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

Setting Up Inventory Management

Warehouse Types

Warehouse types are used to group warehouses and assign them different functions. They 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 them. For example, one warehouse type can be defined for use when selling physical goods directly from your company's point of sale, another when selling physical goods from a partner's point of sale or when renting physical goods. 

Installed Item Categories

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

Inventory definitions

Inventory Management Definition is used to define and control the movements of physical goods in and out of warehouses when sold or rented to customers through Jobs or Subscriptions. This is achieved by providing the warehouse types used in each event (addition or removal of physical goods) 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:

• 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 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 business.

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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Warehouses

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

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

 Mandatory   Configurable

Related configuration areas

The following modules are related to Inventory Management and may be configured for 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 difference between traceable and nontraceable physical goods.

Traceable physical goods are physical goods that can be traced through a unique identifier which is usually a serial number. A traceable physical good 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 to know how many antennas are left in your warehouse but not the serial number of each and which antenna has been sold to which customer

Adding stock to warehouse

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

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

Removing stock from a warehouse

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

1. Remove stock from a warehouse using a '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 movement warehouse transaction'
3. Rent an installed item to a subscriber by adding it directly through subscriptions or through a job. 
4. Sell a traceable or non-traceable physical good to a customer through a job
5. Sell a traceable or non-traceable physical good to a customer directly through a quick sale

Move stock between warehouses

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

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Managing Installed Items

Installed items are instances of traceable physical goods that can be traced through 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 installed items in batch use:

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

Navigate to Manage Installed Items and specify the criteria that match the item you are interested in, or click on NEW from the Actions Menu to create a new installed item. Proceed by providing the mandatory information as defined in the table below, before you SAVE.

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

 Mandatory   Configurable

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Managing Warehouse Transactions

Use warehouse transactions to move stock from or to 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 the 'Remove Installed Item' subscription action.

There are three classifications 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.

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

 Mandatory   Configurable

Main Information
Life Cycle State: The life cycle state of the transaction which denotes whether items are successfully moved and the warehouse balance updated (Posted), or the movement is still pending (Draft). Click on SAVE to directly post a transaction or SAVE AS DRAFT to save without making actual changes to the stock balance, until goods are physically received and accounted for. For Stock In Transactions For Stock Out Transactions For Stock Movement Transactions Stock In Warehouse: The warehouse in which the goods will be moved to. Remove Stock from Warehouse: The warehouse from where goods will be removed. From Warehouse: The warehouse from where goods will be removed. To Warehouse: The Warehouse in which the stock will be moved. Batch Number: A reference number which is used to keep track of multiple warehouse transactions made for the same batch. Supplier: Supplier that provided the stock which should already be created as a contact information. Posted date: the date on which the transaction was posted
Items to Stock In / Items to Stock Out / Items to Move
A list of physical goods that will be added removed or moved between warehouses. View the 'Adding Items to warehouse transactions' for more information on how to add physical goods to a transaction through the Data Entry page. Product: The physical good to be added. Serial Number:  Only for traceable physical goods (as explained in Installed Items). Alternative Code: Only for traceable physical goods (as explained in Installed Items). Quantity: The quantity of the product to be added to the stock. In case of traceable physical goods the quantity is always 1 Unit Cost Amount: The cost of each good. Total Cost Amount: The total cost amount of the good, calculated using Unit cost and Quantity Components: The constituent products of bundle goods.
Transaction Totals
An aggregated quantity and total cost for each physical good included in the transactions. If a product bundle is added then its constituent components are counted as separate products. For example, if an 'Installation Kit' product bundle is added, which is made up of 2 Modems and 1 Decoder, then the following will be shown in the transaction totals: 1 Installation Kit 2 Modems 1 Decoder

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Post a warehouse transaction

You can create warehouse transactions for received, removed or moved goods, but keep them open (Draft) until checked that all goods have been physically accounted for. Not posting a warehouse transaction means that the goods will not be made available to agents to use them yet (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.

Adding items to warehouse transactions

Stock out and Stock Movement' Warehouse Transactions

The following are options available through the 'Manage Warehouse Transactions' Data Entry page for 'stock out' and 'stock movement' transactions, that allow you to select the installed items and non-traceable physical goods to be moved

Adding single installed item (Traceable)

1. While in edit mode go to the Add Single Installed Item search box.

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

Adding multiple installed items (Traceable)

1. Click on ADD MULTIPLE INSTALLED ITEMS link

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

   1. Click on Select
      

Adding Physical Goods (Non-Traceable) 

1. Go to Add Physical Goods section.

   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 the drop-down list.
   3. Quantity: provide the number of Non-Traceable items to be removed from the warehouse.

Stock In Warehouse Transactions

The following are options available through the 'Manage Warehouse Transactions' Data Entry page for 'stock in' transactions, that allow you to create new installed items and non-traceable physical goods or select from installed items that already exist in the systm but are not assigned to a specific warehouse

Adding existing installed item (Traceable)

1. Enable Search for Existing Installed Item

2. In the Installed Item search box, run a quick search or open the search modal and search for the item to be added.

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

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 the drop-down list.
3. Quantity: provide the number of non-traceable items to be removed from the warehouse.
4. Press Enter from the keyboard to add
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.
2. Product: Select the product from the drop-down list.
3. Serial Number: Provide the serial number of the new item (alphanumeric)
4. Press Enter from the keyboard to add
5. The item is added in the list of items below and you can provide an alternative code and unit cost. If you don't provide an alternative code then it is set equal to the serial number.
   

Adding physical good bundles to warehouse transactions

Physical good bundles are goods made up from multiple components. 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.

Once the items are added in the Items list (as explained above) follow the steps below:

1. Click on COMPONENTS to view and set information regarding the Bundle's components where applicable. The following information is available:
   
   • Product: the component product which is set by the system as defined in the product bundle components
   • Serial Number: provide a serial number for installed items components
   • Alternative Code: provide an alternative code for installed items components
     If no Alternative Code is set, then the Serial Number is used. 
   • Quantity: If the component is non-traceable, the quantity is set as defined in the bundle settings of the Product. If it is traceable, the quantity is always set to one.
   • Unit Cost Amount
   • Total Cost Amount.
     
     

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Importing installed items through the utility

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

Define settings applicable when importing installed items, in the utility definition. From the Actions menu click on Actions > Submit and proceed by selecting the file with the installed items. The file must be prepared for import, and can have one of the following formats: 

1. XML

2. Excel
3. CSV

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

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

 Mandatory   Configurable

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Preparing the import file

1. Navigate to Import Installed Items and from the Definition's Data Entry page and click on ACTIONS > DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE. 
2. Chose between XML, Excel, CSV to select the type of template you wish to download. 

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:

   Name	Description	Type
   Serial Number	The unique and mandatory Installed Item serial number.	String
   Alternative Code	The unique and mandatory Installed Item alternative code.	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	The code of the Category that will be related to the Installed Item.	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	User Defined Field of type String	String
   UDF Float 1-4	User Defined Field of type Float	Number
   UDF Float 4	User Defined Field of type Float	Number
   UDF Date 1-4	User Defined Field of type Date	Date dd/mm/yyyyhh:mm

Import File Templates

Excel

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

CSV

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

XML

An XML template is provided during the import process.  The XML file has the following structure:

 <installed_items>
    <installed_item>
		<serial_number></serial_number>
		<alternative_code></alternative_code> 
		<unit_cost_amount></unit_cost_amount>
		<Product></Product>
		<Category></Category>
		<notes></notes>
		<bundle_serial_number></bundle_serial_number>
		<udf_string_1></udf_string_1>
		<udf_string_2></udf_string_2>
		<udf_string_3></udf_string_3>
		<udf_string_4></udf_string_4>
		<udf_string_5></udf_string_5>
		<udf_string_6></udf_string_6>
		<udf_string_7></udf_string_7>
		<udf_string_8></udf_string_8>
		<udf_float_1></udf_float_1>
		<udf_float_2></udf_float_2>
		<udf_float_3></udf_float_3>
		<udf_float_4></udf_float_4>
		<udf_date_1></udf_date_1>
		<udf_date_2></udf_date_2>
		<udf_date_3></udf_date_3>
		<udf_date_4></udf_date_4>
        <error_message></error_message>
	</installed_item>
</installed_items>

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Managing stock

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

Applying business flows on Inventory Management

Selling and renting physical goods

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

A Printout displays all the information contained in a . It is available through the Data Entry page in one of the following formats: HTML, XLS, CSV, RTF, PDF.

Refer to  Printouts for information on how they can be created, printed and sent.

Warranty Policy Printout

Warranty Policy Printout displays detailed information of an installed item's warranty policy coverage in terms of duration and coverage reasoning.  The printout is available through Installed Items 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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