Parts and stock on hand

What this does

Inventory → Inventory lists every stocked part for the shop with cost, retail, quantity on hand, and minimum stock, flags anything below its minimum, and is the source the In Stock search on a work order reads.

Before you start

inventory.view to see the list; inventory.manage (Owner, General Manager, Service Manager) to add, edit, adjust, or delete.

Steps

Add Part. Name is the only required field. Part Number, Barcode, Category, Brand, Cost, Retail Price, Qty on Hand, Min Stock, Location, and Description are optional. A part can also carry a vendor, shown in the list, but the form doesn't set it; parts that came in through data import keep the vendor they arrived with.

Cost is what you pay; Retail Price is what you charge. When the part is pulled onto a job, cost goes to the line's cost price and retail to its selling price, so keep both current or job costing on that line will be wrong.

Qty on Hand on the form sets the count directly, with no transaction recorded. Use it for the opening count when you add a part. After that, change quantities through a stock transaction so there's a record of why.

Min Stock drives the low-stock alert. Leave it at 0 for parts you don't want flagged.

Category is free text. The filter at the top of the list is built from the categories already in use, so spell them consistently ("Filters", not "filters" and "Filter").

Search matches name, part number, brand, and barcode. Combine with the category filter.

Low Stock at the top shows every part where quantity on hand is at or below its minimum and the minimum is above zero. The same parts get a badge in the list.

Edit opens the same form. Delete removes the part and every stock transaction recorded against it; there's no confirmation beyond the button and no undo. Work order lines that were pulled from the part keep their own copy of the name, number, and cost, so history on jobs survives.

What happens in the books

Nothing. Parts and quantities are operational records. The expense is the vendor's bill; the revenue is the invoice line.

Common problems

Count is wrong. Record an Adjustment transaction rather than editing the quantity on the form, so the reason is on file. See Stock transactions.

Part shows twice. There's no duplicate check on part number. Pick the one with the right count, move any difference onto it with an adjustment, and delete the other.

Imported parts have no cost or retail. Data import brings in whatever the old system had. A part with cost 0 will pull onto jobs at cost 0 and show 100% margin. Fix the cost on the part before using it.

A part isn't in the In Stock search. That search matches name and part number only (not brand or barcode) and shows the first 20 hits. Search by number. A part at zero on hand is listed but its Pull button is disabled.