knowledge base

You can use units of measurement to help count the product quantities in different ways. For example, if you buy by the case and sell by the item, this will be useful for you.

inFlow allows you to set up three different units of measure (UoM):

• The Standard UoM is the basic unit used in your inventory records
• The Sales UoM is the unit in which you typically a product
• The Purchasing UoM is the unit in which you typically buy a product

You can set up your units of measurement in the Extra Info tab of the product screen. You can set up the names of your standard, sales and purchasing units, and set up the conversion rates between the units. For example, if you buy by the dozen, you might call your standard unit ea. (short for “each”), your purchasing unit cases, and set up the conversion factor:

1 cases = 12 ea.

You can also choose to leave the unit name blank to show just the number without the unit name on your invoices, etc.

Selecting units when entering orders

Once you’ve set up your units of measure, you can use them to help you enter orders in inFlow. When you’re entering a quantity, you can just type the quantity followed by the name of the unit you want to use. You’ll also be shown a dropdown that shows you the different unit choices along with how much that would represent in standard units.

When you’re entering a sales order, the Sales UoM will be used by default. Similarly, the Purchasing UoM will be used by default in purchase orders. In other parts of inFlow, the Standard UoM will be used by default. The default UoM is the one shown at the top of the quantity dropdown.

Changing the UoM in an order will change the unit price too (e.g. if you have 1 piece at $10, changing to 1 dozen should change the price to $120).

Units of measure and pricing

The prices that you charge are for one sales unit. For example, if you set up your Sales unit as a box of 6 with a sales price of $20, your customers will be charged $20 for a box of 6.

Similarly, the prices that your vendor charges you should be set for one purchasing unit. If you buy by the case, set the vendor’s price to be the price for one case.

Changing units

If you change your sales or purchasing unit name or conversion factor, this won’t affect your old orders, but it will affect how you enter new orders.

You can’t change what your standard unit is, you can only rename it. If you do want to change the standard unit, we recommend creating a new product record.

Still unsure? Check out our tutorial video!