Every item, material, recipe line, item type and order uses a unit. Neviscater converts between weight/volume units automatically; everything else is treated as a count. Getting units right is what makes quantities, raw-material lists and costs line up.
The Units Table
Application Setup → Units Table lists your units. The defaults are:
| Unit | Display | Converts with |
|---|---|---|
| Kilogram | kg | Gram |
| Gram | gm | Kilogram |
| Litre | lt | Mililitre |
| Mililitre | ml | Litre |
| Plate, Piece, Bottle, Cup, Unit | as named | nothing by themselves — counted as-is. They convert once you say what one of them holds: a Weight per Plate on an item, or a pack size on a material (below) |
Add New Unit → Unit (full name) and Display Unit (short label used on screens and prints) → Save. Edit Unit changes the display label.
Conversion rules
- kg ↔ gm and lt ↔ ml convert by 1000 in either direction. Kilogram and Litre are treated as equivalent (1 kg ≈ 1 l), as are Gram and Mililitre — fine for kitchen purposes.
- Any other pair is not convertible on its own: Plate to kg, Piece to gm, or two custom units. Where a conversion is needed and not possible, the screen warns (Units that cannot be converted: … on a recipe) and that line costs nothing and counts as nothing in calculations.
- A counted unit becomes convertible for one record when you state its size there:
- a material kept per Bottle with a pack size 1 Bottle = 750 Mililitre can be used in recipes by the ml and bought by the litre — see Materials → Pack sizes;
- an item sold per Plate with a Weight per Plate of 350 Gram can have its recipe converted when its unit changes — see Items → Changing an item's unit. The size belongs to that material or item only; two materials both kept per Bottle can have different pack sizes.
- Unit matching is by name, not display label — Kilogram with display Kg and Kilogram with display kgs are the same unit.
Where units must agree
| Relationship | Rule |
|---|---|
| Recipe line ↔ material | Recipe quantity unit must convert to the material's unit: gm in the recipe with kg on the material is fine; ml in the recipe with a material kept per Bottle needs the bottle's pack size. Rows that do not convert are flagged on the item's Recipe button |
| Item ↔ item type | Item's unit must convert to the item type's unit (used for average consumption). Otherwise the item gets no suggested quantity and shows a unit is not compatible warning |
| Item with a counted unit ↔ recipe | Tell the item what one unit weighs: Weight per Plate on the item form (e.g. 1 Plate = 350 Gram). See Items and Recipes → Add an item |
| Order Measuring Unit ↔ guests | Preferences → Order Measuring Unit … Equals … Guests (e.g. 1 Thali = 1 guest). See Preferences |
| Itemware rules | Cookware/serveware quantity can be per unit of the item or per plate/guest |
Choosing units for new records
- Materials — the unit you buy and stock in: kg for rice, lt for oil, Piece for coconuts, Bottle for water.
- Items — the unit you serve and plan in: kg for curries and rice, Piece for rotis and sweets, Plate for a combo, Cup for beverages.
- Item types — the unit in which average consumption per guest is meaningful: gm for Sweets, ml for Beverages, Piece for Breads.
- Recipes — any unit convertible to the material's unit; gm and ml are usually easiest.
Changing a unit after the record is in use
Everything recorded against an item or a material is per unit — a recipe makes one Plate, a rate is per one Kilogram, stock is so many Bottles. Changing the unit alone would leave all of those numbers meaning something else. So when you pick a different Unit on an item or a material and Save, Neviscater first works out what the change means and tells you, inside the form, before anything is saved:
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Nothing is recorded yet (no recipe, no stock, not on any menu, order or catalog) | The unit simply changes |
| The record is used, and both the old and the new unit have a known size | Everything per unit is converted — a notice lists exactly what, you tick Convert and change the unit, then Save |
| The record is used and one side is a counted unit whose size is not known | The change is refused with a message saying what to do instead |
The detailed rules differ slightly for the two:
- Items: Changing an item's unit and Correcting the weight of a Plate or Piece.
- Materials: Changing a material's unit and Changing a pack size.
Purchase order lines are never touched by a unit change: each line keeps the unit it was written in.
Common questions
I added "Kgs" and now some items don't convert. Neviscater sees Kgs as a separate, non-convertible unit. Use the built-in Kilogram and change its Display Unit to Kgs instead.
Can I delete a unit? Not while any item, material, recipe or item type uses it.
Raw materials list shows a material with zero quantity. A recipe line is in a unit that does not convert to the material's unit — the item's Recipe button carries a warning triangle naming the material. Measure that line in the unit the material is kept in, or give the material a pack size so the line converts.
I changed a unit and the form says it cannot be changed. The item or material is already in use and the old or new unit is a counted one whose size is not known. Either state the size first (weight per unit on an item, pack size on a material) and try again, or create a new record for the new unit and keep the old one for the orders that use it.