Plan Your Item and Inventory Setup

Plan Your Item and Inventory Setup
Overview
This guide will help you choose the correct item model and setup order before creating products, services, raw materials, variants, or manufactured items.
The selected model determines which nested forms, validations, stock movements, postings, and reports apply.
Who can do this
You need access to No write permission for planning. Creating records requires the needed Item and supporting-master permissions.
Before you start
Define whether each record is a service/non-stock item, stocked item, parent item, variant, raw material, bundled item, or manufactured item.
Before saving, check that the correct company is open and that you have permission to complete this task.
Where to find it
Back Office → Items & Advanced Inventory.
Plan Your Item and Inventory Setup
Step 1: Create companies, locations, fiscal year, and required accounting defaults
Step 2: Create units of measurement and any needed conversions
Step 3: Create categories, brands, taxes, price groups, and accounts
Step 4: Decide barcode, SKU, UPC, description, and digital-invoicing identifiers
Step 5: Decide stock tracking, default location, reorder level, batches, serials, and
Decide stock tracking, default location, reorder level, batches, serials, and overselling policy.
Step 6: Decide base/minimum selling price, discount, tax, and commission
Step 7: For variants, create the non-stock parent and dimensions before derived
For variants, create the non-stock parent and dimensions before derived items.
Step 8: For manufacturing/bundles, create components before the BOM
Step 9: Create the item, then add opening stock only after all
Create the item, then add opening stock only after all classifications/accounts are correct.
Check your work
For every planned item, document its type, unit, category, location, pricing, tax, accounting, variant/BOM relationship, and opening-stock source.
Take a moment to check your work before closing the window. This small check can save time later.
If something goes wrong
Do not use stock adjustments to compensate for a poorly chosen item model.
Serialization cannot be assumed reversible after item creation.
Related guides
Create a Unit of Measurement
Create an Item Category
Create a Basic Service or Non-Stock Item
Create a Stocked Item
What to do next
Create a Unit of Measurement.