Inventory - Setting up a Count

In Inventory, counts will be used to track what you have on hand. Before counting though, you will need to create the counts that you want to use. Since every business will tracks items differently, it is crucial that your counts are built and mapped correctly. The set-up process for counts is broken into three parts:

• Locations
• Frequency
• Set Item Frequency

Each of these will be built on the setup count page. This page can be found by opening the Setup tab under Inventory and clicking Count. 

Locations

First, you will need to set up your locations. In the context of Inventory, locations are where items are stored or can be found while a business takes inventory.  

To begin setting them up, choose the Locations sub-tab on the Count Setup page.

A screen will appear where you can view, edit, and create new locations. Locations that have previously been set up will display on the left panel of your screen.

To create a new location, click Add Location.

A window where you can write the name of your new location will appear. You will also have the ability to nest your location within one that already exists.

Since the name of your location must be unique, using one that already exists will give you an error message.

Once your location has been saved, it will appear on the left side of the page. From here you will begin adding items to the location. Currently, you can only add items to the nested levels of a location hierarchy. So if you have a cupboard location that has several other locations nested within it, items for the cupboard must be added to one of its nested locations.

 

 

You’ll know that a location is “parent level” because it will have a drop-down arrow located to the right of it. Clicking the arrow will display the locations nested within it. 

 

To begin adding items, click Add Inventory Items. 

A menu will appear listing the inventory items that have been created. You will drag the items from this menu to the location that you would like for them to be a part of.

You can drag multiple items to a location by clicking the checkbox for each item.

Attempting to place items in a parent level location will display a message letting you know that it cannot hold any.

After an item has been dropped into a location, you will choose the unit it is counted at. The units available will be based on what was assigned to the item when it was created. If the item is assigned to multiple locations, it can have different units at each one.

To remove an item from a location, click the trashcan located to the right of the item name. 

You can change the order of the items by clicking Edit Order.

Items that have a lower number will appear at the top of the list. To exit the edit order menu and save any changes you’ve made, click done. 

You can change the name of any location by clicking Edit.

Frequency

After locations have been set up, you will create a count frequency. A count frequency is a recurring time frame where items are counted. For example, A weekly count frequency would be associated with items that need to be counted on a weekly basis.  

To start building a new frequency, select the Frequency subtab from Setup Count.

A page displaying your current count frequencies will appear. Clicking the name of a count frequency will allow you to edit its details. To build a new count frequency, click Add Count Frequency.

The next page is where you will set up the details for your count frequency.

Count Name will be the name of your new count frequency.

Next, you will set choose the Count Interval. This will control how often the count needs to be completed. For example, a count that should be done on a daily basis will be assigned a Daily interval.

Beneath count intervals will be a place where you can set up how often the count reoccurs. The repeat options available will change depending on the interval you've selected. For example, a weekly count will only include options that adhere to a weekly structure.

Regardless of which interval you select, you can set up a time range that the count must be completed in.

Each count frequency that you create can also be assigned a count rule. In Inventory, a count rule is used to automatically add items to a frequency based on settings specified by the user. So, instead of having a preset list of items that never change, you will have a dynamic list that updates according to the interval assigned to the count frequency.

To begin setting up a count rule, select the box that says Add Count Rule.

To the right of Add count rule will be an information icon that you can select. Clicking this will display a message explaining how count rules work.

Max # Items will be where you can specify the total amount of items that you would like to have in the count at a time.

Beneath that will be a place where you will set up the rule(s) that you would like the count frequency to follow.

There will be three different rule types that can be used. 

• High On-Hand Variance Cost - Established once a count is completed using the variance quantity (Actual On-Hand - Theoretical On-Hand), The variance cost is produced by taking the unit cost and applying to the variance quantity.
• High On-Hand Variance Qty - Established once a count is completed. Variance quantity is established by taking what is actually on hand and subtracting it from the theoretical on hand.
• Select Random Items - This will take random items out of your countable items list and add them to the count.

Each rule type must be assigned a percentage or item quantity. Whatever you put here will work off of the Max # of items you have specified. For example, if you set up a count rule that has a Max number of 10, and the High On-Hand Variance Cost is set to 50%, then the top 5 items with the highest on hand variance cost will be added to the count frequency. On the flipside, if the High On-Hand Variance Cost is set to an Item Qty of 7, then 7 items with the highest on hand variance cost will be added to the count frequency.

Once your count frequency has been set up, you can look at the summary and review your new count before it becomes finalized.

To create your Count Frequency, select Save.

Set Item Frequency

In order to count items, they must first be assigned to a count frequency. This will be the count that the item will appear on. To do this, click on the Set Item Frequency sub-tab. This will bring you to a page listing out the inventory items that are being used by your organization.

Items will be assigned to a Count Frequency. Any Frequency that has been assigned a count rule will not be listed since items are automatically added and removed from these counts. Any frequency that an item is already assigned to will be highlighted in blue. You can add an item to a count frequency by clicking its name.  

Each column header (with the exception of count frequency) can be clicked on to organize the items differently. If you would like to only see items that are not assigned to a frequency, you can select Show only Items With no Frequency.

A dynamic search option will be available as well, and will update your list of items in real time. Updates made to the Set Item Frequency page will be saved in real time.