Trimble Materials supports the creation of different types of orders, such as material, rental, service, return, or blanket orders, and requests for quotes.

When you create an order in Trimble Materials, specify where to order to (a project or a warehouse) and where to order from (a warehouse or a supplier).

To add items to an order, select items from the Company Items database, a supplier catalog, or a project’s BoM. You can also enter free text.

Orders can also originate from:

• field requisitions.
• a project’s BoM. See Create a purchase order or RFQ from a BoM item.

When an order is placed, suppliers receive an email from Trimble Materials ; they can confirm or reject an order directly from the automated email.

If your Trimble Materials account is synced with an ERP, purchase orders and their associated invoices can sync directly to the ERP. Invoices are coded back to the correct project phases and GL accounts automatically. If a supplier attempts to bill for a higher price than the rate set in the order, the system automatically flags the discrepancy before it syncs to your ERP.

Easily track orders in Trimble Materials:

• Users with at least view and request access can update delivery details on both the desktop and mobile applications.
• Delivery updates enable your team to capture delivered quantities and ensure accurate tracking of materials.
• Filters and keyword searches help you to locate specific items in orders.
• Photo attachments, such as packing slips, can be added to deliveries, and delivery notes can be used to track material damage.
• Partially received orders display receiving history and summaries of received line items, which can be updated to reflect full receipt of items on an order. A Notify supplier option enables you to generate an email to the supplier including the delivery summary and notes associated with the delivery.

Use the CREATE ORDER button in Trimble Materials to create orders of the types described below.

Material order

Create a material order to procure items for a project / job site. You can also place a material order to deliver to a warehouse.

When you place a material order to a project, if the items did not originate from the project’s BoM, they are added to the project’s BoM. They will show on the Quantities and Line Items pages as Ordered (there will be a value reflecting the number of items ordered in the Ordered column). When you update the delivered items on the order, the Received column is updated to reflect the number of items received. See Projects for more information.

When you place a material order to or through a warehouse and update the delivered items on the order, Trimble Materials checks if the items exist in the Company Items database. If they do not exist in the Company Items database, they are created in the Company Items database first and then in the warehouse inventory, as warehouse items must be linked to an item in the Company Items database.

See Company Items database and Warehouses for more information.

Blanket order

A blanket purchase order is a long-term purchasing agreement established with a specific supplier. It allows you to contract recurring material purchases over an extended period (such as the lifecycle of a project or a fiscal year) under pre-negotiated prices and terms, without specifying exact delivery dates or quantities upfront.

Instead of generating a new purchase order every time the field needs materials, the office sets up a single blanket purchase order. Field teams then request "releases" (also called call-offs or drawdowns) against this blanket order as materials are needed on the jobsite.

See Blanket orders for more information.

Rental order

Submit rental orders and track their return, manage permissions, monitor inventory, and calculate costs seamlessly.

Rental items can be secured from suppliers or an internal warehouse. Rental orders are limited to a single quantity per item, with fields for price per day and total rental days to calculate the total price. Search for rental items using catalogs or filters, such as the rental item type, and check warehouse inventory availability.

Once a rental order is placed, you can update delivery information, and items can be marked as returned to adjust warehouse inventory or supplier records.

See Create a Rental order for more information.

Service order

Service orders are used to request a service from an external vendor or supplier, for example a cleanup from a cleaning crew, rather than a material purchase. The order process in Trimble Materials for a service order is similar to a material order.

Return order

Create a return order to return materials to a supplier for credit, or reallocate surplus inventory to a warehouse for future use, to reduce costs, optimize resources, and improve efficiency.

A return order is essentially a negative material purchase order designed to remove quantities and costs of materials from a project.

You can create a return order using the CREATE ORDER option, or:

• by opening the order that contains the material to be returned and initiating a return from the order actions menu. See Return items: create a Return PO from an order
• from the Project / Quantities page, to create return orders for excess materials at the end of a project. See Create a return order from the Project Quantities page.

When you return materials to a warehouse, quantities and job costs are removed from the project, and the materials are marked as pending until they are received.

External orders

External orders enable you to track, in Trimble Materials , material that was purchased outside of Trimble Materials (for example online, in-store, or phone orders). The order process in Trimble Materials for an external order is similar to a material order; the main difference is that emails are not sent to a supplier.

Request For Quote

Create a Request for Quote (RFQ) requesting quotes from one or multiple suppliers so that you can procure items at the best price. When an RFQ is sent, selected suppliers receive an email with the quote request details; they can reply directly to the email with quote attachments that are automatically added to the RFQ, or you can upload them manually to Trimble Materials.

When quotes are uploaded, they are parsed to match quote items from the quote PDF directly into Trimble Materials , mapping each item against the RFQ items. You can also manually match or unmatch items.

As well as creating an RFQ using the CREATE ORDER button, you can also create an RFQ:

• from a project’s BoM. See Create a purchase order or RFQ from a BoM item.
• from any draft order or requisition. See Convert a draft order to an RFQ or different order type.