Inventory
Stock is a number that must always be explainable. Everything here is built so that it is: quantities are not edited, they are the sum of movements.
Warehouses and locations
A warehouse is a place that holds stock; a location is a shelf or bin inside it. Locations nest (aisle → shelf → bin) and belong to one warehouse.
Each location has two settings on Commerce → Warehouse → Locations:
- Shelf code: the code printed on the shelf. When goods are put away, the scanner reads this code.
- Walking order: the order in which the storekeeper walks past the shelves. The picking list is sorted by it.
An item can have a usual location. It is proposed when the item is received, and it is the first shelf the item is picked from.
Stock is known per location. That figure is the sum of movements, like every other stock figure, so the shelves always add up to the warehouse total. Stock received before locations were used, or never put away, shows as unlocated.
A warehouse can serve the web shop or not. The shop counts and ships only from warehouses that serve it. A warehouse for returns or repairs is then never sold from.
Movements
| Movement | Means |
|---|---|
| Receipt | Stock arrived |
| Issue | Stock left |
| Transfer | Stock moved between warehouses |
| Relocation | Stock moved between two shelves of one warehouse |
| Adjustment | A count corrected the record, with a reason |
Why you cannot just type a new quantity
Because next month somebody will ask why there are eleven. A stock level built from movements always has an answer; one that was typed in has only a person who does not remember. Adjustments exist for genuine corrections and they record a reason.
The scanner
Open the ERP on a phone, choose Scanner, point the camera. A SKU, a barcode or a printed label resolves to the variation and its stock, and the receipt or issue is one tap away.
It runs in the browser — there is no separate app to distribute, and it works on iPhone as well as Android.
Install it on the phone
Add the ERP to the home screen and it runs full-screen and stays signed in. See First login.
Receiving and putting away
On Stock operations, open a receipt. Each line shows where it will be put away: the item's usual location, or unlocated when it has none. To use a different shelf, choose it or scan its shelf code. Receive and put away then books the stock onto those shelves.
Labels
A receipt prints labels: one per piece or one per package, at the size of your label printer (50×30, 70×36 or 100×50 mm). Each label carries the item name, its code and a Code 128 barcode, which the scanner reads.
Freight and other costs
A validated receipt takes the costs of the delivery: freight, handling, insurance. Each cost is spread over the received lines by value, quantity or weight. What happens next depends on the firm's cost rule:
| Rule | What the freight does |
|---|---|
| Average cost of stock received | The item's average rises by its share divided by the pieces held |
| Last purchase price | The share per piece is added to the price |
| Any other rule | The split is recorded and shown; the cost stays as the firm keeps it |
To correct a cost, add a negative amount, such as a credit note from the carrier. Costs are kept like movements: none is deleted.
Reservations
A confirmed sales order reserves its items in the warehouse that will ship it. A shop order is a sales order too. The warehouse chosen is one that serves the web shop and holds the whole order free.
The shop shows only free stock: what is on hand minus what orders have already reserved. When the last pieces are sold, the next customer sees the item as ordered in, not as in stock. A cancelled order releases its reservation at once.
The warehouse overview shows each item as on hand, reserved and free.
What the shop promises
Commerce → Settings → Shop → Web shop → Delivery promises sets what a customer reads next to the price. It applies to the whole firm:
- Dispatch time for goods in our stock: the days shown next to In stock. Leave it empty and no date is promised.
- Goods a supplier has in stock: used when we do not hold an article but a supplier's price list reports it in stock.
- Only our own stock counts: the default. The article shows as Ordered in for you.
- Supplier stock shows as in stock: the article shows as In stock.
- Supplier stock shows its delivery time: the article shows as At our supplier · delivery in N days.
- Delivery time for goods at a supplier: N in that message. Leave it empty and N is the supplier's own lead time plus our dispatch time. The lead time comes from the supplier's price list, or else from its purchasing terms.
In search, the in stock filter counts both supplier settings: goods shown as in stock and goods shown with a supplier's delivery time.
The supplier's quantity is never shown to the customer. The firm promises the article, not the supplier's count.
Picking
Picking lists everything the orders ready to ship need, in one walk through the warehouse in walking order. Each stop names its shelf, the items, the quantities and the orders they are for. Orders still waiting for stock are not on the list.
Each order has a Picked — ship it button. It issues the stock from the shelves it was taken from and puts the parcel in the shipping queue, where the carrier books it and prints its label.
Stock counts
Commerce → Warehouse → Stock counts counts a whole warehouse or only some of its locations. Type the quantities or scan the item codes with the scanner.
- Starting a count lists what the books hold there. This list is for reference only.
- The difference is always counted minus what the books say now. Goods received or issued while the count runs therefore never spoil it.
- Finishing a count values the differences at the item cost.
- Within the limit in Purchasing settings ("Stock count needs approval above"), the stock is adjusted at once.
- Above it, someone who manages the warehouses approves the count first.
- Approving writes one adjustment per difference, on its location, with the count's number as the reason.
Only one count of a warehouse runs at a time.
Transfers between warehouses
A transfer between two warehouses can take two steps, so the goods are accounted for while they travel:
- Dispatch: the goods leave the source warehouse. The target shows them as in transit: not on hand and not free to sell. The firm's total does not count them twice.
- Receive: the target books what really arrived, onto the usual locations. A shortfall or surplus is kept on the line as a difference. Open differences are listed in the warehouse overview until resolved.
Validating a transfer in one step still works for moves within one site.
Warehouse overview
Warehouse overview shows the stock value and three reports:
- Below minimum: items under their reorder minimum, with how much to order.
- Slow movers: items in stock with no issue for N days (180 by default), most valuable first.
- Close to expiry: lots that expire within N days (30 by default). Expired lots are marked.
Each item opens its own stock card. The card shows on hand, reserved, free, in transit and incoming from purchase orders, per warehouse and per location. It also lists which orders reserve the item, which purchase orders bring it, and every movement with its reference.
Stock and the catalogue
Stock belongs to a variation, not a product — a size 3 in blue is a different thing to count than a size 4. See Products and variations.
Documents that move stock
A delivery note issues; a goods receipt receives. The document and the movement are two sides of one action, so stock and paperwork cannot drift apart.
For the assistant
Every action here is also a tool:
inventory_locations,inventory_location_details,inventory_usual_locationinventory_relocate,inventory_putawayinventory_landed_cost_addinventory_picking_list,inventory_pick_confirminventory_warehouse_webinventory_count_start,inventory_count_record,inventory_count,inventory_count_submit,inventory_count_approve,inventory_count_cancelinventory_transfer_dispatch,inventory_transfer_receiveinventory_item_stock,inventory_report(below, slow, expiry, value)