Record Materials on a Task

Learn how to record material costs to track profit and loss and make invoicing easier

Updated on May 30th, 2024

Recording materials not only adds your costs to a job but it is also essential for accurate stock control. Materials used on a job are viewed and recorded by tapping:

  • Material in the Job Costs Overview
  • Items tab >  Material

Tap (Add Item) to add materials to a task and select the relevant option.

See below for instructions on how to use each option.

Option Description
Search

Do a quick search from your inventory.

Barcode Scanning

You can also scan an item's barcode using this option.

 
Standard Material Navigate through your inventory categories to select items.
Quote Material Select items from your quote worksheet (only available from a quoted task).
Inventory Lists Select inventory items from a Task Specific List, Assembly or SOR List.
Ad-hoc

Manually enter one-off items (ad-hoc materials) that are not listed in inventory.

 

 

Alternatively, if you want to quickly add items to your task without first viewing existing items, you can also use the Task shortcuts > Add Material to access these same options.

 

Project Tasks

If working on a project task, you'll have an additional Select Task section at the top of the list of material items. Use this to view materials from other tasks in the project and add items if necessary.

Original Task

The task that you initially navigated to is known as the Original Task. When saving materials to another task, however, this new task will now be known as the Original Task (and will also be referenced in the task header). This task will remain when switching tabs (i.e., to Labour or Expense). 

 
 
 

Feature Access settings

How material items are displayed once added depends on your Material and Expense visibility set within your Feature Access Settings, e.g. whether or not prices are showing.

 
 

 

Search for Materials

1. Search

  1. Tap Search
  2. Enter at least 3 characters into any of the fields.

    Barcode Scanning
    If your material has a barcode recorded in AroFlo, you tap the (black square) to scan the item's barcode. You can also use an external scanner paired to your device to populate any fields with a corresponding barcode, e.g., Part No or Identifier. See Barcode Scanning for more information.

     
  3. Tap Search at the bottom of the popup. Results will be displayed.
 
 
 

2. Add Search Results

Once the search results are displayed:

  1. Select where the stock was taken from (defaults to current user).
  2. Enter the quantity used against each item.

    Tap the corresponding category to display all items within that category.

     
  3. Tap Save to add the items to the task.
  4. Tap Materials to return to the task material screen.

After searching inventory, you can switch to Quote Material (if applicable) or Inventory Lists by using (green plus button).

 

You can also tap Search from within the Standard Material and Inventory Lists section; however, the behaviour will be slightly different.

 
 
 
 

 

Add Inventory Items

Inventory items are organised in categories (and sub-categories) that have been created in AroFlo Office.

You can browse through the categories and book items out directly from the category.

  1. Tap Standard Material
  2. Select the Category you want from the list. (Select the subcategory if applicable)

    Tap the category or sub category headers to navigate back and forth.

    Show this

     
     
     
  3. Select where the stock was taken from (defaults to current user).
  4. Enter the quantity used into the fields on the items.

    Tap an item to view additional item details or to view documents and photos attached to the item.

    Show this

     
     
     
  5. Save.
  6. Tap Materials to return to the task material screen.
 

 

Add Quoted Items

If the task you're working on originated from a quote, or from a project created from a detailed quote, you'll have the option to add materials from the quote.

  1. Tap Quote Material to bring up the list of items
  2. Select where the stock was taken from (defaults to current user)
  3. Enter the quantity of each item

    - The red number represents how many items were on the quote.
    - The black counter represents the number of items added to the task.

     
  4. Save to add the items to your task
  5. Tap Materials to return to the task material screen.

Project Tasks

For project tasks where the project was created from a detailed quote, the list will display all quoted items within the project, but you can use the filter option to filter the list:

Option
Description
Task Displays quoted items if there was a quote attached to the task.
Stage Displays only quoted items from the stage the task belongs to. Only appears if the task is linked to a stage.
Project Displays quoted items from all stages within the project.
 
In this example, we can see that the ceiling fan from the quote has already been added to the task and there are still 2 more powerpoints to be added
In this example, we can see that the ceiling fan from the quote has already been added to the task and there are still 2 more powerpoints to be added
 

 

Add Inventory Lists

Inventory Lists are another powerful way of quickly booking out several items on to a task. These lists (created in AroFlo Office) should contain most of the common items you would use on a regular job.

  1. Tap Inventory Lists.
  2. Select the appropriate category (if applicable).

    Show me

     
     
  3. Select the appropriate list from those displayed.

    Filter By

    Use the (Filter by) to filter the list based on Task Specific Lists, Assemblies, and SOR Lists.

    Show me

     
     
     
  4. Select where the stock was taken from (defaults to current user).
  5. Enter the quantity used against the items you need.
  6. Save.
  7. Tap Materials to return to the task material screen.

Search Inventory Lists

Use the (green plus button) to Search inventory lists either before or after selecting a category.

 

 

Assemblies

If you select an Assembly from Inventory Lists, you're given the option of either setting a total quantity in the header line, or setting individual item quantities (see image).

 

 

Ad-hoc materials

If you've used a one-off item that is not listed in your inventory, you can add the item to the task as an Ad-hoc Material item:

  1. Tap Ad-hoc.
  2. Enter a Part No (if known - your part number or supplier part number)

    If you have an external barcode scanner paired with your mobile device, you can scan the part number to populate this field. See Barcode Scanning for more information.

     
  3. Enter the name of the Item.
  4. Enter the quantity of items used.
  5. Enter a Cost value (if known)
  6. Tap Save to return to the task material screen.

All Fields Explained

Field Description
Part No Enter a part number (optional).
Item The name of the item.
Quantity Enter the quantity needed.
Cost The cost of the item exclusive of GST.
Sell The sell price of the item exclusive of GST.
Date The date the item was used on the task (defaults to today's date)
Tracking Centre Select a Tracking Centre (optional)
Take Stock From

Record where the stock was taken from by selecting a user or holder from the dropdown (defaults to the user logged in)

Remember User

Tick Remember User to save the selected user as a new default. 

 
 
 

 

Editing items

Once you've added items to the task, return to the task material screen using any of the above methods.

Tap the or buttons to adjust item quantities and Save. Alternatively, tap x to remove an item.

Tap the (back arrow) at the top to return to the task items screen.

 

Purchase/Work Order items

If your task contains purchase orders or work orders, material items will be visible under the relevant headings PO or WO.

Tap the purchase order number to open the related Purchase Order.