Tools
Keep the tools your technicians carry, such as leak detectors, manometers and pipe cutters, with their suppliers, costs and serial numbers.
A tool is equipment your technicians use on the job and bring back: a combustible gas leak detector, a manometer for pressure tests, a pipe cutter, a flaring tool. Keeping tools as items lets you buy them the same way as parts, see what you have, and, when a tool carries a serial number, know exactly which unit is on which truck.
What you see
Items → Tools lists every tool with its Tool ID, Item Name, Description, Item Group, Replenishment, Default Method, Tracking, Tags, Supplier and Active status. Opening a tool shows the tabs Details, Purchasing, Accounting, Planning, Inventory, Sales and Quality, and the header's More options menu offers Create Change Notice and Delete Tool.
How to add a tool when the company buys a new kind of tool
- On Items → Tools, choose Add Tool.
- Enter the Tool ID (type
...for the next number), the Revision if the maker revises the model, a Short Description such as "Manometer, digital, 0 to 30 inches water column", and a Long Description if useful. - Set Replenishment System to Buy and Default Method Type to Pull from Inventory for tools kept in the shop.
- Set Tracking Type to Serial when each unit has a serial number you want to trace, or Inventory when you only need a count.
- Pick the Unit of Measure, the Item Group and a starting Unit Cost, then choose Save.
How to buy, stock and cost a tool when it is set up
The tabs work exactly as they do for a part: suppliers and prices on Purchasing, costing method and unit cost on Accounting, reorder levels on Planning, storage and quantities on Inventory, a sale price on Sales if you ever resell the tool, and inspection plans on Quality. The Parts guide walks through each tab step by step.
How to keep test instruments accurate when a tool must be calibrated
Record a tool that measures, such as a manometer or a pressure gauge, as a gauge in Quality as well; the gauge record is where its calibration dates and results are kept. The two records are separate: the tool record here is for buying and stocking the instrument, and the gauge record is for proving it reads correctly.
Where this fits
Tools are bought on purchase orders, received through receipts and counted in inventory. A controlled change to a tool model runs through a change notice. The shared item settings are explained in Items.