Details:
You use ICPOs to manage inventory at multiple locations. But when should you use stock transfers?
Basic features of stock transfers:
Stock transfers reduce on-hand inventory of one or more items in one location while simultaneously increasing the on-hand inventory at another (Administration > Inventory > Stock Transfers). Here is a list of what you can do with stock transfers:
- Perform a single transfer or mass transfer from one screen.
- Enter static kit codes to transfer all items within a kit.
- Import transfers from a spreadsheet.
- Stock Transfer Receipt will print on save.
- Cost will be displayed on the Stock Transfer Receipt if user has proper security.
- Serialized items can only be transferred 1 unit at a time.
- Suggested stock transfers
What are suggested stock transfers?
Suggested stock transfers allow you to create stock transfers using reorder alerts, and orders or jobs where inventory cannot be met. This feature takes into account the available stock at the supplying stock site compared to the total quantity needed at each requesting stock site. For example, the Warehouse currently has 3 of an item on hand. The Portland store needs 2, the Seattle store needs 1 and the Bend store needs 1. Evosus will fill quantity 2 at the Portland Store and quantity 1 at the Seattle store, but will deny the Bend store. Evosus makes this decision based on store ID.
- To see the suggested stock transfers, go to Administration > Inventory > Suggested Stock Transfers.
Stock transfers are great in the following circumstances:
Stock transfers can create inventory nightmares and reducing accountability, but they can work in the following situations:
- [Very] Limited Human Resources - Stock transfers are helpful if you're looking for the benefit of inventory tracking at multiple locations but have meager resources to implement it. Suggested stock transfers allow you to control inventory with Min/Max Levels and Reorders based on insufficient inventory, which means you can quickly create a list of items to transfer. This is simpler than creating an ICPO and then filling and receiving it. The disadvantage is that you lose the audit of real inventory movement between locations (warehouse to delivery vehicle to store/vehicle). That being said, you can use the Transfer History tab on the Inventory Transactions screen (Administration > Inventory > Stock Transfer > Transfer History tab) to view the previous stock transfers filtered by date, employee, stock site and wildcard search. You can also use this screen to reverse stock transfers.
- Multi-Location Inventory Tracking on Service Vehicles - The process most companies use to stock trucks for repairs is a tech reviews their jobs for the day and determines which parts they’ll need for the day. Most small businesses cannot employ this kind of expertise in the office to fill out the orders in advance, so it makes sense for the tech to fill out a parts request for the jobs and provide this list to an inventory manager that pulls the inventory. You can then use a memory scanner or phone with a scanner app to scan the barcodes, enter quantity, and then import the spreadsheet into a stock transfer. For example, you can use Label Zap (iPhone, $1.99) or Scan to Spreadsheet (Google Play, $.99). Using these apps, you simply scan a bar code, enter quantity and continue until you’re done. You can then email a spreadsheet with the scans. To make this process even easier, you can barcode your stock sites (Administration > Inventory > Print Barcodes for Stock Sites) and put all the transfer data in ONE spreadsheet for all the transfers. To do this, scan the stock site barcode, scan the items and enter quantities, and then scan the next stock site barcode, etc.
Use stock transfers to manually transfer inventory from one stock site to another. Typically, stock transfers are used to move inventory from the warehouse to service vehicles or to resolve a purchasing issue where inventory was received into the wrong stock site. See Stock Transfer for detailed information on creating a stock transfer. If you are moving inventory between physical locations, such as moving product from the Warehouse to a Retail store, you should use an Inter-Company Purchase Order (ICPOs). This ensures proper tracking and management of inventory.
Reverse a stock transfer
Use the Reverse button on the Stock Transfer History screen to reverse a stock transfer.
Viewing/reporting
- Stock Transfer History: Managers can use the Stock Transfer History screen to review stock transfer activity across stock sites and employees. You can also use this screen to reverse a stock transfer.
- Stock Transfer Register: Use the Stock Transfer Register Report to view stock transfers between sites for a given date range originating from inter-company POs and manual stock transfers. You can also launch this report from the Print button on the Stock Transfer History screen.