Inventory Tracking System
Reviewing the features provided in an Inventory Tracking System by many vendors can be overwhelming. A quick guide that teaches what you need to know the most important features are those you must have.
Lets be redundant and start with the basic understanding of the 5 (five) key terms: 1) Retailing, 2) Inventory, 3) Tracking, 4) System, and 5) Software.
- Retailing is the functions and activities involved in the selling of commodities directly to consumers.
- Inventory is a detailed, itemized list, report, or record of things in one’s possession, especially a periodic survey of all goods and materials in stock. It can be either raw materials, finished items already available for sale, or goods in the process of being manufactured.
- Tracking is the process of following a mark or succession of marks left by something that has passed; a path along which something moves.
- A system is a collection of components organized to accomplish a specific function or set of functions.
- Software is computer program, a set of coded procedures, which provides a computer with instructions to perform specific tasks.
Now lets see what you need to look for.
Item Info
- ID or SKU
- Type - Standard, Matrix, Kit or Matrix allows having one item with different characteristics such as size, color, etc. Kit allows creating bundle offers Service allows defining non-tangible
- Description
- Department
- Supplier / Manufacturer
- Quantities - On-hand, Maximum and Minimum Quantities allowed
- Cost
- Price Levels
- Discount / Overcharge Levels
- Taxes
- Serial Number
- Picture
- Substitute
- Custom fields
- Observations/Notes
Reports
- Inventory History - transactions that increase or decrease inventory levels
- Reorder - indicates when item reaches minimum or below quantity level
- Valuation - reflexes actual inventory cost
- Receiving - indicates items received from suppliers
- Price - lists items by price levels
- Pending order - shows ordered items not received yet
Make sure that the application offers variations of each report such as Ordered by Item ID, Item Description, Supplier, Department, and so on. And very important, that you have the ability of building or customizing your own reports.
Please remember, we are not describing a complete system, we are just addressing the main characteristics of Inventory Tracking module. In future notes we will address the basic functions other modules, and how they should integrated with each other.
