Once you have entered a client, you can create any number of projects for them. By default, each project uses your standard markup (if any) and the client's shipping address. Alternatively, you can override these at any time by changing them on the Project Form (as well as for individual products on the Specifications Form).

Note: If you are using unusual symbols in an ID format that might be used to automatically create file names (such as project- or client-related archives or exports), you should be aware that some symbols are illegal in file names:

  \ / : * ? " < > |

If your ID has any of these in it and it is used as the basis for an automatic file name, FF&EZ will attempt to substitute a generic underscore character (or a "!" for the "|"). We recommend that you simply avoid using these symbols in any type of ID.  

2. Once you are on the Client List screen, select the Add function by clicking that button or using the [Alt-A] keystroke combination (see Shortcuts for hot keys and other time-savers). 
3. You will need to enter at least a Client ID (typically an abbreviation of the name) and the client's name. You may also wish to add contact information and an address. The main address will be the default shipping and billing address for the client's projects. You can add an alternate shipping address, though, by unchecking the "Use main address" box and entering a different one.

If you have the Design/Purchasing system you need to have a billing address. Also, all orders will need a shipping address, but the most common approach is to add a specific shipping address on the project screen (and shipping exceptions on each specification as needed—see the help sections for those screens).

4. Use the Save button to save the new client record to the database. You do not need to actually close the Client List itself. 

Create the Project

5. Click on the Projects button under "Views" to display the Project Form. Decide upon a project ID for the new project as you would any project in your firm. You can use any combination of letters, numbers and symbols (".", "-", "_", "&", "!" and "$") up to a maximum of 10 characters. (See discussion below for more about systems of Project IDs, especially if you are new to using computers to organize information.)
6. Then, choose the Add command to open a blank project record, and enter the Project ID in the first field. Leave the "Type" field set to Design project unless you are creating a small sales quote or sales order that does not need to be separated into rooms (see the next section for more about organizing projects). 
7. If you have the Design/Purchasing system and wish to use project-specific purchase order numbering, specify the prefix and length. Specific information about this can be found in that section.
8. When entering the setup data on the record, you can specify a markup (or purchasing fee %) and estimated tax and shipping percentages to be applied to project specs. Note that "markup" may be "margin" if you used the Setup Form to set your system to use this approach.
9. In the "Addresses" section, you can specify project-specific billing and/or shipping addresses (the latter can be overridden on any specification). 
10. If the project is a sales order project or if you have the Design/Purchasing system, be sure to select or create an entry for the "Salesperson" field. If you create one and you already have a salesperson ID system for accounting, be sure to use the same ID from that system. If salesperson is not important but you have the Design/Purchasing system, create a "salesperson" for your whole office and use that.
11. Select a "Vendor is to invoice..." option based on the type of client relationship that the project represents. More can be found in the "Project Billing Types" section below, but in general, use type 1 ("...invoice us.") only for profit-based projects where you are marking up the cost of a product and only presenting the resulting price to your client (internal projects are considered to be purchasing management projects).
12. Take note of any other required fields (shaded with a beige background), since these must have a value in them before you can save the new project.
13. Click the Save button and the new project will be created. 
14. Generally, once a project is created, the next step is to use the Open command button on the Project Form (or just press the [F2] hotkey). This opens the project for work. When you select this command, you will see that the Areas, Rooms, FF&E Worksheet, Objects and Specifications buttons will become enabled. (If you are using the Design/Purchasing version, the smaller project Orders button will also be enabled, unless the main Orders Screen has already been opened to show all orders.)

You do not have to "edit" a project (with the Edit command) in order to open it. In fact, the Open button is not visible when adding or editing a project (to avoid confusion in new users). 

Opening a project disables the project's Add, Clone, Query and Delete buttons and disables any movement from that project in the Project List. To use any of these, you will need to close the project you are currently working on, using the Close button (this appears after you open a project).

You can also create a project by using the Clone command, which duplicates an existing project (if you have the Purchasing version, it will also reset any "ordered" flags). This is useful with prototype or franchised projects.

Organizing Projects

If you have used other software to produce FF&E quotes, sales orders and purchase orders in the past, you may have a completely different conception of how to organize projects, based on the features (and often, limitations) of general purpose purchasing systems. FF&EZ's data structure is organized to satisfy the somewhat more elaborate requirements of architecture and interior design projects and quotes, so not only does it have an organization that is more typical of this type of work, it is flexible enough to offer several ways of organizing client data.

Project Types

There are two main project types in FF&EZ, plus an approach that is a hybrid of the two:

1. The Design Project type is the traditional architectural project, in which the project contains FF&E that is broken down by major project areas and rooms within those areas. A design project typically starts with the creation of the areas and rooms and the building of an index of "required objects" that satisfy the design functions. Objects (and their specs) are created once and used in each room as needed.
2. The Sales Order Project type is a project in which the list of required objects is small enough not to require a breakdown by areas or even rooms (the intended location may be handled after delivery by the client). FF&EZ requires at least one "area" containing one "room" in every project, so a generic area and room are created and all items are put into the room. A "pure" sales order project represents one proposal and typically only has the one "items" room. However, one technique might be to add another room called "NOT IN BID" or similar into which you can move items that the client did not want in the final quote. FF&EZ does allow you to create multiple rooms in a sales order if that is what you need (because the "Items" room is still just a room as far as the program is concerned).
3. A Related Sales Project is the hybrid of these two: It is a project in which multiple "areas" are created for the purpose of containing more than one sales quote for the same client and (typically) property. The "rooms" in a hybrid project can be actual rooms at the property or they can be generic "rooms" created to contain items for the current quote. 

This type of project is useful for two common situations: 1) You anticipate a lot of repeat activity for a property and wish to keep recurring objects and product specs in the project or 2) the project represents a capital refurbishment fiscal year for the client, in which each property has a new "project" each year into which all of that year's activity is placed. 

In a hybrid project, the "areas" are typically named for the quote being submitted (e.g., "Guest Rm Sofa Replacement, 1/15/11") or the refurbishment sub-project ("East Wing Carpet"). With the fiscal year approach, the budget entered on the project screen becomes the budget for the associated year and budgets entered on the area screen are those for the sub-projects. This type of project can start out as a "sales order" type and change to a "design" type or start as a design type due to pre-planning of the proposed sub-projects.

You are completely free to organize your projects along any of these types or any mix of them. In fact, there is no functional difference between any of them except in one way: If you select "Sales Order" as the project type on a new project before you save it, the system will automatically create the initial generic area and room for you, then take you directly into the Specifications Form where you can begin adding the items for the sales order (see "Spec-oriented Data Entry"). After this happens, the project will behave exactly like a design project, meaning that you can create additional areas and rooms if you wish, using the Filter> Current option on the FF&E Worksheet's Print setup screen or the Query function to print only the areas or rooms you need for a specific quote.

As a general rule, new property construction projects should be maintained as a separate project from any further work that occurs after construction is complete. Refurbishment projects or later additions should be handled as separate projects to keep your reports simpler to produce — remember that at any time you can import any specification, object or room from the original project for use in the new ones, using the Add> Import command sequence on the appropriate screen.

Project Billing Types

When you create this type project, you should enter a default markup to set a desired profit for each spec added to the project. (This may be a gross profit margin percentage if you have set your system to work that way — see the "Setup Form" for more). The project's default markup can be overridden for any specification by entering either a flat markup amount, a different markup (gross profit) % or a specific price. Enter a specific price also locks that price so that changes in the cost don't recalculate the price.

2 - Invoice client directly

There are two uses for this type of billing type: 

1. The primary one is purchasing management projects in which you charge a percentage for all FF&E that you order for your client. In this type, reports show the net cost for each object or specification and the total of all purchasing fee amounts is printed at the end. You should set the purchasing fee when you create the project, although like the markup percent, this can be changed later. You can override the default purchasing fee on any specification. If you have the Design/Purchasing version, the invoices that FF&EZ generates will reference the costs for each item and the POs used to order them, but will invoice the associated purchasing fee.
2. The other way to use this billing type is for internal projects for your own company. Although it would appear that the "invoice us" type would work, internal projects are more like a purchasing management project (but without the fee). 

To set up the second usage of this project type, simply create a client that represents either your firm as a whole, or the department (or location) that pays the vendor invoices. Instead of simply invoicing you at the address found on FF&EZ's Setup Form, this gives you more control over the exact address to which a vendor sends invoices. Although you would typically not have a purchasing fee, this also opens the option of cross-charging another department for your services as part of the project cost. 

3 - Invoice client but send to us "as agent"

This billing type is really just like the "invoice client directly" billing type, with one important difference: If you are acting as your client's "agent" and want to review all vendor invoices prior to approving them for payment, this billing type uses the client's name (from the Client List screen) but uses your address (from the Setup form) as the rest of the billing address that the vendor sees. This automatically routes the vendor invoice to you as your client's agent.

If you have the Design/Purchasing version, this particular billing type is also the one where the vendor invoice entry and check request functions (under the "Processing Tools") can be useful in managing and reconciling what needs to be paid to the vendor.

There is a more detailed discussion of the ways to enter costs and sell prices in the section "Working with Costs and Prices."

Project IDs

If you use this folder, be sure to save the images you collect using the Spec ID of the spec on which the image will be used. Although the final file name will be changed by FF&EZ when images are attached, this makes it easy for you to know which specifications have images available and which are needed. Be sure to read the "How to" section "Working with Images" for more about how FF&EZ organizes images and for information about how to attach images manually and how to use the Auto-Image utility.

As of version 3.2.70, you can change the "base" location of the temporary image folders that FF&EZ creates for you. This is something you might want to do if you are working as a part of a team in which any member may gather images to be attached to specs. Changing the default location is done with the Setup option on the main screen, using an option on the "System Information" tab.