Administration: Universal Conversion Factors

Note: This feature requires at least one of the following modules licensed at your site:

● Chemical Inventory

● Form R Regulatory Reporting

● Tier II Regulatory Reporting

A conversion factor is a selected pair of units of measure and a multiplication factor that converts between these two units. This enables Comply Plus to automatically convert product quantities between the two units as necessary. For example: If a product is typically measured in pounds (lbs) and an 8-ounce usage is recorded, the lbs-to-oz conversion factor automatically converts this value to pounds, and the converted value (0.5 lbs) is subtracted from the product's running balance.

Your system does not need a conversion factor to directly convert every unit to every other possible unit. Every conversion factor converts in both directions; the conversion factor in the example above can convert both ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces. Also, Comply Plus automatically assembles multiple conversion factors when a sequence of conversions is required to convert a value between two units (example: grams > ounces > pounds > tons).

Comply Plus provides three main types of conversion factor:

● SDS-specific conversion factors can convert the quantities of specific SDSs' products only. For details, see SDS Conversion Factors.

● Part-specific conversion factors can convert the quantities of specific parts only. For details, see Part Conversion Factors.

● Universal conversion factors can convert the quantities of any product. Most universal conversion factors apply standard unit conversions, such as ounces-to-pounds, grams-to-kilograms, and so on. A universal conversion factor created at Corporate can apply to any product quantity at any local site; a universal conversion factor created at a local site can apply to product quantities at that site only.

By default, your system provides for most standard conversions as Corporate-level universal conversion factors. Typically, you only need to modify universal conversion factors when:

● You need to convert non-standard units of measure not covered by the default conversion factors;

● You need to convert Ambiguous units (units of non-specific quantity), such as bottles or drums; however, because different products come in containers/units of different sizes, these conversion factors are typically not universal, but product-specific (see SDS Conversion Factors and Part Conversion Factors).

● Special circumstances at your company (or at a specific site) render a default conversion factor inaccurate.

Note: When a product-specific conversion factor converts between the same units as a universal conversion factor, transactions of that product use the product-specific conversion factor.

The administrative Universal Conversion Factors page also provides a Conversion Factor Calculator, which enables you to perform test conversions using the available universal conversion factors. For details, see the following procedure.

To view a site's universal conversion factors:

Starting at the Application Administration page (How do I get there?), do the following:

1. In the menu on the left, under INVENTORY, click Conversion Factors.

The administrative Universal Conversion Factors page opens, showing all universal conversion factors available for products at your site. The From Unit and To Unit columns show the units of measure each factor converts between. The Factor column shows the multiplication factor used in the conversion; for example: if the factor is 10, this means 1 [From Unit] = 10 [To Unit]. The Scope column shows the origin of each conversion factor:

Factor was created at Corporate. This factor enables quantity conversions at your site, but it can be edited and deleted by a Corporate user only.

Factor was created at your local site. This factor enables quantity conversions at your site only, and it can be edited and deleted by a local site user only.

2. Optional: To perform a unit conversion using the displayed universal conversion factors, click Conversion Factor Calculator in the upper right. In the Conversion Factor Calculator that opens, enter the Value you want to convert and select its unit of measure in the From menu. In the To menu, select the unit you want to convert this value into. Then click Calculate Conversion Factor.

The converted value is displayed along with the sequence of conversions used to calculate it.

If you have permission to manage universal conversion factors, see the following topics for details:

● Creating a Universal Conversion Factor: Create a new conversion factor to enable automatic conversion of any product's quantities between two units.

● Editing a Universal Conversion Factor: Change a the units a conversion factor converts between and/or the factor it uses to convert between them.

● Deleting a Universal Conversion Factor: Delete an obsolete or otherwise unwanted conversion factor.