Units Of Measurement (UOM)
Units Of Measurement (UOM) are the catalog of the units you use to buy, sell, manufacture and report your items: Unit, Box, Kilogram, Pound, Gallon, and so on. This catalog is the foundation for your UOM Plans, which are the ones that define how one unit converts into another (for example, how many Units make up a Box) for each item.
What is it and what is it for?
Each record in this catalog is simply a unit name (for example "Unit", "Box" or "Kilogram"), with an optional short code. On its own, a Unit Of Measurement doesn't define any conversion or factor: that's configured separately, on the UOM Plans screen, where you group several Units under the same Plan and set each one's Factor relative to the Plan's base unit (for example, that 1 Box equals 12 Units). Each item is then linked to one of those Plans and picks, within it, its sales Unit, its purchase Unit and its report Unit.
Besides items, Units Of Measurement are used across many other parts of AdmCloud: on your sales and purchase transaction lines, on item price lists, on the manufacturing Bill of Materials (BOM), on Fixed Asset records, on Maintenance Plans, on Budgets, on CRM Opportunities, on Projects and on the Payroll Batch Hour Entry screen. Because of that, this catalog needs to stay clean: a Unit already in use anywhere in that list can't be deleted.
How to use it
- Go to the Units Of Measurement list and click New to create one.
- Enter the Name of the unit (for example "Box" or "Kilogram"). It's the only required field and must be different from every other unit already created.
- If your company operates in Ecuador or Guatemala and you need to report the unit's fiscal code for electronic invoicing, fill in the Code field with exactly 3 characters. In every other country this field is free text and optional.
- Add Notes if you want to leave any additional reference about how that unit is used.
- If you need to capture extra information AdmCloud doesn't offer natively, you can create a custom field without leaving the screen, using the Create Field button (available if your plan includes Custom Fields).
- Save the Unit. From that point on it's available to be added to a UOM Plan and, from there, assigned to your items.
If your company doesn't have any Unit Of Measurement yet, AdmCloud automatically creates one named "Unit" together with a UOM Plan named "General" (with a Factor of 1), so you can start registering items right away.
Main capabilities
- A simple catalog: list, create, edit and delete Units Of Measurement.
- Bulk delete: check several Units in the list and delete them all at once.
- Custom fields of its own for the Units catalog, with a shortcut to create a new one right from the creation screen.
- Unit autocomplete restricted to the item's UOM Plan, so when you pick a unit on a transaction you only see the ones that actually apply to that item. On Purchase Orders, if the line has no item (for example, a service), you can pick any unit in the catalog.
- Country-specific validation: in Ecuador and Guatemala, the Code must match the length required for electronic invoicing.
Key fields
| Field | What it's used for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the unit (for example "Unit", "Box", "Kilogram"). Required and unique across the whole catalog. |
| Code | Optional short code. In Ecuador and Guatemala, if you set it, it must be exactly 3 characters (the fiscal code used for electronic invoicing). In other countries it's free text with no length validation. |
| Notes | Additional notes about the unit. |
| Custom fields | Extra fields your company has defined for the Units Of Measurement catalog. |
| Relationships Detail | Name a specific Vendor or Customer uses for this unit in AdmCloud Xchange. It's filled in automatically the first time it's missing when receiving a document from that relationship, but you can also register it ahead of time here. When viewing the Unit, this detail shows in its own "Relationships" tab, with a filter by relationship name and paging. That tab only shows up if AdmCloud Xchange is enabled for your company. The same Vendor/Customer can have several references, but the same Vendor/Customer and reference pair cannot repeat, neither within this record nor in another unit of measure: if another one already uses it, saving tells you which. Duplicating the record does not copy this detail. |
Validations when saving
- The Name is required.
- The Name can't be repeated: if a Unit with that same name already exists, AdmCloud won't let you save another one just like it.
- The Code must be exactly 3 characters when your company is set up for Ecuador or Guatemala and you choose to fill it in (this rule doesn't apply in other countries).
Deleting a Unit Of Measurement
A Unit Of Measurement can't be deleted if it's being used in any of these places, among others:
- Sales transaction lines that use it as that line's unit.
- Items that have it set as their sales, purchase or report Unit.
- Any UOM Plan that includes it.
- Item price lists that reference it.
- Payroll Batch Hour Entry lines.
- Other records that also store a unit per line: vendor items, customer special prices, item components, CRM Opportunities, Budgets, Fixed Assets, Maintenance Plans, the manufacturing Bill of Materials (BOM), Construction Types and Projects.
- A relationship registered in its Relationships Detail.
If any of these apply, AdmCloud shows you the list of documents or items that depend on that Unit, so you can unlink them first.
Availability and permissions
- This catalog is available even if your plan doesn't include the Inventory module, so you can register your own units and pick them on the service lines of your transactions (for example, on Purchase Orders). UOM Plans and inventory items still require that module.
- Access is controlled by the "Units Of Measurement" permission (IC_UOM) on your user group, with independent levels for view, add, edit and delete.
- The button to create a custom field directly from this screen only shows up if your plan includes Custom Fields.
Tips and common mistakes
"This unit already exist". There's already a Unit Of Measurement with that Name in your catalog; use a different name or edit the existing unit instead of creating a new one.
"The length of the code must be 3 characters". This message only shows up if your company operates in Ecuador or Guatemala and you filled in a Code with a length other than 3; you can leave the Code blank if you don't need to report it.
"You can't delete this record because the following records depend on it". This means the Unit is already in use (on an item, a UOM Plan, a transaction or another record). Check the list AdmCloud shows you and unlink those records first.
If you need one Unit to convert into another (for example, 1 Box equals 12 Units), don't look for it on this screen: create or edit a UOM Plan and set the conversion Factor between that Plan's units there.