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Cycle counts

Perform regular, smaller stock counts to increase the accuracy of inventory.

Steven Quayle avatar
Written by Steven Quayle
Updated over 2 years ago

A cycle count is an inventory management mechanism where a small subset of inventory, at a specific location, is counted regularly (eg. daily or weekly) to maintain more accurate stock counts over time.

Cycle count methodology

Maintainly uses a proprietary algorithm to select which materials are included in any given cycle count. The basis of the methodology is:

  1. Inventory items that are interacted with more often (eg. higher frequency of usage - as opposed to purely the quantity used) will be counted more often;

  2. Tracking iterations of cycle counts per inventory item ensures that, over time, all materials will be counted;

  3. No weight is given to the value of an inventory item.

Cycle count set-up

Before commencing cycle counts, you must first define how many inventory items will be counted each time a cycle count is performed. This can be done by either nominating a fixed number of different materials or by nominating a percentage of materials that exist at that store.

To set the number of inventory items in a single cycle count:

  1. Navigate to Materials > Stores;

  2. Click the store to modify;

  3. In the cycle count field, nominate the total number of materials or the percentage of the total number of different inventory items (specifically at that store), that are to be counted in a single cycle count;

  4. Click Save.

Perform a cycle count

Cycle counts are best utilised if they are used on a set pre-defined interval, such as daily, weekly or monthly.

Cycle counts can be created at the time of the cycle count taking place, or created in advance (eg. by an Administrator) and given a pending status until the cycle count is completed.

To conduct a cycle count:

  1. Navigate to Materials > Cycle Counts;

  2. Click New cycle count;

  3. Select a store from the dropdown;

  4. Click Create;

    (A cycle count will be created with a list of materials that are to be counted, per the Maintainly algorithm)

  5. For each material, nominate the current stock quantity that was counted;

  6. Click Complete (or Complete & Approve, if the appropriate permission exists);

NOTE: If there is a difference between the current inventory level and the counted quantity, a manual stock adjustment will not occur until the cycle count has been approved by a user with the necessary permission.

Approving a cycle count

Any difference between current inventory levels and a cycle count quantity will result in a manual stock adjustment. This adjustment will only occur only after the cycle count has been approved by a user with the appropriate permission level.

Once approved, cycle counts, and their corresponding inventory adjustments are irreversible. If any errors occur, these must be rectified by performing a separate, manual stock adjustment, in order for these transactions to be fully documented.

To approve a cycle count:

  1. Navigate to Materials > Cycle Counts;

  2. Click the advanced filter icon;

  3. Set the Status to Complete to view only those cycle counts that are awaiting approval;

  4. Click the cycle count that is to be approved;

  5. Make any quantity modifications as desired, then click Approve.

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