For many of us AV veterans, dealing with some irregular items from time to time might be a bit old hat or SOP by now. But, working with new SI users on daily basis, I am reminded how challenging it can be to set your team’s actual standard to make sure that oddball items such as freight (both inbound & outbound), travel, per diem, equipment rental, etc., get included in your project bids. For this entry, we’ll focus on freight or shipping and handling as it is otherwise known.
Now, as us SI experts are well aware, you and your team have several options on how to include this often-omitted value of freight that, should be passed onto the client, but much of the time is simply not. Today we will focus on just how exactly SI can ensure that your team does not omit this value by using mechanisms in the software that will, not only include the item, but perhaps even compute the amount of that value. If this of interest to you, please keep reading!
What are some SI options when considering how to include and not omit freight?
For starters, many of the freight values we’re referring to are estimates or are simply unknown at the time of the bid and are therefore left out of the Project with the always elusive to be billed later designation.
In order to tackle just such a scenario, the use of the Allowance Package in SI can be your best option. It can be a part of any Project Template in SI therefore ensuring your team does not overlook the inclusion of freight either, at the time of bidding, or down the road once the actual shipping price is known.
Further, the Allowance Package will enable your team to simply add an amount to the pricing of the package while leaving the ability to include the actual amount later once it is known to the Approved SI Project.
Now in an effort to stay on point and not get sidetracked into focusing on Allowances exclusively, I would encourage you to review our online documentation on SI Allowances here to see how this mechanism can help your team.
In regards to Shipping and Handling, freight can still be one of the most challenging aspects of inclusion that our users deal with on their Projects. While some of you may have already determined your preferred method for capturing this amount, have a few suggestions if you have not figured out the solution that works best for you:
- A Catalog item (product or labor) – Perhaps the most straightforward method is to simply create an item in your Catalog to represent your freight burden.
Further flexibility with this usage is that you could add the sku one time for all Project related freight or add the freight item to each location as applicable in your Project.
Experienced user tip here: per the usage of Location/sub-Location values in an SI Project, you could even designate one as Freight so that it presents in such as fashion in your reports.
- A Calculated Catalog item (as seen in the above image) is also another preferred method for such usage. Per the flexibility of the formula you create, the pricing for such Freight inclusion can be based on values for the entire Project, a specific System, a specific Location, a specific Phase, or even only on the Parent item if such an item has been added as an Accessory. You can read more on this evaluation here.
Which leads nicely to the next option for this consideration… - An Accessory designation for any Catalog item (be it a Product or a Labor value) added to a Parent item can base its value on the price of that so assigned Parent item.
How about a real-world example? Let’s say you have a large TV where you are regularly incurring a substantial shipping charge.
You’ve decided that the best bet for your team is to add the freight charge as an Accessory so that it is not omitted and (perhaps best yet) its price is automatically calculated.
Well as the image above here reflects, as long as you have used a Calculated item, selected Recalculate Automatically, and set the other price point designations appropriately, then you’ve achieved the goal of ensuring that the often omitted freight charge per item is guaranteed to be included in your Project bid.
Just a note about inbound versus outbound freight. Many teams I work with suffer both of these shipping burdens just to get an item delivered to a client site. With the example listed just above here and a slight modification of your model number, you can get (2) separate freight charges that calculate automatically and, if the Accessory designation is utilized, will not be omitted from your Project. This is a strongly recommended application for those that need to overcome such obstacles. - Price Adjustments are another interesting option in SI. If a percentage of your overall Product (or Labor) value from your Project bid is what you’d like to use to generate your freight burden, then you have (3) possible options within any SI Project. (That is assuming of course that your team is not already using these values for other purposes.) If you’re unfamiliar with this SI feature, please see this link for more.
The (3) Price Adjustments options are as follows: a Product Price Adjustment, a Misc. Parts Price Adjustment, and a Labor Price Adjustment.
Regardless of which option you chose to employ towards this end, you can relabel the naming designation accordingly for both the default and your custom reports:
Just click on the Report Settings icon on your Reports tab to see the addressable text fields that will generate your naming convention accordingly.
Another experienced user tip on this one, be aware that these Price Adjustment values are subject to tax by default in SI.
- MISC Items are the last option we’ll review for this freight burden but be advised, this does not mean it is the least desirable. For some SI users, it is in fact the preferred method.
For those not familiar with SI’s Project designation of MISC Items, these are most easily defined as the inclusion of a value that users can name, describe, and even determine the pricing of for inclusion in the overall SI Project bid.
As discussed with other options for freight capture in an SI Project, MISC Items can be a part of any Project Template and will be included in any new project that is created via SI’s cloning mechanism where a prior project is used to create a new one.
Once included in your Project bid, the report output (just like the Price Adjustments) can be relabeled to suite your needs:
Your subsequent report output could look something like this:
A couple of experienced user tips to keep in mind here when considering this utilization in SI:
1-By default in SI, MISC Items are not subject to tax.
2-Pricing can be set by either entering the exact amount that you’ve estimated for the Project’s freight or via a formula that you can create in the MISC Item itself:
Just click on Compute to get see the factors available for your computation.
Now, since we know each team will leverage and utilize these aforementioned feature sets in their own unique method, it is strongly recommended for new SI users to reach out to our PSG team to gain insight from their years of industry and SI experience.
And there it is!
SI’s features function in such a fashion that will ease the burden of including Freight in your bid submissions thus allowing your team to build on existing values in order to ensure a profitable future. Be sure to tune back in here for a follow-up entry on how to include other oddball or irregular items in your SI Projects.
A Perspective
Our team is continually evaluating ways to improve and enhance your team’s usage of and experience with our SI platform. Therefore, it behooves you and your team to explore these (and other features) as well by securing time with our Professional Services Group of SI/industry veterans in order to maximize your team’s ability to succeed with the software.
In Summation…
-Update to v21 if you have not already.
-Review, utilize, and deploy the features listed above here to ensure inclusion of your freight and shipping and handling needs.
-Sign-up for webinars, training, or visit our online documentation for tutorial assistance.
And, as always…
-Get focused, get serious, and make money.
Enjoy!
With all of that said, there’s still plenty more in store for you with SI and forthcoming product releases so keep an eye out for future updates.
We are always reviewing your Feature Requests to determine our best step forward and next course of action with future SI product releases so…keep’em coming!
In closing…
For more information on these and other features of SI, please see this link: D-Tools v21. You can also review our other videos and our usual support documentation.
You can also get more detailed information about v21 via our upcoming webinars and by enrolling in SI training with our PSG team. Please review our “What’s new in v21” webinar that is now available.
And don’t forget, that’s why we are here…to ensure your success with our product! Be sure to check back here next time for more on v21!!!
