Add (command)

Adds a new entry into the list on the current screen. To add an entry of a different type, go to the list for that type first.

Although you can use a "Views" button to move to another screen, if you need to pick an item from another list for the screen you are editing (e.g., picking a vendor for the spec you are creating) and that item isn't on the pick list yet, there will be a small New button next to the pick list for that item. A New button will take you to the other screen, let you to add the needed entry, then take you back automatically, saving multiple steps.

Area

The first major subdivision of a project, typically used to denote major project sections like "Convention Center" or "Guest Wing." In sales order projects, this may be used to signify a particular sales quote. The sales quote can be made up of traditional rooms where a price by room is needed or it can consist of one "room" with a simple list of objects being quoted.

Budget

In FF&EZ, this refers only to an estimated price to be used prior to the point where actual pricing based on vendor costs has been entered. Any report that has the word "Budget" in its title is referring to these estimated prices, not vendor costs or sell prices (although there are some reports that compare "budget" to "price" values).

Budget numbers can be entered for an entire project and for each area, room and object within the project. Budgets are not entered on the specs, since specs are considered to be components of a finished object. Instead, the specs are the source of the prices to which the budget values are compared. The "Contract/Quote" formats print the prices, not budget amounts.

Check Request

(Design/Purchasing only) A check request is a document generated by the system with instructions to pay a vendor. This can be in the form of a Deposit Check Request or a Balance Check Request. The required deposit amounts are maintained by recording vendor deposit invoices on the Orders screen, while the balance amounts are maintained by the process of entering vendor final invoices using the Processing command on either the Orders or Expediting screens.

Check requests are sent to your client in purchasing management projects and to your accounts payable function in for-profit projects (also in internal projects, which are purchasing management projects with you or another department as the "client.") The Check Request screen has an export utility that can be used to generate transactions for a 3rd party accounting system.

Clone (command)

Makes an identical copy of the item currently highlighted in the list on the screen you are on. Cloning, as opposed to importing, always means "copy this item within the current list."

If the item includes "child" items (e.g., a room contains usages of objects), the usages of the child items are also copied. Important: a usage of an item is not the same as the item itself. That is, if you clone a room, you have doubled the usage of the items that were in it, but the actual objects and specifications that were used still only exist once in the object and spec lists. That implies that the only reason to clone something is to allow you to change either the original or the copy in some way (for instance, substituting or adding some items in a room to create a different version).

The only exception to the general definition above is when you clone an entire project. Projects are completely independent of each other, so everything in the original project is copied to the new one (there are other considerations in cloning projects, so be sure to see the help section that covers it).

Component

A component is a product specification used as part of an object. All objects need to have at least one component in order to generate purchasing information and each component must have at least a quantity of 1 to generate a cost and sell price (or fee).  A component's quantity is the amount needed in one object (e.g., 1 chair frame or 3.5 yds of fabric per chair) (see "Quantity" below).

Cost

The word "cost" always refers to the cost of a product as quoted or published by a vendor. There are two types of costs: the base or "catalog" cost from the vendor and, optionally, a "net cost." Generally, the "catalog cost" and "net cost" are the same. However, you can use FF&EZ's vendor discount feature, the Pricing Tool and/or the "additional options" field on the spec screen to adjust the catalog cost to get a different net cost. See the Source, Pricing section on the Specification List page.

A markup (or profit margin) is applied to the "net cost" to get a price (in billing type 1 "for profit" projects) or used without change as the final cost for billing type 2 or 3 purchasing management projects.

"Current"

This adjective, usually used in a phrase like "the current vendor" or "currently highlighted item" means simply the item on which the computer is "focused."  This may mean literally the field with the blinking cursor in it (the current or "active" field), or the row that is highlighted, or the vendor that has been chosen somewhere on the screen or even the particular type of screen (project, vendor, spec) that is currently displayed.  Although this seems fairly intuitive, sometimes we can forget that what we are looking at may not be what the computer is "looking" at.  Since FF&EZ is based on a "point and shoot" logic when its commands execute, you will want to keep this in mind before you "pull the trigger."

One other typical use of this adjective is the phrase "current project," for instance, when importing rooms, objects or specifications. Since two projects are involved, the "current" project is the one on which you are actively working, while the project containing the original item(s) that you are importing is typically called the "source" project.

Data Set

This refers to the collection of files that make up the user data, report definitions and optional "plug-ins" that are stored in a user-accessible folder on your PC or server. The data set folder (or "location") is usually named "FF&EZ Database" and is found under your "my documents" or equivalent for single-user systems or under either the "public" documents on a specific network PC or on a file server for multi-user systems. Typically, the data set folder will include the following sub-folders:

Data

Images

Reports

Progs

Plugins
Users

Workstation

These are located in the user-accessible area to allow them to be updated or replaced without requiring a full software installation.

Delete (command)

Deletes the item (row) currently highlighted in the list on the screen you are on. You will always be asked to confirm the deletion, usually with a simple "Okay" or "Cancel." Deletions of projects and areas require a more deliberate response since all the associated "children" of these are deleted also. The system will not allow you to delete a client or vendor that is linked to any projects, nor any projects that are linked to orders (if applicable). Deleting an area or a room deletes the usage of the objects and specifications in them, but does not delete the objects and specifications themselves.

Edit (command)

Edits the fields for the item that is currently highlighted in the list on the current screen. This is relatively straightforward on most screens, but be sure you understand what "item" really means:

1. If "parent" information (e.g., a spec's vendor) is part of the screen information, the data about that parent is always edited on the parent's data screen. For instance, when editing a specification, you can edit the usage of a vendor  on that specification, but to modify that vendor's own information (spelling of name, address, etc.), you go to the Vendor List screen. The changes you make there, when saved, will be reflected on all specifications using that vendor. Be sure to read the "Shortcuts" page to see easy ways to edit "'parent" data.
2. The FF&E Worksheet follows the definition above, but it is important to understand that it only contains usages: Each line represents the usage of a specific quantity of an object in a room. "Editing" a worksheet entry is limited to picking a different location (moving it), picking a different object (exchanging it for another) or changing the quantity. For easy ways to edit the parents of the worksheet entries (rooms, specs, etc.), see the "Shortcuts" link in the preceding paragraph. If you only want to change the quantity, you can enter the change directly in the "Qty" column on the Worksheet's list section.
3. Using Edit on a project only refers to editing the fields shown on the Project screen (that is, it behaves exactly like it does on all other main screens). To access (and edit) the contents of a project (rooms, specs, etc.), you must use the Open command on the Project screen. This command does not appear when you are editing the project fields, because any changes you are making will not show up in the project contents unless you save them first.

Fee

Although there are more than one type of fee you might charge a client, in FF&EZ this normally refers to a billing arrangement where the client pays the vendor's cost directly and you charge your client a purchasing fee as a percent of that cost. This arrangement is enabled by billing types 2 and 3 on the project screen and the calculation is done automatically at the time you process your invoices for project items.

Note that if your fee is fixed at the time of the contract, you normally do not need to create invoices to your client from FF&EZ, since you are dealing with a "percent of completion" arrangement, not "percent of actual cost." In that situation, you would run check requests (to pay the vendor) and bill lump sum "percent of completion" amounts from your regular accounting system. There is more information about this under "Working with Costs and Prices."

Invoice

(Design/Purchasing only) A document sent to your client, billing them either for the sell prices (for profit-based projects) or for a purchasing management fee based on a percentage applied to the cost of individual products.

FF&EZ invoices can also be used as the backing detail for simpler invoices generated by a separate accounting system. If this option is chosen, FF&EZ prints an "invoicing detail document" instead of an "invoice," but the two have the same content.

The Invoices screen has an export utility that can be used to generate transactions for a 3rd party accounting system.

Import (command)

The single word "Import" is used to describe the option of importing "external" data, instead of entering it manually. If available, this is part of the process of adding an item in the list you are currently on (plus, it is available when editing not just adding product specifications). This can range from a simple product specification to objects and their components to rooms and their contents. For rooms, objects and specs, "external" means "from another project" while for projects it means "from another FF&EZ system." Note that "importing" is never the same as "cloning" (see "Clone" above).

Import List (command)

This refers specifically to the process of importing or updating the entire list on the screen you are on from a list generated from another FF&EZ system (typically a master list from a home office). This is a specialized command that would not be used very often on the screens on which it appears.

As of version 3.2.137, the FF&E Worksheet and the Specifications screen have an Import List command that allows you to import data from external sources (i.e., from sources that are not other FF&EZ systems).

Local Disk

This refers to a disk drive on your own physical computer, as opposed to a server disk. This becomes important (and may be confusing at first) if you are running FF&EZ entirely on a server and accessing it through a remote access service or with the Windows "remote desktop" utility (or equivalent). In that type of setup, your "local" disks must be accessed using special disk drive names like "C$" instead of "C:". See the entry for Server Disk for more.

Milestone

A specific event in the activity for a specification or order (or order item), such as "Approved by client" (design module) or "Issued" or "Shipped" (in the purchasing module). Milestones can be used in queries to report on project status and appear on many reports.

In the purchasing system, milestones are also formal data integrity points that may prevent casual changes to some data. For instance, once you reconcile a vendor invoice to an order item, you can't change the original ordered quantity or vendor cost, since the reconciliation process depends on those values (however, you can changed the shipped quantity, since variances and shipping splits can occur). Similarly, once you create a client invoice, the quantity and sell price cannot be changed, since that would invalidate the invoice. Errors and corrections can still be made. See Purchase Order Workflow: An Overview and Reversing Status Milestones for details.

Object

A finished item placed in a room (although objects created as "alternates" do not actually have to be used). An object consists of one or more product specifications and the quantity of each needed to create one instance of the object. The need for more than one component is determined by the need for more than one purchase order for the finished object (for more, see Objects and Their Specifications).

Price

"Price" is short for "sell price," the amount you plan to charge for a product that is a component of a finished object. On "for profit" (billing type 1) projects, this value includes the markup or gross profit amount, whereas on "vendor is to bill client" purchasing management projects, the price does not appear on the screen, only the "Cost" field.

When objects have multiple components, the price of each component is added to create the total "price" for the object. However, you can also set the price for an object on its primary component and set the prices for secondary components to zero (creating a -100% markup on those components). This technique makes it possible to easily quote a single price even if the component costs vary before the project is finalized. Note that in the current version of the purchasing system, you can have the total unit price automatically transferred to the primary component without using the negative markup technique.

The price of a component specification or of the object it is a part of is not the same as the "Budget" for that object, but is meant to be compared to it. See "Budget" above for more.

Project

The highest level of organization for FF&E data in the system. A project can be: a full design project (i.e., a new building or major renovation), a single sales order or a holding place for many sales orders or quotes for the same client.

Right-click

In almost all Windows software, using the right-hand mouse button will display a "context menu" that include special options such as "copy" and "paste" functions. FF&EZ includes special options menus on most fields, however some include options that are specific to the field you are editing and which may save time over manual entries (e.g., a deposit field may calculate specific deposit amounts for you).

On some forms, right-clicking a section title may also perform a special function. These are described in the help text for those sections.

Finally, some command buttons have a right-click function that performs an alternate but related task (e.g., the Delete button in the Design module calls an Undelete function).

If you are left-handed and have reversed your mouse buttons, this behavior should still work when you click the left button instead of the right.

Room

The subdivision of a project below the Area. A room is needed to contain FF&E content, which is made up of objects placed in the room on the FF&E Worksheet (or by other methods). For a sales order, a "room" can function as a traditional room (where you are quoting a price by room) or as simply the "items" that are in a simple quote.

Quantity

This term means several different things, but they are all specific to the context in which you use them:

1. Rooms that are identical have a "quantity," or room count, on the Room List screen that is used to multiply the objects used in them. E.g., 52 "king" hotel guest rooms
2. On the FF&E Worksheet, each usage of an object includes a quantity used in that room. This is always the quantity used in one room of that type, except in simple sales orders where you may simply quote a total quantity. You normally enter just the quantity for one room because the room count (above) multiplies the object quantities to automatically get the total number of objects in the project (or, just as useful, the total within the results of a query).
3. Each object may include secondary components, like fabric, in which you need to specify the quantity used per object (e.g., 3.5 yards of fabric per chair). This quantity is entered when you create or edit an object on either the Object List screen or with the Object command on the Specifications List screen

All three of these definitions of "quantity" are used in the calculations of total objects needed in a project and the product quantities used as part of those objects.

Query

A query is sometimes also called a "filter" in that it is used to display a subset of your data using conditions that you set up (such as "Vendor is equal to ACME" or "Object Class is equal to EQP". Once a query is in effect, only items in the query are displayed or printed. More info at "Using Queries."

Quote

A report format on the FF&E Worksheet showing proposed FF&E to be purchased by a client, ranging from an entire project to a subset of a project created from a simple filter or a query. A quote can be formatted as a simple list of objects (with or without their components displayed) or sorted and subtotaled by location (area and room).

Sales Order

A sales order is essentially equivalent to a "Quote" with the additional assumption that it has been approved. However, a sales order can also be a subset of a larger project that is printed in the form of the "Ordering Worksheet" report or simply converted to orders in FF&EZ Design/Purchasing.

Server Disk

A disk that is physically located on or attached to a Windows server system, either physically in your office or a cloud server. This becomes important (and may be confusing at first) if you are running FF&EZ entirely on a server and accessing it through a remote access service or with the Windows "remote desktop" utility.

When running FF&EZ entirely on a server (that is, not physically installed on your own PC), the disk labeled "C:" is not local, it is on the server. In the same way, the folder labeled "Documents" will be located under your user folder on the server. This can cause confusion at first if you place images in a temporary images staging folder on your PC, because it will appear that FF&EZ cannot "see" them when you try to attach them.

If this happens, you have three choices: 1) Look for a special drive letter, such as "C$" which will open drive C: on your local PC or 2) store the images directly under your user folder on the server instead of your own PC or 3) set up a common images staging folder on the server, using the option for this on the Setup form's System Information tab.

Specification

In FF&EZ, this refers to a product spec description. It never includes any quantities of the product used, since this is calculated for you based on how the product is used in the project. Products are used as part of an object with a certain quantity per object. Objects are then used by placing a certain quantity in each room where they are needed. (see the "Object" definition above, and the topic "Objects and Their Specifications" elsewhere in this help system).