Unit of Measure Type

Whenever an item is set up, it must be defined in at least one unit of measure. A unit of measure is used to indicate the amount of an item that is processed on transactions such as sales and purchases, as well as the available quantity of the item.

Some units of measure represent nothing more than an amount. Examples of this are units such as "Case", "Box", or "Each". Units such as these can be used to indicate the quantity of an item being used in a transaction. For example, we might purchase 100 cases of an item. The significance of the case unit is dependent on the item itself.

Other units of measure denote not only a per unit amount but also a specific physical property, such as weight or volume. Examples include units such as kilograms, liters, pounds, and gallons. As with any other unit of measure, these units can be used to record the quantity of an item being used in a transaction. For example, we might purchase 100 kilograms of an item. This value has significance beyond the unit of measure, in that a kilogram is a measurable quantity that denotes the item's weight.

When you set up a new unit of measure, you can assign a type of length, weight, or volume to it. You can then define standard conversion factors between that unit and the established base unit for the assigned type.

Base Units of Measure

A base unit of measure (not to be confused with a base unit of measure that is assigned to each item as the primary unit of measurement) is a unit from which other units of the same type are derived. For example, a pound is typically identified as the base unit of weight for conventional systems of measurement. All other units of weight are defined in terms of pounds (an ounce is 1/16 of a pound, a ton is 2,000 pounds, etc).

Base units of measure are defined and stored in the Measuring System table. This is an internal table that can not be accessed through a window. There are 6 base units defined in this table - units of length, weight, and volume for both conventional and metric measuring systems.

When setting up a company, the user must choose between conventional and metric measuring systems as the basis for all unit of measure calculations. This selection is made in the Inventory Setup window. All length, weight, and volume units of measure are defined in relation to the base units that are stored for the corresponding measuring system in the Measuring System table.

Unit of Measure Setup

When a unit of measure record is entered in the Unit of Measure table, the user can assign a unit of measure type to it. Once a type has been assigned, a conversion must be established between that unit of measure and the base unit of measure for the assigned type. For example, if we indicate that we want to use a conventional measuring system, and the conventional base unit of weight is pound, any units of measure we set up with a type of weight must be defined in relation to a pound.

You must set up unit of measure records for base units if you want to assign them to items. Using our previous example, we would need to set up a unit of measure record for pounds if we want to measure items by this unit. In this instance, we would establish a conversion factor of 1.

Please note that the code you set up for a base unit of measure in the Unit of Measure table must be identical to the code set up for the corresponding unit in the Measuring System table. If the pound unit in the Measuring System table has a code of "LB," and the pound unit in the Unit of Measure table has a code of "LBS," the program will not recognize them as being the same unit.