The Item Global Modify utility (Inventory > Utilities > Maintenance > Item Global Modify) gives you a way to make broad changes to the Item database. Use this utility with caution and restrict access to global modifications to only those users who have been properly instructed in its use. Only items that are selected or entered in the grid area are updated during processing (F12). Filters are merely used for item selection and don't apply any conditions to whether or not an item's settings are updated. As an alternative to this utility, you can now make changes to existing inventory settings by using the "Update Inventory" Wizard available from the Item Maintenance form's Import (F2) function.

Branch vs. Common Fields

Inventory (item) information specific to each branch is maintained separately from shared, or common, item information. For example, an item's description and group-section are considered common or shared amongst all locations (branches). Pricing and purchasing information is maintained independently for each branch, however. When your company has more than one location, it's important to decide, before processing, whether your changes are at the branch (store, etc.) level or for your entire company. You can tell which fields (item settings) are branch-specific vs. common (or shared) by their prefixes in the "Field Name" drop down. Field Names prefixed with the letters Cmn are "common" fields shared by all items. Modifying "common" fields always affects the item for all branch locations. Only the fields prefixed with Brch (branch) are maintained separately for each location.

We provide a Branch List control (button) that allows you to select the branches you want to update. Regardless of your selection, when you choose any "common" (Cmn) field, all branches are affected. Choices made in the "Branch List" form only apply when choosing a branch setting (those prefixed Brch in the drop down).

Modifications

Select the field to be changed from the Field Name selection drop down and press the TAB key. At this point, the user has 2 choices for modifying items. Either choose (a) to leave all accounts eligible for selection regardless of the each item's current settings or (b) to include only those items that have a specified "old value" match for the selected field during selection. Specifying an "old value" doesn't prevent items from being modified if they are added to the grid manually or while using other selection criteria.

To select items regardless of the item's current setting for the chosen field, leave the "old value" blank, and check the box next to "All Items" when offered (all items only applies in certain cases). When choosing "all items," no "old value" field is required, so items will be eligible for filter selection regardless of the items' current field settings. Press the TAB key or click in the New Value selection drop-down to choose or enter the field's new value (what you are changing the field to be).

When limiting selection to items matching an existing value, press the TAB key and enter the Old Value. Only records matching this value will be added to the grid when using the View (F8) function. Important! If items that don't meet this criteria are entered in the grid (entered manually), the "old value" does not prevent such items in the grid from being modified. Records listed in the grid are always modified during processing to match the New Value listed regardless of the item's existing value.

Filtering

Global modifications are limited to one selection per change. This is done to prevent accidental changes being made to all inventory and somewhat limits one's ability to do too much damage. It's important to understand that only the items displayed in the grid are modified during processing. The grid is populated by choosing the View (F8) function after setting the Modification criteria. Items can be manually removed (deleted) or added to the grid at any time. Presence in the grid determines whether or not the item will be modified, modification settings don't. Carefully review the entire grid listing before processing and remove any items you don't want to update!

There are four (4) methods provided for populating the Selection data grid with items: all items, items by group (or group and section), items by keyword, and items by primary vendor. As an alternative, it's also possible to Copy and Paste items from another data grid (such as the SQL Inquiry).

All Items

To populate the grid with all items, make no selections in the Group/Section, Keyword, or Primary Vendor drop down controls. You must choose a field name and enter your desired "old" and "new" values prior to choosing View (F8).

Group/Section

Choose either an entire group or a group and section to filter the items selected based on your choice. This can be used alone or in combination with either or both the keyword and (primary) vendor selection options. When making modifications to the group-section field, this will automatically be set to match whatever "old" value you specify.

Keyword

This allows you to filter selection to only include items matching the selected keyword. This can be used alone or in combination with either or both the group-section and (primary) vendor selection options. When making modifications to keywords, the selected value of this field will automatically be set to match the "old" value you specify.

Vendor (Primary)

This allows filtering the selection to only include items matching the primary or branch vendor you select. This can be used alone or in combination with either or both the group-section and keyword selection options. Users are provided a choice of either branch or primary vendor. Check the "branch" check box to designate selection by the branch primary instead of the "common" primary vendor. When the "branch" check box is selected, selection is only done based on item's branch primary, not the shared common primary vendor. This check box is automatically selected or cleared as well as enabled or disabled when the modification field is either the common or branch primary vendor. The order of the vendors listed in on the Purchasing tab of Item Maintenance can be used to modify a specific item's "branch" primary vendor to something other than the "common" record's primary vendor.

Choose View (F8) after all selections have been made. Once the grid is populated with items, selection and modification fields are disabled until the user either chooses Process (F12) or Cancel (F9).

Processing

Once the grid is populated with the items to be modified, you can remove any items (rows) that you decide not to change. Once you are satisfied that all the rows in the grid are ready to change, use the Process (F12) function to finalize those changes and update the database. THERE IS NO UNDO! In the case of a serious problem, it may be possible to back out changes using a SQL database restore; however, in this case, it's very important to identify and report the problem immediately. Automated data backups are only retained for a number of days.* No document is created when a global modify is processed.

*Your company should be maintaining data backups on removable electronic media on a regular basis; however, this is solely your company's responsibility. We do typically setup a few days of local backups to your server's disk, but these are temporary.

To keep track of the items modified, data from the grid can be copied and saved or printed. To do this, use the alternate menu mouse button and choose 'Select All' and then choose either 'Print' or 'Print Preview' while the mouse cursor is hovering over the selected grid area (see below).

Data copied from the grid can also be copied and then pasted into a text editor or spreadsheet application and saved for future reference. It is the user's responsibility to carefully review changes prior to processing and to keep track of any changes made using Global Modify.