Background: Project Maintenance
Use the Project Maintenance (PSM) program to enter, change, or close a customer or engineering project. See Road Map for work flow.
This topic has these subtopics:
Customer Project
An existing customer may request a quotation for a new item or a custom version of an existing item. When you enter the customer's number, the program retrieves the customer's name and address information from the customer's record in your database.
You may also receive such a request from a customer that you have not done business with previously. The program adds a Customer button that allows you to enter a record for this new customer. When you transfer the project to your database, the system adds this customer record.
Whether this is a new or existing customer, you define the item, its components, bill of material, and routing. Based on the quantity the customer expects to order, the system calculates the total item cost, final price, and unit price.
You can click Print and then Customer to output a project estimate for the customer. If you set up the Document Management System to print a customer project estimate immediately, look for the estimate on your default output device. If you set it to queue, run the Customer Project Estimate Print Queue (PCPSPM). Alternatively, you can run the Customer Project Estimate (PCPS) program to print or reprint an estimate for a specific customer project.
When you click Transfer, the program creates an offline sales order that you can maintain with the EDI/Sales Quote Maintenance (QOE) program. When you are ready, you can use the Quote-to-Order Transfer (EPIB) program to transfer the quote to a sales order.
Engineering Project
If you leave the Customer number field blank, the program assumes that this is an engineering project. Your engineering department may be developing a new item or a new and improved version of an existing item. You can use Project Maintenance to create a cost estimate for management to determine the feasibility of the plan.
As with a customer project, you define the item, its components, bill of material, and routing. Based on the quantity that marketing forecasts you can sell, the system calculates the total item cost, final price, and unit price.
The data you enter in the Project Maintenance program is stored with the project, separate from your database. This gives you the ability to model projects without disturbing your data. When you are ready, you transfer data from a project to your database.
Project Header
The number you enter in the Parent item no field cannot exist in your database or in another active project. If you enter an Engineering Change Level, it becomes the default for the parent item and bill of material. If you enter a Routing Revision Level, it becomes the default for the parent item and routing.
The default labor, machine, overhead, and setup rates are used only if they are not defined elsewhere in the system.
The displayed project costs are defaults set up in the Project Cost Factors Maintenance (TPS) program. You can change these values for a project. Setup costs calculate based on the quoted quantity, and as the quantity increases, the costs go down.
Items
There are multiple ways to add items to your project:
-
Enter item records for items that do not exist in your database.
-
Copy items from your database.
-
Merge a bill of material from another project or from your database.
-
Copy an existing bill of material to a new bill of material.
-
Copy components from another project
Regardless of the method you use, the program creates or copies the item's branch and cost records. When you copy an inventory item, inventory item notes copy to the project as well.
You can create projects at varying engineering change levels (ECLs) and routing revision levels (RRLs) of an item number that exists in your database.
You cannot maintain fields in records copied from your database. However, you can copy the copied record, assign the copy a new number, and then change the fields that are different.
Bill of Material
You must create a bill of material that defines for the project's parent item. The BOM defines the product structure and the quantity of each component required. The BOM determines the material cost for each project quantity.
You can enter a bill of material just as you do with the Bill of Material Maintenance (MPS) program. Alternatively, you can merge an existing bill from another project or from your database, create a new bill of material from an existing bill of material, and copy components from another project.
Routing
You must create a routing that defines the operations for the project's parent item. The routing determines the labor, overhead, and outside service costs for each project quantity.
You can enter a new routing just as you do with the Routing Maintenance (RTM) program. Alternatively, you can merge a routing either from another project or from your database.
If you need a new standard operation code, work center, department, or setup or direct labor code, you need to set them up in your database.
Vendor Pricing
You can enter vendor pricing for a new component and have it included in material cost in the project estimate. However, there are some requirements:
-
The vendor must exist in your database.
-
You must enter a record for the new component and add it to the project bill of material.
-
When you select this new item and click Vend price,, you must select both the QA approved? and Preferred item? fields.
-
Then click Pricing to enter price breaks for this item. These price breaks should correspond to the project quantities you entered.
-
Click Roll up anytime you make a change that affects project costs.
Allocate price? Option
The Allocate price? option may be useful to your company if you use turn-key contract manufacturing or custom projects where you have to supply the materials, as well as manufacture the end item.
If you select the Allocate price? option and the total quantity of the item required for the project quantity is less than the minimum buy quantity 1, then the cost per unit is calculated as the minimum buy quantity x price) / project quantity. The total cost of the minimum purchase is allocated to the project.
Example:
Qty required = 300
Minimum buy = 500
Price = 1.35
Allocated cost per unit = (500 * 1.35) / 300 = 2.25
Miscellaneous Costs
In addition to the project header that you set up in the Project Cost Factors Maintenance (TPS) program, you can enter up to 999 miscellaneous costs that are not covered by any other field. For example, miscellaneous costs can be one-time charges, expenses, or re-tooling costs. When you click Exit, the program rolls up costs for you.
Project Quantities
Your customer may want to purchase a specific quantity of the item or may want price estimates for several different quantities. To support "what if" scenarios, you can enter up to 99 project quantities.
For each project quantity, you can enter a different the profit, commission, and discount percent. When you roll up costs, the program uses these fields to determine the final price that displays when you click Summary.
Roll Up and Summary
After you enter the bill of material, routing, and at least one project quantity, click Roll up to produce a cost estimate. Then click Summary to display a cost estimate for each project quantity.
Whenever you change a cost (except miscellaneous costs), be sure to click Roll up to recalculate project costs.
Click Print and then In-house to print a project summary that contains data for each project quantity. Alternatively, you can run the Project Summary (PSL) program to print or reprint a summary for one or more projects.
Transfer
When your customer agrees to a price or management approves an engineering project, you can transfer the data from Project Maintenance to your database. Costs and prices must be current (i.e., calculated with the Roll up button) for the transfer to occur.
Click Transfer and select the quantity to transfer. The program transfers the new:
-
Enterprise and branch item records
-
Inventory notes
-
Bill of material and notes
-
Routing detail and notes
-
Customer record
-
Vendor pricing
The transfer also creates a customer credit record, if none exists, and a cost roll-up history record for the parent item.
For a customer project, the program creates an offline sales order that you can maintain with the EDI/Sales Quote Maintenance (QOE) program. Then you can use the Quote-to-Order Transfer (EPIB) program to transfer this quote to a sales order.
Close
There are three ways to close a project. You can click the Close proj button to close a project at any time, elect to close a project when the project expiration date has passed, or transfer the project to your database.
When you click the Close proj button, the program closes the project after you select a reason code. You can set up codes that are appropriate for your project with the Reason Codes Maintenance (TRCM) program.
If you open a project after its expiration date has passed, the program asks you if you want to close this project. You are prompted each time you access this project until you either change the expiration date or close the project.
After a project has been transferred, the data is not maintainable. Just like a closed project, the project data remains. You can review the BOMs, routings, and summary data.
Item, Customer, or Vendor Image
You can attach a graphic to the item, customer, or vendor record. For example, you may want a picture of the item or a PDF file that contains the item's specifications.
-
Use the item, customer, or vendor number as the name of the image file. For example, if the item's number is 1234 and the file type is a TIF, then name the file 1234.TIF.
-
Store the image in the directory that you have specified in the Base path and Customer folder options for customer images, Item folder option for item images, or Vendor folder option for vendor images in the System Options Maintenance (XM) program (Help and Other Path Options).
-
Select the graphic type for the Image type field for item number, customer, or vendor. In this example, select tif. If the file type of your graphic is not listed, you need to add it to the Graphic Image Codes Maintenance (TGC) program.
-
Click View image to display the graphic.
Audit Trail
To activate an audit trail, select one of the files listed below in the Audit Trail Maintenance (XAT) program. The system records all transactions. You can then run the Audit Trails (ATR) program and select that file to print a report of these transactions.
-
P1: Project Master
-
P1PS: Project Summary
-
PC1A: Project Customer Master
-
PI1AB: Project Branch Inventory Master File
-
PI1AE: Project Enterprise Inventory Master File
-
PM1H: Project Product Structure Header
-
PRTGD: Project Routing Operation Detail
-
PRTGH: Project Routing Header
-
PV1A: Project Vendor Item
-
PV1AP: Project Vendor Item Pricing