A unit of measure is used within Sprout to define the size of an item on a sales or purchase order.  A UOM allows an item to be sold in different configurations, such as a case, an each from a case, or in increments larger than a case, such as a pallet.

Many times Units of Measure are used in EDI transactions.  To make EDI transactions easier it is recommended that you always map your new UOM to the X12 and UN Code when creating a new UOM.

Adding a Unit of Measure in Sprout

To create a new Unit of Measure, go to IC and then Unit of Measure.  You will be taken to this screen

Short Code: 2-10 characters, numbers or letters, ideally no special characters, that indicates the unit of measure.  This is what will print on documentation such as pick tickets, labels or invoices.

Field Descriptions and Uses

Description: A full description of the unit of measure

X12: X12 is a standardized unit of measure used for traditional EDI communication that follows the ANSI standard.  This is the language that different systems speak that is uniformed.  Many times you will use CS for Case, EA for Each or LB for pound.  If you need additional units of measure, for items such as per thousand, cubic foot, etc.  A master list is included here in the UOM EDI Section.

UN Code: UN Code is similar to X12, but a different language.  For both instances it is best to find and fill this data in every time a unit of measure is created. When this information is missing many EDI data flows will not work.

Once you have those filled in click Add.

There are extended attributes that you should edit when an item is created.  To find them, scroll down to your new item and click Properties.  You will be taken to this screen:

Here you can change any piece of data.  If you change the Short Code it will update every instance within Sprout where the short code is used.  There is no impact to orders, historical data, inventory, etc when you change the short code.

The numerator and denominator fields work together to describe mathematically what a unit of measure contains.  Often this is used in EDI transactions as well as within the Sprout production module. In the above example, the numerator of 6 and denominator of 1 means that the unit of measure, 6-1CT contains one unit of six individual finished good items.  Think of a six pack of Coke.  Each of the individual six Coke’s is a complete item and we always sell six at a time under this unit of measure.

The pack description is generally free text, such as CT, EA,  or LB but we recommend you use the standard EDI X12 nomenclature.