Tracking Item Specific Information - D-Tools Forum

David_Haddad · 06-03-2010, 08:33 PM

I am curious how many of you use D-Tools custom properties to track all information regarding a project (IP addresses, Cresnet ID's, miscellaneous notes about a sku and so on) versus how many still maintain a separate spreadsheet?

Simon · 06-04-2010, 12:57 AM

I have set up custom properties for both IP and MAC addresses, this way it helps in both reassigning IP's for equipment that needs to be replaced and also to check that all the devices are within the IP range that you are using within a project - if you giving them a static IP.

I have then created a custom report that will show the items for each location and zone with their corresponding IP or MAC address - while using filters so that only products with these fields entered appear.

**Dave Kirn** · 06-04-2010, 02:33 AM

We use the custom properties for 3 things:

1. Date Updated - this is for us to know when the product data was last updated
2. Price List Updated - this is for us to know the date of the last manufacturer price list
3. Component ID - we use this so that we can have the component ID to be what we want it to be.

The first two (actually custom properties 9 & 10) are mainly used because of our Data Subscription service so that a dealer knows how current the data is in their database.

grichards · 06-04-2010, 04:31 PM

We use them as follows:

Install Note
(Custom Property 1)
Used for specific installation instructions.
Special Usage
* Used in Wire Run Reports to indicate the wire run path of a bundle of cables.

Engineering Note
(Custom Property 2)
Used for General Engineering Notes, there is not a defined "special use" of this field

Design Note
(Custom Property 3)
Used for General Design Notes
Special Usage
* Cable length in non-bulk cable products
* Maximum Program power handling of speaker products
* Per Channel impedance/power rating for amplifier products

Purchasing Note
(Custom Property 4)
Used for purchasing instructions or grouping.
Special Usage
* Used in the Purchasing Report to isolate items that may have special ordering instructions or group multiple items that should be ordered as a single SKU.
* Used when designating Custom Products
* Used to note PO numbers and/or ordering information

Sales Note
(Custom Property 5)
Used for General Sales Notes, there is not a defined "special use" of this field

Qty In Stock
(Custom Property 6)
Indicates the quantity in stock for a particular according to the our inventory database.

Price Updated
(Custom Property 10)
Indicates the last time new pricing info was pulled into the database for the product.

7-9 are still reserved for future application. hope you find this info useful

ekalpakoff · 06-07-2010, 04:20 PM

I have been using one to track "vendor" for items that we can get from multiple places. Helps at the time of ordering.

sburge · 11-05-2010, 05:38 PM

Initially, we were going to use the custom fields for stuff like this, but….we found it to be too cumbersome since SI Text does not consolidate the quantities. If identical products used only one row (with a column for totals) than we could treat it similar to a spreadsheet, and that would be very helpful (hint hint). For now we export the list to a spreadsheet and track stuff from there.

grichards · 11-08-2010, 05:17 PM

sburge -
utilizing a custom report that groups/totals on a custom property might accomplish what you need. but if you have a good work-flow in place, it might not be worth the trouble to set up the reports

ekalpakoff -
This is basically what we use the Purchasing Note for. Our database is set up with a default vendor (under each product in Price > Accounting), but if we get a better offer or one-time quote through a new vendor we override it by filling out the "Purchase Note" custom property. This info is then displayed on reports produced for our purchasing agents.

**Ryan Brown** · 01-20-2011, 01:02 AM

Steve -

I may be misunderstanding you but when you said "Initially, we were going to use the custom fields for stuff like this, but….we found it to be too cumbersome since SI Text does not consolidate the quantities"

Is this meaning that it was too cumbersome to update the data in custom properties for each qty of the same item individually?

If so there may be a solution - you can update multiple items in the PDM or Text view all at once, using SHIFT + Left Click to multi-select all of the items, then enter your value into one of those items and hit ENTER. This will propagate that text entry to all of the selected items. The same is true in the MMPD Product Grid view.

You may already know this, and I may be mis-interpreting your issue - but thought I'd throw it out there anyways just in case!