Skip to main content
All CollectionsPurchasing and Outsourcing
Purchasing items in different units of measure
Purchasing items in different units of measure

Navigate purchasing items in different units with Katana’s flexible conversion settings.

Dayvid Lorbiecke avatar
Written by Dayvid Lorbiecke
Updated over a week ago

Katana offers management for purchasing items in units different from the stock, providing an efficient solution for handling unit conversions. This guide explains how to set a purchase Unit of Measure (UoM) and a conversion rate from the purchase UoM to the stock UoM.

Each item (product / material) in Katana has a UoM defined on its item card. This is the unit of measure used for tracking the stock for this item (i.e. stock unit of measure).

If you add items to Product recipes, the quantity of the ingredient in the recipe is also defined by the stock UoM.

If you want to purchase items in a different unit of measure, define a purchase unit of measure for the item and enter the conversion rate from the purchase to the stock unit.

Tip: Katana automatically prefills the conversion rate for widely used units of measure.

In this case, the purchase UoM is used for the item on purchase orders (PO) and outsourced purchase orders (OPO).

In your Stock, if items on an open PO/OPO haven't been received, the Expected quantity is displayed in your stock unit of measure. When the items are received, they're added to your Stock in the stock UoM.

Example: You buy fabric in rolls but need to track your stock in square feet. You can define the conversion rate from a roll to square feet, use rolls as a Unit of Measure on Purchase Orders and track stock in square feet.

Setting a different unit of measure for purchasing

Navigate to the item card, choose the Supply details tab. Find the Default purchase unit of measure field (for products, you'll first have to checkmark Yes, I purchase in a different unit. Enter unit of measure and define its conversion rate in the next field (Unit conversion rate).

Note: For products, you need to have I buy this product enabled on the product card for the Supply details tab to show.

The Unit conversion rate field is the ratio for converting items from the purchase UoM to your stock UoM. When items are added to a PO/OPO in the purchase UoM, your stock levels (both In stock and Expected quantities) are displayed in the stock UoM based on this conversion rate.

On the item card, the default purchase prices for variants will be displayed. If the option to purchase in a different UoM is switched ON, you can define the default purchase price for the purchase UoM, and Katana will display the price per stock UoM automatically, using the defined conversion rate.

Converted default purchase price


Your feedback is invaluable. Let us know your thoughts on this article or anything in Katana you'd like to see improved: [email protected]


Did this answer your question?