Starshipit WMS stock management

Starshipit WMS includes a set of tools to keep your inventory accurate and visible at all times. Stock management covers:

• The real-time Inventory dashboard
• Location-based inventory views
• Regular stocktakes (cycle counts or full counts)
• Manual stock adjustments for corrections
• Comprehensive stock movement logs for auditing

These features ensure that on-hand, available, committed and incoming figures reflect what is actually in your warehouse, supporting reliable order allocation and purchasing decisions.

Inventory dashboard

The Inventory dashboard provides a product-level view of inventory across your warehouse. It shows key metrics for each SKU, including:

• On hand – total physical quantity in the warehouse (all locations combined).
• Committed – quantity reserved for open orders that are not yet shipped.
• Available – stock still available to sell: 
  Available = On hand – Committed (minus any holds or reservations).
• Incoming – quantity on open purchase orders or transfers that has not yet been received.
• Allocated (Reserved) – stock that is formally allocated to pick jobs.

Negative available quantities (for example, when orders exceed current stock) are highlighted so you can quickly see where you are oversold or backordered.

Filtering and searching

You can filter and search the inventory dashboard to focus on:

• Specific SKUs or partial SKU codes
• Products with negative availability
• Products with incoming stock
• Specific tags or categories (where used)

This helps you quickly answer questions such as:

• “Which SKUs are currently short?”
• “What stock is due in from purchase orders?”
• “Which products have allocations but are not yet picked?”

Location-based view

In addition to product-level data, Starshipit WMS can show inventory by location.

The location view lets you:

• Select a specific location (e.g. a bin, pallet, staging dock, packing bench)
• See all products and quantities stored at that location
• Drill into product details from the location’s perspective

Under the hood, WMS maintains separate inventory records per product per location. The inventory dashboard rolls these up to product-level totals; the location view exposes the breakdown.

Location-based views are especially useful for:

• Planning and executing cycle counts
• Checking what is in a particular bin or zone
• Investigating discrepancies in a specific area of the warehouse

Stocktakes (inventory counting)

A Stocktake (inventory count) compares the quantity in WMS against what is physically in the warehouse. Use stocktakes to correct drift over time caused by damage, mis-picks or process issues.

Starting a stocktake

Stocktake supports two modes, selectable via tabs:

• By Product — select products to count regardless of location (the original mode).
• By Location — select a warehouse location and the system shows every product at that location with its expected quantity. Enter counted quantities and submit discrepancies.

When "Stocktake by Location" mode is selected, the "Stocktake by Product" tab is hidden to avoid confusion.

Key details:

• The location dropdown defaults to the location marked as the default stocktake location (configurable in location settings).
• Drafts are preserved per location — switching between locations does not lose unsaved counts.
• Supports tracked products (batch, expiry, serial) via a sub-dialog for entering tracking details.
• Lines with zero inventory are filtered out of the view.
• Submitting a stocktake by location creates stock movements to correct discrepancies between expected and counted quantities.

To start a stocktake:

1. Go to the Stocktake section.
2. Choose the By Product or By Location tab.
3. Define the scope of the count:
   • Entire warehouse
   • A set of locations (e.g. a zone, aisle or bin range)
   • A set of products (e.g. a category or high-value items)
4. Generate the stocktake list. WMS will prepare the items (and where applicable, batches or serials) in scope.

Counting inventory

During the stocktake, WMS will show each item and a field to enter the counted quantity. Depending on the product’s tracking type:

• Standard – count units and enter a single quantity per product/location.
• Batch – verify and count each batch and optionally confirm expiry dates.
• Serial – confirm individual serial numbers (or import them via a file where supported).

You can add lines in the stocktake where you find items that were not previously recorded in that location.

Barcode scanning in stocktake

You can scan product barcodes during a stocktake to increment counts, replacing manual quantity entry for faster counting.

Reviewing variances and posting results

Once all counts are entered:

• WMS calculates variances by comparing recorded quantity to counted quantity.
• You can review differences and investigate large or unexpected variances.
• When ready, you post the stocktake to apply changes.

Posting the stocktake generates inventory adjustments for each variance (positive or negative) with a reason such as “Stocktake variance”. These adjustments update On hand quantities and are logged in the stock movement history.

Until posted, stocktakes are non-destructive; you can re-count or correct entries before committing.

Cycle count dashboard and jobs

A dedicated Cycle Count section is available from the navigation. It provides:

• A dashboard showing all cycle count jobs with status, location, product, assigned user and priority.
• The ability to create cycle count jobs targeting specific products or locations.
• Jobs can be assigned to users and have adjustable priority.
• Cycle counts properly handle batch, expiry and serial-tracked products.

Cycle counts are ideal for regularly verifying high-value, fast-moving or problem-prone SKUs without performing a full warehouse stocktake.

Manual stock adjustments

The Stock Adjustments feature lets you make ad hoc corrections to inventory outside of a stocktake. This is useful for:

• Recording damaged or lost stock
• Accounting for shrinkage or theft
• Correcting known errors quickly
• Adding found stock to the system

Creating a manual adjustment

1. Go to the Stock Adjustments section.
2. Select the product (SKU) to adjust.
3. Choose the location where the adjustment should be applied. The form displays current quantities at each relevant location, helping you make informed decisions about source and destination locations.
4. Enter the adjustment quantity:
   • Positive value to increase stock
   • Negative value to reduce stock
5. Select a reason code (e.g. Damage, Found, Administrative correction).
6. Confirm the adjustment.

For batch- or serial-tracked products, WMS will prompt you to select or enter the batch or serial numbers being adjusted. This keeps traceability intact.

Each adjustment:

• Updates inventory immediately
• Creates a stock movement record indicating the quantity, location and reason

Manual adjustments should be used sparingly; frequent adjustments can indicate process issues that should be addressed.

Manual replenishment planner

A Manual Replenishment Planner dialog is available from the inventory or replenishment views. You can:

• Add one or more replenishment lines, each specifying:
  • Product (searchable dropdown)
  • Destination location (pick-face locations only)
  • Quantity to replenish
  • Priority
• Submit to create replenishment jobs.

Important rules:

• The planner enforces SKU restrictions on destination locations. If a location is locked to specific SKUs, only those SKUs can be replenished to it.
• Quantities are validated and rounded to integers before submission.

This is useful when you want to proactively top up pick-face locations ahead of a busy period, rather than waiting for automatic replenishment triggers.

Stock movement logs

Starshipit WMS records every change to inventory as a stock movement. These movement records form a full audit trail of what happened to each product, where and when.

Typical movement reasons include:

• RECEIVE – stock received against a purchase order
• PUTAWAY – moved from staging to storage locations
• PICK – picked for an order
• PICK_STAGING / TO_BENCH – moved from equipment to a packing bench
• SHIPMENT – shipped on an order
• ADJUSTMENT – manual correction (e.g. Damage, Found)
• STOCKTAKE_VARIANCE – changes due to posted stocktakes

For batch- and serial-tracked products, movement logs link to the specific batch or serial numbers involved. This is useful for:

• Traceability and compliance
• Investigating discrepancies
• Analysing shrinkage or process failures

Best-practice stock management

• Use stocktakes regularly.
  Run full counts occasionally and cycle counts frequently (for example, by zone or by high-value SKUs).
• Minimise manual adjustments.
  Use adjustments for genuine corrections and investigate recurring patterns (e.g. frequent damage in a specific area).
• Monitor negative availability.
  Use dashboard filters to find SKUs with negative available quantities and address the root cause.
• Align inbound and outbound processes.
  Make sure receiving, picking and packing teams understand how WMS tracks stock so they follow consistent workflows.
• Use movement logs for training.
  When issues arise, review stock movements with your team to show exactly what happened and refine processes.

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