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Supervising Inventory Counts

How to track the progress of/audit an ongoing inventory

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

Article Contents

Introduction

You can track/audit the progress of an ongoing inventory to make sure item counts are accurate, and keep your staff accountable.

When an inventory is in progress you can:

  • See the status of each inventory area (Not started, started, finished)

  • Track counts being added in real time

  • Check the timeline to see actions by each user

After the inventory is submitted, there are ways to see how much active in-app time the inventory took, and check for any edits.

View Ongoing Inventory on Web

When an inventory count is in progress, you can view it on the Inventories page of the WISK Web Portal.

An ongoing inventory has a start time, but the end time is blank. To see the details, click the pencil icon beside the inventory.

An arrow points to the details button beside the inventory.

Area Status

The inventory areas for the venue display. Under each area's name, you'll see one of the following statuses:

  • Not started

  • Started

  • Finished

If an area has the status of Started or Finished, you'll see the user who started the count, and the number of items counted so far.

The status under the area shows who started the count and the items counted so far.

You can go into the area to see the counted items by clicking "Continue" or "Modify" if the area is marked as finished.

The Stockroom area shows as Started, and the Main Bar shows a finished.

Note: We recommend having unique user accounts for each person counting so there is full accountability. To learn how to add users, see:

Real Time Count Updates

As items are submitted, if the devices counting are connected to the internet, the counts update in real time. If a device is offline, the counts update once it reconnects to the internet.

An animated gif showing the counts increasing as they are submitted

Timeline

The timeline logs every action taken during the inventory, including adding, modifying, or removing item counts.

To view the timeline, on the "Inventories" page, click the "..." icon beside the ongoing inventory.

An arrow points to the "..." button

Then click the "Timeline" tab.

An arrow points to the "Timeline" tab

The timeline table shows each action and the responsible user. You can take a look at a high level for anything out of the ordinary.

An example of the timeline as it appears on the WISK Web Portal

Submitted Previous Counts

When taking inventory in the mobile app or web portal, there are options to submit the count from the previous inventory in an area.

This is helpful if there are areas where stock doesn't move very often, or some users prefer submitting the previous count and then updating them to the current numbers.

If this option is used, there is a unique entry in the inventory timeline. All of the submissions included as part of it will have the same time stamp.

Checking the timeline entries in the area after that will help give an indication that the counts were genuine. In the example below we see that some of the submitted counts were modified.

After submitting previous, the counts in the area were updated.

If an inventory count was completed just by using "submit previous" without any other changes, the in-app counting time would register as very short.

Inventory Value/Overall Status

You can also see a high level view of what's been counted in each area so far, and the total dollar amount.

On the Inventories page, click the "..." button beside the ongoing inventory.

An arrow points to the "..." button

You'll see the total dollar value, and the total counts for each item. To see the breakdown by area, click the "By Area" tab.

Inventory Completed

After the inventory has been completed, there are a few ways to make sure that the inventory count is legitimate. These can be viewed on the "Inventories" page after the count is complete.

In-App Time

While an inventory count has a start and end time, these values can be modified. The in-app time provides a more accurate picture of how much time was spent actively using the app.

When a user is taking inventory on an iOS device, the in-app timer increases. If the user is idle or remains on the same screen for too long, the timer stops counting. This prevents users from leaving the app open in an attempt to pad the in-app time.

This value displays as 0 while the inventory is in progress, but populates when the inventory is complete.

If an inventory spans several hours, but the in-app time is fairly low by comparison, it's a good indicator to check the timeline for any suspicious activity. For example, if the "submit previous" option was selected and then no changes were made after the fact.

Edits to Completed Inventory

When a completed inventory is edited, those changes are recorded in the venue's timeline. It displays:

  • The affected item and area where the change occurred

  • The user that made the change

  • The date and time the change was made

To view the inventory timeline:

  1. Click the "Details" button beside an inventory

    An arrow points to the "Details" button beside a completed inventory
  2. Click the "Timeline" tab

    An arrow points to the "Timeline" tab

  3. Anything that appears after the inventory approved line is a change after the count was submitted

    The highlighted changes are displayed in the timeline
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