Inventory Cycle Counting

Overview

Inventory cycle counting (or just “counting” for short) is an inventory management procedure where a small subset of inventory is counted on any given day. The purpose of counting is to verify the inventory accuracy in a facility. The unique aspect of cycle counting is that it does not require a facility to stop operation while all items are counted at once. Instead, it is not very disruptive to daily operation, as it can be performed at nearly any time.

In the case of Savance Enterprise, counting can be performed even as items are shipped, received, returned, or adjusted in the stock. What would happen if I counted 25 items and then someone else shipped out 5 of those items at some point during the count? Enterprise will take this into account and change the inventory’s count to 20. Conversely, if I counted 25 items and someone else took in 5 receivers of those items during the count, Enterprise will adjust the inventory count to 30. Enterprise’s inventory cycle counting feature is an accurate way to keep a count of a facility’s inventory even during operation hours.

Creating a New Count

To get started with counting and create a new ‘count’ please follow the process below.

• Go to Inventory > Warehouse Manager > Counting

• A list of existing counts will show up. This is where you can create/edit your Counts.

  

• If you would like to open an existing Count, double-click the Count. You will be taken to the: Count Management page.

• If you would like to create a new Count, click the ‘New’ button on the bottom-left of the screen. This will bring up a new screen, allowing you to specify how you want to create your new Count

  

• Choose the Warehouse and Unique Name for your Count.

• Now set your discrepancy threshold. If you would like to disable discrepancies, just check the Disable All Discrepancies checkbox (and they can always be enabled later). If you would like to use discrepancies, you can set them now or later.

• Lastly, choose what you will be counting by:

  

  • Location - If you count by location, you will get to choose each location this Count will be associated with. This is done in the Assign Locations to a Count page. You can specify entire racks and shelves or even break it down into individual bins.

    

  • Manufacturers - If you count by manufacturer, the Count will include only items from the manufacturer you specify. All the locations will be chosen automatically based on where the items are located.

    

  • Warehouse Rank - If you count by Warehouse Rank, the Count will include only items from the rank you specify. All the locations will be chosen automatically based on where the items are located.

    

  • Inventory Group. - If you count by Inventory Group, the Count will include only items from the group you specify. All the locations will be chosen automatically based on where the items are located.

    

• After you’ve made your selection you will next assign a counter. Highlight over the location, group, manufacturer etc, and right-click to see Assign Scanner and Counter.

  

• Assign both a Scanner and Counter from your list of internal users. In most cases, these names will be the same. If you do however have a different person scanning vs. counting you would choose these users accordingly.

Count Management

When you first open Counting, you can open a Count by double-clicking on it or by selecting the Count and clicking ‘open’ . This will bring you to the Count Management screen for this Count. NOTE: All of the information in this section pertains to an open (or active) Count only and not a closed Count.

All Count Management Links

From the Count Management screen, you can view the Count’s items, assign Scanners/Counters, view discrepancies, enter a manual count, etc. Here is a list of all the links on this screen (each has a brief summary and a link to the details):

• Review Item Details - This gives a basic overview of all items, allowing you to sort by counted/uncounted items or posted/unposted items.

• Assign Scanners/Counters - This allows you to assign your scanners/counters to a location. This was initially configured when creating the Count, but assignments can change at any time here.

• Uncounted Locations - This allows you to assign scanners/counters to a location, but it filters out counted locations. Only locations where not all items have been counted will be displayed here.

• View Discrepancies/Uncounted - This gives a list of all discrepancies (counted items that fall within the thresholds you specified). It also shows all uncounted items.

• Change Thresholds - Here, you can change your discrepancy thresholds. You can also toggle between enabling/disabling the discrepancy thresholds.

• Clear All Item Counts - This will essentially start the count over. All locations will be kept, but all entered counts will be removed.

• Clear All Scanner/Counter Assignments - This will change all Scanner/Counter assignments back to “Not Assigned”. Then all locations can be reassigned at any time.

• Clear All Items and Reconfigure Count - This wipes out the Count and starts from scratch, just as if the Count were being created for the first time.

All Count Management Buttons

There are also a couple of buttons at the bottom of the screen. Again, here is a list of all the buttons where each has a brief summary and a link to the details (if it applies):

• Refresh - The page refreshes automatically every 30 seconds, but this is your way of refreshing manually.

• Enter Count - This allows you to manually enter Counts, organized by the assigned Counter.

• Print Reports - This allows you to print discrepancy reports and Counting reports. This is also where you can print Count sheets for counters.

• List All Cycle Counts - This will bring you back to the main menu where all Counts are listed.

• Close And Post this Count - This will allow you to post the counts to the inventory or to close the Count once you are finished.

Items

The Items section of the Count Management screen gives you a brief summary of all the items in the Count. From here, you can see at a glance how many items are associated with this Count, as well as how many have been counted or still need to be counted. If you click on Review Item Details, you can look at your items in more detail.

Review Item Details

If you click on the Review Item Details link in the Items section of the Count Management screen, you will be able to view every item that is associated with this Count. You are able to view each item, its description, and its location. If it applies, you can also see the entered and re-entered counts for this item. Lastly, you can see the On Hand Initial value (how much of the item was in the inventory when the Count was started) and the On Hand Change (how much the inventory count has changed for this item since the count was made).

If you would like to sort items based on whether or not they were counted or posted, this can be done. Here are the options for sorting and a description for each:

• Get All - This will show all items, regardless of their status

• Get Counted - This will only show items where a count has been entered.

• Get Uncounted - This will only show items where a count has not been entered.

• Get Posted - This will only show items that have been counted and posted to the inventory.

• Get Unposted - This will show items that have been counted but not posted to the inventory.

View Warehouse Log or OnHand Changes

If needed, you can view the warehouse log or OnHand Changes for any item in a Count. To do this, click on the Review Item Details link in the Items section of the Count Management screen. Right-click on an item and select an option. This will bring up this item’s warehouse log or changelog for more details.

Locations

The Locations section can be found in the top-middle of the Count Management screen. This section will give a quick summary of your locations. At a glance, you can see how many assigned and unassigned locations there are and how many of all the locations have been fully counted.

For more details, you can click on Assign Scanners/Counters or Uncounted Locations. These screens are very similar, except for Uncounted Locations is a way of filtering out counted locations.

If you chose to Count By location, then all the locations you chose will be assigned to this Count. If you chose to Count By manufacturer, then all the locations that have any of these manufacturers items will be assigned to this Count,

Assign Scanners/Counters

If you click on Assign Scanners/Counters from the Count Management screen (or if you are in the process of creating a Count), you will be brought to a page with all the locations assigned to this Count. If you choose to Count By location, then all the locations you assigned to this Count will show up here. If you choose to Count By manufacturer, then all the locations that have any of these manufacturers items will show up here.

To assign a scanner or counter, double-click a location or right-click it and select Assign Scanner and Counter. You will see the Assign Scanner/Counter window pop up. Here, you can assign the scanner, counter, or both. If your company does not use scanners, then it is okay to leave the scanners unassigned.

Scanner/Counter assignments can be changed at any time, so you don’t have to make all the assignments during the creation of a Count. Once you are satisfied with the assignments, click on continue.

Uncounted Locations

If you click on Uncounted Locations from the Count Management screen (or if you are in the process of creating a Count), you will be brought to a page with all the uncounted locations assigned to this Count. A location is considered to be uncounted if there are any items in the location that have not been counted.

The Uncounted Locations page works exactly the same as the Assign Scanners/Counters page. If you want to change an assignment, you can double-click a location or right-click it and assign a counter/scanner.

Scanner/Counter Summary and Detail

You will see this page show up any time you change the scanner/counter assignments. This page will show in detail who your scanners and Counters are, how many items and locations they are assigned to, how many of their locations are already fully counted or not yet counted, and how many of their items have been counted or uncounted.

At the top, you can also view the overall number of assigned and unassigned locations for counters and for scanners.

Once you have finished viewing these summaries and details, click ‘Create Count’ if you are creating a Count or click ‘Update Count’ if you are updating an existing Count.

Discrepancies

The Discrepancies section of a Count shows your current discrepancy thresholds (which can be changed at any time) and the number of discrepancies and uncounted items there are in this Count.

An item is considered to be a discrepancy if its counted amount varies enough from the On Hand amount. The variance amount is based on user-defined thresholds. These thresholds are based on the dollar and percentage amounts (either one or both may be applied). The thresholds are originally defined at the creation of a Count, but they can be changed at any time. They can also be disabled if your business system does not utilize discrepancies.

If you set a dollar threshold, an item will be considered a discrepancy if the dollar value of the amount missing for the item is greater than or equal to the value you specified. If you set a percentage threshold, an item will be considered a discrepancy X% or more of the items are missing. If both thresholds are set, and the item will be considered a discrepancy if either one or both thresholds are reached.

View Discrepancies and Uncounted Items

To view all discrepancies for a Count (as well as the Uncounted items), click on View Discrepancies/Uncounted from the Count Management screen. By default, you will see all the discrepancies in this Count. However, if you would like to see all the uncounted items, you can change the filter to View Uncounted.

Recount a Discrepancy

Let’s say a discrepancy is noticed and the counter is asked to recount the item. From the View Discrepancies/Uncounted screen, you can re-enter a count. To do so, double-click an item. You will see the Submit Count window pop up for the selected item.

Enter the new count and click Submit . You will then be able to see the original count that was made as well as the re-entered count.

Acknowledge a Discrepancy

In some cases, the item will be a discrepancy yet there is a known reason for it. If this is the case, you may not want an item to actually be considered a discrepancy in Enterprise (even though it fits the criteria based on the thresholds). If this is the case, you can double-click the item and click ‘Acknowledge’ . The item will now show up on the bottom of the list in a shaded in blue so that you know that it was a discrepancy that was acknowledged. You can still recount this item at any time if the count value changes.

Change Discrepancy Thresholds

The discrepancy thresholds for a Count are initially specified at the creation of the Count. However, they can be changed at any time by clicking on Change Thresholds from the Count Management. This will bring up the Change Discrepancies window.

From this window, you can change the discrepancy thresholds or disable/enable discrepancies. As soon as the values are changed, the Count will be updated to change which items are marked as discrepancies.

Clearing Count Information

If for any reason part of the Count information needs to be reset, this can be done from the Count Management screen. You can clear all item counts, you can clear all scanner/counter assignments, or you can restart the Count from scratch. NOTE: If the information is cleared, it cannot be restored! Here are the links that can be selected to clear Count information:

Clear All Item Counts

Clear All Item Counts If all item counts need to be set back to zero for this Count, this can be done by clicking “Clear All Item Counts” from the Count Management screen. All items and locations assigned to this Count will remain unchanged, and only the item counts will be removed.

Clear All Scanner/Counter Assignments

If all scanner/counter assignments (for all locations) need to be reset, this can easily be done by clicking “Clear All Scanner/Counter Assignments” from the Count Management screen. All locations will be reset to “Not Assigned” like they were before creating the Count. However, all locations, items, and item counts associated with this Count will remain unchanged.

Clear All Items and Reconfigure Count

If a Count needs to start over or if the locations associated with this Count need to be reset, this can be done by clicking “Clear All Items and Reconfigure Count” from the Count Management screen. All item counts will be reset, all scanner/counter assignments will be reset, and the entire inventory count will start over from scratch. The only information that will remain are the discrepancy thresholds (though these can be changed later if necessary). If you decide to reconfigure the Count, you will see the following window come up, allowing to choose whether to count by location or count by manufacturer:

Reports

In Enterprise Counting, reports can be printed for any Count by clicking Print Reports/Sheets. Counting Sheets, Counting Reports, and Discrepancy Reports can all be printed for any Count. Here is the window that will come up, allowing you to choose what to print.

Counting Sheet

A counting sheet is a paper given to a counter for him/her to write down the counted amount. It shows the counter of each location that needs counting, each item that is to be counted (sorted by location), the expected quantity for each item, and a space to write down the counted quantity. If necessary, the expected quantity can be hidden so that counters can’t see that value.

If you would like to print out Counting Sheets for counters, click Print Reports/Sheets from the Count Management screen. The Preview Report window will pop up allowing you to choose what to print. You will want to select which Count to print for (it will default to the current Count).

Then you will choose to print Counting Sheets (and you can choose whether or not to print the expected quantities by checking or unchecking the checkbox next to the drop-down menu).

Lastly, you have to choose which counter to print a counting sheet for. You can choose any individual counter assigned to a location in this Count. You can also choose to print only for Not Assigned locations. Choosing **ALL** will print a Counting Sheet for all counters in this Count

Counting Reports

A Counting Report is a counter-based report that shows each of a counter’s locations, items (sorted by location), the expected and counted quantities, and the variance between the expected and counted quantities. It is an easy way to see all counts in detail made by any counter. If the percent or dollar variance is greater than the specified discrepancy thresholds, the items will be highlighted in red to show at a glance that these items are discrepancies.

If you would like to print out Counting Reports, click Print Reports/Sheets from the Count Management screen. The Preview Report window will pop up allowing you to choose what to print. You will want to select which Count to print for (it will default to the current Count). Then you will choose to print Counting Report. Lastly, you have to choose which counter to print a counting report for. You can choose any individual counter assigned to a location in this Count (if you would only like to view detailed counts for a specific counter). You can also choose to print only for Not Assigned locations. Choosing **ALL** will print a Counting Report for all items, sorted by counter.

Discrepancy Reports

A Discrepancy Report is very similar to a Counting Report. However, instead of showing all items based on the counter, it only shows all discrepancies. This is an easy way to list out all discrepancies, sorted by location. All the information shown in a Counting Report is shown in a Discrepancy Report, including variance.

If you would like to print out a Discrepancy Report, click Print Reports/Sheets from the Count Management screen. The Preview Report window will pop up allowing you to choose what to print. You will want to select which Count to print for (it will default to the current Count). Then you will choose to print the Discrepancy Report. You will not be able to choose which counter to print for because a Discrepancy Report will print a report for all items, regardless of the counter. It is a comprehensive list of items that vary greater than the specified discrepancy thresholds.

Entering a Manual Count

If you are not using scanners to enter counts into Enterprise, you can enter in item counts manually from the Counting app. To enter a manual count, click on ‘Enter Manual Counts’ in the Count Management screen. This will bring up the Enter Manual Count page.

When entering a manual count, you can choose to show all items, or you can choose to show all items assigned to a specific counter. When choosing to show a single counter’s items, the page will be formatted exactly like that counter’s Count Sheet. This makes it so you can print out a Count Sheet, have a counter to fill out the item counts, get the filled out Count Sheet from the counter, and enter in the item counts in order directly from the Count Sheet to Enterprise.

These item counts can be changed at any time. However, if an item is actually being recounted because it was a discrepancy, it is advised that the Re-Entered Count be entered on the following page: View Discrepancies and Uncounted Items.

Closing and Posting a Count

When you are finished counting items in a Count, you will want to post and then close the Count. Read the sections below for more details on what it means to post a Count or close a Count.

Posting a Count

Before closing a Count, you must post it to the system’s inventory. Posting a Count means that you are updating the inventory with the counted values you entered. So if you counted 30 of item A, the inventory’s actual count will not be updated to “30” until you post the Count this item is in. Please remember that only counted items will be posted. Uncounted items will never be posted (the inventory’s actual count will remain unchanged in this scenario).

You can post an open Count at any time by clicking on ‘Close and Post this Count’ in the Count Management screen and then click ‘Post’ . This will post all counted items to the inventory. If all items have been counted and posted, the Count will now be allowed to close.

Closing a Count

Closing a Count is done after posting the Count and will not change the inventory values at all. Once you have finished counting all items in this Count, closing the Count will simply change the Count’s status to “closed” and prevent further editing of the Count. This should be done when the Count is completely finished.

To close a Count, click on ‘Close and Post this Count’ the Count Management screen. Then click on ‘Close Now’ on the following screen. A Count cannot be closed unless all items have been counted and posted to the inventory. However, if a Count is unfinished and needs to be closed early, it can be forced to close by first checking the box labeled “Force Count to be closed”. Once a Count is closed, it can no longer be edited unless it is reopened. Reports can still be printed and item details can still be viewed if necessary.

Reopening a Count

If for any reason a Count needs to be edited after being closed, this cannot be done unless the Count is reopened. A closed Count can never be edited. So if an item was miscounted and needs to be recounted after the Count closed, the Count must first be reopened. You will notice multiple changes to a Count after it is closed. One of these changes is a new button: ‘Reopen this Count’. To reopen a Count, simply click this button. The Count will now be editable again, and changes can be made. Remember to post and close the Count again if changes are made.