Manage Articles
The Articles section is where you organise all the goods your company purchases or produces within kolum. Articles are the specific goods you track across imports, production, and your supply chain to ensure clear reporting and supplier management. Articles are managed on a single Articles page that serves both your CBAM and EUDR workflows: one list, one detail page, and one place to keep your master data clean. Managing articles in kolum helps you:
- Maintain a clean, central record of all purchased and produced goods.
- Ensure articles are linked correctly with suppliers and production facilities.
- Enable accurate import tracking and production data collection.
- Keep your team aligned with consistent article naming and classification.
What is an Article?
An article in kolum represents any good you purchase or produce that you want to track across your workflows. Articles are no longer split into Purchased and Produced types: every article is a single record, and its connections to companies and suppliers are derived automatically from your transactional data.
For each article, you can store:
- Name: Clear identification for your team.
- Description: Additional context or details.
- Reference Number: GTIN, EAN, or any internal reference. Each Reference Number must be unique within your account; entering one that already exists shows a clear error. Leave it empty when creating an article manually and kolum generates one for you.
- CN-Code: Classification for customs workflows.
- Net weight per piece with its Measurement Unit (kg or t): the full net weight of one unit of the article, excluding packaging. It is optional, but it is what allows kolum to convert quantities counted in pieces (for example on purchase orders) into net mass, which EUDR Due Diligence Statements require.
Where to find Articles
Articles has a single entry in the sidebar, available in every module context. The previous separate CBAM and EUDR article pages have been replaced; old links redirect automatically to the unified Articles page.
The article detail page
Opening an article shows its details in four sections, each editable block by block (one block in edit mode at a time, with Save and Cancel in the block header). The page opens on the section that matches the regulation module you have selected (CBAM or EUDR) when that section is available to your account, otherwise on General; you can always switch sections manually, and an explicit choice of General is kept.
- General: Reference Number, CN Code, Description, and the Units & weight block with the Net weight per piece and its Measurement Unit. The article Name is edited inline from the page header.
- Associations: Connected Companies and Connected Suppliers, shown as read-only tags derived automatically from your imports and transactional data.
- CBAM: the Inward Processing block (including a "Precursor CN Code is CBAM-relevant" checkbox that can bring an article into CBAM scope when its own CN Code is not), the Article Production Details table, and the applicable CBAM regulatory references.
- EUDR: a Yes/No EUDR relevance control (available only when the CN Code is in EUDR scope) and the applicable EUDR regulatory references.
Why Managing Articles Matters
Maintaining accurate article records helps you:
- Streamline import workflows and compliance tracking.
- Link articles seamlessly to suppliers and production facilities.
- Ensure emissions and production data are accurately tied to the correct goods.
- Avoid duplicate tracking and confusion across teams.
Next Actions
To begin managing your articles, choose your next step:
- Add New Article: Add articles one by one with classification and reference details.
- Connect Suppliers To An Article: Supplier and company connections appear automatically from your transactional data.
- Bulk Upload Articles: Add or update multiple articles at once using the provided Excel template.
- Edit Existing Articles: Update article details whenever information changes.
- Delete An Article: Remove articles that are no longer needed from your tracking and reporting.
- Glossary For Bulk Upload Of Articles: Every column of the article upload template explained.
The Articles table
The Articles table opens in its default order, with the Reference Number shown first. There is no Type column; purchased and produced goods are managed identically. Click a column header to sort when you want to. At the top of the page, use Export to download all your articles and Upload File to add or update articles in bulk; Add New creates a single article.
Article Production Details
On an article's detail page, the Article Production Details table shows SEE Direct and SEE Indirect emissions, SEFA (specific embedded free allocation), CBAM-Liable Emissions, and a single Total CBAM Cost. The Emission Data Type (Default or Actual) is shown with the applicable reporting timeframe beneath it. When the emission data type is Actual, the SEE Direct and SEE Indirect values also show a delta indicator: the percentage difference between the actual value and the CBAM default for that figure. A value below the default renders with a green down arrow (lower emissions than default); a value above it renders with a red up arrow. Hovering the percentage shows a tooltip that spells out the comparison and the default value with units, e.g. -11.90% vs CBAM default (2.10 tCO₂e/t). Default rows show no delta.
What's new
Articles can now carry a net weight per piece with its unit (kg or t), maintained in the General section, in the upload template and in the export, so quantities counted in pieces can be converted to net mass for EUDR. The article detail page opens on the section that matches the regulation module you are working in.