TSS PLUS
How do I keep track of inventory that is on demo display.
Keeping track of inventory that you have on demo in a store display is as easy as writing an invoice. Invoicing quantities are unlimited and since invoices 'commit' inventory, the invoice is the perfect area to group and track all your display items. To begin, create an invoice that will be used 'on going', which will never be posted. We suggest you title the Customer Name as 'DISPLAY' or use your own company name. We also recommend that you set the invoice type to 'COST'. From here, invoice out all items in which you have on display within the 'Materials' section of the invoice. You may also want to indicate additional information, such as exact location, and the description of the products. As more items are displayed, simply UPDATE the invoice and just add more products. As display items are sold, adjust the invoice or quantity. The end result will produce a running invoice that shows all items that are on display, their location, and a total value of all items. These items will remain within your inventory as committed. You can also review committed products by clicking on the committed button located within the inventory item's record or within areas that reference committed quantities.
TSS XP:
Easy Inventory vs. Accurate Inventory
Due to its heritage, TSS can be setup to allow the user to more-or-less ignore inventory management. And, in order to support customers migrating from TSS Plus, the default setup is for “Easy Inventory” management.
Easy Inventory
Many of our customers do not care about managing the quantities of their inventory. TSS Plus allowed a customer to run their shop this way. With the right settings, you can still run this way with TSS. However, this may lead to inaccurate quantities for your inventory in TSS.
To setup TSS for “Easy Inventory” management, click Application Settings, followed by Inventory. On the right, under Inventory Options, uncheck “Restrict sales to available inventory items only”. By having this setting unchecked, even if you have no physical items available, TSS will still let you sell that item. However, if you are relying on TSS for accurate inventory quantities, this will lead to discrepancies when you receive the item on a purchase order. For instance, if you have no physical items available, with 10 of the item on-order, and you have this setting unchecked, TSS will gladly let you sell those 10 items and post the invoice. However, when you receive that order later, TSS will now show you have 10 items on-hand rather than 0.
Accurate Inventory
If you want TSS to accurately reflect the quantities for your inventory, the first step is to check the setting discussed above. Click Application Settings, followed by Inventory. On the right, under Inventory Options, check “Restrict sales to available inventory items only”. To clarify, this means you will not be able to post invoices when you don’t have enough items available to fulfill the invoice. You can still add items to invoices, and take payments for, items you do not physically have in inventory. In order to post an invoice, you will need to have sufficient quantity of inventory available. TSS makes this easy to do in several ways:
1) In the Reports section of TSS, under Inventory you’ll find the “Purchasing Advice Report”. If you setup Stock Levels for your inventory items, this report will show you which items, and how many, to order, factoring in those committed to invoices that are not yet posted.
2) On the invoice screen, in the Functions menu, there is an item “Create Purchase Order”. This will display a screen allowing you to create purchase orders for one or more items on the invoice including the ability to review and adjust quantities and vendors.
3) In the Inventory section of Application Settings there is a setting “Auto Receive PO Quantities”. With this setting checked, if you have physical items onorder, but not available on-hand, TSS will prompt you and automatically receive the proper items from PO’s to fulfill an invoice. Note that this can be password protected to ensure only the proper employees can receive inventory. If you take these steps, running sales restricted to available items only, then TSS will accurately track the quantities of your inventory with a minimum amount of fuss.