Overview
Understanding and leveraging the Material and Unit of Measure Libraries can be the difference between seeing INNERGY as a value add for your company or a drain on your employees' time. This guide walks through every configuration step needed to build a clean, well-organized Material Library and a correctly structured Unit of Measure Library.
Step 1 - Viewing in peAk
This guide is available inside peAk.
Step 2 - Dictionaries Setup
Navigate to Configuration > Dictionaries. There are two dictionaries to review before setting up your Material Library:
• Budget Groups (required field in Material Import) - Used to categorize material budgets for job costing. Review the
• Special Characteristics - A flexible tag you can use however makes sense for your operation. Use it to filter materials in the Materials to Buy grid, or skip it entirely if it does not add value for your team.
Watch the Video on Material Dictionaries for a walkthrough of both dictionary types and how they affect your material records.
Step 3 - Default Material Margin
Navigate to Company Profile > Purchasing. Set the Default Material Margin that will be applied to new materials added to the library.
Note
If you are unsure what margin to set, leave it at the industry standard of 40%. You will likely want to revisit this setting after your Product Library Validation is complete - that process will give you a clearer picture of what margin makes sense for your materials.
Step 4 - Library Tree Structure and Placeholder Materials
INNERGY's Material Library starts with a tree structure made up of folders and categories that you build out to match how your team organizes materials. Some tenants set up a dedicated category for placeholder materials used only during estimating - check with your Onboarding Specialist about whether this applies to your tenant.
Placeholder materials use generic codes like PL-1, PL-2, or WD-1 in place of a real material when the exact spec is not yet known. For example, if you are bidding P-Lam cabinets but do not know the color yet, you can use PL-1 as a placeholder. You would never actually purchase "PL-1" - it is not a real material - but it allows you to estimate costs and quantities.
Standard materials like your actual slides, hinges, and sheet goods should live in their own categories, separate from placeholders. Once you start working on estimated products, replace those placeholders with your real materials - complete with the correct vendor and SKU attached.
Best Practice
For now, do not worry about cleaning up placeholder materials. Your goal over time is to replace as many of them as possible with your actual purchased materials.
Step 5 - Material Library Setup
Navigate to Libraries > Materials. Delegate setup and ongoing management of the Material Library to one person or a select few individuals. These are your Material Librarians - they should be empowered and accountable for keeping the Library clean and organized.
• Adjust your tree structure to match how your team organizes materials (by category, supplier, product type, etc.).
• Start with three to five commonly used materials and review them with your Onboarding Specialist before importing a large list.
• INNERGY recommends starting with a typical sheet good, an edgebanding material, and a hardware item.
• Once ready, expand the library by focusing on stock materials and commonly purchased materials first.
Adding Materials to the Library
• Create a New Material manually - best for small quantities or one-off materials.
• Import Materials - best for large batches using the import spreadsheet.
Note - Material Kits
Material Kits can be built and managed directly in the Material Library, and used in estimates the same way. Once you convert an estimate to a project, the materials in a kit are treated as individual separate line items on the Bill of Materials and are no longer linked together as a kit.
Resources: Material Library Classroom Training | Classroom Training Recording | Video: Material Library Import | Knowledge Base
Step 5 - Libraries > Materials showing tree structure and material list
Step 6 - GL Accounts (Optional)
Setting up GL Accounts in INNERGY is optional but useful if you plan to import INNERGY data into your accounting software. If you are not ready to set up your chart of accounts yet, skip this step and come back to it later.
Company Profile - Chart of Accounts
• Navigate to Company Profile > Accounting > Chart of Accounts.
• Create GL Accounts as needed, including Expense or Cost of Goods Sold, Inventory, and Accounts Payable.
Assign GL Accounts to Materials
• Navigate to Libraries > Materials.
• Assign the appropriate GL Account to each material record.
Additional Resources: GL Account Setup Examples | INNERGY and Accounting Systems Overview | Operational Finance Best Practices
Pro Tip
Review the COA-w-Definitions tab in the GL Account Setup Examples document. It lists every account type you will eventually want created inside INNERGY, which makes a useful checklist for your accounting setup.
Step 7 - Additional Resources
Before finalizing your Material Library, review these additional resources:
Step 8 - Units of Measure Library Setup
Navigate to Libraries > Units of Measure. Before configuring your UoM Library, watch the Video on how Units of Measure work together in INNERGY. Understanding the three UoM types is essential before making any changes.
The Three UoM Types
• Base UoM - The raw measurement used in your estimate (SF, LF, etc.). This is how your estimating system calculates quantities.
• Common UoMs - The actual size configurations you purchase (4'x8', 12', etc.). These are what appear on Purchase Orders.
• UoM Groups - Collections of possible purchase sizes for a material type. For example, laminate sheets can be purchased in both 4'x8' and 5'x12', so both Common UoMs would belong to the same UoM Group.
• Add or delete Common UoMs to match how you want to inventory or purchase materials.
• Modify UoM Groups as needed to group the correct Common UoMs together for each material type.
Review the Knowledge Base Article on Units of Measure for full setup instructions.
Step 8 - Libraries > Units of Measure showing Base UoMs list
Need Help?
Contact INNERGY Support through the Help Center or reach out to your INNERGY Success Manager.
Visit innergy.com for product updates, release notes, and training resources.