| Reconciliation of Inventory |
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Inventory Reconciliation is only available in the Level 5 (or higher) program. The Inventory Reconciliation feature is used when you've inventoried one or more items in stock and you have found that the actual physical count doesn't match the inventory level shown by AnyOrder. For example, let's say that you do an inventory of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." You find that you have 10,500 copies in stock. But when you run an inventory in AnyOrder, it shows that you have 10,450 in stock. When you have a case like that, you need to reconcile AnyOrder's inventory with the actual inventory. That's where this feature comes in handy. From time to time, you'll find that the inventory levels in AnyOrder will not match a physical count of items in your warehouse, particularly if it's been some time since you done an accurate inventory count. That's due to a number of reasons. Items that you have in stock can be damaged, lost, or earlier counts may have not been inaccurate. You can make adjustments to your inventory manually as described in Adding Inventory or Manually Updating Inventory Files. The "Reconciliation of Inventory" feature, however, provides you with a quick and easy way to make those adjustments. Briefly what AnyOrder does in this process is to locate the current Inventory File, and then update it so that when you run an Inventory, the ending levels match the ones you supply.
When to Use the Inventory Reconciliation Feature. The inventory reconciliation feature will bring your inventory up-to-date on the day that you use it. That means that you'll want use this feature soon after taking a physical inventory. For example, let's say that you count items on January 2. You can use reconciliation feature any day after January 2, but you must use it before you start issuing invoices and shipping off products. Once you start shipping products, your physical inventory figures will no longer be valid. You don't necessary have to count every item in your inventory at one time. You can count one or two items and do an inventory reconciliation. Then, some time later, you can count another one or two items. The nice thing about Inventory Reconciliation is that it allows you catch up with your inventory when it is convenient. It's not necessary to do an entire physical inventory at the beginning of the year. If desired, you can do periodic checks during the course of the year. This feature is quite handy when the inventory of one item runs low. Let's say that you look in your warehouse and you find that have only one box of 48 books left. However, when you check inventory figure in AnyOrder, you find that it shows 55 books left. To fix things, you can activate the Inventory Reconciliation Feature, and quickly update AnyOrder's inventory figures so that it now properly shows 48 books.
Inventory Reconciliation for Previous Points in Time. Normally, Inventory Reconciliation is done on the same day that you do physical counts of one or more items in your inventory. That's because if you issue new invoices issued after the counts are taken and then run Inventory Reconciliation, you won't be able to account for the items on the new invoices. Level 6-7 users, however, are not under this limitation. In Levels 6 and 7, it possible to reconcile inventory counts taken days earlier. If you use this, there are two important prerequisites: 1) Establish one invoice to mark the point at which you'll be taking physical inventory. Write down the invoice number. This is your "marking point invoice." 2) Make sure that before you take the physical inventory that you have removed and shipped the items on the marking point invoice and all previous invoices. In other words, you want to remove the inventory for that invoice (and previous invoices) before you do the physical count. You want all of your orders brought up to date at that point. If you meet those prerequisites, you'll be able to use this feature. To get started, click on the "Start Process" button. On the dialog box that appears, enter the number of your marking point invoice in the blank provided. AnyOrder will do the reconciliation as of that invoice number. Note that this feature can be used in combination with Real Time Inventory Batch Processing. It's utilized in the situation when you've run inventory batch processing on a series of invoices, and, afterwards, find that you need to correct the inventory levels of one or more products. To make inventory corrections, start here in Inventory Reconciliation first. Use the invoice just before the start of the batch as your marking point invoice. After reconciliation, re-run batch processing and the invoices will be corrected based on the new inventory information.
Starting the Process To reach this portion of the program, select PRODUCT TOOLS >> RECONCILIATION OF INVENTORY. The following dialog box appears:
Begin by clicking on the "Start Process" button. After clicking this button, AnyOrder will run a current inventory to make sure that your inventory is up-to-date. Although, you can skip this step, it's highly recommended that you don't. It's your assurance that you'll be working with the latest inventory data. At that point, the program will run a current inventory. You'll see the same dialog boxes as if you were running an inventory from the Inventory Functions portion of the program. When the inventory is complete, AnyOrder will list all of your products on the spreadsheet.
Entering Counts on the Spreadsheet Once the spreadsheet is ready, you can enter the actual counts of each of your products. The number is entered in the "Count" column. The number you enter here should be a count of items you have in stock, plus any that are not recorded in AnyOrder. (For consignment inventory, see the next section). You don't have to enter all products. If you are just updating one or two items, enter those counts, and then take care of the other products at a later time. Remember that you want to count the inventory and enter it into Inventory Reconciliation on the day that you do that counts. (Or make sure that you enter the counts before any more products are shipped out.) Several functions are available to help you enter information. In addition to entering the number directly on the spreadsheet, you can enter the count and the catalog number in the appropriate blanks midway down the screen. Click "Enter" and the count will be pasted at appropriate location on the spreadsheet. Another option that you have is to use a barcode scanner. Scan the barcode of the product, enter a count, and the number will be automatically entered for you. (For more information on barcode scanning, see Product Barcode Scanning.)
Consignment Items If you have products on consignment, AnyOrder will automatically add those on consignment to your count. The amount of consigned inventory which is added is listed on the Sales Activity and Inventory Report Screen under the heading "Number Remaining at Consignment Sites." If you have consignment inventory, you should review this number and make sure it is accurate. The best time to check it is when you receive reports from your consignment vendors. Run an inventory (Product Tools >> Inventory Functions. Place checkmark by Special Inventory Report: Customer. Then click on "Current Inventory." Check to make sure that "Number Remaining at Consignment Sites" matches your vendor's figure. If not, correct it. It is suggested that you leave the automatic consignment feature on, but if desired, but it can be turned off by removing the checkmark. If you turn it off, you'll need to manually add your physical count with the number on consignment; then enter that number in the count column. If you don't have consigned inventory, this feature will not have an effect on the process.
Entering the Values in the Inventory File When you've finished entering counts on the spreadsheet, click the button: "Enter Above Values in Inventory File." Using your numbers, AnyOrder will adjust the levels in the Inventory File. The next time you run an inventory, the ending inventory will match your counts. It's helpful at this point to review some background information on inventory. When AnyOrder runs a "Current" inventory, it starts with an Inventory File. For example, let's say that you run an inventory report on the first of August, 2014. Since you are producing a 2014 inventory report, AnyOrder will start with the following Inventory File: InvEnd13. That's the Inventory File which contains the inventory levels at the end of 2013. During the inventory process, the program runs through all of your invoices and calculates the number of units sold from January to August of 2014. It then subtracts this number from the inventory at end of 2013. The result is your ending inventory level at the first of August, 2014. When you use the Inventory Reconciliation feature, it adjusts the levels in the InvEnd13 file so that when the number of units sold are subtracted, the final number will match the counts that you've made on the first of August, 2014. You can actually see the adjustment that AnyOrder makes in the Inventory File by selecting PRODUCT TOOLS >> INVENTORY FUNCTIONS >> "Manually Update Inventory." The "Manual" choice provides you with a view of the internal fields of the Inventory File. At the bottom, you'll see "Reconciliation Adjustment" (circled in the illustration below). The number here, either plus or minus, is the amount the inventory has been adjusted in order to match your counts.
Additional Ways of Viewing Inventory Data Three different views of inventory data are available. They are all reached from the FILE menu at the top of the screen. They all use Excel (or another spreadsheet program) to display the data. The first (View from Spreadsheet - Counts Only), duplicates what is shown on the spreadsheet at the bottom of the Reconciliation dialog box. In other words, it shows that counts that you've entered. By moving it to a spreadsheet program, it gives you a way of printing the information. Particularly, for large inventories, it easier to use a printed copy for checking purposes than viewing it on the screen. The second (View from Spreadsheet - Previous Levels) shows 5 columns: Catalog Number, Item Name, End_Invent, and End_NC_Invent. The later two deserve a bit more explanation: End_Invent -- This is the total ending inventory. It includes consigned items if you have any. End_NC_Invent - This is non-consigned Inventory. Consigned items (if you have any) have been removed. As mentioned above, when AnyOrder does an Inventory Reconciliation, it is working with the ending inventory figure which is the same as "End_Invent." Thus, the counts you enter in the Reconciliation dialog box should take in account any consigned inventory. If you count 2,000 units of an item in your warehouse, and you have 100 units on consignment, you want to enter 2,100 on the spreadsheet. The third (View from Spreadsheet - Inventory File) provides a spreadsheet view of the Inventory File. The information shown is the same as if you selected PRODUCT TOOLS >> INVENTORY FUNCTIONS >> "Manually Update Inventory." This just gives you another way of looking at the Inventory File. Here are what the column abbreviations mean: CATALOG_NO - Catalog number of the product ITEM_NM - Name of the product START_IN - This is the inventory level. For example, if you are viewing the InvEnd14 file, this is the inventory level at the end of 2014 and starting in 2015. ADD_IN - This is inventory that you've added since the end of the year. If you are viewing the InvEnd14 file, then this would include any inventory that you've added in 2015 SHRINK - This is inventory that you've removed since the end of the year. If you are viewing the InvEnd14 file, then this would be any inventory that you removed in 2015. Note that this does not include items which have been sold. Rather, this include items that been damaged or lost and you've specifically removed it from the inventory. Inventory is removed by using the inventory feature built into the Product Information database, or by using the "Manual" feature in Inventory Functions. CURRENT_IN - This is the inventory available after adjusting for additions and reductions. The formula used is CURRENT_IN = START_IN + ADD_IN - SHRINK. COM_INVENT - This is amount of inventory that is on consignment. BSELECT - This field is an internal use field and it doesn't contain any information of value YR_END_ADJ - This is the field that is used by the Reconciliation feature (as described above). It's either a positive or negative number that is used to reconcile AnyOrder's inventory with your actual counts.
Here's some other information on inventory: How Starting Inventory is Recorded in an Inventory File.
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