Product type¶

In Odoo, goods and services are both set up as products. When setting up a new product, there are several fields that should be carefully chosen, as they determine how to invoice and track a business’ goods or services.

To configure an existing product, go to Inventory app ‣ Products ‣ Products, and select the desired product from the list. Alternatively, from the Products menu, click New to create a new product.

For sale vs. purchase¶

Goods and services can be designated as those that can be bought, sold, or both. On the product form, tick the Sales checkbox if a product can be sold to a customer (e.g. finished goods). Tick Purchase if the product can be purchased (e.g. raw materials).

Example

If a resale clothing shop buys discounted denim jackets and sells them at a higher cost to the end consumer, the Jacket product form might have both the Sales and Purchase checkbox ticked.

On the other hand, say the store occasionally sews new jackets using denim and thread as raw materials. In the Denim and Thread product forms, only Purchase should be ticked, whereas the Handmade Jacket product form would only tick Sales.

Goods vs. services¶

When configuring a product, a Product Type needs to be selected on the General Information tab of a product form. Each product type impacts different operations in other Odoo applications, such as Sales and Purchase, and should be chosen carefully.

Goods: a tangible, material object (e.g. anything from a hamburger to a house)
Service: an intangible, immaterial offering (e.g., a repair, a haircut, call center assistance)
Combo: any mix of goods and services (e.g. a new car (good) with an oil change included (service))

Note

Due to their immaterial nature, services are not trackable in Odoo’s Inventory application.

Configure goods¶

Selecting Goods as the Product Type automatically triggers the appearance of a few fields and tabs in the product form:

Inventory tab: From here, purchasing and manufacturing routes and product logistics, such as product weight and customer lead time, can be specified.
Invoicing Policy field: This field determines at what point in the sales process a customer is invoiced.

Important
The Invoicing Policy field only appears if the Sales app is installed.
Track Inventory field: This checkbox determines whether Odoo tracks inventory for this product.
Smart buttons: Some smart buttons appear above the form when Goods is selected; others show upon selecting a Track Inventory method. For example, On Hand and Forecasted display when Track Inventory is ticked. In general, most smart buttons on a product form link to inventory operations.

Designate a product as a good or service.

Invoicing policy¶

The Invoicing policy field only shows on the product form if a product is for sale (in other words, if Sales is ticked, and the Sales app is installed).

When configuring a product for sale, it is necessary to choose an invoicing policy. When an invoicing policy of Ordered quantities is selected, customers are invoiced once the sales order is confirmed. When Delivered quantities is selected, customers are invoiced once the delivery is completed.

Tracked vs. untracked goods¶

The Track Inventory field on the product form determines a lot of Odoo’s Inventory operations.

Tracked products are those for which stock and inventory are maintained. Examples include finished goods and, often, the raw materials or components needed to make them.

When Track Inventory is ticked, a drop-down menu appears, offering for inventory to be tracked one of three ways: By Unique Serial Number, By Lots, or By Quantity.

Untracked products (sometimes referred to as non-inventory products) are typically consumed in a short period of time, meaning that stock/inventory does not need to be maintained. Non-inventory products are often essential, but exact counts are unnecessary. Examples include: office supplies, packaging materials, or items used in production that do not need to be individually tracked.

Tip

Tick the Track Inventory checkbox if it is necessary to track a product’s stock at various locations, for inventory valuation, with lots and/or serial numbers, or when using reordering rules.

Inventory operations by product type¶

Whether a good is tracked or untracked affects common Inventory operations, like transfers and reordering rules.

The table below summarizes which operations (and smart buttons) are enabled for tracked vs. untracked goods. Click highlighted chart items to navigate to detailed sections and related documents.

Inventory operation	Tracked	Untracked
Show on-hand quantity	Yes	No
Show forecasted quantity	Yes	No
Use reordering rules	Yes	No
Can be included in a purchase order	Yes	Yes
Use putaway rules	Yes	No
Can be manufactured, subcontracted, or used in another good’s BoM	Yes	Yes
Use inventory adjustments	Yes	No
Use inventory valuation	Yes	No
Create transfer	Yes	Yes
Use lot/serial number tracking	Yes	No
Can be placed in a kit	Yes	Yes
Can be placed in a package	Yes	Yes
Appears on inventory reports	Yes	No

Inventory¶

On-hand and forecasted quantities¶

A tracked product’s on-hand and forecasted quantities, based on incoming and outgoing orders, are reflected on the product form with two smart buttons:

On-Hand Quantity: This represents the number of units currently available in inventory. Click the button to view or add stock levels for a tracked product.
Forecasted: This represents the number of units expected to be available in inventory after all orders are taken into account. In other words, \(\text{forecasted} = \text{on hand quantity} + \text{incoming shipments} - \text{outgoing shipments}\). Click the button to view the Forecasted Report.

On the other hand, untracked products are regarded as always available. Consequently, On-Hand Quantity is not tracked, and there is no Forecasted quantity available.

Putaway rules and storage¶

Both tracked and untracked goods can optimize storage using:

Putaway Rules: This represents putaway rules that apply to a good, such as where to store it when a new shipment arrives.
Storage Capacities: This represents any storage capacity limitations specified for this good. For example, a warehouse may require that only ten (or less) sofas be stored there at any given time, due to their large size.

Replenishment¶

Reordering rules¶

Only tracked products can trigger reordering rules to generate purchase orders. Untracked goods cannot be managed using reordering rules.

Reordering rules can be configured directly on the product form via the (refresh) icon.

Note

If reordering rules already exist on a product, Odoo re-labels this button to Min / Max, to show the minimum and maximum number of units that must be in stock.

Create purchase orders¶

Both tracked and untracked products can be included in a request for quotation in the Purchase app. However, when receiving untracked products, their on-hand quantity does not change upon validating the receipt (WH/IN).

Replenish smart button¶

The Replenish smart button allows all goods to be restocked directly from the product form, according to the Preferred Route.

Manufacturing¶

Both tracked and untracked products can be manufactured, subcontracted, or included in another product’s bill of materials (BoM).

On the product form for a tracked or untracked good, there are several smart buttons that may appear for manufacturing operations:

Bill of Materials: This shows the BoMs used to make this product.
Used In: This shows other goods that include this product in their BoM.

Transfer goods¶

Transfers are warehouse operations that involve the movement of goods. Examples of transfers include deliveries and receipts, as well as internal transfers between warehouses.

When creating a transfer for tracked products in the Inventory app, transfers modify the on-hand quantity at each location. For example, transferring five units from the internal location WH/Stock to WH/Packing Zone decreases the recorded quantity at WH/Stock and increases it at WH/Packing Zone.

For untracked products, transfers can be created, but exact quantities at each storage location are not tracked.

Packages¶

Both tracked and untracked (non-inventory), products can be placed in packages.

However, for non-inventory products, the quantity is not tracked, and the product is not listed in the package’s Contents (which can be accessed by going to Inventory app ‣ Products ‣ Packages, and selecting the desired package).

Show Packages page, containing the package contents list. — An untracked product was placed in the package, but the **Content** section does not list it.¶

Additionally, if the Move Entire Packages feature is enabled, moving a package updates the location of the contained tracked products but not the contained untracked products. To enable this feature, navigate to Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Operations Types, select any operation, and tick the Move Entire Packages checkbox.

Inventory reports¶

Only tracked products appear on the following reports.

Important

These reports are only available to users with administrator access.

Stock report: This report provides a comprehensive list of all on-hand, unreserved, incoming, and outgoing tracked inventory. To access the report, go to Inventory app ‣ Reporting ‣ Stock.
Location report: This report shows a breakdown of which tracked products are held at each location (internal, external, or virtual). The report is only available with the Storage Location feature activated (Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings). To access it, go to Inventory app ‣ Reporting ‣ Locations.
Moves History report: This report summarizes where and when this good has moved in/out of stock. To access the report, go to Inventory app ‣ Reporting ‣ Moves History. Alternatively, click the In / Out smart button on a product form to filter the report on that product’s specific moves history.
Moves Analysis: This report provides a pivot table view of inventory transfers by operation type.
Stock Valuation report: A detailed record of the monetary value of all tracked inventory.

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