Configuring Journals Configuring the Main Company

79 • Name : Plumbing Component Suppliers , • Customer checkbox : unchecked , • Supplier checkbox : checked , • Contact Name : Jean Poolley , • Address Type : Default , • add Suppliers to the Partner Categories field by selecting it from the Search List, • then save the partner by clicking the Save button. Figure New Partner Form shows the result. Figure 8.10: New Partner Form Note: Contact Types If you have recorded several contacts for the same partner you can specify which contact is used for various documents by specifying the Address Type. For example the delivery address can differ from the invoice address for a partner. If the Address Types are correctly assigned, then Open ERP can automatically select the appropriate address during the creation of the document – an invoice is addressed to the contact that has been assigned the Address Type of Invoice, otherwise to the Default address. For the second partner, proceed just as you did for the first, with the following data: • Name : Smith and Offspring, • Customer checkbox : checked, 80 • Supplier checkbox : unchecked, • Contact Name : Stephen Smith, • Address Type : Default. Then add Customers in the Categories field. Save the form. To check your work you can go to the menu Sales → Configuration → Address Book → Partner Categories and click on each category in turn to see the companies in the category. Note: Multiple Partner Categories If this partner was also a supplier then you would add Suppliers to the categories as well, but there is no need to do so in this example. You can assign a partner to multiple categories at all levels of the hierarchy.

8.5.5 Creating products and their categories

Unlike partner categories and their assigned partners, product categories do have an effect on the products assigned to them – and a product may belong to only one category. Under the main menu link Warehouse or Sale, select the menu Configuration → Products → Products Categories and click New to get an empty form for defining a product category. Enter Radiators in the Name field. You will see that other fields, specifically those in the Accounting Properties section, have been automatically filled in with values of accounts and journals. These are the values that will affect products – equivalent fields in a product will take on these values if they, too, are blank when their form is saved. Click Save. Note: Properties fields Properties have a rather unusual behavior. They are defined by parameters in the menus in Administration → Configuration → Parameters → Configuration Parameters, and they update fields only when a form is saved, and only when the fields are empty at the time the form is saved. You can manually override any of these properties as you need. Properties fields are used all over the Open ERP system and particularly extensively in a multi- company envi- ronment. There, property fields in a partner form can be populated with different values depending on the user’s company. For example the payment conditions for a partner could differ depending on the company from which it is ad- dressed. Note: UOM UOM is an abbreviation for Unit of Measure. Open ERP manages multiple units of measure for each product: you can buy in tons and sell in kgs, for example. The conversion between each category is made automatically so long as you have set up the conversion rate in the product form first. Tip: Managing double units of measure The whole management of stock can be carried out with double units of measure UOM and UOS – for Unit of Sale. For example an agro-food company can stock and sell ham by piece but buy and value it by weight. There is no direct relationship between these two units so a weighing operation has to be done. This functionality is crucial in the agro-food industry, and can be equally important in fabrication, chemicals and many other industries. Now create a new product through the Warehouse or Sale menu: 1. Go to Product → Products and click New. 2. Create a product – type Titanium Alloy Radiator in the Name field. 3. Click the Search icon to the right of the Category field to select the Radiators category. 4. The Product Type field should be assigned as Stockable Product. The fields Procurement Method, Supply method , Default Unit Of Measure, and Purchase Unit Of Measure should also stay at their default values.