Track UoM in Inventory

ERPNext
1

I’m trying to understand how ERPNext handles inventory tracking with multiple Units of Measure (UoM), especially when using the UoM table in the Item Doctype.

From what I see, ERPNext always converts stock to the main UoM defined in the Item using the conversion rates in the UoM table. This works well for sales documents like Sales Orders, where I can select different UoMs and prices are handled correctly and I can see single unit prices. However, for stock management, I’d like to track inventory in different UoMs separately — for example, pallets with different quantities of pieces — rather than everything being converted to the base UoM (like pieces).

Why isn’t there a checkbox or setting in the UoM child table to choose whether UoMs should be tracked individually or merged into the base UoM?

Let me give an example:
If I define an item called “Brown Can Pallet 2000pcs” with a stock UoM of “Pallet 2000pcs”, I can only enter sales prices per pallet in the Sales Documents. I tried adding a second UoM like “pcs” with a conversion of 1/2000, but ERPNext doesn’t accept such a small value in the UoM table.

On the other hand, if I define an item called “Single Brown Can” with a base UoM of “pcs”, and then add a second UoM “Pallet 2000pcs”, I can sell 2 pallets and ERPNext correctly shows the price per piece using the stock_uom_rate field — which is what I want. But in this case, inventory is still tracked in pieces, and I lose track of how many full pallets I have in stock.

So here’s my question:
Is it possible to track inventory in different UoMs (like different pallet sizes) separately without creating separate items for each? And if not, could I at least create a custom report that shows stock by UoM as entered in the Stock Entry, instead of just converting everything to the base UoM?

I want to avoid creating separate items because then the pricing logic in sales documents becomes less convenient as i said because its very important for me to define the single unit price in sales docs. (Maybe there is a simple solution to show piece price in sales documents when using the full pallet UoM that I don’t know)

I hope someone can help provide suggestions.

2

To define the small value conversion, you need to increase the float precision in system setting as follows:

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For this you can check the stock balance report in alternative unit also:

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Regards,

Divyesh M.

3

Thanks for the quick response!

Unfortunately, using float precision 9 isn’t accurate enough for my use case — for example, 1/2112 = 0.00047348484, and I don’t like displaying such long decimal numbers.

My Current Solution:

  • I decided to create separate Items for each packaging type and track their quantities in pieces (pcs).
  • I created an item called “Brown Can Pallet 2112pcs”.
    • The stock UoM is set to pcs, so technically this item represents a single can, not the whole pallet.
    • I added a second UoM named “Pallet 2112pcs” with a conversion factor of 2112.
    • This lets me set the price per piece while still tracking full pallets in reports like the Stock Balance Report.
  • While it’s a bit confusing that the item name refers to a pallet but the stock UoM is pcs, I think this is the most practical solution.

The Issue with Multiple UoMs:

  • The problem arises when I introduce another pallet type.
  • For example, I add another item called “Brown Can Pallet 1999pcs”.
    • Stock UoM is pcs.
    • I add a second UoM “Pallet 1999pcs” with a conversion factor of 1999.
  • The issue is that ERPNext reports can only show one alternate UoM per item, which limits visibility when working with multiple pallet formats.

Possible Solution:

  • This limitation could be addressed with a custom report that shows stock grouped by the respective UoM used during the stock entry.

Let me know what you think or if someone has a better approach.