Inventory Tracking – This field is also on the Basic tab. For most items, you’ll want to keep track of how many units you have in stock. Inventory Tracking determines how or if to track inventory for this item. For example, Services such as “Alterations” don’t normally have anything physical associated with them, so there’s no need to attempt to count something you don’t have. But just because you are not tracking inventory counts does not mean that you are not counting sales. Sales counting does NOT depend on inventory tracking. If you track your items by Serial Number or Limited Edition, scheduled for the Artisan 4.7 release, you can set that here.
Inventory Kit – Sometimes an item is actually a group of items or has several components or raw materials. The most common example of a Kit is a gift basket. If your gift basket is a package deal or if you actually physically combine items to make a new real basket wrapped in plastic, then Inventory Kits are the way to go.
Product Variant Template – If this item comes in different colors or sizes, you may want to track it using a Product Variant Template.
In order to get a complete picture of your inventory levels for a particular item, then the Total Quantities will display everything you need. It starts with how many you physically have On Hand and subtracts how many of those are reserved on a layaway, for example. This section also specifies if you have you have any Requested from automatic reorders or special orders, and how many of those are Reserved.
If you have already created a purchase order for the item, then they will show On Order and how many of those items are Reserved. If you have any on loan or rented, scheduled for Artisan 4.6, then those totals are also displayed. All subtracted out, you get the Net Available total. This total may be displayed on the item record screen if desired. You can change this setting in the Item Record Screen Options (see the end of this article). This number is designed to help prevent you from ordering an item that you already have on order.
Reorder Levels are critical to make sure you keep necessary items in stock all the time. When set properly, these three fields work together to generate and maintain purchase requests for items that meet the criteria.
The Minimum Stock Level is the point at which an action occurs. When an items QOH falls below this number, a Purchase Request is generated to bring your stock level to at least the Target Quantity. If you must buy an item in specific quantities, enter that amount in the Minimum Reorder Quantity. For example, if at 10 units left in stock you want to order and you want your inventory level to be around 25, and you must buy in groups of 5, then set Minimum Stock Level to be 11, Maximum Stock Level to be 25, and Minimum Reorder Quantity to be 5. It is your responsibility to check on the purchase requests on a regular basis, since no alarm or notification will pop-up.
The reorder levels can also be shown on the Basic tab. This can be configured in the Item Record Screen Options.