Inventory setup guide

This page walks through 11 steps to set up Inventory, in the order the in-app Setup assistant recommends. Each step lists what to prepare, the questions to answer first and the screen to use.

1. Prepare

Optional

What to have ready before setting up the warehouse: company settings, a cleaned-up item list, opening quantities and the stock accounts agreed with the accountant.

2. Inventory controls

Required

How stock is tracked: one or several warehouses, bins, lots/serials/expiry, units of measure, negative stock, reorder alerts and cycle counts. Lot, serial and expiry rules only affect items you mark for them. Confirm the defaults if they fit.

Prepare first

• The list of warehouses / stores (including vans or project sites) and which apps use each one.
• Which item groups need lot numbers, expiry dates or serial numbers (medicine, food, equipment…).

Questions to answer

• How many warehouses do you run, and should some warehouses be reserved for certain apps or item types?
• Which items must be traced by lot, expiry date or serial number?
• Do you buy or sell in packs (box, carton) different from the stock unit?
• May stock ever go negative? Do you want reorder alerts and cycle counts?

3. Warehouses

Required

At least one active warehouse, and exactly one default warehouse — documents without a warehouse (sales orders, receipts…) use the default. Add further warehouses on the Warehouses screen.

Prepare first

• Which warehouse documents fall back to when no warehouse is chosen (usually the main warehouse).

Questions to answer

• Which warehouse is the main one that receipts and issues use by default?

4. Warehouse people

Required

Choose who runs the warehouses, who approves issues and stocktakes, and who handles stock day to day. You cannot remove a person’s last role here.

Prepare first

• The list of warehouse managers, supervisors and storekeepers — each must already be invited as a user.

Questions to answer

• Who heads the warehouses, who approves issues and stocktakes, and who handles stock day to day?

5. Warehouse lists

Optional

The choice lists used on warehouse forms: item categories, adjustment and transfer reasons, packaging types and storage conditions. Open a list to fill it with the standard values, rename, hide or add values.

Prepare first

• The item categories, adjustment and transfer reasons, packaging types and storage conditions the warehouse really uses (Vietnamese and English names).

Questions to answer

• How do you group items, and why do you adjust or transfer stock?

Lookups to review (Settings → Lookups):

• Adjustment Reasons (adjustment_reasons)
• Item Categories (item_categories)
• Packaging Types (packaging_types)
• Storage Conditions (storage_conditions)
• Transfer Reasons (transfer_reasons)

6. Document numbering

Optional

Number format of goods receipts, goods issues, transfers, stock requests, adjustments and material returns. Changing the format after numbers were issued leaves two code styles.

Prepare first

• The numbering format wanted on receipts, issues, transfers, requests and adjustments (prefix, year, digits).

Questions to answer

• Do you want a specific numbering format for warehouse documents, or keep the defaults?

Document types to configure numbering for (Settings → Document numbering):

• goods_receipt
• goods_issue
• stock_transfer
• stock_request
• stock_adjustment
• material_return

7. Approval workflows

Optional · After step: Inventory controls, Warehouse people

Manual goods issues must be approved only when goods issue approval is on: then they need an active workflow or a person who approves directly. Adjustments, stocktakes, stock requests and receipts go straight through when no workflow is active.

Questions to answer

• Must manual goods issues, stock adjustments or stocktake variances be approved, and by whom?

Approval workflows to enable (Workflow → Template library) — see Workflow templates:

• goods_issue
• inventory_adjustment
• stocktaking_session
• stock_request
• grn

8. Issue costing policy

Optional

How the cost of goods issued is computed: moving average, period-end average, FIFO or specific lot — per warehouse, per branch or across the company. It is an accounting policy: it can only change before the first stock movement of a period, and needs a decision number and reason.

Prepare first

• The internal decision (number + date) approving the inventory costing method, agreed with the chief accountant before the first stock movement.

Questions to answer

• Which costing method does the accountant use for issued stock: moving average, period-end average, FIFO, or specific lot?
• Is the cost averaged per warehouse, per branch, or across the whole company?

9. Import data

Optional

Bring stock items in with the existing import screen. Counts update from real data.

Prepare first

• Import in this order: units of measure → item categories → stock items → opening stock. Items match units and categories by code.

Questions to answer

• Where is the item list kept today, and how many items and warehouses?

10. Opening stock

Optional

Bring in the stock counted at the cut-over date. Counts update from real data.

Prepare first

• Agree the cut-over date and count the stock that day; the counted quantities become the opening balance.

11. Go-live check

Optional

Run the main warehouse flows once with the storekeeper before go-live. Tick each step once its result is checked.

Prepare first

• Use two real items in one warehouse; agree with the storekeeper who checks each result.

Next

See the feature pages of this app in the left menu, or the setup guides of every app.