Overview
When you enable automatic charge syncing, SmartMoving reviews the Carrier Pack (CP) and Pack By Owner (PBO) box counts from your Descriptive Inventory during job finalization and adjusts the quantities being charged to match what was recorded. Material charges update to reflect those counts, and packing charges are generated for CP boxes when packing charges apply to the job. All charge updates are recorded in the activity log.
This saves time and reduces manual adjustments by connecting the inventory data your crew records to the charges on the final invoice.
Before You Start
You must have access to Descriptive Inventory Settings to enable this feature.
How To Do It
Navigate to your Descriptive Inventory settings (Settings > Crew App > Descriptive Inventory)
Turn on "Prompt the crew to update their material and packing charges."
During Descriptive Inventory, record each item and mark its packing type as Carrier Pack (CP) or Pack By Owner (PBO) as applicable.
Note: marking items as CP or PBO alone does not update charges, the setting above must be enabled for charges to be adjusted at finalization.
Finalize the job. The system reviews the CP and PBO box counts from the Descriptive Inventory and adjusts the quantities being charged to match.
Material charges update to match the number of boxes marked as CP and PBO.
If the job includes packing charges, the system generates packing charges based on the number of CP boxes.
Open the activity log to confirm the charge updates. You'll see entries such as:
"Material charges were generated based on the CP & PBO details entered during the Descriptive Inventory."
"Packing charges were generated based on the CP details entered during the Descriptive Inventory."
Key Details
The Descriptive Inventory box counts replace the quantities being charged at finalization. They are not added on top of existing values. For example, if the estimated count is 2 and the Descriptive Inventory count is 3, the quantity charged becomes 3.
Disabling the setting does not affect jobs that were already finalized. Their charges remain as they were.
Binding jobs and Managed Tariffs jobs are not affected by this feature. These job types retain their existing materials and charging behavior.
If a Descriptive Inventory is reopened after finalization, charges are not recalculated.
Items without a packing type are excluded from both material and packing charge calculations.
Best Practices
Make sure every item has a packing type entered before finalizing. Items left blank are skipped for charge calculations.
Review the activity log after finalization to confirm the charge updates were applied as expected.
Verify the setting is turned on before you start a job you want these updates to apply to. Charges only generate at finalization when the setting is enabled.
Troubleshooting
Charges were not updated after finalization.
Confirm that "Prompt the crew to update their material and packing charges" is turned on in your Descriptive Inventory settings. Also verify that inventory items have packing types (CP or PBO) entered before the job is finalized.
I reopened a Descriptive Inventory after finalizing, but charges were not recalculated.
Charges are only generated at the time of finalization. Reopening a Descriptive Inventory after a job has been finalized does not trigger a recalculation.
The charged quantity changed unexpectedly after finalization.
This is expected behavior when the setting is enabled. The Descriptive Inventory box counts replace the previously charged quantities. If you need to preserve a different quantity, turn off the setting before finalizing.
Sync Options Reference
When you edit packing items on an estimate, you'll see dropdowns for Materials, Packing, and Unpacking sync modes. These settings control how quantities are calculated from the Descriptive Inventory and shown to the crew when they are prompted to confirm charges at the end of the job. The crew can choose to accept the suggested quantities or keep the original charges as entered.
Materials
If you choose | What quantities the crew is shown from the Descriptive Inventory |
Sync inventory | All boxes recorded during the Descriptive Inventory (CP + PBO). |
Sync packing | Only the boxes your crew packs (CP only). |
Do not sync | Material quantities are not pulled from the Descriptive Inventory. The crew keeps whatever was entered on the estimate. |
Packing
If you choose | What quantities the crew is shown from the Descriptive Inventory |
Sync inventory | Only the boxes your crew packs (CP only). |
Do not sync | Packing quantities are not pulled from the Descriptive Inventory. The crew keeps whatever was entered on the estimate. |
Unpacking
If you choose | What quantities the crew is shown from the Descriptive Inventory |
Sync packing | Unpacking quantities match the suggested Packing quantities. |
Do not sync | Unpacking quantities are not pulled from the Descriptive Inventory. The crew keeps whatever was entered on the estimate. |
Worked Example
A job is estimated with 5 Small Boxes at a materials rate of $1.00 each and a packing rate of $2.50 each. During Descriptive Inventory, the crew records 3 Carrier Pack (CP) and 2 Pack By Owner (PBO) Small Boxes.
Materials setting | Materials quantity shown to crew | Materials charge |
Sync inventory | 5 (3 CP + 2 PBO) | $5.00 |
Sync packing | 3 (CP only) | $3.00 |
Do not sync | 5 (unchanged from estimate) | $5.00 |
Packing setting | Packing quantity shown to crew | Packing charge |
Sync inventory | 3 (CP only) | $7.50 |
Do not sync | 5 (unchanged from estimate) | $12.50 |