Overview

When updating a quotation due to a change in material cost, users should be aware that updating the material price directly will overwrite the existing price. This can result in the loss of historical pricing information, making it difficult to track material cost changes between quotations.

If you need to retain the original quotation pricing, a workaround is available that allows a revised quotation to be created whilst preserving the original material costs.

Issue

By default, when a material price is updated, the previous price is replaced. This means:

• Previous quotation prices are no longer visible.
• Historical material costs are not retained.
• Comparing original and revised quotations becomes more difficult.

Recommended Workaround

To retain the original pricing history whilst creating a quotation with updated material costs:

1. Create a new Material Item for the same part.
2. Create a new material plan for the new Material Item using the revised material cost.
3. Leave the original Material Item and material plan unchanged.
4. Untick the Print Item checkbox on the original Material Item.
5. Generate the quotation using the new Material Item with the updated material cost.

This allows the revised quotation to be produced whilst maintaining a record of the original material and item costs.

Example

Original Quote

Revised Quote

The quotation will use the revised Material Item and material cost, whilst the original pricing remains available for historical reference.

Best Practice

When re-quoting due to material price changes:

• Avoid directly changing material costs if historical pricing needs to be retained.
• Create a separate Material Item and material plan for significant cost revisions.
• Use clear naming conventions to identify revised Material Items.
• Retain previous records for audit and quotation comparison purposes.

Additional Information

A common practice has been to record previous material prices within the notes section to maintain a history of cost changes. Whilst this can provide a useful reference, creating a separate Material Item and material plan is generally a more reliable method of preserving previous quotation data and maintaining a clear audit trail of pricing revisions.

Note: There is currently no standard method of retaining historical material prices when updating a material cost directly. Using a separate Material Item remains the recommended workaround for preserving quotation history.