Low stock alerts tell you when a product runs low. You set the levels for a product or a variant, in one warehouse or in all of them. Beelocity compares them with the stock that you can sell, lists what has reached them, and notifies the people who manage stock. It orders nothing by itself, so you write the purchase order yourself.
Key Concepts
- Minimum is the lowest level that you accept. If the Available figure falls to it, the alert becomes critical.
- Reorder point is the level at which you should reorder. Set it at or above the minimum, high enough to cover the wait for the supplier.
- Reorder quantity is how much you plan to order at the reorder point. Beelocity only keeps this figure, and it creates no purchase from it. Use a whole pack or a sensible run.
- Maximum is the level above which you hold too much. Beelocity only keeps this figure, and it sends no warning about it.
Setting Up Alerts
To create a low stock alert:
- Open Inventory > Setup in the sidebar, and open the Low Stock Alerts tab.
- Click New.
- Fill in the details:
- Product is the product to watch.
- Variant appears only if the product has variants. Pick one to watch that size or colour alone. The list then names the alert by the variant. If you leave it empty, the alert counts all the variants together.
- Warehouse is the warehouse to watch. If you leave it on Every warehouse, the alert watches your total across all warehouses.
- Minimum is required, and it cannot be negative.
- Reorder point is optional, and it cannot be below the minimum.
- Reorder quantity is optional.
- Maximum is optional, and it cannot be below the minimum or the reorder point. If a level is out of order, Beelocity says so under its field before you save.
- Alerting says whether this alert is on. It opens switched on.
- Click Save.
Seeing Which Alerts Are Triggered
What Beelocity reads. It compares your levels with the Available figure of active stock records that have the status Available. So reserved, quarantined, damaged and expired stock does not count. It compares them each time you open Inventory, and once an hour to send notifications.
When an alert is triggered. An alert is triggered when the Available figure reaches the reorder point. If the alert has no reorder point, it is triggered at the minimum. It becomes critical when the figure reaches the minimum. An alert on one warehouse reads that warehouse alone. An alert on Every warehouse reads your total across all warehouses.
Where you see it. Opening Inventory lists every triggered alert under Low stock, with the one furthest below its minimum first. So the products that you most need to reorder come at the top (See what needs doing).
Who hears about it. Beelocity notifies the people whose role can change stock. Of the roles that it ships, that is the owner of your organization. It sends one notification when the stock reaches the reorder point, and one more when it reaches the minimum. It sends no other until the stock has risen above both levels.
What a planning run reads. If you use MRP, a run also reads the Minimum of a product that has a unit with the usage Stock. Its Demand tab shows that figure as Safety stock. A run does not read the other three levels.
Managing Alerts
The alerts list shows each alert with its product, warehouse, Minimum, Reorder point, Alerting and Active. Its filter button narrows the list to one Product, Variant or Warehouse, or to a band of Minimum or Reorder point. It also filters by Alerting or Active (see Working with lists). You can:
- Edit an alert to change its levels as demand changes.
- Turn off Alerting, or deactivate the alert, for a seasonal product. Either one stops the check, the notifications and the planning run’s use of the Minimum. Beelocity keeps the alert and its levels.
- Delete an alert that you no longer need.
Important Notes
- You can set one alert for each product in each warehouse, so each warehouse can have its own levels. Beelocity refuses a second alert for the same product and warehouse, and the same holds for a variant.
- A product that you deactivate is no longer watched. Its alerts stay on the list, but none of them is triggered while the product is inactive. The same holds for an inactive variant.
- Review your reorder points from time to time. If supplier lead times change or sales patterns shift, your levels may need adjusting.
- An alert gives one total. To see where the stock stands, open the stock levels page, which shows current quantities in all warehouses.