Materials Management
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.. _materiales:
.. contents::

Administration of Materials
===========================

Users can manage a basic database of materials, organized by categories.

Categories are containers to which specific materials and other categories can be assigned. They are stored in a hierarchical tree structure, as materials can belong to leaf categories or intermediary categories.

To manage categories, users must follow these steps:

*   Go to the "Administration -> Materials" option.
*   The program displays a tree of categories.
*   Enter a category name in the text box and then click "Add."
*   The program adds the category to the tree.

To insert a category into the category tree, users must first select the parent category in the tree and then click "Add."

.. figure:: images/material.png
   :scale: 50

   Material Administration Screen

To manage materials, users must follow these steps:

*   Select the category to which materials are to be added and click "Add" to the right of "Materials."
*   The program adds a new empty row with fields to enter details about the material:

    *   **Code:** Material type code (this can be the external code from an ERP).
    *   **Description:** Description of the material.
    *   **Unit Price:** Unit price of each piece of material.
    *   **Unit:** Unit used to measure each unit of material.
    *   **Category:** Category to which the material belongs.
    *   **Availability:** Indicates whether or not the material is active.

*   Users complete the fields and click "Save."

The assignment of materials to order elements is explained in the chapter on "Orders."