A warehouse indicates where products are stored. Warehouse slots let you distinguish between shelves, for example. A warehouse slot collection is a named collection containing the slots for a warehouse. Creating a warehouse, replacing an entire slot collection and maintaining the slots within it are separate operations.

Before you start

Create warehouses and maintain their slots in the browser. The Android and iOS warehouse views are used to view warehouses and products and perform warehouse operations; they do not include the creation forms described in this guide.

The warehouse feature must be enabled in your environment. Your role needs permission to read warehouses, along with create, edit or delete permission for the action you are performing. Your role's warehouse restrictions also affect access to existing warehouses. Permissions for warehouse actions grant the corresponding permissions for warehouse slot collections. Permissions for warehouse events alone do not grant permission to maintain collections.

Creating a warehouse

  1. In the main menu, open Manage warehouses → Warehouses. Select the Warehouses tab on the page, then Create new warehouse.
  2. In the form's Location information section, fill in the required Name and Address fields. The new warehouse's name must be unique: the name of a deleted warehouse retained in the system may also prevent you from using the same name. Postal code, city, state, country and cost center are optional.
  3. Check the settings in the same section. Warehouse in use is selected by default, Inventory usage principle is set to FIFO, and Warehouse transfer purchase-batch handling is set to From oldest purchase batch first. Inventory valuation principle comes from the shared service setting and cannot be changed on this form. The effects of these settings are explained below.
  4. In the Warehouse slot configuration section, select an available warehouse slot collection in the required Warehouse slots field. The list offers collections that are not linked to a warehouse. After selecting one, you can see its slots in the preview.
  5. If no suitable collection exists, select Create new warehouse slot collection in the same section. Give the collection a name and add at least one named slot using Add new warehouse slot. The slot's Reference 1 and Reference 2 are optional identifiers. Save the collection using the Create new warehouse slot collection button on its form. It is automatically selected on the warehouse form.
  6. Save the warehouse using the form's Create new warehouse button. When creating the first warehouse, you are asked to confirm the environment's valuation principle. Check the principle and confirm. If you want to change it, cancel the confirmation and change the service setting before creating the warehouse.

The slot names in a new collection must all be different. Name the slots so that someone looking for products can find the right shelf. Tag is optional. Linking and using it are covered in warehouse slot tags and finding products.

The slot collection is saved separately before the warehouse. If you cancel warehouse creation after that, the collection remains available for later use. Creating a warehouse does not add products to stock balances: record them separately as a receipt or purchase. See receiving and issuing products.

Product usage, transfers and valuation

Inventory usage principle affects which purchase batch a later deduction is made from. When a batch is not selected explicitly, FIFO uses the batches with the oldest receipt times first, and LIFO uses the newest. Selecting a purchase batch explicitly directs the deduction to that batch. If the balance is insufficient, the service's exception settings determine whether deductions are also attempted from other batches or slots. See warehouse exception settings.

Warehouse transfer purchase-batch handling is a separate setting. A transfer starts from the selected purchase batch. If its balance is insufficient, additional batches are used in their creation order according to From oldest purchase batch first or From newest purchase batch first. This order is based on creation time, whereas the inventory usage principle is based on receipt time.

A transfer only takes products from the same source warehouse slot and from batches with a positive balance. If their combined balance is insufficient, the transfer fails and no partial transfer is saved. See making a warehouse transfer.

The shared valuation setting is on the Settings page in the main menu, under Product and warehouse feature settings → Warehouse value calculation method. The options are FIFO and MAC (moving average cost). On the warehouse form, MAC is displayed as Moving average cost.

Changing the shared setting changes the valuation principle for all warehouses and requires confirmation. The change is blocked once warehouses have held products in stock, even if their current balances are zero. Check the selection before recording the first warehouse events. The confirmation message for the first warehouse describes the restriction as starting when the warehouse is created, but the actual restriction is based on product history.

The inventory usage principle determines the purchase batches used for deductions, while the valuation principle determines the monetary value of the warehouse. LIFO is a usage principle, not a valuation option. See the calculation rules and examples in warehouse value and product cost price.

Changing an existing warehouse

Select a warehouse on the Warehouses tab and open Edit in its Basic info area. You can change its basic information, cost center, in-use status, inventory usage principle and transfer purchase-batch handling. Apply the changes using the form's Save button.

Replace an entire slot collection using the Warehouse slots field on this form. Replacement is blocked if the warehouse has product history, even if its balance is already zero. Previous product history in the new collection's slots may also prevent linking it. A successful replacement removes the default warehouse slots set for the warehouse's products, so set them again.

You do not need to replace the entire collection just to add a shelf or correct a slot name. Instead, edit the slots in the current collection as described in the next section.

Adding and naming warehouse slots

Open the Warehouse slot collections tab on the same Warehouses page. Open an existing collection by clicking its name or the pencil icon on its row.

The Name field at the top of the edit form is the name of the entire collection. Name on a slot row refers to an individual shelf or other location. Correct the slot name, Reference 1 and Reference 2 as needed. Add a slot using the form's Add new warehouse slot button and give it a name. A new slot's name must not duplicate the name of a slot already in the collection.

Keep names clearly distinct when renaming slots, too. The uniqueness check for new slots does not guarantee that all changes giving existing slots the same name will be blocked. Save the changes using the form's Save button.

Renaming a slot changes the identifying information for that same slot. It does not move products to another slot. If goods physically move to another shelf, record a separate warehouse transfer.

You can also create a collection directly using the Create new warehouse slot collection button on the Warehouse slot collections tab. A name and at least one named slot are required; the Warehouse selection is optional. A new collection can be linked to at most one warehouse. Linking an existing warehouse may replace its previous collection, in which case the same product history restrictions and removal of default slots apply.

In older collections, the same collection may be linked to several warehouses. In that case, check all warehouses selected on the form: the slot names and other slot information are shared by them. Changing or removing a warehouse link is blocked based on product history. Successfully changing or removing a link clears the product-specific default slots for the warehouse concerned.

Restrictions on deleting slots and collections

To delete an individual slot, open the collection for editing and use the trash icon at the right end of that slot's row. A new, unsaved row is removed from the form. An existing saved slot is only deleted when you save the entire form.

You cannot delete the last slot in a collection. You also cannot delete a slot that has ever held products in stock, even if its current balance is zero. A zero balance or a row disappearing from the form therefore does not yet show that deletion will succeed. If saving is blocked, correct the deletion selection and check the saved information again.

To delete an entire collection, use the trash icon on its row on the Warehouse slot collections tab and confirm the deletion. The icon is disabled if the collection is linked to a warehouse. First select another collection for the warehouse, if the product history restrictions allow it. Product history in the collection's slots also prevents deletion of the entire collection, even with a zero balance. A successful deletion removes the slots' tag links; the tags are not deleted from the register.

Clearing Warehouse in use on the warehouse edit form is a different action from deleting a slot, collection or warehouse. It does not empty or delete the warehouse. You cannot clear the in-use status if the warehouse's total product balance is positive.

Cost center and financial classification

A warehouse's Cost center is selected from the same shared register used to classify customers and user accounts. You can search the form's selection list by name or cost center number; the list displays both the number and name. The selection links the warehouse to that cost center. Customers' and user accounts' own selections remain unchanged.

Viewing the selection list requires permission to read customers. If the list is empty, check this permission and whether any cost centers have been created. A local administrator maintains the register on the Settings page in the main menu, under Customer and contract settings → Cost centers. A cost center must have a name and a unique cost center number. See maintaining classification information.

You can change the cost center when editing the warehouse, or remove the link by selecting the blank option in the list. Save the change. It changes the warehouse's classification but does not move products or change balances or the valuation principle. Adding and removing a link appear in the cost center's history for the selected period. A change appears as a removal in the old cost center's history and an addition in the new cost center's history.

A cost center linked to a warehouse cannot be deleted. First remove or change its link in the warehouse's details. Links to customers and user accounts may also prevent deletion of a cost center. Simply clearing the warehouse's in-use status does not unlink the cost center.

Check the saved result

Select the warehouse again on the Warehouses tab. In the Basic info area, check the name, address, in-use status, usage principle and Slot collection definition. If needed, open Edit to also check the cost center, valuation principle and transfer purchase-batch handling.

On the Warehouse slot collections tab, reopen the collection. Check the warehouse or warehouses linked to it, along with the slot names, references and any tags. This confirms that additions, changes and permitted deletions have been saved. If you replaced the collection or changed its warehouse link, check and set the products' default warehouse slots again before recording further warehouse events.