Organization of the storekeeper's work with internal transfers: responsibility, multiplicity and control

Internal stock transfer is one of the most important warehouse operations for businesses that have a central warehouse and several retail outlets, as it enables stores to be continuously supplied with the required product range. 

Business owners usually face practical questions when organizing this process: 

The Torgsoft software has built-in tools that effectively address these issues and minimize the impact of human error.

1. Personal responsibility: the «Warehouse Worker» field

To ensure that the owner or manager can clearly identify who is responsible for picking and shipping a specific internal transfer, the software records the warehouse worker assigned to each document.

• Assigning a responsible employee. When creating a transfer document in «Document» — «Internal Transfer» mode or automatically distributing goods among retail outlets, the user can select the responsible employee from the list in the dedicated «Warehouse Worker» field. This employee is assigned to the entire document rather than to individual products within it.

• Mandatory completion. To prevent employees from forgetting to specify the responsible person, the «Always specify the warehouse worker» option can be enabled in the distribution form settings. When this setting is enabled, an internal transfer cannot be created without specifying a warehouse worker.

• Filtering and printing. Information about the responsible employee is displayed in a separate column in the «Internal Transfer Register» and in the «Goods in Transit» window. Using the «Warehouse Worker» filter, a warehouse employee can quickly find the transfer documents assigned specifically to them for picking. In addition, information containing the warehouse worker's name can be printed on the paper form of the internal transfer document.

2. Package quantity multiple control during transfers

A common situation occurs when a warehouse worker must ship goods to retail outlets in full boxes, while the software records them as individual units. This creates a risk of entering a quantity that is not evenly divisible by the package size, which may result in product mix-ups or shortages at stores.

This issue can be resolved using the additional «Metric Product Characteristics» option.

• Setting the package quantity. The «Quantity per Package» parameter is specified in the product type card or directly in the product card. For example, skirting boards or tiles may be sold individually but transferred only in full packages of five units.

• Visual control. When creating an internal transfer or distributing goods, the «Quantity per Package» column is displayed. If the user enters a product quantity that is not a multiple of the package quantity, for example, attempting to transfer 7 units instead of 5 or 10, the software highlights the row in light pink or red.

• Software restrictions. Strict control can be configured in the «Distribution Conditions»: the software can either display a warning when the quantity is not a multiple of the package size or completely prevent the creation of a transfer containing an invalid quantity.

3. Protection against scanning errors: product type restrictions

In large warehouses, such as automotive parts warehouses, where many products look similar, a warehouse worker may accidentally attach the wrong barcode or scan the wrong part. Product type restrictions are used to prevent an unrelated product from being added to a transfer document.

How does it work?

When creating a new transfer, select the «Use product type restrictions» checkbox and click «Configure». A window will open where you can specify exactly which product types are allowed for this transfer.

Scanning control

If, while picking goods with a barcode scanner, the warehouse worker attempts to add a product that does not belong to an allowed product type, the software will not add it to the list. It will display an error message and play an audio alert. This prompts the warehouse worker to stop and check the product they are holding.

4. Double-checking transfer documents and the «Goods in Transit» mode

Trust and accuracy between the dispatching warehouse and the receiving store are ensured through the use of the «Goods in Transit» mode and verification tools.

• Initial and repeated verification. The software allows the same transfer document to be checked twice. First, the warehouse worker at the dispatching warehouse performs the «Initial» verification while picking the order by scanning all goods. Then, when the goods physically arrive at the store, the receiving party performs the «Repeated» verification with their scanner using the «Goods in Transit» mode.

• Protection against local manipulation. To prevent dishonest employees at the receiving store from changing the received quantity without authorization, for example, recording a smaller quantity and taking the difference, the «Block repeated verification» function is available. In this case, the transfer document is accepted strictly according to the results of the warehouse's initial verification, and changes can only be made by an authorized person.

• Recording discrepancies. If, when receiving the transfer document or applying the verification results, the actual scanned quantity does not match the quantity specified in the document, the software will display a warning. The user can receive the goods in the quantity that was actually verified and print a «Discrepancy Report» for management covering the difference. Depending on the settings, the software will automatically create adjustment documents for product surpluses or shortages.

Using these tools in Torgsoft makes it possible to organize a transparent and strictly controlled process for transferring inventory, in which each error is detected at the barcode scanning stage and responsibility for every box is clearly assigned to a specific employee.