Relationships between single items and outers.

If you sell products both as individual items and in larger packs (like cartons or boxes), you can set up a relationship between them. This lets the system track stock at multiple pack levels and automatically convert quantities when ordering or selling.

The system supports a hierarchy of packaging:

1. Outer — a carton or box containing multiple singles (most common)
2. Master — an even larger pack level above outer (e.g. a master case)
3. Layer — items per layer within a pack
4. Pallet — items per pallet
5. CBM — The number of items that can fit into 1 cubic metre of space

You set these up in the Stock List editor under the Quantity Breaks section.

1. Navigate to Stock → Stock List.
2. Find the single item you want to link and open it for editing (double-click or use the Edit button).
3. Click on thte Extra tab, look for the Quantity Breaks section.
4. In the Outer field, enter the stock code of the outer carton.
5. In the Outer Qty (or quantity) field next to it, enter how many single items fit inside one outer carton (e.g. 12).
6. Click Save.

The single item is now linked to its outer carton. You can also set up a Master level in the same way if you have an even larger pack (e.g. master cases containing multiple outers).

1. Navigate to Stock → Stock List.
2. Open the single item for editing.
3. In the Quantity Breaks section, find the Master fields.
4. Enter the stock code of the master pack in the Master Code field.
5. Enter how many singles are in one master pack in the Master Qty field.

The system gives master precedence over outer when calculating total stock on hand. If both are set, master is used first.

Each stock code holds its own quantity independently. The system calculates a total stock on hand by combining all linked levels:

1. If you have 20 outer cartons (each containing 12 singles), the total is calculated as: 20 × 12 = 240 individual items.
2. If you also have 5 loose singles sitting on the shelf, those are added separately.

You can enable a combined display that shows all three values at once by enabling the Calculate total stock on hand for linked inner and outer codes option in Stock Settings. When enabled, the stock list displays quantities in this format:

individuals [outers] / total

For example, 245[20] / 245 means you have 245 individual items total, which breaks down to 20 outers.

The system will automatically break outer cartons to fulfil the sale. For example:

1. You have 5 singles and 3 outers (12 per outer) in stock.
2. A customer orders 20 singles.
3. The system uses the 5 singles, then automatically breaks 2 outer cartons (24 singles) to cover the remaining 15 needed.
4. Your stock is reduced accordingly: 0 singles, 1 outer remaining (3 − 2 = 1).

This auto-breaking is logged with a comment like [Auto] Outer Break in the stock break log.

This is the most important thing to understand about outer/inner relationships:

1. Crediting singles does NOT reassemble outers. When you process a credit note for single items, the system simply adds those singles back to stock. It does not automatically reassemble outer cartons.
2. If you previously broke open a carton to sell individual items, and then those items are returned, the singles go back into stock but the outer carton remains broken.
3. This means you could end up with, say, 10 singles in stock but only 9 full outers recorded — the system does not try to put them back together.

Best practice: Credit items at the same pack level you sold them at. If you sold outers, credit outers. If you sold singles, credit singles. This keeps your stock records accurate and avoids confusion.

1. Stock adjustments are applied to the individual stock code only. Adjusting the quantity of a single item does not affect its linked outer or master codes, and vice versa.
2. If you do a physical stocktake and find discrepancies, make sure you are adjusting the correct level (outer vs single) to keep your records consistent.

Normally purchases orders are place of only the outer products. It is helpful to set the Stock Min on the single item to zero. This will stop the single item appearing in the stock reorder area.

Navigate to Log Tools → Stock break log. This shows a record of all times outer cartons or master packs were broken into singles, including:

1. Which stock code was broken
2. How many were broken
3. Whether it was done manually or automatically (e.g. [Auto] Outer Break)
4. The date and time of the break

No. The system prevents you from creating cyclic links (e.g. item A linked to item B, and item B linked back to item A). If you try to set up a relationship that would create a cycle, the system will reject it. This is checked during stock housekeeping routines as well.