Buy or sell in one unit and handle stock in another

Use dual measurement units when the quantity agreed with a supplier or customer is expressed in a different unit from the quantity your warehouse stocks or ships. For example, an order may be placed in cases while the team counts the individual units received or shipped. The order quantity and the physical quantity both matter: purchasing, sales, receiving, shipping, and billing must agree on what each represents.

Before you begin

An administrator enables Dual Measurement Unit Processing Support for Purchase and Sales in Settings → Setup → Feature Settings → Company Setting. A user with Inventory Control Full Access sets Stock In on the product's Part tab and the applicable measurement-unit conversion on its Unit Settings tab. The conversion must reflect how that product is actually measured; do not assume that one general conversion applies to every item. Confirm the supplier or customer pricing unit before entering an order.

The separate Invoice In Stocking Unit Of Product When Sales Order Is Shipped option controls the unit used on invoices created from shipments. Decide this with the billing team before shipping orders: the customer may expect an invoice in the sales-order unit, while the business may need to invoice the stocked quantity.

Enter the order and complete the physical handoff

1. Create the purchase or sales order and add the product. On the line, choose the unit in which the supplier or customer placed the order, then enter the agreed quantity and price. When dual measurement is enabled, order lines expose the order unit separately from the product's stocking unit.
2. Review the line's converted stock quantity before confirming the document. If it does not match the expected physical amount, correct the product conversion or order line before anyone acts on the document.
3. Give the receiving or shipping team the order and the unit instructions. The physical team counts, weighs, or measures what actually arrived or left, then records the accepted or shipped quantity on the receipt or shipment. The recorded physical quantity must come from the real handling step, not simply from the order's estimate.
4. After posting, compare the receipt or shipment with the order. Resolve a quantity difference with the supplier or customer under your normal purchasing or sales policy.
5. If a sales shipment produces an invoice, review the invoice quantity and unit before posting or sending it. With the Invoice In Stocking Unit option off, a shipment line can be invoiced in the sales-order unit; with it on, billing uses the stocking unit instead. Check the unit price as well as the quantity when the two units differ.

Check the result

Open the posted receipt or shipment and its related order line. The document should show the quantity used for the commercial order and the quantity handled in stock. For a sale, confirm that the invoice presents the unit your customer was told to expect. An order-unit conversion does not itself certify the physical quantity received or shipped; that is established when the team records the actual receipt or shipment.

Related articles

• Measurement Units and Precisions
• Inventory Management: Overview