Stock counts

A stock count checks, bin by bin, that what OCTO Ops says is on the shelf really is. You choose what to count — one bin, a rack, a zone or a whole warehouse — and people count each bin on the scan screen. Counting is blind: nobody counting sees how much OCTO Ops expects to find.

Counts work in warehouses that have location management turned on, because they are counted bin by bin.

#Before you start

• Turn on location management for the warehouse and give its bins labels.
• Access is controlled by the Stock counts permissions in your permission group:
  • View (all or own records) opens the Stock counts list and a count's profile.
  • Create starts a new count.
  • Edit counts on the scan screen, closes counting, sends bins for recount and submits the adjustments. The scan screen also needs Warehouse › Scan › View all.
  • Delete cancels a count that has not been posted.
  • Approve or reject stock count adjustments decides adjustments that wait for approval. It is a special permission of the Stock counts group, and it also lets someone finish posting an approved count.
• Owners and Admins can do all of these. Nobody can approve adjustments they submitted, or those of a count they counted part of.

#The Stock counts list

Open Warehouse > Stock counts. The Counts tab lists counts you may view; use the filter (funnel) icon to narrow them by warehouse, state or creation date. When your organization has business units, the filter also offers Business unit; without a choice the list starts with the unit chosen in the header. The card title shows the filters in use, and the table can be copied or exported.

The Handheld audits tab lists the audits recorded by the older handheld app. See Handheld audits.

#Create a count

1. On the Stock counts list, select the Create icon.
2. Choose the Warehouse. Only warehouses with location management on are listed.
3. When your organization has business units, check the Business unit. It starts with the warehouse's owning unit, else the unit chosen in the header; choosing another warehouse moves it until you choose a unit yourself.
4. Choose the Scope: leave Whole warehouse, pick a zone or rack from the list, or scan a zone, rack or bin label into the scan box.
5. Check the line under the scope, for example "36 bins will be counted". Bins that are already in another open count are left out and the line says how many.
6. Enter a Name (up to 100 characters) and, if you like, a Description.
7. Select Create count in the toolbar.

Stock the count finds with no unit behind it takes the count's business unit; counted units keep their own.

Every active bin in the scope is included, whatever its purpose (saleable, receiving, damage area and so on). A count can cover at most 2,000 bins; count a zone or rack at a time in a larger warehouse.

#The count profile

The profile's title is the count's number, for example Stock count: CNT-7. The left-hand panel shows the warehouse, scope, state, how many bins are counted, the approval setting, who counted and when each step happened. With business units, the panel also shows the Business unit.

The Bins card lists every bin of the count with its state:

The History card lists what happened to the count and when.

While the count is open, Count in the toolbar opens the scan screen for this count. It shows for people who can both edit counts and use the scan screens. Review opens the review of the count.

#Count on the scan screen

Counting happens on a phone or handheld, on the Count scan screen. You need the Stock counts Edit permission and Scan › View all.

1. Open Warehouse > Scan and select Count, or select Count on the count's profile.
2. Choose a count. Each tile shows the count's number, scope and how many bins are counted, for example "CNT-7 · Rack R04 · 12 of 36 bins".
3. Scan a bin to count. The bin is now yours: nobody else can count it, and no stock can be moved into or out of it until you finish (see The bin freeze). If someone else is counting it, the screen says who. A bin that is already counted needs a Recount on the count's profile first.
4. Scan each item in the bin:
   • a carton label asks Full carton (24) — select it when the carton is unopened — or Opened, which asks you to count what is inside;
   • a loose item label asks how many are there; there is no default, so count them;
   • a serial unit (one unit of a serial-tracked product) is recorded as one, with no question; it always counts as one, so if it isn't there, remove the line. A stock row that holds several units of a product made serial-tracked after it was received asks how many are there, like a loose item, but the count can't add units to it;
   • scanning a label you already counted in this bin opens that line so you can change the quantity;
   • 3PL stock is noted as "3PL stock, not counted"; it is reported, never adjusted;
   • goods that belong to another warehouse are not recorded: "This unit belongs to … Set it aside for a transfer.";
   • a label OCTO Ops does not know shows "Not a known label. Add it as unlabelled stock." with Add as unlabelled.
5. Add unlabelled stock for goods with no label: search the product, then enter its batch and expiry (required when the product tracks them), a manufacture date if you have it, and the quantity. Add serial-tracked goods one unit at a time, with quantity 1.
6. Tap a counted line to change its quantity, or the bin icon to remove it.
7. Select Finish bin and confirm "No more items in …?", or Bin is empty if the bin holds nothing. The screen goes back to step 3 and shows how many bins are counted.

#Blind counting

The scan screen never shows how much OCTO Ops expects in a bin, and the count's review only shows figures for bins that are already counted. People count what is there, not what they expect to find.

#The bin freeze

From the first scan in a bin until it is finished, Move, Put away, Pick, Write off, Return to stock and receiving refuse to put stock into that bin or take stock out of it, with "… is being counted. Try again when the count of this bin is finished." Lookup shows who is counting it.

If nothing is scanned in a bin for an hour, the bin is released and shows Interrupted. Whoever counts it next starts again from the beginning; what was counted before is kept in the bin's history.

If stock in the bin changes anyway while it is counted (for example through the older handheld app, which does not know about counts), the bin is marked Changed during count and must be recounted.

#Review a count

Select Review on the count's profile. Only bins that are counted have figures; bins still to count show nothing, so the review can't be used to see what a bin should hold before it is counted.

The cards at the top add up the count: matched units, short, over, misplaced, found, conflicts and the net value. The table lists every unit per bin with its batch, expiry, expected and counted quantities, the difference, what will happen to it and its value. Filter it by kind or by bin, and export it.

Values use each unit's receipt price; unlabelled stock has no value.

The list at the bottom offers Recount for each counted bin. A count can't be submitted while it has a conflict, a blocked unit or a bin marked Changed during count; the review lists each reason at the top.

#Close counting

When counting is done, select Close counting in the toolbar. Bins that are not counted (to count, or interrupted) are skipped; the confirmation says how many. Counting can't be closed while someone is still counting a bin.

#Recount a bin

Select Recount beside a counted or skipped bin. Its earlier count is kept in the bin's history and the bin goes back to To count; if counting was closed, the count reopens so the bin can be counted again.

#Submit the adjustments

When the bins you need are counted and the review shows no conflict, blocked unit or changed bin, select Submit for approval (or Post adjustments) on the count's profile or on its Review page. You can add a note.

What happens next depends on Count adjustment in Warehouse settings:

• Requires approval (the default): the count waits as Pending approval, and everyone who can approve it is notified. It also appears in Approvals and in the Approvals pending tile on the Warehouse overview.
• Direct: the adjustments are posted straight away.

A count with nothing to adjust is posted at once, whatever the setting.

Before anything is posted, OCTO Ops checks that every unit is still where it was, and as much as it was, when its bin was counted. If stock has moved since (a pick, a move, a receipt), submitting stops and names the bins: recount them, close counting and submit again.

#Approve or reject the adjustments

Open the count and select Approve or Reject in the toolbar. You need Stock counts › Approve or reject stock count adjustments, and you can't decide a count you submitted or counted part of. Approving posts the adjustments at once. Rejecting needs a reason: the count goes back to In review with your reason at the top, so bins can be recounted and the count submitted again.

A member who may only see their own counts can still open a count that waits for their decision, and keeps seeing it after they approve or reject it.

#Posting a big count

Posting writes the adjustments in batches of 100. Submitting a count posts one batch and the page keeps going batch by batch while it shows Posting adjustments: 100 of 250; keep the page open until it says Adjustments posted. Approving a count does the same: the page of the person who approved posts what fits in one request, then continues batch by batch.

If you leave, the connection drops or the server stops part-way, the count stays in Posting with the batches already done kept, and the profile shows how far it got (for example "200 of 250"). That is progress, not an error. Open the count and select Continue posting; it picks up where it stopped and never posts an adjustment twice. A count that went through approval is continued by someone who can approve it (Retry on the Approvals page also works). Only when something goes wrong does the profile show Posting stopped with the reason; fix the cause and select Continue posting again.

#When posting is stuck

If stock changed after the count was submitted, the rest of the adjustments can't be posted safely. The profile lists what is stuck under Posting can't continue, and Continue posting is replaced by Close as part-posted. It leaves what is already posted as it is, drops the adjustments that can no longer be posted and marks the count Posted. The Adjustments left out card then lists each dropped adjustment with its bin, product, quantity and the reason. You need the Stock counts Edit permission, and for a count that went through approval also Approve or reject stock count adjustments. A count that has not started posting can only be cancelled; a count nothing stops from posting can only be continued.

#What posting writes

Every record names the count. The history of a unit shows, for example, "Count CNT-7: short 2" for a decrease or a move. For an Increase or Found entry, look in the history of the new stock unit it created, not in the history of the unit that was counted. New units need labels — see Print labels for new stock. 3PL stock is never adjusted.

#Print the variance report

Select Print on the count's profile (a cancelled count has no report). The report has your letterhead (with business units, the letterhead of the count's business unit, and a Business unit line), then each counted bin with who counted it and when, and every unit that is short, over, moved, found, in conflict or blocked, with its expected and counted quantities, the difference and the value. Bins with nothing to adjust say "No variance". If the count was closed as part-posted, the adjustments that were left out show as Not posted with their reason and are not in the totals. 3PL stock is never listed. The totals, the approval line and signature lines for Counted by, Reviewed by and Approved by close the report. Bins that were not counted never appear.

#Print labels for new stock

Posting can create new stock units: surpluses, found stock and the part of a unit split off when only part of it was counted in another bin. Once the count is posted, select Print labels on its profile to print one label for each, then stick them on the goods. You need the Stock View permission as well.

#Cancel a count

Select Cancel to end a count that has not been posted. Nothing is written to stock, and every bin is released for other counts. You need the Stock counts Delete permission.

A count waiting for approval can be cancelled too: its approval request is withdrawn (you also need Edit, unless you submitted it). A count in Posting can be cancelled only until its posting has started, even if nothing is written yet; after that, finish it with Continue posting or close it as part-posted.

#Handheld audits

The Handheld audits tab lists the audits recorded by the older handheld app, read-only. These audits never changed stock. The handheld app keeps working as before.

#Errors you may see

#Current limitations

• Guided counting (showing counters what to expect), count schedules, ABC cycle counting and tolerances are not available.
• Only warehouses with location management on can be counted.