What happens automatically
Sales and Purchasing update Inventory for you as part of their own workflows. You don't need to add, remove or reserve anything by hand for them, and doing so would count it twice.
| When someone… | Inventory does this | Example (mugs, Main Warehouse, default location DISPATCH) |
|---|---|---|
| Confirms a sales order | Reserves the ordered quantity at the warehouse's default location. On Hand stays the same; Available falls. | Order SO-1188 for 10 mugs: DISPATCH 50 / 0 / 50 becomes 50 / 10 / 40. |
| Cancels a confirmed order, or reverts it to draft | Releases its reservation | 50 / 10 / 40 goes back to 50 / 0 / 50. |
| Dispatches an order | Takes the goods out of the default location | After dispatch: 40 / 0 / 40. |
| Posts a goods receipt (Purchasing) | Adds the accepted quantities to the location on each receipt line | GR-0310: 100 mugs accepted into RECV, so RECV +100. |
| Posts a stock count | Applies each saved variance as an adjustment; skips zero differences | See Count stock. |
Each of these appears in the stock history with the order or receipt reference, so you can follow it.
- Don't use Add Stock for goods already added by a posted goods receipt.
- Don't use Remove Stock for an order that has been, or will be, dispatched.
- Don't use Reserve Stock for a confirmed sales order: it's already reserved.
The default location
Sales orders always work with the warehouse's default location. Stock elsewhere in the warehouse is not picked automatically.
Example: Main Warehouse has 200 mugs on A-01-02 and 0 at DISPATCH (the default). Confirming an
order for 10 mugs fails, because there's nothing available at the default location. The fix is to
move mugs from A-01-02 to DISPATCH, then confirm the order again.
Good habits:
- Keep enough stock at the default location for the day's orders; restock it with transfers.
- Put deliveries into
RECV, then move them to storage or dispatch.
If a warehouse has no default location, confirming or dispatching orders for it fails with "Default inventory location not found for warehouse". The default can't be set on the Location page; ask your administrator.
Check the result
After an order or receipt, check stock levels and search the stock history for its number. If a result is missing, give your administrator the order or receipt number and the exact message. Don't enter a manual correction until you know what happened, or it may end up counted twice.