Partial recalculation without stopping sales

Partial inventory in Torgsoft: product selection, access settings, data collection terminals, and resolving discrepancies

In retail and wholesale, closing a store to recount the entire assortment causes downtime and loss of profit, so business owners use partial inventory for selected categories, brands, or shelves. 

This mode allows you to check the actual availability of goods in parts without completely stopping sales. Business owners most often have the following questions: how to conduct an inventory without stopping sales, how to quickly select goods for counting without missing any groups, how to hide recorded stock balances from staff, what to do with goods that have identical barcodes, how to upload data from a data collection terminal or smartphone, how product misclassification is calculated, and why discrepancies arise between the warehouse status and the inventory statement. This article provides comprehensive answers to these questions and describes the procedures for working in Torgsoft.

Methods for selecting goods and checking for missed categories

To start an inventory, you need to create a statement and add the target list of goods to it. In Torgsoft, this can be done in two main ways:

1. Via Warehouse Status. In the «Warehouse» – «Warehouse Status» menu, use the «Filters» button (F12) to specify the required product group (product type, manufacturer, season, etc.). After applying the filter, select the goods and transfer them to the document using the «Add product to inventory statement» button.

2. By adding product types to the statement. When creating a new statement («Document» – «Inventory Statement»), use the «Add goods by selected types» action.

To avoid missing any category during cycle counts, the product type selection form contains the «Period» and «Product type inventory for the period» filters. If inventories were created for certain product types during the selected period, those types are highlighted in yellow. A product type that has already been added to the current statement is marked in gray, while a product type selected for addition is marked in green.

In addition, the «Warehouse Status» form can display the «Inventory Date» column, which records the date when a specific product was last inventoried at the given warehouse. This makes it possible to identify items that have not been checked for a long time.

Product locking modes: how to keep sales running

To maintain uninterrupted sales during inventory, it is important to correctly configure the «Product Locking» parameter when creating the statement:

• Lock product after the first scan — the optimal mode for an operating store. A product is locked for sale only when it is actually counted and entered into the statement.

• Lock product when added to the statement — used when the store is closed for inventory. The product becomes unavailable for sale immediately after it is added to the document.

• Do not lock product — sales are not stopped at all, but to ensure correct counting, the user must manually mark the product with the «Counting completed» action after entering its actual quantity.

• Lock product for manual counting — automatically sets the actual product quantity equal to the recorded warehouse quantity. This mode is used by owners to speed up inventory, as they only need to adjust the items where discrepancies are found.

Access restrictions and hiding stock balances from sales staff

To prevent inventory results from being adjusted to match the recorded quantity, Torgsoft provides staff access settings:

• In the «Settings» – «Parameters» – «Access» menu, enable the «Restrict the inventory statement for inventory counting by the salesperson» option. The salesperson will not see the recorded stock balances, discrepancies, or wholesale prices in the statement and will also be unable to print shortage or surplus reports.

• In the «Settings» – «Parameters» – «Role» menu, enable the «Hide stock quantity for goods under inventory» option. This hides the stock balances of such goods from the salesperson in all visual forms («Warehouse Status», «Product Availability»), helping prevent manipulation by staff.

Resolving duplicate barcode conflicts and product misclassification

If different products with the same barcode have been entered into the program, when such a barcode is scanned in the inventory statement, Torgsoft displays a special form for selecting the specific product from the list. To organize the product catalog and eliminate duplicates, duplicate product cards must be merged. This is done in the «Warehouse Status» form using the «Select product for subsequent merging» and «Merge with selected product» buttons. Bulk merging and barcode replacement can also be conveniently performed through the «Merchandising» – «Error Diagnostics» menu.

Discrepancies identified during inventory within the same model (for example, a shortage of black socks and a surplus of brown socks at the same price) are calculated by the program as product misclassification. As a result, surpluses and shortages are automatically offset against each other, reducing the total financial amount of the shortage.

Alternative counting methods: data collection terminals, Mobile Application, and manual counting

Goods do not have to be counted directly at a computer using a wired scanner.

1. Android data collection terminals (DCTs). Free applications such as «Accounting and Warehouse» or «Barcode Harvester» are used to work with DCTs. In Torgsoft, a product database is created and exported as a CSV file to the terminal. The employee scans the goods in the warehouse, after which the results are exported back to a CSV file and loaded into the inventory statement using the «Get information from terminal» button.

2. Torgsoft Mobile Application. Allows inventory to be carried out using a smartphone or DCT connected directly to the database. It works even without constant internet access: the statement is downloaded to the device memory («Download» button), the connection to the server is disabled, counting is performed in a basement or another location without connectivity, after which the connection is restored and the data is uploaded to the server («Upload» button).

3. Manual counting. The «Statement for manual counting» is printed from the program (without specifying quantities), and the warehouse employee writes the actual stock balances on it by hand. These data are then entered into the computer using the «Enter actual product quantity» button.

Inventory of specific goods (Boxes and Serial Numbers)

• Seasonal storage boxes. To recount packaged goods, when creating the statement, select «Product in a box» in the «Invoice type» field. After scanning the barcode of the box itself, the program automatically adds all of its contents to the statement.

• Warranty accounting by serial numbers. When creating the statement, select «By serial numbers» in the «Category» field. Counting is performed by scanning each unique serial number. If product misclassification is detected (one serial number is recorded in the database, but another is physically present), use the special «Replace serial number» action to correctly reconcile the stock balances without affecting the warranty history.

Closing the statement, causes of discrepancies, and recalculating amounts

After counting is completed, the statement must be closed. When it is closed, Torgsoft automatically creates warehouse documents: an inventory receipt document (for goods with a surplus) and a disposal/write-off act (for goods with a shortage). If an error is found after closing, immediately click the «Cancel closing» button. This will delete the adjustment documents and return the statement to edit mode. Closing can only be cancelled before any new movement of the inventoried goods occurs.

Business owners often do not understand why the actual quantity in the statement does not match their expectations. The main reasons are:

• Changes made to old warehouse documents in open periods, which alter historical stock balances but do not update the recorded accounting quantity already fixed in an existing inventory statement.

• Ignoring the «Include quantity in third-level warehouses» setting. If this option is not enabled, the program does not add goods that are reserved or in transit between stores to the recorded stock balance, which may result in false shortages.

If the program terminates unexpectedly or a complex calculation is interrupted while a large statement is being closed, the document is assigned the «Amounts must be recalculated» status. The user should select such a statement and manually click the «Recalculate amounts» button so that the program correctly calculates the financial results of shortages and surpluses and corrects the cost.