Inventory counts

Inventory counts keep the stock ledger honest. Two modes: cycle counts (continuous) and full physical (periodic).

Cycle counts

Counts a subset of bins per day, on a rolling schedule. Strategies:

• ABC — count A-class (fastest-moving / highest-value) weekly, B monthly, C quarterly.
• Zone rotation — cycle through zones over a fortnight.
• Event-driven — trigger count when a pick short, putaway override, or damage event occurs.
• Random — sample a % of bins daily.

Tenant sets strategy per warehouse / per customer.

Workflow

1. Schedule generates count tasks for the day.
2. Counter on handheld scans each bin → scans each SKU → enters quantity.
3. System compares to expected.
4. Match → task closed.
5. Variance → recount required (second counter, different person, often a team-lead). If still variant, posts as a variance.

Full physical count

Used for year-end or when ledger trust is compromised. Warehouse is closed (or zones closed sequentially). All bins counted in a short window. Variances reconciled line-by-line before reopening for normal operations.

Variance handling

Variances post to a holding account; not automatically written off. Process:

1. Investigate (look for unposted movements, misplaced stock, mis-scans).
2. Reconcile.
3. If no explanation, write off via a stock adjustment — role-gated (WAREHOUSE_ADMIN + finance sign-off for > threshold).

Finance sees variances in cost of goods / shrinkage reports.

Blind counts

Counter is not shown the expected quantity (recommended for accuracy). Optional per tenant.

Frozen stock during count

Bins being counted are frozen — no picks or putaways allowed on them until count closes. The system routes picks to alternate bins if available.

Customer-owned stock

For 3PL: counts are done per customer, results shared via the customer portal. Discrepancies may trigger finance adjustments on the customer side too.