Users commonly ask "Why there are so many check boxes on MET/TEAM's receiving page?" Hopefully this article will explain that, along with some other things about the Receiving page.
Below you can see that the Receiving page does indeed have many check boxes. There are two different uses for check boxes. I will explain these uses based on the colors shown below.
NOTE: This is the 'standard' Receiving page, your's will most likely be modified with some fields hidden and or renamed. The information below still applies.
A quick review of the Receiving page's use
The Receiving page is used whenever equipment comes to the lab or in the case of onsite work, when it is about to be done. The Receiving page is typically used to receive multiple 'assets' at one time. Typically this is based on a customer coming to drop off items that are due or need work. Sometimes this is when a shipped box is opened. The goal is to receive or document that items are in the lab and to create a work order to use for tracking the work that the lab will do on each asset. When multiple assets are being received the grid on the top left lists the assets that will be received and the information on the right is for the work order that will be created when the "Process" button is clicked. The user can click on the assets in the top left grid and the items on the right will update based on the asset selected, This gives the user the ability to set the values on the right, differently for each asset, as needed. The items on the right also include the two other tabs,"Work Order Extended Data" and "Log Notes".
First use, blue check boxes
The first and hopefully obvious use is for the three blue check boxes. These are for the typical use of check boxes to indicate if the items are true or selected, As an example, if the work order is to be completed outside of the lab either on the manufacturing floor or at the customer's site, the "On Site" check box is checked to represent this.
Second use, red check boxes
The second and less obvious use is for the red check boxes that are located to the right of the object they work with. The red check boxes are used to "Lock" or 'apply to all' the value set to their left. Probably an example with best explain this.
On the Receiving page, if anything is changed after the page is initially displayed, the only way to have the changed values apply to all items being received, is to click the associated check box to the right of that object.
In the screen capture below, the receiving page opened up identically to the way you see it with the exception of the "Job Number". When initially displayed, the Job Number was blank, so I used the ellipsis to select the record 3001 and then checked the box to the right of it. Now when I click the "Process" button, the 3001 record will be associated to both the assets I am receiving. If I were to leave the box unchecked, only the highlighted asset's work order (for SAMPLE-10) would be related to the 3001 Job Number. The other values on the screen were left in their 'initial' state so those values will be used for all new work orders, regardless of the state of the check box.
To recap
If any values are changed after the Receiving page opens and the changed value is intended to be applied to all work orders being created, the user must click the associated check box to the right. This also applies to the two other tabs, "Work Order Extended Data" and "Log Notes".
NOTE: It is very rare that the check box to the right of the "Work Area" is used. This is because this value is initially populated with data from the Type record associated with the each of the assets being received, so this default value is often times different for each asset. An example when the "Lock" / 'apply to all' check box would be checked for the Work Area is if all the items are being received to do work 'on-site'. The "Work Area" could be changed to "On Site" and then the box to the right checked. The result would be that all work orders created would have the Work Area set to "On Site".
Common source of confusion
A common source of confusion is in regards to the "On Site", "Expedite" and "ISO Cert" check boxes. For these items, the check box to the left indicates the desired state, the check box to the right is used as described above, to "Lock" or 'apply to all' the value set on the left. So if the "ISO Cert" box on the left is checked and the box to the right is checked, then all work orders created will have the "ISO Cert" box checked. If however the box to the left is unchecked and the box to the right is checked, then all work orders created will have the "ISO Cert" box unchecked. This is because the user has configured the receiving page to "Lock" or 'Apply to All' the ISO Cert value of unchecked.
Hopefully all of this makes sense.
If you have any questions / comments / concerns, send an email to softwaresupport@flukecal.com so a new support ticket will be created and we will get back to you as soon as possible.