Turning items into equipment
An item is stock: a quantity of identical things. Equipment is one unit with a history. The moment worth crossing that line is usually the moment the thing is sold or fitted — from then on it is at a site, it belongs to somebody, and somebody will ring you about it.
Only non-consumable items can be converted. Cable ties and cleaning fluid are used up and never become equipment; a camera, a compressor or a router does. The item’s Type is set when you add it to inventory.
From an invoice
Section titled “From an invoice”Convert Into Equipment sits in the ≡ menu on an invoice. It lists every non-consumable item on that invoice; tick the ones that should become the client’s equipment and convert them.
This is the cleanest moment to do it: the sale is the point at which ownership actually changes, and the invoice already knows what was sold and to whom. See invoice actions.
Smart Suggestion, on the job’s cart
Section titled “Smart Suggestion, on the job’s cart”You do not have to remember any of this. Put a non-consumable item in a job’s cart and EyeOnTask raises a Smart Suggestion — it asks whether you want to make that item a piece of equipment, at the moment you add it.
Taking it up is the easiest route there is: the unit is created while the job is being written, rather than being remembered a week later when somebody wonders what happened to the camera that was fitted. Declining leaves the line as an ordinary item on the job, and any of the routes below still work afterwards.
From a job’s items
Section titled “From a job’s items”The items table on a job has Convert Items Into Equipment. Tick the lines to promote and press the button — converted lines are then marked Converted to Equipment in the table, so it is clear which have already been done.
Fill in Serial No. and Part No. on the line at the time, because they come across with the unit. See items and services on a job.
While a quote becomes a contract
Section titled “While a quote becomes a contract”Converting a quote into a contract opens Convert Items Into Equipment on the way through, listing the non-consumable items that were on the quote. Tick them, fill in the serial number, warranty and service interval, and they become the client’s equipment as the contract is created — ready for the contract’s work pattern to service. See converting a quote.
As it goes in, on the job form
Section titled “As it goes in, on the job form”The job form’s Client’s Equipment List carries Add new equipment for installation for a unit you are fitting now, and Add new equipment for repair for one already on site that was never recorded. Both open a short form for the name, brand, model and serial number, the warranty, whether it is Billable, and Remove stock from inventory — which takes the unit out of stock as it goes in.
See equipment on a job.
Straight onto the equipment list
Section titled “Straight onto the equipment list”Add Equipment on Client’s Equipment records a unit that never passed through your stock at all — kit the client bought elsewhere, or equipment that was on site long before you were involved. See adding equipment.
Parts come with the product
Section titled “Parts come with the product”An item that has parts linked to it does not convert alone. Convert the product and its parts convert with it, arriving as the unit’s own components — so a camera that was built from a lens module and a housing becomes one piece of equipment with those two parts recorded against it, in one action rather than three.
That is what makes the unit worth having afterwards. When a part is replaced two years later, the record already knows what was in the machine to begin with — see parts on a piece of equipment.
Which route to use
Section titled “Which route to use”| Situation | Route |
|---|---|
| You quoted it and are converting the quote into a contract | Convert Items Into Equipment, which opens during the conversion |
| You sold and invoiced it | Convert Into Equipment on the invoice |
| You fitted it and it is on the job’s item list | Convert Items Into Equipment on the job |
| You are fitting it now and it is not on any list | Add new equipment for installation on the job |
| It was already there, or came from somewhere else | Add Equipment on Client’s Equipment |
What changes after conversion
Section titled “What changes after conversion”The stock line stays as the record of what was sold and charged. The new unit is what carries on: its own serial number, its own warranty clock, its own service history, and eligibility to be named on jobs and put on contracts. See client’s equipment.