Item Class
Different types of businesses will need different item classes for their inventory items. Your business may need more than one kind depending on what type of business you have.
Important! Once an item class is established (saved) for an inventory item, it cannot be changed.
For help selecting the right classes for your business, see Select the Right Item Classes for Your Business.
Item Classes
You can select from the following classes of inventory items:
Non-stock:Use this class for items, such as service contracts and office supplies, that you buy or sell but do not put into your inventory. Quantities, descriptions, and unit prices are printed on invoices and purchase orders, but quantities on hand are not tracked. You can assign a cost of goods General Ledger account to non-stock items, but it is not affected by a costing method.
Stock: Use this item class for traditional inventory items that are tracked for quantities, average costs, vendors, low stock points, and so on. Once an item is assigned this class, it cannot be changed.
Master
Stock Item: Use this item class when you want to set up a group of related stock items that have similar characteristics or attributes. A master stock item is a special item that does not represent inventory you stock but rather
contains information (item attributes
) shared with a number of substock
items
generated from it.
Substock
Item: This item class represents the substock items generated from
a master stock item. You can only display a substock item and its characteristics
in the Maintain Inventory Items window; you cannot directly set up a substock
item. Similarly, you cannot delete a substock item in Maintain Inventory
Items. The only way to delete a substock item is by deleting the master
stock attributes from which the substock item is created.
Serialized Stock Item: Use this class for stock items that will have a serial number associated with them. Serial numbers are typically used for expensive items, items that are under warranty, and items that by law require you to record serial numbers. Serialized items cannot be included as part of an assembly or serialized assembly. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)In addition, serialized inventory items cannot be used to create Item Multi-Packs. (Sage 50 Quantum Accounting)
Description only: Use this item class when nothing is tracked except the description. For example, "comments" that can be added to sales or purchase transactions are description-only items.
Assembly:
Use this class for items that consist of components that can be built
or dismantled. For each assembly item, select the Bill
of Materials tab, and define the components of the assembly before you click the Save
button on the Maintain Inventory Items window. Once a transaction uses
an assembly, it cannot be changed.
Serialized Assembly Item: Use this class for assembly items that will have a serial number associated with them. Serial numbers are typically used for expensive items, items that are under warranty, and items that by law require you to record serial numbers. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)In addition, serialized inventory items cannot be used to create Item Multi-Packs. (Sage 50 Quantum Accounting)
Service: Use this item class for services you perform and sell, such as monthly maintenance work. You can enter a cost for the service, which would include your employee's wage, overhead, materials, and such used in the course of performing the service.
Labor: Use this item class for labor that is part of an assembly item or for outside labor that you use for projects; you can enter a cost for the service. In the case of assembly items, this labor will become part of the cost of goods for the assembled item.
Activity: Use this item class for different types of work that are performed for a customer or job. These are very useful for professional businesses, such as law firms, that want to track employee time for a customer an job and then bill the customer. Activity items are used in Time & Billing and are recorded on employee or vendor time tickets. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)
Charge : Use this item class to identify items that are expenses recorded by an employee or vendor when various services are performed for a customer or job. Charge items are used in Time & Billing and are recorded on employee or vendor expense tickets. Use charge items when you plan on billing customers for reimbursable expenses, such as parking fees, mileage, and so on. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)
Select the Right Item Classes for Your Business
Service Business
Since you sell services, such as maintenance contracts, you will most likely want to set up:
- Service Items--The services you sell can be entered and prices set, as well as the cost of the service to you--that is, your labor and materials costs to perform the service.
- Non-stock items--These would be any office supplies and in-house items that you purchase. Setting these up as non-stock items makes them easier to put on purchase orders and purchase invoices.
- Description only--You might use these to describe highly detailed services you perform or standardized terms for services.
Retail Business
In this type of business where you stock and sell inventory items, you are most likely going to want to set up:
- Stock Items--These would be the items you keep on hand and sell. You can set the prices of the items, and Sage 50 will track the cost and revenue as you purchase and sell them. You can select a costing method for these items so that Sage 50 knows how to cost them properly.
- Non-stock items--These would be any office supplies and in-house items that you purchase. Setting these up as non-stock items makes them easier to put on purchase orders and purchase invoices.
- Master and substock items--If you sell items that are very similar, having similar characteristics, such as several different types and sizes of shirts, pants, and so on, you can set up master and substock items. Sage 50 will automatically create substock items based on the attributes (such as size and color of shirts) and reduce your data entry time.
- Serialized items--If your business sells large items that are warrantied or have serial numbers associated with them, you'll want to set them up as serialized items. In this way, Sage 50 will track the cost of each item individually and you can enter serial numbers as you purchase and sell the items.
Manufacturing Business that Builds Products
In a manufacturing business that builds and sells products from raw materials, you will most likely want to use the following item classes:
- Assembly items--These are the items that you build in your facility and sell to your customers. They are made up of stock items that you use to make your assembled products and labor that went into assembling them.
- Stock Items--These would be the items you keep on hand and sell. You can set the prices of the items, and Sage 50 will track the cost and revenue as you purchase and sell them. You can select a costing method for these items so that Sage 50 knows how to handle them. Items of this class will also make up the components or parts of your manufactured products (assembly items).
- Labor items--You might want to include the amount of time your employees put into building your manufactured products as part of your assembly items. This way, Sage 50 can more accurately track how much it cost you to make the items. The different types of employee time would be set up as Labor items. You can specify a cost to Labor items and this cost would include employee wages, labor burden, overhead, and so on.
- Non-stock items--These would be any office supplies and in-house items that you purchase. Setting these up as non-stock items makes them easier to put on purchase orders and purchase invoices.
- Serialized items--If your business sells large items that are warrantied or have serial numbers associated with them, you'll want to set them up as serialized items. In this way, Sage 50 will track the cost of each item individually and you can enter serial numbers as you purchase and sell the items.
Professional Business that Tracks Time and Expenses
A law firm or other professional organization that bills customers based on time and expense would most likely want to set up and use the following item classes:
- Activity Items--These are the different types of activities that are performed in the course of completing a project, such as customer visits, phone calls, work performed, and so on. In Sage 50 they are used with Time Tickets to record your employees' or vendors' time as they carry out these activities. You can then bill your customers using the time tickets.
- Charge Items--These are the different types of expenses that are incurred in the course of performing a project for a customer, such as parking fees, airplane tickets, and so on. In Sage 50, Charge Items are entered on Expense Tickets as employees or vendors incur expenses carrying out a project. You can bill your customer for these expenses.
- Non-stock items--These would be any office supplies and in-house items that you purchase. Setting these up as non-stock items makes them easier to put on purchase orders.
Construction Company
- Stock Items--These would be the items you keep on hand to use on a job. You can set the prices of the items, the costing method, and reordering quantities. Sage 50 will track the cost and revenue as you purchase the items and use them on jobs. You can select a costing method for these items so that Sage 50 knows how to cost them properly.
- Non-stock items--These would be any office supplies and in-house items that you purchase. Setting these up as non-stock items makes them easier to put on purchase orders and purchase invoices. You would also use this item class for materials used that normally aren't inventoried, such as special order materials, equipment, and so--all things that have cost that must be applied to the job but are not inventoried.