Configuring Inventory and Order ManagementLesson 7

Creating Item Classes for Stock Items

Back to D100: Inventory Order Management Basics

Lesson 7: Creating Item Classes for Stock Items

Part 1: Configuring Inventory and Order Management

In Acumatica ERP, item classes are used to group inventory items with similar properties. Item classes are also used to provide default settings for newly created items: When you are creating a new item, you select its item class, and the system fills in the settings specified for the class. In this lesson, you will create item classes for stock items.

Item Classes for Stock Items: General Information

In Acumatica ERP, you can create item classes on the Item Classes (IN201000) form to group stock items with similar properties and to provide default settings for new items. Users specify an item class when they create a new stock item on the Stock Items (IN202500) form, and the system fills in many values, thus saving users time and increasing the accuracy of the entered data. Some of these default values can be overridden for individual items, if needed. The item class is a required setting for a stock item.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will do the following:

  • Prepare the system for the creation of item classes
  • Create an item class for stock items

Applicable Scenarios

You create item classes in the following cases:

  • You are initially configuring inventory in Acumatica ERP.
  • Your organization is going to sell a new type of goods whose shared settings are different than those specified in existing item classes.

Information Provided by an Item Class

Each item class created on the Item Classes (IN201000) form can include the following information:

  • The default settings that the item class provides to items of the class, most of which you can change later by using the Stock Items (IN202500) form. For details, see Default Settings for Inventory Items.
  • The availability calculation rule that applies to the items of the item class, if the item class groups stock items. For details, see Availability Calculation Rules in an Item Class.
  • The method of demand calculation for the replenishment of items that are grouped by the item class. For more information, see Configuration of Replenishment: Replenishment Methods.
  • The configuration of custom attributes that items might have, such as color and size. For details, see Stock Items: Attributes. You can specify a default item class for stock items in the Default Stock Item Class box on the Inventory Preferences (IN101000) form. If you do, the system will copy the settings of the default item class to newly created stock item classes and stock items. You can override any of these settings.

Default Settings for Inventory Items

When you select an item class for a stock item you are creating, the system copies the following default settings
from the item class:
  • Item type
  • Valuation method
  • Tax category
  • Posting class
  • Lot/Serial class
  • Default warehouse
  • Units of measure
  • Attributes
  • Replenishment settings You can plan item classes so that they aggregate as much information as possible about groups of similar inventory items, including the posting classes. If you configure the item classes in this way, you can specify the minimum of information for individual inventory items during manual data entry or import—for example, only Inventory ID, Description, and Item Class—while the rest of the information will be automatically populated based on the selected item class.

Availability Calculation Rules in an Item Class

The system tracks the on-hand quantity of items in inventory and calculates the available quantities of items,
which can be used for inventory planning and replenishment. In the availability calculation rules, you can include
in the available quantity (or exclude from the available quantity) goods in various stages of the purchasing or sales
process. The availability calculation rule is defined at the item class level and cannot be changed for particular
items. For more information, see Availability Calculation Rules: General Information.

Item Classes for Stock Items: Implementation Activity

In this implementation activity, you will learn how to create an item class with basic settings for stock items.

Story

Suppose that you are an implementation manager. You are configuring inventory for the SweetLife Fruits & Jams
company, which produces and sells bottled juice. All juice items will have similar settings, so you will create an item
class to provide these settings to these stock items.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will create an item class for stock items on the Item Classes (IN201000) form.

System Preparation

Before you start creating an item class for stock items, you should do the following:
  1. Make sure that the EXEMPT tax category has been created on the Tax Categories (TX205500) form, or create this tax category, as described in Tax Zones and Categories: To Define a Tax-Exempt Category.
  2. Specify the appropriate inventory settings, as described in Configuration of Order Management: Implementation Activity.
  3. Create the JUICE posting class, as described in Posting Classes: Implementation Activity.
  4. Create units of measure and conversion rules, as described in Units of Measure: Implementation Activity.
  5. Create the JUICE availability calculation rule, as described in Availability Calculation Rules: Implementation Activity.

Step: Creating an Item Class To create an item class for juices, do the following:

  1. On the Item Classes (IN201000) form, add a new record.
  2. In the Summary area, specify the following settings:
  • Class ID: BOTJUICE
  • Description: Bottled Juice
  1. On the General tab, in the General Settings section, specify the following settings:
  • Stock Item: Selected
  • Item Type: Finished Good
  • Valuation Method: Average
  • Tax Category: EXEMPT
  • Posting Class: JUICE
  • Availability Calculation Rule: JUICE
  1. In the Units of Measure section of the tab, in the Base Unit box, select LITER.
  2. Make sure that the Divisible Unit check box (right of the Base Unit box) is selected.
  3. On the form toolbar, click Save.
    Now that you have created the item class for juice, you can create stock items to which the item class will be assigned, as described in Stock Items: Implementation Activity. For the full list of inventory entities that need to be created in a system before users can start processing documents related to inventory, see Configuration of Order Management: General Information.