Inventory Overview

This enables you to view inventoried items that are managed by an external database such as a warehouse management system (WMS). In addition to basic data about inventoried items and their movements, the Inventory section enables you to view inbound and outbound goods in transit.

In this system, most of the data in SKU records are entered, deleted, and otherwise managed from an external inventory system via integration. Involved parties associated with SKU records for notification purposes can be modified via the user interface (see below).

SKUs

A stock keeping unit (SKU) is the basic unit of inventory. SKUs are not necessarily identical with item numbers or part numbers. For example, two transistors with the identical part number may have different SKUs if one transistor was manufactured more recently or at a different factory.

In this system, SKU records contain a variety of data such as the supplier, owner, warehouse, the quantity on hand, the minimum level, and the reorder level. In addition, SKU records can include customer-specific descriptor types, which further define and organize the quantities of a SKU. For example, a SKU record may be include a descriptor type called STATUS that is divided into HELD, COMMITTED, and ALLOCATED subcategories.

SKU Transactions

A SKU transaction is a record of an inventory movement, defined as any change in inventory. For example, an inventory receipt, dispatch, or adjustment can be an inventory movement. You can view the counts for individual SKU transactions and their related SKU records.

Notification

Employees, suppliers, and customers may want to know when changes occur to particular SKU records. For example, a warehouse manager may want to know when the quantity on hand for an important SKU changes.

To meet that need, involved parties can be added directly to SKU records so that those parties receive notifications when specified changes to the SKU record occur. The contact, involved party qualifier, and the communication method are selected via the user interface, and saved involved parties can be edited and deleted. The SKU events, such as a change in the quantity on hand, that trigger the notification are specified in an automation agent.