It looks like there is some logic that you should be able to enter in either the unit cost or the total cost. Because if I leave the unit cost blank and just enter the total cost, Click save, when I re-edit the page it will populate the unit cost.
Its probably giving you a choice of which one to enterā¦ but if it causes a crash by entering both one of them should be disabledā¦ or fix it so it doesnāt crashā¦ maybe it just tells you something is wrong if your calculation is off.
The logic is more than likely to support both systems of inventoryā¦ unit system like yours or a per box system like mine.
So for you ā¦ you wouldnt have to figure up your unit priceā¦ you just put how much you bought and the total you paidā¦ and it would calculate that for you.
But for me I would enter my unit price to calculate total. That makes senseā¦ I never really thought very hard about it until now. Sorry we were going nowhere for a while. I was trying to understand the issue and I blabber mouthed before I got a good grasp of it.
My process would be I would have my invoices in front of me entering in the new inventory. So entering in the total cost would be more logical. If I know I purchase 100,000 grams of coffee say for $110.90. That is what I should be entering instead of 100,000 grams and $0.01109 on the unit price.
So for anyway you do it, it would be total units and total cost, the unit price should be calculated from the total invoice you are using to key in.
So the crash can easily be avoidedā¦ but it might be good to fix it some timeā¦ Some prevention method to make sure we enter the correct document so it prevents a crash.
Something you said made me wonder. What do you do in cases where you have 2 vendors for the same product with different unit counts.
I buy flour either in 50lb bags or 25lb bags. Depending on price and vendor. So on Monday I buy 2 50lb bags, On Thursday I buy 4 25lb bags from the other vendor. Does that mean I need to have two Inventory items and different recipes. Because if I change the inventory item. on Thursday wonāt that break the transaction I entered in on Monday? and all the past history.
So doing it in the single unit is the safer way to go?
My qty would have to changeā¦ instead of 1 unit at 50lbā¦ if i buy 25lb unit I would buy .5 qty I am not live yetā¦ I have not decided which way I want to go. To me it seemed easier and faster to calculate it by the box unit that i buy. I dont mind seeing how much % of one box is left in inventoryā¦ that gives me just as much knowledge for ordering that I need. For food business I cannot be 100% accurate all the time anywayā¦ so counting it by the 1 unit is not realistic for me it would slow me down.
My retail businessā¦ i want it exactā¦ so I would definitely use single unitsā¦
To better clarify, I tend to type faster than I should, when it comes to food I order by looking ahead based on how many cases I am going through not by how many units of product i haveā¦ I look at casesā¦ if I see I am needing x amount of cases thatās what I order. If i went by exact units in food business I would mess myself up bad. Because I always use a case or two buffer.
I factor about 15-20% with my food on inventory because its never going to be 100% exactā¦ not every hamburger going out will have 1 slice of tomatoā¦ not every tomato will give same slicesā¦ etc
So to me it fits better to view it by caseā¦ and what % of cases I have in stock.
I see what you are saying, but Iām still a little confused.
taking the Flour 50lb and 25lb bags.
I set up my inventory item to say
Flour
Base Unit -> 1lb
Transaction unit -> 50lb
Transaction unit multiplier -> 50
When I get to the Transaction screen I can select either 1lb or 50lb on units, but both will multiple the total cost by the multiplier. Shouldnāt it multiply by 1 if I select the base unit selection instead of the Transaction unit?
The multiplier doesnt changeā¦ if you select base unit then your qty has to change ā¦ multiplier stays set.
Transaction unit is not poundsā¦ its simply something like Bag
Ok, then why have the ability to select the Unit type, either Base or Transaction. That is what is confusing me.
If you select baseā¦ then you have to adjust qty for it to be accurateā¦ multiplier stays the same.
Can you give me an example? When or why would you have different units
You can use both setups ā¦ one item may use single multiplierssā¦ another may notā¦ you can mix and match it btw. My cupsā¦ etc I will use single unitsā¦ but tomato and onion etc I will use boxes
You can accurately track Cups to single unitā¦ you cannot track tomato to single unitā¦ If you try to track something like a tomato down to the base unit your going to be way worse off with inventory numbers vs if you tracked it by bag
Iām talking about the Inventory Items screen, why or when would you have different base units than transaction units.
And I really appreciate all your typing, Iām starting to understand all this.
So I use different units for items like Cups, Forks, Spoons, Lidsā¦ those I can accurately track down to single unit.
Hamburger meat, Tomatoās, Onion, Lettuce you cannot track to single unit you will fail if you try too. You should track that by bag, sack, etc.
So in that example I would use two different setups in my inventory items screen.
The flow would beā¦ i can look and see exactly how many cups i have and have usedā¦ but tomatoās I would look and see how many boxes I have and what % ive gone through.
So in short the best practice is to use both systems for an accurate inventory. Which is probably why its made flexible in that regard.
I understand what you are saying about tomatoes and onionsā¦
So if you entered in an inventory item for say onions. the base unit would be BAG and the transaction unit would be BAG or would it be something else? When would the BASE and TRANSACTION unit be different for 1 item?
If I look back at your COKE case, The base unit is OZ and the TRANSACTION unit would be BOX. But on the TRANSACTION DOCUMENT page if you enter in an inventory, and select coke, you have the option to either select OZ or BOX, but the total calculation is always by the multiplier.
My onions would look likeā¦ base unit = Slice or you can use weight if you weigh your products as they go out. Transaction unit = bagā¦ multiplier would be roughly how many slices per bagā¦ My recipes would factor slicesā¦
So my coke exampleā¦ Multiplier would always be 3840ā¦ If i choose OZ in the transaction document instead of boxā¦ I would enter 3840 qty I would not enter unit priceā¦ I would enter total pricce of 89.99 it would auto fill my unit price
If i chose Box I would enter Qty 1. Unit PRice 89.99 and leave Total for it to auto populate So it does not really matter how you enter your inventory itemsā¦ you can purchase them both ways regardlessā¦
When your inventory matters is how you use it in recipes. If you use slices of tomatoās in recipes then you should figure it by slice as base unitā¦ If you use 1 cup per drink recipe then 1 cup would be your base unit.
If you figure everything by 1s then some of your food items wont be accurateā¦ so there are times you should figure it by a bigger multiplier.
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Ok, Iām done! 
That works and I understand it now. I think when I was testing before and without knowing the autoupdate field stuff, it was confusing me. I hope our discussion helps somebody else in the future. Its done a world of good for me.
And for that I thank you!
/Andy
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My head has been spinning lately. I am attempting some pretty heavy duty stuff right now to see If I can make it work. Right now I am attempting to make an easier way to enter inventory through a PHP script, a HTML viwer widget, Command Buttons, Sql script to enter the itemsā¦
Its fairly complex but when I am doneā¦ I will be able to use command buttons to browse a item list that I update locally from a ENTITY SCREEN. Select items qty, priceā¦ press command buttonā¦ it will fire a sql script and all the inventory items into my inventory skipping the entire document process. Some items I will be scanning with a scanner to enter into inventory.
Iāve also reproduced and fixed the tab key issue. I think Iāve covered most cases and It will work fine on next update for both tab key users and mouse clickers