Performing a stock check (balancing)

Introduction: What is a stock check?

A stock check (also called "balancing") is counting everything in your warehouse and comparing it with what the system thinks you have. This way you can see if products are missing or if there are more than expected.

Why perform a stock check?

You want to do a stock check because:

• You want to know if the stock in the system matches reality
• You can discover if products have disappeared or were incorrectly registered
• You can detect and correct errors
• You get a reliable overview of what you really have
• You can see which products may have been stolen, forgotten or incorrectly entered

Note: It works best with handheld scanners, but can also be done manually.

How do you perform a stock check?

Quick steps overview

1. Go to Stock → Check location and date → (General) Stock check
2. Scan products (or click +New if you don't have a scanner)
3. Go to "Checked stock" and check if products are correct
4. Click "Compare stock" and optionally filter
5. Optional: Print an overview of adjustments
6. Click "→ to debtor" to write off incorrect stock

Important warning: If your stock count has large differences, step 6 can take a long time. Do this at the end of the workday or when others are not using the system!

Detailed explanation per step

Step 1: Prepare and start

1. Go to the "Stock" tile
2. First check if location and date are correct (this is very important!)
3. Click on "(General) Stock check"
4. You're now ready to start counting

Step 2: Scan or enter products

Option A: With scanner (recommended)

1. Scan the product barcode
2. The product appears on the right side of the screen
3. Enter how many pieces you actually counted
4. Click "Apply"
5. The product now appears in the left list

Option B: Without scanner (manual)

1. Click "New" at the top
2. Search for the article you want to check
3. Select the article
4. Enter how many pieces you actually counted
5. Click "Apply"
6. The product now appears in the left list

Understanding color codes:

• Green: Perfect! The quantity matches exactly with the system
• Orange: There are fewer products than the system thinks
• Red: There are more products than the system thinks

Order in the list:

• Deviating products (orange and red) are at the top
• Correct counts (green) are at the bottom

Repeat this step for each product in your warehouse until everything is counted.

Step 3: View checked stock

1. Click "Checked stock" at the top
2. You now see an overview of everything you and your colleagues have scanned
3. Check if the list is complete and if everything is correct
4. Are there products you expected but aren't in the list? Then they may have been forgotten to count

Step 4: Compare stock with the system

Now we'll see which products differ between the count and the system.

1. Click "Compare stock"
2. You now get options to filter:
   • Article groups: If you only want to check certain product groups (e.g., only roses)
   • Label groups: If you only want to check certain zones
   • Fill in nothing: If you want to compare everything
3. Click "Apply"
4. Wait while the system is comparing

What happens now?

• Products that are no longer in stock are shown in red
• Products where quantities don't match are shown in orange
• You will now only write off the products you DON'T have

Step 5: Print overview (optional)

Want a paper list of all adjustments?

1. Click "Print"
2. An overview is printed with all differences
3. You can keep this for your administration

Step 6: Write off incorrect stock

Now we'll remove products that don't match from the system.

Important warning:

• If you have many differences, this process can take a long time (sometimes 30 minutes or more)
• Therefore do this at the end of the workday
• Or at a time when colleagues are not using the system
• Otherwise they may have problems with their work

Writing off the products:

1. Click "→ to debtor"
2. The system now writes off all products that don't match to a special "discard debtor"
3. Wait patiently until the process is finished
4. Don't close the system or do other things while this is in progress!

What if you made a mistake?

Suppose you accidentally wrote off too many products. For example: a colleague forgot to count the entire rose department, and now all roses have disappeared from the system.

How to undo it:

1. Go to "Distribution"
2. Click on "Distribution per debtor"
3. Choose the debtor where you just wrote everything off to (usually a "discard debtor")
4. Click "More"
5. Click "(General) Delete all distributions from this debtor"
6. All products are now back in your stock
7. You can now start the stock check again

Note: This only works if you discover the error immediately. If you've already continued with sales or other operations, it can be complicated to reverse everything.

Tips for a good stock check

Tip 1: Work with a team

• Divide the warehouse into sections
• Have different people count different sections
• Check each other's work

Tip 2: Choose a quiet moment

• Do the count when there's little sales
• For example in the evening or on weekends
• This way stock doesn't change while you're counting

Tip 3: Be careful

• Count everything, including small corners
• Don't forget trolleys, cold rooms or loose products
• Make a checklist of all locations

Tip 4: Double check

• Large differences? Then count again
• Ask a colleague to look along
• Better to count twice than have wrong administration

Summary

A stock check is done to check if your real stock matches the system:

• Scan or enter all products with actual quantities
• View checked stock and compare with the system
• Products that match are green, too few is orange, too many is red
• Write off incorrect stock to a discard debtor (do this at a quiet moment!)
• Made a mistake? Delete all distributions from the discard debtor to undo it