want to set a price for the task that is different than the calculated price, check the Override Our Price check box and type the price in the Override amount Successware will either negatively or positively adjust the miscellaneous price of your task to accommodate the new price.
9. Click Save to save and close the task.

Creating the PriceBook using Price Levels

When you use the PriceBook with price levels, you are creating a flat-rate task, and then applying an additional price or reduce price to that task based upon predetermined circumstances. Successware allows you to add or subtract a flat percentage from the standard price of the task and/or add or subtract minutes of labor from the standard price of the task.

When creating Tasks with price levels you have two options as to how you will build your task:

• With Detail-- this involves adding each individual Part, Miscellaneous, and Labor Item required to complete the task and allowing Successware to calculate the task price based upon the cost of those Items
• Without Detail-- this involves entering an amount of time required to complete the task. Successware can calculate the price of the task based upon applying the labor pricing you established to the task duration you choose. Additional Part and Miscellaneous costs can also be added to the task.

Adding Price Levels to the Default Task Pricing Formula

To set up formulas that will serve as the default pricing scheme for your PriceBook you must create default pricing formulas.

1. Click on the Select Pricing link in the upper-right corner of the PriceBook window and select Default Pricing.

2. Click on the Tasks subtab in the PriceBook Default Pricing Setup window.

3. Enter a percentage to add to the total cost of the task. It is used to cover overhead associated with the task. Enter a value between 0 and 100 percent.
4. Enter a Truck Operating Surcharge (TOS). This is a flat dollar amount that you add to a task to cover vehicle expenses, such as, fuel, maintenance, and insurance.
5. Enter a percentage to add to the task amount to cover the amount you will enter into bonus accounts that have been set up for technicians.
6. By checking the Include tax in prices check box, tax will be added to the calculated task price.

Note: In order for the tax you have added to the task price to post to your default tax liability account, you must checkmark the appropriate box in the Company Setup form's, Other tab.

7. Enter the tax percentage and checkmark whether or not you want to apply tax to Parts, Labor or Miscellaneous Task Items.
8. Checkmark the Calculate bonus points before adding tax box if you want bonus points calculated on the pre-tax task price or after tax has been added, if you have chosen to include tax and have included bonus points.
9. If you want to round the price of your tasks up to the next whole dollar, checkmark the Round prices to next dollar. The adjustment to the price to accommodate the rounding will effect the miscellaneous sale amount.
10. If you check the "Use preset pricing formulas to determine and maintain price levels for tasks" this will open the pricing formulas grid in the lower half of the window.

11. If you want to use the calculated retail price as Level 1 of your price levels, check the "Use retail price level" box.
12. Place a checkmark in front of each level you want to use and add a description of the price level.

NOTE: If left blank, the standard price will be Level 1 of your price levels. You can also edit the default price levels that were created.

13. To increase or decrease the standard price of the task by a flat percentage, tab into the (+/- %) column for the price level and enter a positive or negative value.
14. To increase or decrease the standard price of the task by adding or removing minutes of labor, tab into the (+/- Mins) column for the price level and enter a positive or negative value.
15. Once you have created your price levels and set the adjustments, press Save.

Creating Tasks with Price Levels and Item Detail

Before creating Standard price tasks with item detail you must complete:

• All Part, Labor and Miscellaneous Items in the PriceBook that you intend to use in the task,
• Labor pricing formulas,
• Task pricing formulas, and
• Part and Miscellaneous pricing setup.

1. Navigate to the Tasks subtab within the PriceBook, select the Group to which you want to add the task, and click the + Add Item button.

2. Enter an item number and description for the task.
3. Enter the task duration in minutes.
4. Enter the number of technicians required to complete the task.
5. The task duration and number of technicians required will be used to calculate the labor cost and price based upon your labor pricing setup.
6. To enter Task detail, click on the Add Item Detail button.
7. Add in the item number to the "Item No" field and add the number of the Part, Labor or Miscellaneous Items you want to add. 

NOTE: If you enter a labor line item in the detail area, the Task duration will no longer be an editable field. Task duration will equal the number of labor units (quantity) times 60 minutes. This is useful if you are adding Labor Items for technicians with different labor rates.

8. When the item number is entered, Successware will fill in the rest of the item fields.
9. Change the quantity if necessary.
10. Click the Save Item Detail button to save the line item.
11. Once you have entered all the detail items you require, click the Save button.

If you have entered a Part, Labor or Misc. Item, Successware will calculate the cost summary field. If you have not entered an item of a particular type, such as Misc. you can enter a cost manually in the field.

NOTE: You may need to press the Recalc pricing button to update the price after you have entered your costs.

If you want to set a price for a task that is different than the calculated price, go to the Standard Price subtab and check the "Override Our Price" box and type the price in the Override amount. Successware will either negatively or positively adjust the miscellaneous price of your task to accommodate the new price.

If you have created Price levels in your default pricing setup or the pricing setup for this Category, click on the Price levels.

Click on the Rebuild price levels button to calculate the price levels for this task, and click Save.

Creating Tasks with Price Levels and No Item Detail

When creating a price level Task without detail, it is not necessary to enter individual Item details to generate a price. You can leave the detail section of the task empty and manually enter your costs in the Standard Cost screen.

1. Enter an item number and description for the task.
2. Enter the task duration in minutes.
3. Enter the number of technicians required to complete the task.

Since you will not be entering labor line items you must enter a task duration and number of technicians in order for the labor cost and pricing to be calculated.

4. Click on the Standard Price subtab.

5. Enter Parts cost if necessary. Successware will calculate the part price.
6. Enter any additional miscellaneous cost if necessary.

The miscellaneous cost will be added to any additional charges you added to the task in the Task pricing setup and will calculate the total miscellaneous sale.

NOTE: You may need to press the Recalc pricing button to update the price after you have entered your costs.

7. If you want to set a price for the task that is different than the calculated price, check the "Override Our Price" box and type the price in the Override Amount field. Successware will either negatively or positively adjust the miscellaneous price of your task to accommodate the new price.

8. If you have created price levels in your default pricing setup or the pricing setup for this Category, click on the Price levels subtab.
9. Click on the Rebuild price levels button to calculate the price levels for this task.
10. Click Save.

Creating a Diagnostic Task

Tasks built in Successware can be identified during setup as a "diagnostic" task. The Diagnostic flag is used when generating Job and Invoice Scorecard reports. When a Diagnostic task is added as a line item on an invoice the line item's "item type" will automatically be set to "Diagnostic".

Note: A task that has not been pre-established as Diagnostic can still be marked as a Diagnostic task at the time it is entered on the invoice by changing the Item Type of the line item.

Marking a Task as a Diagnostic

1. Create or edit an existing task as you normally would.
2. Checkmark the Diagnostic checkbox located the right of the description field.           
3. Make any other required additions or changes to the task.
4. Save the Task.

Creating “As-Task” Pricing for Part and Miscellaneous Items

As-task pricing allows you to turn a Part Item in to a Task Item at the time it is entered on an invoice. Instead of entering the price just to sell the part, you can enter the cost to both sell and install the part. This is done by adding an allotment of labor to the part to account for its installation. Successware allows you to create Parts and Miscellaneous Items in your PriceBook with “as-task” pricing at the time Items are added to an invoice, labor will automatically be added to the price of the Item.  This gives you the option of creating a flat-rate-task “on the fly” by adding a number of “as-task” Items to an invoice.  It also allows you to add parts to an existing flat-rate task and have the labor automatically included.

NOTE: When an item that has been assigned Part-as-task pricing is entered on an invoice, the price for the part alone will be entered by default. In order to use the task pricing, you must choose to use the part “as task” when searching for the part.

“As-Task” pricing can be added to both Part and Miscellaneous Items. The process for the creation of “as-task” pricing is the same for both.

 

Creating As-Task Items

In order to set up as task items, the task portion of Pricing Setup must be complete.

1. Open the Part or Miscellaneous Item to which you want to add “as-task” pricing. Navigate to the Pricing subtab.
2. Check the "Allow Installed Pricing" checkbox in the Item window.

3. Enter the number of minutes of labor it will take to complete the task.
4. Successware will update the price based upon the labor allotment that you have added to the Item.
5. Click Save.

Updating & Maintaining the PriceBook

Once you have built your PriceBook you will need to keep it up to date. For ease of use, Successware allows you to sort sections of the PriceBook by any of the column headers. It also allows you to automatically update the costs and prices of Items that you have added to the PriceBook.

 

Displaying PriceBook Items

Where you click in the PriceBook controls what information you will see in the PriceBook window. Successware provides the following three options:

1. View all Items that are within a particular Category,
2. View only those Items that are within a particular Group, and
3. View individual Items.

Once the Items are displayed, you can sort them however you wish by clicking on the column header within the grid by which you want to sort.

Displaying Items within Categories and Groups

1. Clicking on a Category name in any section of the PriceBook will display all Items that are members of any Groups within that Category.
2. Clicking on a Group name will only display Items that are members of that Group.

Searching for Specific Items within the PriceBook

The PriceBook contains a search bar that allows you to search for Items by item number and description.

1. Click in the field of the search bar that you wish to search by.
2. Enter the value you want to find.

3. Click the Enter key to perform the search.  Click the Cancel button to exit the search.

Sorting the PriceBook

When you are displaying a list of parts, either as the result of a search or while viewing the contents of a Category or Group, you may find it helpful to change the order in which the Items are displayed.

Note: By default, Items are listed in part number order.

1. To change the sort order, click on the column header of the column you want to resort. The Items will list in ascending order (A-Z).
2. Click the column header again to reverse the sort order (Z-A).

Updating the PriceBook

Once your PriceBook is set up, you will need to update prices and costs as information changes.

Adjusting Item Costs

Successware allows you to make adjustments to the cost of individual items in the Part, Labor and Miscellaneous section or to perform more "across the board" cost adjustments.

When performing a bulk type of cost adjustment you can have the cost of items modified based upon the Categories and Groups in which the items reside as well as by the Manufacturer attached to the item (for part items).

Once you have selected the items that you need to adjust you can modify the cost of the items by adding or subtracting a percentage to the Standard Cost. For Part Items you can replace the existing Standard Cost with the current Average Cost or Last Cost of the part item. You can also add or subtract a percentage from the Average or Last cost when making the cost adjustment.

Once you make an adjustment to the cost of items, you will have the ability to review a table which will show you the changes. Until another cost adjustment is performed, you will have the ability to roll the Standard Cost back to its pre-adjustment value.

Cost Adjustments do not automatically change the price of an item. In order for Successware to reapply the markup formula to the new cost, you must update your prices.

To Adjust Item Cost

1. Open the PriceBook and click on the subtab which contains the items for which you want to adjust the cost (Parts, Labor or Miscellaneous).
2. Choose on the Category which contains the items you want to adjust and click the Select Pricing drop-down, and click the Default Pricing option. This will open the Default Pricing Setup window.

Updating Prices

When changes have been made to the cost of Items, or to the pricing formulas, you will need to update the price of your Items. Each section of the PriceBook must have its prices updated separately. Updating the prices of the Parts section will not automatically update the prices in the Task section.

1. Navigate to the Category you want updated and click the Select Pricing drop-down, and click Update prices for… (the Category name).

2. You can choose to update the prices of all Categories in a section of the PriceBook by selecting Update prices for all categories.
3. You will be asked to confirm that you want to update prices. Click Yes.
4. Successware will update the prices of the selected portion of the PriceBook and prompt you when the update is complete.

The system tracks the dates and times when pricing formulas are modified and when the prices have updated.  

Printing the PriceBook

Having a printed copy of your PriceBook is one of the main goals of having the PriceBook setup properly. Whether you are printing the book to show customers, or printing it as a tool for your technicians to use when completing their paperwork, knowing how to properly print your PriceBook is invaluable.

Depending upon how you have set up your pricing, there are different ways that you can print the PriceBook.

Exporting Reports

The PriceBook in Successware allows you to instantly print any Category or Group of Items that you are currently viewing. Because you are printing a table of information off the screen, this is referred to as a Grid Report.

1. In the PriceBook, click on the Category or Group that you want to print.
2. Click the Export List button.
3. In the pop-up box, put a checkmark next to the fields you want to appear in the report.
4. Click Export to generate the report.

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