Create a New Product

Learn how to create an entirely new Product in PurchasePlus.

Products in PurchasePlus are representations of the real-world products and services that your Organization buys from your Suppliers and uses across your operations.

Products can be created by your Suppliers, by PurchasePlus, or by users at Purchasing Organizations like yours. You might like to create a new Product so you can assign it to a Self-Managed Supplier's Catalog, add it to a Buy List, include it as a Recipe Ingredient, or to keep an eye on the count of a Stock Item (if you're using our Inventory module).

There are a number of ways that you as a Purchaser can create new Products in PurchasePlus. Before we step you through these creation methods, it is very important to understand the Product Creation Fundamentals (below), and we also recommend reading our Introduction to Products article. We will also share a number of good Examples of Product Definitions, for reference when creating your first Product(s).

If you have been using our system for some time, you may feel confident-enough that you can skip straight to these various creation methods:

• Skip to Creating a New Product from All Products View
• Skip to Creating a New Product while Shopping a Requisition
• Skip to Creating a New Product by Cloning an Existing Product

Product Creation Fundamentals

Naming Conventions

• Use a consistent naming convention for the Products you create. We recommend the following practices:
  • Avoid abbreviations and long descriptions. Include only the information that is required to differentiate the product from a similar product.
  • Use Title Case (i.e. not all capitals or all lower case, but capitalising each word) in your descriptions.
  • Examples:
    • Chicken Breast - Cooked Sliced
    • Beef Rump - Grass Fed 5-Star
    • Crab Meat - Cooked [Imported]
    • Submersible Water Pump - 350W

Product Categorization

• Choose the correct Product Category & Sub-Category, so that it's easier for you and other users at your Organization to find the Product again in the future.
• Please read our article about Product Categories and Sub-categories to view a list of the availabilities.

Unit and Sell Pack Information

• Getting the Unit and Sell Pack Information right is extremely important for both both Purchasing and Goods Receiving - especially when using our Inventory module - as this will determine how the Product is counted (and costed) when received to an Inventory Stock Location. 
• The Unit Information describes the smallest instance of the product, that is contained within the Sell Pack. The "1 Each" example below is used when the product has no specific Unit Information, such as an Office Chair. In the Office Chair example, you can also leave the Item Pack Name empty. 
  
  

  Unit Size	Unit of Measure	Item Pack Name
  1	Each
  375	ml	Can
  750	ml	Bottle
  1	kg	Bag

   
• The Sell Pack and Sell Pack Quantity is what will be ordered for each Quantity of "1" that is added to a Requisition. The "Each of 1" example below is used when there is no specific Sell Pack applicable, such as an Office Chair.
  
  

  Sell Pack Name	Sell Pack Quantity
  Each	1
  Carton	24
  Box	1000
  Bag	10

   

Examples of Good Product Definition

Example 1: Coca-Cola Cans

Here we will create a "Carton of 24 x 375 ml Coca-Cola Cans" product. We wish to define the product as a single Carton, containing 24 individual Units, as we wish to purchase the product as a Carton, and receive and count each of the 24 units individually in our Inventory. 

In PurchasePlus, the Brand is inserted into the title of the Product, in front of the Product Name, so we will use the following details to create the product:

Brand: Coca-Cola
Product Name: Cola
Unit Size: 375
Unit of Measure: ml
Item Pack Name: Can
Sell Pack Name: Carton
Sell Pack Quantity: 24

Once created, the product will appear in PurchasePlus as shown below. The product can now be ordered from any of your Suppliers via a Requisition, it can be added to a Buy List, or added to a Self-Managed Catalog and assigned a price and tax percentage, on behalf of the Supplier.

Example 2: 1000 Sheet Paper Box

Here we will create a "1000 Sheet Paper" product. We wish to define the product as a single box, so that we can purchase and receive the product as a single box (we don't want to receive and count 1000 individual sheets of paper in our Inventory). Therefore, we will create the product with the Unit Size of 1000 and Sell Pack Quantity of 1, instead of the Sell Pack Quantity of 1000 and Unit Size of 1.

In PurchasePlus, the Brand is inserted into the title of the Product, in front of the Product Name, but in this case we don't wish to define a brand, so we will leave this field blank. We will use the following details to create the product:

Brand: -- (leave blank)
Product Name: 1000 Sheet Paper Box
Unit Size: 1000
Unit of Measure: Sheets
Item Pack Name: Box
Sell Pack Name: Each
Sell Pack Quantity: 1

Once created, the product will appear in PurchasePlus as shown below. The product can now be ordered from any of your Suppliers via a Requisition, it can be added to a Buy List, or added to a Self-Managed Catalog and assigned a price and tax percentage, on behalf of the Supplier.

Example 3: Steak per Kilogram

Here we will create a "fresh Steak" product. We wish to define the product with a 1 Kilogram Unit Size and Measure, so that we can purchase and receive the product in multiples or fractions of this Unit Size.

In PurchasePlus, the Brand is inserted into the title of the Product, in front of the Product Name, but in this case we don't wish to define a brand, so we will leave this field blank. In this case, we also don't need to define an Item Pack Name, as it is not applicable to this item. We will use the following details to create the product:

Brand: -- (leave blank)
Product Name: Sirloin Steak
Unit Size: 1
Unit of Measure: kg
Item Pack Name: -- (leave blank)
Sell Pack Name: Each
Sell Pack Quantity: 1

Once created, the product will appear in PurchasePlus as shown below. The product can now be ordered from any of your Suppliers via a Requisition, it can be added to a Buy List, or added to a Self-Managed Catalog and assigned a price and tax percentage, on behalf of the Supplier. When adding this product to a Requisition, the product can be assigned a fraction of a whole number, using decimal places, e.g. 0.375 for 375 grams or 4.750 for 4.75 kilograms.

Example 4: Office Chair

Here we will create a single "Office Chair" product. We wish to define the product as a single item, so that we can purchase and receive the product as a single item.

In PurchasePlus, the Brand is inserted into the title of the Product, in front of the Product Name, but in this case we don't wish to define a brand, so we will leave this field blank. In this case, we don't need to define an Item Pack Name, as it is not applicable to this item. We will use the following details to create the product:

Brand: Office Max
Product Name: Swivel Office Chair
Unit Size: 1
Unit of Measure: Each
Item Pack Name: -- (leave blank)
Sell Pack Name: Each
Sell Pack Quantity: 1

When the product is a simple single item with a "1 Each" and "Each of 1" definition, Purchase Plus simplifies the listing so that once created, it will appear as shown below:

 

3. You can choose to edit a number of different fields for the Clone Product, but some fields will be un-editable.

4. Click [Create Product] to add the new Product to the PurchasePlus database. The new Product will be 'owned' by your Organization, and will exist completely independently of the Product from which it was Cloned.