The data in ERPAG are organized into lists and details (content). For example, there is a list of “products and services”, which is a list of all items entered. By activating an item on the list, we enter into the details of the item, where we have the ability to change data (since the lists are “read-only”).
Such concept is easy to understand (for example, I activated that item and that item I want to change), reduces the possibility of a random error, provides an additional “depth” of data (for example, there is an additional supplier price list for the supplier), since there is a limited amount of data such concept positively affects the performance of the application.
The disadvantage of such a concept is when we need massive data alterations. For example, we need to change the “product category” from one category to another for 30 items. Then we should activate the corresponding items 30 times, enter the edit mode, change the “product category” value, record the item and close the form with details.
The solution to such a fatigue process is a “bulk action”, an action that takes place on the selected items from the list. Specifically, in ERPAG, the most common mass operations are drawn to the surface (as in our case, the “product category”), but there are also fields that are rarely changed, and the change is slightly more complex than simply replacing one value with another. The solution for this problem is the “bulk edit”, which has for now been implemented for “products and services”, “customers” and “suppliers”
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2. Bulk Edit – The basics
When we selected the data from the list, and activated the “bulk edit” option, the edit form is opened for the table entry of the data.
The form is divided into two parts – “Available fields” (1 on the image above), and edit table (2 on the image above).
3. Available Fields
This panel is initially collapsed, and the most used fields are turned on by default. By expanding the panel, we get all possible fields for changing. The fields are thematically grouped (like in the entry form) and only the marked/checked fields will appear in the edit table below.
The selection is completely interactive, so checking/unchecking of certain field automatically adds/removes the column from the table below.
The reasons for implementing this option are:
displaying all available data in one table is not practical;
the mass change is usually applied only on a few data types;
the more unnecessary columns we have during the data alteration, the possibility of error increases;
the finding of a certain data is difficult;
the higher number of columns impacts the performances in a negative way.
Our advice is to mark only the necessary fields.
4. Edit table
Like the fields are grouped in “Available Fields”, they are grouped in the edit table.
The data entry is the same as in any ERPAG table, as well as the possibility of searching, filtering, sorting, copy/paste from a spreadsheet etc.
Note that in ERPAG tables there is a pretty practical option “Set column value”.
When the ERPAG table is in edit mode, on the column menu (click/tap on the column header) the option “Set column value” appears.
This option gives us the ability to set the same value for the entire column. In our example, we want the “tax category” to have the “Default” value.
Setting values using this option is limited to an active filter. In our example, we will only filter the “product type” to display the “service” and assign the appropriate value of “tax category”.
After canceling the filter, our table looks like pictured below.
6. The formula – Set Column value
In numerical fields, there is often a need for the value of one field to depend on the value of the other.
For example, if we have “price tiers” and prices are lower than our default selling price by a certain percentage.
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In our case, we will make that the selected items for bulk edit have a “selling price” of $ 50.
For numeric fields, the look of “Set column value” field is different.
The next thing we want is to have a 5% lower “Selling price” for the “Start-up Customers” price tier type.
We choose the offered formula (“decrease -%”), enter the value “5” and select “base – column” to be “Selling price”. With this, we implemented the formula for a percentage reduction of 5% of the value from the column “Selling price” and entered the value in the active column.
In the “Base column” you can only select fields that are a numerical type (eg prices, quantity …) from the table.
Only basic formulas are implemented, for complex operations, you can use export to XLS, enter the formula in the spreadsheet application, copy the resulting column and paste in the appropriate column in the ERPAG table.
7. Saving/Recording the changes
Saving is done as in any edit form using the “save” option. Since the amount of data loaded is higher, the recording may take a few seconds (in rare cases, a few minutes).
Recommendation:
The bulk edit option does not have operation check of other users, so we recommend that, when doing this, one operator will make changes. What in practice means that if two operators work on the same items at the same time, the one that last activates the option to capture the changes, his data will be valid.
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2019. ERPAG Inc
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