Inventory Documentation

Which User Are You?

Choose the correct inventory path

Daily Purchase Choice

Purchase Order vs Purchase Bill vs Stock In

This is the most important purchase concept. The correct option depends on whether goods are requested, already received, or just being entered as quick stock.

Flow Charts

Understand the main inventory workflows

These simple flows help staff understand what happens first, what updates stock, and where mistakes usually happen.

1. 1Create suppliers if purchase orders should be grouped supplier-wise.
2. 2Create inventory items such as Onion, Rice, Oil, Cups, or Packing Box.
3. 3Set base unit, current stock, minimum stock, average cost, supplier, batch, and expiry where needed.
4. 4Enable Track Inventory in Products and choose Simple Stock or Recipe Based.
5. 5Use Stock In or Purchase Bill whenever goods are received.
6. 6Use Purchase Orders when goods must be requested before they arrive.
7. 7Use Stock Count to compare system stock with physical stock.
8. 8Review Reports for low stock, expiry, movement value, and supplier ledger.

Example: Onion is an inventory item. It can be purchased in kg, linked to a supplier, consumed by recipes, deducted when food is sold, and reordered when it falls below minimum stock.

Result: After setup, the store gets live stock, purchase history, low-stock alerts, costing, supplier ledger, and automatic deduction on settlement.

1. 1Open Products from the sidebar.
2. 2Create or edit a product.
3. 3Turn on Track Inventory only if the product must affect stock.
4. 4Choose Simple Stock for bottled drinks, packed goods, and retail items.
5. 5Enter current stock and minimum stock for Simple Stock products.
6. 6Choose Recipe Based for prepared menu items like biryani, meals, tea, sandwiches, or juices.
7. 7Save the product.
8. 8For Recipe Based products, open Inventory > Recipes and map every ingredient.
9. 9Settle one test sale and check Inventory Movements.

Example: A Coke bottle should be Simple Stock. Chicken Biryani should be Recipe Based because it consumes rice, chicken, onion, oil, and packing material.

Result: Sales deduct stock according to the selected product tracking mode.

1. 1Open Inventory > Stock In.
2. 2Select the inventory item.
3. 3Enter quantity received in the item's base unit.
4. 4Enter actual purchase cost per unit, not total bill amount.
5. 5Enter invoice/reference number if available.
6. 6Enter batch number for traceability.
7. 7Enter expiry date for perishable stock.
8. 8Add notes if useful.
9. 9Click Save.
10. 10Check Items or Reports to confirm stock and value updated.

Example: Existing Onion: 10 kg at INR 20. New purchase: 10 kg at INR 30. New average cost becomes INR 25/kg, while the new batch keeps INR 30/kg as actual batch cost.

Result: Stock increases, movement history is created, batch/expiry is saved, and average cost is updated.

1. 1Open Inventory > Purchase Orders.
2. 2Click Create Purchase Order.
3. 3Select supplier.
4. 4Add item rows with expected quantity and expected rate.
5. 5Save Order. Status becomes Ordered.
6. 6Use Copy, Share, or Print to send it to the supplier.
7. 7When goods arrive, open the same PO and click Receive.
8. 8Enter supplier invoice number.
9. 9For each item, enter actual received quantity, actual rate, batch, and expiry.
10. 10Click Stock In Received.
11. 11If all quantities are received, status becomes Received. If only some arrived, status becomes Partially Received.

Example: You order 50 kg Onion at expected INR 25/kg. Supplier sends 40 kg at INR 27/kg. Receive only 40 kg at INR 27. Stock increases by 40 kg and PO remains partially received if 10 kg is pending.

Result: Supplier order history is preserved and stock only increases after actual receiving.

1. 1Open Inventory > Purchase Orders.
2. 2Click Create Purchase Bill.
3. 3Select supplier or enter supplier name.
4. 4Enter invoice number and bill date.
5. 5Choose payment status if available.
6. 6Add each purchased item as a row.
7. 7For each row, enter quantity, rate, batch number, and expiry date.
8. 8Review grand total.
9. 9Click Save & Stock In.
10. 10Use View Bill, Copy, Share, or Print if needed.

Example: You bought Onion 20 kg, Tomato 10 kg, and Oil 5 L from the market. Add all three rows and Save & Stock In. Stock updates for all items in one action.

Result: Purchase record, movement, batch, stock quantity, and average cost are all updated together.

1. 1Open Inventory > Recipes.
2. 2Select the menu product.
3. 3Select an inventory ingredient.
4. 4Enter ingredient quantity used for one product unit.
5. 5Enter wastage percentage if normal preparation loss exists.
6. 6Add packaging cost if required.
7. 7Save the recipe ingredient.
8. 8Repeat for all ingredients in the product.
9. 9Review sale price, ingredient cost, total cost, and margin.
10. 10Settle a test order and check movement history.

Example: Tea can deduct Milk 0.1 L, Tea Powder 0.01 kg, Sugar 0.02 kg, and Cup 1 pcs for each Tea sold.

Result: Recipe products reduce ingredient stock automatically after settlement.

1. 1Open Inventory > Stock Count.
2. 2Click Start Count.
3. 3Count physical stock item by item.
4. 4Enter counted quantity for each item.
5. 5Review variance quantity and variance value.
6. 6Investigate large differences before applying.
7. 7Click Apply Adjustments.
8. 8Manager permission may be required depending on Inventory Settings.
9. 9Check movement history for audit adjustment entries.

Example: System shows Rice 50 kg but physical stock is 47 kg. Count 47 kg and apply adjustment. System posts -3 kg adjustment.

Result: System stock matches physical stock and variance is recorded for audit.

1. 1Open Inventory > Suppliers.
2. 2Create suppliers if they are not already available.
3. 3Link inventory items to suppliers where possible.
4. 4Create Purchase Orders or Purchase Bills using those suppliers.
5. 5Review purchased, received, pending, bill count, and last date.
6. 6On web, click Print/PDF Ledger to export.
7. 7On Flutter, use Copy Ledger to share text.

Example: Dhanalakshmi Store may show INR 20,000 purchased, INR 15,000 received, INR 5,000 pending, 8 bills, last purchase 14/08/2026.

Result: The store can quickly see supplier activity and pending purchase value.

1. 1Open Inventory > Settings.
2. 2Choose Negative Stock policy.
3. 3Use Allow if sales can continue even when stock is unavailable.
4. 4Use Warn if the store wants warning but still allows sale.
5. 5Use Block if settlement must stop when stock is insufficient.
6. 6Enable Manager for Cost Edits to restrict receiving and purchase bill costs.
7. 7Enable Manager for Adjustments to restrict manual adjustments and stock count posting.
8. 8Assign inventory.manage or settings.manage from Employees.

Example: Cashier can settle sales but cannot change purchase cost. Manager can receive stock, adjust stock, and change settings.

Result: Inventory becomes safer for multi-user store operations.

1. 1If stock is not reducing, open Products and confirm Track Inventory is enabled.
2. 2If recipe item is not reducing, open Inventory > Recipes and confirm ingredients are mapped.
3. 3If Generate Draft POs is disabled, confirm at least one item is below minimum stock.
4. 4If settlement is blocked, check current stock and Negative Stock policy.
5. 5If average cost looks unexpected, calculate weighted average from old stock and new purchase.
6. 6If supplier ledger is empty, check that purchase orders/bills use the correct supplier.
7. 7If expiry is missing, confirm expiry was entered during Stock In, Purchase Bill, or Receive.
8. 8If employee cannot edit, check inventory.manage and settings.manage permissions.

Example: If Onion stock does not reduce after selling Biryani, check whether Biryani is Recipe Based and whether Onion is mapped in the Biryani recipe.

Result: The user can diagnose common setup and workflow issues without calling support.

FAQ

Common questions from store users