The benefit of material tracking using your Matrak database, is everyone references the same data to understand where items are at any stage of the supply chain, from manufacture right through to install & sign off.
When managing any large data base, consistence is key. Because of this, every item tracked on your Matrak projects must adhere to one of your data templates, but don't worry! You are able to customise each template to exactly match your company data.
In Matrak your data templates are called Record Types.
Further to this, there are 4 template categories that your customised Record Type (data template) can be: Materials, Containers, Locations, and Tasks.
When creating new Record Types, use the guide below to further choose a category as Matrak treats each category slightly differently:
Materials include everything from big items like Facade panels to small items like nuts and bolts.
Locations tell you where these materials are in the supply chain.
Containers are for your stillages, crates, shipping containers, or deliveries
Tasks track any jobs to be completed, digital ITPs or QA documents, and even defect reports
Container Record Types you create will have default status automations applied - when the container's status is updated any linked items (container contents) will automatically have their statuses updated to match
In the Edit Record Types page you can:
Add new Record Types such as Materials, Containers, Locations, and Tasks
Easily customise the field of your Record Types
Compare and customise up to 3 Records Types side by side
What we'll cover in this article:
Tip: You can use the above links to 'jump' to areas of the article you might specifically be looking to learn about. We've added a 'Back to navigation' link at each section header to quickly come back to this navigation menu.
What are record types?
Record Types function as the data template for each item type you setup on your Matrak project. Project Admins are able to setup and customise record types via the Edit Record Types page, allowing data fields to be decided for the project to ensure data import consistency.
There are 3 default fields, the rest are customisable to match your specific data requirements.
Required / Default Record Type fields:
ID (Identifier)
Record Type (item category name)
Status (for communicating progress)
Navigating the Edit History sidebar
You may have noticed throughout this article the Edit History Side bar has been updating with our actions as we've been creating this new Record Type.
This will show you a history of all the changes made to this page. You can see if someone creates new Record Types, changes or creates new fields, or deletes any information. This way, you know all the edits that were made to your record types.
If you can't currently see the Edit History sidebar, simply click on the wrench icon which will bring up some Admin settings, the clock icon will bring up your Edit history sidebar.
Sharing Configuration:
Editing Lists
Previously in this article we quickly touched upon the 'Edit List Reference' feature, this is a super handy feature if you want to quickly change to a common list you use frequently.
On any project you're going to have multiple types of list such as statuses, locations, quality checks and ITP's, if you right click in your Record Type, it brings up your menu.
Click 'Edit List Reference':
This will bring up a screen with all the lists you've created for this project, you can scroll and select any list from this page, and it will update the list value in your Record Type.
Editing multiple Record Types in your workspace:
If that wasn't enough we have another handy feature on the Edit Record Types page, if you right click on any of your Record Types on the Right hand navigation, it brings up the menu where you can click to 'Add to workspace'.
This allows you to view and edit multiple Record Types at the same time, without having to click between multiple tabs or pages.
You can also use this menu to change the category of your Record Types, Rename or Delete them.
Note: Deleting a Record Type cannot be undone.