# Create a part or a service

Adding something new to charge for, and deciding whether the product counts it.

Parts and services are created on the same form. The decisions that matter are made early on it: whether this is one thing or a family of sizes, and whether the product should be counting what you hold.

> **Before you start:**
>
> What the thing is called, what you charge for it, and, for a part, what it costs you and which unit it is counted in.

## Highlights

- **Structure is decided first**, and it is not a casual choice.
- **Only the name is required** to save, though a part with no price is not much use.
- **A service simply has no stock**, rather than having stock of zero on purpose.
- **The SKU is how everybody else finds it**, so use the convention your stores already use.
- **Category and manufacturer** are what make a catalogue of hundreds searchable.

## Create one

![The Create Item screen with a breadcrumb reading Items, Items, Create. A Basic Information section holds a Structure choice of two buttons reading Single item and Has variants, with Single item selected, and a required Name field. A Product Information section holds SKU and Lead Time fields beside an Images upload area accepting JPG, PNG and WebP up to fifteen files. An Other Details section holds MPN for a manufacturer part number, a Classification section holds Category and Manufacturer pickers, and a Sales Information section begins below with a required Amount in GBP and a required Account set to Sales. Cancel and Save Item sit at the foot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/repairs/resources/item-create.png)

*The item form. Structure at the very top is the decision to make before anything else.*

- **Go to Items and select the Item button**
- **Choose the structure**

  Leave it on **Single item** for one thing at one price. Choose **Has variants** only when the thing genuinely comes in sizes you stock separately.
- **Name it the way your technicians would say it**

  The name is what somebody searches for at the counter with a customer waiting.
- **Enter the SKU and the lead time**

  For a part, the SKU is the code your stores use. Lead time is how long a replacement takes to arrive, which is what a ticket quotes back to the customer.
- **Set the category and manufacturer**

  Both are what stop a catalogue of hundreds becoming unsearchable, and the manufacturer is what tells two identical-looking valves apart.
- **Enter what you charge and what it costs**

  The selling amount and its account, then the cost price and its account further down. The gap between them is what the profitability report reads.
- **Set the usage**

  Choose the inventory usage for anything you hold on a shelf, and the sales and purchase usage for a service. This is the switch that decides whether quantities are tracked.
- **Select Save Item**

## Choosing the structure

**Single item** (most things)

- Yes: One code, one price, one stock figure
- Yes: Right for every service
- Yes: Right for a part that comes one way
- No: Sizes or lengths held separately

**Has variants**

- Yes: A family of sizes under one name
- Yes: Each size priced and counted on its own
- Yes: Up to three variant types, such as bore and length
- No: Anything you would never stock two versions of

> **Warning:**
>
> **Structure is not a decision to revisit casually**
>
> A family of variants is a different shape of record from a single item, and the documents already raised against the old shape do not rearrange themselves. Decide it when you create the item, and if you are unsure, a single item is the safer starting point.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Give services a real cost price**
>
> It is tempting to leave the cost at zero on labour, and it makes every repair look perfectly profitable. Putting the technician's hourly cost against the service is what lets the profitability report tell you which jobs are actually worth taking.