Stock Check in TBS2

To perform a stock check in TBS2, all the required options are found by going to the Stock / Stock Types option on the Navigation tree :

The Special menu of the top (Stock Types) list has all the options needed. :

Note : the Stock Check Report, Clear Previous Stock Check, Stock Check Items Currently on Bookings and Update Qty Available of Selected Types After Stock Check all work only on any currently selected stock types - which then allows you to do 'rolling' stock checks - i.e. you can perform a stock check on one or more stock types at a time, which can often be very much easier than attempting to do a single entire stock check in one go.......

For obvious reasons, the Stock Check By Barcode and Stock Check Of Non Serialised Items are not restricted by stock types but simply work with any given barcodes that may be entered

Printing a report

To print a report of stock with relation to the stock check information, select the required stock types you wish to report on first, and then choose the first Special menu option 'Stock Check Report' - this opens an options screen :

The options are self explanatory - but to give more information : If the Print All items checkbox is checked, this will override either of Print Only Checked items or Print Only Unchecked Items - the default Print stock from all homes being off means that the report will print only stock that is set as being currently at the home location of the currently logged in user - the default Print stock from all owners being on means that the report will include any stock regardless of the stored owner (either department or client name) of stock items - where setting this option off will mean that the report will only print stock which is owned by the logged in users department.

The report that is created includes all items as per the selected options

Clearing previous stock check information

To start a stock check for one or more stock types, first select the appropriate stock types in the stock types list and then choose the option 'Clear Previous Stock Check' :

As shown you have the option of clearing stock items only currently held at your home location (which is the default) or you can opt to clear stock items from all home locations at the same time - note : the latter should only be used if you understand the implications for other departments and are happy to clear all such stock check information.

Checking serialised stock by scanning barcodes

By selecting the option : 'Stock Check By Barcode' you are shown the option :

which allows you to enter the data from a text file (the file should consist of a single barcode on each line followed by a line return and saved as a text (.txt) file), or if you have a scanner which can save data in a list (which is then held in the same format), or the default if neither of these is chosen is to display a window for individual scanning of serialised stock items.

Here you simply scan the barcode (or manually type in the barcode value) of any serialised stock items you wish - they do not have to be from any specific stock type, but obviously if you are doing your stock check by specific stock types it would make sense to restrict scanning to stock of these types !

Note : for serialised stock (i.e. where the stock description has the 'Use Serial Numbers' checkbox ticked) all that we require is the barcode as serialised items are by default always a quantity of 1. Non-serialised stock is checked in a different way (see below)

Once you have finished scanning any appropriate stock items, as the screen suggest simply enter with nothing in the input field which tells TBS that you have finished scanning.

If there are any issues that have occurred with the items scanned you will be shown as a screen with the list of issues so you can take whatever action may be required - examples are : unknown scans, scans of non-serialised stock, scanning items which are supposedly at a different home location etc

Note : this action can also be performed via the TBS WMS web site if utilised (non-serialised currently is only done via the desktop) by using the 'Stock Check' option of the WMS main screen :

which gives and after each entry

In the WMS interface each submit gives its own response as to the success or failure of each scan......

Checking non-serialised stock by scanning barcodes

By selecting the option : 'Stock Check Of Non Serialised Items' you are shown the option :

which allows you to enter the data from a text file (the file should consist of a two column list, with the quantity that you physically have on your shelves in the first column, and its related barcode in the second column followed by a line return and saved as a text (.txt) file), or the default is to display a window for individual scanning of non-serialised stock items.

If you choose the text file input method, TBS will display the first few lines of the selected text file, so you can verify that the columns are showing correctly before processing the list. Thereafter the list will be processed by each line being handled like an individual/manual input.....

The manual input screen is as follows :

The point about the quantity entered here being only what is physically on hand is to allow TBS to add to the total that you physically say you have by calculating how many of the given stock item are currently out on jobs working at that time, the resulting total of which, with your on hand total, *should* be the correct total of the barcode item.

Remember that the way TBS holds quantities of stock is by way of having a barcode which represents (for non-serialised stock) any one of the total quantity of that stock entry. So a stock description designated as non-serialised may have one or more barcodes held against it representing any quantity for each barcode. These may be representing stock bought at different times (and therefore held separately for accounting / depreciation purposes) or for stock held at different locations. It is possible for TBS to designate stock held at different locations either by way of separate / unique barcode numbers, or (by way of a preference setting) TBS can utilise the same barcode number differentiated by the home loaction entered against each entry.

As an example here, let us look at a stock entry for barcode number 4329 which currently shows as having a quantity of 3 in stock. However we find there are 12 on the shelf (and there is also one out on a booking currently), so we may enter this as :

What TBS will then show us (if the totals that it calculates are different to the quantity held in the stock record currently) :

This is inviting us to update the stock item quantity with our new found total - and also at the same time mark the entry as stock checked.....

Stock check items currently on bookings

By selecting the option : 'Stock Check Items Currently On Bookings' you are shown the option :

This will do as it suggests and mark only serialised stock items which are known to be out working on bookings (optionally for all stock as opposed to only stock which lives at your local home location)

Tidying up - the end of a stock check

Once you have gone through the stages of a stock check for any given stock type - so clearing the previous stock check information, scanning serailised stock, entering your quantities on hand for non-serialised stock, and updating serialised stock known to be out on bookings - the Stock Check report can then be used to report on any stock which has at that time NOT been checked - i.e. what is known to be missing - so you can put your efforts into trying to find where the stock may currently be. Using the stock Scan Archives can here be of great help in seeing exactly when that item may last have been seen and by whom....

But the final part of a stock check is to run the option 'Update Qty Available Of Selected Types After Stock Check':

This method is in some respects DANGEROUS - and it is recommended that you thoroughly understand its implications before running it !

It is designed to remove from stock all items that are NOT stock checked - so it really is the ultimate tidy up at the end of a stock check.......

Answering yes to the above question, you are then asked :

Clicking the OK here will then go through stock of the selected stock types, and remove any unchecked stock.