The item list
In the item list of a financial document (e.g. an estimate), the items or services of the job are listed.
Item groups
An item list consists of any number of items, which are organized into item groups.
An example:
Concept
Key visual shoot 4200,- EUR
Define tone 1800,- EUR
Realization
4 banner layouts 2500,- EUR
8 headlines 3500,- EUR
Items
An item consists of an item label (e.g. "project management"), and
a) either a quantity and unit (e.g. 2 hours) and a unit price, which is derived from the stored unit - e.g. an hourly rate - and the unit price (e.g. "4 hours at 85 EUR" or "300 copies at 0.25 EUR")
b) or a flat fee (e.g. "layout creation 1,500 EUR").
Examples Art Director 3 days at 620,- EUR Logo rebrush 6,500,- EUR Trade fair hotel 4 nights at 420
Two types of items: Agency- and external services
An agency service item describes either a configured function from the agency price list or is a "miscellaneous agency service". Miscellaneous agency services are used when multiple functions are needed for a service to be provided (e.g. copywriter & designer), but these should not be listed explicitly in the item list. This is, for example, the case when packages such as "content creation" are to be listed as an item. Items from configured functions in the agency price list always refer to exactly one function (e.g. graphic design); for "miscellaneous agency services" this is optional.
An external service item also consists of an item description, quantity, unit and unit price. Unlike an agency service, no function can be referenced here.
External service items usually represent services purchased by the agency, e.g. film productions or media volume. Whether the customer should be able to see if an item is an agency service or an external service can be configured under "print version settings".
At the end of the item list, the totals for agency services and external services as well as a grand total are shown.
By the way: If a document contains only agency services or only external services, the prices are displayed in a single column.
External services do not have to be shown to the customer as such If you don't want to make it transparent to the customer which services you are buying for them and which you are providing yourselves, you can simply tick the box "Do not explicitly display external services" in the "print version settings" tab of the respective document. The printed document then shows no distinction between agency and external services. In the background, however, you have still budgeted which services you will deliver in-house and which will be purchased from service providers.
Make item lists clear
Especially in larger jobs, which are divided into subtasks and where a wide variety of agency functions and external services are listed, the item list can quickly become confusing.
Since estimates often go through several stages on the customer side before approval, it is worth designing the item list so that it is logically structured and quick to grasp; after all, we are telling a story that we want to sell to the customer.
Die Agenturverwaltung helps with creating such documents:
Structuring into item groups: If a job runs in phases or consists of various parts, the item list can be broken down into different item groups. Item groups also have the option of adding an introductory text that can summarize the objectives of the services provided.
Name items descriptively: Help the reader understand what is behind an item. For this, structuring text fields such as the detailed description in an item's Details tab can be suitable.
Import items from another document
Page breaks
Page breaks are automatically inserted in the PDF at suitable positions. Sometimes it can make sense to insert page breaks manually for better structuring.
There are four options
a) at the very top before the header note b) between items within an item group (the button is located at the end of each item group) c) between item groups (the button is located at the very bottom next to the "New item group" button) d) at the very bottom before the footer note
Page breaks between items and between item groups can be moved via drag & drop.
Digression: Calculating products, hourly rates or daily rates?
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