Inventory management module

Goal

This functionality is used to keep track of stock (inventory) in warehouses and make it available for users, to order from the stock via internal purchase orders, as well as increase the stock via external purchase orders, move stock between different warehouses or between different locations within one warehouse and have the system automatically generate outgoing purchase orders based on the stock requirements (minimum and maximum stock levels).

This wiki will focus on the warehouse management part, for more information about the use of purchase orders to order from the stock or refill the stock, see: Purchase orders module.

Workflow used

If purchase orders are not taken into account, there is no workflow used.

Description

Storage (Warehouses)

The storage is the warehouse in which the stock is stored.

At least one storage is required to use this functionality. The storages can be found and created via the navigation menu 'Assets'. Each inventory item is always linked to one storage.

Via the storage, the other related functionalities can be used, like viewing and creating transactions of inventory items from or within this storage, as well as viewing all the purchase orders that are related to inventory within this storage and automatically generate outgoing purchase orders based on the stock levels of all inventory items in this storage.

Storage locations

Just like a property has areas, a storage has storage locations. Each storage has to have at least one storage location (thus the entire storage could be one single location, which might be the case if the 'warehouse' is actually a small storage room, or there is just no need to specify in more detail where each inventory item is stored in the storage).

These storage locations are the actual locations within a storage where the inventory is stored. Storage locations can have a hierarchy. For instance multiple racks per hall and multiple shelves per rack.

It is possible to link the same inventory item to multiple storage locations in one storage (for instance, if one shelve does not fit the total required stock).

If a storage only has one storage location, each new inventory item is automatically linked to that storage location. If there are more storage locations, the storage location(s) the inventory item is linked to, needs to be added manually via the tab (locations) on the inventory item.

It is mandatory to link at least one storage location to each inventory item, as this is used to increase or decrease the stock (quantity) when registering deliveries in purchase orders for this inventory item or manually creating transactions (stock transfers).

InventoryItemLocation object

The relationship between an inventory item and a storage location is the InventoryItemLocation object. It is possible to specify a maximum stock level per InventoryItemLocation (so to indicate for instance that only X items can fit on a certain shelve.) When processing stock transactions (either by registering deliveries in purchase orders or by manually creating transactions), an error is given if more than the maximum stock is being transferred to this storage location.

Inventory

Inventory items (and the other inventory management functionalities) are used, if the current stock (quantity currently in the storage) and the changes in stock (transactions) need to be tracked.

The actual inventory is created as inventory items. These can be found directly via the navigation menu under 'Assets' or via a specific storage. Each inventory item is always linked to a catalog item and some of the fields are automatically taken over when selecting the catalog item.

As described above, each inventory item is linked to a storage and one or more storage locations. If there are multiple storages, it is possible to link the same catalog item to different inventory items. Create one catalog item and link the catalog item to each inventory item in a different storage.

The actual stock (quantity) of the inventory item is automatically calculated via transactions and cannot be changed manually. Therefore the changes in stock can always be tracked in detail, as well as the historical prices (e.g if the stock of the inventory item was increased via an external purchase order, the price of the item in that purchase order, was the prices that was paid at that moment (and can be seen in the corresponding transaction)and might differ from other purchases).

For a detailed description of the specific fields, the hover-over help text can be used on all the fields of the inventory item.

Transactions

As described above, changes in stock (quantity) of an inventory item are always done via transactions (object 'Assettransaction'). These transactions can be created automatically. This is done when deliveries are registered in both internal and outgoing purchase orders. Based on the purchase order type, the stock is either increased (outgoing purchase order is delivered) or decreased (internal purchase order is delivered).

It is also possible to manually create these transactions, either as a correction, to register the initial stock or to register the transfer (part of the) stock to another storage or storage location. A default import mapping is also avalable to import the initial stock. Via either the storage or directly via an inventory item, these transactions can be created (either in or out, increase or decrease the stock). Multiple inventory items can be added in the same transaction.

When transferring stock between different storage and/or storage locations, the storage to were the stock needs to be transferred also needs to be specified in the transaction. After this, the option (page function) to transfer the stock (in a specified quantity) to a location in the transfer location is shown. If the Catalog item linked to the inventory item is not yet added (as a new inventory item) in the other (transfer) storage, this will automatically create the item, but this only works if there is only one storage location (as that will automatically set that storage location), otherwise the item will need to be created and linked to the correct storage locations in the other storage, before stock can be transferred).

Automatically generate purchase orders

By indicating the minimum and maximum stock on an inventory item, it becomes possible to let the system generate outgoing purchase orders based on the desired stock. This can be done via the 'Purchase orders' function on a storage (warehouse). In the search screen that follows, the option 'Automatically generate purchase orders' is shown. If this function is used, Axxerion will give an overview of suppliers, for which it wants to generate an outgoing purchase order (to fill the stock back up). By pressing 'Generate purchase orders' in that next screen, the purchase orders are actually generated.

The quantity per item in the generated purchase order is determined based on the current stock vs the minimum stock and maximum stock, while taking into consideration how many purchase orders are already pending for the specific inventory item:

• any pending internal purchase order quantities are added to the needed quantity
• any pending (not yet delivered) outgoing purchase orders are subtracted from it
• only if the stock (after considering pending orders) is below the minimum

Taking the above criteria into account, the inventory item will be added with a quantity up to the maximum quantity (also taking pending purchase orders into account).

For more information about the purchase order process itself see: Purchase orders module.

Authorizations

The following groups can be assigned to users:

Configuration options

Does not apply

Data imports

The following standardized imports are available:

• FMB-F-087 Import orderable catalog items (if the catalog items are not yet imported for other processes)
• FMB-F-086 Import inventory