Create a cost rule

Tell Nova what a service or part costs you, or which supplier or stock method to take the cost from, so margins on quotes and invoices are right.

In the sidebar, open Settings, then choose Cost Rules under Sales & Billing. The page address is /settings/org/billing/cost-rules. The page is titled Commercial Cost Rules.

Before you start

• A cost rule says where the cost of a service or part comes from: a fixed number you type, a supplier's price, or your stock records. Nova uses it to work out margin and to feed markup and margin pricing rules.
• Your role needs the permission to manage cost rules. Without it the page is read-only.

Steps

1. Press New cost rule. A panel titled Commercial cost workspace opens; press New cost rule inside it. The form is titled New cost rule.
2. Type a Rule name (or a short Rule code).
3. Pick what it applies to: an Offering for a service or an Inventory item for a part. A rule needs one of them. Add a Vendor if the cost comes from a supplier.
4. Pick a Line semantic such as Service labor or Material if the rule should only apply to that kind of line.
5. Pick a Cost source type and a Cost strategy: Standard cost for a number you type into Unit cost; Vendor default or Vendor latest to take the supplier's price; Inventory FIFO or Inventory weighted average to take the cost from stock movements.
6. Add a Unit of measure and, if the cost is only good for a period, Effective start and Effective end.
7. To limit where the rule applies, press Add scope under Applicability scopes and pick a Scope type such as Branch or Account with its Scope value. Press Add condition to add a Quantity tier or similar.
8. Press Create rule. Nova shows Cost rule created.

What you see

• The list shows each Rule, its Target, its Strategy, when it was Updated and whether it is Active or Inactive. Press a row to open it.
• Inside the workspace, the selected rule shows its scopes and Conditions. Set a Quantity and a Cost strategy and press Preview rule to see the Resolved unit cost and the Winning cost source Nova would use.
• Under Filters, you can narrow the list by Status, by Source Type and by Strategy.

If something looks different

• New cost rule is missing: your role cannot manage cost rules. Ask your admin.
• The rule refuses with a message about a target: pick an Offering or an Inventory item.
• The rule refuses with a message about a name: type a Rule name or a Rule code.
• Create rule is greyed out: your organization's country or currency is not set yet. Fix that first; see Update your company details.
• Save rule is greyed out on an older rule: that rule was made in a different currency from the organization's and is now read-only. Create a new rule instead.
• You want to change what you charge, not what it costs: see Create a price book and pricing rules.

Open Cost Rules