Quick Reference: Item Types & Behaviors

Quick Reference: Item Types & Behaviors



Knowing the different item types is essential for accurate inventory tracking and clean financial reporting. Each type—whether matrix, parent-child, kit, or no count—controls how items are counted, sold, and expensed. Using the right type streamlines workflows and ensures consistency across your team.

Item Types (9 mins)


Item Types in Yellow Dog Inventory

Individual SKU
  1. A single item, created and managed as a standalone product.

Matrix Items 
  1. Used for Retail items with multiple variations (e.g., hats with different sizes and colors).
  2. A matrix profile sets defaults and builds a grid of related SKUs.
  3. Each variation is its own SKU, tied to the matrix.

On-Hand/Other Size Items (Parent/Child Items)
  1. Links items that exist in different units of measure. Ex. Buy glasses by the case, sell by the each.
  2. Both case and each are SKUs, but inventory combines for accurate counts.

Kit/Recipe Items
  1. An item that is a combination of other inventory items.
  2. When creating a Kit or Recipe item, the assigned behavior will dictate how the items functions. The behaviors include:
    1. Retail Kit - Allows inventory items to be combined into a selling unit (e.g., gift baskets).
    2. Purchasing Kit - Allows bulk purchased items (e.g., variety pack) to be disassembled into individual items.
    3. Production Recipe- Used for recipes produced in-house in advance. These items will have an on-hand that are managed though manual adjustments.
    4. Batch Recipe - Used for recipes produced in-house in advance.  Will not have a on-hand, when counted in physical inventories on-hands are represented in the ingredient items.
    5. POS Menu Item - Serves as a placeholder for made-to-order recipes in the POS (e.g., a burger). These items do not have their own on-hand count—only the ingredient items are reduced when the item is sold.
    6. Production Transfer Item - Let you manage scenarios where production and consumption happen in different places, ensuring that ingredients are reduced in the producing location and finished goods appear in the receiving location only after transfer.

Sold by Weight Items
  1. Items that are sold in the Point-of Sale by weight.
  2. Yellow Dog determines the quantity sold by the Retail price of the item at time of sale.

No Count Items
  1. Items without inventory impact (e.g., shipping, gift wrapping, services).
  2. Always show on-hand as zero but can still carry a price.

Auto Zero Items
  1. Typically expensed items like trash bags or office supplies.
  2. Received normally, but a nightly routine resets on-hand to zero.
  3. The cost is booked to a designated expense account.

Auto Transfer Items
  1. Used when items are physically moved to another location that doesn’t track inventory (e.g., gift shop supplying pool bar).
  2. A nightly routine transfers stock based on sales automatically then resets on-hands to zero.

Note: An item can fall into more than one item type. For example, a single SKU might also be designated as a No Count item.

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