Terminologies
Allocation
When an inventory item is allocated to a project this means that it is committed to that project and is not available for other projects.
Quantity On Hand
This is the quantity of an item that you physically have in your inventory location (warehouses, store rooms, retail areas...).
Available
This is the quantity of an inventory item that is not already allocated and are available for other projects. The quantity available is based on the following formula:
Quantity On Hand - Allocated = Available
On Order
This is the quantity of an inventory item that is currently on a purchase order shipping to your warehouse.
Location Tiers
If your firm has the Entry or Basic level of inventory, then you will have access to only that level of inventory. This is referred to as the Primary level. You can designate your primary level inventory locations as "Warehouses", "Storage Areas", "Inventory Locations", or your preferred term. You can learn more about that here. For example, if you use the term "Storage Areas" then name your locations: "Storage Room", "Retail Floor", "Ann's Garage"... This means you'll be able to track those items that are in the "Storage Room", but you won't be able to track the specific location in the storage room. For most small inventories, this is sufficient.
If your firm has the Advanced Inventory, then you will have three levels of inventory available:
Primary Level: Warehouses or Storage Areas or Inventory locations or your preferred term
Secondary Level: Shelf, Isle, Rack
Tertiary Level: Bin, Box, Location
This means that you can track that an item is in Warehouse 4, Rack 5, Bin 23.
"Pass Through" Barcode Labels
You can create barcode labels for items ordered specifically for a client project. These items are essentially just passing through the warehouse on their way from the vendor to the client site. DIS allows you to define what appears on your labels, and pass through labels typically have project/client specific information on them. .
"Stock" Barcode Labels
Items ordered with the intent to have them as stock inventory will typically have stock barcode labels applied to them. You can control what appears on the labels, they will generally have the manufacturer name, model number.
Direct Ship
When the ship-to-address on a purchase order is for a job site, client location or any other location that is not one of your inventory locations, then we refer to this as a Direct ship. Items that are direct shipped are not tracked in DIS.
Damaged Items
Damaged items are items that were received in a damaged condition, became damaged in the warehouse, or sustained damage via other means.
Stocking Project
This is a project that you will create in DesignSmart and will be used for items that you purchase for stocking items and not for a specific project.
Retail Project
They allow you to set the tax rate and any markups needed for retails sales.
Backorder
An item on order that cannot be currently filled or shipped, but remains on order for when the item becomes available again.