# Materials {% hint style="info" %} **Who can use this feature** Admins can create and manage Materials *** All project users can add Materials to their Tasks and log actuals {% endhint %} Materials can be added to Tasks to forecast your daily resource demand and track planned vs actual quantities. ## Creating Materials *** Creating Materials lets you build a reusable library of Materials to assign to Tasks.

**Creating New Materials:** * Click your Project Title in the top left, then select `Project Assets` * Select `Materials` from the menu * click

* Create your custom Material resource by entering the name, unit, Material type and colour * The Material is added to the library of Materials the team can assign to their Tasks

Material Type

Each material needs a Material Type from one of the following categories: | Material Type | | ------------- | | Concreate | | Piles | | Earthworks | | Roadworks | | Electrical | | Drainage | | Steel | | Other |

Material Unit

Each material needs a Material Unit from one of the following categories: | Material Unit | | -------------- | | Item | | Metres | | Metres Squared | | Metres Cubic | | Kilometers | | Kilograms | | Tonnes | | Tons | | Yards | | Yards Squared | | Yards Cubic |

## Assigning Materials *** Assigning Materials to tasks helps plan how much is needed for each one, making it easier to manage demand across your project.

**To add Planned Materials to a task:** * On the Gantt, navigate to the column picker

and toggle

`Materials` * Click the Material cell for your task & select Materials from the dropdown menu See also: Bulk Edits

Material Property Rules

* Materials are a multi-select property * A Quantity of the Material can be inputted when adding Materials to tasks * Quantities are applied per day * The unit quantity is split across the task's duration * Archived Material resources will no longer be available to add to tasks but will still exist on tasks it was assigned to before the resource was archived

## Editing Planned Daily Quantities *** When you add a planned Material, Aphex spreads the total amount across the Task’s planned days. If you expect to use more or less of a material on a certain day, you can adjust the daily quantity to match.

#### To adjust the daily planned quantities: * Double-click your task bar on the Gantt to open the right-hand panel * Scroll down to `Planned Resources` and click

to expand your chosen Material * Click into the Quantity box and change the value ## Material Actuals *** Material tracking doesn't just stop at forecasting demand. Use Actuals to log what was used each day, directly on the Task - giving you a clear picture of performance over time, and use the inputs to automatically generate planned vs actual quantity reports.

**Adding Actuals to Tasks:** * Double-click your task bar on the Gantt to open the right-hand panel * Scroll down to `Actual Materials` and click

to expand your chosen Material * Click

and select a planned material * Pick a day to record the Actual against, enter the Quantity and click

to confirm ## View Forecasted Materials on the Gantt *** Use the Resource Overlay in the Gantt to forecast Material demand day by day. You'll see how much of each Material is needed across the project, with a clear breakdown of which Tasks are driving that usage and who's using it.

**View the Resource Overlay by Material:** * Click

and select `Resources` and click

Material * Hover over the numbers to view your `Total` and `Project Utilisation` * Click

to filter to a specific Material type * Click the Resources Configuration icon

to switch between `Tasks in View` and `Project Utilisation` * Hover over

to see the daily breakdown See also: Export Material Demand

What's Shown on Hover

On hover, the daily breakdown includes: * **Utilisation** * Quantity of Material used by Tasks in your current View (respects filters) * **# of Tasks** * Number of Tasks in your current View using that Material on the selected day (respects filters) * **Project** **Utilisation** * Total quantity used across the entire project (ignores filters) * **# no of Project Tasks** * Number of Project-wide Tasks using that material on the selected day (ignores filters) * **Task Owner Breakdown** * Lists each Task Owner contributing to Project usage * Includes Task Count and percentage of total utilisation for that day and Material * **Cell shading** * **Darker = higher quantity** * Lighter - lower quantity * Scale is relative to the values shown in the current overlay * **Quantity values** are only shown in Day View * In Week, Month or Year mode, cell shading remains but numeric values are hidden

Resource Overlay Configuration Options

| Option | Function | | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Total** | The demand for tasks in your current view | | **Project Utilisation** | The demand for your entire project | | **Hide Un-utilised resources** | Removes resources that aren’t assigned to any Tasks from the resource list |

## Filter by Material *** Filter by Material to quickly review and manage work related to a particular Material items across your plan.

#### Filter by Material: * Click

and

* Select `Material` in the first dropdown * Select from `Is`, `Is Not`, `Is Empty` or `Is Not Empty` in the second dropdown * Select your desired Material item in the third dropdown See also: create & share Views

Filter Breakdown

| Filter | Operator | Value | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Material |

Is
Is Not
Is Empty
Is Not Empty

Multi-Select

## Report on Planned vs Actual Material *** Once Materials have been assigned to Tasks, all updates (including Delays, On Track & Improvement events) can be traced back to each Subcontractor. This makes it easy to understand how each Subcontractor is performing across the project.

#### Power BI Connect your Project as a datasource for Power BI to report on Material Demand, and track Planned vs Actuals. #### Aphex Insight Utilise Aphex Insight to track Material Demand. See trends and drill down into specific Tasks to identify where each Material Resource is allocated. See also: Connect to Power BI --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.aphex.co/docs/planner/features/materials.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.