Lesson 11

Automated Counting in Physical Inventory

Back to D210: Inv Order Mgmt Automated Warehouse Operations

Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory

In this lesson, you will learn how to count items in the stock using warehouse management forms with automated operations.

Counting in Physical Inventory: General Information

If the Inventory Operations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, you can perform automated counting of items during physical inventory by using a barcode scanner or a mobile device with a scanning option. In this topic, you will read about the workflow for the automated physical inventory in Acumatica ERP. The workflow in this topic is based on the assumption that your system has the recommended configuration described in Counting in Physical Inventory: Implementation Checklist.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will do the following:

  • Learn the recommended settings that you can specify to make the system fit your business requirements
  • Process counting of stock items during physical inventory in automated mode

Applicable Scenario

You can use automated counting during physical inventory if your organization uses barcode scanners or mobile devices with a scanning option and all stock items and locations in warehouses are barcoded.

Workflow for the Automated Scanning and Counting of Items

The automated counting inventory items involves the steps shown in the following diagram. Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory | 121

To count inventory items (and use Scan and Count mode), you perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Scan and Count (IN305020) form. You open the Scan and Count form (or the corresponding screen in the Acumatica mobile app) to start the counting process. Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory | 122
  2. Scan the document number. To start the automated counting, you scan the reference number of the physical inventory document. The lines of the scanned document are shown in the table. The reference number of the document selected for processing is displayed in the Reference Nbr. box.
  3. Scan the location barcode. You scan the barcode of the location where the items to be counted are stored. All items that you scan aer scanning the location barcode will be assigned to this location.
  4. Scan the item barcode. When you scan the barcode of the item, the system changes the status of the line for this item to Entered.
  5. Optional: Scan the item quantity. To change the counted quantity in the line that is currently being processed, you switch to Quantity Editing mode by scanning or entering the *qty barcode or by clicking Set Qty on the form toolbar; you then manually enter the quantity in the UOM coded in the scanned item barcode.
  6. Optional: Scan the barcode of the next item in the same location. If you have more items to count in the same location, you scan the barcode of the next item (return to Step 4) and repeat the process for the item.
  7. Optional: Scan the barcode of the next location. If items in another location must be counted, you return to scanning the warehouse location (return to Step 3) and repeat the process for the items in this location.
  8. Confirm the counted quantities. When you have finished counting items, you scan the *confirm command or click Confirm on the form toolbar. The system saves your changes to the physical inventory document on the Physical Inventory Count (IN305010) form.

Counting in Physical Inventory: Process Activity

In this activity, you will learn how to perform automated counting during physical inventory on the Scan and Count (IN305020) form.

Story

Suppose that you, as a warehouse worker of the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company, are assigned to perform a physical inventory count by entering barcodes of the stock items and locations. You will count the quantities of orange jam in particular warehouse locations added to the physical inventory document, which your manager has provided to you.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, the following tasks have been performed to support this activity:

  • On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the following features have been enabled in the Inventory and Order Management group of features:
  • Multiple Warehouse Locations
  • Advanced Physical Count
  • Warehouse Management
  • Inventory Operations Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory | 123
  • On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, the WHOLESALE warehouse has been created. On the Locations tab, the following warehouse locations have been defined: L1R3S1, L1R3S2, and L1R3S3.
  • On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the following stock items have been created, and the corresponding barcodes have been defined:
  • ORJAM08, which has the OJ08 and OJ08B barcodes
  • ORJAM32, which has the OJ32B barcode
  • ORJAM96, which has the OJ96B barcode
  • On the Physical Inventory Types (IN208900) form, the ORJCNT physical inventory type has been created.
  • On the Prepare Physical Count (IN504000) form, the 000001 physical inventory document has been created, and it has the Counting in Progress status.

Process Overview

In this activity, as you count stock items during a physical inventory count, you will do the following using the Scan and Count (IN305020) form:

  1. Scan the barcode of the physical inventory document and then scan a location barcode and the barcodes of each item you find in this location.
  2. Correct the quantities of items that you find in the location.
  3. Add extra lines for items that you find in the location.
  4. When you have counted all items in all locations added to the physical inventory document, confirm the document.
           In any working mode, you enter a command or barcode by typing it in the Scan box and pressing
       Enter. In production systems, you will scan the appropriate barcodes rather than manually entering
       them.

System Preparation

Before you start counting stock items, do the following:

  1. Launch the provided Acumatica ERP instance and sign in as a warehouse worker by using the perkins username and the password provided in the class.
  2. In the info area, in the upper-right corner of the top pane of the Acumatica ERP screen, make sure that the business date in your system is set to 1/30/2025. If a different date is displayed, click the Business Date menu button and select 1/30/2025 on the calendar. For simplicity, in this activity, you will create and process all documents in the system on this business date.

Step 1: Entering the Counted Quantities of Items Suppose that you are starting to count orange jam in the locations listed in the physical inventory document. To enter the counted quantities in the system, do the following:

  1. Open the Scan and Count (IN305020) form.
  2. In the Scan box, type 000001 (which is the reference number of the physical inventory count) and press Enter. Notice that the list of items that you will count is displayed on the Count tab.
  3. Enter L1R3S1 as the first location in which you are performing counting. Suppose that in this location, you find two boxes of orange jam in 8-ounce jars.
  4. Enter OJ08B, which is the barcode for a box of 10 jars of orange jam in 8-ounce jars. The system adds 10 units of the ORJAM08 item to the row that corresponds to this item. Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory | 124
  5. Enter OJ08B again to add the second box. The system adds another 10 units to the first line, so the quantity is 20. You have finished counting items in the L1R3S1 location and can start counting items in the next location.
  6. Enter L1R3S2. Suppose that in this location, you find three boxes of orange jam in 32-ounce jars.
  7. Enter OJ32B, which is the barcode for a box of 10 jars of orange jam in 32-ounce jars. The system adds 10 units of the ORJAM32 item to the row that corresponds to this item.
  8. To enter two more boxes, do the following: a. On the form toolbar, click Set Qty. b. In the Scan box, enter 3. On the Count tab, the system changes the quantity of the ORJAM32 item in the second line to 30. You have finished counting items in the L1R3S2 location and can start counting items in the next location.
  9. Enter L1R3S3. Suppose that in this location, you find one box of orange jam in 96-ounce jars. 10.Enter OJ96B, which is the barcode for a box of 10 jars of orange jam in 96-ounce jars. The system adds 10 units of the ORJAM96 item to the row that corresponds to this item. You have finished counting items in the L1R3S3 location, which was the last location in your physical inventory document.

Step 2: Correcting Quantities in the Physical Inventory Document Suppose that you have entered an extra box of ORJAM32 item in the L1R3S2 location by mistake (suppose, for instance, that you had intended to set the quantity of the boxes to 2 instead of 3), and now you need to correct the quantity in the document. Do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Scan and Count (IN305020) form with the 000001 physical inventory document opened, on the form toolbar, click Remove to switch to Remove mode.
  2. In the Scan box, enter L1R3S2.
  3. Enter OJ32B. The system removes 10 units of the ORJAM32 item from the row that corresponds to the item. In the Physical Quantity box, you can see 20 units.
    You have corrected the quantity of the ORJAM32 item in the L1R3S2 location.

Step 3: Adding Extra Lines to the Physical Inventory Document Suppose that in the L1R3S3 location, you have found one jar of the ORJAM08 item, which is not in the physical inventory document. To add this item to the document, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Scan and Count (IN305020) form with the 000001 physical inventory document opened, enter L1R3S3.
  2. Enter OJ08, which is the barcode of one 8-ounce jar of orange jam. The system shows the warning, asking you to confirm the addition of the new row to the document.
  3. Enter *ok to confirm the addition of a new row. The system adds the new row to the table with the L1R3S3 location and one unit of the ORJAM08 item.
    You have added the extra item to the physical inventory document. Now you will review the counted quantities and confirm the entered data. Lesson 11: Automated Counting in Physical Inventory | 125

Step 4: Reviewing the Quantities and Confirming the Entered Data To review the quantities and confirm the entered data, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the 000001 physical inventory document on the Scan and Count (IN305020) form, review the lines in the table on the Count tab. They should have the settings indicated in the following table.
        Line Nbr.          Location                 Inventory ID                  Physical Quantity

    1                  L1R3S1                   ORJAM08                       20

    2                  L1R3S2                   ORJAM32                       20

    3                  L1R3S3                   ORJAM96                       10

    4                  L1R3S3                   ORJAM08                       1
  2. On the form toolbar, click Confirm to confirm the entered data. The system confirms the data and clears the physical inventory document number. The form is ready for a new count.
  3. On the Physical Inventory Count (IN305010) form, select 000001 in the Reference Nbr. box to open the physical inventory document for which you have performed count. In the Physical Quantity column, make sure all counted quantities are shown (see the following screenshot).
       Figure: Counted items in the physical inventory document

    You have successfully counted orange jam in the warehouse locations and entered data in the system. Lesson 12: Automated Operations with Lot- and Serial-Tracked Items | 126