I have just started using Manager for our small company in Rwanda.
I am not an expert accountant. We have one who uses Quickbooks, but I use Manager to do my own follow up on stock, invoices etc.
I have set the start date to 31.12.16 and added the stock at hand on that date for each item. However, the location of this stock cannot be defined. Now we have received new stock and we have added to a specific stock location, therefore when I check the new quantity at hand I can see both locations: unspecified and a specific one we have chosen.
How can I move the stock in the unspecified location to a specific one? Is the only option to wait for the stock in the unspecified location to be used up?
By activating and using the “Inventory Transfers” tab found under Customise below the Settings tab
But first, do you have just one stock location, if yes
Then you don’t have to setup any locations under Settings - Inventory Locations
By not setting up a location, you remove the “unspecified location” status as long as you also don’t use the “Goods Receipts” & Delivery Notes" tab also.
Also, do you need to use the “Goods Receipts” & Delivery Notes" tab ?
If no, then de-activate them under Customise and you will remove the “unspecified location” status
To summarise, if you don’t use Inventory Locations, Goods Receipts and Delivery Notes then the unspecified location status wont appear.
However, if you do use any of these, Inventory Locations, Goods Receipts and Delivery Notes, then the unspecified location will appear and you will need to the Inventory Transfers tab to relocate the stock.
@lubos - there needs to be some adjustments within the Inventory module to better cope with changes.
if Inventory Locations, Goods Receipts or Delivery Notes have been activated prior to the entry of starting inventory, then location should also be allowed to be entered at this stage otherwise the workflow gets duplicated - First the entry of the starting balances and second the need to transfer all that same inventory from unspecified to specified location.
If you have an existing location and then open a second location (car spare parts with 1000’s of items) then the existing inventory should default to a specified location rather then being dumped into unspecified.
and then requiring the user to transfer all that inventory back to where it already existed.
I do use the inventory location (which I had previously activated together with most of the other tabs). We have our main warehouse but with a couple of clients we give them a few items on consignment, which means that these items are delivered but not sold and might come back to our main warehouse. In the future we might also have another warehouse in another city. For this reason, I have added a warehouse with the name of the client, so that I can track the stock in a better way. Maybe you know a better way to do this?
I agree with your requests to @lubos. It would be nice to have the possibility to decide a location even when you start a project with existing stock “indicated as starting stock at a certain date”. This was the problem I faced, i.e. not being able to decide the location of my existing stock. The only option would probably have been to create specific good receipts with all the items and date them to for example Dec. 31st. But this could create other issues and would be very time consuming.
Yeah, ability to specify opening balances as per inventory locations is a missing feature. You can make up for it by creating inventory transfers, delivery notes and goods receipts which can all take quantity from unspecified location to specific location.
I need to re-think starting balances completely. For example, you might start without inventory locations. Then one day you turn them on only to find out all your stock is being “dumped” into unspecified location and there is no guidance on how to deal with this situation.
The point I’m trying to make is that even if it’s possible to set starting quantities per each inventory location, it still doesn’t solve the problem what to do when turning on inventory locations at some future point. So I need think about overall approach to starting balances and whether there isn’t some better way.
I think (a) setting Start Date starting quantities and (b) turning on Inventory Locations are separate situations.
For (a),
i) if Inventory Locations hasn’t been activated prior to the starting quantities entry, then entry as per now.
ii) if Inventory Locations has been activated prior to the starting quantities entry, then location field added to the starting quantity entry.
For (b)
If Inventory Locations are activated and there exists Inventory Items with balances, then the first location created becomes the default location for all existing Items, rather then “unspecified location”.
Or perhaps the Settings - Inventory Locations screen could have a two field input:
First being - Existing Inventory Location, which would be assigned to all existing Inventory Items
Second being - Add New Inventory Location
Alternatively, in the background, all current Inventory Items are assigned to a default Home / Base Location so that when the Inventory Locations is activated, all existing Inventory Items will already have an allocated location instead of an unspecified location.
This seems the most elegant and intuitive approach. No one must think about it or take action. As a business adds a location, it turns on the feature, but gets no surprises and is required to take no remedial action. Only actions related to stocking the new location must be entered. (Of course, you might want to rename the default base location once you have a second location. But the point is you would not have to move all the original stock.)
I have been using this fantastic tool for almost a year . I did not specify location name at the beginning. But now as I am opening new branch need to name locations , instead of unspecified location …which is the best way without affecting my working so far
How to update to current version of desktop edition without affecting work done so far?
The capability did not exist a year ago. It is new.
No. You will need to install the newly downloaded program exactly the same way you did the original. Don’t uninstall first, just install the new download. Your data is not in the program itself. It is in a separate accounting data file. Of course, it is always a good idea to make a backup before updating.
I have downloaded desktop edition , but when I want to install now getting t he message as " The System administrator has set policies to prevent this installation" …we have not done any setting change as an administrator on my PC…pl advice
