Taking an Independent Inventory

How to create and submit independent inventories

Nick Neale avatar
Written by Nick Neale
Updated over a week ago

Article Contents

Introduction

This article covers the following to make full use of the Independent Inventories feature:

  1. Creating an independent inventory

  2. Taking an opening count

  3. Taking a closing count

  4. Receiving your consumption/variance report

Independent Inventories are available on both the WISK Mobile App and WISK Web Portal.

Important: Remember that Independent Inventories are for spot checking items and tracking consumption / variance over a shorter period of time. They do not replace regular inventory counts - taking an independent inventory won't update your stock levels.

Accessing Independent Inventories

WISK Mobile App

To access Independent Inventories in the WISK Mobile App:

  1. Tap “Inventories” on the bottom Menu Bar

    An arrow points to "Inventories" on the bottom menu bar.

  2. Tap “Independent Inventories”

    An arrow points to "Independent Inventories"

WISK Web Portal

To access Independent Inventories in the WISK Web Portal, click the "Independent Inventories" button on the side menu bar.

Creating an Independent Inventory Group / Category

If this is your first time taking an independent inventory, you’ll need to create an inventory category.

WISK Mobile App

  1. Tap “Add independent inventory” (If you need to create another category later, you’ll use the + button on the top right)

    An arrow points to the "Add independent Inventory" button.

  2. Give the independent inventory group a name. The name should best describe what is being counted in the inventory. For example, Bar Rail, Beer Bottles, Top Shelf Whiskey, etc.

    Note: You can create multiple independent inventory categories if you want to count different subsets of your items. Having them as separate independent inventories also allows you to count them on different schedules. For example, you may count your Bar Rail every night, or your Beer Bottles twice a week.

  3. Tap “Save” after entering the independent inventory group / category name.

    The name "Bar Rail" has been entered, and an arrow points to the "Save" button.

WISK Web Portal

  1. Click "Add group"

    An arrow points to the "Add group" button.
  2. Enter the name of the group and click "OK"

    An arrow points to the "OK" button.

Taking the Opening Count

With your independent inventory created, you can now take the opening count. You can take the count on both the WISK Mobile App or WISK Web Portal.

Counting during an independent inventory is just like a regular inventory, except there are no areas.

Let's say you created an independent inventory called “Bar Rail”. If you're counting your bar rail items, you'll weigh and count all the partial/full bottles in the bar area, and then go and count the full units in the stockroom.

This is to account for any transfers between the opening and closing counts. In other words, make sure you record the full count of the item in your venue.

For example, if you only count 0.5 of a bottle of Jameson at the bar to start and skip the stockroom, and then count 0.8 of a bottle at the end of the night, the system will think you gained 0.3 of a bottle.

In reality, you had another 5 bottles of Jameson in the stockroom, and had to transfer one to the main bar during the shift. You actually used 0.7 of a bottle because you had 5 in the back in the opening count, and then 4 in the closing count.

0.5 (Opening Count) - 0.8 (Closing Count) = -0.3 (Consumption)

5.5 (Opening Count) - 4.8 (Closing Count)= 0.7 (Consumption)

By taking the full count of the item in your venue, your consumption will be accurate.

Note: The one potential exception to this is if you are taking independent inventories over a short period of time, (for example, 1 hour on a Friday night), and it is unlikely that anything will move from the stockroom to a service area. However, it’s always best to take the full count, just to be safe.

Submitting the Independent Inventory

After you have finished counting all of the items included in the independent inventory, across all areas, you need to submit the inventory.

When you submit the inventory, you’ll receive an email report showing item counts. You can also view the completed independent inventory on the WISK Web Portal.

Remember: Independent inventories do not update your stock counts for items. You are counting a subset of your items to track the consumption/variance over a shorter period of time.

WISK Mobile App

  1. Tap “Proceed to current scans”. Make sure that you have added the full counts of each item.

  2. Tap “Review area inventory”

  3. Tap “Save area inventory”

  4. Tap “Save” to confirm.

WISK Web Portal

Click the "Submit" button after counting all items:

An arrow points to the "Submit" button.

Taking the Closing Count

With your first count complete, you’ll need to complete another independent inventory to see your consumption and variance.

WISK Mobile App

  1. Go back into Independent Inventories, and tap an independent inventory group

    An arrow points to the "Bar Rail" category/group that was created earlier.
  2. You’ll see a history of all the completed counts for that group. Tap “New Count”

    An arrow points to the "New Count" button.

  3. You can use the “List” mode to update the counts or use the Barcode scanner

  4. Once you have updated the counts, tap "Proceed to current scans" to go through the flow to submit the inventory.

WISK Web Portal

  1. On the "Independent Inventories" page, click the "Group" drop-down menu and select the independent inventory group

    An arrow points to the "Bar Rail" group.
  2. You’ll see a history of all the completed counts for that group. Click "Add independent inventory".

    An arrow points to the "Add independent inventory" button.
  3. You can use the "Previous inventory" view to update the counts

    The left-side of the screen is highlighted for emphasis to show that the counts need to be updated.

  4. Click "Submit" once you have updated the counts for all items

    An arrow points to the "Submit" button.

Receiving the Consumption / Variance Report

After submitting the inventory, you’ll then be emailed a copy of the inventory report, consumption report, and variance report.

To learn more, please see:

Note: If you don't receive the independent inventory report email, first check your spam folder. If it's not there, you can resend the report email from the WISK Web Portal. Just go into the completed independent inventory and you'll see the option under the "Actions" menu.

An arrow points to the option to resend the email reports under the actions menu

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