In order to come up with a value for one’s inventory, inventory levels and associated costs need to be input into the system.  When a store is first created in the system, the user must first create records representing the items, and then update the quantities and cost levels. The two primary methods used to accomplish this are purchase orders and inventory counts. But the item records have to exist in order to do either of these tasks. 

Once items are in inventory there are numerous methods to adjust levels and costs. One method is to use handheld TallyMan module and simply count the inventory on the shelves. Another method is to manually input counts into the SysManager. In either case a cost must be associated with item counts unless you are just verifying inventory.

The most important distinction to understand is the difference between inventory records and inventory transactions.  Inventory records are created once in the system for each item and represent the description and associated pricing for an item.  Inventory transactions are created each time an item is sold, purchased or adjusted.  Transactions continue to be added to the system as long as an item is being sold or purchased. Any item that has an inventory record in the system can be sold regardless of whether there are transactions in the system representing the quantities on-hand and the cost. 

Inventory records must be created to sell an item in the system. Transactions representing starting inventory, purchases or adjustments can happen at any time even if items have already been sold.  Salesware allows for a weighted average costing solution as well as a FIFO (First in First Out) approach.

This document is divided into three parts: