As a retail chain expands, transferring goods between the central warehouse and stores becomes a daily routine. This process creates a "blind spot" — the transportation and receiving stage, where shortages, surpluses, or item mix-ups often occur.
The following questions often arise:
"How can we prevent store employees from changing the quantity of received goods during verification and concealing a shortage?",
"How can we correctly record in the software that 100 units left the warehouse but only 90 arrived, without manually editing the invoice?",
"Can the invoice be checked first by the warehouse worker during order picking and then by the salesperson during receiving, so we can see who made the mistake?",,
"Where do negative stock balances in the virtual 'Goods in Transit' warehouse come from?".
To address these issues and minimize the human factor, Torgsoft provides a strict control mechanism through the «Goods in Transit» mode and the invoice verification tool. The main rule of this mechanism is never to edit the original internal transfer invoice manually. Instead, record the actual quantity and allow the software to create adjustment documents automatically.
Why does manually editing invoices lead to losses?
Imagine the following situation: the central warehouse sends 100 units of goods to a store and creates a standard internal transfer invoice. The salesperson at the store counts the goods, finds only 90 units (or decides to appropriate 10 units), and simply changes the quantity in the open invoice to 90. As a result, the goods seem to "disappear" from the records: 90 units are written off from the warehouse, 90 units are received by the store, and no one records the discrepancy.
To prevent this, the transfer process must be divided into two stages involving both parties, while the goods remain in an intermediate (transit) warehouse between these stages.
Configuring the secure «Goods in Transit» mode
To ensure that transfers are controlled by the system, use the «Goods in Transit» functionality. It ensures that the goods are written off from the sender's warehouse but are not added to the recipient's warehouse until they have been physically checked and confirmed.
Step 1. Basic system settings
To ensure that staff do not forget to use this mode, go to Settings - Options - Document and activate the «Create internal transfers to the Goods in Transit warehouse by default» switch. From now on, all transfers will automatically be marked as transit transfers.
Step 2. Restricting access rights (Protection against fraud)
To prevent employees from transferring goods "anywhere they want" or concealing their actions, configure their roles:
-
Restrict access to the recipient's inventory centers for internal transfers. If a salesperson has access only to "Store 1", they will not be able to view invoices sent to other stores or transfer goods there.
-
Prohibit editing closed invoices. Employees must not be able to change counting results in closed internal transfers.
Procedure for recording receipt without manual corrections
When the goods physically arrive at the store, staff must complete the receiving procedure.
-
Start verification. The salesperson opens Warehouse - Goods in Transit, selects the Invoices tab, highlights the required sender's invoice, and clicks Check Invoice.
-
Blind count. In the verification window, the salesperson scans the barcodes of the goods removed from the boxes or enters the actual quantity manually. If an item that was not included in the invoice is scanned (an item mix-up), the software records it. If an item is missing (a shortage), it remains with a zero or lower quantity in the verification column. The software records the verification start time, end time, and the employee who performed it.
-
Locking (Closing the invoice). After completing the count, the employee clicks Close Invoice. After that, the verification results cannot be changed.
-
Receiving and automatic adjustment. The final step is to click Accept Invoice. If discrepancies are detected (a shortage or surplus), the software displays a warning and offers to print a «Discrepancy Report».
What happens next?
The software automatically creates adjustment documents. Instead of manually correcting the original invoice, Torgsoft returns the shortage to the sender's warehouse or creates an additional invoice for the detected surplus. As a result, the store records exactly the quantity that the salesperson physically scanned, while the discrepancies (an item mix-up or theft in transit) remain assigned to the sender's warehouse or delivery service for further investigation.
Important detail: if the «Save sender for goods in transit» switch is enabled in the settings, the procedure applies even stricter controls. Adjustment invoices for surpluses or shortages are not created directly. Instead, all goods from the transit invoice are first virtually returned to the sender's warehouse. A new, clean invoice is then created from the sender to the recipient exclusively for the quantity that passed verification. This helps maintain accurate batch records and cost calculations.
Double verification: double control
To resolve the common dispute between the warehouse («we packed everything») and the store («not everything arrived»), Torgsoft provides a double-verification mechanism.
-
Initial verification (Warehouse). While picking the order, the warehouse worker opens the invoice and performs the initial verification using a scanner. The employee then selects «Block Recheck» (so no one accidentally resets the count) and dispatches the shipment.
-
Recheck (Store). When the goods arrive at the store, the salesperson selects «Recheck» in the «Goods in Transit» mode.
-
Result. In the Internal Transfer Register, the owner sees two columns: «Verification Time / Verified By» (warehouse data) and «Recheck Time / Verified By (Recheck)» (store data). The invoice is accepted exclusively based on the results of the second (final) verification. If the initial verification and recheck results differ, the owner knows that the error (or theft) occurred during transportation because the warehouse recorded all 100 units during packing.
Frequently asked questions
Why do negative stock balances appear in the "Goods in Transit" warehouse after an invoice is accepted? This often happens when users try to "outsmart" the system by manually deleting adjustment invoices or using SQL queries to clean the database without understanding the consequences. It can also occur when the same invoice is accepted simultaneously on two different computers, creating duplicate adjustments. To correct the issue, recalculate the quantity of goods in all warehouses and locate the "broken" control point.
What should be done if the salesperson did not scan all the goods, accepted the invoice, and some of the goods were sent back to the warehouse? If the invoice was accepted with discrepancies and adjustment documents were created, the salesperson must click «Cancel Invoice Acceptance». The entire acceptance procedure will be rolled back. However, the invoice will remain in the "Closed" status to prevent fraud. To perform another verification, the owner or administrator must change its status to "Open".
How can goods be accepted if the invoice lists a larger quantity than actually arrived and we do not want to create a return? When accepting an invoice containing unchecked goods, the software asks whether to set the quantity to 0 or set it equal to the quantity specified in the invoice. If the salesperson selects "equal to 0", the invoice will be accepted only for the verified quantity, and an adjustment (return) will be generated automatically for the remainder. Creating an adjustment cannot be avoided — this is the system's basic protection against data distortion.
Using the verification mode without manually editing documents turns internal transfers into a transparent and controlled process. The owner can always see who completed the receipt, when it was completed, and what the result was, while the system automatically documents all discrepancies.
Go back to the previous step