All the Stock Count Functions are located under the Internal Menu. The Stock Count Functions that can be used are:
- Physical Inventory Recording
- Phys Inventory
- Required Physical Inventory
Physical Inventory Recording Function
NOTE - This functionality is available from the 7.6 version of the Clever WMS Devices onwards.
This Function can be used in conjunction with the Physical Inventory Order and Physical Inventory Recording Functionality within Business Central. This is described in more detail here Physical Inventory Orders - Business Central | Microsoft Docs
You will firstly need to create the Physical Inventory Order and the associated Physical Inventory Recording documents in Business Central before you can use this Function on the Handheld Device.
Normally the Physical Inventory Recording documents will then be assigned to a specific Device User or Device User Group as highlighted above.
Once the above has been created, when you click on the Physical Inventory Recording Function, you will be presented with a list of the recordings for the selected Location which have not been assigned to a Device User or Device User Group or has been assigned to the current Device User or a Device User Group that the current user is a part of.
You should click on the required recording and then process the stock count transaction. This will include entering the following information:
- Bin Code
- Item No, Variant Code, Serial Number, Lot Number or Unit of Measure as required
- Quantity Counted
Once all the information has been entered, that transaction can then be posted. The related line on the Physical Inventory Recording will then be updated showing that the item has been counted, who has counted it and how many have been counted.
In cases where a matching line cannot be found on the Physical Inventory Recording document, then a new line will be automatically created and the stock count information automatically entered.
The next item can then be processed on the Handheld Device and the process repeated for all items included in the stock count.
As this Function has been added to the 7.6.0 version of Clever WMS Device Printers, any existing users of the App may have to manually create the Device Function and add it to the Device Menu. The details for this are shown below:
Physical Inventory Function
This Function requires some setup to be done first in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. In the client you will need to navigate to the Phys. Inventory Journal or Whse Phys. Inventory Journal pages if your location is setup for Advanced Warehousing.
Once on the journal you will run the Calculate Inventory action on the actions tab and use the options available on the Request Page in order to generate the entries you want to include in the stock count.
Once the journal is created you can then run the Assign to Device User function which based on your filter options will apply a Device User to a journal line.
Or you can go down each line individually and populate Assigned Device User the field.
NB: Along with assigning to device users the priority can be set if you want the user to prioritise some journal lines over others.
On the device you will see that you know have a figure against the tile Phys.Inv. this indicates to the warehouse employee how many lines have been assigned to them to count. To make sure that the figure is populating correctly you need to make sure your Device Menu setup is correct. The Cue field No. needs to be pointing either at Phys. Inv Lines or Whse. Phys. Inv. Lines- if your location is setup for advanced warehousing.
Clicking on the Phys Inv tile the user will be prompted to enter the Bin Code. The bin code along with the Item No and other details are visible on the device.
Once the bin has been entered you will then be prompted for the Item No, like the previous screen the details can be seen on the device.
You will finally be prompted for the Quantity, once confirmed a Post button will appear at the bottom of the device. In posting the line you are updating the corresponding line on the journal you created in previously.
NB: Posting the entry on the device does not post the line on the journal. The final posting is done in Microsoft Dynamics 365 business Central by someone like the warehouse manager who is happy with the difference in what the client thinks there is in stock compared to what is physically in the warehouse.
You will have noticed during the process that an Option button appeared at the bottom of the device. The options in here depend at which stage of the count process you are at.
If you have only scanned in the Bin Code and then clicked on the option button, you will only see Next Bin.
If you have scanned in the Bin Code and the Item No and then clicked on the option button you will see both Next Bin and Next Item as options.
If you have scanned in the Bin Code, Item No and Container No and then clicked on the option button you will see both Next Bin, Next Item and Next Container as options.
If you were to select the option Next Bin you would be moved onto the next assigned to your device in the journal. In Business Central the journal lines will be updated.
By carrying out the action above on the device you have instigated to Business Central is that the bin you were in has been counted and to move onto the next bin.
In Business Central, you will also notice this bin and the lines on the journal have now been set as Counted. Marking the line(s) as counted means it will not reappear back on the gun for recount. To do that you would have to set that field back to needs counting.
NB: The Count Status field only gets updated when the count is carried out through a device if it is adjusted manually in NAV then the line will remain as Needs Counting.
If when you scan the bin you are presented with an item which is no longer in the bin you can choose the option Next Item. This action will appear once the bin code and the item code has been scanned.
Once all the items in the bin have been counted whether that’s through simply counting them as they are all there or using the next bin function it will take you out the loop of staying in that bin and move you onto the next bin, where you will be prompted to scan in the next bin.
Similarly, to staying in the bin until the Next Bin function is pressed, if there are multiple lots for an item it will stay in that item until all lots have been scanned or the Next Item function has been pressed.
The same principal applies with the Container No as described above.
Counting Item Tracked Items:
If the items you are counting are lot/serial tracked numbers or variants are applied to them you may also be prompted on the device to confirm those bits of data if not already held in a barcode when scanned.
If the Item you are counting is not using Warehouse Tracking and the Location is not using Advanced Warehousing, then the item tracking information is not being recorded at the Bin level and will therefore need to be reconciled manually in Business Central.
On the Physical Inventory Journal Page, a new Device Count Status has been added called Pending Adjustment. If a line has this Status then the Item Tracking information for that line will need to be entered manually.
You can use the Review Logged Tracking Menu Option to see the details of the Serial/Lot Numbers which have been scanned on the Device and then these will need to entered manually against the journal line using the standard Item Tracking functionality.
Required Physical Inventory Function
If you choose to run this option instead you don’t need to need to create a journal beforehand. Instead of user being assigned lines to go and count and being directed. they will instead create the Phys. Inventory Journal or Whse Phys. Inventory Journal.
When the user clicks on this option they will be asked to scan the Bin Code as soon as they scan in that bin code they will be presented with the first item in that bin, according to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central . Like the Phys. Inv functionality they will then scan the item and type in the quantity. The same options of Next Bin and Next Item are also available and work just like they did in the other function (Phys. Inv).
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central a journal will be created for that mobile warehouse user. For example, the device is logged in as CDDEMO, in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central you will see that name as a journal batch name.
As you start to scan in bins and items the journal will start to populate depending on what I have scanned in.
Similarly, to the Phys. Inv function if Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is telling it that there are two items in a bin and you only scan one of the items and hit the Next Bin option it will create the second line on the journal but have the Qty Phys. Inventory field showing 0.
Once either Journal has been completed and the lines updated in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central a user will need to go the correct journal and post it after a quick check has been done. Once the journal is posted that is when the adjustments will be made.
NB: If lines need recounting and you want them to be done on the device you will have to change the Count Status back to Needs Counting. If you are making the adjustments through Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central this status is not important.
The other option is to have all users post to a default journal, rather than having each individual user create their own journal. This setup can be found detailed on the device setup part of the user guide on the Req. Phys. Inventory FastTab.