Kinds and services

Every product has a kind, which decides what Customry One does with it: whether it holds stock, can be bought, and is picked.

Kind	Holds stock	Bought	Picked	Goes to the accounts as
Stock item	Yes	Yes	Yes	A stock item
Assembly	Yes	No (it’s made)	Yes	A stock item
Service	No	Yes, if you buy it in	No	A service item
Kit	No	No	Its components are	A service item
Configured	No	No	Its parts are	As set up in the configurator

A service is something you sell that isn’t goods from stock: installation, carriage, labour, a site survey. It has a code, a description, prices and a nominal code like any product, and suppliers if you buy it in.

An assembly is a stock item you make from a bill of materials: see Assemblies and bills of materials. A kit is several products sold as one priced line: see Kits. Configured products are added through the configurator. See Configurable products.

Tip

If you only need something once, a non-stock line on the sale is still the quickest way. Make it a service product when you sell it often or want its prices and nominal code kept.

Choose a product’s kind

Open the product and choose Kind next to Type on its Details tab, then select Save. A new product starts as a stock item, unless its type has a default kind (see below).

The tabs follow the kind. A service has no Stock tab, and its stock panel says it holds no stock. Product suppliers only shows for products that can be bought, Components only for kits, and Bill of materials only for assemblies. A product’s Stock tab (a service’s Details tab) shows Where used: the kits and assemblies that use it.

When the kind can’t change

Changing a kind changes how the product behaves on orders that are already under way, so it’s refused while the product:

• has stock in any location, including below zero (clear it first with a stock adjustment),
• is allocated on open orders,
• is on an open enquiry, quote or order,
• is on a draft, placed or part-received purchase order.

A stock item and an assembly are the exception: one can become the other with stock, allocations and open orders, as both hold stock and are sold and picked the same way. A product on an open purchase order or requisition can’t become an assembly, though, as assemblies aren’t bought. Its suppliers are kept but not used while it’s an assembly, and count again if it goes back to being a stock item.

It’s also refused while the product:

• is used by a configurable product as a part that can’t be the new kind (a picked part can’t become a service, for example),
• is going back to stock on a draft credit note, on its own or as part of a kit,
• is a kit with components or an assembly with a bill of materials (remove them first),
• is a component of a kit and would become a kit, or is in a bill of materials and would become a kit or configured product (the message names the assemblies).

The message says which. A configured product never changes kind.

Default kinds for product types

A product type can carry a default kind, so new products of that type start with the right one. For example, a type called Labour could default to Service.

1. Go to Administration → Product Types.
2. Open the type and choose its Default kind.
3. Select Save.

When you create a product and choose that type, Kind is filled in for you. You can still change it. Changing a type’s default kind doesn’t change products you’ve already made.

Selling a service

Add a service to a sale like any product: from the product list or by typing its code. It’s priced from special prices and price lists in the usual way.

• It’s never allocated or reserved, and shows no stock badge. In the product list, Available says Service.
• With goods on the order, the service goes on the delivery with them as a line that isn’t picked, and it’s invoiced with the goods once they’re despatched.
• On an order of services only, there’s nothing to deliver: it doesn’t appear in To despatch, and it can be invoiced straight away. The order completes once it’s invoiced. If goods are added after a service was invoiced in full, that service stays settled; only the goods go on a delivery.

See Quotes and orders, To despatch and To invoice.

Buying a service

A service can go on a purchase order, for example subcontracted installation. When it’s booked in, it’s marked as received but doesn’t go into stock. Services never appear on the reorder worksheet.

On an order, Buy for this order lists a service only if it’s bought in (it has a supplier), with what’s ordered less what’s already being bought for it. Services you do yourselves never show as short.

In the configurator

A configurable product’s parts can be stock items or services: picked and made parts need a stock item, and a service line takes a service or a stock item. See Which products a component can use.

In the accounts

When invoices go to Sage, a service line goes as a service item: to its own nominal code, else its category’s (or the nearest parent category’s), else the finance settings’ nominal code for services, non-stock and manual lines. See Sage 50 export.