Administrator - Item Inventory Setup

Properly configuring a purchase units inventory setup will be very important for accurately accounting for all of your purchased items. District Admin (DA) users are able to configure the inventory setup values in the Inventory Module, Vendors Module, or in the Item Database. Making a change to the inventory setup in one place will automatically update that inventory setup in all places. For the most part, when you add a new purchase unit from GDSN it will already have a correct inventory setup. However, in some cases you may need to edit the data that comes through from GDSN. Similarly, generic items like produce will likely need some editing to match how you actually receive product. Below are three examples of products and how to set them up properly for inventory. Please note that these examples assume that the purchase unit has already been setup and pricing entered for all. More info on manually setting up a purchase unit can be found here. 

Hint! From the Inventory Setup page, always work from the bottom of the screen up

Item 1 - 1% White Milk that I receive from my vendor as 50 half pints per crate

Below is a generic database 1% white milk unmodified from the generic database. This inventory setup will need to be edited to reflect how I account for milk in my inventory: 

To edit this purchase unit to reflect how I actually receive this item: 

1. Enter the nominal weight as provided by the distributor or vendor. According to the order sheet from my dairy vendor, each crate of milk is 27 lbs
2. Enter the number of servings you receive in the purchase unit and update the purchase unit type as necessary. My purchase unit is in crates and I receive/order 50 milks per crate
3. Enter the Inventory Units in 1 Purchase Unit. When performing a physical inventory, each milk is considered it's own Inventory Unit and each milk is counted when physical inventory is performed so there will be 50 Inventory Units per Purchase Unit and Inventory Unit Servings will be "1 serving Each"
4. When the Inventory Setup looks correct based on how you track this item in your inventory system, click the drop down menu next to the Save button, select Save & Close, then click the Save and Close button to save all changes and close out the Inventory Setup page

Item 2 - Whole oranges that I receive from my vendor as 138 CT in a 35 LB case

Below is a generic database fresh oranges, 138 count in it's original form from the generic database. This inventory setup will need to be edited to reflect how I account for oranges in my inventory:

1. Use the drop down menu to change the purchase unit type from Pounds to Case
2. Enter the nominal net weight as provided by the distributor or vendor. According to the order sheet from my produce vendor, each case of 138 oranges is 35 lbs
3. Change the number of servings per purchase unit to 138 to reflect total number of oranges and therefore servings of oranges that come in a case 
4. Leave the Inventory Units in 1 Purchase Unit as 1 and the number of servings in an inventory as 138. Change the Inventory Unit type to Case. When performing a physical inventory, we count oranges in terms of cases of oranges so this will be the correct inventory unit type for this example. Note that in this example, oranges aren't counted each when performing a physical inventory, rather, the number of cases is what is entered into a physical inventory performed 
5. When the Inventory Setup looks correct based on how you track this item in your inventory system, click the drop down menu next to the Save button, select Save & Close, then click the Save and Close button to save all changes and close out the Inventory Setup page

Item 3 - Single serving ranch packets that come in a pack of 100

Below is the setup for single serving ranch packets in it's original form from the GDSN database. This inventory setup will need to be edited to reflect how I account for these packets in my inventory:

1. Enter the number of servings per the purchase unit (Case)
   1. Note that the number of servings from GDSN is incorrect (100 vs 101). This is due to a minor rounding issue and while 100 vs 101 is negligible, for the most accurate accounting of items in the database, you'll want to correct this to display the actual servings per purchase unit
2. Change the number of inventory units per purchase unit to reflect the number of servings per purchase unit. In this example, ranch packets are counted in "each's" when a physical inventory is performed
   1. Note: If this item was counted by the case, the Inventory Unit per Purchase Unit would be 1 instead of 100 and the number of servings per inventory unit would be 100 per Case.
3. When the Inventory Setup looks correct based on how you track this item in your inventory system, click the drop down menu next to the Save button, select Save & Close, then click the Save and Close button to save all changes and close out the Inventory Setup page

All information provided in this article is hypothetical and inventory setup may be different from district to district depending on how the district accounts for items in inventory. The important thing to keep in mind when setting up inventory values is how you as a district actually count your items when performing a physical inventory. If items are counted in each's, then the Inventory Unit should be "Each" and the number of servings should be in an inventory unit is generally "1". If items are counted in cases, packets, crates, etc., the number of Servings in an Inventory Unit should be the number of individuals that come in the inventory unit and the inventory unit defined.