Issue and return stock

Claim eligible stock, record actual issue and resolve returns against source goods and reviewed value.

7 stages · 2 approvals

Roles and responsibilities

Warehouse Operator Inventory Manager System 1 Prepare issue Draft → Picked 2 Reserve and pick Draft → Received 3 Confirm issue Draft → Picked 4 Authorize return Planning → Counting 5 Handle returnedgoods Draft → Received 6 Decide disposition Planning → Counting 7 Complete return Draft → Received
  1. Step 2Reserve and pick
    On-Hand by Warehouse
    ProductWarehouseBinLot Number
Red diamonds require approval.Rows show responsibility for each step.

Process steps

Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.

Prepare issue

Warehouse Operator identifies the requested product, quantity, unit and external demand line. The frozen conversion expresses the request in stocking units. A configured sales or operating message can prepare demand, but it cannot establish physical dispatch or remove stock.

Responsible
Warehouse Operator
Status
Draft → Picked
Records
IssuesProductConversions
Effect
Establish bounded stock demand

Reserve and pick

Warehouse Operator claims current eligible owned stock with its lot or serial identity. Expiry, status, site assignment, locks and competing reservations are checked. Picking keeps an in-place hard claim or moves the goods and claim into picked custody; total owned stock has not yet been issued.

Responsible
Warehouse Operator
Status
Draft → Received
Records
ReservationsInventoryStockEvents
Effect
Claim eligible goods and track picked custody

Confirm issue

Warehouse Operator records the actual partial dispatch or internal consumption. The event consumes its claim and carried value once. Unused demand remains visible; cancellation releases only the unissued remainder after any physical unpick. Previously dispatched goods retain their original issue history.

Responsible
Warehouse Operator
Status
Draft → Picked
Records
IssuesStockMovementsCostAllocations
Effect
Consume evidenced quantity and value once
Approval required

Authorize return

Buyer prepares a vendor-return request, while Inventory Manager prepares a customer return. A different eligible Inventory Manager approves the exact original receipt or issue lineage, controlled identity and cumulative quantity cap. A new request cannot reuse a portion already returned under another authorization.

Responsible
Inventory Manager
Status
Planning → Counting
Records
ReturnAuthorizationsApprovalDecisions
Effect
Approve original lineage and quantity scope

Handle returned goods

Warehouse Operator records actual customer-return arrival into unavailable custody or executes an authorized vendor return against remaining source stock. Receipt and outward dispatch have their own evidence and quantity totals. Imported history can support original lineage without replaying the earlier receipt or issue.

Responsible
Warehouse Operator
Status
Draft → Received
Records
ReturnAuthorizationsStockEventsReservations
Effect
Record actual returned custody or dispatch
Approval required

Decide disposition

An independent Inventory Manager reviews ownership and simple stock-condition evidence, then authorizes the permitted restock, scrap or other treatment. The decision applies to the received identity and current revision. Formal quality inspection and any financial refund remain separate external work.

Responsible
Inventory Manager · for customer-return disposition
Status
Planning → Counting
Records
ReturnAuthorizationsApprovalDecisions
Effect
Approve title and inventory treatment

Complete return

Warehouse Operator performs the authorized bounded movement and reconciles received, dispatched, restocked, scrapped and unused portions. Customer returns restore original issue cost. Vendor returns remove current receipt-descendant carrying value; commercial settlement differences remain external. A refund reference or acknowledgment never proves cash payment, and inventory close does not manufacture a financial result.

Responsible
Warehouse Operator
Status
Draft → Received
Records
StockEventsCostLayersCostAllocations
Effect
Reconcile authorized return outcomes
Approvals and controls

2 approvals required in this process

  • Authorize return Inventory Manager signs · handle returned goods waitsReturnAuthorizations, ApprovalDecisions
  • Decide disposition Inventory Manager signs for customer-return disposition · complete return waitsReturnAuthorizations, ApprovalDecisions
  • Held, expiredDamaged, quarantined or third-party custody cannot supply ordinary issue availability.
  • FEFO or serial selection defines the physical identity; accounting FIFO cannot substitute a different lot or serial.
  • A pick and final issue never remove the same quantity twiceThe reservation follows any physical move.
  • Return caps and traced applicable cost allocations prevent repeated quantity or value recovery.
  • Required approvers are different actual people from the requester and material editors, even when someone holds several roles.
  • Posted corrections trace current descendantsDownstream commitments; they cannot create negative stock or erase consumed goods.
  • Configured integrations retain stable action identityDistinguish request, local effect and external acknowledgment.

Records and postings

StageRecordsEffect
1 Prepare issue IssuesProductConversions Establish bounded stock demand
2 Reserve and pick ReservationsInventoryStockEvents Claim eligible goods and track picked custody
3 Confirm issue IssuesStockMovementsCostAllocations Consume evidenced quantity and value once
4 Authorize return ReturnAuthorizationsApprovalDecisions Approve original lineage and quantity scope
5 Handle returned goods ReturnAuthorizationsStockEventsReservations Record actual returned custody or dispatch
6 Decide disposition ReturnAuthorizationsApprovalDecisions Approve title and inventory treatment
7 Complete return StockEventsCostLayersCostAllocations Reconcile authorized return outcomes
Data model →

Process reports

All reports

Expiry Report

Exact remaining lot/serial positions and layer values as of cutoff, split by owner/status and disjoint days-to-expiry buckets: expired, 0–7, 8–30, 31–90 and over90; no-expiry/unknown-expiry positions remain separately visible. Use the warehouse-local expiry cutoff; same-day expiration policy is explicit. Returns and later receipts preserve established expiry. Value at risk includes only owned stock; alerts and FEFO guidance do not prove a markdown, sale or quality disposition.

Inventory Valuation

Frozen StockSnapshots reconcile exact remaining owned CostLayers by Product, Category, Warehouse and cost method in the installation valuation currency. Include picked/held/damaged owned stock and source-carried in-transit stock once; third-party custody is a separate non-owned quantity disclosure. Unknown costs block a final snapshot. AccountingExports sends only unaccepted event deltas; the closing value is a control balance, never another full-value journal.

Inventory Turns & DOH

Net carrying cost of effective SalesPick and InternalUsage final issues in the selected interval divided by the time-weighted owned inventory value over that same interval; simple internal movements, supplier returns, samples, scrap and adjustments are excluded from consumption and disclosed separately. DOH is interval days divided by turns. Customer returns reduce eligible consumption through linked original costs. Zero/nonpositive denominator or incomplete cutoff coverage is unavailable, never infinity or a manufactured zero. Category rollups sum compatible currency numerators and denominators before dividing.

Stockout Report

Stocked active product/warehouse days at the declared local end-of-day cutoff with eligible QuantityAvailable at or below zero divided by all completely observed stocked active product/warehouse days. Never-received products participate through StockSummaries. Missing daily snapshots are reported as incomplete coverage and excluded from both numerator and denominator, not treated as in-stock days. It measures sampled daily availability, not continuous intraday service level.

Run by an agent

Agent support

An assistant cannot bypass a required human review, a current count lock, a valid demand claim or actual physical evidence. It cannot turn an incoming order message into a dispatch, a warehouse label into ownership, or a provider acknowledgment into accounting acceptance. Eligible automatic corrections require the independently activated policy and every stated condition; they do not inherit invented human approval from the assistant.

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# Example after configuration $ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent › issue and return stock · prepare issue on Issues, ProductConversions ✓ Warehouse Operator identifies the requested product, quantity, unit and external demand line. › issue and return stock · reserve and pick on Reservations, Inventory, StockEvents ✓ Warehouse Operator claims current eligible owned stock with its lot or serial identity. › issue and return stock · confirm issue on Issues, StockMovements, CostAllocations ✓ Warehouse Operator records the actual partial dispatch or internal consumption. › issue and return stock · authorize return on ReturnAuthorizations, ApprovalDecisions ⏸ approval · waiting for the inventory manager # 3 more stages after approval: handle returned goods, decide disposition, complete return

Other processes

4 more

Replenish stock

Turn current stock shortages into a clear purchasing worklist without losing the basis of each recommendation.

6 stages · 0 approvals

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