Inventory Count Processing Overview

In Stream, all inventory counting is done for a specific inventory or warehouse location.  Only one inventory count should be performed for each warehouse location at one time.  Counts can be processed for multiple locations at the same time.

Inventory counts are based on the Bin records for each item in each warehouse.  Bins are used to track the physical locations in your warehouse, and a bin record should exist for each inventory item in each physical location in which it is located in the warehouse.  The bin and item combination is unique in each warehouse.  For example, you should only have one Item ABC, BIN1 record for a specific warehouse.  You can store multiple items in a single bin or warehouse location (ie item ABC and item DEF are both stored in BIN1 in location WHS), but the same bin item combination should only exist once in each warehouse location.

In each warehouse location, the on hand quantity for each item should normally match the total of the bin quantities for the item (if you have quantity 10 of item ABC in location WHS, you should also have a total quantity of 10 of the item in the bin records for the item in location WHS).  The bin detail could be one bin with a quantity of 10, or multiple bins with quantities that add up to 10.  If the bin quantities for an item do not match the on hand quantity for the item, this problem should be addressed before an inventory count is performed for the item (this subject is described in more detail later in this section).  The count process may need to adjust both the bin quantity and the on hand inventory quantity for an item, so the quantities should be “in synch” before a count is performed for the item.

When a count is performed, all selected stocking items (active or inactive) with a quantity on hand are counted.  The item status is not checked during count processing (if the item is on hand and selected for counting, the status is disregarded)  Nonstock items (which are not tracked by the system), are not counted.

The primary difference between processing a cycle or partial and a full count of a warehouse location is the number of bin/item combinations being counted.  A cycle count is used when you are counting a portion of the bins and items in the warehouse.  A complete count is used to count all of the stocking bins/items in a warehouse at the same time.  The Complete Count Variance report can be used to compare the count records in the system to the on hand quantities in the system  (to id any items that show as on hand, but which have not had count records entered for them).

Counts are processed using Count records.  The Prepare Inventory Count program clears the INVCTRAN (Inventory Count Transaction) file of any existing Count records for the selected location, and it creates Count records for the bin and item range to be counted.  Count records are automatically created for each bin and item combination in the warehouse that is selected (all stocking items in the item number, bin and description range being processed).  The Prepare Inventory Count program also moves the current quantity in each bin and item to a pre-count quantity in the Bin and Inventory record.

Once the Count records have been created, the actual quantity counted for each item and bin are input by the personnel performing  the count.  If a count record exists for the item and bin, the counted quantity should be entered into the existing count record for the bin/item.  If any items are “found” during the count, and a bin record does not exist for the item and bin combination already, a new bin can be created for the item, and a count record can be entered for the bin/item combination “on the fly”.

Count records should not be deleted during count processing as the system will only adjust items that have count records entered for them in the Count file.  If an item qty is not found and a count record exists for the item, the count quantity in the record should be set to 0.  This will allow the system to adjust the bin/item combination to 0 (if the record is deleted, the count program will not adjust the item).

Once the actual counted quantities for each bin/item combination have been input into the system, variance reports are produced.  The variance reports list the items and bins which show differences or variances, between the quantity shown in the system and the actual quantity counted.  The items and bins with variances can be re-checked and the count records for the bin/item combinations can be updated as required.

Once the variance information has been verified, the Apply Inventory Count program is used to process the count adjustments, and to post the adjustment amount to the General Ledger.

The Apply Inventory Count program will only process items that have count records entered for them.  If the count records for an item are deleted, the item will not be processed by the Apply Inventory Count program.

The Apply Inventory Count program uses the Count records for each item/bin combination, and the Pre-count quantity for each bin to determine the adjustment amount for each item.  Due to this logic, only one count record should exist or be entered for each item and bin combination in each warehouse.  The indexes on the count file will only allow one count record to be entered for each loc/bin/item   

If you are using a ticket to identify the bins that have been counted, the logic is that each bin may have multiple tickets, but each bin/item combination should be unique and have only one ticket associated with it.  For example, if item ABC and DEF are both in BIN1 in the warehouse location – you can have 2 tickets for BIN1, one for each item.  However, each bin/item combination (ABC in BIN1 in location WHS), should only exist one time in the count file.

If this rule is not followed, the system may incorrectly update the items being counted when the Count information is applied.   For this reason, the system will block you from entering more than one count record for a single loc/bin/item.

The following sections describe the complete and cycle count procesing options , and the basic steps that are used to process each type of count.  For more detailed information about performing an inventory count, please see the Daily Procedures section of this document.

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Cycle Count Method