Material request (MR)
- Timothy Hitchcock
- Chris Phillips
Materials that are needed for a project begin their procurement process in a Material Request (MR).
Think of the MR as a ‘shopping cart’ that will be submitted to ‘Purchasing’ for procurement once you’ve added all the items you will need for your scope of work.
Once submitted, the person(s) responsible for purchasing can triage the list of items in the MR and determine whether they need to be placed on a Purchase Order, or whether the needed materials are already on-hand and available (i.e., not already allocated to another project/job).
In smaller organizations, one person may be responsible for many different roles. In larger organizations, it may be the responsibility of a Project Manager to make Material Requests that get submitted to and fulfilled by a Purchasing Agent.
Create a material request (MR)
Navigate to: Project->Material/Purchasing->MR tab.
To create a new MR from scratch: Click Add New MR in left-hand panel and enter a description.
For a Project Phase : Click Add New MR for Phase and select a phase from the list.
To add from an existing MR template, click Add New MR from Template and choose from the list of MR templates.
Add Items to your Material Request (MR)
Once you’ve created the MR, you’ll add the items that you need for your scope of work. This can be done using any of the four buttons:
 | Add Item opens to a list of items in your parts library to choose from. This list can be filtered-down by part category, sub-category, vendor pricing, and parts already identified for the project found on the Project->Material/Purchasing->Parts tab. If you don’t find the part you are looking for, you can add it to your parts library without having to leave the MR form. Simply right-click in the list of parts and select ‘Add New’ from the pop-up menu. |
Add Item inserts a single ‘empty’ row in your MR. Before submitting your MR, you will need to identify the necessary attributes that will clearly identify the desired part/material. Use this button when you want to rapidly add several rows, then go back to each one and populate the attributes. | |
Import will open a popup window prompting you to select a source to import from. Common examples of this are a bill of materials from a third-party engineering platform such as Cabinet Vision, Microvellum, or IMOS, to name a few. | |
Import Template allows you to pull-in items that have been added to an MR Template. If your organization uses a list of the same materials over-and-over, adding them to an MR Template can be a huge time saver. Additionally, pulling from an MR template mitigates the chances of inadvertently failing to add a needed material to your MR. (Click here to learn how to add an MR Template) |
Double-check your work
Once you’ve added items to your MR, ensure you have the correct quantity needed, desired material (combination of Part, Color1, Color2, and Modifier), correct unit of measure, and a ‘Needed’ by date.
Key Attributes to Check for Accuracy Before you Submit | |
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Qty | When you add an item to your MR, the default quantity is set to one (1). Be sure to double-check the quantity required to complete your scope of work and enter that value in the Qty field. |
“Item” | The “Item” you are requesting can be as simple as a single part. Or, it can be a combination of ‘Part’, ‘Color1’, ‘Color2', and ‘Modifier’ that all combine together to make the “Item”. As an example, the last item on the list above is a core of 11/16” Particle Board with Formica 6227-Amber Kashmire on face #1 and a White Liner on face #2. This line item uses ‘Part’, ‘Color1’, and 'Color2’ to make it unique. Use of the ‘Modifier’ field should be limited to materials that are procured in the same fashion as raw lumber, or glass. See examples above for proper use of the ‘Modifier’ field:
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UOM | Ensure the accuracy of your desired unit of measure for the item/material you are requesting. Items such as pulls might be ordered as ‘Each’, a set of drawer glides might be ordered by the ‘Pair’, and a single box of screws may contain 1,500. |
Needed | It’s best practice to enter a ‘Needed’ by date. As an organization, you can determine if you want to require a need-by date, warn when submitting when there isn’t one, or not require a need-by date, at all. |
Order By | The Order By date can be set to be calculated by formula. This can be set in Settings->Options->Purchasing under the section Calculate Dates. |
Do NOT use the Modifier field for notes. There are three (3) separate Notes fields on each record of the MR, that can be utilized for any notes or instructions you may want to record.
Submitting/Retracting your MR
Once you have your desired items added to your MR, and have verified your quantities and other attributes, it’s time to ‘Submit’ the MR to Purchasing where the next step is processing the MR Queue.
Click the ‘Submit All’ button to submit your entire list of items to Purchasing, or;
Check the ‘Sub’ checkbox next to each item to submit them to Purchasing individually.
Click the ‘Retract All' button to retract your MR items from Purchasing. Alternatively, you can deselect the ‘Sub’ checkbox on individual items, if necessary (i.e., if you realized you requested the wrong part, or the wrong quantity was initially submitted).
To create a new MR template from outside of the Projects form, navigate to Settings->MR Template
Create an MR Template from the ‘Import Template’ Button
Left-click the ‘Add New MR from Template’ option.
Right-click in the MR template list and select “Edit” to open the MR Templates form.
Right-click in the “Select a Template” panel on the left and select “Add.”
Enter a description and click OK.
Select the newly created template from the list.
On the “Edit Selected Template”:
Add an item: right-click in the gray panel and select “Add.”
Edit from a list: click on the blue underlined label.
Edit a blank field: select a white field (active = yellow) and enter date or text.
All changes are stored automatically and will appear in MR template lists.