In a larger project, you may need to have samples of some products delivered for approval or for marketing purposes (sample or display rooms). However FF&EZ is organized around specifying quantities per room, not necessarily the specific single items for which samples might be needed. There are several ways to handle this, depending on how you want to handle the project accounting. Note this is more about how you organize your information than any change to the way you create and process orders; you can mix these techniques where it makes sense. Also, these techniques are only really needed when the sample quantity needed is less than the quantity needed in a room (that is, you need just one sample but the room contains more than you want to order at this point in time).

Method 1 - Manual Orders

Use this method if you want to treat sample products as something outside of the main project (especially if the samples will be provided at no cost) but you still want them processed through the system. You can associate them with the project itself, or you can simply charge them directly to the client, using a separate "Client Ref ID" (Client PO) from your client if needed. The following procedure assumes that the project already exists and that the product specifications have been written. Although it is not required to create the spec on the project's Specifications List screen, it will save time later to do so for products that are likely to be actually used. Here is how to use existing project specs to create manual orders:

1. Open the Orders List screen
2. Click on the Add command.
3. Select either the project or the client. Selecting the project will include these items in any project reporting for purchasing activity, but not in the design portion of the project. If you select just the client, be sure to enter the correct shipping address if needed (especially if something is to be shipped to you instead of a job site). One other option would be to create a project specifically for sample items, then import the specs or objects for these from the main project.
4. If you are not selecting a project, you can enter the client's own PO or other reference number in the order's "Client Ref" field.
5. Select the vendor as usual.
6. It is possible that you may set the billing type for this order differently from the billing type of the project. If it is a free sample, this may not matter, but be aware of this option. 
7. When you save the basic order setup, a blank item will appear. If the product spec for this item has been written, simply click on the Import option and import that spec from the main project, otherwise enter the details manually. Enter the quantity and any additional description and save it. If the sample is free, you can leave the cost field at zero (however, the system may warn you about this).
8. If needed, repeat for other items from that vendor or go back to Step 2 to create orders for other vendors.
9. Issue and process the orders normally.

Method 2 - Sample "Room"

Some projects include a sample or model room that is built prior to the start of actual construction. Although this could also be a separate project (as mentioned in the last section), you can also create a special room in your main project that can represent a model room or it may be simply a virtual "space" into which you organize the quantities needed for a sample. The only question to consider is whether the contents of the sample room will be later incorporated in the actual FF&E quantities of the finished project. If they are, then you will want to adjust the quantities so that the overall totals of the finished project do not change. Here is the procedure, which assumes that the sample room is a model room based on a specific room type (like a hotel guest room):

1. Open the project and then the Rooms List screen.
2. Select (highlight) the room type that is going to be used as the basis for the model room.
3. Click on Clone.
4. Since a guest room is normally placed in an area called "Guest Rooms" you may want to use the New button next to "Area ID" to create a new area called "Model Rooms" or "Pre-Construction" to organize the new room differently from the others.
5. Change the room ID and the Room Name to reflect that it is a model.
6. Change the quantity of the room to 1, when Save it.
7. Optional: Move back to the original room, click on Edit then change its room quantity to one less than the current value to account for the FF&E quantities that are now assigned to the model room.
8. In the FF&E Worksheet, make any other changes to the room that are needed (note that if the model room contents are to be "recycled" into the finished project, you may need to be sure you don't over- or under-order).
9. Highlight any object in the model room, then use the Order... command (not the Orders view button) to create the orders from the FF&E Worksheet, using the "All objects...in this room" scope. Issue and process them normally.

Method 3 - Special "Sample" Objects

Use this approach if a model room is not needed but you do intend to use the sample items in the final project and want each room in the project to be "complete" in terms of total quantities and costs. This technique simply splits out a quantity (usually just one) as a separate but identical "sample" object that can be ordered, using some type of "flag" in the description or code field to make it easy to order them using a query.

Note: This technique can only be used in a room that has a room count of "1" because rooms with a larger room count will still multiply the quantity ordered by the number of rooms of that type in your project. If there are no rooms of this type, you will need to use one of the other techniques above.

Object Setup

1. Make a list of the items that need samples.
2. Open the project and then open the Objects List screen.
3. Highlight the first item for which you want to order a sample.
4. Click on Clone.
5. Add a suffix to the Tag, such as "-S" to differentiate it from the original object. For example: CHR-001-S. 
6. Optional: Add something to the end of the object's Description field such as "(Sample)". Just below the Description, uncheck the "Use component #1 "Type/Product" in reports" option. Reason: Since the same specification is being used for both objects, using the object's own description helps explain the reason it shows up twice in the same room with a different Tag.
7. If you are not already using the "Code" field for another purpose, enter a code in it to flag this as a sample object (such as "SAMPLE").
8. Then Save the new object.
9. Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each item for which you want a sample.

Creating Sample Occurrences to Order

1. Open the FF&E Worksheet and move to a room that (hopefully) has the majority of the samples needed but which also has a room count (room type quantity) of "1."
2. Highlight the first object for which you need a sample. The next step will depend on what the item's current quantity is:

Repeat step 2 as needed to create a set of sample object occurrences (they may be in one room or they may be scattered across different rooms (as long as those rooms have a room count of "1").

Ordering the Samples

If you followed the recommendation about adding the word "SAMPLE" (description or code) to each of the objects you created, ordering them as a group is very easy (if not, you can still create the orders individually using the "This object...in this room" scope):

1. On the FF&E Worksheet, click on the Query tool.
2. Create a query using one of these conditions (the one that fits your entries):

Code (Object) is equal to "SAMPLE"

or

Code (Object) contains "SAMPLE"

or

Description (Object) contains "SAMPLE"

3. Run the query. You should see just the sample objects displayed in the Worksheet's main list area.
4. Click on the Order... command (not the Orders view button).
5. Select the "All unordered objects in the current query" scope.
6. Important: Click on the Display Components to Order button to double-check the quantities that your scope has selected. If any quantities are higher than expected, this is most likely because those objects were placed in rooms that had a room count higher than "1." This will need to be corrected by moving them to a different room (which could be a "sample" room).
7. If the quantities check out, complete the conversion process to create the new orders on the Orders List screen.