| # General and item dependent conversion factors Two types of conversion factors exist: General conversion factors Item dependent conversion factors General conversion factors General conversion factors define the ratio between units of the same physical quantity type. For example, the conversion factor from one kilogram to one gram is 1000, independent of the item to which the unit belongs. You can limit the number of conversion factors by defining the ratios between units of the same physical type as general conversion factors. Item dependent conversion factors Item dependent conversion factors are only valid for specific items or item groups. Use item dependent conversion factors to define the ratio between units of different physical quantity types for a specific item. Example One liter of water is one kilogram. One liter of potato salad is two kilograms. One liter of oil is 0.8 kilogram. Note that the conversion of liters to kilograms is different for the items water, potato salad, and oil. As a result, you must define item dependent conversion factors. In the Conversion Factors (tcibd0103m000) session, you can define conversion factors in these ways: By item and base unit By item group and base unit By base unit (general conversion factor) Related topics Units Defining units To use conversion factors |