Creating Generic Items for Project Budgeting Purposes

In some cases, such as creating High-Level Budgets from an external quote in Project Management, you may need generic items in your account's item library in order to build out your budget properly, based on item types.

For example, if you have a generic $1,354.97 line item for parts on the quote, you may just want to add a generic parts type line item of that exact amount to your budget rather than adding every single individual parts' costs and prices.

Follow the steps below to create generic items in your account that can be used as placeholders on your project's budget's. This is for use when you are building budgets from quotes that do not originate within ServiceTrade. Read more about Creating Budgets for a Project in this support article.

Creating Generic Items for Project Budgeting Purposes

1. First, click the My Account button in the navigation menu.
2. Click the Items in the menu below to navigate to the Items page.
3. Click Create Item to begin. 
4. On the Edit Item page, where you input your item information, input your Item Code as the generic item type such as Labor, Part, Equipment, Fee, etc.
   
5. For Item Description, input the generic description for the generic budget line Item, such as "Project Labor Charge."
6. Select the appropriate Service Line from the drop down.
7. Under the Type dropdown, select the item type that corresponds to your generic item type, such as Labor, Material, Part, Equipment, etc.
8. Leave Standard Cost blank, as you will enter the cost manually on each budget you use this item on.
9. Make sure Taxable unchecked.
10. Check the Active checkbox to ensure that the item is able to be used in your account.
11. Click Save when done.
12. Repeat this process for each new generic item type you need to create, such as Labor, Part, Material, Equipment, Fee, etc.