Part 8: Requirements (7:28)
https://vimeo.com/671274911
Transcript
So, now it’s time to start pulling together the physical elements we are going to need for a project. Those elements, or requirements are what we will be working with in the Requirements Screen.
A requirement is anything that is needed for your show. Just like in the Timeline, these may be high level requirements, such as you’re going to need a set, or a lighting package, as well as very specific things, like you’ll need a genie lift.
When I create a new Requirement I’ll need to select the Project that requirement is for. Other than that the only required field is that you give it a name.
Lets add a high level requirement which is the Set. You’ll see that the dates will default to our Project Dates from the Project Screen, but I could change these if I only needed this requirement for a smaller set of time. For me, I’m going to stick with needing the set for the entirety of the project. Once I have a more fixed set of dates and more specifics I can update this.
This will be going into the Main Stage, and is part of the Scenic Department.
Next you’ll see the Items section. A requirement can be linked to a single item from the Items Screen, however it is not necessary initially.
We don’t know where the set is coming from yet, but we do know that we have an estimated initial budget of 3,000. I can put that in here.
Next, we’re going to need some equipment for load in, like a ladder. However, we won’t need it for the entire run of the show; just for load-in and tech. So, let’s add a second requirement, Load In Equipment. Let’s add it to the same project, put the dates for our Load in __________, same Location and Department. In the Items section we can now select the 10’ Ladder. When I did that you can see that it has brought in all of my available sources that I set up in the Items screen.
I know I will need 3 ladders for load in, so I am going to use the one from the Main Stage. You see when I add the quantity needed it is deducted from the available pool of ladders from that source on this set of dates. I will also use the one from the Production Office, and we are going need to rent one from our Rental supplier. You can see the total Quantity Needed as well as a Total Cost estimate based on the number of days indicated and the price per day we added in the Items Screen.
Now let’s say we want to add our Projector to this Project as well. We could add the Projector individually, but we already created Collection so that we don’t forget any accessories, so let’s add it by Collection.
We’ll select the Project, add a name for the Requirement, and add a location. The departments will be pulled in from the items screen.
Now that I’ve added the collection you can see that I have three new requirements all named Projector Package and they each have the corresponding item. Having each requirement linked to a single item allows you to do some neat things, such as group by Requirement: I can see all of my Load in Equipment, Projector Package and Set grouped together. It also aggregates potential costs for these elements.
We can also Group by Source, which easily allows you to pull together where Items are coming from, such as all of the rentals from the Scenic Supplier, or everything that needs to be pulled from the Production Office.
Requirements can then be exported to .csv files for the creation of pull sheets, shopping lists, or rental quotes.
You can also Group by Department to easily see departmental financial breakdowns or needs.
Now, say I also needed a Projector for the Project Stinky Boots on the same days. So lets add a Projector Package Collection there as well. Now let’s take a quick look at the Projector. Because in our inventory we have 2 Projectors, 2 lenses and 2 Power Cables we have enough in our Main Stage to cover all of our needs for these dates. Anytime there are multiple Requirements for the same item on overlapping dates, we provide you this little icon to show you the other requirements. If I needed two Projectors for Stinky Boots it would now show that you don’t have enough available and the blue icon changes to an alert. It also shows you in the main table that there is a potential issue.
This can help me see when I have over allocated my resources. If I need to add a new Source such as a rental company here, I can go to my Item record and add a new source. Then in the requirement I can update the Requirement to have 2 Projectors one coming form my Main Stage, and One being sub rented from the Rental Shop.
At the top of the screen is the Project Selector Dropdown where you can look at the requirements for one project or multiple projects. Looking at requirements across projects can help you aggregate your needs and say do one large order of materials instead of multiple smaller ones.
By selecting one of more requirements, you can use the More Menu to Clone and Shift the timeframes just as you can in the Timeline Screen.
Lastly, lets go back in to the Items screen and look at the Usage Tab.
The Usage Tab gives you the 50,000 ft view. It tallies up all of the items that are being used in your requirements on a each day and when you click on that day it gives you all the details. If a block is in Orange it means that you have over allocated one or more of your sources on that day. For example the Projector. I have spaced 3 Projectors, but I only have 2 currently.
You can see the sources for where they are coming from and can see on any given day how many items you have left available and can quick jump to any requirement by using the eyeball icon.
You can change the month you are looking at in the top bar
You can also include Requirements in your Production Books. In the Production Books screen you can enable the Requirements Page and identify which columns to include. When you go to the link for this production book you’ll see the additional page and be able to see the Requirements.
