THE ESSENTIALS

Inventory is the stock of physical goods the business holds for sale or rental to contacts and organisations. The platform tracks what is in stock, what is reserved, what has been dispatched, and what is out on rental — updated in real time as transactions occur.

Devices are the traceable physical goods within that inventory, each uniquely identified by serial number. Unlike non-traceable goods, every device has a complete lifecycle record — from entry into inventory, through sale or rental, to return or permanent ownership transfer. A second category of device exists for communication purposes: created on the fly when a contact registers via a front-end app, these push notification devices are never held in inventory.

Who this manual is for — three roles

🔧 Configurator — configures Device Statuses, Device Locations, and product characteristics under Settings and Product Catalogue.

🖥️ Operator — manages day-to-day inventory operations: stock transactions, device tracking, and contact device assignments.

🔗 Integrator — automates inventory and device flows via the Back-Office and Self-Service APIs. For full integration guides, see the Integrators Hub.

Key Concepts

Physical goods marked as stockable in the Product Catalogue. Two types:

See the Product Catalogue manual for how to mark a product as stockable.

Stock Balance

A live count per stockable product, derived from all warehouse transactions:

Stock Balance = all stock-in and positive adjustment transactions − all stock-out and negative adjustment transactions

Warehouse Transactions

Records of all stock movements. Four types:

Devices

A Device is a traceable physical good — such as a set-top box, router, or SIM card — uniquely identified by serial number. The business offers devices to contacts in two ways: as a rental, where the contact uses the device while the business retains ownership, or as a purchase, either outright or through a Device Plan under a pay-to-own model.

For businesses offering digital, OTT, or telecommunications services — such as content, internet, or mobile data — devices are also the means through which contacts access and consume those services. In this context a device is required as part of the contact's subscription, and may be rented from the business, purchased by the contact or contacts register their devices in the platform themselves - in the latter case, devices not held in the business’s inventory.

Device State

Each device is assigned a state by the platform, reflecting where it is in its lifecycle. States are fixed and not configurable.

An operator can manually set a device to Blocked/Unblocked. All other state transitions are performed by platform processes — orders, invoicing, subscriptions, credit notes.

Device Status

A business-defined label that sits within a Device State, providing finer operational detail. Multiple statuses can be created per state — for example, "Under Maintenance" or "Inspect Condition" within Blocked. One status per state may be set as the default. The Own Device state does not support custom statuses.

Device Characteristics

Device Characteristics are product characteristics specified at traceable physical good level. When a device is created for that product, it inherits the characteristic keys; the operator then sets the specific value for each device instance. Since characteristics are product-scoped, different product types carry different sets — for example, a router may have IP address and SSID; a SIM card an MSISDN.

Device Characteristics vs Custom Fields

Device Ownership

Tracks which entity — the business, a contact, or an organisation — holds a device at any point in its lifecycle. A dispatched device remains business-owned until the invoice is issued; the device can be at the contact's premises before that point but ownership has not yet transferred.

Device ownership can change after an initial sale. If a device was sold to a merchant or service provider and ownership subsequently needs to be transferred to a specific contact — for example, as part of a B2B-to-consumer handover — an operator can perform a Change Owner action on the device.

Rentals

Rentals are driven by setting up a rental price on a traceable physical good in the Product Catalogue. The rental price references an expense service that defines the recurring charge and billing period. When a contact orders a device and selects the rental price, the business retains ownership throughout. The device must be returned once the associated service ends; the platform creates a stock-in transaction automatically and the device state reverts to Used. Contacts holding rented devices cannot be deleted or anonymised until the device is returned.

Device Plans

A pay-to-own model for contacts acquiring a device in instalments. Structured as milestones, each generating an invoice, until the total is paid and ownership transfers. Device Plans are processed via Order Queues. The plan progresses automatically until the device is fully paid for.

Deferred Pick

A fulfilment model in which an order is placed and invoiced upfront while the physical picking of goods from inventory is postponed — used for workflows requiring serial number assignment, packaging, or coordinated delivery. Reserved items remain earmarked until picked and despatched. Applies to both traceable and non-traceable goods.

Meter Readings

Tracks usage consumption on traceable devices. Two types: One-time (each reading is independent) and Cumulative (each depends on the previous, e.g. an odometer). Conversion rates between the reading's unit of measurement and the Usage Detail Record unit can be configured for billing. Readings are submitted via the Back-Office or Self-Service APIs.

Managing Inventory

🖥️ Primarily: Operator

Stock can be added to the business's inventory in three ways: through a Stock In transaction performed in the UI or via the Back-Office API, or — for traceable goods (devices) — via bulk import using the Import Data utility.

Navigate to Commerce > Inventory to manage stock. The page opens on the Stock Balance view. Use the toggle in the top-right corner to switch to the Devices view.

The Inventory Page

Stock Balance View

A summary of all stockable products with their current stock figures. Filter by product, product family, product type, or traceability. A product's stock availability is also surfaced on its Product Catalogue page and in the ordering flow, so operators can check availability without leaving the task at hand.

[Screenshot: Stock Balance view]

For traceable products, select View Devices on any product row to open the full device list for that product.

Stock In

Accessed via the ⋯ options icon in the top-right corner. Adds new goods to the business's inventory; a single transaction can cover multiple products.

Save to complete the transaction. For traceable products, Device records are created in inventory immediately.

Manual Stock In is for adding new incoming stock only. Returns from contacts (via credit note) are processed automatically by the platform. A Stock In automation can be configured to override the default returned-device state (Used) to Blocked, with a status such as "Inspect Condition".

[Screenshot: Stock In form]

Stock Adjustment

Accessed via the ⋯ options icon. Corrects a stock balance discrepancy. Provide a description, select the product, then specify the quantity adjustment (+/−) for non-traceable goods, or indicate which specific devices to add or remove for traceable goods.

[Screenshot: Stock Adjustment form]

View Transactions

Accessed via the ⋯ options icon. Full history log of all warehouse transactions — Stock In, Stock Out, Stock Reservation, and Stock Adjustments. Filter to narrow the search; select the view icon on any transaction for details.

[Screenshot: Transaction history]

The Devices Page

Select the Devices toggle to view all devices across all states — in inventory, rented out, sold, or registered as Own Devices. Filter by state, status, product, serial number, or other attributes.

[Screenshot: Devices list view]

The Reserved badge on a device identifies the Order, Service Request, or Invoice for which it is currently reserved.

Bulk Update

Select multiple devices to apply updates in bulk: Spatial Location, Location, Custom Fields, or Block.

[Screenshot: Bulk update panel]

Device Actions

Available from the device list via the per-row actions menu. Actions available depend on the device's current state.

[Screenshot: Device actions menu]

Contact Devices

On a contact's page (Contacts > My Contacts > [contact]), the Devices card lists all devices the contact owns, rents, or has registered. Select View Devices to see the full list, or Register Device to add a new one.

[Screenshot: Contact devices card]

Settings

🔧 Primarily: Configurator

Device Statuses

Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Inventory. Business-defined labels adding operational granularity within each Device State. Multiple statuses can be created per state; one can be set as the default. The Own Device state does not support custom statuses.

Example uses: "Under Maintenance" within Blocked; "Inspect Before Resell" within Used.

[Screenshot: Device Statuses settings]

Device Locations

Named physical locations where devices are stored or distributed — for example, a regional depot or a retail sales point. Assigned to individual devices for tracking. Stock balances are not tracked at the location level; they are business-wide.

Product Characteristics

Navigate to Product Catalogue > [traceable physical good] > Product Characteristics. Characteristics define the product-specific attributes that operators will set per device instance. Every device created for that product inherits the characteristic keys, and operators can set the individual values via the Edit Characteristics device action.

See the Product Catalogue manual for full setup instructions.

Custom Fields

Custom fields extend the device record with operational attributes that apply to every device instance, regardless of product type.

See the Custom Extensibility manual.

Integration Flows

🔗 Primarily: Integrator

For full schemas, authentication, error handling, and device management within subscription flows, refer to the Integrators Hub — Subscription Flows and Plugins Integrators sections.

Back-Office API

Self-Service API

Good To Know

Automations

🔧 Configurator — Inventory automations triggered by:

Available actions: send a communication (SMS or email), fire a webhook. See the Automations manual.

Analytics

🖥️ Operator — Device-level metrics available in:

• Inventory section of the Analytics module — stock balance, ownership, and device state breakdown

The Devices report lists devices with state, ownership, stock movement, and subscription information; runs on demand or on a schedule. See the Analytics manual.

The Devices MongoDB collection tracks each device from inventory entry through all state and ownership changes, subscription associations, and service enablements. Custom reporting is available via the Analytics+ MongoDB integration. Own Device records are not included.

Reference Material

Product Catalogue · Subscriptions · Orders · Contacts · Business Network · Billing · Financials · Automations · Custom Extensibility · Import Devices · Integrators Hub · Glossary