Article #83 How to Count Inventory for Any Cost Center by using a Delayed Count?

Answer: Because using a handheld computer is the fastest way to enter items onto any transaction, and also because fixed cost centers cannot have handheld computers assigned to them, a delayed inventory count is the only solution to counting the inventory held in a fixed cost center, and can also be created for any cost center within Solid Business Central™. A Delayed Count is an inventory count created by a handheld computer that is saved and synced back to Solid Business Central™ where it can be reviewed by administration staff before being applied against that cost center's inventory levels. Although Delayed Counts can be created for a handheld computer's own mobile cost center, they're most often used to count the inventory held in other fixed and mobile cost centers.

When making an inventory count for a cost center, it's important that no transactions are created for that cost center during the counting process to ensure the inventory levels that are being counted are accurate until the count is applied.

1. To create any inventory count using a handheld computer, its mobile unit record must be enabled to make sales. To verify this, in Solid Business Central™, go to [Datafile / Cost Center / Mobile], view the mobile unit record that the handheld computer belongs to, and ensure that the 'Sales' field is set to Y.
2. On that mobile unit record's handheld computer, log into Solid Sales Pro™ as a Supervisor. Only Supervisors can create inventory counts. Once logged into Solid Sales Pro™, navigate to [Stock Operations / Inventory Count / Create Inventory Count].
3. The 'Counted By' field will be this mobile unit record's number and cannot be changed. The 'Counted For' field is used to select which cost center number the count is being created for. When ready, use the [Count Inventory] button to begin counting.
4. The counting process is very similar to creating an invoice. Barcodes can be scanned from the '2310 Count Inventory' screen, or manually added by using the [Add] button. When counting inventory, the expected 'Qty on Hand' will show for each item, and enter into the 'Present Count' field the quantity that actually exists. For example, if the 'Qty on Hand' for an item is -5, but there are actually 12 in the cost center, then in the 'Present Count' field enter the number 12.
5. When finished counting inventory, use the [OK] button from the '2310 Count Inventory' screen to return to the '2305 Create Inventory Count' screen. To save this count, use the [Save & Print] button. On the next screen, a list of Save Options will be displayed.
6. From these options, choose [Delayed Inventory Count] to display a confirmation screen. Use the [OK] button to confirm that this is to be saved as a Delayed Count, and the option to print this Delayed Count will also be given. This print out will give all the items counted, including their original and counted quantity on hand numbers, as well as the difference between those two numbers.
7. Once an inventory count has been saved, it's important to sync the handheld computer before creating any other transactions. This will ensure the integrity of the count will not be marred by other inventory sales, purchases, or transfers.
8. Once the handheld computer has been successfully synced, the count will be available in Solid Business Central™ by navigating to [Datafile / Cost Center / View]. While viewing the cost center that the count was created for, use [F6 - Finalize] to display the Delayed Count. A list of items will then display, allowing the administrator to review the inventory count before applying it.
9. By tabbing through the columns, Open_cnt shows what each item’s current amount is in this cost center, Ttl_cnt is the sum of all counted amounts, Diff is the difference between the Open_cnt and Ttl_cnt, and lastly, the actual Delayed Count(s) will be displayed as their transaction number (such as 001.T100000). Multiple Delayed Counts can be created for a single cost center. This makes it easy to divide a large warehouse into sections for counting, and also allows multiple handheld computers to work on the same count to complete it faster. Each delayed count will show as its own 'Transaction Number' column, and if an item is included on multiple counts, their counted numbers will be added together and given as the 'Ttl_cnt' value.
10. If when verifying the Delayed Counts an error is noticed, the values in the Transaction Number columns can be manually adjusted to correct the amount that's displayed in the 'Ttl_cnt' column. The amounts in the 'Ttl_cnt' column are what'll be applied as the counted quantities for each item when this count is applied. When everything has been verified, use [CTRL+END] to Save this count, which will give an 'Options to Save Changes' menu.
11. If not finished reviewing the count(s), use [F2 - Save to Count Sheets Only] to save any changes thus far. If ready to apply, use [F4 - Save to Count Sheets & Finalise to Inventory].
12. The opportunity will then be given to save this as a Partial or Full count. A Partial count will apply changes only to the inventory levels of items that were included on the Delayed Count(s), and will ignore all other items. A Full count will also apply changes to the items that were counted, but will assume that all other items have 0 (zero) quantity on hand for this cost center since they were not included on the 'full' count.
13. Once the count type has been selected, if there were any differences in inventory levels, a prompt to create a stock transfer will be presented. Select Y to transfer all inventory differences from this applied count to this cost center's Ajd_To cost center. Finally, select whether or not to print the 'Finalized Delayed Inventory Cost Report', which reports on all changes made to the cost center's inventory levels.