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Unit of Measure Troubleshooting and Fixing Guide

This help topic explains hot to find common problems with Unit of Measure (or UOM). It also includes information on how to fix your UOM problems and links to more detailed help pages.

Here is a Common Unit of Measure Scenario

I am working in Total Office Manager Enterprise Edition. We are using the Unit of Measure feature with Inventory Parts. Often time, the Quantity on hand numbers (how many items we have in stock) numbers are incorrect. It seems like the Unit of Measure feature is the cause if this. How can we troubleshoot incorrect item quantities to see if the Unit of Measure feature is the cause?

Check the Unit of Measure (UOM) Item Settings

Check the Unit of Measure (UOM) item from the Unit of Measure list. Click Company > Unit of Measure List > double click to open the UOM. Is the multiplier set correctly?

Unit of Measure Setup Example: If you buy one container of refrigerant that contains twenty-five (25) pounds and you wish to sell that refrigerant one pound at a time (the Base Unit), make sure the multiplier field has a value of 25. That means when you buy (create a Bill or Item Receipt) a quantity of 1.0, you will have 25.0 in stock. When you sell (create an invoice) 1.0, you will have 24.0 in stock.

Check the Invoice Items That Uses the Unit of Measure Item

Open the invoice item that uses the Unit of Measure. Check the Unit of Measure value (UOM). Is the value set correctly?

Check the History of That Item

Go to the item’s “Item History” screen (form) and look at the “Avg. Cost History” tab. You should be able to see where the average cost began being incorrect.

Examine Sales Activity

  1. From the same invoice item, click Menu > History.
  2. Look at the Sales tab. Examine the Qty column. Do the quantities sold make sense? You will likely see quantities of 1, 1.5, 3, 7, and so forth. The quantity will reflect the number of pounds sold, if you are following our 25 pound per contained example.

Examine Purchasing and Item Adjustments Activity

Look at Checks, Bills, Item Receipts, Other, and Adj to see if any of the quantities used do not make sense for that item. This is usually where the problem is detected. It is common to enter a quantity of 25 when the purchaser had intended to buy 1.0 containers. The same thing is true for item adjustments.

Example: We noticed a use had entered a quantity of 500 on a bill when they purchased one box of staples. They should have entered a quantity of 1. The box had 500 staples. They knew better but they were in a hurry and no one noticed.

Examine Item History for Further Clues

In the same Item History form, look at the Avg. Cost History. The tab shows you the average cost and the quantity on hand at the end of each month. You are looking for months where the average cost or quantity on hand seems abnormal. If it does, investigate transactions and adjustments leading up to that month.

When Did You Begin Using the Unit of Measure Feature?

If you have ever purchased items before you began using the Unit of Measure feature and then you began using UOM with that item, you may need to perform an item adjustment to get the quantities on hand fixed.

Some users have noticed problems with certain UOM items were created when they turned the Unit of Measure preference on, off, and back on again. This feature could be turned off, users could buy and or sell that item without the Unit of Measure in affect, and then turn Unit of Measure on again. The History form will usually offer clues to that activity.

Examine the Audit Trail

You can examine the Audit Trail to see when Unit of Measure was turned on or off. Check the Details column. If the UOM is turned on and off, and there is activity with invoice items that had UOM set, that activity will likely cause problems.

Check the Inventory Sales Activity Report

  1. From the main menu, click Reports > Company > Items > Inventory Sales Activity Report.
  2. Use the report preferences to narrow the report by Inventory Part types and other settings as needed.
  3. Click the Preview button.
  4. Pay most attention to the On Hand and Total Sold column. You are looking for numbers that do not make sense for the Unit of Measure.

How to Fix Unit of Measure Problems

Once you have fixed any transactions that contained in correct values (usually the quantity ordered and or sold), you will need to simply make an Item Adjustment. You don’t have to fix the transactions if you don’t wish to. The important step is to make the item quantity adjustment.

If you cannot locate a faulty transaction, you may go ahead and make the item quantity adjustment. Monitor the item to make sure the problem doe not repeat itself.

Considering Disabling the Unit of Measure Feature?

Please wait. Before doing that, it’s import to understand what really happens when UOM is disabled, and the possible ramifications of turning-off the feature:

  1. When UOM is disabled Total Office Manager simply hides UOM throughout the software.
  2. All item quantities, prices and costs that had been based upon UOM now will be shown in terms of their base (or original) units. No mathematical adjustments will be made. The quantity on hand will not change.
  3. All previously configured related units of measure for an item in a transaction now will display the quantity, price and cost of that item in their base (or original) units.
  4. Disabling UOM significantly can alter the quantity on hand, cost and price information for your items, in many cases resulting in inaccuracies.
  5. Disabling UOM should really only be done when the UOM feature actually has not been used even though it has been enabled.

Help Pages Related to Unit of Measure

How to Setup Unit of Measure

Inventory Item Adjustment (Non-Serialized)