The World's Best Integrated Business Platform

Stock


Out of stock? Increase your profitability and customer satisfaction using HansaWorld Stock module.

The fully integrated Stock module includes functions such as serial and batch number tracking, unit handling and item variety handling. It also allows the management of items in multiple locations.

You can control the profitability of your sales using real time valuation of cost of goods sold. Stock valuation reporting can be run real-time or back to any date, on numerous selections including location and item group weighted average, LIFO and selling price.

Items contain attributes needed for advanced cost accounting, production planning or warehouse management. Multi-level classifications allow you to find required items quickly and enable advanced reporting.

Download Stock and Warehousing management solution brochure (pdf, 2.2MB) or read below.

Table of Contents



Item Status ribbon

Enterprise has a powerful feature that applies to all records with Items on them. In a Sales Order, for example, after highlighting any line, you can display Enterprise’s Item Status ribbon - this shows quantities in stock, on other Sales Orders, Shippable (in stock less on other orders), and on Purchase Orders not received. The Item Status ribbon can be configured for each user as to which fields to display, out of the above fields and others such as gross profit and gross margin, discounted unit price, stock in a second unit, and quantity unreserved. Leave the Item Status ribbon constantly open, and each time you highlight a different Item, information for that Item will be displayed in the ribbon. You can also run powerful queries from the Item Status Ribbon as to quantities of this Item sold, in stock and unreceived at each of your locations, and a forward stock report that gives “available to promise” data on forward balances of stock based on expected receipts and deliveries.

Deliveries

A single menu selection allows the creation of a Delivery record from a Sales Order. This creates an editable record with all the delivery details on it, with no need for any rekeying. To part-ship, just overwrite the Delivery Quantity field for any item and the undelivered items will be automatically held as a back-order.

Stock Management Software Solution: Delivery

Enterprise will suggest part delivery where insufficient stock exists. Enterprise as stock management software solution will also handle the number of packages in the shipment. The Delivery is in fact a twostage process. When first created, the Delivery is editable, and the Enterprise Form associated with the Delivery is a Picking List - effectively this is a request to deliver goods. Ticking a checkbox is all that is required to commit the Delivery, thereby making it not editable. The Form associated with a committed Delivery is a Delivery Note. Ticking this checkbox reduces stock levels, and performs the real-time accounting discussed below (if this has been configured to be posted from the Delivery rather than the Invoice).

Allocation/Reservation

Enterprise does not require a stock allocation procedure. However, if you want to reserve stock for an order, there are three methods, two basic and one advanced. The basic methods involve either ticking a simple checkbox to reserve a whole order (which decrements stock showing as available for despatch), or you can set Enterprise simple to reduce reported stock quantities for deliverable reporting when picking lists are raised, rather than on delivery. The more powerful method allows the user to allocate any row of any order. The user then chooses whether the allocation is against any items in any chosen inventory location, against any existing Purchase Order, or any Purchase Order yet to be raised. There are various automatic options associated with these features. Users can then report on which orders can be despatched on receipt of goods.

Stock Management Software Solution: Order Inspect

Returns

Items that have been returned to you, for whatever reason, can be recorded by a routine called up from either the original Order or Delivery. You can choose whether you expect to deliver these items again, and into which Location you wish to book them - usually this will be a quarantine location, pending checking of item quality, As with all other features, Enterprise as stock management software solution keeps up to date the count of how many items were ordered, how many have been delivered, and how many have been invoiced. You can also create a credit note from the return, which Enterprise automatically allocates to the original invoice.

There is a similar feature for creating returns to suppliers on the purchasing side.

Real Time Stock Valuation

Enterprise uses a concept called “cost accounting”, that allows you to control postings of the cost of goods sold in real time, rather than updating stock values at period end by manual journal. All items you wish to account for in this way should be assigned to Item Groups.

The Item Groups allow the specification of the debit and credit accounts for the update, together with the basis for deriving the item’s cost. The cost can be a percentage of selling price, the cost shown on the Item, the purchase price at the time of invoicing, or the FIFO cost.

Items can be revalued in Enterprise on receipt of stock using either of two methods: the price on the item can be updated to the new purchase price, or can be set to a weighted average of all previous purchase prices. This methodology is available for each item.

Stock valuation reporting can be run real-time or back to any date, on numerous selections including location and item group, based on a range of valuation methods including FIFO, weighted average, LIFO and selling price. Stock reporting also includes multi-location quantities and valuations, and aged reporting that allows you to identify slow-moving stock.




“As a result, we have managed to reduce overheads dramatically, reduce outstanding debtor days and improve
management of stock levels, while growing our barcode sales.”

Derek Walton, Citizen



Location Management

Enterprise is multi-bin, multi-location stock management software. The exact position of an item in a warehouse can be set at three levels:


If you specify a location on a purchase order, goods will be booked to that location if the goods receipt is linked to the purchase order. Similarly, specifying a location on a sales order and linking the delivery to the sales order books goods out of that location. You can also specify a shelf code and a department on invoices, to be printed on stock taking and picking lists.

Enterprise provides a stock movement function which allows goods to be moved between positions and locations. You can add costs at the time of moving the stock, and Enterprise posts a Nominal Ledger transaction for those costs.

Warehouse Management

Use Enterprise’s Warehouse Management software module for more complex warehouse management. You can define fixed and floating positions, the latter particularly requiring special equipment such as forklifts, although in practice representing any temporary storage for an item. Enterprise offers optimised put-away, whereby it will automatically suggest the optimum location for items received. Similarly picking lists can suggest the optimum pick location. Picking lists are sorted by position, to make picking faster.

Enterprise also offers an interface for forklift drivers, designed to be run on a tablet device mounted on the forklift, running on a wireless network. The interface is button-driven, so users can operate it even while wearing gloves. It can display the next pick required, and also has buttons for printing labels and outers and for finishing the pick.

Multi-currency

Many systems cannot handle the process of buying in one currency and selling in another, from the point of view of stock valuation. Not Enterprise. Goods receipts save the currency the goods were charged in, with the current exchange rate at the date of booking in the stock. Enterprise allows you to update cost prices of any range of stocked items with a maintenance process. This process can use the exchange rate at the date of goods receipt, to ensure a match with stock reports.

Batch/Lot and Serial Numbers

Goods receipts can be raised automatically from purchase orders. If the item ordered is serial numbered, Enterprise splits the goods receipt so that each line has a quantity of one, and all that needs to be entered is the serial number. On picking the order (whether on the Order or Delivery), the user can select the batch or serial number from a list of those available in that location.

Specifications can be created per Batch, that include item dimensions, production date, best before date, and any text to accompany the Batch through the system. Enterprise produces a serial number history report, which lists all movements by item for any range of items. Batches are similarly fully tracked and can have annotations of best before dates.

Stocktaking

Enterprise produces stocktaking lists and allows stock to be written off after a stocktake. Counts can be complete or cyclical. Enterprise produces:


Stocktaking is particularly effective when using a realtime barcoding device, such as a Windows Mobile or iPod Touch barcode scanner. These devices allow Enterprise to run real-time over wireless networks, capturing barcode information directly into server-side records.




“From the first stock delivery we had accurate stock control in our warehouse.”

Warren Hignett, Ed Hardy



Units, Dimensions and Pallets

If you need simple unit handling, you can specify two Units on each Item, one being the unit of measure for stock control purposes, and the other being an alternative measure for sales. The Item Status ribbon shows stock in both Units, and forms for Orders and Invoices can also display these quantities. In addition there are two Conversion factors, which support quantity displays on forms. For example, this would allow you to sell a case of light bulbs, inside which were 10 boxes, each with 2 bulbs; Enterprise would support printing of quantities of cases, boxes and bulbs.

For more complex situations, Enterprise as stock management software solution supports separate units of measure for purchasing, stock and selling. Purchasing units can include conversion factors, to allow calculation of stocked units - for example, you might buy by the litre but stock by the bottle. You can specify a different unit of measure on each line of each sale, which will also convert between stock units and sales units - for example allowing you to sell by the case, by the bottle or by the litre, depending on your customer.

Stock Management Software Solution: Item Inspect

You can also specify two further units. Width, Height and Depth values can be specified per Item, or on each transaction (for batch or serial number tracked stock). Item weights can also be specified. Total weights and volumes are calculated at both the line and the transaction level (on Orders and Deliveries).

Also Enterprise can have pre-configured treatment for pallets, including different pallet items per item, handling of pallet measurements, and maximum item quantities per pallet.

Varieties

Enterprise has a Varieties capability, for size/colour/unit information. Any Item, or range of Items, can be marked as a Variety Item, with settings that record what type of additional analysis is required for that Item - some may require only size, others size and colour, while others still may require material or finish information.

Enterprise provides assisted data entry for Varieties: when you enter this Item into purchasing, stock or sales records, you can call up a data entry table that will prompt for acceptable varieties. For example, when entering Cotton Oxford shirts, you can be presented with a table with collar sizes across the top and colours down the side; enter quantities into each cell in the table, and then Enterprise will create the correct codes automatically.

Reporting supports queries on each element of the Item code, for example allowing you to find all size 8 shoes, or all green shirts.




“We have very high stock turnover and Enterprise has given us much better visibility and control.”

Michael Wilson, Pescatech



Consignment stock

If you sell Items that you don’t own, but hold on consignment, Enterprise offers full accounting and tracking features. As early as the Purchase Order, you can determine whether you are purchasing for stock, or requesting the goods to hold as consignment stock. On receipt of the goods, Enterprise treats both the accounting and stock control differently from normal stock: the goods are held as a different stock type, on which there is separate reporting (so you can still see the value of your consignment stock, and in some cases alongside your normal stock), and the goods are held in separate control accounts (which can either net to zero on the Balance Sheet or even be formatted to be held off Balance Sheet). On eventual sale of the goods, Enterprise completes the purchasing by raising a Purchase Invoice back to the original supplier which reverses out the original Balance Sheet entries and creates true cost of sales entries.

Fedex and other shippers

Enterprise has created internet services in various countries, whereby the user can interact with shipping companies from within their Enterprise application. The most typical application of this is run from the Delivery record - the user can indicate that the delivery is ready to ship, which sends data on number and weight of packages and their delivery address, and receives back printable images of shipping documents, and the tracking number.

A further function within Enterprise allows sending of the tracking number back to the shipper, and receives back into Enterprise a report on the status of the shipment. Further interactions are planned, such as to allow Quotations to pick up true shipping charges - check on the status with your local HansaWorld office.

Integrated Business Platform

Enterprise is an Integrated Business Platform, offering solutions for almost all the departments of a small or midsized business. All the solutions are offered in a single application, with full interaction between each component. As a result, to look at Stock in isolation is to miss the key differences and benefits of Enterprise’s approach:



Mobile Solutions and Wide-Area Networking

All of the Enterprise functionality is available to users logging in from anywhere in the world, from a variety of devices. Users can work from home or while on the road, logging in from any internet connection, whether broadband, or over a mobile phone network. Devices can include laptops, Windows Mobile real-time barcoders, and iPod Touches and iPhones. Users can run any of Enterprise’s standard or customised reports in real-time, and enter or review any data record. This breaks down the walls of your operation, allowing users to be productive wherever they are.