UOM Change and Product Deletion

[Moin Raza]

I would like to ask how we can change the Unit of Measure (UOM) from the front end. Also, I am facing an issue when trying to delete a product from the front end. The system shows an error related to "Dependent Records", which prevents the deletion.

This process should be made easier and more user-friendly. Ideally, we should be able to directly edit or delete products and UOMs from the front end without going through complex steps.

[Moin Raza]

anyone can answer this please

[Marco Longo]

you can't chenge the uom in a product that has movement or other transaction.

the uom is the product window 

what do you mean with "complex steps" ?

Marco Longo

iDempiere Consulting

https://idempiere.consulting

[Martin Schönbeck]

Hi,

deleting a product that has reference isn't a good idea. Therefore it's prohibited. You can set the product to inactive. This way the references are kept and if you have a look on an old invoice (e.g.) you will see the product, but with ~ before the name. If it could be deleted you would get an error because the invoice  suddenly would point into darkness.

Regards

Martin

[Moin Raza]

Interestingly, you mentioned that once a movement or transaction has occurred, the UOM cannot be changed. But if that's the case, then by the same logic, it should also not be possible to change the Product Category, Location, or other fields after transactions—yet those can still be updated. This seems inconsistent and needs to be reconsidered  

[Carlos Antonio Ruiz Gomez]

Suppose you have a product with UOM "Each (Unit)" and you have an inventory of 10.

If you change the UOM to "6-Pack" then your inventory will be totally wrong.

But if you change the product category, it doesn't affect the inventory.

Regards,

Carlos Ruiz

[Gaurav dilip sontakke]

HI, 

But product category drives the accounting postings & costing method or costing level if overwritten at product category level. 

So if we change the product category once there are transactions . It ll cause issue with reconciliation 

Regards

Gaurav

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[Carlos Antonio Ruiz Gomez]

Right Gaurav, that sounds possible too.

In theory documents could be reposted (not sure about costing, I think with recent improvements is possible).

But maybe that validation is too fine, the same could be said if somebody changes the costing on product category, or if somebody changes a default account.

In such case I would expect the accountants to know what they're doing and consider the necessary reposting.

Regards,

Carlos Ruiz

[Solutions Ocean.]

Workaround: if you still want to change the UOM on the product and don't care about the stock quantity, i suggest to create new product with new UOM and merge old product into new product!

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[Yahya Kammukutty]

This is a common scenario, that occur frequently for our customers (i.e. tenant users) too.
Users leaves the UoM as default (Each) for a product that could ideally use KG as UoM. They realize this mistake only later when they have to enter fractions, e.g. 0.5 KG.  Even worse, if there are multi-uom, the base qty gets rounded without even getting noticed. We suggest the solutions - rather workarounds - to them , Create new product, adjust inventory, then make old one inactive, communicate to all users to use the new product etc. The process becomes more tedious if there are BoM. Obviously, customers are NOT satisfied with the workaround.

At least in these scenarios, we could safely change UoM to KG, as 1 Each = 1 KG, and stock/product transactions are unaffected. Even if the quantities are different, we may add OLD UoM as alternate UoM and do necessary adjustments.

Currently we are left with replacing the UoM (in product, order lines & invoice lines) by backend DB update. I suggest we add a process to do the core itself to address this.

thank you,

Yahya.
Infobreez Technologies

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-- 
Yahya Kammukuttty
Infobreez Technologies
Spunic, Company Mukku, NIT Calicut,
Kozhikode - 673601
Ph: +91-7034933444

[Carlos Antonio Ruiz Gomez]

Thanks Yahya for your insights.

I agree a process to do the change would be a good addition to core.

When thinking about such process, there are more considerations to take into account.

This must be allowed probably just for one to one conversions (like Each to KG).

Must KG to Each conversion be allowed?  What about decimals in the inventory, would that be affected?

What about UOM conversions in open documents?

And what must the process do with all the old documents that have the old UOM?  (probably we can just leave it as that)

Alternatively we can simply create the process that change the UOM and explain the user (in the Help for example) all the implications that needs to take care.

Regards,

Carlos Ruiz

-- 
Yahya Kammukuttty
Infobreez Technologies
Spunic, Company Mukku, NIT Calicut,
Kozhikode - 673601
Ph: +91-7034933444

[Heng Sin Low]

Should investigate too how other systems are handling such scenarios.

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[Jesús Castillo]

Hi! Carlo is right.

I think the main problem is that the 'm_transaction' and 'm_storageonhand' tables don't have a measurement unit. I am currently working on a WMS module and am experiencing issues with shipments because I need to ensure full packs, not fractions of a pack.

I propose adding columns to those tables for 'unit' and 'quantity in that unit.

 

Atte: Jesus Castillo.

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[Moin Raza]

You’ve discussed everything well, but there should be a proper solution for changing the UOM. Simply marking the product as inactive or suggesting other workarounds is not ideal.
Changing the UOM is a basic ERP functionality, and many other systems handle it smoothly so why not here?

If a user is changing the UOM, they will obviously be informed that the UOM has been updated.
Please take this issue seriously, as it's a core and essential feature in any ERP system.

[Carlos Antonio Ruiz Gomez]

Hi, as it seems you are in a hurry to solve this, please allow me to explain how this usually works in an open source project:

* if you hired a company for your implementation, then you can ask them to solve it (depending on your contract conditions of course)

* if you're a developer please feel free to contribute a process to manage that.

* if you're not developer, you can consider also sponsoring one of the community developers to do it.

NOTE ASIDE: it seems you didn't read the link that I sent in the other thread, it's seriously a recommended reading:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Regards,

Carlos Ruiz

[Alejandro Jesus Guerra]

If I have 100 units but they are actually kg, I would do a total discharge of the 100, and then change from units to kg and make an inventory adjustment.

Alejandro Guerra

Celular: (+58) 412-3041304

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[Orlando Curieles]

Greetings, my 5 cents, I think it's crazy to try to update previous records of units of measurement, imagine that I sold 100 Kg of a product and then I say that I sold 100 grams, I use odoo and ERPNext and both have the same philosophy, deactivating a product and creating a new one is the best, there is a process to replace components of a bill of materials, but the logic must be respected

[Heng Sin Low]

Just for reference, https://portsapblogging.com/2015/04/09/sap-material-master-changing-base-unit-of-measure/

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[Orlando Curieles]

In Odoo, changing the unit of measure (UoM) of a product that has already had transactions is not recommended and often not allowed, due to the following reasons:

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⚠️ Why You Should Avoid Changing the UoM After Transactions:

1. Historical inconsistencies:

   • Inventory moves, sales, purchases, and accounting entries are all recorded using the original UoM. Changing it will make past data inaccurate or misleading.

2. Report issues:

   • Inventory valuation, traceability, and stock reports may show incorrect figures if the UoM is changed.

3. Invoicing and pricing problems:

   • Changing from, say, "kg" to "unit" can affect pricing, taxes, and discounts if they were based on the previous unit.

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✅ Recommended Alternatives:

1. Use a secondary UoM:

   • You can create an alternative UoM within the same UoM category and define a conversion ratio.

   • For example, you can purchase in "boxes" and sell in "units" using a defined conversion factor.

2. Create a new product:

   • If a change is really needed:

     • Archive the old product.

     • Duplicate it.

     • Assign the correct UoM to the new product.

   • This keeps historical data clean and avoids technical issues.

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🛠️ What if You Really Need to Force the Change?

• You can go to the product → General Information tab → change the UoM.

• However, Odoo will block the change if the product has any stock moves, purchase orders, sales orders, or accounting entries.

• You’ll likely see an error like:

  “You cannot change the unit of measure because there are already stock moves or accounting entries for this product.”

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🔄 When Can You Change the UoM?

• If the product has no transactions at all (no stock moves, no sales, no purchases).

• If you're still in the development or testing phase.

• If the product was just created and hasn’t been used yet.

[Alejandro Jesus Guerra]

Of course if you haven't done any operation.... It is very obvious that when you try to enter the grams and you can correct it at this time. 

Alejandro Guerra

Celular: (+58) 412-3041304

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