Units general

Units can be packaging, but also units of measurement such as kilos, litres or pieces. Some basic units are already given, you can adapt and add to them as you wish. The units are applied in three areas depending on the area of application:

  • purchasing unit

  • base unit

  • control unit

If you want to create items to work with Stock Management, read the following information about it, otherwise the units are not needed at the POS.

The purchasing units

The purchasing units are used for purchasing from the vendor. They shall specify to the Supplier exactly the agreed outer packaging and the contents in terms of quantity and form. You can use any number of purchasing units per item. Example: 24 box

The basic units

The basic units provide the basic knowledge and are considered together with a multiplier or divisor as a common denominator or link between purchasing units and the sales units (bottle x 24 is purchased in cases or bottle has 35 portions of 2cl each). They have a basic function, especially in interface with recipe items. Example: bottle with 35 servings or kilo with 100 gr.

The control unit

The control units are used in the control of the items. They simply denote the units used in an operational check of the items present (Usually it is the smallest of an item that can be touched). It may well be that you use certain units at goods receipt (i.e. purchasing units) that you do not use at control. Example: a pallet is not controlled, but the number of crates and bottles (so you do not need pallet in the control units). A bottle with 35 portions has the bottle (which can be touched) as the control unit and by entering 35 portions and the corresponding empty and full weights, the partial quantities can be weighed via the interface, for example.

Example for using units

We start with a challenging example, then we show them the simple items that usually make up the largest portion.

In our first example you buy a box of ice cream containing four 5 litre buckets. However, you do not want to store this carton, so that you only use it as a purchasing unit.

From time to time you do not order cartons, only single 5 litre buckets. a supplier you sometimes switch to can only supply 2.5 litre containers.

So your item has 3 shopping units:

  • Carton with 20 litres
  • 5 litre bucket
  • 2.5 litre container

So that you can create your recipes independently of the purchasing units, but still establish a reference to them, you reduce the basic knowledge to a "common denominator", you define the basic unit:

  • litres a 1000 ml

Now it is not disturbing in your company if you buy in other and different units.

The division into millilitres was chosen for two reasons. In milliliters, you can design any recipe in which the ice cream is involved and it is a common size.

Even if you have the possibility to freely define all units with the controller, you should proceed according to a standard that remains comprehensible for all other users who work with the programme. Grams and millilitres have become established for items used in food formulations, and centilitres are usually used for beverages. If you follow this example, there remains the risk of a dimensional error in the input, as a litre of water has 1000 ml and only 100 cl.

Now we define the control units, but we will leave out the breaks for the time being, as other knowledge is required for this. If we define control units here, we are talking about all the packaging units:

  • 5 litre bucket
  • 2.5 litre container

In our example it never occurs that a carton in which four 5 litre buckets are counted during a check, so during a check only the two alternatives are offered.

Examples for the use of units

0,2 Liter Cola Bottle: Cola 0,2 l...

  • You buy the wrong Cola in a unit box of 24 pieces.
  • The base unit is a portion bottle. That the bottle has 0.2 liters can be seen in the item text.
  • The control unit is crate that contains individual bottles you enter in the item master.

Cask beer: Cask wheat beer 50 l...

  • Barrel purchasing unit
  • Base unit litres
  • Barrel control unit (the information for controlling the incipient breaks is defined in the item master)

Special feature volume units and measured quantity

Some items are measured and managed in volumes, but these volumes can only be controlled by weight. To do this, you can define the weight in relation to the volume of the unit.

Example...

A litre of ice weighs 750 g. That means the quantity is 1000, the designation ml. The measured quantity is then 750 and the designation g.

Enter the unit g in the name if the result is to be read in from a balance.

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