Inventory and counts

Inventory holds current owned quantity by legal entity, product, warehouse, location and lot where applicable. Custody distinguishes available goods from held, picked, transit or production stock. That matters to a jewelry distributor promising a dealer order: a unit that is owned but held for a count or already picked cannot also be offered to another buyer.

Stock events preserve why a balance changed. A receipt acceptance, pick, transfer, count adjustment or correction has a source and an event identity. Layers carry remaining quantity and value, while movements connect the change to the affected position. Operations can inspect availability without treating every historical receipt as another current balance.

• Current position. Product, warehouse, location, custody and lot form the operating identity for stock.
• Reserved demand. Reservations connect eligible quantities to an order, transfer or work order.
• Observed difference. Counts preserve a locked population, the observed quantity and a reviewed adjustment.

Warehouse Manager controls the physical scope and the transfer decision. Warehouse Operator performs assigned movement and counting work. Finance Manager reviews the financial effect of material variances. An approved stock change should retain its source event and the account effect so the warehouse and ledger can reconcile.

Define warehouses, locations and the entity permitted to own stock in each site. Set which products require lot identity and which location states may be reserved or picked. Agree who can release a transfer and how goods in transit are received at the destination. If a movement is corrected, retain the earlier event and its linked reversal rather than editing an old balance.

For counts, define the physical scope and tolerances before locking it. A blind count compares the operator’s observation with a stable snapshot. A recount, approval and posted adjustment are separate steps. Decide how the finance reviewer receives variances whose value exceeds the agreed threshold.

Accept a supplier receipt into a receiving location, move part to available stock and reserve part for a dealer order. Transfer another part to a second warehouse. Check that stock in transit remains owned but unavailable for a new pick at either endpoint until actual receipt. Then run a count on one location. Record a lower observed quantity, request a recount and inspect the variance before any adjustment posts. Verify that an unrelated lot outside the locked scope was not changed.

The team can use the same evidence to explain a value difference: the count line identifies quantity and unit cost, and the stock event shows whether the adjustment posted. A count marked for review is still an observation, not a new balance.

• Warehouse availability — Current quantity and availability by product, location and custody.
• Count schedule — Planned and locked counts with their start and end windows.
• Count review queue — Observed variances awaiting an authorized decision.

Follow stock and assembly control and follow the dealer order.