Basics

Why Inventory Matters

• Inventory materials are required for projects and maintenance of critical infrastructure

• Materials must be available on-demand for planned and unplanned work

• Material costs must be closely monitored and may be funded by other departments, jurisdictions, or grants

Core Concepts

• Item: Defines a unique inventory item. Is uniquely identified by its stock number. E.g., a greed LED.

• Location: Describes the physical location where items are stored.

• Transaction: Records a single movement of an item into or out of a location.

• Work Order, aka Request: The primary mechanism by which items are consumed. Is a collection of transactions checked out for the same project/job site/maintenance task.

Items

• Is uniquely identified by its stock number.

• Has a unit cost.

• May be comprised of smaller parts which are not considered inventory items

• E.g., a pedestrian push-button

Example of an inventory item

Transactions

Inventory transactions capture all movement of materials into or out of an inventory locations. The inventory module is designed to ensure that any movement of materials (checkout, restocking, replenishment, adjustments...) are documented by a transaction.

An inventory transaction:

• Captures a single movement of materials in/out of the system

• Is tied to a single stock number and quantity

• Is tied to a single warehouse location (Warehouse Inventory, Working Stock, ...)

The entirety of transactions can be thought of a ledger or receipt which can be used to calculate on-hand quantities and costs at any point in time. That is, the net amount of all completed transactions for a given stock number and location equals the quantity on hand.

Transaction Types

Each transaction is assigned a Transaction Type depending on its context. The different transaction types allow us to maintain accurate quantities on-hand and costs by associating the transaction type with a multiplier effect. A positive multiplier is used when materials are being added to inventory, a negative multiplier is used when items are removed from inventory.

Type	Description	Net multiplier
CHECKOUT	Materials issued out of inventory for use by staff	Negative
RETURN	Issued materials which are returned to inventory by staff	Positive
MOVE TO	Materials moved to one inventory location from another	Positive
MOVE FROM	Materials moved from one inventory location to another.	Negative
ADJUSTMENT	Used to manually adjust the quantities on hand. Can only be completed by a system administrator	Positive or negative
RESTOCK	Items placed into warehouse inventory from a shipment	Positive

Locations

• Describes the location of an inventory transaction.

• Locations are stored as multiple-choice values on the Primary Location and Secondary Location fields on the inventory_transactions object.

• The Warehouse Inventory location is the only location that is counted and controlled. Financial processing and reporting is concerned only with transactions that involve Warehouse Inventory

Location	Description
Warehouse Inventory	Encompasses all materials which are “in inventory”. These are controlled items which are managed and issued inventory planners. Includes the 8700 Cameron Rd warehouse as well as the pole yard
Working Stock - New	Controlled items which have been issued (aka, purchased) by AMD and are held in a controlled-access location for after hours use and replenishment of materials kept on-hand on trucks
Working Stock - Used	Used materials with uncontrolled access and use by AMD staff. Includes items which are not financially tracked, e.g., nuts and bolts.
Contractor supply	Materials which have been issued from warehouse inventory and set aside specifically for use by a contractor.
Other	Unsure how this is being used. We should re-evaluate