Units of Measure Conversion

In some cases, you may find it necessary to convert quantities between different units of measure. Determination can automatically resolve many of these differences and accurately calculate taxes and fees regardless of the differences in units of measure involved.

Duties charged for excise are usually per-unit-fees charged against a quantity amount, for example barrels, gallons, or pallets. Your ERP system specifies the terms on invoices as agreed by the purchaser.

Tax authorities define their duties in units of measure that are generally accepted in the industry being levied. Commonly, the invoiced units do not match units defined for per-unit-fees used in tax determination.

To provide 100% accuracy in resolving differing units of measure, you can add any custom units of measure and conversion factors required to support your business processes.

A fee is a type of rate. Fees are the only rate type that have units of measure.

Source for Determination Data

System data is provided based on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) "Recommendation No 20 - Codes for Units of Measure used in International Trade," International Standards Organization (ISO) standards 31-0 1992, 80000-3 2006, and 80000-4 2006, and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard X-3.50 1986.

Units of Measure: System Data and Custom Data

You can view and configure Units of Measure on the Units of Measure page. For more information, see View and Manage Units of Measure.

System data provides the subset of codes most useful to Determination customers. You can also configure your own units of measure by adding new codes and the appropriate Conversion Factors.

Each unit of measure consists of the following:

A name and associated code. For example, the default unit of measure named Pound has the code LBR.
A category, such as Weight, Length, or Volume. Conversions can take place only between units of measure of the same category.
A base unit of measure. This base is used as a fallback mechanism in certain instances. See Determining Which Unit of Measure to Use or Convert.
Rounding and precision rules to use during any potential conversion.
Start and (optional) end dates.

Viewing and Configuring Conversion Factors

You can view and configure conversion factors on the Conversion Factors page.

System data provides the subset of conversion factors most useful to Determination customers. Both forward and reverse conversion factors are supported (for example, FOT (foot) to MTR (meter) and MTR to FOT). You can also configure your own conversion factors between any combination of system and/or custom units of measure. Custom conversion factors take precedence over system conversion factors.

Unit of measure conversions must be direct, not a combination of multiple conversion factors. For example, if you need to convert gallons to quarts, you must explicitly configure that conversion. The system cannot extrapolate gallons to quarts if you have the following rules configured:

Gallons to liters
Liters to quarts

Each conversion factor consists of the following:

From and To units of measure, such as LBR (pound) and ONZ (ounce).
An operator and factor, such as multiply by 16.
Start and (optional) end dates.

Determining Which Unit of Measure to Use or Convert

A unit of measure (UOM) can be specified in multiple places: in the transaction, on a fee, and at the authority level.

Transaction Data

A transaction can specify one or more quantities. Each quantity consists of an amount (such as 1) and an associated UOM (such as LBR).
One of these quantities may be specified as the default and that quantity's amount and unit of measure will be used for the transaction.
If a quantity does not specify any unit of measure, Determination assigns a unit of measure of "each" to that quantity.
If a quantity does not specify an amount, Determination assigns a value of 1 to that quantity.
If no quantity (amount and unit of measure) is specified by the transaction as the default, the unit of measure specified by the fee or authority is used instead.

Fee Data

A fee can specify whether or not to use either the default unit of measure defined by the Authority or a specific unit of measure indicated by the fee. In either case, the transaction default would override the data specified on the rate.

Authority Data

An authority can define a default UOM for use in its transactions.

Configuration Examples

The following examples illustrate how the different unit of measure configurations work together.

Default UOM in Transaction, Matching UOM on Fee

In this example, a quantity in the transaction is specified as the default. That default quantity uses a unit of measure which matches the unit of measure found on the fee triggered by the tax calculation.

In this case, no UOM conversion is needed and the transaction proceeds normally.

Default UOM in Transaction, Non-Matching UOM on Fee

In this example, a quantity in the transaction is specified as the default. That default quantity uses a UOM that does not match the unit of measure found on the fee triggered by the tax calculation.

Assuming that the different UOMs are of the same category (for example volume) and that a conversion factor is available, the amount from the transaction is converted to match the unit of measure on the fee; and then tax is calculated using the converted amount. For example:

Default UOM in transaction is LBR (pounds); amount is 10.
Default UOM on rate is KGM (kilograms).
Both UOMs are in the same category (mass).
10 pounds are converted to 4.5359237 kilograms and the calculation proceeds.

If the different units of measure are not of the same category, Determination returns an error.

Default UOM in Transaction, "Use Default Input UOM" Checked on Fee

In this example, a quantity in the transaction is specified as the default. The fee includes a checked Use Default Input UOM checkbox.

In this case, no unit of measure conversion is needed and the transaction proceeds normally.

No Default UOM in Transaction, "Use Default Input UOM" Checked on Fee, Matching Authority UOM

In this example, no quantity in the transaction is specified as the default. The fee includes a checked Use Default Input UOM checkbox. The associated authority uses a default unit of measure that matches one of the quantities passed in with the transaction.

In this case, the first quantity matching the authority default UOM is used.

Example:

A line in a transaction includes three quantities: 10 LBR, 4.5359237 KGM, and 4535.9237 GRM.
The Authority default UOM is set to KGM.
4.5359237 KGM is used as the quantity for the transaction.

No Default UOM in Transaction, "Use Default Input UOM" Not Checked on Fee, Non-Matching Authority UOM

In this example, no quantity in the transaction is specified as the default. The fee includes a deselected Use Default Input UOM checkbox. The associated authority uses a default unit of measure that does not match any of the quantities passed in with the transaction.

Determination attempts to convert each quantity to the authority default, first using direct conversion factors and then using conversions where each UOM shares the same Base attribute. If no conversion is possible, the transaction fails.

Example:

A line in a transaction includes a single quantity: 10 LBR.
The Authority default UOM is set to KGM.
A direct conversion can be performed between LBR and KGM.
4.5359237 KGM is used as the quantity for the transaction.

Determination defines the following base attributes for the associated category:

KGM (kilogram): Mass
LTR (liter): Volume
MTK (square meter): Area
MTR (meter): Length

You can create additional Base attributes or use these defaults.

No UOM in Transaction

If no UOM is specified in a transaction, Determination applies a default unit of measure of each to the quantity. each has a conversion factor of 1:1 to all other units of measure. Once this unit of measure has been assigned, transaction processing takes place as indicated in the examples above.