Cycle Counting

Cycle counting lets you check a warehouse on a regular rhythm, so that the figures in Beelocity stay close to what is really there. This page is for the person who keeps the stock. You set up a cycle count for one warehouse, and Beelocity raises count tasks on the days that you choose.

A count changes no stock. To correct the stock, press Write a correction, and then post the adjustment.

How It Works

Beelocity raises a round on each due date. Each round takes all the stock in the warehouse, and it raises one count task for each location that holds stock. Stock that sits in no location gets a count task of its own. A count task holds one line for each product, lot and stock status in that location.

A round cannot take only part of the warehouse. To count one location or a few products, such as a spot check after a complaint, build a count task by hand. Count Tasks below explains how.

A round helps you in three ways:

• You count one location at a time. Each count task is one job, so you can give each location to a different counter.
• You find differences sooner. A weekly or monthly round shows a difference earlier than a count once a year.
• You decide what changes. A difference stays on the count task until you write a correction and post it.

Cycle Count Programs

A cycle count sets the rhythm for one warehouse. If another warehouse needs its own rhythm, create another cycle count.

Program Types

The form asks for a Program type, so you must choose one. Beelocity only stores this choice. Whichever type you choose, each round takes all the stock in the warehouse. You can filter the list by type.

Program Settings

Automatic Scheduling

Beelocity raises each round by itself, so you do not set the dates by hand. It checks every hour for a cycle count whose Next count date has arrived. It then raises a round from the stock at that moment.

• If you save a new cycle count with Active on, Next count is today. The first round comes within the hour.
• After a scheduled round, Next count moves on by one period. A Weekly cycle count moves on by 7 days.
• If you change the Frequency, Next count becomes today, and a new round is due at once.
• If you turn Active off, scheduled rounds stop and Next count clears. If you turn it on again, Next count becomes today.

A scheduled round waits while a count task of this cycle count is still Assigned or In progress. Beelocity tells nobody. Next count stays as it is, and Beelocity tries again every hour. A count task that is Completed does not hold a round back. If a round is late, finish each open count task with Complete, or drop it with Cancel.

If the warehouse holds no stock, a scheduled round raises nothing, and Next count still moves on.

The cycle count’s page shows where the rhythm has got to: Next count, Last count, Last round and Last checked. Last round says how many count tasks the last scheduled round raised, or how many open count tasks stopped it. If no count task appeared, look there first.

Setting Up a Program

1. Go to Inventory → Setup, open the Cycle Counts tab and press New.
2. Type a Name, such as “Monthly count, Algiers warehouse”.
3. Pick the Warehouse.
4. Choose a Program type and a Frequency.
5. Leave Target % and Tolerance % empty, or type your own figures. Beelocity only stores them.
6. Leave Active on to start now. The first round then comes within the hour.
7. Press Save.

To narrow the Cycle Counts list, use the filter button beside its search box. You can filter by Program type, Frequency, Warehouse, a Next count date range or Active (see Working with lists). A cycle count’s own Counts raised tab narrows the same way, by Status, Location, Counter, or a Scheduled for or Finished date range.

Raise the counts, at the top of a cycle count’s page, raises a round now and says how many count tasks it raised. It also works when Active is off. It differs from a scheduled round in four ways:

• It does not wait for open count tasks, so two presses make two sets of count tasks.
• It does not move Next count, and it writes nothing in Last round or Last checked.
• Its count tasks take the Next count date as Scheduled for, and that date can be days away.
• It refuses if the warehouse holds no stock.

Count Tasks

A count task is one counting job. It lists what to count and where. A round raises it, or you build it by hand.

To build one by hand, go to Count Tasks, press New, type a Task number and pick the Warehouse. Then add a line for each product, and pick its Unit. Type Expected from the On hand figure on the stock levels page. Do this just before you count, because Expected does not change after you save the line. A line that you add counts Available stock.

Task Fields

Task Lifecycle

The buttons at the top of the page move a count task on: Start counting, Complete and Review. Each button asks you to confirm first. Beelocity offers only the button for the step that the count task has reached.

Cancel stays there until the review. Its dialog offers Drop task and Keep task, and you cannot undo a drop.

The owner of your organization can press these buttons. No other built-in role can, so anyone else needs a role that the owner gives them (Roles and Permissions).

Performing a Count

Count as soon as you can after the round. Expected shows the quantity on hand when the round ran, and it does not follow the stock after that. If stock moves before you count, read the warning at the end of this page.

1. Go to Count Tasks in the sidebar under Inventory. The list shows every count task, and not only yours.
2. Use the filter button if you need to. It narrows the list by Status, Warehouse, Priority, a Scheduled for range or a Lines range.
3. Open the count task. Its details are on the left of the page, and its lines are on the right.
4. Read each line’s Stock status. A lot held partly in Quarantine and partly Available is two lines, so count them apart. Two lots of one product in one status are two lines as well, and no column shows the lot. To tell them apart, compare Expected with On hand on each stock record.
5. Press Start counting, and confirm. Beelocity records the time, and the list of lines is now fixed.
6. Count each line at its location, and write what you found in Counted. Recorded ticks itself.
7. Write anything unusual in Notes.
8. Press Complete, and confirm. Every line needs a figure first. Beelocity then works out each Variance.

The stock has still not changed. Beelocity has no blind count, because every line shows Expected to anyone who opens the count task.

Turning Variances into an Adjustment

After a count task is Completed or Reviewed, press Write a correction on its page. Review is optional, so you can write the correction straight after Complete. Beelocity writes a Draft inventory adjustment from every counted line that differs from Expected, and it opens the adjustment. The stock does not change yet. If no line differs, Beelocity refuses, because there is nothing to correct. Beelocity also refuses the whole count task if a line on stock with the status Reserved differs. The stock levels page says what to do.

The adjustment keeps each line’s location, lot and stock status. So a miscount of quarantined stock corrects the quarantined stock, and not the sellable stock of the same lot. If a line names no location or no lot, a reduction can take from any location or lot of that status.

Beelocity fills in the adjustment like this:

• Adjustment type is Cycle count. If the count task names no Cycle count, it is Physical inventory.
• Adjustment date is the day that the count finished.
• Reference number is the task number.
• Reason stays empty, so write it yourself.
• Unit cost stays empty. If a line adds stock, type it. If you do not, that line posts with no value, and Cost impact counts nothing for it.

Next, check the draft against the warning below. Then move the adjustment along its road to Pending approval, Approved and Posted. The owner of your organization can approve and post it. Nobody else can, unless the owner gives them a role that allows it. Only posting changes the stock.

Each count task gives one adjustment. A second press of Write a correction refuses and opens the first adjustment, even if that adjustment is cancelled. In that case, write a new adjustment by hand. If the first adjustment is still Draft and you want to start again, delete it instead. Write a correction then works again.

Warning: A count can correct the stock twice. This happens if stock entered or left a location after the round and before you counted it.

Posting does not set the stock to what you counted. It adds the difference to the stock as it stands on that day. The difference compares your count with Expected, and Expected is the quantity on hand when the round ran. So a move between the round and your count lands twice.

Here is an example. A round reads 10 on Monday, and a sale takes 2 on Tuesday. On Wednesday you count 8, which is correct. Expected still says 10, so the difference is -2. Posting takes 2 more, and Beelocity then shows 6 while 8 are there. A goods receipt does the opposite, and Beelocity then shows too much.

To avoid this:

1. Count a location soon after the round, and before stock moves there.
2. If you can, stop receipts, sales and transfers at that location until you have counted it.
3. If you use Raise the counts, press it when you are ready to count. Expected comes from that moment, and not from the Scheduled for day.

If stock did move before you counted, correct the draft before you move it to Pending approval:

1. Open the stock journal, and filter it by the product and location of the line. If the line names a variant, filter by Variant, because a variant’s entries name no product.
2. Start from Expected. Add what came in and take off what went out between the round and your count.
3. Leave out any move after your count. That move does no harm, because it is not in the difference.
4. On the draft, double-click Expected, type your result and leave the cell. Beelocity saves the line, and Difference then follows.
5. If Difference is now above zero, the line adds stock. So type its Unit cost.

In the example, Expected becomes 8. The difference becomes 0, and posting does not touch that stock. It writes no journal entry for that line, and Cost impact counts nothing for it. If every line comes to 0, cancel the adjustment, because nothing is left to post.

After Pending approval, the lines are closed. To fix a line then, cancel the adjustment and write a new one by hand. A line that you write by hand cannot name a variant or a lot. So correct a variant’s stock with Edit on its stock record.