Inventory Adjustments and Stock Counts

There are two ways to edit your inventory after a physical count - Adjust Inventory and Record Stock. Adjust inventory is designed to be used on a single lot number, usually in cases where the user just happened to notice that the quantity in OB was incorrect. Using adjustment inventory adds or subtracts from he current inventory for that lot. The adjust inventory feature needs to be turned on for locations.

Record stock is designed to overwrite the entire inventory for the product with the new inventory you input. Use this feature when doing a regular physical count of the product. It is also possible to record a physical count for multiple items via an inventory import - see Import Inventory for detailed instructions.

Adjust Inventory

To adjust the inventory for a particular lot number, click on the carrot next to that line in the current stock tab. You will see several options for actions related to that lot. Choose “Adjust stock.

This will open a modal that will allow you to change the amount in stock of this inventory line

Change the quantity available to the actual quantity in stock. You will need to select a reason code to explain the reason for the change. In the example above, I have chosen the reason code “missing” because I couldn’t find the stock. I also added an optional comment which will be visible in my stock history.

Press save to record the change. You will see that your inventory has been updated, and the transaction also appears in your stock history:

You can see above that I had 1,000 in stock, then I adjusted lot 20220221 down by 500 units, and now I have 500 in inventory.

Positive and negative adjustment made to an inventory can be distinguished by the different icons. Red for negative adjustments, and Green for positive adjustment.

Record Stock

To overwrite the entire inventory for a product, click the “Record Stock” button.

This will bring up a modal where you can change your inventory. To adjust the current inventory on hand, change the “New Qty” to the desired number for the lot/expiration date line that you are working with. You can also click “Add new line item” to add another Lot/Serial no, Expiration date, and Quantity.

There is a comment field for the entire stock count, and also for the individual line. Use the main comment to record why the stock was counted, and the line comments to record anything special about a particular line. See the screenshot above for an example.

Once you have recorded your new inventory, remember to click “Save” to retain any changes. You will see the new inventory in your “in stock” tab, and you will also be able to see the transaction in your stock history:

Please note that it is perfectly fine to record stock and not actually change your inventory! If you physically count the stock, you should do a record stock in OpenBoxes, even if there is no change. That way you have a record in the stock history that you did the count.

Editing a Lot Number or Expiry Date

The scenarios above show how to edit the inventory for a particular lot number - but what if you need to edit the lot itself? There are two circumstances where a user might want to edit a lot number:

1. There is a typo in the lot number from a previous data entry error - for example, the lot number in OB is BP123, but the lot number on the package is BPI23
2. The expiry date for the lot number is incorrect - for example the product had a date written in the American style as 8/1/2023 (August 1, 2023) that was read in the European style and entered as January 8, 2023.

Please note that realizing you entered stock under the wrong lot number is NOT a scenario that should be corrected by editing a lot. Say, for example, OpenBoxes shows 50 units of lot 12345 in bin x. You check and realize that it is actually lot 56789 in bin x. DO NOT change lot number 12345 to 56789. Why not? Changing a lot number affects all stock under that lot number in the entire system. By changing lot number 12345 to 56789, you are not only changing the lot number for the items in bin x, but all of the items with lot 12345, in other bins or even other warehouses. This is why in OpenBoxes only administrators can change lot numbers. In summary, if you want to change the amount of a certain lot number you have in stock, use adjust stock or record stock. If you want to correct a typo in the lot number or expiry date, use the method below.

1. Choose the lot number you would like to edit. If the lot number is in stock, go to the in stock tab. If not, scroll down to see how to find out of stock lot numbers.
2. Press the carrot to the left of the lot number, and choose edit item

This will open a modal where you can see and edit the lot and expiry date. If you only see the expiration date as editable and not the lot number, that means that you do not have administrator permissions. You can edit the expiry date, but to update the lot you will need to contact your local administrator.

3. Change the lot number and expiry date within the modal as needed. You can add a comment to explain why you made the change, but it is not required.

4. Press save

5. On your in stock tab, you will now see the updated lot number and expiry date

If the lot you want to update is not in stock, you can still see it by going to the manage lot numbers page. Click manage lots on the electronic stock card:

This will show you a page with all lot numbers that have ever been entered for this product. Choose your lot number and use the same steps listed above to edit and save the changes.