How to Assign Materials to a Job in Ply

Sending materials to a job in Ply is simple and can be done in multiple ways. Whether you’re working from the Jobs tab, your Stock list, or the Ply app, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get it done efficiently.

1️⃣ Go to the Jobs tab on the left-hand side.

2️⃣ Click on a specific job you want to add materials to.

3️⃣ Look for the green button “Add Items” and click it.

4️⃣ Select a material from a specific location (e.g., a truck) if you know it’s already there.

You can also add kits if needed.

5️⃣ Choose the materials you’d like to add and select the quantity.

6️⃣ (Optional) Adjust the price if needed.

7️⃣ If the material has a serial number, select the one you’d like to use.

8️⃣ Click Save, confirm the changes, and the materials will now be added to the job.

If you're in the warehouse and need to assign materials from stock, follow these steps:

1️⃣ Go to your Stock tab and select the location.

2️⃣ Select the materials you want to assign.

3️⃣ Click Transfer.

4️⃣ Instead of choosing a Location, switch the transfer type to Job.

5️⃣ Select an Active Job or even a Finished Job (if materials were used but not previously recorded).

6️⃣ Search for the correct job.

7️⃣ Adjust the quantity, price, or reason for the transfer if needed.

8️⃣ Click Transfer and confirm.

9️⃣ Check the job to ensure the materials have been successfully added.

Prefer to do this on the go? No problem! You can assign materials using the Ply app, just like you would on the desktop version.

If you have materials that weren’t used for the job, no worries! 🙌 They can be easily transferred back to a warehouse or truck. Employees can scan and transfer items, but remember, they can only transfer to locations they’re assigned to. 📦

✅ Assign one technician per job whenever possible.

Which truck materials get deducted from depends on technician assignment and each user's Response Location. If more than one tech is assigned to the same job, Ply needs a tiebreaker rule to decide which location to pull from — see Understanding Location Response for Integrations and Multi-tech per job: what it is and how to configure it for the full logic.

✅ Set a Response Location on every technician's profile before they start pulling materials.

Without it, materials fall back to the warehouse even if the tech is physically working from their truck. Set this under Settings → Company & Billing → Team.

✅ If you're on ServiceTitan and a Manager or Admin adds materials to a job (not a Technician), be aware this can block the invoice from posting.

Ply matches technician IDs to ServiceTitan invoice line items by email, but only for Ply users with a Technician role. If a Manager/Admin adds the materials, no ST tech ID gets attached, and the invoice needs manual assignment before it can post. Until a broader mapping fix rolls out, have a user with a Technician role (whose email matches in both systems) add or transfer the materials instead.

✅ Before assuming materials pulled from the wrong location, check the job's Activity tab.

In a real case, what looked like "materials pulling from the warehouse instead of the truck" turned out to be a misreading — the activity log confirmed everything had actually come from the correct truck all along. Checking Activity first can save a support ticket.

"Materials added to a job in ServiceTitan won't let me assign a tech, and the invoice won't post."

This happens when a Manager or Admin (not a Technician) added the materials — their ServiceTitan tech ID doesn't get attached since Ply only maps by email for Technician-role users today. Workaround: have a Technician-role user (with a matching email in both Ply and ServiceTitan) add or transfer the materials instead. A broader fix allowing manual mapping of any Ply user to their ServiceTitan employee is in progress — check with support for its current availability on your account.

"A tech says materials pulled from the warehouse, but I expected them to come from their truck."

This is almost always a Response Location or technician-assignment issue — see Understanding Location Response for Integrations for the full troubleshooting checklist (tech assigned to the job, Response Location set, tech assigned to that truck). Also double-check the job's Activity tab before assuming something's wrong — it shows exactly which location each transaction actually pulled from.

"A tech can't see materials that were assigned to their van."

Confirm the tech is actually assigned to that van as a stock location (not just listed as its "owner" informally) and that their permissions allow them to view that location's stock. If both check out and it's still not showing, reach out to support.

"A user is assigned to the job in my FSM (like Jobber), but not in Ply."

FSM-side and Ply-side assignment usually sync automatically, but sync timing or a mismatched user email between systems can cause a gap. Reach out to support with the job number and user if you're seeing a mismatch.

"I need to find materials still assigned to finished jobs that were never transferred back to the warehouse."

There's no dedicated report for this today — you'd need to check jobs individually. There's an open feature request for exactly this — you can add your vote here: Report/Filter: Materials Still Assigned to Finished Jobs Not Returned to Warehouse.

"My multi-tech sourcing strategy doesn't account for the difference between a lead technician and an assistant/helper."

Today's sourcing strategies (Default sync location, Shared truck, First technician's location) don't distinguish between roles like "Technician" and "Assistant" — they're treated the same for sourcing purposes. There's an open feature request to add that distinction — you can add your vote here: Ability to Differentiate "Assistant" from "Technician" Role in Multi-Tech Material Sourcing.

"I want materials sourced from whichever technician actually finishes the job, not the first one listed."

The current strategies are based on technician order or shared trucks, not completion. There's an open feature request for a "Last Technician on Job" (completion-based) sourcing strategy — you can add your vote here: Multi-Tech Sourcing Strategy: "Last Technician on Job" (Completion-Based Sync).

"I need to see who created or finished a job, for accountability."

This isn't currently surfaced directly. There's an open feature request for this — you can add your vote here: Ability to See Who Created and Finished a Job in Ply.

Can I assign materials to a job that's already finished?

Yes — Method 2 (Stock transfer) lets you select a Finished Job, which is useful if materials were used but not recorded at the time.

Do materials automatically return to stock when a job closes?

No — materials assigned to a job don't return to stock automatically when the job ends; they need to be manually transferred back if unused.

Can more than one technician be assigned to the same job?

Yes, but it changes how Ply decides where to source materials from — see Multi-tech per job for the sourcing strategies and tiebreaker rules.