The term inventory count refers to the process of checking the actual quantity we have physically in stock. During normal business and warehouse operations, a discrepancy may arise between the quantity of items we have in Flexi and what we actually have in stock. There can be a variety of reasons for such discrepancies to occur. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a stock inventory count at certain intervals. That is, to count the physical quantity in stock and compare it with the quantity recorded in the system.
For this process, we can use the Inventory module in Flexi. You can find this module in the menu Goods -> Inventory.
Step-by-Step Procedure
Before you begin, we recommend printing the stock status as of a date. This way, you'll have the initial state documented before the inventory documents change anything.
In the menu Goods - Inventory, click the New button. Fill in the Inventory Type and Start Date fields, and on the Details tab, select the Warehouse that the inventory concerns, and set the Inventory Status to Started.
At the bottom of the form, click the Insert Items button. A list of items in the specified warehouse will open.
Below the item list, click the Select button, and the items will be loaded into the inventory with their price list designation, stock card name, and system status. For physical verification, you can print the Inventory List of Goods report.
By clicking on each item, fill in the actual quantity in the inventory list. You can also use the Inventory List of Goods (Differences) report, which contains only items with a difference between the system quantity and the actual quantity.
Above the record list, click the Generate Documents button and select the type of stock document for receipt and issue.
After generating the stock inventory documents, use the Update Statuses button. This will align the actual quantity with the system quantity in the inventory window.
ℹ️ If you need to add more items to an inventory that has already been completed—that is, after generating the inventory stock documents—go into the inventory items and record the new quantity. Then generate the documents again and update the statuses.
When starting an inventory, all items in the given warehouse should be loaded into the inventory items. You can also add items that are not loaded in the inventory list but were found in stock during the inventory count. For now, filling in the actual quantity must be done manually by opening each item.
Creating an Inventory
To create an inventory, select New and an inventory table will appear.
You can find a description of the individual fields here.
The required fields are Inventory Type, where you can name the inventory as you wish, and Start Date (this is the date on which the stock documents will be generated).
On the Details tab, you can select the warehouse where the inventory will be performed. If you don't select one, it will be possible to add items from all warehouses.
The Inventory Status is used only for record-keeping purposes and does not affect other functions.
Recommendation
Before creating the inventory, we recommend reconciling issue requirements for clarity. In any case, the system status of the inventory takes these into account—see the section below.
Inventory Items
Items can be selected for the inventory in bulk using the Insert Items button. This offers all stock cards for items that can be inserted into the inventory from the warehouses defined above. The system will then ask whether the items should be inserted into the inventory with a zero quantity. If you select Yes, only a zero quantity will be pre-filled in the Actual Quantity column. If you select No, the Actual Quantity will remain empty.
The second way to add items is individually, using the Add button. At this point, you can select an item from the price list. Then you need to select a warehouse, after which you can enter the quantity in one of the inventory waves. This quantity will be written directly into the Actual Quantity column.
If an item loaded into the inventory tracks batches or expiration dates, these are taken into account in the inventory. The relevant item will be shown on as many lines as there are combinations of batches and expiration dates for that item. The system status will always correspond to one such combination.
Recommendation
It's not necessary to perform inventory for all items in the warehouse. A large number of items in a single inventory can be confusing. For better clarity, we recommend creating multiple inventories for a single warehouse, for example, one for each group of goods.
Scanners can also be used in inventory—directly in the inventory detail, scan the EAN of the goods; for goods with the given EAN, scanning will increase the value by 1 if it already exists, or create a new one if it doesn't.
System Status
This column shows the quantity of the given item found on its stock card in Flexi.
For example, if you return to the inventory after some time, the status of the stock cards may have changed in the meantime. At this point, you can select Update Statuses in the top bar, which will load the current status of the stock cards into the System Status column as of the inventory start date.
Actual Quantity
This column is used to enter the actual quantity that we have physically in stock.
The quantity can be entered in each of the four waves. The quantity in the last filled-in wave is always used as the correct status.
In the inventory item overview, this column always displays the quantity entered in the first wave.
Recommendation
You can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Right/Left Arrow to switch between inventory items while entering the actual quantity. Simply press Enter to confirm the save, and you can then enter the next item.
Generate Documents
This button generates stock documents based on the information entered in the inventory.
Before generating the documents, the system will ask which stock document you want to use.
A stock document is always generated with a quantity equal to the difference between the quantities in the Actual Quantity and System Status columns.
For all items where the Actual Quantity is lower than the System Status, one Issue Note is generated, containing the relevant items in a quantity equal to the difference between the columns.
For all items where the Actual Quantity is higher than the System Status, one Receipt Note is generated, containing the relevant items in a quantity equal to the difference between the columns.
Recommendation
For inventories, it's advisable to create a special stock document type, for example, Inventory, with an appropriate posting template.
Flexi itself does not create a link between the inventory and its documents. However, it's possible to create an automatic custom link so that you can see in the inventory links which documents were generated from the inventory. You can find an example of creating a link here.
Update Statuses
This button updates the quantity of inventory items in the System Status column based on the quantity on the stock card as of the inventory start date.
More Tips
To perform a physical warehouse check, you can print the Inventory List of Goods for the given inventory using the printer icon.
It is not possible to add sets and bundles to an inventory; only the individual items of sets and bundles can be added.
In Flexi, it is not possible to perform an inventory of serial numbers.
Inventories Take Issue Requirements into Account
The System Status in the inventory now corresponds to the stock card status as of the inventory start date including issue requirements arising during that period. Therefore, it is not strictly necessary to perform an Issue Requirements Update before starting the inventory. The inventory receipt will, if needed, reconcile requirements from the current period (the first available purchase price used will be: the average price from the stock card, the last purchase price from the stock card, or the purchase price from the price list).
It is still necessary to deal with issue requirements from all previous periods. Technically, it is not possible to use an inventory to settle requirements accumulated on stock cards from previous periods.
FAQ