Resource Types and the Attribute Library
Create a resource type, choose its kind and tracking type, build the shared attribute library, and decide whether each attribute applies to procurement, inventory or both.
A resource type is a definition of one kind of thing you supply or request, such as "Box Truck", "Wireless Mic" or "A1". The type holds the fields that describe it, which are its attributes, and the library those attributes come from is shared across every type. This page explains how types and the library fit together and how to set up a type.
Organization admins manage types in Settings, under Resource Templates. The Resources tab lists the types, and the Attributes tab is the library.
Kind and Tracking Type
Every type has a Kind: Asset for equipment and vehicles, or Crew for people. An Asset type also has a Tracking type, which decides how its inventory is counted:
- Serialized: one inventory row per physical unit, each with its own identifier, such as truck GC-014.
- Pooled: one row holding a quantity, such as 40 radios.
- Expendable: like Pooled, for stock that is used up, such as gaff tape.
- Composite: assembled from other types and never held in inventory. See Composite Resource Types.
Crew types have no tracking type. Each crew member who can work in that role is one inventory row.
A tracking type change is refused when it would break existing data. A type with inventory rows cannot become a Composite, and a Composite with components must have them removed before it can change back.
The Attribute Library
An attribute is a single field with a name and a type, such as Text, Number, Date, Select, Checkbox, Link or File. Attributes are defined once for the organization in the library, not inside each type. "Registration Expiration" exists one time, and every truck type that needs it places that same attribute.
This is what makes fleet-wide questions answerable. Because every truck type uses the same attribute, the inventory table can show registration expirations across all trucks, whatever their type.
An attribute's type is fixed once it is created. Deleting an attribute that something still uses, such as a stored value or a variant, archives it instead, and an archived attribute can be restored. Turn on Show archived to see archived attributes in the library.
Sections and Placements
A type groups its attributes into sections. Putting an attribute onto a type is called a placement, and an attribute can be placed once per type. Each placement has its own settings:
- Required makes the field mandatory.
- Procurement means the attribute is asked for when someone requests the resource.
- Inventory means it is recorded on the resources you own.
- Pricing lets the attribute drive the price, covered in Variants and Attribute Pricing.
A placement must be active on Procurement, Inventory or both, never neither. This keeps forms honest. A maintenance log can be Inventory only, so account managers are not asked for it when they request a truck. A mileage figure for a haul priced per mile can be Procurement only, so a truck added to inventory does not need one.
A few combinations are fixed by the pricing role. A Variant attribute is always required and active on both. A Modifier or Unit attribute must be active on Procurement, and a Unit attribute is always required. A Composite type's attributes are active on Procurement only, because a composite has no inventory.
A required attribute that is active on Inventory blocks adding a resource until it is filled in, and blocks any edit that blanks it. Resources that were already blank keep saving and show as Incomplete.
Set Up a Resource Type
Add attributes to the library
In Resource Templates, open the Attributes tab and choose Add attribute. Give it a name and a type. Add it once, even if many types will use it.
Add the type
On the Resources tab, choose Add type. Enter a name, pick an icon and color, then choose the Kind, the Tracking type (Assets only) and a Category. The type opens in its own editor.
Fill in the type details
In the type details, set a Label, a Line item label that controls how the type reads on line items, an optional Default owner department, and any Default rule sets. Each change saves as you make it.
Place attributes
On the Attributes tab of the editor, add attributes from the library into sections, then set Required, Procurement, Inventory and Pricing for each one.
Price the type
The editor's other tabs are Variants, for types split by a Variant attribute, and Components, which appears only on Composite types.
Removing a placement, deleting its section, or changing its pricing away from Modifier deletes that placement's modifiers, and BackOps asks you to confirm first. A placement that a variant depends on cannot be removed until the variants are reworked.
Deleting a Type
Deleting a type removes its sections, placements, variants, modifiers and rate cards. Values already recorded stay with the library attribute. A type cannot be deleted while an inventory resource uses one of its rate cards or another type uses it as a component.