Components

Components are the materials, parts and semi-finished products that products are made from, for example screws, cable or a welded frame. They are never sold on their own. They are used up to make products.

Where to find it: Catalog → Components → Component list. To add one: Catalog → Components → New component.

When you'll use it

• Before you build a recipe. A product's recipe can use only components that already exist.
• You describe a semi-finished product that is itself made from other components.
• You record what a material costs.
• You buy a material in one unit and use it in another, for example you buy screws by the kilogram and count them in pieces.
• You check how much of a material you have, and which products use it.
• You print a label for a material, so the warehouse can scan it.
• You remove a component you have stopped using.

Key concepts

• Component — a material, part or semi-finished product. Each has a Code. The code is built from the name when you create the component, for example M6-20-SCREW. It does not change if you rename the component later.
• Kind — Material, Part or Semi-finished product. It only describes the component. It does not change how the component behaves.
• Origin — Purchased (you buy it ready-made from a supplier) or Produced in-house (you make it, and a production order can be issued for it). The component form has no field for where it is made. Production orders are assigned to workstations in Planning.
• Issue unit — the unit you count the component in day to day: pcs, set, m, m², kg or l. Stock, recipes, receipts and issues all use it.
• Purchase unit and Purchase factor — use these if the supplier sells the component in a different unit. The factor says how many issue units fit in one purchase unit, for example 1 kg = 500 pcs. At goods receipt you can then enter the quantity from the delivery note in the purchase unit, and Complaia converts it to the issue unit.
• Production unit and Production factor — the same two fields for a component produced in-house. They describe how you make it, for example 1 m of strip gives 4 pcs. They convert nothing: a finished component enters stock in the issue unit.
• Unit cost — what one issue unit costs. The field label shows the unit, for example "per pcs".
• Recipe — a component's own list of sub-components. A component has one recipe, used everywhere: every product and component that uses it shares it.
• Categories — components use the same category tree as products.

Components are not products

Components have a separate list and separate stock, and they never appear on an order or an invoice. If you sell something, it is a product, even if you also use it as a part. A product can still be an item in another product's recipe. See A product in a recipe.

The screens

Component list

A table with one row per component. A dot in front of each row shows its status: green for Active, red for Archived. Click a row, or the name, to open the component card.

Column	What it tells you
Name / Code	Photo, name and code.
Type	Material, Part or Semi-finished product.
Origin	Production or Purchase.
Category	The component's category.
Unit	The issue unit.
Cost	The unit cost and its currency.
Created	When the component was added.

You can filter the Type, Origin, Category, Unit, Cost and Created columns, and there is an extra Active filter. The header has Categories, which opens the Categories screen, and New component.

Component card

The Component card is for reading only. It has five tabs:

Tab	What it shows
Identification	Photos, name, code, kind, unit, purchase or production unit, category, origin and description.
Pricing	Cost and currency.
Recipe	The component's own recipe as a tree, or a note that it has none.
Stock level	The total quantity, Reserved and Available, the Locations that hold it and the Recent movements.
Used in	Every component and product whose recipe uses this one.

The header has Print label and, if you may edit components, Edit.

The component form

Creating and editing use the same three steps: Identification, Pricing, Recipe. The bar at the bottom has Back and Next and tells you what is missing.

• On a new component, the final button is Create component, on the last step. Clear in the header empties the form. If you have entered anything, Complaia asks first.
• On an existing component, Save is on every step. If a step has something missing, Save is dimmed. Click it anyway and Complaia opens that step. The header has Delete component.

📷 Screenshot to add: the Component card on the Used in tab.

Common tasks

Add a component

1. Go to Catalog → Components → New component.
2. On Identification, add photos if you have them and type the Name. The code is built from the name.
3. Optionally, choose a Category.
4. Under Origin, choose Purchased or Produced in-house.
5. Choose the Kind and the Issue unit.
6. If you buy (or produce) the component in a different unit, choose the Purchase unit (or Production unit) and type the factor. A line under the field repeats the conversion, for example "1 kg = 500 pcs", so you can check it.
7. Click Next. On Pricing, type the Unit cost and choose the Currency.
8. Click Next. On Recipe, build the component's own recipe if it has one, or skip the step.
9. Click Create component.

Give it a cost

1. On the Pricing step, type the Unit cost as a normal amount. 12.50 means twelve and a half.

The cost is for one issue unit, as the field label says. Up to five decimal places are accepted, so you can record a cost of a fraction of a cent per piece.

If the component has a purchase unit, a line under the field shows the cost of one purchase unit. Use it to check your figure. For example, screws at 0.04 per piece with 500 pieces per kilogram show "= 20.00 per kg". If that line shows the supplier's price per kilogram multiplied by 500, you typed the price per kilogram by mistake.

Buy in one unit, count in another

1. Open the component and click Edit.
2. On Identification, choose the Purchase unit, for example kg.
3. Type the Purchase factor: how many issue units are in one purchase unit, for example 500.
4. Click Save.

At goods receipt you can now enter the quantity in kilograms. Complaia converts it to pieces before it books the stock. Pieces and sets are rounded to whole numbers; other units keep up to three decimal places. See Goods receipt.

If you change the factor of a component that is in stock, Complaia asks first. Stock is not recalculated. Only receipts entered later in the purchase unit are converted with the new factor.

Build a component's own recipe

A semi-finished product is a component with a recipe.

1. Open the component, click Edit and go to the Recipe step.
2. Click Start building the recipe, then Add BOM line. BOM stands for bill of materials.
3. Choose the Component, type the quantity and click Add.
4. Click Save in the bar at the bottom.

The tree works the same way as a product's recipe. See Recipe & production. A component's recipe is shared, so when you change a deeper level, Complaia asks whether to change it everywhere it is used or to make a copy for this recipe only.

Complaia refuses a recipe that leads back to the component itself. The message names the loop.

Print a component label

A component label carries the component's code as a QR code and a barcode. The warehouse can scan it at goods receipt, at goods issue and during stocktaking.

1. Open the component from the Component list.
2. Click Print label in the header.
3. Choose Large label (100×150 mm) or Small label (70×25 mm).

The label opens as a PDF in a new browser tab. Print it from there. Each click gives one label.

See where a component is used

1. Open the component from the Component list.
2. Click the Used in tab.

The tab lists the components and products that use it. A warning reminds you that changing this component's recipe affects all of them, and that you can delete the component only after removing it from all of them. Click a row to open that component or product.

Check and receive stock

The Stock level tab of the Component card shows the totals and the locations.

Component stock is handled on the warehouse screens, together with products:

• see Stock levels for the list;
• see Goods receipt for booking deliveries in.

If the tab says there is no stock in any warehouse, nothing has been received yet.

Change the unit of a component that is in stock

If you change the Issue unit of a component that is in stock, Complaia asks first, in a window titled This component is in stock. Nothing is converted. The numbers stay the same and only the unit changes: in stock, in the movement history, in recipes, in the purchase factor and in the unit cost.

• Choose Change anyway only if the quantities are already expressed in the new unit.
• Otherwise keep the old unit and bring the stock to zero first.

Delete a component

1. Open the component and click Edit.
2. Click Delete component in the header.
3. Confirm Delete this component?

Deleting is permanent

The component is deleted and cannot be restored. Complaia refuses if the component is used in a product's or another component's recipe, or if it has stock. The movement history is kept.

When it doesn't work

What you see	Why	What to do
Component name is required.	The name is empty.	Type a name.
A record with this value already exists. when creating	The code is built from the name, and another component already has that code.	Give the component a different name.
The component cannot be archived because it is used in BOM structures. Remove it from those structures first.	You tried to delete a component that a product or another component still uses.	Open the Used in tab, remove the component from each recipe, then delete it.
A message that the component cannot be deleted because it has stock or reservations	There is stock, or a reservation, for it.	Issue the stock or adjust it to zero first.
A message about a loop in the structure	The recipe leads back to the component itself.	Remove the component that closes the loop.
Unit cost must be a number no lower than zero, with at most 9 digits before the decimal point and 5 after it.	The cost is out of range.	Correct the amount.
After conversion to the stock unit this quantity is 0. Enter a larger quantity or change the unit. at goods receipt	The quantity in the purchase unit is too small to give one whole issue unit.	Enter a larger quantity, or receive in the issue unit.
The label could not be prepared.	The PDF could not be created.	Click Print label again. If it keeps failing, report it to support.
A component shows a red dot: Archived.	It was switched off in the past. It cannot be chosen in new recipes.	Create a new component if you need it again.
The component does not appear when you add it to a recipe.	It is archived. Only active components are offered.	Check its status on the list.
There is no Categories button on the list.	Your role may not see categories.	Ask for Categories: View.

Permissions

To do this	You need
See the component list	Components (materials): View
Open a component card and print its label	Components (materials): View, or Warehouse: View
Add a component	Components (materials): Create
Edit a component and its recipe	Components (materials): Edit
Delete a component	Components: archiving
Open Categories from the list	Categories: View

Warehouse staff with Warehouse: View can open the component card to look up a material.

Related

• Recipe & production — where components are used
• Categories — the tree shared with products
• Identifiers & labels — how a component label differs from a product label
• Products · Catalog overview
• Stock levels · Goods receipt — component stock
• Production orders — where components are used up
• Glossary — component