How to track inventory with Basket Point of Sale

Basket Point of Sale (POS) offers powerful tools to help you manage your inventory effectively. This guide walks you through the process of tracking inventory in Basket POS, ensuring you have accurate stock levels and insights into your inventory trends. Inventory levels will automatically decrease as products are sold through the point of sale system. When products are received, shrunk out, transfered or a new inventory count is performed “Inventory Batches” are used to update the inventory on hand information. An inventory batch is simply a group of items with their associated inventory level adjustment information.

Managing and viewing your inventory levels may be done in a number of different ways in Basket, the following is a list of the different inventory tools available:

• Inventory Dashboard (Available on Web, Mobile Web, iOS and Android) – The inventory dashboard allows you to see all inventory batches that have been created in the past as well as their details. This dashboard will also allow you to create, edit and delete inventory batches.
• Inventory Scan App (Available on Android Only) – The Inventory Scan App is built to be run on a hand scanner device. This app offers a number of benefits over using the inventory dashboard to create and edit inventory batches. It allows quick barcode scanning, the ability to ad items even if the device is not connected to the internet and the performance is overall faster than using the inventory dashboard.
• Inventory on Hand Report (Available on Web, Mobile Web, iOS and Android) – The inventory on hand report allows users to view current inventory on hand levels across different locations.

The following are the steps needed to start tracking a perpetual inventory.

Products need to be added in the “Products” page before their inventory level can be tracked.

1. Set current inventory levels.

1. Navigate to Inventory in the navigation bar, this is the inventory dashboard. Click the “Add Batch” Button. This will give you a number of choices:
   • Receive: This will add to your current inventory levels (or set them if there was no inventory record level previously). This is used when receiving product stock.
   • Adjustment: This sets current level of inventory regardless of what the previous inventory levels were. Inventory should be periodically counted and this should be used to set to verify inventory levels stay accurate.
   • Shrink: This will remove from your current stock, this is used when “shrinking out” stock.
2. To set inventory levels for the first time you should select either Receive or Adjustment.
3. Select the store that the inventory batch is taking place at, Optionally you can add notes.
4. Now you can add items by searching for either the upc or description. If a barcode scanner is used be sure that the barcode scanner is set to drop check digits, having the scanner set to automatically send enter after the scan can also speed up the scanning proccess.
5. A pop up will now prompt you to enter the quantity of items you are receiving (or what is currently on hand in case of an adjustment).
6. Items in the batch can be edited or deleted by swiping to the left, the choosing the delete or edit buttons.
7. To have the inventory batch effect the inventory on hand levels click the submit batch button in the right upper corner, this will apply the inventory batch to the inventory levels.
   

Once inventory batches are submitted they can not undone. Be sure to remember to submit the batches or they will not affect inventory levels.

2. Receive inventory as new stock comes in.

When you receive new stock add the stock to you inventory on hand levels by following the same steps as setting the inventory level above, when creating the batch use the “Receive” option.

3. Shrink inventory as it removed from stock.

When removing inventory from stock use a “Shrink” batch to remove the inventory from your inventory levels. Follow the steps above for Setting current inventory levels but select the “Shrink” option.

4. Periodically do a manual inventory count and update your inventory levels

Inventory tracking mistakes as well as untracked shrink (due to theft for instance) can cause your inventory levels to be inaccurate. Perform periodic counts and use an “Adjustment” batch to set inventory to their known levels.

5. As inventory is sold through the POS the inventory levels will automatically stay up to date.

6. Monitor your inventory on hand levels.

Your inventory levels ca be viewed in the “Inventory on Hand” Report under Analytics > Inventory on Hand Report. Follow these steps to view your inventory on hand levels:

• Select one or more departments to view the items in the given department(s)
• Select one or more stores, if more than one store is selected there will be a total as well as inventory on hand by store.
• Click “Get Report”

This will generate an inventory report, here you will see the UPC, Description and inventory information for the items in the selected departments. The report will show the quantity of inventory on hand as well as the average amount sld per day and an estimate of how many days of inventory is on hand.

Note that only items who have had an initial inventory set will show in this report, products that exist in the system or have been sold but have never had an inventory level set will not show in this report.