The Stream II Inventory Counting System allows you to process physical inventory counts of the merchandise in your warehouses. The count programs allow you to perform either a partial or a complete count of the inventory items in the location being processed.
This document describes how to use the Inventory Count System to perform a complete count of the inventory items in one warehouse.
Important Points
• The Inventory Counting programs are location specific. Only one inventory count may be processed in a single warehouse location at one time. Multiple locations can be counted at the same time as long as only one count is processed in each location.
• No inventory transaction processing should take place while a complete inventory count is being processed. The system will detect if inventory movement has occurred in the selected location during the counting process and it will force you to correct any affected items prior to processing the count.
• Any printed pick or pull tickets for the inventory location to be counted should be reset prior to processing an inventory count. This zeroes out the committed quantity (qty allocated to printed documents) in the bin records and allows the system to reduce the bin quantities based on the count information as required.
• The Bin Reconciliation programs (fv091r06 and fv091r07) should be run for the location to be counted and any errors shown on the reports should be corrected before beginning the count process. The count process adjusts both the inventory and bin quantities and it bases the adjustments on the bin detail, so the detail should be in synch prior to starting the process.
• The Inventory Count procedure will adjust the inventory and bin quantities for each item to match the quantities that are physically counted in the warehouse. Nonstock items are not tracked or counted. Count records must be entered into the count file for all stocking items. The system will only adjust items which have count records entered for them.
• The Count procedure can also be used to move the items being counted into the correct bin locations in the count warehouse. If the count detail for a specific item indicates that it is in a different bin than recorded in the system, the appropriate bin quantity adjustments will be made when the count is applied. This means that the count data can be used to record the actual bins for the items and to put the on hand quantities for the items into the correct bins in the count location.
• The combination of the item number and the bin or physical location in each count record must be unique (ie there should only be one count record for each bin/item combination in each warehouse). The count system compares the actual counted quantity entered for each item/bin to the pre-count quantity for the item/bin. If multiple count records are present for a single item/bin you will get invalid output on the costed variance report produced by the system as it will show an adjustment for each bin/item record.
Processing Overview
The Complete Count method is used to perform a complete physical inventory of the selected inventory location. When the system is prepared for this type of count, the system
• Clears the count records for the selected location, and creates a count record for each bin, item combination that the systems shows in stock. The count records are normally created with a quantity of zero to force the input of the actual quantity counted.
• It moves the quantity in each bin record to a pre-count field in each the bin record. Due to the fact that each item in each warehouse location can have multiple bin records, inventory counting is done by bin. As the system is prepared for a count, the system records the original quantity in the bin records being counted in a pre-count quantity field in the bin and it creates count records for the bins.
• The auto-created count records, are modified (the count quantity is input) based on the quantities found during the physical count. If items are found, or items are located in a different bin than recorded in the system, count records are also created for these item/bin/quantities.
• Variance reports are used to preview the change to the inventory and bin quantities. They are also used to identify items that may need to be re-counted, possible data entry errors, etc. The variance reports are re-run until the information is correct.
• The system compares the pre-count quantities in the bin records for each item to the count information for each bin record to determine the change to each item. If the bin pre count quantities, do not match the count detail for the item, the system adjusts the bins to match the count detail. The inventory item is also adjusted for any net change to the bin quantities, and the last count date in all items in the selected location is updated.
The Complete Inventory Count procedure consists of the following steps.
1. Shut down operations in the inventory locations to be counted. No transactions that affect inventory on hand or bin quantities may be processed while the count is taking place. No items should be added to inventory in the locations to be counted until after the count information is applied.
2. Reset any printed picklists or shop order pull tickets for the locations to be counted. This step ensures the committed quantity in each bin is set to 0, and it allows the bin quantity to be adjusted down if necessary. If there is a committed quantity in a bin (a quantity assigned to open pick and pull tickets), the bin quantity may not be reduced below the committed qty.
3. Run the Inventory Bin Reconciliation report (FV096r06) for the locations to be counted and correct any errors that are output on the report. The Inventory Bin Reconciliation report identifies any items in the location where the bin quantities for the item do not match the on hand quantity for the item. These quantities must match before a count is performed since the count system will adjust both inventory and bin quantities when the count informaton is applied.
4. Run the Bin/Pick Reconciliation report (FV096R07) for the locations to be counted and correct any errors that are output on the report. The Bin/Pick Reconciliation compares the committed qty in each bin record to the open pick and pull tickets for the bin. This reconciliation will also try to fix any bin/pick errors that can be corrected automatically.
5. Run an Inventory Valuation (fv070r06) for the location or locations to be counted. This report can be used to verify the inventory value in the locations being counted prior to processing the count.
6. Run the Prepare Inventory Count Program. Select the warehouse location to be counted, and Y to Create Count Record with zero quantity to force quantity entry. This step
• Clears the Inventory Count file of all existing count records for the selected location
• Creates count records for each bin in the selected location. The count records have a zero quantity and they are loaded with the committed quantity (if any) from each bin.
• Moves the current bin quantity for all bins in the selected location to the pre count quantity field in the bin record. The pre-count quantity field stores the quantity that is in the bin at the beginning of the count.
• Moves the current inventory quantity on hand for each item in the location to the pre-count quantity field in the item record.
• Checks that the bin and inventory quantities for each item match (if any errors are output, they must be corrected, and the Prepare for count program should be re-run - until no errors are output.)
• Checks that none of the bins are over-committed (that none of the bins have a committed qty (printed pick, pull ticket detail) that is greater than the bin quantity. If any items show committed qty errors, the errors should be corrected and the Prepare for count program should be re-run – until no errors are output.
7. Print Count Worksheets, if required, and perform the physical count of the items. This step also normally includes verifying the accuracy of the physical count by spot checking items, or by using another team or person verify the counted quantities recorded by the person performing the count. If you are using RF or other data collection devices no worksheets need to be printed as they will not be used. If you are counting using inventory tickets, the tickets are used instead of the count worksheets.
8. Input the counted quantities into the Inventory Count file. Count records may be entered into the Inventory Count file manually using the Count Management program or they may be loaded automatically if the count was performed using a data collection device. If RF devices were used to perform the count, the count records will be in the count file. For each count record, you should input the item, the bin in which the item is located, the ticket number associated with the count record and an optional note. If the bin in which the item was counted is not in the system, the bin can be created on the fly by inserting a new bin record for the item into the Bin Location List and then selecting the record during count record entry. Note: Each count record should have a unique bin/item in it. You should not enter multiple bin/item/ticket combinations for a single bin/item.
9. Run the Complete Count Variance report and verify that the count records entered into the system agree with the quantities recorded on the inventory worksheets, or count tickets. This step involves printing and analyzing the variance report, optionally making changes to the information in the count file, and re-running the variance report. This step can be repeated as necessary until the variance report is deemed to be correct.
10. Run the Costed Count Variance Report (fv074r05), or the Costed Count Variance report by Item (fv074r06) and verify the change that will be posted to inventory when the count information is applied. The Costed Count Variance report runs in Bin Sequence. The Costed Count Variance report by Items runs in item number sequence (this report is usefull when you are moving the items being counted from one bin to another since the bins for the item will show up sequentially and in the same section of the report). If any corrections need to be made to the count information, you may edit the appropriate count records and re-run the variance reports until the correct information is shown on the report.
11. Optional but recommended. Back up the Inventory Master file, the Bin Location file, and the Inventory Activity file. This step and the actual update of the inventory items are usually performed after hours, or on a weekend, when no other inventory activity is taking place. This allows you to recover if the update process is interrupted by a hardware problem, or if the update produces unexpected results.
12. Run the Apply Inv. Count Information program for the location to be updated. This program can be run in preview or in update mode, so that you can verify the adjustments to be applied to the location prior to applying them. The program will also require you to re-enter the amount of the inventory adjustment to be made to the location prior to performing any updates to the bin or inventory quantities in the location. When the Apply Inventory Count information program runs, it
• Updates the last count field in all inventory items in the location (whether they are being adjusted or not).
• It calculates the change to be made for each bin (it compares the bin pre count qty to the count qty for each loc/item/bin combination), and it outputs this on the report.
• It creates an Inventory Activity record for each item being adjusted. A Type IC inventory transaction is written for each adjustment (an item with 2 bins, both being adjusted will have 2 inventory activity records for the adjustments).
• It adjusts the on hand quantity for each item based on the adjustments to each bin for the item in the location being processed.
• Writes warehouse transaction records to record the change being made to each bin.
• It updates the bin quantity field for each bin being adjusted, based on the count qty for each bin.
• It posts the net value of the inventory adjustment to the Inventory Counting Autopost account in the General ledger to ensure that the Inventory G/L and subledger balances remain in agreement.
During the count process, no invoicing, receiving, inventory transfers, or inventory adjustments should take place in the location being counted as these operations will adjust the on hand inventory quantities and impact the accuracy of the count.
Inactive Items. The Inventory Counting system does not differentiate between active and inactive inventory items. The assumption is that if you have physical on hand quantities of inactive items, they will be counted. You should therefore normally include inactive items on the inventory count worksheets. If you are performing a Complete count of a single location, you should input count records for only the inactive items which have quantities on hand.
Non-Stock Items. Non-stock items are items which are not tracked in the system. Non-stock items are not adjusted by the inventory counting programs. Non-stock items should not have a quantity on hand in the system as the items should never be received into inventory as the quantity of a non-stock items is not adjusted by the invoicing program.
Bin Putaway Logic/Default Bin Update: If the count process has been used to update the bin locations in the warehouse being counted, a program should be run to load the default bin for the items in the warehouse based on the new bin information. This will ensure the system uses the new bin as the default bin for each item.