Inventory and SKUs

Records, then Inventory. Every SKU with its on-hand, reserved, reorder settings, supplier cost and supplier stock.

Reading the list

Column	Meaning
Code	The SKU
Style, Colour, Size	What it is
On hand	Physically in the building
Reserved	Committed to orders not yet dispatched
Supplier cost	What you pay, used for margin
Supplier stock	What your supplier has, where the feed provides it
Reorder	The reorder point and quantity
Status	Active or not

The low stock only filter shows everything at or under its reorder point. That is the list to work from when raising purchase orders.

How stock moves by itself

Event	Effect
Quote accepted	Stock reserved for the order
Order enters In production	Stock consumed, written to the movement ledger
Purchase order received	Stock credited
Return received with restock	Stock credited back
Cycle count closed	Each variance posted as its own movement

Every one of these writes a row to an append-only ledger. On-hand is the sum of its movements, which is why it can always be explained.

Adjusting stock

Use the Adjust stock action on the list. It asks for an adjustment, positive to add or negative to remove, and a reason. Both go on the ledger.

Do not type over a count

The on-hand field in the SKU form is deliberately read-only. Overwriting counts breaks the one property that makes stock trustworthy: that every unit is accounted for by a movement. For a full recount of a rack, use a cycle count.

Good reasons to adjust: damaged stock written off, samples taken, a supplier short-ship you have already received, misprints.

Print labels

The Print labels bulk action produces barcoded shelf labels for the selected SKUs.

Worth doing once for your main racking. Labelled shelves make cycle counting and receiving much faster, because the same scan station reads them.

Low stock and forecasting

Two things watch your stock for you:

• Stock alerts on the dashboard: SKUs at or under their reorder point.
• Inventory forecast on the dashboard: the next SKUs likely to run out, based on the last 30 days of consumption, with a suggested purchase quantity.

The forecast is the more useful of the two, because it catches a SKU that is about to run out but has not crossed its reorder point yet.

Keeping it accurate

• Receive deliveries in the system on the day they arrive.
• Count one section of racking a week rather than everything once a year.
• Fix reorder points on anything you have run out of twice.