Material requests, orders, transfers and issues
Site staff ask for material from the site or the app, and a manager approves. The request becomes a purchase order to the site store or a transfer from another site. What arrives is issued to the work, a place or a subcontractor. Every order carries the project, cost code and place.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Material requests come on WhatsApp and phone calls, and half of them are never ordered.
- Two sites order the same cement while a third has bags lying idle.
- Nobody knows what was used on which floor, or what went to which subcontractor.
How it works
- On the project, an inventory administrator presses Make Site Store once. The site gets its own warehouse and a Used on Site location.
- Site staff open Construction > Site > Material > Material Requests > New, or Ask for material in the app. Give the place, needed by date, urgent or not, and the materials with quantity, unit and cost code.
- Press Send for Approval. The request waits in the Site Material Request chain. A Construction Manager approves it, or presses Send Back with a reason, which ends it as Rejected.
- On an approved request, the person who buys presses Order from a Supplier. This makes a purchase order to the site store, with the project, cost code and place on every line. Or Send from Another Site: a transfer from another site's store.
- Goods are received at the site store as usual. With quality checklists, a draft Material Receipt inspection opens for the storekeeper.
- Site staff issue material from Material Issues: to the work, a place, or a subcontractor. Issue takes the stock out of the store.
Everything it does
Requests
- Project, place, asked by, needed by, Normal or Urgent, notes
- Lines: material, quantity, unit (the purchase unit to start with), cost code, note, ordered or sent so far
- Draft, Waiting for Approval, Approved, Ordered, Done, Rejected
- A request sent for approval is no longer changed
- With the BOM: Fill from the Requirement adds what the place needs up to the needed-by month, less what is already asked for
- Close when nothing more is coming
Orders and transfers
- Order from a Supplier: one purchase order for what is left on the request, delivered to the site store
- Send from Another Site: a transfer from another site store, confirmed at once
- The request and the project show their purchase orders and transfers
- Confirming an order past what is left of its budget line needs a Construction Manager
- With SmartMy Trade: Send to Central Purchase instead
Issues
- Project, place, date, issued to (empty for your own work), issued by, notes
- Lines: material, quantity, unit, place, cost code
- Free Issue switch when the material goes to a subcontractor at no charge
- Issue moves stock from the site store to Used on Site; an issued record is fixed
Reports
- Construction > Projects > Reporting > Material Used: issued quantities by material and month, by project or place
- Material Reconciliation (with the BOM): needed, requested, issued and % issued per material
- Purchase and Inventory reports of the site store as usual
Who uses it
Site engineer or supervisorAsks for material from the site or the app, and issues material to the work.
Construction ManagerApproves or sends back requests, orders from a supplier or moves stock from another site, and closes requests.
StorekeeperReceives deliveries at the site store and fills in the receipt inspection.
Inventory administratorMakes the site store for each project.
Where you use it
- Web: Construction > Site > Material (Material Requests, Material Issues)
- Web: Construction > Projects > Reporting > Material Used
- The SmartMy Construction app: ask for material and issue material, also without signal (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Purchase orders and receipts in the standard Purchase and Inventory screens
What you control
Settings
- One site store per project, made with Make Site Store
- Cost code per request line; the project's Material Cost Code for lines without one
- The Site Material Request approval chain (Construction Managers to start with)
Approvals
- Site Material Request: Construction Managers approve to start with; add levels, for example the project manager then purchase
Notifications
- Approvers get each request in Approvals and as a to-do
- Not built: a message to the person who asked when the request is approved or ordered; they see the status on the request
Questions
Can a site engineer place the order directly?
No. Site staff ask, and nothing is ordered until the request is approved in its chain. The order or transfer is then made from the approved request, so it carries the project, cost code and place.Can we move material between our sites?
Yes. On an approved request, Send from Another Site makes a transfer from that site's store to this one.Does it work without signal on site?
The app keeps material requests and issues made without signal and sends them when the phone is back online. The app is built and being tested; it is not in the app stores yet.Do we need a separate inventory product?
No. Each site store is a warehouse in the purchase and inventory that come with SmartMy Construction.Related features
MONEYFree issue to subcontractors and material reconciliationMark material given free to a subcontractor as free issue. Then compare, per project and material, what the BOM needs with what was requested and issued, so wastage shows up.MONEYCentral purchase through SmartMy TradeAn approved site material request goes to your purchase desk as an approved indent in SmartMy Trade. The desk compares suppliers and makes the orders there. Every order still belongs to the site: project, cost codes, place, budget check and receipt at the site store.MONEYSurplus material salesSell what is left in a site store to a scrap dealer, another builder or the client. Fill the sale from the store and confirm it to make the delivery out of the store. Then make the buyer's invoice.ESTIMATINGBOM per unit of work and material requirementSay once what one unit of work takes, such as 1 m³ of M20 concrete or 1 m² of 230 mm brick wall. Give a wastage % per material. Name the BOM on each BOQ item, and the project's material requirement follows: cement, sand, steel and bricks by place and month.MONEYCommitments, forecast and over-budget checksEvery budget line shows what is already ordered or contracted, what is spent, what is still to come and where the line will end. A project purchase order that goes past what is left of its line needs a Construction Manager to confirm it.PORTAL AND APPThe SmartMy Construction app, also offlineOne app for Android and iPhone for the people on site. It has today's site report with photos, the muster roll and check-in, snags and inspections. It also has material requests and issues, measurements, plant log sheets and safety. What is entered without signal is kept on the phone and sent when the signal is back. Clients, subcontractors and buyers use the same app for their own pages.
See your next site report on it.
Tell us what you build, how many sites you run and how your client hears about progress today. We will set up a project with you and send your first daily update.