| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Chuck Griffith |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 1:21:39 PM
How many people are having problems with inventory Quantity-On-Hand inexplicably going out of sync?
We have a fair number of problems with this and it is always troubling because it leads one to question the integrity of employees. However, when the computer count goes below the shelf count it is impossible to think that employees are adding inventory to the selves.
I wrote a report that gathers all inventory transactions that are recorded for a particular SKU: sales, returns, adjustments and receiving. Today I ran that for an item where the computer said we had less than what was on the self (taking into account the sold-but-not-shipped quantity). The report agreed with what was on the shelf and disagreed with the QOH. That makes me wonder how much I can trust OM's inventory count. My analysis of this says that for this to be human error one would have to both mess up receiving (to get too many on the shelf) *and* mess up some orders to the exact same count (to get the OM inventory transactions to match it).
(Unfortunately, the report becomes useless for SKUs that have orders that are archived because sales and returns transactions are cleared.)
I know there are some actions that can mess up inventory such as Order: Revise Line item: "Change the Quantity Shipped" for an item out of stock; followed by a cancel of the line (which causes inventory to go up from zero and there is no record of this QOH change). But these things are hard to find even by accident and it is not our usual method of business to use those actions.
Inventory is so important because it is real money. Because it is that important I wish the next revamp of the inventory system would have an audit trail for every change to QOH. This might enable one to track down what was going on when the inventory goes out of whack.
Anybody else having enough problems with this to feel the need for something to track the causes down?
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Chuck Griffith |
Posted - 04/29/2010 : 1:28:55 PM
Yesterday we needed an "aged inventory" report (or whatever the right term is.) I couldn't find any such thing but let me know if I just didn't look in the right place.
So... I thought "I'll just write a report off the FIFO table!" Oops... there is no date on the FIFO table entries so one can't tell how old they are. I ended up using the most recent POHistory receiving date for computing the inventory age, not exact but close enough for this exercise.
Hows about, as long as you folks are polishing up the inventory system, adding the date and source for FIFO entries?
We haven't done it, but it seems like it is a normal business practice to look for old inventory and push it out. After all, I think one can look at inventory as decreasing in value the longer you keep it because of overhead and the cost of money not in the bank.
The Slow Movers report does this somewhat, but it includes drop ships and doesn't tell you that there are 99 more of the loser you sold yesterday but bought 5 years ago. |
| Doggone Good |
Posted - 04/22/2010 : 3:10:02 PM
Would we be able to view the log through the inventory screen? AKA you're looking at widget A in the View Inventory screen, and you'd click "View Adjustments", and it will show you all manual changes, received in PO, or manually scanned? |
| Barney Stone |
Posted - 04/15/2010 : 4:42:30 PM
quote:
[i]Originally posted by chris@fbl.bz[/i]
[br]Barney,
It would be helpful to show the adjustment type in the inventory log (SALE, MANUAL, RECEIVE PO, RETURN)and then be able to sort or select only the type of adjustment you want to look at. If the adjustment type is an order, it would be nice to see the order #. These two things are missing from my sql log and would really help to quickly get to the bottom of discrepancies.
Thank you,
Chris Camarella
The log will actually be a bit more detailed than that. Each entry will point to the specific line of code that generated it. Order numbers will also be included where appropriate. |
| chris@fbl.bz |
Posted - 04/15/2010 : 12:29:09 PM
Barney,
It would be helpful to show the adjustment type in the inventory log (SALE, MANUAL, RECEIVE PO, RETURN)and then be able to sort or select only the type of adjustment you want to look at. If the adjustment type is an order, it would be nice to see the order #. These two things are missing from my sql log and would really help to quickly get to the bottom of discrepancies.
Thank you,
Chris Camarella |
| Barney Stone |
Posted - 04/15/2010 : 08:04:33 AM
McKane - Both of those features - the new order import system and logging of all QOH changes - are being wrapped up now and will be included in our next Beta release. We don't have a set date for that yet, but it will certainly be this Summer. It will start in the next few weeks with a limited release to users who can test it in a non-production environment. We will also be discussing and demonstrating those features at the User Conference next week. |
| mckane |
Posted - 04/14/2010 : 7:05:32 PM
@Chris and Barney -
I think in general there is just a lack of transparency over what is happening to that inventory table. SE is aware of this and working to address and I think what they are doing should do a lot to resolve inventory issues.
There are a few things before the inventory control will be 100% reliable and traceable.
1. The order importer needs to be rock solid (I know this is in the works and coming down the pike, right Barney?) and each order needs to be it's own entity with logs of what has happened to inventory when it's imported. The order importer now is not transparent enough when there are errors or problems etc. Barney - any idea on a timeline for this?
2. Complete logs for every time inventory is adjusted. This needs to be when a QOH is decremented or incremented for any reason (including receiving, order import and entry, manual inventory adjustments etc. and also spreadsheet imports). when you get to the size we are 20,000 items, the only way to do inventory counts every quarter is to shut down for 24 hours, export inventory, manually count and re-import. Spreadsheet adjustments need to be accounted for. Also at this size, auditing now is really impossible without complete and expansive logs. Barney mentioned earlier in this thread that this is in the works as well so that is great news.
3. Crash recovery is important too (as mentioned by Chris)... but this will be resolved if #2 is implemented properly. The entry in the logs table must be done at the same time the inventory is decremented or increased or else you'll run into a case where the decrement happened and the log didn't.
We are really looking forward to these updates. We upgraded to the latest version 5.912 and we are now on SQL 2008 and we are still seeing inventory issues. Once we have the logging and bullet-proof order importer we'll really be able to monitor and track stuff and see where things are getting off. |
| Barney Stone |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 2:28:38 PM
Chris - Please give me a call. The system is supposed to take care of those situations, but it sounds like it isn't working correctly. I want to get it fixed, and also try to figure out why you are having the crashes. |
| chris@fbl.bz |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 1:04:43 PM
Another important inventory log would occur when OM crashes and the order disappears. Inventory is being temporarily removed during an order, but if there is an error during the order, but the order is saved, the inventory is put back - even though it should have been taken out for the order. There is no log of this. We have implemented the sql inventory log and can track this problem when it occurs. Currently we tell employees to let us know when there is an error and if it is during an order, we check to make sure inventory was deducted properly. If not we need to make a manual adjustment. Without fail, everytime there is an error during an order, the inventory is put back. There needs to be some type of prompt that asks if the inventory should be removed or not, and then some type of red flag so it can be double checked. Relying on the employees to tell you if there was an error and then checking the log is not perfect and is tedious. Something needs to be fixed. Maybe upon reopening OM, it would say something like, inventory may have been deducted incorrectly on the previous order. Then it should list what items were deducted and then put back in because of the error. I don't know if something like this is possible, but some type of solution is necessary. This is the single most common error in inventory. It happens daily (we have over 600 products) and is very time consuming to track. If you need more information about this error, I can give as much detail as necessary. |
| Barney Stone |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 10:49:33 AM
quote:
[i]Originally posted by mbrand[/i]The scenario you describe above is a MAJOR security issue. It is not just a matter of training the employees to click the Yes button. If the employee does click the No button, there is no documentation within the system of that response. The inventory merely goes missing from QOH. If the employee decides to take that inventory, there is nothing in SEOM to alert management to that fact because, once the inventory is stolen, the inventory count matches QOH.
Because of issues such as this, I am in the process of looking for a replacement to SEOM.
Beginning with Version 6 of the Order Manager, there will be an option to log all changes to quantity on hand. I will also make sure that a Note is added in the situation you described. If there are other areas in the program where you or other users think notes should be added for security or audit trail purposes, please let us know and we will try to add them. |
| mbrand |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 10:08:50 AM
quote:
[i]Originally posted by kevin[/i]
[br]UPDATE:
I have been reviewing a pair of data files from one of our clients today. First thing I found is that this merchant has someone on staff who has been cancelling orders and NOT returning quantities "shipped" to inventory. This would decrement your available stock by the number of peices on the cancelled order. This may be the result the user intended - for example, the shipment may have been sent to the customer but lost by the carrier. Order to the customer is cancelled and stock not returned to QOH due to the initial loss. If this is NOT the intended outcome, then this becomes a training issue for the staff.
I will continue my research...
The scenario you describe above is a MAJOR security issue. It is not just a matter of training the employees to click the Yes button. If the employee does click the No button, there is no documentation within the system of that response. The inventory merely goes missing from QOH. If the employee decides to take that inventory, there is nothing in SEOM to alert management to that fact because, once the inventory is stolen, the inventory count matches QOH.
Because of issues such as this, I am in the process of looking for a replacement to SEOM. |
| Barney Stone |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 5:38:05 PM
Bryan -
It looks like that problem was fixed late last year. What version of the Order Manager are you using? |
| Bryan |
Posted - 03/15/2010 : 09:17:44 AM
We had a problem with inventory numbers getting out of synch. It was particularly noticeable because there are some items which we do not actually stock in our warehouse, which are drop ship items only. When some of these items began showing up with an inventory amount in the system I did an investigation.
I found that it started about the time we turned on the FIFO inventory valuation (we are using Enterprise 5.610 btw). I finally figured out what the problem was and was able to replicate the problem. Anytime someone started an order manually, keyed in an item number for an item that was marked ignore QOH, and then canceled out of the order it would put those items back into stock. Even though ignore QOH items shouldn't be tracking inventory. Turning off the FIFO inventory valuation method stopped the error.
Hopefully this helps fix the next version, or at least give people a workaround until then. |
| kevin |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 2:15:31 PM
A call to support is recommended. |
| labellaflora |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 1:29:21 PM
Over the weekend I added 35 new items to our Yahoo website. This morning I came in and did the following
Import Inventory>NO to deleting inventory>Do Not Modify Existing Date>Just Add New Options>OK
New products were brought over, I believe it showed the number 200 ( all new products had options).
I started updating the QOH. After I updated several items I went into the Stone Edge website to verify my new inventory. It did not show ANY of the items I had added. The parent SKU was not brought over either. We have been using SEOM since JAN 1, 2010 and this is the second time I have imported inventory and the second time I have had issues. Any idea what I am doing wrong?
Thanks
LD |
| kevin |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 2:43:01 PM
A bit more detail might help... |
| widget |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 2:41:29 PM
We have always had trouble with our numbers getting out of synch.
John |
| kevin |
Posted - 12/04/2009 : 09:11:29 AM
When you reinitialize FIFO, you have the option of using "Current QOH & Supplier Cost" or data from an external source.
If you choose the former, the QOH field in the Inventory table becomes the base for the FIFO system's numbers. Should Inventory QOH show 30 and FIFO show 40, the FIFO system's records are reduced by 10 units starting with the earliest record for the SKU. When quantities are reduced in FIFO, the costs recorded in FIFO are maintained. If FIFO is increased (i.e. QOH=40 & FIFO=30) then the new records added to FIFO will be assigned the current supplier's cost (Primary first or lowest cost supplier). |
| mckane |
Posted - 12/03/2009 : 10:31:11 PM
Kevin -
Things are a little crazy around here with the holidays and promotions we're running etc., however, I have been letting my mind and subconcious work on this.
I have some thoughts and a question.
We use FIFO for our inventory, however, when we do our inventory counts, we do a mass export into spreadsheets, we count (all 18,000 items), and then we import those items back into stoneedge. Then at some point soon after that, we'll do a FIFO reconcile.
I'm wondering this... when you guys do the FIFO reconcile, which are you using as the "master" to reconcile against (the inventory table, or the FIFO table?). If there's a discrepancy and Incventory table says there are 30 of sku x and FIFO says there are 40, which number do you use?
I'm looking forward to really digging in on this in a few weeks and we'll be more than happy to help to get to the bottom of this.
Thanks so much.
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| ChicagoTS |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 4:13:08 PM
Thanks Kevin. That helps. I think if we use our current method but make the inventory on 3D Cart zero, then add the actual inventory QOH to the spreadsheet before we import it into OM, that may work. that way any orders that take place will show as negative numbers but they won't affect the export QOH. Once we import into OM, the correct QOH will be reflected and after importing orders, the correct levels should be shown. Works for me..
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| kevin |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 4:07:45 PM
If you use the Import Orders button and the "Import Via Internet" option to download the order information, you are not doing the import "manually" which I define as having to go to the shopping cart admin to download a text file of orders then "Import From Text" from the downloaded file. Yes, you need to initiate the download via internet manually - this is not automated at this time - we will have an enterprise level system out in beta shortly which will support automatic download scheduling.
You can import your products by going to the Maintenance Menu>Cart Functions tab>Shopping Cart Functions screen to pull the product data from your shopping cart. You do not need to use the text file import system - its use is at your discretion. Unfortunately, if you make the products available for sale as you are adding them on the website, you will run into this type of trouble.
Automatic product upload from the Order Manager to the Shopping Cart is not supported for any cart system at this time. Keep in mind that what your website needs to define a product is far more than what the Order Manager needs and stores. Also consider the many options supported by a variety of carts - additional descriptive data, multiple images, cross sell items, quantity discount pricing, attributes, options, etc. Uploading a product is not simply a SKU a name an image and a price...
If you only require the basics on your website, you can export some of our product data to text file for manual upload at the website. Take a look at Maintenance Menu>Import & Export>Export Inventory for the fields of information that are available for export. This may provide you with the options you need.
Options when adding to website first:
1) Add fewer products to the site between product download. Add 25 items then pull the products down - repeat until all are added.
2) Set the QOH for added products to zero until all items are added to the website. download the items to the Order Manager. Use a text file to update the QOH for the new products in the Order Manager and the website.
Options when adding products to the Order Manager:
Add all products and QOH then Export Inventory. This will provide basic informtion for the item. Update the website with any missing data like images, extra descriptive data, etc.
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| ChicagoTS |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 3:27:45 PM
I'm completely lost then. We are using the "Import Orders" button daily to get our orders down from 3D Cart. You're saying we don't have to do that? Product Import facility is the text file import tool right? That is what we are using. For product "creation" in OM, we were thinking we could create, export then import into 3D Cart.
I think our inventory control issue is a timing thing. We start adding products to 3D Cart (100-200) and by the time we get #200 input, an hour or two has passed and the products are "live" We put in an inventory count when we create the product on 3D. We then export the product list from 3D, then import that into OM. So new product #1 had inventory on 3D of 5 and 3 orders so 3D shows 2. The file we import into OM shows 2 and we want to overwrite the QOH for the "new" products so that product in OM now shows 2 (should be 5). We import orders manually into OM and it pulls down 3 so now I have -1 in OM.
Suggestions on a "right" way to do this? |
| kevin |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 3:16:12 PM
Not sure where you heard you have to import orders manually - we've been supporting 3DCart for some time. Products can be imported from 3DCart using our product import facility but we do NOT support product creation in the Order Manager then upload to the shopping cart. |
| ChicagoTS |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 2:32:23 PM
Using 3D Cart and the matrix says it supports it but according to what I've been told, I have to "import products" manually. I also have to import orders manually which I don't care for either. The reason we create products in 3D Cart rather than OM is the adding of product images and the categories. Most products belong to 1-2 categories, multiple sub-cats and sub-sub cats. I'd like to enter them in OM if they would auto-create in my cart.
As for my inventory issues, I'll send over some of my data files to see if we can figure out how we are messing things up.
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| kevin |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 1:17:21 PM
this depends on the cart you are using. If the cart supports our Product Download system, you can import by going to Mainenance Menu>Cart Functions>Shopping Cart Functions. See:
http://www.stoneedge.com/help/OM_DOC/Shopping_Carts/Miva/SubSKUs/Importing_Inventory.htm
See our Cart Matrix for details on the cart you use and whether it supports the product import:
http://www.stoneedge.com/cartmatrix.asp
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| ChicagoTS |
Posted - 11/30/2009 : 12:40:22 PM
Thanks. I'll check with my user to make sure that is what they are doing. We are using txt file import. Is there some automatic way to add products into SEOM that are new in the cart? via XML or some other way? We spend a lot of time with new product entry now. We have 6000 skus and add 100-300 each month. |
