Anchortoptop

Overview

Inventory management is used to handle physical goods stock in your company's warehouses and follow their movement in and out of your warehouses.  

Major features

• Import new physical goods into warehouses
• Move multiple items in, out or between warehouses
• Distinguish traceable physical goods (aka installed items) through unique number. i.e serial number
• Track the location where physical goods are stocked and who their supplier is
• Track the customer location of traceable physical goods
• Track inventory movements between warehouses and customers for installed items 
• Keep a balance of physical goods in each warehouse
• Handle sales of physical goods

Overview

Inventory management is used to handle stock of physical goods and to supervise the movement of products that enter and leave a company's warehouses.

In CRM.COM, a warehouse represents the physical location where sold or rented hardware is stored.  A separate warehouse can be set up for each location from which hardware is retrieved.  Additional warehouses can be set up to represent locations where hardware is returned, in order to distinguish them from unused goods.

Inventory management functionality

• Import new goods into warehouses.
• Move multiple items in and out of warehouses or between warehouses at the same time.
• Handle the sale of goods.
• Keep a balance of goods in each warehouse.
• Identify individual traceable physical goods (installed items) through a serial number.
• Identify the supplier of goods. 
• Track physical goods installed at a customer's location.
• Track the movement of installed items between warehouses and customers. 

Setting Up Inventory Management

Warehouse Types

Warehouse types are used to group warehouses and assign them different functions. They Types are added in the inventory definition to designate the types of warehouses that installed items can be taken from, to be provided to a customer or moved to if the customer no longer needs themphysical goods are taken from and returned to. For example, one warehouse type (Sales) can be defined for use when selling physical goods directly from your a company's point of sale , and another when selling physical goods from a partner's point of sale or when renting physical (Rentals) when renting out goods. 

Installed Item Categories

Categories are used to classify installed items based on common attributes.

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definition definition

Inventory definitions

Inventory Management Definition is used to define and management definitions control the movements movement of physical goods in and out of warehouses when that are taken from or returned to warehouses and that are sold or rented to customers through Jobs or Subscriptions. This is achieved by providing the warehouse types jobs, subscriptions or direct sales.

Provide the type of the warehouse to be used in each event (addition or removal of physical goodssuch as 'For Adding' or 'For Removing') and assign a classification to each type, determining the type of sale that the physical goods of the warehouse will be available for. There are three types of sale:to determine whether the goods are rented or sold.

• Rentals: Installed items are added to subscriptions and are not purchased by the customers. The goods must be returned when the subscription is terminated.
• Direct Sales: Installed items are sold through jobs and are extracted from warehouses that belong to your business.  The customers get billed for the physical good through CRM.COM, and it does not have to be returned after the customer stops cooperating with the business.
• Indirect ; the goods must be returned when the subscription is terminated.
• Sales: Installed items are sold through jobs and are extracted from warehouses that belong to a business partner. The customers do not get billed for the physical good through CRM.COM, and it doesn't not have to be returned after the customer stops cooperating with the businessor direct sales; the goods do not have to be returned.  If the good is extracted from a proprietary warehouse, the customer is billed through CRM.COM; if the good is extracted from a warehouse that belongs to a partner, the customer is not billed through CRM.COM.

Definition fields

The table describes the sections of Inventory Management Definitions Data Entry page , and explains how the fields in the page are used.

 Mandatory   Configurable

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warehouse warehouse

Warehouses

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A warehouse is a storage place for physical goods. In CRM.COM physical goods.  Physical goods (traceable and non-traceable) reside are located in company warehouses from where they can be accessed and moved retrieved and transferred to customers or between other warehouses. 

The table describes the sections of Warehouse Data Entry page , and explains how the fields in the page are used.

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Related configuration areas

The following modules are related to Inventory Management and to inventory management and may be configured for the Inventory Management module the inventory management module to operate at its full capacity.

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Using Inventory Management

Before we start explaining how you can manage your stock it is important to understand the The difference between traceable and nontraceable non-traceable physical goods is fundamental in stock management.

Traceable physical goods are physical goods that can  can be traced through a unique identifier, which is usually a serial number. A usually a serial number.  In CRM.COM a traceable physical good (such as a modem with a serial number) is often referred to as an 'installed item in CRM.COM. For example, a modem with a unique serial number'. 

Non-traceable physical goods are goods which are not traced to a single instance and are measured based on their quantity . For example, antennas. You care (such as antennas).  It is important to know how many antennas are left in your the warehouse but not the serial number of each and which specific antenna has been was sold to which a customer.

Adding stock to a warehouse

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Once your warehouses are setup you are now ready to start adding stock to them. There are four ways by which stock can be added to a warehouse

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set up there are multiple ways to start adding stock:

1. Use the import utility for traceable goods to import stock from a file.
2. Create the installed items one by one and then use a 'stock Stock in warehouse transaction' to place the items in the warehouse . Can only be used for (traceable goods only).
3. Create a stock 'Stock in warehouse transaction and ' and add multiple items to a specific warehouse (traceable and non-traceable goods to a specific warehouse).
4. Create a 'stock Stock movement warehouse transaction and ' and move stock from one warehouse to another . Can be used for both (traceable and non-traceable goods).
5. Remove an installed item that was previously rented or sold to a customer either because it is and then returned (no longer required by the subscription or because it was or swapped with a new item).  
   

Removing stock from a warehouse

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Stock is removed from a warehouse because it is no longer usable, it is when sold or rented to customers, a customer or when moved to another warehouse or because it is no longer usable.

1. Remove stock from a warehouse that is no longer functional (e.g., hardware that is outdated or broken) using a 'stock Stock out warehouse transaction' because it is no longer needed, such as outdated hardware or broken.
2. Move stock from one warehouse to another using a 'stock Stock movement warehouse transaction'.
3. Rent an installed item to a subscriber by adding it directly through subscriptions or through a jobor jobs. 
4. Sell a (traceable or non-traceable) physical good to a customer through a jobSell a traceable or non-traceable physical good to a customer  or directly through a quick 'Quick sale'.

Move stock between warehouses

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Stock can be easily moved between warehouses to assist in the logistics process. For example, you can have all stock imported to your , by using a 'Stock movement warehouse transaction'. You can import all stock to the main warehouse and then allot allocate goods to multiple warehouses. This is achieved by using a 'stock movement warehouse transaction'other warehouses from there.

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installed installed

Managing

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installed items

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Installed items are instances of traceable physical goods that can be traced through by their serial number. Installed items either belong to the business or to a customer (if purchased).  They can either be sold or rented to customers , either through subscriptions or jobs or sold through the 'quick sales' process.

In order to create Several installed items in batch usecan be created in one flow by:

• 'Managing Warehouse Transactions to create one or more installed items and move them to a Transactions' which also move the items to a specific warehouse.
• 'Importing Installed Items via Utilities', a batch process used for importing to import multiple items from a file adds and add them to a specific Warehousewarehouse.

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Specify the criteria that match the item the installed item you are interested in , or click on NEW from the Actions Menu menu to create a new installed item. Proceed by providing Provide the mandatory information defined as defined in the table below, before you mandatory in the installed items table and SAVE.

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The table describes the sections of of the installed items Data Entry page , and explains how the fields in the page are used. Use  You can use the table filter to only view information available for all installed items or select a specific filteron the installed items you are interested it.

 Mandatory   Configurable

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transactions transactions

Managing

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warehouse transactions

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Use warehouse transactions to move stock from or to in and out of warehouses.

Warehouse transactions can be manually created or they can be generated by the system, in case that the transaction is the result of a user's action, such as using are either created by the user or by the system following a user action (such as the 'Remove Installed Item' subscription action).

There are three classifications types of warehouse transactions:

• A Stock In transaction will add stock to a warehouse
• A Stock Out will remove stock from a warehouse
• A Stock Movement will move stock between warehouses

Manual warehouse transactions can either be created through the respective Manage Warehouse Transactions Data Entry page or through Warehouse Data Entry page.

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• 'Stock in' adds stock
• 'Stock out' removes stock
• 'Stock movement' moves stock between warehouses.

Warehouse transactions can be created by the user through the Manage Warehouse Transactions or the Warehouse Data Entry page.

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The table describes the sections of a Warehouse Transaction warehouse transaction Data Entry page , and explains how the fields in the page are used.

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Posting a warehouse transaction

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You can create warehouse transactions Warehouse transactions can be created for received, removed or moved goods, but keep them open (Draft) until checked that all transferred goods and kept (open) in a 'Draft' state until all the goods have been physically accounted for. Not posting a warehouse transaction means that the goods will not be made

Goods are always available to agents to use them yet (for stock out transactions but must be posted to be available for stock in and stock movement transactions) while they will still be available in the warehouse for using for stock-out transactions. In none of the three cases will the stock balance be amended. While the transaction is still draft you can make changes such as adding or removing goods from the transaction.
Once all physical goods have been successfully acknowledged you can close (Post) the transactions to make the changes final and update the stock balance.

To directly post the transaction use SAVE from the Actions menu when saving the transaction

To create draft transactions use 'SAVE AS DRAFT'  from the Actions menu when saving the transaction

To post the transaction once finalised, navigate to Manage Warehouse Transactions and go to the Data Entry page of the transaction you wish to post. From the Actions menu click on Actions > Post.. In either case, the stock balance remains unmodified.

Goods can be added or removed from the transaction as long as it is in a 'Draft' state. Once all physical goods have been accounted for and the modifications finalized, the transaction can be closed (Posted) and the stock balance updated.

Use SAVE from the Actions menu to post the transaction or SAVE AS DRAFT to keep it editable.

To post the finalized transaction, go to Manage Warehouse Transactions, select the transaction and click Post from the Actions menu. 

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Adding items to a warehouse

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transaction

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Stock

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Out and

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stock Movement warehouse transactions

Traceable installed items and non-traceable physical goods to can be selected and moved through the Manage Warehouse Transactions Data Entry page.

Adding a single installed item (Traceable)

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item 

1. In edit mode go to the Add Single Installed Item search box.Either run search box (in the Items to Stock out or Move section).

2. Run a quick search or open the search modal and search for the item to be moved.

Adding multiple installed items (Traceable)items 

1. Click on on the ADD MULTIPLE INSTALLED ITEMS link.

2. Search for existing already installed items and select the ones to be included in the transaction , by checking the checkbox next to the installed item.

3. Click on Click Select.
   

Adding Physical Goods (Non-Traceable) physical goods 

1. Go to to the Add Physical Goods section.

3. Product Type: Select the product type of the product you want to include from the drop-down list.
Product: Select the product from the drop-down listSelect the Product Type and the Product from the drop-down lists.
4. Quantity: provide the number of Nonnon-Traceable traceable items to be be removed from the  the warehouse.

Stock In Warehouse Transactions

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Stock In warehouse transactions

New traceable installed items and non-traceable physical goods or select from installed items that already exist in the systm but can be created - and installed items already present in the system that are not assigned to a specific warehouse can be selected and added - through the Manage Warehouse Transactions Data Entry page.

Adding an existing installed item (Traceable)

1. Enable Search for Existing Installed ItemIn the Installed Item search box, run .

2. Run a quick search or open the search modal and search for the item to be added in the Installed Item search box.

3. The item is added in to the list of items below and you can provide a unit cost can be provided.
   

Adding non-traceable goods

1. Product Type: Select the product type of the product you want to include from the drop-down list.
2. Product: Select the product from Select the Product Type and the Product from the drop-down listlists.
3. Quantity: provide the number of non-traceable items to be removed from the warehouse.
4. Press Use Enter from the keyboard to add the items.
   
5. The item is added in the list of items below and you can update the quantity and provide a unit cost

Adding new installed items (Traceable)

1. Product Type: Select the product type of the product you want to include from the drop-down list.Product: Select the product from the drop-down listlist and a quantity and unit cost can be provided.
   

Adding new installed items 

1. Select the Product Type and the Product from the drop-down lists.
2. Serial Number: Provide the serial number unique identifier of the new item (alphanumeric)Press Enter from the keyboard to add.
   
3. Use Enter to add the items.
   
4. The item is added in to the list of items below and you can provide an and an alternative code and unit cost and unit cost can be provided. 
     If you don't provide an alternative code is not provided, then it is set equal to the serial number.
   

Adding physical good bundles to a warehouse

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transaction

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Physical good bundles are goods products made up from of multiple components . When (traceable or non-traceable physical goods).  Additional information related to the components is required when adding a bundle to a warehouse transaction additional information related to the components is required. Components can either be traceable or non-traceable physical goods.
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Once the items are added in to the Items list (as explained see above) follow the steps below:

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click on COMPONENTS to view and set

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the

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applicable information. The following information is available:

• Product: the component

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• set by the system, as defined in the product bundle components.
• Serial Number: provide

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• the identifier for installed items components.
• Alternative Code: provide an alternative code for installed items components

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• .  If none is set,

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• the

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• serial number is used. 
• Quantity: 

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• Set as defined in the Product bundle settings if the product is non-traceable,

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• and to '1' if it is traceable

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• .
• Unit Cost Amount
• Total Cost Amount.
  
  

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import import

Importing installed items through the utility

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The fastest way to import stock in your into a warehouse is by using the 'Import Installed Items' utility which will add stock to your warehouses through external files, such as an excel and an external file. 

Define settings applicable when importing installed items, installed item import settings in the utility definition. From the Actions menu click on Actions > Submit and proceed by selecting

Click on Submit from the Actions menu and select the file with the installed items.

The file must be prepared for import, and can have import in one of the following formats (templates can be used): 

1. XML

2. Excel
3. CSV

Templates can assist in the preparation of the file and ensure correct formatting.

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The table describes the sections of Import Installed Items Transaction Data Entry page , and explains how the fields in the page are used.

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file file

Preparing the import file

1. Navigate to Import Installed Items and from the Definition

   's Data Entry page and click on ACTIONS > DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE. Chose between XML, Excel, CSV to select 

   Data Entry page click on Actions > Download Template. 

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   Download the template after you Save the definition and then click Submit.

   
   

2. Select the type of template you wish to download . (XML, Excel or CSV).

3. The import file must be prepared according to the downloaded template. All three types of files include the fields defined in the table below:

   The code of the Category that will be related to the Installed Item.User Defined Field of type StringUser Defined Field of type Float

   NameDescription	Type
   Serial Number	The unique and mandatory Installed Item serial number.	StringString
   Alternative Code	The unique and mandatory Installed Item alternative code.	String	String
   Unit Cost Amount	The unit cost amount of the Installed Item.	Number
   Product	The alternative code of the Product that will be related to the Installed Item.	String
   Category		Number
   Product	String
   Category	String
   Notes	Notes for each Installed Item.	String
   Bundle Serial Number	The `serial number of the Bundle Installed Item (for use if the Installed Item is created as a component to a Bundle Installed Item).	String
   UDF String 1-8		String
   UDF Float 1-4	User Defined Field of type Float	Number	UDF Float 4		Number
   UDF Date 1-4	User Defined Field of type Date Date dd/mm/yyyyhhyyyy hh:mm

   
   

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Import File Templates

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EXCEL EXCEL

Excel

The Excel file contains one column for each field that can be imported. The , with the headers in the first row includes the headers. An Excel template is provided during the import process
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CSV CSV

CSV

The CSV file contains one column for each field that can be imported. The , with the headers in the first row includes the headers. A CSV  template is provided through the import process.
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XML XML

XML

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Traceable and non-traceable physical goods are imported into warehouses from where they can then be sold or rented to customers. 

A clear view of the The stock balance of each product is available through a dedicated Stock Balance Summary page. From this the stock balance Summary page, from which the user can search for products by using products, product types or product families as filters. The displayed results provide display the collective sum of the product(s) from all Warehouses across warehouses as well as detailed information of on the Stock Balance stock balance in each Warehousewarehouse.

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Applying business flows on inventory management

Selling and renting physical goods

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Physical goods can be sold or rented to customers.

Sold physical goods can belong in one of two classifications

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Inventory Management Analytics

Printouts

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A Printout displays all the information contained in a . It is Printouts are available through the Data Entry page in one of the following formats: HTML, XLS, CSV, RTF , PDFor PDF.  Refer to to Printouts for information on how they can be created, printed and sent.

Warranty Policy Printout

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Printout 

A warranty policy printout displays detailed information of on an installed item's warranty policy coverage in terms of duration and coverage reasoning.  The printout is available through Installed Items data entry Data Entry page and unlike other printouts, it is not available for sending by email.

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Inventory Management Business Examples

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