Inventory - How to Use a Count

Being able to quickly and efficiently count inventory items is an important part of stock management for any business. In Inventory, users have the ability to count the items that they have on hand. After a count has been applied it will feed into various parts of Inventory and allow users to make better decisions based on what they have on hand. 

To get to the count page, users will choose Count subtab under Inventory in the side navigation panel. 

Count Transactions Page

The count transactions page will display the count frequencies that are being used by your organization. In Inventory, a count frequency is a recurring time frame that items are counted at. Each count frequency will be organized into one of three different sections. 

• Scheduled - Any frequency that has not been started but is scheduled to be done will be listed here.
• In-Progress - A frequency that has been started but not finished will appear in this category. In-progress counts can be deleted by clicking the trash icon to the right of their name.
• Completed - Any frequency that has been completed will appear in this category.

You can expand or collapse a section by clicking the carrot icon to the far right of the section name.

You can filter the counts you have listed by clicking the Filter By menu.

The date range you are viewing can be switched by clicking the date picker. 

To begin working on a count, click its name.

Count Sheet Detail

Once you have chosen the count you would like to work on, you will be taken to the Count Sheet Detail page. Here, you will begin counting the items in the count frequency you have selected.

While counting, you will have the ability to organize your inventory by both Locations and Items. 

Sorting by location will organize items in the count by the location they have been assigned to.

Sorting by Items will flip the view, and display the items in your frequency on the left. Clicking on an item will display the locations the item is assigned to.

Different filter options are available here as well. If you would like to only see items that have not been counted, you can click Show uncounted items only. This option, however, will only be available when you are sorting by Items.

A search option is also available. Since the search is dynamic, it will be applied to whatever sorting options you have already selected.

Printing A Count Sheet

While counting items, you can print the count sheet by clicking the print button at the top right-hand corner of the page.

A menu will appear where you can choose between portrait and landscape, as well as whether you would like the page to break after each location. Once you have chosen how you would like the page to be formatted, click on Download and Print.

Counting items 

The way that you will count items is dependent on the sorting options you have chosen.

To count items while sorting by Location, first choose the location that you are counting on. Any items that are assigned to that location will appear in the right panel.  

To the right of each item name will be the different units it is counted at. These units are chosen when the item is first added to Inventory. These fields are where you will input the amount of the item that you have on hand. 

Counting while sorting by Items will work in a similar manner. Instead of choosing a location though, you will select an item from the left panel first. All of the locations that the item is assigned to will be displayed in the right panel. 

From here, you can enter the amount of the item that is in each location.

Items that have a high variance will be marked with a red indicator. While sorting by Items, this indicator will be found in the left panel, to the right of the item name. 

If you are sorting by Locations, the red indicator will be found in the Variance column for an item. When viewing the indicator under these conditions, it’s important to note that the item’s high variance will not be specific to the location you are viewing at that time. So it’s important to review over every location that the item is assigned to. 

Once you feel good about the count, select Review & Complete.

Review Count 

After selecting Review & Complete, you will be brought to a page broken into four different panels. The panels are as follows:

• Total Items Counted - How many items in total you have counted.
• Total Items Uncounted - The number of items that were not counted.
• Total items with Variance - Any items with a variance that surpasses the threshold for their category will be listed here.
• Total Cost of Counted Items - The cost of all items counted will display here. This is based on the unit cost given to each item. 

Each panel (with the exception of total cost of counted items) will have a sublink that takes you to a page where you can review and edit the items that are listed. 

After reviewing over the count, finalize it by clicking on Complete.

Reviewing a completed count

After a count has been completed, users can review its details. To do so, click on the count name under the completed section.

This will bring you to the count sheet. From here you can access a count summary by clicking on View Summary.

The summary page will display the same cells and information that appear after a count is completed.