Measurement units and conversion factors

A unit of measure describes the quantity used to measure an item, tool, or a service. You use a unit of measure to measure the items and services that you order, issue, and transfer. Examples of units of measure include EACH, CASE, IN (inches), and ROLL.

A conversion factor represents the numeric value or ratio that is used to relate one unit of measure to another. The conversion factor is an alternate value that is used to represent a unit of measure. You can use this alternate value to define an item order or transfer quantity and storeroom balance.

Before adding items to storerooms, you must first define the of units of measure, and then define the conversion ratios for those units. You can delete a unit of measure only when the asset management system is not using it in a conversion, on a specification template, or on a meter record. You can delete a conversion factor at any time. If a transaction is processed that used the conversion you deleted, you are prompted to enter a new conversion to finish the transaction.

You can add and modify units of measure and conversion factors in the following applications:

Example of conversion factor use

When you receive an item, the system takes the received order unit value along with the storeroom issue unit and checks for an existing conversion. When all receipt lines pass validation, the system receives the items and adjusts the storeroom balances accordingly. If an item does not exist in the receiving storeroom, the system creates an inventory record for the item and sets the issue unit equal to the received unit.

You order light bulbs in bulk and the unit of measure is a case, with a quantity received of 36. However, when you issue the item, you issue it one at a time. In this case, you can define a measure unit of CASE and another measure unit of EACH. You define a conversion ratio from CASE to EACH with a factor of 36. When you receive an order of bulbs into a storeroom, the received order unit of one CASE is converted into the storeroom issue unit of 36 EACH.



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