(Inventory – Descriptors … or Desc icon)
Descriptors are non-inventory items used to identify labor charges, miscellaneous charges, credit memos, and miscellaneous purchases.
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Uses of Descriptors
Never use Descriptors to represent any physical items used in BOMs or jobs, even when such items are never kept in stock. Always use Stock Items to represent raw material or components.
Descriptors are used for the following purposes:
Sales Descriptors (GL Posting Exceptions defined against Item Category)
Credit Memos
Credit memos are required from time to time to make adjustments to customer account balances for product returns, price adjustments, write-offs to bad debt, and other such things. A credit memo in DBA is simply an invoice with a negative total amount. Credit memo line items are descriptors with negative prices. GL posting is determined by mapping the descriptor’s item category to the appropriate sales account in the Account Assignments > Sales > Exceptions.
Labor Charges
If you charge customers for labor on invoices, labor is set up as a descriptor and is entered as a sales order line item. You might set up several labor descriptors, each with a different base price, if you charge different rates for different services.
Miscellaneous Charges
Any other charges that might be included in your invoices, whether they are for shipping, engineering fees, permits, etc., can be set with descriptors and prices. Any price can be overridden at the time of sales order entry.
Shipping Charges
Shipping charges can be booked on the fly during the SO Shipment process. These freeform shipping charges will always post to the default Shipping Income account. You can optionally create a Descriptor of Type = SHIP and add the descriptor to your SO Details. By default ,these Ship Descriptors will post to the default Shipping Income account at time of SO Invoice. You can map an exception against the Item Category for this descriptor in the Account Assingments > Sales > Exceptions.
Sales Kit Parent
A “sales kit” is a set of items that gets copied into a sales order along with the sales kit parent item, which is represented by a descriptor. Sales kits are created in the Inventory – Sales Kits screen.
BOM/Job Descriptors
Misc Job Costs - Job Subcontracting Linked PO
If you add a Descriptor Type = MISC to a BOM/Job that has a Supplier designated, it will generate a PO in Job Subcontracting. Descriptors Type = LABOR or SHIP will not be eligible for Job Subcontract PO conversion.
Misc Job Costs - No linked Subcon PO
All Descriptors Type = LABOR and SHIP and MISC Descriptors without a Supplier will book charges to Absorbed Misc Job Cost at Job Issue. There is not an actual linked PO expense to offset these absorbed charges so they should be used with caution.
Do not use Descriptors for Labor in BOMs/Jobs
Labor costs should always be handled via Routings.
Purchasing Descriptors (GL Posting Exceptions against the Descriptor ID)
Miscellaneous Purchases (Misc PO)
If you use purchase orders for non-job, non-inventory purposes – for miscellaneous items such as office supplies, shop supplies, furniture, equipment, etc. – you can represent each category of these purchases with a descriptor. These descriptors can be assigned to GL accounts in the Purchasing – Misc Exceptions tab in the Account Assignments screen. When entering a PO line item, you can modify the category descriptor with a specific description for the item being purchased.
PO Ship Costs (Ship)
PO Ship charges can be booked on the fly during the PO Invoice matching process. These freeform shipping charges will always post the default PO Shipping Cost account. You can optionally create a Descriptor of Type = SHIP and add the descriptor to the PO Details. By default these Ship Descriptors will post to the default PO Shipping Cost account at time of PO Invoice. You can designate a specific a specific GL account against your Ship Descriptor in the Purchasing – Ship Exceptions tab in the Account Assignments screen.
Misc Job POs - generated from Job Subcontracting (Misc Job)
If you add a Descriptor Type = MISC to a BOM/Job that has a Supplier designated it will generate a linked PO in Job Subcontracting. When you PO Receipt a Descriptor that is linked to a Subcon Job, the program automatically performs a Job Issue of the Absorbed Misc Job costs to the linked Job. There are no GL posting exceptions for Misc Job POs.
Supplier Credit Memos
You can create a Descriptor of Type = MISC for some supplier credit memo scenarios. Supplier credit memos are positive quantity and negative unit cost. The default GL Account at PO receipt will post to Misc Purchases. If you will like the credit memo to post to a specific account, you can go to GL > GL Setup > Account Assignments > Purchasing > Exceptions.
PO Receipts - PO Returns Processing
