Using Unit Groups in Dynamics CRM 2011

Paul Nieuwelaar, 22 April 2011

In my Overview of the Product Catalog I gave a short description of how Units and Unit Groups are used in Dynamics CRM 2011. In this post I will be going more into detail, showing how they apply to your Product Catalog, and how you can get started in created Unit Groups.

If you are new to the Product Catalog, before you set up your Unit Groups, you should start by Setting up Your Discount Lists. Like Discount Lists, Unit Groups are found in the Product Catalog area of the Settings section.

In this example I have created a Unit Group called ‘Standard Icecream’ which will be used for all Icecream products. It will contain 3 different Units that each product can be sold in: 2 Litre Tubs (total quantity: 1), Boxes of 12 Tubs (total quantity: 12), and Cartons of 4 Boxes (total quantity: 48). Because the 2 Litre Tub is the smallest quantity, this will be used as the Primary Unit for the Unit Group. To create the Unit Group click New from the Unit Groups view. Before the form loads you will be prompted to enter a Name and Primary Unit for the Unit Group.

After you click OK the form will be automatically loaded and saved with the Name specified. Click on Units related to the Unit Group to start adding some Units. Here you will see that the Primary Unit specified when creating the Unit Group has already been created.

Click Add New Unit on the ribbon to create the other Units. When creating Units you need to start from the bottom up, since the 2 Litre Tub is the Primary Unit, the next to create is the Box of 12 Tubs. For this you would set the Base Unit to the 2 Litre Tub, and the Quantity would be 12.

For the Carton of 4 Boxes, the Base Unit will need to be the Box of 12 Tubs, and the Quantity on this would be 4. NOTE: The quantity is of the Base Unit, not the Primary Unit. Once you have added all your Units, they should look like the image below:

You can create as many different Units within a Unit Group, and they can use the same Base Unit over and over again. In the example above, you would set up a Price List item for each Unit, and then when adding the product to an Invoice, you will be able to select which Unit to use. The price for that line item will depend on what is set in the Price List item. I will go into detail on how to create Price Lists in my next post.