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Inventory Locking

An explanation of why and how inventory counts are locked in the system

Nick Neale avatar
Written by Nick Neale
Updated over 7 months ago

Article Contents

Introduction

In March 2024, we introduced the concept of inventory locking. This change was necessary to provide improved dashboard reporting.

This means when you submit an inventory count, you now have a window to make changes and make sure all your data is in place.

Inventories are locked 45 days after submitted, but you can adjust this in your venue settings. ​After that time, you won't be able to make changes unless the inventory is unlocked by an account Admin.

Before the inventory is locked, make sure:

  • all invoices for the inventory period are added

  • all sales for the inventory period are imported and relevant POS items are mapped

  • all item counts are final (confirmed no miscounts, duplicates, or missed items)

  • any other depletions / returns / transfer outs are added

These are the same steps to get accurate consumption and sales data to view your variance.

Once an inventory is locked, you can't edit the inventory or add invoices, depletions, returns etc before the date of that inventory.

Additionally, none of the sales, consumption or variance data for that inventory period will change. The benefit is that any changes made after the locked inventory won't affect your past data.

For example, if you change an ingredient in a POS Item after locking an inventory, it only applies to sales of that POS Item moving forward. Before this change, any updates to POS Items would apply to all historical data.

Locking an Inventory Count

Lock Status

On the "Inventories" page, the "Lock Status" column shows whether an inventory count is locked or unlocked.

The Inventory Pages that shows the Lock Status grid
  • Locked - This inventory cannot be edited and is "view only". No data before the start time of the inventory can be added or modified (this includes invoices, returns, sales data and more). For more information, see "Locked Inventory Impact"

  • Unlocked - You can make changes to this inventory and add any other information between it and the most recent locked inventory. In the example above, the Feb 5 inventory is locked, but the Feb 12 inventory is unlocked. You can still add invoices and other data between Feb 5 and Feb 12 as needed. Unlocked inventories have the pencil edit icon beside them.

Locking Automatically

When you submit an inventory count, it's scheduled to lock automatically. The default is set to 45 days after the inventory was submitted, but you can adjust this as needed.

When you view the completed inventory count on the WISK Web Portal, the scheduled locking time displays along the top of the window:

The locking message is highlighted for emphasis.

When it reaches the scheduled time the inventory is locked and cannot be edited.

If you click the timeline tab you will see that the inventory was locked by the scheduled system update action.

An arrow points to the "Timeline" tab and shows the inventory was locked by a scheduled action

Adjusting the Locking Window

If you need to adjust the 45 day default window for locking an inventory, you can do this in the venue settings.

The default 45 day window was chosen to account for venues that take inventory on a monthly basis and provides enough time to get all invoices in.

Note: Changing the number of days only applies to new inventories moving forward.

To change the locking window:

  1. Hover your cursor over your username on the bottom left, and click “Venue Settings” on the menu that appears

    An arrow points to the "Venue Settings" menu option

  2. Click into the "Days to lock inventory after approving" field and enter a new number of days

    The "Days to lock inventory after approving" field is highlighted for emphasis.

    Note: This value can only be set as days and has to be a minimum of 1

  3. Any new inventory counts after making this change will be scheduled to lock with the updated window. The scheduled locking date does not change for existing unlocked inventories.

Locking Manually

If all your data is in place and you want to lock the inventory before the scheduled time, users with the "Admin" role can lock an inventory manually.

To lock an inventory count:

  1. Click the details button beside an unlocked inventory count

    An arrow points to the details button beside the Feb 19 inventory count
  2. Click Actions > Lock

    The "Actions" menu button is highlighted and an arrow points to the "Lock" button

  3. The confirmation window explains that by locking this inventory, any other inventories dated before it will also be locked. In this example, we are locking the Feb 19th inventory, and there is an unlocked inventory from Feb 12 before it. By locking the Feb 19th inventory, the Feb 12 inventory is also locked. Click "OK"

    An arrow points to the "OK" button

  4. A "lock" icon now appears beside the inventory and it can no longer be edited

    An arrow points to the lock icon for the inventory

    Note: By clicking the "Timeline" tab you can see who locked the inventory and when

    An arrow points to the timeline tab and shows the inventory was locked manually

  5. When you close the inventory you'll now see that status says "Locked". Any other unlocked inventories before that one are also locked

    The selected inventory now shows as locked.

Locked Inventory Impact

Inventory Counts

When an inventory count is locked, you can only view the inventory details on the WISK Web Portal.

It is read only and there are no options to adjust the date or inventory counts. The only change you can make is to add a description for the inventory.

The inventory cannot be edited

Since locked inventory counts cannot be edited, they are not stored in the WISK mobile app and don't appear under your "Inventories History".

The mobile app only shows unlocked inventories in the Inventories History

Note: If you unlock the inventory it will appear in the mobile app.

Adding or Editing Invoices / Returns / Depletions / Transfers

When an inventory is locked, you cannot add or edit any existing movements before the date of that inventory. For example, in this venue our Feb 19th inventory is locked.

Adding

When adding an invoice/return, the days before the locked inventory are greyed out from the date selector.

The date selector shows grey dates

If you try to select a date before a locked inventory in the mobile app, it will automatically adjust the date and time to the first possible time. This is normally one minute after the last locked inventory start time.

Editing

If a movement is dated before the locked inventory, it has a lock icon on it and is read only.

An arrow points to the lock icon beside the invoice description

You are also blocked from changing the date of an existing movement to a date before the locked inventory as shown in the "Adding" section above.

Sales Data

In most cases your sales data should import into your account without issue before the inventory is locked.

If you upload sales data manually, make sure you upload it before the inventory period is locked. You are not able to add sales to a locked inventory period.

If you have an API integration and want to reimport sales data, you can't do this for locked inventory periods.

POS Item Mapping

One of the biggest benefits to inventory locking is that it provides more accurate reporting.

When you lock an inventory, it saves all POS mapping at the moment it is locked.

If you then go on to change the amount of an ingredient in a POS Item, or swap it out for another item, those changes only apply to sales of that item moving forward.

Previously when you made changes to a recipe, it applied those changes to your historical data.

In this example, we have locked our February 19th inventory and want to change the gin used in our Gin Martini POS Item.

The Bombay Sapphire in the Gin Martini is highlighted for emphasis.

We were previously using Bombay Sapphire, but have now switched to Tanqueray.

Tanqueray has replaced Bombay as the main ingredient in the Gin Martini

By changing the ingredient, it will apply to all sales of the Gin Martini after February 19th, however the historical data is preserved.

Before Locked Inventory

If we look back at our variance from previous inventory periods (Feb 12 - Feb 19th), we see sales of the Gin Martini with Bombay Sapphire as the ingredient.

The variance period between Feb 19 - Feb 26 is highlighted for emphasis.

Click the "Details" button to see the full sales history for the selected inventory period. The sales of "Gin Martini" with the Bombay Sapphire appear.

The historical sales for the Gin Martini are assigned to the Bombay Sapphire


After Locked Inventory

For any inventory period after the locked inventory (Feb 19th), the updated POS Mapping is applied.

If we look at our variance for the period of Feb 19 - Feb 26, we see sales of "Gin Martini"with Tanqueray as the ingredient.

The variance period between Feb 19 - Feb 26 is highlighted for emphasis.

Click the "Details" button to see the full sales history for the selected inventory period. The sales of "Gin Martini" with the Tanqueray appear.

The sales for the Gin Martini are assigned to the Tanqueray

Batches

Similar to POS Items, when an inventory is locked, the batches are also locked.

If you then go on to change the amount of an ingredient in a batch, or swap it out for another item, those changes only apply to sales of that item moving forward.

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