Materials Bulk Entry

Project Insight’s typical expense features are a great fit for “Incurred Expenses”

• e.g. I bought airline tickets, and now I need to be reimbursed or bill the customer for that expense

But what if your team treats expenses like 'materials' or 'consumable expenses'?

• e.g. I used all the fill-in-the-blank items, and I need to report to those who do the ordering

Does this sound familiar?

• Your team sends a paper form out into the field
• The team member marks how many of each item they used
• Then the team member submits that form along with their time entries
• Once back at the office, bookkeeping personnel compare which items were used and how many to order

There's a PI interface for all your Materials used to complete a project, and those back at the office can see it in real time - no need to wait for the paper form to get back!

If this seems like a time-saver for your team, keep reading to:

1. Enable the app
2. Set up the Codes
3. Use Materials

Enable in the Add-Ons

From the Administration section, find the Add-On "Materials Bulk Entry"

There's no configuration at the App-level, so just Install and you're good to get started!

Getting Started

The Materials Bulk Editor uses Expense Codes (set in the Administration > Time, Expense & Invoice > Expense Codes) :

Expense Type:

• Materials: If the Expense Code should be available to use on the Materials Entry Grid, select Materials for the code's type
• Mileage: Not used in this feature, but helpful if you track mileage expenses

Additional MUST HAVES for the Materials Entry Grid Default

• Give the code a Name
• Unit prices (both cost and billable) are optional
• Active says whether the code is available to use anywhere in PI
• Materials Entry Grid Default adds the code to the Grid by default
  • A Team Member can change their grid for themselves later

Use Materials

From the project Views > Materials:

You'll see the Materials Entry Grid for the week:

The Team Member or PM can add additional materials they specifically need with the Add button.

Project Managers can change the default values for their projects for all Team Members using this screen for this project with the Edit Defaults button.

How many did you use?

Tell us how many of each item did you use on what day (and yes, you can use partial items):

Submit Expense Report per your Expense Report policies.

You do not need to use formal Expense Reports to save these values and report on usage. See Expense Entry Reports to see expense entries by time periods or projects.