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Web Inventory

How to take an inventory count on the WISK Web Portal

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

Article Contents

Introduction

In addition to the iOS app, you can take inventory counts in your web browser.

The web browser doesn't have the barcode scanner, but you can search / scroll through your venue's item list.

You can use a laptop and count areas in real time, or enter values from a count that was taken earlier on paper etc.

Note: The web inventory is optimized to work with Google Chrome. Please use Chrome for the best user experience.

Starting an Inventory

To start an inventory on the WISK Web Portal:

  1. Click Inventories > Inventories on the side menu bar

    The "Inventories" button is highlighted for emphasis.
  2. Click the “New inventory” button

    An arrow points at the "New inventory" button on the "Inventories" page.

  3. The venue's storage areas display. You can either start the count in an area or manage your areas.

    The inventory has started and there are options to go into an area to begin counting or manage the areas

Managing Areas

Adding an Area

To add an area:

  1. Click the "New area" button

    An arrow points to the "New area" button.

  2. Give the area a title and click "Save"

    The "Save" button is highlighted for emphasis.
  3. The new area appears in the list and can be counted

    Note: Area names must be unique. You cannot create an area with the same name as an existing or archived area.

Editing / Deleting an Area

To edit or delete an existing area:

  1. Click the pencil icon beside the area name

    An arrow points at the pencil icon beside the "Stock Room" area.
  2. On this screen you can:

    • Change the area name

    • Click the photo to replace it or

    • Archive the area by clicking "Actions" > "Archive"

Counting Areas

This section outlines how to:

  • Enter an area to begin counting

  • Search for items and add new ones

  • Submit counts of full and partial units for items of various measurement types.

Entering an Area

To start counting in an area, click the "Start" button beside it.

An arrow points to the "Start" button beside the Main Bar area

Once inside the area, the window is divided into two sections:

  1. On the left-hand side is where you scroll through and search the items in your venue, add the quantity counted, then submit it

  2. Everything you submit appears on the right-hand side in the summary

The web inventory screen that displays all of your venue items on the left, and the summary screen on the right.

Selecting an Item to Count

There are multiple ways to select an item to count it:

  • Searching All Venue Items

  • Quick Search

  • Previous Inventory List

Note: You can switch between these methods at any time during the inventory process.

Searching All Venue Items

  1. On the left, click the "View" drop-down and select "Search All Venue Items"

    The "View" drop-down menu has been clicked and an arrow points at the "Search All Venue Items" option.

  2. All the venue's items display, sorted by family and category. You can scroll through the list or use the search field to find the specific item

    The list of venue items that displays items by family/category.
  3. After finding the item, you’ll select your method of counting, enter the quantity, then click the checkmark button.

Note: For specific details about counting units, please see “Counting Items” below.

Quick Search/Add

To use the quick search/add feature:

  1. On the right, click either the "Add inventory entry" button or the magnifying glass icon

    The numbers 1 and 2 display beside the buttons to use the quick search / add

  2. Type the name of the item you want to count. Click the matching result from your venue's item list

    An arrow points to the search result indicating to click it.
  3. The item is pulled up. Any counts of the item already submitted display. Click the "Add inventory entry" button to add another count. For more details, see the "Counting Items" section

    An arrow points to the "Add inventory entry" button.

Previous Inventory List

If you have previously completed an inventory count, by default, it displays your previous inventory in the order it was submitted.

This saves you a lot of time when counting in areas where items don’t move around much (stocks rooms, wine racks, etc.), as you can quickly adjust the count and submit the new value.

You can select the “Previous Inventory” or “Previous Inventory + Movements” from the list of Views.

The "View" drop-down menu has been clicked and the "Previous Inventory" and "Previous Inventory + Movements" options are selected.

Note: If you select previous inventory + movements, this factors in any returns, invoices, or depletions that may have updated the stock in that area since the most recent inventory count.

You can then work your way through the list and update and submit the counts

The items appear in the order they were counted in the previous inventory.

If there are items you no longer have in stock, you can choose to:

  1. submit these as 0 so they appear in the list during your next count

  2. hide them from view

To learn more, see:

Submit All at Once

If you have selected the "Previous inventory" or "Previous inventory + movements" view you'll notice there is a "Submit all at once" button.

This submits everything currently on the list on the left, and is only visible if you haven't counted anything in the area yet. This submits different items depending on whether you have "Previous inventory" or "Previous inventory + movements" selected.

The items have been submitted and now appear on the right and can be edited

You can then adjust the actual counts on the right hand side as needed.

Note: If you're taking inventory on a monthly basis or longer, we don't recommend using "Previous inventory + movements" if submitting all, since the items received on an invoice may no longer exist in that area or have been moved to another area. This will result in having to delete a number of items from the right-hand side.

Adding a New Item

If the item doesn't appear using any of the methods above, you’ll need to add it to your venue.

Note: Except for your first inventory in WISK, most new items should be added to your venue when entering invoices. For more information, please see:

To create an item:

  1. Click “Create new item”

    An arrow points at the "Create new item" button.
  2. Type the name of the item in the “Title” field. As you type the name, it searches the WISK online database to find a match. Click the matching result to add the item. If there is no match, fill in the required fields at a minimum: Title, category, and item measurement.

    Note: For more information about adding a new item see:

  3. Click “Save”. The item is added to your venue and can be counted.

Counting Items (Full & Partial)

When you have found the item, you’ll need to add the count.

Just like the iOS app, the way you count an item depends on its unit of measurement:

  • Unit-based

  • Weight-based

  • Volume-based

To learn more about units of measurement, see:

Unit-Based

As a reminder, items with the "unit" measurement type are best suited for things that don’t require a weight or volume, and are measured whole.

You can count unit-based items as individual units, cases, or sub-units.

Full Units / Cases

  1. Select either unit or case. Case only displays if a case size has been set for the item. You can add a case size by clicking the pencil icon

    The toggle to select either units or cases is highlighted for emphasis.
  2. Enter the quantity and click the checkmark button

    The number of units is underlined and an arrow points to the checkmark button.

  3. The item is submitted and added to the summary

    10 limes are added to the area summary.

Note: If there is a mix of individual units and cases, you submit them separately. In the example below the units count was submitted first, then the cases count

2 cases of limes (25 units per case) were submitted and added to the summary.

Sub-Units

If the item size is greater than 1, you can count sub-units of that item. For example a carton of eggs has individual eggs, but there are 12 in a carton so the measurement is "12 units". You can count full cartons, and individual eggs if needed.

  1. Select "Partial". This only displays if the item measurement is greater than 1.

    An arrow points to the "Partial" button
  2. Enter a quantity between 1 and the item measurement size. In this example since the size is 12 units, you can enter a value between 1 and 11. This would be the number of individual eggs in the carton. Click the checkmark to submit the count.

    The number of sub units is entered and an arrow points to the checkmark button
  3. The item is submitted and added to the summary. In this example, since it was 5 of 12, it will show the count as 0.42 units of a carton of 12.

    The count of 5 sub units has been submitted.

Weight-Based

You can count weight-based items by:

  • full units / cases if they come in packaging (bags of flour or produce, canned items etc)

  • entering a weight manually (partial packages or things like proteins sold by the lb or kg)

Full Units / Cases

In this example, we'll be counting 5lb bags of red onions.

  1. Select either unit or case. Case only displays if a case size has been set for the item. You can add a case size by clicking the pencil icon.

    The toggle to select either units or cases is highlighted for emphasis.

  2. Enter the quantity and click the checkmark button

    The number of units is underlined and an arrow points to the checkmark button.

    Note: You can enter decimal numbers, but depending on what you're counting it may be easier to use "Manual" (see below).

  3. The item is submitted and added to the summary

    2x 5lb bags of red onions are added to the inventory count.

Enter a Weight Manually

Web inventory doesn’t integrate with the supported Bluetooth scale, however you can enter the quantity and unit of measurement of the item manually.

You can use this to count partial units, or any other item that must be weighed to know the quantity.

In addition to our 2x5lb bags of onions from the example above, we have a partial bag that we need to count. After weighing it, we can enter the value:

  1. Select "Manual"

    The "Manual" toggle is highlighted for emphasis.
  2. Click the "Unit of measurement" drop-down and select the unit

    The "Unit of measurement" drop-down menu has been clicked and displays the various options.

    Note: If you select a different unit of measurement, it's converted into the unit of measurement of the item when submitted

  3. Enter the quantity and click the checkmark button. In this example 1.85lbs of red onions converts to 0.37 of a 5lb bag

    1.85lbs has been entered and an arrow points to the checkmark button.

  4. The item is submitted and added to the summary

    The onions are added to the inventory.

Note: At this time, the web app doesn't have the containers feature that is available on iOS. Learn more:

Volume-Based

For volume-based items you can count:

  • full units and cases

  • partial units (visual method, scale / weight, or manual)

Full Units / Cases

For full units, you can submit them as individual units or cases:

  1. Select either unit or case. Case only displays if a case size has been set for the item. You can add a case size by clicking the pencil icon

    The "Unit" and "Case" toggle is highlighted for emphasis.
  2. Enter the quantity and click the checkmark button

    The number of units is underlined and an arrow points to the checkmark button.

  3. The item appears on the area summary and is now part of the inventory count. Every time you add an item, the inventory saves automatically

    The item is added to the area summary

Partial Units

You can count partial units using the visual mode, scale, or enter a manual value.

Visual

  1. Select "Visual" from the toggle options

    The "Visual" toggle is highlighted for emphasis.

  2. Drag the slider to the approximate value remaining in the item. The slider goes up by values of 0.05 units

    An arrow points to the button to control the slider
  3. After making your selection, it calculates the volume remaining based on the volume of the item. In this example, 60% of 750ml is 450ml. Click the checkmark to submit the count

    The slider is set to 0.6 units of Grey Goose 750ml, and the approximate volume remaining in ml displays beneath (450ml). An arrow points at the "Submit" button.
  4. The item appears on the area summary and is now part of the inventory count

    The item counted via the visual method appears on the summary

Scale

At this time, the web inventory doesn’t integrate with the Bluetooth scale that can be used with the mobile app. However, you can manually input the value in grams to get the amount remaining in an item.

Note: This is only possible for items that have full weights added.

  1. Select "Scale" from the toggle options

    The "Scale" toggle button is highlighted

  2. Click into the "Scale" field and enter the weight of the partial item in grams. For your reference, the full weight of the item displays, along with the empty weight. If there is no empty weight for the item, it shows the estimated empty weight depending on the density rating of the item's category.

    The weight has been entered into the "Scale" field

    Note: At this time, the web only supports entering the weight in grams

  3. The value in grams is converted to the volume remaining in the item. In this example, 832g of Jameson 750ml is equal to 273.4ml. Click the checkmark to submit the count

    The grams value is converted to 273.4ml. An arrow points at the checkmark button.
  4. The item appears on the area summary and is now part of the inventory count. Every time you add an item, the inventory saves automatically

    The 273.4ml of Jameson is added to the inventory.

Note: At this time, the web app doesn't have the spouts feature that is available on iOS. Learn more:

Manual

This option allows you to enter the exact volume remaining in the item. Only use this if you have a way of knowing exactly how much is inside (pouring into a measuring cup, or using a tool that can track exactly how much of something was poured, etc).

  1. Select "Manual" from the toggle options

    The "Manual" tab is highlighted for emphasis.

  2. Click the "Unit of measurement" drop-down menu and select a unit of measurement

    An arrow points to the units of measurement in the dropdowns.

  3. After selecting the unit of measurement, enter the quantity and click the checkmark button

    An arrow points to the checkmark button to submit the count.

  4. The item appears on the area summary and is now part of the inventory count. Every time you add an item, the inventory saves automatically

    The item has been added using the Manual method.

Counting Tips

Sometimes when counting, you may have both full and partial units grouped together. For example, on a bar shelf, you have 2 full units of Maker’s Mark 750ml, and about 0.5 of a unit if you were using the visual mode. Instead of adding two separate entries, you could enter 2.5 units to save time.

In the units field, 2.5 units of Maker's Mark 750ml has been entered as the value.

Exiting an Area

Every time you submit an item, the inventory saves. If you need to leave an area in the middle of counting, click the “X” button on the top right.

The location displays in blue, to indicate that a count is in progress, but hasn’t been finalized. Click back into the area to resume counting.

The Main Bar area is highlighted in blue, showing the count is in progress, and not finished.

Reviewing & Submitting the Area

After you've finished counting in the area, review your items to make sure your counts are accurate.

Each item entry displays on the summary on the right-hand side. The items display in the order they were added.

If you need to adjust an entry, click into the quantity field and make your changes.

To see all submissions of an item in the area, click the "..." button. You can make changes to any of the submissions on this screen. If you edit an amount, click the checkmark button to save the new value.

The "Save" button is highlighted for emphasis.

Deleting an Item

If you need to delete an item, click the “delete” icon beside the item on the area summary.

The "X" button removes the item from the area inventory

Mark Area as Complete

When you've finished counting in an area, and everything is accurate, click the “Mark as completed” button.

An arrow points at the "Mark as completed" button.

This takes you back to the list of areas, and you’ll see that the area is now marked as "Finished" and is green.

The "Main Bar" area is now green and shows as Finished

You can start counting in another area. If you need to go back into a completed area, click “Modify”.

Note: You must mark every area as complete/finished to submit the inventory.

Finalizing/Approving the Inventory

When all areas are counted:

  1. Click “Approve” on the top-right corner

    All of the areas are marked as complete, and an arrow points at the "Approve" button on the top-right.
  2. Click “OK” on the confirmation screen

    An arrow points at the "OK" button on the inventory confirmation window.

  3. The inventory is now complete. The ending time of the inventory updates to reflect when it was submitted. You can now close the window, and you’ll receive a copy of your inventory report via email

    The inventory is now completed, and the end time is updated to the time of submission.

You will also see a message showing when your next inventory is scheduled for. By default it will be 7 days after the previous inventory. Click "Change next inventory date" if you wish to change it.

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