Inventory · Getting started · 7 min read

Set up Inventory before the first movement

The order in which to configure warehouses, policy, products, permissions and opening stock before you receive or ship anything.

Before you begin

You need to be a company administrator, or hold warehouse.manage and inventory.operate. Product records come from the catalogue, so make sure the goods you stock exist as stocked (goods) products with a unit.

Set up in this order

1. Decide which optional parts you need. Open Administration > Applications > Inventory > Features. Drop shipments, intercompany transfers, transfers through transit, cross-docking, landed costs, kitting and repacking, cycle counts, waves and handling units, recalls and held stock, and soft reservations are all on by default. Turn off what you will not use; its menus disappear. Stock, receipts, deliveries, transfers and valuation cannot be turned off. Then open Fields and decide whether Source document, Retest by (lot) and Serial warranty end are hidden, optional or required.
2. Set the stock policy. Open Inventory > Configuration > Stock policy. Choose what happens when stock would go below zero (Block, Warn, Approval or Allow), whether a remainder of a partial delivery becomes a backorder or is cancelled, the adjustment approval value in AED, the backdating rule, the over-receipt tolerance in percent, the goods-in-transit account code and whether new warehouses and bins start as drafts. Click Save defaults. See Set the stock policy, close periods and manage features.
3. Create the warehouse. Open Inventory > Configuration > Warehouses, click New warehouse, enter a code such as DXB1 and a name. The system creates the Stock, Input and Output locations. The first warehouse becomes the default that ships orders naming no warehouse. If the policy says new masters start as drafts, use the lifecycle buttons to mark the warehouse reviewed and activate it; only an active warehouse takes stock.
4. Choose receiving and shipping steps. Open Inventory > Configuration > Routes & operations, pick the warehouse and choose one, two or three steps for receiving and for shipping.
5. Add structure. Create zones, bins, putaway rules and docks. See Set up warehouse structure and putaway.
6. Prepare tracking. For lot or serial products, shelf-life rules and packaging units, see Lots, serial numbers, shelf life and packaging.
7. Set reorder rules if you want replenishment proposals: Inventory > Configuration > Reorder & pick-face rules. See Plan supply.
8. Count policy. In Inventory > Configuration > Count policy & ABC, review how often classes A, B and C are counted. Defaults are 30, 90 and 180 days.
9. Load opening stock if you are moving from another system. See Load opening stock and run the cutover check.
10. Give people their permissions. Assign roles using the table below.

Permissions

Create the first record

Receive a small quantity to prove the set-up. Follow Receive goods from a supplier, then check Inventory > Operations > Stock on hand and Movement history. The movement should show a value and a journal.

What happens next

Once the first receipt is done, the dashboard fills with stock value and the Overview shows work per warehouse.