Components and quantities on an assembled product

Every assembled product has a Components list. Each line contains a product from your catalogue, the quantity the assembly needs, and the quantity you have set aside for it. Use the list to build up the parts to be consumed; it is also checked before the product can be completed.

Open the components list

1. Open Catalog in the top navigation bar.
2. Open Assembly.
3. In the sidebar, select All Assembled Products.
4. Open the product you are working on. You can also reach it from its project.

On a wide screen, the Components panel is to the right of the product details. On a narrow screen, it is below them.

The Add Group and Add Component buttons only appear if your account has the Manage Assembling Project permission. Without it, you can read the list but not change it. Ask whoever administers your organisation to grant the permission.

The buttons are also greyed out unless the assembled product is In Progress. While it is still a draft, the panel shows Start this product to add components. Once the product is Complete or Cancelled, the list is read-only: you cannot add, edit or remove a line, or edit quantities by clicking them.

Add a component

Required is the number of units the assembly needs. Assigned is the number you have reserved for it from the stock you hold. They start out different on purpose: you plan the requirement first, then reserve stock as it becomes available.

1. Select Add Component.
2. Choose a Supplier. The Product list stays empty until you do, because it only offers products linked to that supplier.
3. Choose the Product.
4. Enter Quantity Required.
5. If the assembly already has groups, choose a Group or leave it as No group. The Group field is not shown until the assembly has at least one group.
6. If you want to keep the window open for the next component, tick Keep open after adding at the bottom left of the window.
7. Select Add.

To fill the whole list at once from a saved list of components, use Load from Template instead.

Edit quantities

1. Select the Required or Assigned figure on the line. Both become editable together.
2. Enter the new figures. You can move between the two fields without saving.
3. Press Enter or select anywhere outside the line to save. Press Escape to leave it unchanged.

Required must be greater than zero and cannot be lowered below the quantity already assigned. Reduce the assignment first.

Assigned may be zero, but it cannot be more than Required. It also cannot be more than the stock you hold of that product across all your warehouses, less whatever is already assigned to that product on every other line of every assembled product that is not yet complete or cancelled, drafts included, and less the units held for supplier claims on material still in your warehouse.

While you edit Assigned, the maximum that line can hold appears below it as Available to assign, with the number held for supplier claims beside it when there are any. If you go over either limit, the figure is refused and reverts to what it was, and the message says how many units supplier claims hold.

Held units can be assigned again once the claim is cleared because the material turned out to be fine. Units released from a claim, returned to the supplier or scrapped, leave your stock. Lowering an assignment is always accepted, even when stock has since fallen below what is assigned.

Check stock and assignments

Assigning does not move stock: the units stay where they are and In Hand does not change. Stock is taken out of inventory only when the assembled product is completed, and the assigned quantity is taken. Every component must be assigned in full before the product can be completed.

In Hand is the quantity of the product you hold across all your warehouses. Remaining is that figure minus everything assigned to the product across every assembled product that is not yet complete or cancelled, including this one and including drafts, and minus units held for supplier claims. Remaining turns red when below zero and yellow when below what this assembly requires.

Remaining can still turn red because assigning does not move stock: a stock-out, transfer or claim can take units out after they were assigned. If it is red, more units are promised than exist, and whichever assembly is completed second will fail for want of stock. Reduce an assignment somewhere or buy more before then.

Use the same product on multiple lines

The same product can appear on more than one line of the same assembly, for example when a part does two different jobs. The rule is one line per group, plus one line outside any group. Adding a product to a group that already has it is refused with a message saying the product already exists in that group.

Deleting a group merges lines in the same way. Its components become ungrouped, and any that duplicate an existing ungrouped line of the same product are merged into it. The Delete Group confirmation lists the affected components. Read the quantities before confirming either action: splitting a merged line back out afterwards means retyping the numbers from memory.

Create and manage groups

Groups are optional sections for a long components list, such as by sub-assembly or trade. They belong to one assembled product, and the grouped view gives each group a cost subtotal.

1. Select Add Group above the components list.
2. Enter a Name. It is required and must differ from the other group names on this assembled product.
3. Choose a colour in the Color list, or leave it as No color.
4. Select Create. The group then appears in the Group list when you add or move a component.

The Create Group window offers a Recently used list of group names and colours. Picking from it keeps names consistent between assemblies, making By Group view worth reading. A name already used on this product is marked Already exists in this product.

To delete or rename a group, open it for editing. The Edit Group window contains the Delete button and the Name and Color fields.

Change the list view or export it

Use the view control at the top right of the components list to switch between a plain list and a sectioned list.

1. Select Flat for a plain list.
2. Select the control next to Flat for a sectioned list.
3. Choose By Group or By Supplier.

Components with no group are collected under Ungrouped at the end of the list. Use Expand All and Collapse All above the sectioned list to open or close every section. The Filter by group bar shows one group at a time and appears only once the assembly has groups.

The Flat and grouped view controls and the Expand All and Collapse All links are not shown on a narrow screen.

To take the list into a spreadsheet, open More actions, the three dots at the top right of the page, and choose Export Components (CSV).

Component warehouses and completion

A component is a product, not a product in a particular place, so you do not choose a warehouse when adding one. In Hand adds up every warehouse that holds it. When the assembled product is completed, units are taken automatically from the warehouse holding the most of that product first, then the next, until the assigned quantity is covered.

If stock is no longer there when you complete the product—for example, because another assembly or a manual stock movement took it—the completion is refused. The message names the component and states what was available and what was needed. Units held for a supplier claim count as not there; completion never takes them. Nothing is consumed and no movements are recorded, so you can fix the shortfall and try again.

The same applies when you back-date a completion: stock must have been there on that date, and taking it out then must not push any warehouse below zero at any point afterwards.

Output Warehouse, chosen when you complete the product, has nothing to do with components. It only decides where the finished unit is added to inventory.

Component costs

Unit Cost and Cost are calculated from the stock behind the component and your organisation's valuation method, not from a price typed on the line. Until completion, they are an estimate: a component has one even before stock is assigned, and it moves as stock and costs move. On completion, the cost is fixed at what the components cost on the completion date.

A component whose product is not part of your inventory shows a warning symbol instead of a cost and is left out of the assembly total.