Chapter 2: Generating a Physical Inventory (MGPI)

Purpose: The Physical Inventory file contains the item locations that are being counted during a physical inventory, and the perpetual count (on-hand quantity) for the item location at the time the physical inventory is generated. This file is used to:

• record the item quantities that are counted in each location

• compare the quantity counted to the on-hand quantity

• update the system with the new count information

When you create a physical inventory, you can include:

• all item locations in the warehouse or in all warehouses

• item locations in selected zones and aisles only

• items that have specific status codes assigned to them

• items assigned to specific cycles if you are cycle counting.

You can also specify a maximum number of item locations to count. If you do not set a limit, item locations that meet all of the selected criteria are included.

In addition to generating the physical inventory, you can also print the Physical Inventory Batch Work Sheet or each Physical Inventory Ticket for use in recording the physical counts for each item location. You can group the worksheets in batches or by item location and you can control the number of item locations that are included in each batch, based on how you have set the related fields in the System Control file. See Printing Batch Sheets or Tickets for more information on batching, or Installation Chapter 14: Setting Up Inventory Values for more information on inventory system control values.

You can have only one generate physical inventory job in process at a time.

Note: The Physical Inventory Generation (A04) secured feature controls access to this menu option.

In this chapter:

• Generate Physical Inventory Screen

• Printing Physical Inventory Worksheets

• Physical Inventory Batch Work Sheet

• Printing Physical Inventory Tickets

• Physical Inventory Ticket

• LPN Total Greater Than Item Location List

Generate Physical Inventory Screen

Purpose: Use this screen to generate the physical inventory for the warehouses, locations, item types, or cycles to be counted.

Each physical inventory you generate is assigned a control number. If you use the batching feature, separate batch numbers are assigned as well. The system may also print worksheets or tickets for use in recording inventory counts depending on your settings at the Physical Inventory Values (Screen 1) (C15) or Physical Inventory Values (Screen 2) in the System Control file.

How to display this screen: Enter MGPI in the Fast path field or select Generate Physical Inventory File from a menu.

INR0001 ENTER Generate Physical Inventory File 8/26/99 11:11:50 KAL Co. Date. . . 82699 Warehouse . . . . . . . . 40 WAREHOUSE 40 Specify Locations Zones . . . . . . . . . Range of aisles . . . . To Range of locations . . To Select Item Status. . . . Select Cycles . . . . . . Max # of item locations to count. . . Clear LPN file before generate . . . N F3=Exit F9=Accept F12=Cancel F24=Select company

Field	Description
Date	The date you generate the physical inventory. The system date defaults. Overriding this date is not currently implemented. Numeric, 6 positions (MMDDYY format); required.
Warehouse	This code indicates the warehouse where the physical inventory is taking place. Warehouse codes are defined in and validated against the Warehouse file; see Chapter 41: Creating and Maintaining Warehouses (WWHS). The warehouse defined in the Default Warehouse (A04) system control value defaults in this field. To include all item locations in the physical inventory, enter a warehouse code and leave the other fields on this screen blank. If you leave the warehouse field blank, you will generate a physical inventory for all eligible warehouses. Numeric, 3 positions, optional.
Specify Locations:
Zones	These codes indicate the zones to include in the physical inventory. Zone codes are defined in and validated against the Location file for the warehouse; see Chapter 43: Creating and Maintaining Locations (WLOC). Alphanumeric, ten 1-position fields, optional; required if entering a range of aisles.
Range of aisles	These codes indicate the starting and ending aisles to include in the physical inventory. Enter aisle codes to limit the physical inventory to selected aisles within the zone codes specified in the Zones field. Zone codes are required if you are entering aisle code ranges. Alphanumeric, two 2-position fields; optional.
Range of locations	The range of locations to include in the physical inventory. You can enter a range of locations only if you define a warehouse. Location codes are defined in and validated against the Location file; see Creating and Maintaining Locations (WLOC). You must enter a To and From location. The From Location must be less than or equal to the To Location. If you enter a range of locations, you cannot specify a zone or range of aisles. Alphanumeric, two 7-position fields; optional.
Select item statuses	This code identifies the status of the items you want to count. Status codes are defined in and validated against the Item Status file (see Merchandising Chapter 7: Working with Item Status (WIST)), and assigned to items in the Status field in the Item file. Alphanumeric, twenty 1-position fields; optional.
Select cycle counts	This code identifies the cycles to include in the physical inventory. Entering a cycle code limits the physical inventory to locations containing items whose Cycle field is set to that code. The item locations will be included only if you have not performed a physical inventory for the location for that cycle period. Cycle codes are defined in and validated against the Cycle Code file. See Merchandising Chapter 6: Working with Item Cycles (WICY). Note: These fields display only if the Cycle Counting (A06) value in the System Control file is set to Y. Alphanumeric, ten 2-position fields; optional.
Maximum number of item locations to count	A maximum number of item locations to include in the physical inventory. Specifying a maximum number of items to count limits the physical inventory to the first n item locations that meet all of the criteria on the screen. If you use LPNs, the number of LPNs included may exceed the number of item locations you enter here; see the LPN Tracking (E16) system control value. Numeric, 5 positions; optional.
Clear LPN file before generate	This value indicates whether to delete all LPN records from the system before generating the physical inventory. You would generally use LPNs to track cases of inventory in your warehouse if you use radio frequency devices; see Part K: Radio Frequency. If you set this field to Y, you would have the opportunity to rebuild the LPN file when you enter or upload counts. The system will clear the entire LPN file, regardless of how you restrict your physical inventory generation request. Valid values are: Y = Clear the LPN file. N (default) = Do not clear the LPN file. Note: This field only displays if the Upload Counts (A12) system control value is set to Y. Alphanumeric, 1 position; required.

Step-by-step instructions: Only item locations that meet all of the selection criteria defined are included in the physical inventory.

To generate the file for all locations in the warehouse:

1. Accept the system date for the physical inventory or enter a new date.

2. Define the Warehouse where you are performing the physical inventory.

3. Use the Zones, Range of aisles, Range of locations, Select item statuses, Select cycle counts, and Maximum number of item locations to count fields to limit the number of item locations included in the physical inventory.

4. Optionally, enter Y in the Clear LPN file before generate field to delete LPN records associated with the item locations in the physical inventory.

5. Press F9 to generate the physical inventory and, if applicable, the batch sheets or tickets to use for the counts. The fields are cleared from the screen and the following message displays: Job 630734/KAREN_M/GENER_PHY submitted to job queue QBATCH in library QGPL.

6. Enter information for another warehouse, or press F3 to exit or F12 to cancel.

For more information: See Generating the Physical Inventory for more information on the processing the system performs when generating a physical inventory.

Printing Physical Inventory Worksheets

Purpose: Physical Inventory Worksheets (see Physical Inventory Batch Work Sheet example) are used to record the item quantities counted during the physical inventory. You can enter the physical counts recorded on the sheets using Entering Counts Using Physical Inventory Worksheets (MPIE), or you can upload the counts; see Chapter 5: Uploading Physical Counts (MPIU).

You can set the System Control file to produce inventory worksheets that include a specific number of items on each sheet, a separate sheet for each location regardless of the number of items, or a separate sheet for each zone/aisle combination regardless of the number of items.

Inventory worksheets print when you generate the physical inventory.

• Batch sheets for the first count print if the File Generation Output (A09) system control value is SHEET.

• Location sheets for the first count print if the File Generation Output (A09) system control value is LOCATION.

• Zone/aisle sheets for the first count print if the File Generation Output (A09) system control value is AISLE.

In all cases, the Entry Method (A01) system control value must be SHEET. You should set the Upload Counts field to N to have the system produce sheets automatically. See Chapter 1: Physical Inventory Overview.

You can print worksheets for the second and final counts through Entering Counts Using Physical Inventory Worksheets (MPIE).

You can also print or reprint worksheets through Reprinting Batch Sheets or Tickets (RPIF).

Note: If you use LPNs to manage your inventory (see Part K: Radio Frequency), the system prints each LPN separately. LPNs sharing the same item location appear in numeric sequence by LPN on the batch worksheets. Item locations not associated with an LPN (LPN = 0) appear first.

File generation output?	Assign batch numbers?	Batch Inventory Worksheets Results
SHEET	Y	Item locations appear in alphanumeric sequence by location code, then item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by location type and batch quantity (specified in the Batch size field in the System Control file). Batches may be split across sheets. If a batch splits across sheets because of different location types, the sheets within the batch appear in location type sequence (PRIMARY, SECONDARY, BULK, then TEMPORARY).
SHEET	N	Item locations appear in location type sequence (PRIMARY, SECONDARY, BULK, then TEMPORARY), then alphanumeric sequence by location code, then alphanumeric sequence by item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by size of batch sheet and location type, but not by location code.
LOCATION	Y	Item locations appear in alphanumeric sequence by location code, then item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by location and batch quantity. Batches are not split across sheets. A blank sheet appears between each batch sheet.
LOCATION	N	Item locations appear in location type sequence (PRIMARY, SECONDARY, BULK, then TEMPORARY), then alphanumeric sequence by location code, then alphanumeric sequence by item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by size of batch sheet and location code.
AISLE	Y	Item locations appear in zone/aisle sequence, then alphanumeric sequence by item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by size of batch sheet and zone/aisle.
AISLE	N	Item locations appear in location type sequence (PRIMARY, SECONDARY, BULK, then TEMPORARY), then alphanumeric sequence by location code, then alphanumeric sequence by item code, then by the Sort sequence number for the SKU. Page breaks by size of batch sheet and location code.

Printing Physical Inventory Tickets

Purpose: Physical Inventory Tickets (see Physical Inventory Ticket sample) are used to record the item quantities counted during the physical inventory. You enter the physical counts recorded on the tickets through Entering Counts Using Physical Inventory Tickets (MPIE), or you can upload the counts; see Chapter 5: Uploading Physical Counts (MPIU).

The tickets for the first count print when you generate the physical inventory if both Entry Method (A01) and the File Generation Output (A09) system control values are set to Tickets. You can print tickets for the second and final counts through Entering Counts Using Physical Inventory Tickets (MPIE) or Reprinting Batch Sheets or Tickets (RPIF); however, you must use the Enter Physical Inventory Count function the first time you generate tickets for a count.

When you use tickets, a separate ticket prints for each item location to be counted as part of the physical inventory. The tickets print in alphanumeric sequence by location code, then by item code.

You can group your tickets into batches and indicate the number of tickets to include in each batch, if desired. The batches do not break by location type or code. You define the number of item locations (tickets) that each batch will contain in the Batch Size (A08) system control value. The physical counts can be entered, analyzed, and updated separately for each batch.

Note: If you use LPNs to manage your inventory (see Part K: Radio Frequency), each LPN appears on a separate ticket. LPNs sharing the same item location appear in numeric sequence. Item locations not associated with an LPN (LPN = 0) appear first.