HOMEBUILDER: IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSTRUCTION ITEMS

In This Article:

Before You Start | Global Items vs. Local Items

Before You Start - System Tables that Must be Filled in:

Before you create Construction Items, make sure you have the following in place. Use our demo environment to give you suggestions about what to enter into each table.

Mandatory Setups

• HomeBuilder Base Setup.
• Workflow Template (minimum of one).
• Workflow Template Task (minimum of one).
• Construction Item Category (minimum of one).
  • Ensure you have an Item Category "House Area".
• Search Measurement Types and ensure it is configured.
• Search House Areas and verify that the configuration exists.
  • In the House Areas subsection called House Area Measurement, verify that the configuration exists.
  • Click Applicable Checklist Items (used for PDI).

Optional Setups

Search and verify each:

• Key Date Category.
• Key Dates.
• Key Date Templates.
• Key Date Template Item.

Setup and The Basics

You should consider Construction Items as three different types of items. They share many elements; however, the creation of each should be approached from a different angle.

As with any data in Dynamics BC you can import Construction Items, however, there are labor-saving copy routines built right into Construction Items. In real terms, this means that it is often most efficient to create an initial item in its entirety, and then use the copy function to create similar items.

Once you have created the Items, you must push (with an automatic process) to Models and Phases. Once added to Models and Phases you control the vendors, contracts, pricing etc. These items eventually create the Lot Planning Lines from which all budgeting and scheduling are handled.

You do not need to do all these functions e.g., scheduling or even budgeting or setting up Vendor Contracts but it is still important to create Construction Items and push them through Models and Phases for the Lot functionality to work correctly.

The Construction Item represents a type of deliverable that should be constructed, installed, or completed on a Lot. It also represents a change or credit related to a Lot. Examples of Construction Items are Kitchen Cabinet, Countertop, Electrical Socket, Roof Tiling, and the After Sales Service Inspection.

Start with the Base Contract Items (Construction Items)

There are two options available for creating Base Contract Items: Manual creation based on your business Operations, OR using a default list we can provide as a template and then manually adjusting it if needed (The second option is recommended).

Option 1: Manual creation of Base Contract Items based on your business operations

Construction Items – What do I create?

Get hold of all the Vendor Contracts or previous invoices from vendors.

You will want to create one “Base Contract” “Construction Item” (also known as a “Base Contract Item”) per charge that you receive from your vendor/contractor that requires separate reporting. In practical terms, you may have 10 lines from an electrician on a document, but only record against one Construction Item as you do not need to report at that level or granularity.

Items can be work (labor) or materials. Typical examples are “Lumber for Framing”, “Framing - First Floor”, or “Footings – Concrete”.

Option 2: using a default list we can provide as a template, and then manually adjusting it if needed

We provide you with the list of Base Contract Items that will work for most builders. It was tested and created based on our extensive experience in the industry. We can migrate the List to your system or provide you with instructions.

What is on the Construction Item, and what is on the Phase and Model Items?

• In this Base Contract Item, you will set up the following things:

  • No. - We provide you with these numbers. Below are some guidelines (see the demo database for examples). You may want to read more on Google about intelligent numbering.

  • Name - use something that instantly lets you know what this is, such as "Drywall Installation," "Electrical Rough-in," etc.

  • Item Category Code Construction Item Categories – keep this simple, it is just used to make listing items on the screen easier.

  • Cost Detail Code – Select from List (this is the basis for most reporting).

  • Base Unit of Measure – nearly always EACH (or PCS). Sq. Ft. or Sq. M. can be used on occasion.

  • Base Contract – Yes.

  • WF Template Code – Construction.

  • WF Template Task No. – All.

  • Cost Scope – Per Model (is the most commonly chosen, Universal is for when charges are the same irrespective of the model chosen).

  • Gen. Prod. Posting Group – Construction.

  • Tax Group Code – Taxable.

  • Take the defaults that the system gives for the following unless you are sure you want to change them:

    • Available – Yes.
    • Blocked – No.
    • Designation – Single Item.
    • Variants Required – No.
    • Deliverable – Yes.
    • Color Chart – No.
    • Unit Cost – zero (it is defined later).
    • Pricing Method – Item.
    • Costing Method – FIFO.
    • Revenue Detail Code – leave blank for Base Contract Items.

  • The Phase Items hold shared setups for all Models in this Phase. This includes the following:

    • Vendor No.
    • Vendor Contract No.
    • Unit Cost (for Cost Scope – “Universal”, otherwise per Model Item).

  • In the Model Item, you add the following things to the setup already done on the Base Contract Item – the following describes a standard “simple” setup. You can make this more complicated for full control, but most people keep it simple.

    • Unit Cost (for Cost Scope – “Per Model/HA”, otherwise per Phase Item). Automatically Create the Phase and Model Items from the Construction Item.

“Push” Base Contract Items to Phase and Models

(Automatically create the Phase and Model Items from the Construction Item)

• Once you have created these Base Contract Items you will select all the Items that belong on specific Models and click on “Actions” – “Push to Models”. A list of Models is presented to you, select the Model/s that you want and click on the button “Push Items”. This action will create both Model Items and Phase Items.
  • Notes:
    • There are other ways to create Model Items and Phase Items however the process described above is the recommended method, other methods may end up missing setup.
    • You can repeat this process as often as you like; the system will just overwrite the Phase and Model Items with the current Construction Item setup.

What is the End Product of Your Item Implementation (Initial Setup)?

• After the Item creation process – using Option 1 or Option 2 described above and “Pushing” Base Contract Items to Phase and Models - you will end up with the same item in three places:
  • Base Contract Item – for use with any Phase, Model, and eventually the Lot as you need.
    • Note: this is where all the manual setup is. The creation of the Model and Phase Items is largely automated.
  • Phase Item (for base contract items) – this is where you indicate which contractor will perform the work or supply the materials.
  • Model Item (for base contract items) – where you generally control the costs and is also a subset of the Items used to build the home – this is eventually used to create the Planning Lines on the Lot and is covered later in this document.

Global Items vs. Local Items

Overview and Examples

There are situations when a homebuilder is a holding entity which includes multiple homebuilding companies. To avoid entering and maintaining Items in every company, the application provides the ability to manage items in one place, on a global level.

1. This discussion is about where to setup Items in order that you can use the same list of items in another company.
2. First setup your Item list locally, we recommend this approach whether you intend to use Global Items or not. It is easy to push local items up to global items. Going the other way is more difficult.
3. There are three approaches to creating colour chart items in a new company.
   1. Maintain items in a Template Company (RECOMMENDED). Two ways to put items into the new company:
      1. Copy the company to create a new company or…
      2. Use the Copy-from function on the Items page in the new company.
4. Create global items instead of local items and Push to Models from Global Items directly to the Local Models (note that you can push Local Items up to Global Items when you are ready to do this).
   1. Use the export/import Item routines between companies – this does not work for bundles and/or attachments.
5. Things to avoid:
   1. 1. Do not mix global and local items, although technically possibly, it will become confusing.
   2. Why we recommend using a template company rather than Global Items:
   3. Companies sometimes have different items on different sites.
   4. Sometime items can change purpose and nature between sites, for example, an upgrade finish on a low-end build becomes a standard finish on a high-end build.
   5. Standard setup for example Colour Chart Notes may need to be different on differing sites.
   6. If items have different variants in different sites, for example, Upgrade 1 tile has extra variants in a new site.
   7. You add items that are specific to a site.
   8. Please note that all these things can be done with Global Items but the more exceptions you have with a global set of data, the more confusing and cumbersome the system becomes. We have found that all these topics exist in builders, this is why we recommend template companies.
6. Things that Global Items do not do well:
   1. Local Items are considered a fundamental part of the system, we maintain a high degree of functionality and code maintenance at the Local Item level. Global Items are considered an additional offering so, from time to time, we will find that complex development will run behind and sometimes not even be considered. Examples:
      1. Trade Types was written for Global Items 6-months behind Local Items.
      2. The Items by Location matrix – This will not be built for Global Items.
   2. You must maintain all the Item support tables at a global level as well as local level.

Summary: Why Choose Global or Local?

If you have the same Items for each company, choose to use the Global tables instead of the Local ones.

Whenever in doubt, choose Local. You can always copy from one company to another or create your new company from a template company (if you have created one).

Managing these Global Items requires other related data entities to be maintained on a global level as well. These entities include the following.

• Global Item Categories focuses on the Global scope
  • Read Construction Item Categories for more information about general functionality.
• Global Workflow Templates
  • The article above explains the Construction Workflow Templates on the local (single Company) and Global level

Global Items allow for maintaining items in a global scope. The meaning of the fields is the same as described in the section "Construction Items". To maintain the list of Construction Items, open the page "Global Items" by searching it or by navigating to Homebuilder, then Setup, and finally select Global Items.

For more information regarding Action Buttons and Field Definitions, read Construction Items. This article outlines the functionality on the local, i.e., single Company scale. Global Items work in parallel but on the Global Level. (Data can be accessed in every Company using a global table.)

Global Item Card

Global Item Card has parallel functions to a Construction Item Card , but on the Global level

The actions work the same way as on the page "Global Items". It is explained in the article Construction Items.