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v26.3

Articles with Stock Tracking

For whom: owner and office staff · Where: Admin → Articles → open article → Stock tab

An article is only managed in stock once you switch it on for that article. This page shows which fields are required for that, how supplier and pack are tied to it, and what the stock level looks like afterwards in the Inventory tab.

Prerequisite

The Stock management module is switched on and at least one stock location has been created — see Setting up stock.

1. Switch on Track stock

  1. Open Admin → Articles and click the article.
  2. Switch to the Stock tab.
  3. In the Stock management section, switch on "Track stock".
  4. Save.

From now on, every sale of this article is booked off the stock of the workstation — and every void books it back.

2. Minimum and maximum stock

Directly below are two fields:

Field Meaning
Minimum stock If the stock level falls below this value, the article appears in the order proposal.
Maximum stock The order proposal tops up to this level.

Maximum stock and target stock are the same thing

On the article the value is called Maximum stock; in the stock locations, in the article import and in the bulk edit it is called Target stock. It always means the quantity up to which stock is topped up.

These two values apply only in the main stock

They feed into the order proposal exclusively for the main stock — and even there only as long as no min/target rule of its own is stored for the main stock. For every counter and every other stock, only the rule from Admin → Stock → Stock locations counts (see Setting up stock, step 3).

3. Unit and content per unit

Stock is counted in stock units — in what you pick up: a bottle, a piece, a kilo. The unit is in the General tab of the article.

For recipes, DiKAS additionally needs to know how much is in one stock unit:

Field Example Purpose
Content per unit 0,7 A bottle of rum contains 0.7 litres
Content unit l The unit of this content

This allows a recipe to say "4 cl rum", and DiKAS books off 0.057 bottles.

DiKAS converts related units

If the article says l and the recipe says cl, DiKAS converts by itself: volumes (ml, cl, dl, l) and weights (g, kg) can be used interchangeably within their kind. Volume and weight are not converted into each other: without a density, kilograms cannot become litres — such a recipe is rejected on saving. A quantity in "piece" always means one whole stock unit.

Without recipes you do not need these two fields.

In the same tab, switch on Track batches and best-before dates if needed (Batches and best-before dates) and, for trade goods with individual items, serial numbers (Serial numbers). A quantity tier (discount from a number of packs) is stored on the supplier row, see Tier prices and freight.

4. Suppliers and packs on the article

At the very bottom of the Stock tab is the section "Suppliers & packs". It is the basis for the order proposal and goods receipt.

  1. Click "Add supplier".
  2. Choose the supplier and fill in the row:
Column Example Meaning
Supplier art. no. 12345 The article number at the supplier — appears like this on the order
Pack name Crate 20×0.5 How the supplier delivers
Pack factor 20 Stock units per pack
Purchase price per pack 12,00 Purchase price for a whole pack
Default ✓ The supplier the order proposal uses first

Below the row, DiKAS calculates immediately: "= €0.60 per bottle". This way you can see while typing whether the pack factor is right.

  1. Save.

Several suppliers per article

You may keep the same article with several suppliers — with different packs and prices. For the order proposal, the entry marked as Default counts.

Below it, an area "Legacy (fallback)" with the old supplier fields may appear. It applies only as long as nothing is stored under "Suppliers & packs"; always maintain new assignments above.

5. Stock levels at a glance

Admin → Stock → Inventory tab

At the top you choose the stock; below it is the stock level per article:

Column Meaning
Stock Current quantity in stock units
Min/target The effective rule including its origin: Stock (rule of this stock) or Article (value on the article, main stock only)
Avg. purchase price Moving average purchase price per stock unit, updated at goods receipt
Stock value Stock × average purchase price
Actions Book loss · Transfer · Correct

Anyone without the permission for prices (setting Show purchase prices to authorised staff only) sees a dash for average purchase price and stock value; the quantities remain visible.

Below the list is the Total stock value of the chosen stock.

In the main stock, the min/target values on the article are used unless a stock rule of its own is stored. A rule of its own takes precedence, even if it is zero. The search finds articles by name, article number, barcode and supplier article number. Several words must all occur (wine white). A barcode scanner types the code and presses Enter: the search then starts immediately, and the exactly matching article appears at the top. Typed input searches after a short pause.

Articles below the minimum stock or in the negative are marked red and carry the note "Stock below the minimum or negative".

The list always loads only 100 rows and appends the next ones as you scroll; below the list it says how many of how many articles are loaded. This keeps even a range of 5,000 articles and a tablet running smoothly. Next to the search you can choose Product group (with its sub-groups) and Supplier. The numbers on the filter buttons apply to the product group currently searched and the chosen supplier. Search, filters and stock are kept when you switch to another tab and come back.

Above the list, buttons with a counter filter the rows: All, Negative, Below minimum, No supplier and No purchase price. This helps to find the open maintenance items in large ranges. No purchase price counts, by default, articles for which there is neither an average purchase price from goods receipts nor a supplier price on the article (the setting A supplier price counts as purchase price can tighten this to "booked prices only"); No supplier counts articles without a supplier assignment. An article with a minimum stock that has never been booked in this stock appears in the list with stock 0 and the addition "never booked" — it needs ordering even though there is no booking yet.

The same number everywhere

The stock list, the order proposal and the daily overview use the same rule, which the server determines. There is no article that is missing from the proposal but goes unnoticed as "below minimum" in the overview.

Negative stock levels are allowed

Sales are never blocked, not even at a level of 0. A red minus indicates that a delivery was not booked in or a quantity was counted wrongly — not a program error. It is straightened out via stocktake or with the row action Correct.

The three row actions

Action What it does
Book loss Quantity and reason (breakage, best-before date expired, own consumption, staff consumption, other) — books to the system stock Loss
Transfer Quantity and target stock — the stock moves, the total quantity in the house stays the same
Correct Difference field with sign: 3 increases, -2 decreases. 0 is not permitted

Each of these actions is executed immediately and afterwards appears in the booking journal. If the setting Corrections need their own permission is switched on, Correct appears only for employees with the permission Book corrections and free goods receipts.

Practical example: a bottle of rum on the shelf

The rum comes in crates of twelve 0.7 l bottles, the cocktail uses 4 cl.

  1. Open the article "Rum 0.7 l", Stock tab.
  2. Switch on Track stock, unit Fl.
  3. Content per unit 0,7, Content unit l.
  4. Minimum stock 4, Maximum stock 12 (applies to the main stock).
  5. Supplier "Getränke Weber", pack Crate 12, factor 12, purchase price 84,00 → the row below shows = €7.00 per bottle.
  6. Save — the rum is now tracked in stock, orderable and costable.

Bulk edit: changing many articles at once

What is it for? You want to set the same thing for a whole range: stock location, minimum and target stock, or the default supplier. Instead of opening every article, you change all articles of a filtered list in one go.

If you need the same setting for a whole range – for example to add all beverages to the stock "Bar", set a minimum stock of 6, or make a supplier the default – you do not have to open every article individually.

How it works

  1. Open Admin → Articles.
  2. Filter the list: by article group and/or with the search field. The button Bulk edit (n) shows how many articles the change applies to. All articles of the filter count, not just the rows currently visible on the screen.
  3. Click Bulk edit. Fill in only the fields you want to change – empty fields stay unchanged:
  4. Stock location assignment: The article gets a rule for minimum and target stock in this stock. Minimum and target stock then apply to this stock. Nothing is booked and no stock level is changed.
  5. Minimum stock / Target stock: Without a stock selection you set the value on the article; it applies in the main stock. For new rules in the main stock, the previous article value is kept if you enter nothing else. A 0 on the article value removes the value.
  6. Default supplier: The supplier becomes the default for those articles where it is already entered as a supplier item. Packs and purchase price are never newly created.
  7. Click Check preview. Nothing is saved yet. You see how many articles will change, how many already match and which are skipped – with the reason – as well as an excerpt of the changes (before / after).
  8. If the result is right, click Change … articles now. If you changed anything in the inputs after the preview, you must check the preview again.

Which articles are skipped

An article is either processed with all the requested changes or not at all. Skipped are, for example:

  • articles without stock tracking of their own and sets (stock and minimum stock apply to the components there),
  • articles where the minimum stock would exceed the target stock,
  • articles where the chosen supplier is not entered (or entered more than once),
  • articles where the main stock already has a stock rule of its own and an article value would therefore have no effect – then select the stock as well,
  • system articles.

The overview gives the number of affected articles for each reason.

Good to know

  • At most 5,000 articles at once. With more articles, narrow the filter (for example by article group).
  • The same operation can be repeated safely: a second run with the same inputs changes nothing more.
  • You need the permission to edit articles; for the stock location assignment additionally the permission Locations & suppliers.
  • If an article import is running, the program says so and you try again after it has finished.
  • With very large ranges (from 1,000 articles), the bulk edit does not accept a search term as a filter (the program says so) – filter by article group instead.
  • You continue to maintain new supplier items, packs and prices individually on the article or via the article import (table "Supplier items").

When something does not work

Message / observation Cause and remedy
The article does not appear in the stock levels at all Track stock is off, or nothing has ever been booked in this stock. Create stock via a booking or the stocktake.
"No stock levels in this stock location yet" Expected message for a freshly created stock location.
"Please enter a valid quantity" / "The quantity must be greater than 0" In loss or transfer, the quantity was missing or ≤ 0.
"The difference must not be 0" A correction without effect is not booked.
"Please select a target stock location" The target is missing when transferring.
"No supplier assigned yet." Note in the article — without supplier and pack, the article appears in the order proposal only under "Without supplier".
The stock level does not change on a sale The workstation points to a different stock than expected — see Setting up stock, step 4.
The bulk edit reports "skipped" The overview gives the number of articles for each reason: no stock of its own, minimum above target stock, supplier not entered (or entered more than once) on the article, system article. Fix the reason and check the preview again.
"With very large catalogues the search covers only an excerpt. Please filter by article group without a search term." The bulk edit never applies to an excerpt. Clear the search term and filter by article group.

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