Inventory and stock
Inventory is the full list of every item your company sells, with stock counts, reorder points and a stock history. Who opens it and how stock moves.
Inventory in Combdex is the full list of every item your company sells: every product, service and subscription, tracked or not, shown in the catalog or hidden. It is where items are added and edited, and where a stock count is kept for each product you track.
Available on web and the mobile app. Inventory is not on the entry plan; see Plans, seats and limits. The route on web is /inventory.
How is inventory different from the catalog?
They are two views of the same items. The catalog shows only the items marked Show in catalog, to read and pick into a quote. Inventory shows all of them, including hidden ones, with stock, cost and margin. An edit in one shows in the other at once, because there is one item list.
Who opens inventory?
| Who | Opens Inventory | Changes items and stock | Sees cost and margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super admin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Admin | Yes | Yes | Only when given "costs and margins" |
| A user in the Office group | Yes, to read | No | No |
| A user in Everyone or Marketing only | No | No | No |
Access groups are explained in Access levels and groups, and the money rule in Money visibility.
What does the inventory table show?
The columns are Image, Item, Type, Price, Cost, Margin, Stock and Show in catalog. Reorder point is a hidden column; turn it on from the table's Hide menu. Cost and Margin show only to a person who sees costs.
- Type in the search box to find an item by name, SKU or category.
- Press Low, Out or In catalog to narrow the list. Press the lit chip again to clear it.
- Select rows to set a category, show or hide them in the catalog, or delete them in one step.
- Press Manage fields in the Hide menu to add a custom field to every item.
How do I start tracking stock on an item?
- Open Inventory and open the product, or press New item.
- In the Inventory section, switch on Track inventory.
- On a new item, enter the Starting quantity: how many you have on hand now.
- Enter a Reorder point: the stock level at which the item shows as Low.
- Save the item.
Only a product tracks stock. A service and a subscription have no count.
How does stock move?
A person moves it. In the table, a tracked product has a stepper in the Stock column: press minus to remove one, plus to add one. On the item page, the Inventory section takes a larger amount to add or remove.
Every change is a row in the item's Stock history, with the reason: "Quick adjustment" from the stepper, "Manual add" or "Manual remove" from the item page. On the phone, a stock change goes into the outbox like every other write and reaches the server when the phone reconnects; see How offline works.
What do Low and Out mean?
| Status | Rule |
|---|---|
| Out | Stock is zero or less |
| Low | Stock is above zero and at or below the reorder point |
| In stock | Stock is above the reorder point, or there is no reorder point |
An item that does not track stock is never Low or Out. The phone shows "Not tracked" for it.
Is inventory on the phone?
Yes. The phone's Inventory lists the same items as the web, with a count of Low and Out items and the stock stepper, and it opens with no signal from the phone's own store. Super admins and Admins change stock there; the Office group reads it.
What Combdex does not do yet
- Stock does not move by itself when a quote is accepted or an invoice is sent. Change it on the item.
- There are no purchase orders and no supplier records.
- There is no import of a stock count from a file.
- Stock is one count per item. It is not kept per van, store room or Location.
To price a job from these items, see Writing a quote.
Questions people ask
Is inventory on every plan?
No. Inventory and stock tracking are on the larger plans, not the entry plan. Plans, seats and limits names the plan that adds them. The catalog itself is on every plan.
When is an item Low?
When its stock is at or below its reorder point. An item at zero or less is Out. An item that does not track stock is never Low or Out.
Does sending an invoice take stock off?
No. Stock moves when a person changes it: the add and remove buttons on the item, or the amount in its Inventory section. Each change is written to the item's stock history.
Can a technician change the stock count?
No. Super admins and Admins change stock. The Office access group opens Inventory to read it. Users in Everyone only and the Marketing group do not open Inventory.