Inventory levels can all be seen at Products > List Products/services:
You can click on any of the blue numbers to view a summary of how the figures are made up:
- Which sales orders the product is allocated to
- Which purchase orders the product is on
- The quantities at each warehouse
- General information used on thew website such as image and description; really useful if you want to be able to quickly give someone more details on a product
This is what each one means:
- In stock
- This is the total number of items in the warehouse, including items on goods-out notes, items in the packing process and anything else in progress.
- Allocated
- The total number of items reserved for orders, plus the total number of items that exist on open goods-out notes (fulfilled but not yet shipped).
- On-hand
- Total quantity of an item in stock less total allocated. This is the value that you have available to allocate to other sales orders.
- On order
- This is the total number of items on open purchase orders which you are still waiting to receive.
On hand = In stock - Allocated
This diagram shows how inventory levels change as actions are performed:
Allocation and stock takes
If a customer places a sale on a channel, and there is inventory available, then that inventory is allocated to the sales order. You still have the item on the shelf at this point, so it is shown in stock. The on-hand quantity is reduced, which in turn reduces stock levels automatically on sales channels connected to Brightpearl.
On hand (8) = In stock (10) - Allocated (2)
The 2 items will remain allocated to the sale all the way through the pick-pack process, and will only be reduced when a Goods Out Note is shipped. If you go to the shelf and count 8, 9 or 10, all numbers could be correct depending on the picking state of the order. For this reason it’s essential to complete all in-progress GONs before you do a cycle count.
Warehouses and locations
All inventory is recorded in a location. Locations can be optionally grouped into Zones (for WMS) use. Zones are within a warehouse.
Locations are defined to a maximum of four levels:
- Aisle
- Bay
- Shelf
- Bin
For example A1.B34.S10.100X
The structure is optional. A simple warehouse may only have aisles defined.
There are three types of location management. Your Brightpearl account will be set to one of these, and once you have started trading, we don't recommend you change this method without professional support.
- No location management.
- Standard location management; a given SKU is always located in one defined location (which may be shared with other items).
- Multi-concurrent location management; each delivery of goods can be placed in a different location, so one SKU may be stored in multiple places.
Read more about warehouses or locations.
Adding inventory
Inventory is added into Brightpearl in a number of ways:
- Manual stock correction (on-screen, by CSV import, or using WMS).
- Receiving goods on a Purchase Order.
- Receiving goods from a customer on a Sales Credit.
Every change is recorded on the Inventory Audit Trail.
Removing inventory
Inventory is removed from Brightpearl when:
- A Goods Out Note for a sales order is marked as shipped.
- A manual correction is made.
Every change is recorded on the Inventory Audit Trail.
Cost prices
Since Brightpearl is also an accounting system, to calculate Cost of Goods Sold it's imperative that inventory is given accurate cost prices when it is added to the system. For this reason, the best way to add new inventory is via a Purchase Order.
Read more about accounting for inventory and cost of sales.
Moving items between warehouses
When items are moving between warehouses, they are not marked as in stock and are not available for sale; they are excluded from on-hand levels. They are placed in a 'quarantine' location in the destination warehouse until they have been received (see Products > Inventory in transit report).
Read more about warehouse transfers.
Other things to know about inventory
- Inventory levels cannot go below zero.
- On-hand levels can be sent to integrated sales channels based on the channel settings.
- Inventory can be automatically allocated to orders placed on channels.
- Bundles have no inventory level, but their availability (on hand) can be calculated using the inventory levels of their component parts.