Sage 200 – Understanding Dimensional Items

3 minute read time.

Dear Sage City Member 

This blog article will cover using and understanding dimensional items. Dimensions in mathematics are the measure of the size or distance of an object or region or space in one direction. Dimensional items are items where the measurement of the length, width, and height is taken into consideration at the point of purchasing and selling. These items may include glass, wood, fabric etc.

Enabling Dimensions

To enable the use of dimensions:

  1. Navigate to Inventory | Maintenance | Inventory Defaults
  2. In the Dimensions section, tick the option to ‘Use Dimensions’.
  3. You would then specify if dimensions are to be used at the point of purchasing or selling by ticking the relevant option or both should it apply to your business needs.
  4. On the same screen you may also specify the default measurement as well as the    measurement rounding.  The Rounding option will be active upon selecting a Measurement Rounding apart from None

 

Default measurement consists of three measurements namely, millimeter (mm), centimeter (cm) and meter (m) whereas the measurement rounding consists of 5 options being NONE, 0.25, 0.5,0.75 and 1.00.

Creating a Dimension Item

Like all items, dimensional items are created by navigating to Inventory | Maintenance and Inventory Item, selecting the Add option and then ticking the option for Dimension Item. This will then create an additional tab called Dimensions.

    

On the Dimensions tab you can then configure the Stocking Unit, Measurements, Purchase and Sell Dimensions for the specific item.

 

Stocking Unit

This is the dimension in which the item will be maintained. You may select a stocking unit between the 5 different units namely, m², m³, cm², cm³, mm² and mm³. It is imperative that the correct Stocking Unit is selected as this will affect your quantities upon transacting.

Enter Measurements

In this tab you specify the measurement in which you use to define the item. This measurement is then filtered down to Purchase and Sell dimensions and used in calculating available quantities. It is also essential that you specify the correct measure. There are 3 measurements to choose from m, cm, and mm.  

Enter Description

This is a unique description used to specify the dimension.

Purchase

In this section you specify the dimensions in which the item is acquired/purchased from suppliers. The length and width will be specified using the ‘Enter Measurements’ unit and the Area will be defined using the Stocking Unit specified.

For example, if you purchase laminating glass 20000mm X 5000mm. Specify the length as 20000mm and width as 5000mm. This will result in an Area of 100 m².

 

Sell

In this section you specify the dimensions in which the item is sold to customers. The length and width will be specified using the ‘Enter Measurements’ unit and the Area will be defined using the Stocking Unit as specified.

For example, if you sell laminating glass 2000mm X 500mm. Specify the length as 2000mm and width as 500mm. This will result in an Area of 1 m².

It is recommended that you use the same unit type for Purchasing and Selling.

 

Area

The area of an item is the number of unit squares that cover the surface of a closed figure. Area is measured in square units such as square centimetres, square feet, square inches, etc.

Depending on the stocking unit selected, this field will automatically default to Area for ² and to Volume for ³. 

Processing

Upon receiving and selling stock the default Purchase and Sell dimensions will be appear as specified on the item setup. The specified dimensions cannot be changed on the purchase screen These may be reset by going into the item and selecting option to ‘Reset Dimensions’.

Purchase:

 

Sell:

 

Inventory items may be the greatest assets for some businesses, and it is important that they are defined correctly. Making proper use of features such as dimensions may assist in ensuring that even the smallest item dimensions are accounted for.