What you’ll learn
How CRIBWISE handles currencies for purchasing: the system default currency used for every transaction, and vendor-specific currencies used for vendors who invoice you in something else.
Understanding the difference tells you which price you are looking at on an item, an order or a report – and when CRIBWISE converts one currency into the other.
Currencies at a glance
| System default currency | Vendor-specific currency | |
| Where you set it | System settings → General information | Created in System settings → Purchase, then selected on the vendor detail |
| How many | One, for the whole system | One per vendor, as many as you need |
| Needs a conversion ratio | No | Yes – always from the system default currency |
| Used for | All transaction values, stock value, standard cost | Purchase and service prices for that vendor, and its orders |
| Applies to | Every vendor that has no currency of its own | Only the vendor it is set on |
System default currency explained
The system default currency is the base currency of your CRIBWISE installation. You set it in System settings, on the General information tab.
CRIBWISE uses it for the value of all transactions (both total value and value per piece), for stock value in the assignments and stock history reporting data sources, and for the standard cost of items.
Unless you set something else, every vendor uses the system default currency for the purchase price and service price of its items.
Note: The price per unit that the Shop Floor Interface can show during picking is always in the system default currency, converted from the vendor currency using the current conversion ratio.
Vendor-specific currency explained
If the system default currency does not suit a vendor, create the currency you need in System settings on the Purchase tab, then select it on the vendor detail.
Every specific currency must have a conversion ratio from the system default currency. CRIBWISE stores the date the ratio was last updated and shows it next to each currency in system settings.
Important: You cannot change a vendor’s currency once items already exist for that vendor.
Once a vendor has its own currency, that currency is used instead of the system default in these places:
- Purchase price per unit on the item detail, with the conversion to the system currency shown below the price.
- Service price per unit on the item detail, with the conversion to the system currency shown below the price.
- Price per unit and total price of an item in an order, including orders exported to PDF, Excel or XML.
- Price per unit and total price of an item in an order in the orders reporting data source.
- Total price of ordered items passed on by the sending interface.
What happens when an order becomes Active
When an order changes to Active – that is, when it is sent to the vendor – CRIBWISE recalculates the purchase price of every item in the order to the system default currency, using the conversion ratio valid at that moment.
All transactions related to ordering (purchase, restock, goods received, cancelled ordered quantity, scrapped service quantity) then show their main price in the system default currency. The vendor-currency amounts are kept as well, in the separate purchase price and purchase total price fields.
Warning: Changing the conversion ratio between the system currency and a vendor-specific currency does not affect orders that are already Active. Those orders keep the ratio that applied when they were activated.
Common confusion
| People often think… | But actually… |
| A vendor currency can be corrected at any time. | Once the vendor has items, the currency is locked. Correcting it means removing the items first. |
| Updating a conversion ratio reprices existing orders. | Active orders keep the ratio from the moment they were activated. Only new and draft work uses the new ratio. |
| Reports show prices in the vendor currency. | Only the orders data source does. Stock value and stock history are always in the system default currency. |
| Operators see the vendor price when picking. | The Shop Floor Interface always shows the converted system-currency price. |
Take action
Ready to set this up? Set the system default currency in System settings, add vendor currencies on the Purchase tab, and assign one to a vendor in How to manage vendors.
Related articles
- System settings – where the default currency and the list of vendor currencies live.
- How to manage vendors – assign a currency to a vendor and maintain vendor details.
- Standard cost of item – how CRIBWISE values items in the system default currency.