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Reconciling an Inventory Period

At least once a year, end users are required to perform an inventory reconciliation to remain in PDMA compliance. Users might also need to perform an inventory reconciliation if they are receiving a promotion or leaving the company. For more information on reconciliation, see Inventory Reconciliation.

Prior to starting inventory reconciliation, users must perform the steps outlined in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Inventory Reconciliation Prerequisites

These inventory reconciliation prerequisites must be performed in the following order:

• Verify previous inventory periods are reconciled. End users must reconcile previous inventory periods in chronological order. This is only a concern if a company's configuration allows more than one inactive, unreconciled period. For more information, see Acknowledging Full Receipt of a Samples Transfer.
• Acknowledge receipt of inventory transfers. End users must send acknowledgements for all received sample inventory shipments. For more information, see Acknowledging Full Receipt of a Samples Transfer.
• Create transfer transactions for transferred samples. End users must create transfer transactions for any samples transferred to another representative or returned to the home office. For more information, see Creating a Samples Transfer.
• Mobile users synchronize with server database. Mobile end users must synchronize their local database with the server database before submitting an inventory count. This is especially important if they are recording samples received in a prior period or to be received in a future period. For more information on synchronizing a local database, check with your Siebel administrator.

NOTE:  Counts for transferred and received samples are not reflected in the inventory count until their records have been submitted.

An inventory period cannot be reconciled if any discrepancy exists between the physical and electronic counts. If a discrepancy exists, it must be corrected before a user can reconcile the period. For more information, see the procedure To identify discrepancies in inventory counts.

The reconciliation process consists of the steps outlined in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Inventory Reconciliation Process

These reconciliation steps must be performed in the following order:

• Create and submit a closeout inventory count. End users must create and submit an inventory count (either by product or lot number) of the products currently on-hand. For more information, see the procedure To create and submit a closeout inventory count.

  End users cannot submit a count differently from the way they submitted the previous period's count unless the previous period has been reconciled. For example, if they submitted the previous period's count by product name, they must reconcile that period before they can submit a subsequent count by lot number.

• Correct physical and electronic count discrepancies. End users must correct any discrepancies between the physical counts and the electronic counts by:
  • Creating and submitting a sample adjustment transaction with one or more line items. For more information, see the procedure To adjust multiple quantities with a new adjustment transaction.

    This method allows end users to adjust the inventory counts of multiple products with a single adjustment transaction (containing multiple line items). However, they might want to use this method if they need to adjust more than two or three counts.

  • Adjusting previous transactions. Adjusting line-item records of previously entered transactions. For more information, see the procedure To adjust a quantity in a samples transaction.

    This method allows end users to adjust the quantity of a selected line item in a previously entered transaction. However, they might want to use this method if they only need to adjust one or two counts.

• Reconcile the inventory period. For more information, see the procedure To reconcile an inventory period.

Creating and Submitting a Closeout Inventory Count

The following procedure shows you how to create and submit a closeout inventory count.

To create and submit a closeout inventory count

1. Physically count all samples currently on-hand.
2. Navigate to the Samples screen, then the Inventory Count view.

   The Inventory Count list lists records for every product in your inventory.

   NOTE:  Records in the Inventory Count view can be deleted only if the value of the On Hand Quantity field is zero. Do not delete records from this view unless you are certain that you will not need to enter adjustments to any transactions containing the product in the future or in a past unreconciled period.

3. In the Inventory Count list, enter a value in the Count field for all records.

   The Difference field in some records can show a value other than zero.

Proceed in one of the following ways:

• If the Difference field in any record shows a value other than zero, click Interim and follow the procedure To identify discrepancies in inventory counts.
• If the Difference field in all records is equal to zero, click Submit and follow the procedure To reconcile an inventory period.

Identifying Discrepancies in Inventory Counts

The following procedure shows you how to identify discrepancies in inventory counts.

To identify discrepancies in inventory counts

1. Navigate to the Samples screen, then the Reconciliation view.
2. In the Inventory Periods list, select the period that you want to reconcile.
3. In the Inventory Count list, review the list to determine how many product records show a value other than zero in the Difference field.
4. For every record in the Inventory Count list whose Difference field does not equal zero, write down the sample name, the lot number, and the value displayed in the Difference field.

   A positive value in the Difference field means that your electronic count (the Stock Quantity field) is greater than your physical count (the Counted Quantity field). A negative value in the Difference field means that your electronic count (the Stock Quantity field) is less than your physical count (the Counted Quantity field).

Proceed in one of the following ways:

• If only a small number of records require adjustments, enter individual line-item adjustments for those transactions. In this case, write down the transaction numbers of the transactions you plan to adjust.

  The Samples History list displays all transactions corresponding to the product selected in the Unreconciled Inventory List. You can find the transaction number in the Transaction # field of the Samples History list. Then use the following procedure: To adjust a quantity in a samples transaction.

• If multiple records require adjustments, enter a single adjustment transaction, with multiple line items, that adjusts all the quantities. To do this use the following procedure: To adjust multiple quantities with a new adjustment transaction.

Adjusting Multiple Quantities with a New Adjustment Transaction

The following procedure shows you how to adjust multiple quantities with a new adjustment transaction.

To adjust multiple quantities with a new adjustment transaction

1. Navigate to the Samples screen, then the Transaction view.
2. From the view drop-down list, select Inventory Adjustments.
3. In the Transaction # view, create a new record and complete the necessary fields.

   Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Adjustment Reason	Follow your company's guidelines for what to select for this field.
   Transaction #	The application automatically generates an unique identifier. You can change this value.
   Transaction Date	The application automatically generates an unique identifier for this field.
   Transaction Status	The value will be changed to Submitted when you submit the transaction.

4. In the Line Items list, create a new record and complete the necessary fields.

   Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Expiration Date	This field is automatically filled when you complete the Lot # field.
   Item Status	The application changes value in this field changes to Submitted when you submit the transaction.
   Item #	The number of this item in the transaction. Line numbers are automatically generated but can be edited. You might want to edit this value to have the items appear in a particular order (other than the order in which you entered them).
   Lot Name	The lot number for this sample.
   Quantity	The amount of the sample adjustment. The quantity you enter can be positive or negative, depending on the value you recorded in Step 4: If the value that you recorded was positive, enter a negative quantity. If the value that you recorded was negative, enter a positive quantity.
   Sample	The product for which you want to enter a quantity adjustment.

   Repeat Step 4 until you have entered a line item for each needed adjustment.

5. In the Transaction # view, click Submit.

   The values of the Transaction Status field (in the Inventory Adjustments list) and the Item Status field (in the Line Items list) change to Submitted.

6. Reconcile the inventory period, as described in To reconcile an inventory period.

Reconciling an Inventory Period

The following procedure shows you how to reconcile an inventory period.

To reconcile an inventory period

1. Navigate to the Samples screen, then the Reconciliation view.
2. In the Inventory Period list, select the inventory period that you want to reconcile.
3. Review the records in general.
4. In the Inventory Count list, review the records and verify that the value of the Difference field for each record is zero.
5. Click Reconcile.

   If the approval process is enabled in your application, the approver receives an Inbox item in their Inbox. If the approval process is not enabled, then the Samples Reconciliation view is cleared immediately.

You can reconcile a period only if there is no difference between the physical count and the amount displayed by the application, and if there are no pending transactions in the approval period.

NOTE:  End users must create transfer transactions for any samples transferred to another representative or returned to the home office for the period prior to reconciliation. Also, mobile end users must synchronize their local database with the server database before submitting an inventory count. This is especially important if they are recording samples received in a prior period, or if they are recording samples received in a future period.