11.3 Advanced Inventory Features
Key Takeaways
Multiple Units of Measure is the feature that defines units used to stock, purchase, and sell. Statistical Accounts is a different feature and is outside this objective.
Multi-Location Inventory tracks quantity by location. A Location classification, without that feature, does not.
Bins are places inside a location. They track on-hand quantity in that place, not available, committed, or on-order quantity.
Enabling these features adds fields to item records and requirements on transactions. After inventory is distributed, turning Multi-Location Inventory off requires NetSuite Support.
An assembly can be built into its own stock. A kit or package is one sellable unit whose quantity stays on the member items.
A feature changes the item and the transaction
Enabling an advanced inventory feature adds fields to item records and requirements to transactions. The March 2024 objective covers units of measure, multi-location inventory, bins, assemblies, kits, and packages. Demand Planning and Manufacturing are not on this objective. You may see them on Enable Features. Do not choose them when the question is about units, locations, bins, builds, or kits.
Units of measure are in scope here even though they are outside the item-type objective. Multiple Units of Measure is on the Accounting subtab of Enable Features. The other features in this section are on Items & Inventory.
Multiple Units of Measure
Multiple Units of Measure defines the units used to stock, purchase, and sell. You create a Units Type, pick a base unit, and define other units from that base. Help's example buys cable by the pallet, stocks it by the spool, and sells it by the foot. If the base is the inch, a foot is 12 inches. Purchase orders default to purchase units, invoices to sales units, and inventory adjustments to stock units. Reports follow the units on the transactions.
After you assign a units type, Help says you can add units but cannot otherwise change that type. A quantity of 10 on a purchase order may be 10 purchase units, not 10 stock units. That is why you do not enable the feature casually.
Statistical Accounts was the October 2024 distractor. It is a different Advanced Financial feature for non-monetary data, and it is outside this objective. Do not describe units of measure as the way to track non-monetary accounts. The feature for stock, purchase, and sale units is Multiple Units of Measure.
Multi-Location Inventory tracks quantity by location
The Locations feature defines offices and warehouses, including a parent such as East Coast and child cities. A location on an item can classify it for role access. If Multi-Location Inventory is off, Help says you cannot use that field to track how many units are in Location One. Checking Locations does not distribute on-hand quantities.
Multi-Location Inventory tracks quantity by location. It associates each item and transaction with a location and tracks purchase, sale, stock level, and value, including transfers. It also needs Locations, Inventory, Advanced Shipping, and Advanced Receiving, and it creates Transfer Orders and Inventory In Transit accounts. Items gain a Locations subtab. A serial number can be in stock at only one location.
Do not use a location record to mean a shelf, a bin, or a dock inside a warehouse. Help warns that using locations that way causes trouble with fulfillments and reporting. Those places belong to a bins feature. In a NetSuite OneWorld account, enabling Inventory turns Multi-Location Inventory on with inventory use, so decide before you load items.
After you enable Multi-Location Inventory and distribute items, you cannot turn the feature off without contacting NetSuite Support. The feature is what makes stock level and value location-specific, and clearing it after distribution is not a normal setup change.
Bins are places inside a location
Bin Management identifies places inside a location where you store items. Bins show where to pick and where to put stock away. Only on-hand quantity is tracked per bin. Help says costing is not calculated per bin, and available, committed, backordered, and ordered quantities are not tracked per bin. A bin answers where the units sit. It does not replace the committed and on-order numbers on the item.
Basic Bin Management is for items that are not serial or lot numbered. Create bin records, mark Use Bins on the item, and optionally set a preferred bin. Basic bins are not switched per location. Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management covers numbered items and per-location bins. Lot detail stays outside the item-type objective.
Bin items need bin quantities on cash sales, invoices, and negative adjustments. If those quantities do not match the line, NetSuite stops the transaction. Putting existing stock into bins is part of the same change. That load is why you do not enable bins casually. A bin does not replace Multi-Location Inventory.
Assemblies add a stocked finished item
The Assembly Items feature adds the assembly item and the build transaction. A build increases the assembly quantity and decreases the members. The record gains a member list. Turn the feature on when the finished good must be counted apart from its parts.
Do not enable it casually if you only want to sell parts together. A kit or package does that without a build and without a quantity on hand for the parent. Work orders, manufacturing work in process, and demand planning are further features, and they are outside this objective. Stay with the in-scope effect: a stocked finished item, and a build that moves quantity from components to that item.
Kits and packages keep quantity on the members
Help lists no separate Kits or Packages checkbox beside Assembly Items. A kit and a package are one Kit/Package item. Inventory stays on the members, the parent cannot show an available quantity, and fulfillment decreases member inventory. The price can differ from the members.
The item still has a components list, and kits cannot be set to Do Not Commit. Changing members on open orders can make fulfillment disagree with the sales order. You cannot promise a kit quantity of its own, such as 40 on hand for the kit itself. That is why you do not add kits casually.
A package in this objective is that Kit/Package item, not a shipping carton typed on a fulfillment for weight and tracking. The carton does not hold a quantity on hand for a finished good. If a question says packages together with kits and assemblies, it is asking about the item you sell as one unit while stock stays on the components.
What each feature adds, and why you wait
| Feature | What it adds | Reason not to enable it casually |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Units of Measure | Units for stocking, purchasing, and selling, with defaults on items and transactions | The units type is hard to change later, and every quantity must be read in the right unit |
| Multi-Location Inventory | Quantity, purchase, sale, and value tracked by location, plus transfers | After items are distributed, turning it off requires NetSuite Support |
| Bins | On-hand quantity for places inside a location, and bin entry on transactions | Bin items need matching bin quantities on cash sales, invoices, and negative adjustments |
| Assemblies | A stocked finished item and a build that moves quantity from components | You must maintain members and record builds; a kit is enough if you do not stock the parent |
| Kits and packages | One sellable unit whose quantity stays on the member items | The parent has no available quantity, and member changes can break open fulfillments |
What the feature questions are asking
Choose Multiple Units of Measure, not Statistical Accounts, for stock, purchase, and sale units. Choose Multi-Location Inventory, not the Location classification, for quantity by location. After distribution, turning that feature off is a NetSuite Support task. A shelf is a bin inside a location, not a location record. Demand Planning and Manufacturing are outside this objective.
Use the NetSuite Foundation practice questions to rehearse which feature adds units, which feature adds quantity by location, and which item type actually holds stock.
Which feature defines the units used to stock, purchase, and sell an inventory item?
Statistical Accounts, because non-monetary counts are stored as units on a statistical account.
Multiple Units of Measure, because it defines the units used to stock, purchase, and sell.
Multi-Location Inventory, because each location keeps a separate purchase unit.
Demand Planning, because a demand plan is what sets the sale unit on an item.
Locations are already enabled, and each item has a location selected. Quantity on hand is still one company-wide number. What is missing?
A bin on every location record, because a bin is the feature that tracks quantity by warehouse.
Statistical Accounts, because location counts are non-monetary balances.
Multi-Location Inventory, because the location field alone does not track quantity by location.
Manufacturing Work in Process, because only a work order stores quantity by location.
Why is Bin Management a poor casual enablement for a company that only needs a city on each sale?
Bin items must supply bin quantities on cash sales, invoices, and negative adjustments, and a bin only tracks on-hand quantity inside a location.
Bins replace quantity on hand on the item and remove the need for an inventory item.
Bins are the feature that defines purchase units, stock units, and sale units.
Bins turn Multi-Location Inventory off and move every count to a statistical account.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.