Units Of Measure & Decimal Quantities
Give every item the unit it is really counted in. Pieces, boxes and bottles stay whole; kilograms, litres, metres and hours take up to three decimal places, from the receipt to the till.
The unit is chosen on the item, in the Unit of measure field under Stock & Pricing Controls when you add or edit an item, on the web or in the mobile app. New items default to Pieces. The unit is then shown beside the item’s stock on its page, in lists and counts, and in the app.
The Units
| Kind | Units | Quantities |
|---|---|---|
| Count units | Pieces (pcs), Boxes (box), Packs (pack), Cartons (carton), Pairs (pair), Sets (set), Dozens (dozen), Rolls (roll), Bags (bag), Bottles (bottle) | Whole numbers only |
| Measured units | Kilograms (kg), Grams (g), Tonnes (t), Litres (l), Millilitres (ml), Metres (m), Centimetres (cm), Square metres (m2), Cubic metres (m3), Hours (hr) | Up to three decimals, e.g. 2.5 or 0.125 |
Where Decimals Work
For an item in a measured unit, quantities are decimal end to end: check-ins and check-outs, transfers, stock counts, quality holds, reservations, POS sales and returns, purchase requests, RFQ and purchase order lines, and reorder suggestions. A hardware shop can sell 2.5 m of cable at the till; a farm store can receive 12.5 kg of seed.
For an item in a count unit, a fractional quantity is refused with a message — 2.5 pcs is never rounded quietly. Reorder suggestions for count units are rounded up to the next whole number.
Changing An Item’s Unit
- Moving from a count unit to a measured unit is always allowed.
- Moving an item that holds fractional stock (say 3.4 kg) to a whole unit is refused until the stock is adjusted to whole numbers — otherwise the books would hold a quantity the unit cannot express.
- Changing the unit relabels the quantity; it does not convert it. 10 boxes changed to Pieces becomes 10 pieces. Count the stock again if the unit really changed.
Good To Know
- The unit belongs to the item. Invoice and purchase order lines take the quantity in that unit, but do not print the unit beside it on the PDF.
- The item import template takes a Unit column (the codes above, such as kg or pcs); a whole-unit row with fractional stock is rejected with the row number.
- Services have no stock and no unit field.
- Supplier returns and confirming service delivery still take whole quantities.
- In a bill of materials, a component in a measured unit can be fractional; a component counted in pieces must come to a whole number.
More We Can Add To Your Workspace
- Buying in one unit and selling in another — a purchase unit, a stock unit and a conversion factor on one item (buy cartons of 24, sell pieces).
- Alternate units per supplier, so each supplier’s pack size is converted on receipt.
- Catch weight — a count unit with a recorded weight per unit, for meat, cheese and produce.
Until then, stock the item in the unit you sell it in, and convert on the purchase order quantity. Ask through Support to have any of these built for you.
Related
- Add Items and Edit Items.
- Inventory Costing: The Moving Average — the cost is per unit of the item’s unit.
- Min / Max Per Warehouse.
Need help with this topic?
Capture the module, record number, branch or warehouse, user, visible message, and what you expected to happen before contacting support.