Inventory Management is a process used to control the location and quantity of Physical Goods and to follow their movement.
Specifically, Inventory Management tracks:
- The importation of new Physical Goods into Warehouses.
- The location where Physical Goods are stocked and who their Supplier is.
- The availability of Physical Goods Stock.
- The inventory movements between Warehouses and customers.
What Comes First
To start using Inventory Management configure the System to support your business model. In the following table, you can find the configuration modules related to Inventory Management
| Sub-module | Type | Classification | Navigation | Dig In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warehouse Types | Configuration | CONFIGURATION FOUNDATION APPLICATIONINVENTORY MANAGEMENTSET UP WAREHOUSE TYPES | /wiki/spaces/WIP/pages/10008289 | |
| Inventory Management Business Definitions | Configuration | CONFIGURATIONFOUNDATION APPLICATIONINVENTORY MANAGEMENTSET UP BUSINESS DEFINITIONS | /wiki/spaces/WIP/pages/10008288 | |
| Installed Items | Transactional | FOUNDATIONINVENTORY MANAGEMENTMANAGE INSTALLED ITEMS | /wiki/spaces/WIP/pages/10008299 | |
| Warehouses | Configuration | FOUNDATIONINVENTORY MANAGEMENTMANAGE WAREHOUSES | Creating Warehouses | |
| Installed Item Categories | Configuration | CONFIGURATIONFOUNDATION APPLICATIONINVENTORY MANAGEMENTSET UP INSTALLED ITEM CATEGORIES |
Step 1: Setting up Warehouse Types
First, you must configure Warehouse Types
Warehouse Types are used to group Warehouses to provide differentiated functions to each Warehouse. Warehouse Types are used by the various configuration areas of CRM.COM to set up and provide business rules and restrictions, such as the Inventory Management Definition, or for creating Warehouse
Step 2: Setting up Inventory Management Definition
An active Inventory Management Definition must then be configured.
Inventory Management Definitions is a set of business rules used to control the behaviour of Inventory Management throughout their Life Cycle. In particular, through Inventory Management Definitions you have the option to define the Warehouse Types from where Physical Goods will be retrieved or moved back to when used either on Jobs or Subscriptions. For each Warehouse Type, a Classification must be defined, which determines the type of Sale the Physical Goods of the Warehouse will be available for.
There exist 3 Classifications:
- Rentals: Used for Installed Items to Subscriptions as 'Rentals'. i.e. the customers don't buy the Installed Item. When the Subscription is terminated the Installed Item must be returned
- Direct Sales: Used for Installed Items that are sold through Jobs and are extracted from Warehouses that belong to your business. i.e. the customers get billed for the Physical Good through CRM.COM, and the good is not required to be returned after the customer stops cooperating with your business.
- Indirect Sales: Used for Installed Items that are sold through Jobs and are extracted from Warehouses that belong to partners of your business. i.e. the customers do not get billed for the Physical Good through CRM.COM, and the good is not required to be returned after the customer stops being your customer.
Set up the Warehouse Types to be used in each of the following cases, where movement of Physical Goods is required
- Adding Physical Goods
- Removing Physical Goods
- Adding Physical Goods during Swap
- Removing Physical Goods during Swap
Step 3: Creating Warehouses
Warehouses are the storage places where Physical Goods reside. Warehouses can be created through the Inventory Management module. To add a Physical Good to a Subscription or a Job, the good it must reside in a Warehouse, whose type is defined in the active Inventory Definition as a type used to add Physical Goods from. Also, the Group of the Warehouse must be the same as the Group of the user you used to log in.
Step 4: Creating Installed Items
Installed Items are instances of Physical Goods which are classified as traceable (see Products). Each Installed Item is a unique instance of a Product, with a unique serial number used for identification and tracing.
There are three ways of creating Installed Items:
- Manually through the Manage Installed Items screen
- Manually by performing Stock In Warehouse Transactions
- By Importing Installed Items via the Utilities module
To create an Installed Item, the following attributes must be defined
- Product: The traceable Physical Good Product
- Serial Number: The unique identification of the Installed Item. (This will most probably be sent to the Provisioning Provider System as an identification of the subscriber)
- Components: Components are required in case that the Product is a Fixed Product Bundle, i.e. it is made up of multiple other Products.
Once an Installed Item is created (if not imported) it must then be added to a Warehouse.
Step 4: Setting Up Installed Item Categories
Configure the following modules for additional functionality and categorisation. You can skip configuration of these modules if not required by your business model:
- Installed Item Categories: Installed Item categories are used to classify Installed Items into generic groups based on specific similar attributes that they share. Installed Item categories are following a hierarchical tree structure. Each Installed Item an be classified only in one category.
Your Inventory can be managed through the Inventory Management Module and you can:
- Add Stock into your Warehouses: Add stock to your existing Warehouses by performing Stock In Warehouse Transactions. Use this type of Warehouse Transactions to add stock in your Warehouses, either by using physical goods which are already imported into the System or by creating those physical goods while performing the Warehouse Transaction. Specify the items that should be added to the Warehouse and post your Warehouse Transaction whenever you feel that you are ready to add the stock.
- Removing Stock from your Warehouses: Remove stock from your existing Warehouses by performing Stock Out Warehouse Transactions. Use this type of Warehouse Transactions to remove stock from your Warehouses, by specifying the items that should be removed. Post your Warehouse Transaction whenever you feel that you are ready to remove the stock.
- Moving Stock between your Warehouses: Move stock between Warehouses by performing Stock Movement Warehouse Transactions. Use this type of Warehouse Transactions to move stock between your Warehouses, by specifying the source and target Warehouse and the items that should be moved. Post your Warehouse Transaction whenever you feel that you are ready to move the stock.
- Viewing the location of all your Physical Good: View the location of all your physical goods, through the Location Information sections available on Installed Items. Access this area by navigating to Inventory Management > Installed Items. Use this information to view if a specific Installed Item is located in one of your Warehouses or if it was already provided to a specific Subscriber. View all the Warehouse Transactions that were applied on a specific Installed Item, through the Installed Item History Section
Do it Yourself!!
Let's see how you can quickly set up the System to start using Inventory Management module for your Subscriptions business
Create the following Warehouse Types & Inventory Management Definition
Company ZX would like to set up its Warehouses for 4 different product types and its different sales branches.
Warehouse Types
| Name | Information |
|---|---|
| Direct Sales WT | For Warehouses that belong to your business and from where Installed Items will be sold |
| Indirect Sales WT | For Warehouses that belong to partners of your business and from where Installed Items will be provided (not billed from CRM.COM) |
| Rentals WT | For Warehouses that belong to your business and from where Installed Items will be rented (not billed) |
Returns of Direct Sales WT | For Warehouses that belong to your business and to where sold Installed Items that are replaced for free (through Warranties) will be returned |
Returns of Indirect Sales WT | For Warehouses that belong to partners of your business and to where indirectly sold Installed Items that are replaced for free (through Warranties) will be returned |
Returns of Rentals WT | For Warehouses that belong to your business and to where rented Installed Items will be returned |
Inventory Management definitions
| For Adding | For Adding During Replacement | For Removing | For Removing during Replacement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warehouse Type | Classification | Warehouse Type | Classification | Warehouse Type | Classification | Warehouse Type | Classification |
Direct Sales WT | Direct Sales | Direct Sales WT | Direct Sales | Returns of Direct Sales WT | Direct Sales | Returns of Direct Sales WT | Direct Sales |
Indirect Sales WT | Indirect Sales | Indirect Sales WT | Indirect Sales | Returns of Indirect Sales WT | Indirect Sales | Returns of Indirect Sales WT | Indirect Sales |
Rentals WT | Rentals | Rentals WT | Rentals | Returns of Rentals WT | Rentals | Returns of Rentals WT | Rentals |