The Data tab of the Wizard helps you understand the progress your team is making in grooming your data for use. While you don’t actually enter data here, this is where you learn all about data.
So what data is needed for iPoint? There are three primary data types needed:
- Items – this is the basis of what you sell to your customers, what you purchase from your vendors, and how you push accounting and inventory details to QuickBooks.
- Customers – if you don’t have customers, is there really a business?
- Vendors – you gotta buy stuff to be able to sell it. Vendors are where you purchase the Items.
Data can come from multiple places
- We can import it directly from QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online.
- We can import data from your old software. If your old program can export a .csv file, we can import it into iPoint.
- If you are a member of Portal.io, you can import items from the Portal database.
- As long as it is formatted correctly, we can import price sheets from your vendors.
- You can enter data the old-fashioned way, manually and by hand.
University Videos
You’ve become accustomed to watching videos in the Wizard in the previous tabs. But this time, there is a slight twist.
We have the standard Required videos. You, or someone in your organization, will have to watch each of these videos to advance to the next Wizard step.
We also have some Recommended videos which give you more advanced tricks and tips. You don’ have to watch these, but we sure think it would be wise if you did!
Again, click the Watch Now link to see the associated video. And once anyone from your organization has watched a video, you’ll see the date and time someone watched it.
Data Progress
The list of data items needed to make iPoint function is displayed with some information you’ll find helpful.
- Data Type – this is the name of the data field
- Progress – this will list how many items have the associated data or if you’ve pulled in specific data elements.
- Goal – this is the number of data elements you should have. We populate this list based on industry averages of all companies your size using iPoint.
- Status
- If you’ve met your goal, you’ll see DONE.
- If you haven’t quite achieved the goal, you’ll see Not Yet.
- Ignore – there may be a data field that you do not want to utilize. If that is the case, place a check in the Ignore checkbox for that field. Then iPoint won’t count that field in your data progress.
- Note: Here at iPoint, we think all of these data fields are important! That’s why we created them in the first place. So if you opt to ignore a data field, we’ll ask you to confirm your decision to opt-out of that particular milestone by presenting a pop-up window.
So, let’s look at each data field in a bit more detail.
- QB Chart of Accounts – For iPoint to synchronize financial details to QuickBooks, we need to import the chart of accounts. This is done in Settings > QuickBooks > Chart of Accounts.
- QB Defaults – Defining a set of default accounts will ensure that financial details get synced to QuickBooks even if the item itself doesn’t have a specific Chart of Accounts association.
- Modifier Items – Modifiers give your sales staff the flexibility to account for additional markup on a job. This field indicates how many of the modifiers have been defined.
- RFP/Summary Item – If you have chosen one of the Deferred Revenue accounting methods, some setup must occur. This field lets you know if those settings have been completed.
- Items – The item holds the key to most transactions in iPoint, and there are a lot of details to define. The average iPoint Community Members have about 1,900 parts in their item database. We’re not asking you to get all those parts in at first. To get started, you need to be sure to have 400 of the items you use most frequently.
- GOAL: 400 items
- Note: The following fields are on the Item itself. The goal listed is a percentage of your items in your database based on the industry average for a company your size.
- Manufacturer – Who makes the product is also used to sort and find products in iPoint.
- GOAL: 95% of items should have a manufacturer.
- Category – This would be a breakdown of kinds of equipment used to sort and find products. (e.g., Speakers, Display Devices, Network Equipment)
- GOAL: 72% of your items should have a category.
- Type – This is a secondary “sort” and “find” field for each category. (e.g., Speakers might have In-Wall, Free Standing, or Two Channel, while Display Devices might have Projector, LED, or Monitor.
- GOAL: 45% of your items should have a type.
- Cost – How much money do you pay for the item when you purchase it. Cost is used on POs and for calculating job costs.
- GOAL: 89% of your items should have a cost.
- Price – What does the customer pay to buy this item?
- GOAL: 92% of your items should have a price.
- Inventory Location – Where in your company is this item stored? If you have multiple stores, you can set multiple defaults for each location. The location also helps you put the product in the correct warehouse if you have multiple storage locations.
- GOAL: 50% of your items should have a default inventory location.
- Vendor – from what company do you buy the product? This field is used in the purchasing process.
- GOAL: 60% of your items should have a vendor listed.
- Labor Phase – describes when the part is installed and is used to calculate installation charges. Labor Phase is also used to sort items on proposals, sales orders, work orders, and purchase orders.
- GOAL: 50% of your items should have a labor phase.
- Labor Time – Used in conjunction with the Labor Phase, this tells iPoint how much to charge for an item. For example, .5 means that the customer will be charged half an hour of the labor phase price.
- GOAL: 50% of your items should have labor time.
- Synced with QB – This number tells you how many items have been synced to QuickBooks.
- GOAL: 50% of items should be synced to QuickBooks.
- Customers – How many customers are in iPoint?
- GOAL: Based on our experience; you’ll have at least 50 customers.
- Synced with QB – This indicates how many of those customers have been pushed to QuickBooks.
- GOAL: 50% of your customers should be synced to QuickBooks.
- Vendors – How many vendors do you have?
- GOAL: Nearly every customer has at least ten vendors.
- Synced with QB – How many of your vendors have been pushed to QB?
- GOAL: 50% of your vendors should be synced to QB.
- Punch Lists – This is a list of sub-tasks that you want technicians to complete when installing an item.
- Notifications – You can customize how iPoint lets your staff know that certain things have been completed in iPoint.
Done
Once you’ve watched the required videos and all data elements are either DONE or ignored, you’ll be able to advance to the next step by clicking the Let’s Go button.