Order Exactly What You Need: Decimal Quantities Are Here in Sourcing and Procurement Operations

[Ravikumar Iyer]

Decimal quantity support for service purchases is here — so you can finally order exactly what you need, not just a whole number approximation of it.

Procuring services has always been a little messier than buying goods. Goods come in units. Services come in hours, fractions, and partial engagements. Forcing them into whole numbers was a workaround that never really worked.

With the latest update to Shopping Hub, you can now enter decimal quantities for service-based purchase requests — and edit them after the fact. It's a small change with a big operational impact.

The Problem It Solves

Previously, if you needed to purchase 2.5 hours of consulting time, your only option was to round up, add workaround line items, or inaccurately document unit costs. Editing 1 unit of a managed service to 0.75 hours wouldn't have been possible, resulting in cancelled requisitions or manual corrections after the fact. None of those are ideal.

Service revisions with decimal quantities also couldn't be processed — meaning even if you could enter a decimal, the system would reject it during revision. That's now fixed.

How to Enable It

Configuration lives in the new Unit of Measure decision table. From there, you define exactly which units of measure support decimal input. For example:

• Hours → decimal enabled
• Individual units → decimal enabled
• Anything else → whole numbers only (set to false)

This granular control means you're not flipping a single on/off switch — you're defining the right behavior per unit type, which keeps data accurate across different service categories.

What This Covers (and What It Doesn't)

Decimal quantities are supported only for services. Goods remain whole-number only — and that's by design. A purchase order for 1.5 laptops doesn't make sense. A purchase order for 1.5 hours of IT support absolutely does.

The feature applies to both new service requests in Shopping Hub and edits to existing service purchase requests — so revisions are no longer a bottleneck.

The Benefits at a Glance

• Accurate service procurement. Request exactly what you need — no over-ordering to compensate for whole-number constraints.
• Cleaner revisions. Edit service quantities on existing purchase requests without the system blocking the update.
• Admin-controlled precision. Define which units support decimals — keeping guard rails in place where they belong.
• Goods stay protected. Whole-number enforcement for goods remains unchanged — only services benefit from decimal input.

Why This Matters

Decimal quantity support closes a long-standing gap in service procurement. It's a targeted, configurable enhancement that brings your purchase orders in line with how services are actually consumed — precisely.

If you’re interested in learning more about this exciting capability, you can read all about it here:
Decimal quantity support for service-based purchases in Shopping Hub.