Products, units and variations in Skyline Nexus

What you will set up and why

Before anything can be bought or sold in Skyline Nexus ERP, a product needs a unit of measure, a cost and a selling price, and if it comes in more than one size or colour, it needs variations. This guide covers adding a product, defining units and sub-units, building variations, grouping selling prices, and recording an opening stock quantity, in that order, because each step depends on the one before it.

The setup matters beyond the product screen: the unit and cost recorded here decide what a later sale posts to cost of goods sold, and the variation values decide which stock-keeping unit a barcode scan or a POS search finds. A product set up carelessly is usually discovered at the till, not on the product form.

Before you start

You need the product creation permission to add products, units, variations and selling price groups, and the opening-stock permission if you also want to enter starting quantities while creating a product. Decide your units first: a unit cannot be chosen on a product until it exists, and a sub-unit must be linked to its base unit before it appears as a Related Sub Unit option.

If you sell the same item in a container and loose, for example a box of twelve and a single piece, set up that conversion as a unit and sub-unit before you create the product, so the product form can offer it straight away.

• Permission: product creation, to add products, units, variations and selling price groups
• Permission: opening stock, to enter a starting quantity per location while adding a product
• Decide your units and any sub-unit conversions first
• Have your cost price and selling price ready for at least the first location

Step 1: add units, and link a sub-unit

Go to Products, Units, Add Unit. The Single Unit tab asks for a Name such as Box, a Short name such as bx, and Allow decimal. Ticking Link to existing unit reveals a conversion row, 1 [this unit] equals [how many] [another unit], which is how a sub-unit relationship is defined: for example, 1 Box equals 12 Piece, with Piece already existing as its own unit. The Create Linked Pair tab instead creates two related units in one step, useful for a pair such as Kilogram and Gram with the conversion amount between them.

Once Piece is linked as a sub-unit of Box, a product whose Unit is Box can list Piece under Related Sub Units, which is what lets a cashier ring up three loose pieces against a product that is normally sold by the box.

Step 2: add the product

Go to Products, Add Product. The core fields are Product Name, an optional SKU that is auto-generated if left blank, Barcode Type, Unit, Related Sub Units, and an optional Second unit for entering quantity in a secondary unit during a purchase or a sale. Brand, Category and Sub category classify the product for reporting and, where set, for the per-category GL accounts covered in our guide on automatic journal entries; Alert quantity and Warranty are optional.

Product Type is Single, Variable or Combo; a Single product also asks for its purchase price and selling price directly on this form, Applicable Tax and Selling Price Tax Type decide whether those prices already include tax, and Enable SR No. or Not for selling cover serial-numbered items and items kept for reference only. If your opening-stock permission is active, an Opening Stock section appears per location, using the purchase price entered above; leave a location blank if it starts with none. Product Description, Product Image and Product Brochure are optional but worth filling in if the product ever appears on a customer-facing catalogue or price list, since they carry through to those documents once entered.

• Product Name, SKU (optional), Barcode Type, Unit, Related Sub Units, Second unit
• Brand, Category, Sub category, Alert quantity, Warranty
• Product Type: Single, Variable or Combo
• Applicable Tax, Selling Price Tax Type, Enable SR No., Not for selling
• Opening Stock per location, using the purchase price entered above

Step 3: add variations for a Variable product

A product that comes in more than one size or colour is Variable, not several separate Single products. Before adding it, go to Products, Variations, Add Variation, and give the template a Variation Name such as Color or Size, then list its Variation Values, such as Red and Blue, adding as many as needed with the plus button.

On the product form, choosing Product Type Variable lets you pick that template and the specific values it applies to; each value gets its own row with a SKU, its own Default Purchase Price and Default Selling Price shown both excluding and including tax, a Profit % that recalculates the selling price, and an image, so Red and Blue can carry different costs and prices under one product.

Step 4: group and set selling prices

A Selling Price Group is a named price list, such as Wholesale or Staff, created from Products, Selling Price Group with just a Name and a Description. Creating the group does not set any prices; a price for a given product in that group is set afterwards, either on the product's own edit screen, where an Update & add selling price group prices button appears once at least one group exists, or in bulk from Products, Update Price across many products at once.

For example, a product with a default selling price of EUR 10.00 might carry a Wholesale group price of EUR 8.00, a 20 percent discount that a wholesale customer receives automatically once their contact record is set to that price group, without touching the product's default price used at the counter. Products, Update Price is the faster route once several products need a group price at once: it lists products with a box per selling price group so a manager can key in or adjust many prices in one pass instead of opening each product individually.

Step 5: choose a barcode type and print labels

Barcode Type on the Add Product form offers Code 128, the default, Code 39, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E. Code 128 suits an internally generated SKU because it can encode letters and numbers of almost any length; EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E are the fixed-length numeric formats used on goods bought in for resale that already carry a manufacturer barcode, so choosing the matching type instead of re-encoding the SKU lets that existing barcode be reused.

Once a product is saved, Products, Print Labels prints shelf or box labels for one or more chosen products at their assigned SKU and barcode type, and Products, Direct Label Print offers the same output for a barcode typed or scanned in directly, without opening a product record first, which is convenient at a receiving desk.

Step 6: bring in products you already have

For an existing catalogue, Products, Import Products accepts a spreadsheet built on the downloadable template, and Products, Import Opening Stock loads starting quantities separately once the products exist. Import products first and opening stock second; the opening-stock file matches rows to products that must already be in the system, so importing it first leaves it with nothing to attach a quantity to. Run a small batch first, check the results on a handful of products, then import the rest; our guide on migrating to Skyline Nexus ERP covers sequencing a full cut-over alongside contacts and the chart of accounts.

What a sale posts once a product is set up

Product setup itself does not post to the ledger; it decides what a later sale posts. A Belgian hardware branch sets up Wood screws with Unit Box, a Related Sub Unit of Piece at 1 Box equals 100 Piece, a default purchase price of EUR 8.00 per box and a default selling price of EUR 12.00 per box, 21 percent VAT excluded from both prices.

A customer buys 2 boxes and 30 loose pieces. The sale line records 2.3 boxes at EUR 12.00, EUR 27.60 before tax, plus 21 percent VAT of EUR 5.80. Cost of goods sold is taken from the same 2.3 boxes at the recorded purchase cost, 2.3 times EUR 8.00, EUR 18.40.

• Sale: Dr Accounts Receivable or cash-sales clearing 33.40 / Cr Revenue 27.60 / Cr VAT Output 5.80
• Cost of the stock sold: Dr Cost of Goods Sold 18.40 / Cr Inventory 18.40
• The 30 loose pieces only convert cleanly to 0.3 of a box because the sub-unit conversion was set up correctly in Step 1

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Most product-setup problems surface the first time the item is sold or counted, and all of them trace back to one of the steps above.

• Creating a product as Single when it actually comes in sizes or colours: each size ends up as a separate, unrelated product; delete the duplicates and rebuild it as Variable with a variation template instead
• Setting a sub-unit's conversion the wrong way round, for example 1 Piece equals 12 Box: every converted quantity comes out 144 times too large or too small; re-check the 1 [unit] equals [how many] [unit] row
• Entering the selling price including tax while Selling Price Tax Type says excluding, or the reverse: the printed and reported tax stop matching; confirm which setting the price already assumes
• Creating a Selling Price Group and expecting prices to appear automatically: the group only holds a name until you add prices from the product edit screen or Update Price
• Leaving Alert quantity at zero for a fast-moving item: nothing warns you before it runs out; set a realistic reorder point per product
• Importing opening stock before the matching products exist: the import has nothing to attach quantities to; import products first, then opening stock

Related reports

Once products are set up, the Inventory Control Centre's Location Wise Stock Report and Stock Valuation Report show quantity and value per location, and Trending Products and Product Sale Report show what is actually selling. Our guides on stock transfers and adjustments and on taxes and VAT rates setup cover what happens to this stock and its tax once trading starts.