Inventory — how to use

Module guide

This page explains every Inventory menu item: what it does, when to use it, and how it connects to Sales and Purchase. Shorter overview: Inventory module guide. Menu reference: Sidebar menus.
Who can see Inventory? Users with the Inventory, Administrator, or Owner role (workspace.inventory). Goods receipts also appear for Purchase users (workspace.purchase) because receiving is part of procure-to-pay.

What Inventory does

Inventory answers three questions: what you stock (products), where it sits (warehouses and bins), and how much you have (quantities and movements). Sales reduces stock when you fulfil orders; Purchase increases stock when you receive goods.

First-time setup (recommended order)

  1. Categories

    Group products (e.g. Raw materials, Finished goods) for browsing and reports.

  2. Warehouses

    Create at least one warehouse (store, plant, or 3PL). You cannot receive or sell stock without a warehouse.

  3. Bins (optional)

    If you track aisle/rack locations inside one warehouse, add bins under that warehouse.

  4. Products

    Create SKUs with unit of measure, tax, default warehouse, and reorder level if you want low-stock alerts.

  5. Opening stock

    Post opening quantities via Goods receipt (no PO) or Stock adjustment on migration day.

  6. Verify

    Open Stock availability and confirm on-hand matches your physical count.

Daily stock lifecycle

  1. Stock increases when: goods receipt (GRN) is posted, transfer arrives, adjustment adds qty, physical count posts a positive variance, sales return restocks.
  2. Stock decreases when: sales order reserves/ships, transfer leaves, adjustment removes qty, count posts negative variance, purchase return removes stock.
  3. Every change writes a row to Stock movements (audit trail).

Dashboard & master data

Inventory overview (dashboard)

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory

KPIs and shortcuts: low stock, recent movements, quick links to GRN and products.

  • Start your warehouse day here.
  • Investigate anomalies before promising sales delivery dates.

Stock availability

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/availability

Grid of products × warehouses showing on-hand, reserved, and available qty.

  1. Open before confirming a large sales order or promising a delivery date.
  2. Filter by warehouse or search by product name/SKU.
  3. Available = on-hand minus reserved for open sales orders.
  • If available is zero but you received a PO, check GRN was posted to the correct warehouse and product.

Categories

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/categories

Hierarchical product grouping for navigation and reporting.

  1. New category → name and optional parent → Save.
  2. Assign category when creating or editing a product.

Warehouses

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/warehouses

Physical or logical storage locations. Every stock balance is per warehouse.

  1. New warehouse → code, name, address (optional).
  2. Mark inactive warehouses you no longer use instead of deleting if history exists.
  • Multi-branch businesses usually create one warehouse per branch.

Bins

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/bins

Sub-locations inside a warehouse (aisle, rack, bin code).

  1. Select parent warehouse → New bin → code and name.
  2. Use on GRN lines when you track putaway location.
  • Skip bins if you only care about warehouse-level qty.

Products

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/products

SKU master: name, code, UoM, type (stockable/service), tax, cost, sale price, reorder level.

  1. New product → fill SKU/code (unique), name, unit of measure.
  2. Set default warehouse if most transactions use one site.
  3. Save → open product again to see stock by warehouse on related tabs if shown.
  • Products must exist before lines on sales orders, POs, or GRNs.
  • Do not delete products with transaction history — deactivate instead.

Stock movements

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/movements

Read-only log of every quantity change with reference to source document.

  1. Filter by product, warehouse, or date.
  2. Export CSV if you need a spreadsheet audit.
  • When qty looks wrong, trace the movement row back to GRN, SO, transfer, or adjustment.

Moving and correcting stock

Stock transfers

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/transfers

Move quantity from one warehouse (or bin) to another without a sales or purchase document.

  1. New transfer → from warehouse, to warehouse, date.
  2. Add product lines and quantities.
  3. Submit/post — creates out movement at source and in movement at destination.
  • Use for branch replenishment or moving stock to a dispatch warehouse.

Stock adjustments

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/adjustments

Correct system qty when reality differs (damage, shrinkage, found stock, migration).

  1. New adjustment → warehouse, reason, date.
  2. Lines: product, qty change (+ or −).
  3. Post to write movements immediately.
  • Prefer adjustments over editing old GRNs when the error is discovered later.

Receiving stock (goods receipt / GRN)

A goods receipt note (GRN) records stock arriving. It can be linked to a purchase order (normal buying) or stand alone (opening stock, samples, returns from customer restock). The same screens appear under Inventory → Goods receipts and when receiving from Purchase.

Goods receipts (GRN)

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/goods-receipts

Increases on-hand qty when posted; updates PO receipt status when linked to a PO.

  1. New GRN → select vendor (optional), warehouse, date.
  2. Add lines: product, qty received, optional bin and batch.
  3. If from PO: use create shortcut from PO or pick PO on the form — lines pre-fill ordered products.
  4. Save → Post (or equivalent action) to update stock balances.
  • Receive only what physically arrived — partial receipts are normal.
  • Three-way match (PO + GRN + invoice) happens later in Purchase.

Physical inventory counts

Physical counts

Menu path: /workspace/{your-company-slug}/inventory/physical-counts

Cycle or full warehouse count: enter counted qty, system calculates variance vs book.

  1. New count → warehouse, count date, scope (all products or subset).
  2. Enter counted quantities per line (often imported or scanned).
  3. Review variances (system qty vs counted).
  4. Post count — posts adjustment movements for differences.
  • Freeze receiving/shipping during wall-to-wall counts if possible.
  • Run monthly cycle counts on high-value SKUs.

Frequently asked questions

Why is reserved qty high?

Open sales orders reserve stock so you do not oversell. Confirm or cancel old orders to release reservation.

GRN vs Purchase invoice?

GRN updates quantity. Purchase invoice updates accounts payable and may auto-post to GL. You need both for three-way match.

Can I sell without inventory module?

Service-only businesses may use non-stock products; stockable items require warehouses and available qty.

How Inventory connects to other modules

Module Uses inventory for…
Sales Check availability before confirming orders; shipping reduces stock.
Purchase PO expected qty; GRN receives against PO; vendor returns reduce stock.
Accounting Posted GRNs, adjustments, physical counts, and stock transfers auto-post inventory journals (1250 Inventory, 1255 in transit, 2050 GRNI, 5050 shrinkage, 4050 adjustment income).
Reports Inventory → Reports hub: low stock, valuation, ABC, expiry, layer ageing, cost layers, movement/GRN/transfer/adjustment registers, fast/slow movers.
Warehouse freeze Edit warehouse → Freeze stock movements, or Freeze/Unfreeze on the warehouse list. Blocks GRN, transfers, adjustments, and manual movements at that site.

Related documentation