This article contains description of parameters which allow for more efficient handling of inventory process.

Parameters available:

• from the level of System Configuration Trade 
• in inventory document definition
• in Inventory document form
• in inventory sheet form

Parameters available from the level of System → Configuration → Trade

Inventory – control correctness of documents – when adding an item to an inventory sheet, it is possible to verify, whether a given item lot is not currently reserved, which would make impossible later correction of discrepancy between system quantity and effective quantity. Parameter Inventory – control correctness of documents is used to enable the control. It is unchecked by default. Upon its checking, it is possible to determine at which moment the control should be performed: When confirming an inventory sheet or When adding an item to an inventory sheet. The value of the parameter can be changed at any moment.

If the parameter is unchecked and there are reservations of merchandise for the warehouse which is subject to inventory, then, an appropriate message is displayed when adding an inventory sheet.

If the parameter is checked, then, depending on selected option, it is not possible to add a lot to an inventory sheet or confirm an inventory sheet with lots included in:

• unconfirmed trade and warehouse documents: IR-, SOR, WM-, WM+, SI, IR+QC, PORQC, PIQC
• confirmed SI and R not associated with SOR
• confirmed PIQC not associated with PORQC
• confirmed WM- not associated with WM+

The control is performed on the level of the subitems of the abovementioned documents. SO, and IO are no subject to the control.

If the system finds documents blocking the addition of a given lot to an inventory sheet or the confirmation of the sheet with given lots, it will display a message informing which documents contain reservations.

Parameters Automatically confirm inventory documents and Automatically generate inventory documents during inventory confirmation are described in article System configuration – Trade tab – Inventory. 

Parameters available in inventory document definition, which is available from the level of Configuration → Company Structure → Rights Structure → edition of a selected center/company → tab Documents.

Collecting Resources Received After Inventory Date 

When creating/converting a database, the parameter is set to Warn.

When adding items to an inventory sheet, the system verifies the setting of the parameter. In case of option:

• Collect – while system quantity is being determined on a sheet, all existing resources are included, regardless of their date of receipt
• Ignore – while system quantity is being determined on a sheet, resources received by the sheet date of issue are included. For a resource to be included in a sheet, its receipt date must be earlier or equal to the sheet date of issue
• Warn – while system quantity is being determined on a sheet, first it is verified if in a warehouse being inventoried there is at least one delivery (derived from POR/IR+/WM+/SORQC/IR-QC), whose date of receipt is later than the sheet date of issue, if there are reservations or unconfirmed documents issued on it including a given item. When adding such item, a message is displayed asking user to decide whether the item should be added onto the inventory sheet or not.

Item blockade – this parameter is responsible for its default setting in inventory document form. Functioning of the parameter has been described here.

Parameters available in inventory document form.

Item blockade – if the parameter in the document header is:

• checked – the items included in the inventory sheet are blocked for sale
• unchecked – the items included in the inventory sheet are not blocked for sale

The parameter is available for editing in an initiated or unconfirmed document, for an operator who belongs to an operator group with permission Inventory – Blockade of item addition granted.

For B2_admin operator group the permission is checked by default, for the other groups it is unchecked.

In document form, the parameter is blocked for editing, if:

• there is at least one inventory sheet with a status other than Canceled
• an operator editing the inventory does not have permission Inventory – Blockade of item sales granted

Release reserved – parameter available for editing in an initiated or unconfirmed inventory document, for an operator who belongs to an operator group with permission Inventory – Release of reserved resources granted. For B2_admin operator group the permission is checked by default, for the other groups it is unchecked.

Performing an inventory in a warehouse in which there are resource/quantity reservations may disable evening system and actual stock level. In such a situation the discrepancy is regulated through generation of IR- document from the inventory. If quantity of a resource needed for a release is reserved by SO, it is not possible to created IR- and thereby, to even actual and system stock level.

Owing to that, a user can release reservations of resources while generating IR- document from inventory, with the use of option Release reserved.

It is possible to select one of the following options:

• release quantity and resource reservation – the system verifies if there are unprocessed subitems of SO/IO documents and releases them
• release quantity reservation – the system verifies if there are unprocessed subitems of SO/IO documents and releases them starting from the latest expected date of item – until required available quantity is released or quantity reservation is released from all items included in such type of reservation.

Parameters available in inventory sheet form.

In section Items in inventory sheet there is parameter Allow for duplicating item lot in readout. It is strictly related to readouts which can be added to a given inventory sheet. In readouts, differently than in inventory sheets, a given item lot can appear many times, if the parameter is checked.

In case the parameter is unchecked, in a readout it is possible to add only one item lot. The parameter is checked by default. At the moment of adding the first readout to a given inventory sheet, the parameter is grayed out and it is not possible to modify its setting on readouts.

If no readout has been assigned to an inventory sheet, it is possible to:

• add new items to it
• enter actual quantity
• delete items from the sheet
• load data from a collector onto the sheet

If at least one readout has been added to the sheet, in the sheet it is not possible to:

• edit actual quantity (the column is filled in only with date from associated redoubts)
• add and delete items which are present also on a readout
• load data from a collector and transfer system quantity to the actual quantity

However, it is still possible to delete items from the inventory sheet if it is not on a readout.

On a readout, the parameter can be previewed (without possibility of changing it).

Inventory consists in taking an actual physical inventory of quantity levels of all tangible assets, as well as reconciling any differences between the status ascertained during an inventory (actual status) and the status resulting from the stock records.

A list of inventories is available from the level of the main menu Warehouse → (Resources) Inventories

Inventory documents include:

• inventory sheets – items/item lots can be added to an inventory sheet before a physical inventory is done or after it, at the moment of entering actual quantities to the system. The first method is often used if only selected items should be subject to inventory. The second method is used when an entire warehouse or store is subject to inventory and people doing physical inventory are not searching for any particular items, but they do the inventory of a selected part of the warehouse or store.
• readouts associated with sheets – if items/item lots should be added to inventory sheets only at the moment of entering actual quantities to the system, it is recommended to use readouts. They can be completed with items/item lots on a regular basis at the same time a given area is being inventoried or can be completed with a collector readout after a physical inventory is done. When successive item lots are entered to readouts, they are automatically added to a sheet connected with it. When successive readouts are confirmed, their actual quantities are summed up on a sheet.

An inventory process can be divided in three stages:

• Stage 1 – defining items that are to be inventoried and preparing inventory document
• Stage 2 – taking an actual physical inventory
• Stage 3 – entering actual quantities to the system and issuing documents correcting discrepancies

Inventory document:

• concerns one selected warehouse. If more warehouses should be inventoried, it is necessary to create an individual inventory document for each warehouse.
• can contain any number of inventory sheets that contain list of items/item lots along with quantity resulting from documents and actual quantity.

Permissions affecting performance/completing of an inventory:

• Automatically generate inventory documents during inventory confirmation
• Automatically confirm inventory documents
• Inventory – control correctness of documents
• Block item sales
• Release reserved
• Collecting Resources Received After Inventory Date

Adding an inventory form

A new inventory document form is added upon selecting button [Add].

Tab General is composed of a list of:

• inventory sheets
• readouts, which is collapsed by default

Inventory document header contains the following fields:

• document number
• warehouse for which an inventory document is being created
• center being a document owner (an owner can be changed until a new inventory sheet is added)
• Block item sales
• Release reserved
• current document status
• Confirmation Date – the date is not subject to edition and is filled in automatically when confirming an inventory. In case the date in a sheet is later, when confirming an inventory, the system asks whether the document confirmation date should be changed to the latest issue date from the sheet.

Unconfirming an inventory

It is possible to unconfirm a confirmed inventory sheet with the use of [Unconfirm] button, which allows for opening a confirmed inventory with which are not associated any documents correcting discrepancies with status different than Canceled.

Unconfirming an inventory changes its status back to Unconfirmed. When unconfirming an inventory:

• it is verified whether in the warehouse of the inventory being unconfirmed there is no other confirmed inventory – if it is, opening of the document is canceled
• all confirmed inventory sheets of the given inventory are unconfirmed – their status changes to Unconfirmed (the status of canceled sheets remains without changes)
• readouts present on the inventory are not unconfirmed

Copying an inventory

It is possible to copy inventories with the use of button [Copy] which allows for copying a document with status:

• Confirmed
• Canceled

It is not possible to copy an inventory, if:

• its status is Unconfirmed
• more than one document is marked on the list
• in system configuration, parameter Inventory – control correctness of documents is checked and is selected the option: When confirming an inventory sheet or When adding an item to an inventory sheet.
• there is an unconfirmed inventory for the same warehouse as the warehouse of the inventory being copied

The following elements are transferred when copying an inventory:

• information from the header of an inventory document
• inventory sheets with their items

The following elements are not transferred when copying an inventory:

• readouts and actual and system quantities in sheets
• dates of documents
• center set in the inventory
• setting of the parameter Block item sales
• quantities in the column Current Operations

Closing an inventory

It is possible to close an inventory with the use of button [Close] for an inventory for which:

• all documents correcting discrepancies between system and actual quantity of inventoried items were already generated
• there are no discrepancies

If an inventory has Unconfirmed status, it is not possible to:

• generate discrepancy documents
• open it
• cancel documents correcting discrepancies

Inventory sheets (IS) are added within a given inventory document from the level of the form of this document.

In order to add new sheet, it is necessary to click on button [Add].

The header of an IS contains:

• sheet number
• warehouse for which the inventory is being done (transferred from the inventory document header)
• sheet name given by a user
• status of retrieving a sheet onto a collector
• collector used for items inventory on this sheet
• code of the employee handling the sheet
• current document status
• its date of issue (the date is grayed out after an item is added to the sheet)
• value of the sheet in the system currency of the company in which the inventory is being done. The value is the difference between system quantity and actual quantity of inventoried items. The value of a sheet is calculated on the basis of average value of resources available in a warehouse for a given lot. If, according to the quantity system, a given item is not present in a warehouse, but actually it is available, then the value is calculated on the basis of the last purchase price from warehouse documents (without distinction to lots).

List of items indicates items/item lots with listed:

• UPC codes (own codes defined on item form, in tab Parameters Barcodes)
• features
• basic unit in which an item is registered
• system quantity of a given item/lot
• actual quantity (by default it is zero)
• discrepancy between quantities
• discrepancy status
• current operations – (column hidden by default) column available if on inventory form the parameter Block item sales is checked. The value in this column is calculated as the difference between current quantity of a lot in a warehouse and a quantity presented on inventory sheet. It is possible to transfer quantity from this column to the column System Quantity, with the use of button [Recalculate System Quantity]. Quantity in column Current Operations is updated during edition/saving/confirmation of a sheet and upon refreshing the list. If during the confirmation of an inventory sheet, the quantity from the Colum Current Operations is different than the system quantity, the system displays appropriate message.

An item listed on an IS does not affect the quantity of an item in a warehouse nor its value.

For the inventory sheet form, in the main menu, in button group Generation is also available button [Generate Inventory] is available, which allows for adding a new inventory for marked sheet items. The button is active only if an inventory is confirmed, canceled or closed. When generating an inventory from this level, the system verifies whether a user has granted permissions to add inventory document and sheet and whether there are not any unconfirmed inventories for the same warehouse. If both conditions are fulfilled, an inventory document is created with information concerning warehouse and items retrieved from the source sheet. The other files are filled in as if the inventory was issued manually. When adding items to a sheet on the inventory being generated, the system also verifies whether the control of document correctness for added items is enabled. If it is enabled, only items that fulfill control conditions will be added.

It is possible to add items to an IS:

• manually with the use of options: [Add], [Add From List], [Add Through Form]
• by means of a readout from a batch collector
• by means of readouts

[Add] – adds a new row to a sheet in which it is possible to enter:

• item code
• company barcode of a lot
• scan barcode

and press [TAB] or [Enter] on the keyboard to add the item/lot.

If a user enters:

• code of an items with features affecting lot, all lots of this item will be loaded on the sheet
• company barcode of a lot, only this lot will be loaded on the sheet

[Add From List] – opens list of items as in the case of the button [Add], if a selected item/item lot has features affecting lot, all lots of this item will be loaded on the sheet.

[Add Through Form] – opens item adding form. An item can by selected:

• be opening item list with the use of the button located in field Item
• by entering item code
• be entering company barcode of a lot

Then, it is necessary to define lots (feature values) which are to be added to the sheet and actual item quantity for a given lot. In case of entering company barcode of a lot, the system fills automatically the values of features which define a given lot and an operator can enter actual quantities.

Batch collectors – allows for entering an item by means of a collector. To do so, it is necessary to attach a collector to the workstation on which the inventory is being done and select button [Read From Collector]. The system verifies if on a given inventory sheet there are any lots loaded on collector and inserts an actual quantity for them. If it does not find such lots, they will be added to the sheet along with actual quantity.

Readouts – allows for adding items by means of readouts added to a sheet. After an item is added to a readout, it is also automatically added to an associated sheet.

After adding an item to an inventory sheet, it is possible to fill in their actual quantity. It can be filled in:

• manually
• by a readout from a collector – button [Read From Collector]
• by copying items with the use of the button [Transfer Quantities] located in the main menu, in button group Items – if system quantity and actual quantity are identical
• by confirming readouts – in such case quantities from readouts will be transferred on the sheet

After entering an actual quantity, in the column Difference, the system calculates discrepancy between system quantity and actual quantity in a warehouse.

Confirming an inventory sheet

When confirming an inventory sheet, it is verified:

• whether there is an unconfirmed readout associated with the sheet – if yes, it is not possible to confirm a sheet
• whether the blockade of confirming sheet is enabled, if there are documents creating reservations – if yes, the system displays a message with information regarding those documents and it will be not possible to confirm the sheet.

Unconfirming an inventory sheet

It is possible to unconfirm a confirmed inventory sheet with the use of button [Unconfirm]. This option is available for an inventory sheet which belongs to an unconfirmed inventory.

After clicking on the button [Unconfirm], the status a sheet changes back to Unconfirmed and the sheet can be edited.

When performing an inventory with the use of readouts, a warehouse being inventoried can be divided in several areas, e.g. one readout can concern one shelf or one rack. Number of readouts can also result from number of people performing a physical inventory – one readout for one person.

Readouts are added within inventory sheets.

A list of readouts is displayed in context of a marked inventory sheet and it is collapsed by default. It is possible to expand it by clicking on a vertical bar Readouts placed on the right site of the inventory sheet list.

List of readouts contains:

• readout ordinal number
• name
• date of issue
• status
• Created By – username of the operator who created the readout – column hidden by default
• Modified By – username of the operator who recently modified the readout – column hidden by default

Readouts can be added:

• from the level of an initiated or unconfirmed inventory sheet, by means of button [Generate Readout] which allows for adding a readout for selected items and from the level of the list of readouts, for a selected sheet
• with the use of button [Add], after clicking on it, it is possible to add an empty readout (option [Add] [Add]) or loading inventoried items from a file saved on disk (option [Add] [From File]). A user can import a file with *.txt and *.csv extension. Selecting the option results in opening a new readout for the selected sheet with the following data filled in the header:
  • Readout name – name of the file selected from disk along with its extension
  • Status and Collector – default values are set for the field Status value To Collect and for the field Collector option <undefined>
  • Handled By – employee associated with the account of a currently logged-in operator who is importing data from a file
  • Date of Issue – current date is set

A file for import should contain the following information:

• item UPC code
• quantity

When confirming a readout, an actual quantity for individual items is transferred onto items corresponding to them in the sheet. If confirming a readout results in transferring an actual quantity lower than 0 onto the sheet, the system blocks such an operation.

In case on a readout:

• a given item lot occurs more than once, an actual quantity from individual items including item lot will be summed up – a given item lot can occur only once on a sheet.
• the quantity is expressed in secondary item unit, it will be converted to the basic unit according to the conversion calculator defined on the item form.
• there is an item which is not included in the sheet, it will be automatically added to the sheet.

In case more than one readout has been assigned to a sheet and the items of the readouts overlap one another, when confirming a subsequent readout, the actual quantity on the sheet will be increased by a quantity resulting from the readout being confirmed.

Unconfirming a readout

For a confirmed readout, there is option [Unconfirm] available which reverts readout status to Unconfirmed and decreases the actual quantity on the sheet by quantity from that readout. However, it is possible to unconfirm a readout only if the sheet associated with it is not confirmed.

Copying a readout

Copying readouts is available for unconfirmed sheets. All items are transferred onto a copied readout, but without defined quantities. Data from the readout header is not copied either

Items can be added to a readout:

• by selecting items on an inventory sheet and generating a readout with the use of button [Generate Readout] – when generating a readout, the system creates readout along with the items selected on the sheet
• by means of button [Add] – the system adds a new row to the list of readout items, in which an operator can enter item code or company barcode of a lot; if an operator enters item code, all lots of a given item will be added to the readout; upon clicking a button with three dots, available in field Code in item list, the system opens the list of items from which an operator can selected searched items.
• by means of button [Add Through Form] – the system opens item adding form where an operator can indicate an item or its particular lot and enter an actual quantity
• by importing data from a file saved on disk, to do so, it is necessary to select option Import and click on button [From File]. A user can import a file with *.txt and *.csv extension. A file for import should contain the following information:
  • items are imported basing on UPC code assigned to a given item/lot, item code, name. If an item gets found, it is added to the readout. If an item has been found by UPC code, then the code, by which it has been found, is saved in field UPC. If an item has been found by code or name, then the basic UPC code for the basic unit is saved.
  • quantity

After an item is found by UPC code, the system searches for an item associated with a given unit and features. After an item lot is found, the system verifies whether this lot can be added to a readout, that is whether it occurs on another sheet and whether the control of document conformity is maintained. If a lot:

• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is enabled in the system, a new item is added along with basic unit assigned to the item, related UPC code and quantity downloaded from the uploaded file
• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is disabled in the system and that lot is not included in the readout, a new item is added along with unit assigned to the item and quantity
• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is disabled in the system and that lot is included in the readout, then quantity in field Quantity for the existing readout item is increased by quantity in the basic unit downloaded from the file (if the item on the readout is defined in unit other than basic unit, the quantity is recalculated into unit of the existing readout item).

In case if a given item is omitted, the system proceeds to verification of subsequent item from the file and information about the reason why the item was omitted is displayed in the log window.

If an item does not get found by UPC code, the system verifies codes and item names. In case code or name gets found and item type is Merchandise, the system verifies whether a given lot can be added to a readout, that is whether it occurs on another sheet and whether the control of document conformity is maintained. If a lot:

• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is enabled in the system, a new item is added along with basic unit assigned to the item, related UPC code and quantity downloaded from the uploaded file
• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is disabled in the system and that lot is not included in the readout, a new item is added along with unit assigned to the item and quantity
• can be added to a readout and the option of duplicating item lot in a readout is disabled in the system and that lot is included in the readout, then quantity in field Quantity for the existing readout item is increased by quantity in the basic unit downloaded from the file (if the item on the readout is defined in unit other than basic unit, the quantity is recalculated into unit of the existing readout item).

In case if a given item is omitted, the system proceeds to verification of subsequent item from the file and information about the reason why the item was omitted is displayed in the log window.

• by means of a collector, by connecting a collector to a workstation and selecting option Import on the ribbon and, next, clicking on button [Read From Collector] – the data is read from file created by the collector; next, item/item lot will be searched by code and added to the readout; the first 13 digits in a file record is the UPC code, the other 11 digits is the quantity of an item.

Adding of items to a readout with the use of a collector is only possible if no items has been added to the readout yet.

If parameter Allow for duplicating item lot in readout is checked, each record from a collector will be retrieved as separated item onto document. If the parameter is unchecked, then the items added onto a readout are grouped by UPC code.

When adding an item manually or generating a readout for selected items of an inventory sheet, the system sets its actual quantity to 1, by default. The quantity can be changed, both increased and reduced, until the readout is approved. The possibility of introducing negative values allows for correcting wrongly entered in previous readouts.

Resetting actual quantity on an unconfirmed readout for selected/all items is possible with the use of button [Reset Quantity], which is available in the main menu.

From a confirmed inventory document, it is necessary to generate documents correcting the system quantity, which will reconcile any possible discrepancies.

In the case of inventory:

• of a local warehouse, IR- and IR+ documents are generated
• of a consignment warehouse of own type, POR and SOR documents are generated

In case the system quantity is:

• greater than the actual quantity in a warehouse, a document for released items will be generated
• greater than the actual quantity in a warehouse, a document for released items will be generated

The quantity of individual items in the generated document is equal to the difference between the system quantity and the actual quantity.

Depending on the setting of parameter Confirm inventory documents automatically (available from the level of System → Configuration → Trade), documents correcting discrepancies can be generated with Unconfirmed status, which allows for their modification, or with Confirmed status.

Documents correcting discrepancies can be deleted/canceled until an inventory is closed.

In an IR+ document generated from an inventory, the price for individual items is set on the basis of:

• an average purchase price available on a resource warehouse – if at least one unit of a given item is available in a warehouse
• the last purchase price (price from the last POR, IR+, WM+) – if there are no resources of a given item in the warehouse

Prices and values in an IR- document are calculated in accordance with the values of resources which are being released with a given IR- document.