Inventory

Products, the suppliers you buy them from, every stock movement and what is running low.

Download 5 KB3 tables, 1 queries, 1 reports, empty and ready for your own records.

Overview

Inventory is for anyone who holds goods and needs to know what is on the shelf and when to buy more: a small shop, a workshop with spare parts, a stores cupboard or an online seller working from a spare room.

It keeps your suppliers, the products you stock with their price, the units in stock and the level at which you reorder, and a record of each time stock comes in or goes out. A query lists what is getting low with the supplier's phone number beside it, and a report lists every product under its supplier.

Each product points at the supplier you buy it from, and each stock movement points at a product. One supplier has many products, and one product has many movements.

In Rutba Data Files it is on the start screen, under ready-made databases.

It suits, with small changes

A small shop or market stall
A workshop or garage keeping spare parts
An office or school stores cupboard
An online seller packing orders at home
A cafe or bar keeping dry goods and drinks
A charity shop or food bank

Read on

Tutorial: the everyday tasks: 6 everyday tasks, step by step, each naming what to open.
Tables, fields and relationships: every field of 3 tables, and how they are related.
Queries, forms, reports and print templates: what each one shows, its criteria and calculated columns, and when to print it.

Things you should know

Your records live in one file on your computer. Keep copies: File, Save As makes one, and a copy on another drive or in your own cloud storage keeps it safe if this computer is lost. Close the database before copying the file by hand.
Every change to the design (a new field, a renamed table) is a numbered step that Data Files keeps, so you can see what was changed and when.
Units in Stock is a number you keep up to date yourself: adding a stock movement does not change it. Change both together, and count the stock now and then to check them.
Supplier on a product, and Product on a stock movement, are lists of names on the form: you choose from what is already in the other table. Add the supplier before its products, and the product before its movements. In the table's rows the same field shows the record's number instead.
The Low stock query compares each product with its own Reorder Level, so set a reorder level on every product you keep: one left at nought never shows until it runs out.
A supplier with products cannot be deleted while those products point at it, and a product with movements cannot be deleted while they point at it. Tick Discontinued on a product you no longer keep instead.
Keep a copy of the file with File, Save As before a big change such as a year-end stock count.

Starting with your own records

Enter your Suppliers first, then your Products, choosing each one's supplier from the list and typing what is on the shelf now in Units in Stock. From then on add a stock movement each time goods come in or go out. If you want the history to match, add one movement per product for the stock you start with, with Opening stock in Note.

Making it yours

Every change to the design is a numbered step in Data Files, so a change can be seen and undone.

Keep a buying price as well as a selling price: add a Cost Price field to Products and a query with a calculated column for the stock's value at cost.
Hold stock in more than one place: add a Locations table, a Location field on Stock Movements that points at it, and a query of movements by location.
Say what kind of movement it is: add a Kind field to Stock Movements (Received, Sold, Damaged, Counted) instead of writing it in Note.
Record purchase orders: add an Orders table that points at Suppliers and an Order Lines table that points at Orders and Products.
Keep a little more of what sells fast: raise its Reorder Level, and Low stock warns you sooner for that product alone.

Questions people ask

Why did Units in Stock not change when I added a movement?: The template keeps the two apart: Stock Movements is the history, Units in Stock is today's number. Change Units in Stock on the Products form as well.
Can a product come from more than one supplier?: Not as it comes: each product points at one supplier. Choose the one you use most, or add a Second Supplier field that points at Suppliers too.
What should I put in Unit Price?: Whatever you need to know most often. A shop usually keeps the selling price; a stores cupboard the cost. To keep both, add a Cost Price field.
Why can I not use the same SKU twice?: SKU is unique, so each code points at one product. If two products share a barcode, add a letter to one of them.
How do I see every movement for one product?: Open the Products form at that product: the stock movements that point at it are listed below its fields.
A discontinued product still shows on the stock sheet. Is that right?: Yes. The report Products by supplier lists every product. Only the Low stock query leaves discontinued lines out.

Data Files is free

It comes with Rutba Office, with no account and no trial.

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