(Inventory – Descriptors - Detail Tab)
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 refunds, 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 can be 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. .
Financial Transfer Training - Credit Memos Segment
DBA Financials AR Training Course - Credit Memos Segment
A credit memo can also be created via returning an item to inventory followed by a Shipment and Invoice of the credit memo. Refer to the RMA Processing article for more details
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 – 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.
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 > Misc Exceptions.
PO Receipts - PO Returns Processing
Descriptor
Descriptor ID (Required)
This is an up to 20-character alphanumeric code used to identify the descriptor.
Description (Required)
This is an up to 50-character description that accompanies the descriptor ID on screens and reports.
UM (Required)
This is the descriptor’s unit of measure (EA, HR, etc.), which can be up to 8-characters.
Type (Required)
Select one of these three descriptor types:
LABOR
This type is used for:
| • | Service Labor Charges (Sales Orders) |
•Do not use use in BOMs/Jobs - use routings instead
•Do not use for Purchasing - use MISC type instead
MISC
This type is used for:
| • | Customer Credit Memos (Sales Orders) |
| • | Miscellaneous Charges (Sales Orders) |
| • | Sales Kit Parents (Sales Kits) |
| • | Miscellaneous Job Cost (Bills of Material) |
oIf Descriptor has a Supplier designated, it will generate a linked Job Subcontract PO in Job Subcontracting
| • | Miscellaneous Purchases (Purchase Orders) |
| • | Supplier Credit Memos (Purchase Orders) |
SHIP
This type is used for:
| • | Line Item Shipping Income (Sales Orders) - can designate GL exception against Item Category |
•Line Item PO Shipping Cost (Purchase Orders) - can designate GL exception against Descriptor ID
Category (Required)
Each descriptor must be assigned to an item category. Item categories are used to organize your stock items and descriptors into groups for reporting and GL posting purposes.
GL Posting Exceptions
Sales - For sales posting to a specific GL Account you can map a Sales Exception by Item Category in the GL - General Ledger Setup - Account Assignments - Sales - Exceptions tab.
Purchasing - For purchasing exceptions you map an exception directly to the specific Descriptor ID in the GL - General Ledger Setup - Account Assignments - Purchasing - Misc Exceptions tab or Ship Exception tab.
Estimated Cost
Misc Purchase Descriptors - With miscellaneous purchases, this is used as the unit cost in PO lines. Costs occur at time of PO Receipt. Always verify prices when you send out your Purchase Orders.
PO Ship Descriptors - Est Cost is used as the unit cost in PO lines. Shipping costs occur at time of PO Invoice.
Sales Descriptors - We recommend that you set the Estimated Cost to zero for descriptors used in sales orders. If you do enter a value for estimated cost for labor, miscellaneous, or shipping charges, this cost is used as the invoice cost of sales.
Kitset Parent Descriptors - Always set the Estimated Cost to zero. The cost of goods sold will come from the costs of the kit components.
BOM Descriptors - If you use descriptor components in BOMs, the Estimated Cost field will be used in Cost Rollups for Misc Job costs.
Sell Price
The sell price is used as the Reference Price in Sales Order Detail lines.
Default Supplier
Purchase Descriptors - This is the preferred supplier for miscellaneous purchases.
Misc Job Descriptors BOMs/Jobs - If you designate a Default Supplier for a MISC descriptor used in BOMs/Jobs, there will be a suggested linked PO generated in Job Subcontracting.
Sales Descriptors - The Supplier should be blank.
Labor Descriptors - The Supplier should be blank.
Tax Code Source
These settings determine the source of the tax code against sales order and purchase order lines for this descriptor.
Order Header
When you select this option, the tax code specified in the sales order or purchase order header determines the source of the sales order or purchase order line’s tax code for this descriptor.
Exception
Select this option if this descriptor is to receive an exception tax code that overrides the sales order or purchase order header tax code. A Tax Code field becomes visible to the right. Select a tax code from the lookup. In general, a tax code exception is designated when the descriptor is non-taxable, in which case a non-taxable tax code should be selected. Another tax code exception is when the descriptor bears a special tax rate, such as an excise tax.
Tax Group
This checkbox is only visible when the Tax Group Matrix option is selected in the Tax Defaults screen. Tax groups enable you to designate exception tax codes at the line item level that only apply to certain destinations or sources. A Tax Group field becomes visible to the right. Select a tax group from the lookup. When a descriptor assigned to a tax group encounters a customer or supplier that is also assigned to a tax group, the two tax groups are matched in the tax group matrix to determine the tax code that gets used in the sales order or purchase order line.
Warranty Code
If there is a warranty code associated with this descriptor, select one from the lookup.
