Managing Materials, Items, and Inventory

Overview

MyApprentice uses two connected pages for physical stock — Materials (your catalogue, where you add and edit materials and adjust stock) and Inventory (where you view stock levels, value, and transaction history). Reusable quote line items are managed separately on the Items page. Accurate materials and stock data flow into your quotes, jobs, invoices, and supplier invoices.

Who uses this feature

• Business Owners, Admins, and Supervisors create and edit materials, items, categories, and adjust stock.
• Business Owners can delete materials, items, and categories.
• Finance has view-only access.
• Tradies have view-only access to materials.
• Apprentices can view materials but do not have inventory access.
• Sole Traders manage their own materials, items, and stock.

When to use this feature

• Adding a new material so it can be used on quotes and jobs.
• Creating reusable line items for standard services.
• Adjusting stock for restocks, usage, waste, returns, or general corrections.
• Reviewing low stock and reorder needs.
• Auditing stock transactions across the business.

What you can do with this feature

• Add and edit materials (name, unit, cost price, markup, selling price, category, storage locations).
• Create reusable Line Items with optional associated materials.
• Adjust stock manually with a transaction type and reason.
• Sort and review low stock items.
• Review the Inventory Overview (current stock value, low-stock alerts) and Transactions (history with filters).

How the feature works

Add a material

1. Select Materials from the sidebar under INVENTORY.
2. Select Add Material and enter:
   • Material name (required).
   • A description, if useful.
   • Unit of measure (each, m, kg, sqm, L, and so on).
   • Cost price.
   • A markup percentage if you use one.
   • Selling price charged to clients.
3. Select or add a category.
4. Optionally add a storage location and the quantity held there (multiple locations per material are supported).
5. Select Create.

The material is now available on quotes, jobs, supplier invoices, and inventory.

Edit a material

1. Open Materials and find the material.
2. Open its row or edit action.
3. Update the fields and select Update or Save Changes.

Editing a material’s price affects only future records — it does not change the price on existing draft quotes or jobs.

Create a reusable line item

1. Open the Items page and select Add Line Item.
2. Enter the name, type, price, and description.
3. Link any associated materials from your catalogue. Associated materials support internal costing; the line item price is what the client is charged.
4. Select Save Line Item.

Saved line items can be selected when creating a quote.

Adjust stock

You can open the adjust-stock process from either the Materials page (find the material, select Adjust Stock) or from the Inventory page — both routes open the same options.

1. Choose the transaction type:

   Type	Use for
   Restock	New stock received
   Usage	Material used but not captured
   Waste / Damage	Material lost or damaged
   Return	Material returned to supplier
   Adjustment	General correction

2. Enter the quantity.

3. Add a reason for corrections or unrecorded movements (optional but recommended).

4. Select Update Stock.

The adjustment updates the quantity and is recorded in stock transaction history.

Review low stock

1. Open Materials or Inventory.
2. Use the Stock Status column to sort materials.
3. Review items showing low stock (currently below 5 units).
4. Record the materials that need reordering.

This identifies reorder needs; MyApprentice does not generate a purchase order at this time.

Review the Inventory page

1. From the sidebar under INVENTORY, select Inventory.
2. Use the Overview tab for current stock levels, low-stock alerts, and total stock value (stock on hand value and potential sale value).
3. Use the Transactions tab for the history of all movements (with dates, quantities, and links to the related job number where applicable).
4. Filter or sort by type, source (manual or supplier invoice), date range, or material to investigate discrepancies.

Role-specific notes

• Business Owner / Sole Trader: full access including delete.
• Admin / Supervisor: can create, edit, and adjust — cannot delete.
• Finance: view only.
• Tradie: view only on Materials.
• Apprentice: view only on Materials, no Inventory access.

Related workflows

• Creating and Sending Quotes
• Creating and Managing Jobs
• Capturing Supplier Invoices
• Document History and Deleted Items

Important notes

• Material usage at job completion writes back automatically to stock transactions, linked to the job number.
• If the Inventory feature is disabled in Business Settings, the Inventory page is hidden and transaction history is unavailable. The Materials page may still be available depending on feature settings.
• The low-stock threshold is currently below 5 units.
• Editing a price applies only to future records.