Materials Management

The materials management module is used by Account Teams to Add/Edit/Upload materials for a call form. These materials are viewed by field reps using icMobile and viewed by Account Teams on the materials management screen and reporting.

Overview

Setup

Turning Materials Management on for a call form is done on the Call Form Add/Edit.

To turn on materials management click the Materials Reminder checkbox and Save the call form.
The materials management module is accessible by clicking the Manage Materials button and on the call form list materials link.

The materials management module is available at:

Team / Manage / Call Forms / Materials

The materials management screen uses the General Management page layout.

Workflow

The Materials management workflow displays how the materials by store and wave added to the Materials Module is used.

Materials by store and wave are added to the Materials module
Materials shipped by the BDS warehouse are exported from the Materials module are exported and uploaded into Shipping module as a complex shipment.
Shipping details flows back into the Materials module after shipments are completed.
Material shipping details is available to field reps on ICMobile
Materials shipping details are also available on the Field Exception Detail report in Power BI.

Tabbed Context

The materials management module is organized into two tabs: Materials and Stores.

Materials - the materials tab lists all of the materials for a call form and enables adding and editing materials.
Stores - the stores tab lists the stores associated with materials by wave(s).

The materials tab establishes the materials for a call form and the stores tab creates the association of the materials with the stores for a call form.

Materials

Materials is first tab in the materials management module. The materials tab is used to add/edit/upload materials for the call form.

Searching/Material List

The materials list loads when the module is opened.

Search/Filters

A textual search box enables users to search for the materials or stores to view in the list. Enter a search term of at least 3 characters and click the search button.

Materials List

The material list displays all of the material for a call form with the following columns of detailed information.

Material ID - unique identifier for material in IC
Product Name - name of the product either in the Irvine warehouse or External warehouse
- Irvine Warehouse - displays warehouse product id - product description (ACC-TGT00018 - Samsung TGT Micro Post w/Thether)
- External Warehouse - displays external product name
External Product ID - the ID associated with the product in an external warehouse (partner or client)
Warehouse Name - two choices either Irvine or External
One Per Rep - designates that the material is shipped only one per field rep. An example is a tool used for multiple stores or a usb drive used to update information on multiple displays.
Active - is the materials still active to use.

Adding a single material

To begin adding a contact click the Add Contact button.

The Add Contact window is opened. Enter the data in the form.

Warehouse - two choices either Irvine warehouse or External warehouse
Material - based on which warehouse is chosen this fields capability changes
- Irvine - it is a search field to search for a product in the BDS Warehouse
- External - it is a text field to enter the name of the material in an external warehouse
External Product ID - a text field to enter the external product id in an external warehouse
isActive - is the material still active to use on this call form; the default is checked
One per rep - this field denotes a material where only one should be shipped to a rep for the entire project. This includes usb drives, specific tools for displays, etc. This is checked where it isn't one per store but one per rep working on the call form/project.
- Clicking this checkbox affects the BDS Shipping Export button by limiting the export to one shipment of the material despite the number of stores
- The first store for the rep is chosen for the BDS Shipping Export feature.

Click the Save button to create the new material.

Editing a Material

Clicking the context menu for a Material in the Material list opens the option for Editing. Clicking the Edit option opens the Material Edit screen.

The material edit screen allows users to edit material data fields.

Stores

Stores is second tab in the materials management module. The stores tab is used to add/edit/upload store associations to materials and export the shipping information for the call form.

Searching/Store List

The store does not load when the module is opened. The stores to material list is associated to a wave to provide the flexibility to have different materials per wave of a call form.

Filters

A wave(s) is selected before clicking the search button to load the list of stores associated with materials. The filter displays the active waves for a call form.

Each material associated to a store in the list must also be associated to a wave.

Search

A textual search box enables users to search for the materials or stores to view in the list. Enter a search term of at least 3 characters and click the search button.

Store Association to Materials List

The stores list displays all of the material/store associations for a call form with the following columns of detailed information.

Material - name of the materials (product code - material name)
BDS # - unique number from the Universal Store List (USL) for the store
Store # - number given to a store by the chain
Chain - chain name in the USL
Store Name - name of the store in the USL. may be different than the chain name
Address - address of store in the USL
City - address of the store in the USL
State - state of the store in the USL
Postal Code - postal code of the store in the USL
Wave - name associated to the wave id uploaded for the store and material
Tracking # - and is then displayed in this list, on reports and in icMobile
- Irvine - tracking number is supplied by the BDS shipping system after a shipment is completed and the data is matched up between the shipping request and the materials list by call form, wave and store.
- External - tracking number is uploaded for each location/material from shipping data from external warehouse vendor.
Shipped To - address the material is to be shipped to, used in the shipping export, three choices possible in upload template
- Rep - shipped to the field reps default shipping location, may be home or another address
- FedEx - field reps FedEx location set in their person profile
- Store - shipped to the store for the field rep to locate during their visit
Carrier
- Irvine - carrier is is supplied by the BDS shipping system after a shipment is completed and the data is matched up between the shipping request and the materials list by call form, wave and store.
- External - carrier is uploaded for each location/material from shipping data from external warehouse vendor.
Ship Date
- Irvine - ship date is supplied by the BDS shipping system after a shipment is completed and the data is matched up between the shipping request and the materials list by call form, wave and store.
- External - ship date is uploaded for each location/material from shipping data from external warehouse vendor.

Uploads

There are two uploads available in the Materials Management module

Materials/Stores - to add materials and material store associations
Select Rows - to select rows on the stores list to export shipping

Material/Stores Upload

The Material/Store upload is used to add/update materials, material to store associations, and shipping details. There are two buttons on the toolbar to access the uploads. Both of these buttons access the same upload from different tabs.

Materials Tab Stores Tab

The Material/Stores Upload details are available in this article.

Select Rows Upload

The select rows upload is used to select rows in the stores grid in bulk. This is particularly useful to select specific rows to export in the shipping export feature.

To use the upload click the Upload dropdown and click Select Rows

BDS Shipping Export

The shipping export feature enables users to export the stores selected in the format needed to upload to the IC Shipping Request module - complex shipping screen.

Clicking the shipping export button open the shipping dialog box.

The shipping dialog box provides instructions about how to select stores, how the one per rep feature works and an export button.

Shipping Export Details

The shipping export uses the check boxes available for each row in the stores list to determine which rows to export in the shipping export. The rows are exported and the data sorted into the correct rows with IDs for the IC complex shipping uploads.

Rows in the stores grid are selected in three ways:

All of the rows in the list selected at one time by clicking the check box in the header row
Specific rows selected using the Upload - Select Rows feature
Each row selected manually by clicking the check box with a mouse click

Once the rows are selected the BDS shipping export button is clicked to export the shipment details in the BDS Complex shipping format.

The export contains tabs that match the complex shipping upload template containing the IDs necessary for each of the possible uploads in the complex shipping process. Because it uses Insight Centers IDs it is not useful for external shipping systems not using those IDs.