Approving a Material
The Add Approved Material dialog field by field — choosing the catalogue item, then recording the manufacturer, brand, suppliers and remarks.
Approving happens in one dialog, opened with Add Approved Material on Admin → Approved Materials. It has two halves: pick the material, then say what's approved about it. The second half doesn't appear until you've picked something.
Step 1 — Choose the Catalogue Item
The dialog opens with the whole catalogue in front of you and two ways to work through it. Use whichever suits what you know.
Quick Search
Type into Quick search by name, code, or spec…. It matches the item's name, specification, code, category and subcategory, and it doesn't care about hyphens or spacing — ready mix finds Ready-Mix. A count line above the results tells you how many matched, and the list is capped at 30, so narrow the term rather than scrolling.
If nothing matches you'll see "No materials found. Try a different search or browse by division."
Browse by Division
Three columns — Division, Subcategory, Material. Pick a division on the left, a subcategory in the middle, and the items appear on the right. Every division and subcategory row carries its item count, which is the fastest way to find where the catalogue is deep and where it's thin.
Once you pick an item, both modes collapse into a summary card showing name, spec, unit and code with the division badge. Picked the wrong one? Change puts you back into the catalogue.
Step 2 — Record the Approval
| Field | Required | What to Put |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Yes | The maker whose product is approved — e.g. UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, JSW. Up to 200 characters. |
| Brand / Trade Name | No | The name the site actually uses — e.g. Tiscon, UltraCrete. Up to 200 characters. |
| Approved Supplier(s) | No | Click vendor names to tick them; click again to untick. |
| Remarks | No | The condition attached to the approval — a test certificate reference, a batch restriction, a client instruction. Up to 1,000 characters. |
Name the suppliers — it pays off at the gate
When an approval names suppliers, the vendor list in Resources → Deliveries → New Delivery is narrowed to exactly those vendors for that material. Leaving it blank means every project vendor stays selectable, and a delivery from the wrong yard is that much easier to log.
No supplier list showing?
The Approved Supplier(s) block only appears when the project has vendors. Add them under Resources → Vendors first, then come back — the app says the same thing in the helper line: "Add vendors in Resources → Vendors tab first."
Finishing
Approve Material stays disabled until a catalogue item is picked and the manufacturer isn't blank. Click it and the record is created straight away — the next MS- number on the project, an Approved badge, and a row on the register that everyone can see.
Get the manufacturer right first time
An approval can't be edited afterwards. Fixing a typo means deleting the record and creating it again, which changes its submittal number and cuts the link to any inventory already opened against it.
Reference — What the Approval Carries Forward
These come off the catalogue item and can't be changed on the approval:
| From the catalogue | Used for |
|---|---|
| Name and specification | The material's identity on the register and in inventory |
| Code and CSI division | Grouping, and the CSI Code column |
| Default unit | The unit stock is tracked in once the material reaches inventory |
Related
- The Approved Materials register — what the columns mean and how to filter
- Removing an approval — and what it leaves behind
- Vendors — adding the suppliers this dialog lists
- Adding Materials — opening stock against the approval