Working with unit types

A unit is a measure with which you express the quantity of an item.
By using the unit types correctly, you can accurately determine what your stock is and how you purchase or sell something.

Creating & managing unit types

You create the unit types via settings > general > others > unit types.

You can add alternative names (synonyms) to these unit types (e.g. pc., piece, stuk).

This is particularly useful when importing bills of quantities: if the bill of quantities says 'PC' and Robaws says 'piece', Robaws sees this as a different unit. Add 'PC' as an alternative name to the unit 'piece', so that Robaws knows these are actually synonyms. Also useful for a bill of quantities in another language.

Units in code via Peppol

Via Peppol, a unit can be passed on in coded form. You have to add this code name as an alternative name manually and once only, so that Robaws 'translates' the code name on the invoice into your unit.
Below is an overview of the most common codes in Peppol. You can find a full list of codes here.

These codes are determined by Peppol according to guidelines that you can read here.

Example: an invoice line with unit H87. H87 is the code name for piece. If you want the invoice to show 'piece' and not 'H87', you have to take the following steps once:

• go to settings > general > others > unit types
• open the correct unit (e.g. piece)
• add the code name as an 'alternative name'
• do not forget to activate the settings

Kinds of unit

In Robaws we have 3 kinds of unit:

1. Stock unit: units for the stock of an item
2. Purchase unit: units for the purchase from the supplier
3. Alternative sales unit: units for the sale of an item, if this differs from the stock unit

Example:
You are a painter and you order your paint from the supplier Boss Paints.
You keep the stock of your paint per piece (tin). When you place a supply order with the supplier, they always deliver per box of 6 pieces. To the customer you will always calculate in litres.

Stock unit

The stock unit is the unit you use to determine the stock of a product. You manage your stock on the basis of this unit.
You can enter the stock unit on the item file in the field 'unit'.
This is also your sales unit straight away. So this unit will always appear on the quotation, invoice and so on. You can deviate from it via an alternative sales unit.

Purchase unit

On an item file you can add several suppliers. Every supplier has its own purchase unit.
To register this purchase unit, you use the column 'unit' with the item supplier.
This unit is also used to create supply orders for this supplier.

If you want the cost price of your item to be converted from the purchase unit to the sales unit, you use the column 'quantity in package'.
By using this column, you convert the supplier's cost price for the purchase unit into the stock unit of the item file.

Example:
You buy the paint from the supplier and they sell it per pallet. In this case the purchase unit is 'pallet'. There are 6 pieces on a pallet.
I want to convert the cost price of this pallet into the cost price for my stock unit on my item. In that case I enter 6 as the quantity in package.

Alternative sales unit

In Robaws it is also possible to work with alternative sales units.
By using an alternative unit, you can deviate from the stock unit in the sales documents.
Robaws then converts the cost price in line with the chosen sales unit. Robaws does NOT convert the quantity on the quotation.

Example:
You keep the paint in the warehouse in 'pieces'. In that case the stock unit is 'piece'.
You in turn pass the paint on to the customer per litre. In that case the alternative sales unit is 'litre'.

If you enter this paint, for example in a quotation, it will be charged per piece by default (because this is the standard sales unit), at the cost price stated on the item file.
You can choose to charge this paint per litre on the quotation:

• change the unit to litre
• enter yourself how many litres (Robaws does not make this conversion)
• the cost price is automatically shown correctly per litre (in this example: the cost price of a tin of paint divided by 5)

Updated on: 04/09/2026