# Materials
> Material types and units plus order-level coverage monitoring.

- Canonical HTML: [https://syncroplan.com/en/docs/materials](https://syncroplan.com/en/docs/materials)
- Language: English
- Roles: owner, manager
- Keywords: materials, type, unit, coverage, purchased, shortage

## Outcome
You will maintain a shared material catalog and assess coverage across active orders.

## Before you start
- An agreed material name and inventory unit.

## Menu path
Menu → Materials

## Step-by-step instructions
1. Select “+ Add material type”, enter a unique Name and Unit, then save.
2. Use “Edit” to correct catalog text.
3. Add the type and required quantity to a Template or Order.
4. Review Material coverage statuses: Purchased, To purchase, Assigned, To assign, and Material shortages.
5. Open Inventory to record physical stock and reservations.

## What you see on screen
- A material type defines name and unit; it is not an inventory balance.
- Coverage compares required quantity with issued, reserved, and missing quantities for each order.

## Effects of changes
- Editing updates the label in views but does not convert quantities.
- Deletion is blocked while templates, orders, stock, or movement history reference the type.

## Important warnings
- Changing a unit does not convert existing values. Do so only when all stored quantities already use the same scale.

## Common problems
### Purchased is selected but coverage is still missing.
Purchased is order information; record the delivery and reservation in Inventory.

### The type cannot be deleted.
Review the referenced templates, orders, and inventory history named by the conflict.

## Related articles
- [Inventory](https://syncroplan.com/en/docs/inventory.md): On-hand, reserved, and available stock, shortages, reservations, releases, and movement history.
- [Templates](https://syncroplan.com/en/docs/templates.md): Reusable order flows with sequences, parallel blocks, paths, materials, and product fields.
- [Orders](https://syncroplan.com/en/docs/orders.md): Create, filter, copy, edit, schedule, and move orders through their complete status lifecycle.