Products

By Maxim Izmaylov

• 13 articles

Creating and Editing Products

Products are items you manufacture from materials. You can also create products using other products as components by enabling this option in your settings. Adding New Products There three two ways to create a new product: 1. Click the “Add” button to create a product from scratch 2. Copy an existing product by opening it and clicking “Copy” 3. Import your products from a CSV file. See more here To edit a product, open its details by clicking on its name in the products list, and then click the “Edit” button. Product Details SKU SKU (stock keeping unit) is your product code or article number. You can use this to help organize and filter products. It's also necessary for integrations to work properly. Name The name of your product. Stock Level The initial quantity of this product in your inventory. Unit of Measure The unit in which this product is tracked. Minimum Stock Level You can set a minimum stock level for each product. When the stock falls below this minimum, a red dot warning indicator will appear next to the product's stock level in the main products list. If you have multiple product storage locations, the minimum stock level is specified separately for each location. Sales Price You can specify the retail price of the product, which will be used when creating sales orders and calculating cost-to-price ratios. Batch Size This field is only available after enabling the an option in system settings. Batch size determines the product quantity for which all materials and resources in the recipe are calculated. By default, batch size is set to 1. If batch size is not equal to 1, the system will automatically recalculate the required quantities of materials and resources per unit of product. Categories You can organize products into categories for easier navigation. You can assign multiple categories to a single product. In the main products list, click on a category name to quickly filter the list. Product Components Specify which materials and in what quantities are used to manufacture this product. You can specify material quantities in any unit of measure. You can also create products using other products as components by enabling this option in the settings. This can be useful if you produce subassemblies for your products. Resources On the “Resources” tab, you can specify resources used in manufacturing this product. For example, employee wages, electricity, etc. See the “Resources” section for more details. Notes In the notes field, you can add any information that might be useful to you. Files You can attach images and other files to your products. This is useful for storing product photos, technical specifications, assembly instructions, or any other relevant documents. Changing Product Components Changes to a product's component list only affect new production runs and do not modify existing ones. For example, if you created a product and set up several production runs, then later added a new material or resource to the product's components, or changed the quantity of an existing component, all future production runs will use the updated components. However, existing production runs will not be automatically updated. If you want to update an existing production run to use the new product components, open that production run, click “Edit,” and then, without making any changes, click “Save.” This will recalculate the production run using the updated product components.

Last updated on Jun 09, 2025

Product Details View

The product detail page contains comprehensive information about a product, including stock levels, planned operations, components, transaction history, and additional parameters. Basic Information Product Name The primary product identifier. Storage Location Shows the currently selected product storage location. Click on the storage location name to view this product's stock levels across all storage locations. SKU Product stock keeping unit. Only displayed if an SKU has been assigned to this product. Stock Level Current actual quantity of the product at the selected storage location. Click on the "Stock Level" field to quickly update the product's stock level. Planned Expected stock changes based on scheduled operations. Can be positive (expected inflow) or negative (expected outflow). Only displayed when planned operations exist. Click on the "Planned" field to view detailed planned operations. Total Projected total stock level including planned operations. Only displayed when planned operations exist. Minimum Minimum stock level that triggers replenishment requirements. Sales Price Retail price per unit of the product. Cost Current product cost calculated based on current material prices. When creating production runs, the actual cost of manufactured products may differ. Learn more in the production costing article. Categories Categories assigned to the product. Products can belong to multiple categories. Batch Size Batch size determines the quantity for which all materials and resources in the bill of materials are calculated. Only displayed if the corresponding option is enabled in settings and the product's batch size is not equal to 1. Related Products If this product is used as a component in other products, a table displays those products and the quantities used. Bill of Materials Components Lists materials and other products included in this product's composition. Shows quantity and cost for each material and product component. Resources Lists resources used in manufacturing this product. Shows quantity and cost for each resource. Transaction History The bottom section contains a table with all transactions involving this product. This table includes all operations: - Purchases - Adjustments - Production - Sales - Transfers - Write-offs - Audits - Product creation Editing Operations in History Click on "Product creation" to adjust the initial stock values specified when the product was created. Click on "Adjustment" to modify the adjustment value. Planned Operations Planned operations in the history are displayed with a clock icon. The transaction history includes a filter to display only actual or only planned operations.

Last updated on Jun 09, 2025

Bill of Materials and Product Recipes

A bill of materials (BOM) in Controlata is a detailed specification of a finished product's composition, including all required materials and resources for its production. It enables precise production planning and cost control. The bill of materials consists of two main sections: - Components — materials and subassemblies that physically become part of the finished product - Resources — equipment time, electricity, and other costs that don't become part of the product Why Product Components Are Essential - Automatic material consumption — during production, the system automatically deducts all required materials from inventory - Cost calculation — automatic calculation of finished product costs based on all materials and resources - Purchase planning — the system calculates material requirements and alerts you to potential raw material shortages Components Materials These are raw materials and parts that become part of the finished product: flour for bread, fabric for clothing, components for assembly. Products Product components can also include other products. These products are called subassemblies. For example: - Dough (subassembly) → Bread (finished product) - Frame (subassembly) → Sofa (finished product) - Base (subassembly) → Candle (finished product) Subassemblies enable multi-level production processes and precise cost tracking at each stage. Learn more about subassemblies in our dedicated article. Resources Resources are costs that don't become part of the finished product, but are necessary for its production: Resource Examples - Electricity, gas for production processes - Labor time of specialists - Equipment depreciation Cost Inclusion Resource costs are automatically included in the finished product's cost, ensuring complete accounting of all production expenses. Batch Size Batch size is a key parameter of the bill of materials that indicates the quantity of finished product for which the specified material composition is calculated. By default, batch size equals 1. To specify different batch sizes, this option must be enabled in system settings. Usage Example If a bill of materials is calculated for a batch of 10 candles requiring 150g of wax, the system will automatically calculate the need for 375g of wax to produce 25 candles. Units of Measure Measurement Flexibility Any units of measure can be used in product components: - Grams, kilograms for bulk materials - Liters, milliliters for liquids - Pieces for countable materials - Meters for fabrics and wires Learn more about choosing the right unit of measure in our other article. Automatic Conversion The system automatically converts units of measure when consuming materials. If components specify grams, but the material is tracked in kilograms in inventory, the system performs the correct conversion automatically.

Last updated on Jun 10, 2025

Product Costs

Product cost is the total cost of all materials and resources used in its composition. The product detail page displays the current cost, which is calculated based on: - Product components - Current material prices - Current resource costs Automatic Cost Updates Product costs are automatically recalculated in the following cases: 1. When the product components change - Cost will be recalculated based on the new components 2. When materials are received at a new price - Costs are updated for all products containing this material 3. When resource costs change - Costs are updated for all products using the modified resource Production Costs The production detail page shows the actual cost of manufactured products. It's calculated based on: - Actual prices of materials used - Cost of resources utilized at the time of production Important: The actual cost in the production record remains fixed: - When new materials are received at different prices - When resource costs change 📖 Read more about production cost calculation in this article.

Last updated on Jun 10, 2025

Quick Stock Level Update

When viewing your product list, you can quickly update inventory levels by clicking on the stock value of any product. This opens a dialog menu for rapid stock adjustment. From this menu, you can simply adjust the product's stock level or create a new production run, purchase, or sale.

Last updated on Jun 10, 2025

Importing Products

You can import your products using a special Excel template. To do this, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Products screen and select Import. Then click Download template. To import product components and resources, use the separate instructions - for components and for resources. Template Guidelines - Do not modify the file structure - Do not add, delete, move, or rename columns - Only two fields are required when importing products: Name and Unit of measure. All other fields are optional. Column Descriptions - Name Product name. Required field. - SKU Primary SKU for the product. Optional field. You can add alternative SKUs in additional columns to the right. - Stock level Current product inventory level. If you have multiple product storage locations, the location currently selected on the products screen will be used. Optional field. If not specified, stock level will be set to zero. - Minimum Minimum product inventory level. If you have multiple product storage locations, the location currently selected on the products screen will be used. Optional field. If not specified, minimum will be set to zero. - Unit of measure Product unit of measure. Required field. Available values: pcs, pkg, set, kg, g, mg, c, t, lbs, oz, box, L, ml, dal, mcl, cu m, cu cm, cu dm, fl oz, gal, cu ft, cu yd, m, cm, mm, km, dm, lin m, mi, ft, in, sq m, sq cm, sq dm, sq ft - Sales price Current product price per unit of measure. Optional field. If not specified, price will be set to zero. - Notes Any additional information about the product. Optional field. - Category 1, Category 2, etc. Product categories. Optional field. You can assign multiple categories to one product by adding additional columns to the right with headers "Category 3", "Category 4", etc. If a product category with this name already exists in Controlata, it will be used. Otherwise, a new product category will be created. - SKU Name 1, SKU Name 2, etc. Alternative product SKUs. Optional field. You can replace "Name 1" in the column header with any other value that will be used as the label for this SKU. For example, if you want to upload Shopify SKU's for your products, name this column "SKU Shopify". You can also add additional columns to the right with more alternative product SKUs. After filling out and saving the import file, upload it to Controlata by clicking the Upload products button.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Importing Product Components

You can import your product components using a special Excel template. To do this, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Products screen and select Import product components. Then click Download template. Template Guidelines - Do not modify the structure of the import file. - Do not add, delete, move, or rename columns. - Before importing product components, you must first create the products themselves, as well as the materials and products that will be used as components. New products or materials are not created during the import. - Products are matched by ID or SKU. Each product must have either an ID or SKU filled in. If both fields are populated, matching will be done by ID. - Material matching works the same way. - To find material and product IDs, export their lists to Excel using the export function. - Columns with product and material names are included only for your convenience and are not used during import. Important! If your products already have components defined, the imported components will be added to the existing ones. If you want to replace existing components, you can use the bulk edit products feature. Column Descriptions - Product ID Product IDs can be found by exporting the product list to Excel. Either Product ID or Product SKU must be filled in. If both fields are populated, matching is done by ID. - Product SKU You can use either the primary or alternative product SKUs. Either Product ID or Product SKU must be filled in. If both fields are populated, matching is done by ID. - Product Name Not used during import; included only for your convenience. - Component Type Either "Material" or "Product". Required field. - Component ID The ID of the material or product (depending on the component type). Material and product IDs can be found by exporting their lists to Excel. Either Component ID or Component SKU must be filled in. If both fields are populated, matching is done by ID. - Component SKU The SKU of the material or product (depending on the component type). For products, you can use either the primary or alternative SKUs. Either Component ID or Component SKU must be filled in. If both fields are populated, matching is done by ID. - Component Name Not used during import; included only for your convenience. - Quantity The quantity of the component in the product recipe. Required field. - Unit of Measure The unit of measure for the component in the product recipe. Required field. Must be from the same unit group as the component's primary unit of measure. For example, if the component's primary unit is "kg", you can specify "g" or "mg" in the product recipe, but not "pcs" or "m". Available values: pcs, pack, set, kg, g, mg, c, t, lbs, oz, carton, L, ml, dal, mcl, cu m, cu cm, cu dm, fl oz, gal, cu ft, cu yd, m, cm, mm, km, dm, lin m, mi, ft, in, sq m, sq cm, sq dm, sq ft - Batch Size The batch size of the product. Optional field. If not specified, the batch size will be set to 1. Batch size represents the quantity of product for which the recipe is defined. Batch size is specified for the product, so it must be the same for all components and resources in its recipe. After filling out and saving the import file, upload it to Controlata by clicking the Upload product components button.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Importing Product Resources

You can import resources that are used in your products via a special Excel template. To do this, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Products screen and select Import product resources. Then click Download template. Template Guidelines - Do not modify the structure of the import file. - Do not add, delete, move, or rename columns. - Before importing product resources, you must first create the products themselves and the resources used in them. New products or resources are not created during import. - Products are matched by ID or SKU. Each product must have either an ID or SKU filled in. If both fields are filled in, matching will occur by ID. - Resources are matched by ID only. - You can find product and resource IDs by exporting their lists to Excel. - Columns with product and resource names are included for your convenience only and are not used during import. Important! If your products already have resources assigned, the imported resources will be added to the existing ones. If you want to replace the current product resources, you can use the bulk edit products feature. Column Descriptions - Product ID Product IDs can be obtained by exporting the product list to Excel. Either Product ID or Product SKU must be filled in. If both fields are filled in, matching occurs by ID. - Product SKU You can use either primary or alternative product SKUs. Either Product ID or Product SKU must be filled in. If both fields are filled in, matching occurs by ID. - Product Name Not used during import; included for your convenience only. - Resource ID The ID of the resource. Resource IDs can be obtained by exporting the resource list to Excel. Required field. - Resource Name Not used during import; included for your convenience only. - Quantity The quantity of the resource in the product composition. Required field. - Unit of Measure The unit of measure for the resource in the product composition. Required field. Must be from the same unit group as the resource's base unit of measure. For example, if the resource's base unit is "min", you can specify "hr" or "sec" in the product composition, but you cannot specify "kWh" or "pcs". Available values: sec, min, hr, day, wk, mo, kWh, mWh, kcal, kJ, pcs, pkg, set, kg, g, mg, cwt, t, lbs, oz, ct, L, ml, dal, µl, cu m, cu cm, cu dm, fl oz, gal, cu ft, cu yd, m, cm, mm, km, dm, lin m, mi, ft, in, sq m, sq cm, sq dm, sq ft - Batch Size The batch size for the product. Optional field. If not specified, a batch size of 1 will be set. Batch size is the quantity of product for which the composition is specified. Batch size applies to the product, so it must be the same for all components and resources in its composition. After you fill out and save the import file, upload it to Controlata by clicking the Upload product resources button.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Bulk Editing Products

You can edit multiple products at once. To do this, select the desired products using checkboxes and click Edit in the popup menu at the bottom of the screen. The following fields are available for bulk editing: Minimum Stock Level Editing the minimum stock level is only available when all selected products have the same unit of measure. If you have multiple storage locations, the minimum stock level will be set for the currently selected location. Sales Price Editing the sales price is only available when all selected products have the same unit of measure. Categories To change categories for selected products, first choose an action, then specify the categories themselves. Available actions: - Do not change — product categories will remain unchanged. - Set — current categories will be removed and replaced with the selected categories. - Add — selected categories will be added to the products' existing categories. - Remove — selected categories will be removed from products where they are assigned. - Clear — all product categories will be removed. Components To change components for selected products, first choose an action, then specify the components, their quantities, and units of measure. Available actions: - Do not change — components will remain unchanged. - Set — current components will be removed and replaced with the selected components. - Add — selected components will be added to the existing components. - Remove — selected components will be removed from products where they are used. - Clear — all product components will be removed. Resources Modifying resources works similarly to modifying components. To change resources for selected products, first choose an action, then specify the resources, their quantities, and units of measure. Available actions: - Do not change — resources will remain unchanged. - Set — current resources will be removed and replaced with the selected resources. - Add — selected resources will be added to the existing resources. - Remove — selected resources will be removed from products where they are used. - Clear — all product resources will be removed.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Editing Products in Excel

You can download your products list as an Excel spreadsheet, make changes, and upload the updated file back to Controlata. How to Download the Template Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Products screen and select Edit in Excel. Then click Download template. Template Guidelines - The first column contains the Product ID — do not modify or delete it. - You can delete other columns if you don't want to change certain data. For example, if you only want to update product prices, you can delete all columns except Product ID and Sales price. - Remove rows for products you don't need to edit. - We recommend testing the editing process on 1-2 products first to avoid introducing errors across a large dataset. Column Descriptions - Product ID This column is already filled with data. Do not modify or delete it. - Name Product name. - SKU Primary SKU for the product. You can add alternative SKUs in additional columns to the right. - Stock level Current inventory quantity for the product. If you have multiple storage locations, the currently selected location on the Products screen will be used. - Minimum Minimum stock level for the product. If you have multiple storage locations, the currently selected location on the Products screen will be used. - Unit of measure Product unit of measurement. Available values: pcs, pkg, set, kg, g, mg, ct, t, lbs, oz, box, L, ml, dal, μl, cu m, cu cm, cu dm, fl oz, gal, cu ft, cu yd, m, cm, mm, km, dm, lin m, mi, ft, in, sq m, sq cm, sq dm, sq ft - Sales price Current price per unit of the product. - Notes Any additional product information. - Category 1, Category 2, etc. Product categories. You can assign multiple categories to a product by adding additional columns to the right with headers "Category 2", "Category 3", etc. If a category with this name already exists in Controlata, it will be used. Otherwise, a new category will be created. - SKU Name 1, SKU Name 2, etc. Alternative product SKUs. Optional field. You can replace "Name 1" in the column header with any value that will be used as the SKU label. For example, if you want to upload Shopify SKUs for your products, name this column "SKU Shopify". You can add more columns to the right for additional alternative product SKUs. Once you've completed and saved the file, upload it to Controlata by clicking the Edit products button.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Alternative Product SKUs

In addition to the primary SKU, you can specify multiple alternative SKUs for each product. Use this feature to store SKU's from other systems, barcodes, and other identifiers. Alternative SKUs are used to match products when importing sales orders from other systems. If a product cannot be matched by its primary SKU, the system will attempt to match using alternative SKUs. Enabling Alternative SKUs To display and edit alternative SKUs, enable the Alternative Product SKUs option in settings. Editing Alternative SKUs When editing a product, click the Plus icon in the SKU field. This will open a dialog where you can add alternative SKUs. For each SKU, you can also specify a label to help distinguish between different SKUs. After saving, a dropdown arrow will appear next to the primary SKU in the product details. Click it to view all alternative SKUs for that product. Bulk Editing Alternative SKUs To update alternative SKUs for multiple products at once, use the bulk edit products in Excel feature.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Deleting a Product

To delete a product, open its details page and click the "Delete" button. You can also delete multiple products at once. Select them from the main list and click "Delete" in the popup menu that appears at the bottom. Warning: Deleting a product is irreversible. You will not be able to recover a deleted product. How does product deletion work? The product will be removed from the components of any other products where it was used. All existing sales, purchases, write-offs, production runs, transfers, and other operations involving this product will remain unchanged. The product will still appear in their composition but will be displayed with strikethrough formatting. You can edit these operations and remove the deleted product from them if needed. If the product was used as a component in other products, it will continue to appear in the list of consumed products in production runs. However, when you update a production run, the system will apply the current product composition, which no longer includes the deleted product. As a result, this product will disappear from the list of materials consumed in production.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025

Exporting Products

Export Product List You can also export your product list in CSV or XLSX format. Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Products screen and select Export. Then choose your preferred file format. Only products currently displayed on the screen will be exported. If you need to export specific products, first filter the list, then export. Export Components and History You can export a product's components and transaction history. From the product details page, click the three dots in the upper right corner. Then select the export type and file format.

Last updated on Oct 06, 2025