DBD: Inventory - Physical Count

Path: DB Distributor > Inventory Control > [Applicable Count Sub-Menus]

Step 1: Pre-Count Preparation & Reports

Before freezing your inventory numbers, ensure all pending system transactions are finalized to prevent balance discrepancies.

1. Update System Activity: Verify that all Billing, PO Receiving, and Inventory Transactions have been completely updated to bring the system to the most current inventory status.
2. Print the Stock Status Baseline: Since it is not always possible to have every single warehouse release updated before counting, go to your reports and print an Inventory Stock Status Report.

   • Select Yes to print lot details.

     Account for Committed Lots: If any inventory lots are committed to an open order, you must count them as if they are physically present.

   • Note: Lots committed to an open order will appear on your Count Sheets with the corresponding order number explicitly identified .

Step 2: Initializing the Physical Inventory Screen

Navigate to the main Physical Inventory interface to prepare the system utility.

⚠️ Critical Check: If a count is already in process, the system will prompt you to either "Modify" or "Clear" the existing data. If this is a brand-new count cycle, ensure no one else on your team is actively processing data, and select Clear.

When initializing, the system will prompt you with two configuration questions:

• Do you wish to combine like lots before proceeding? → Answer YES.
• Rebuild items sort? → Answer YES.

Step 3: Defining Selection Criteria

After handling the initialization prompts, you will be brought to the primary selection screen to define the scope of your audit.

• Full Inventory Audit: To count every item across every warehouse for every customer, bypass the filtering criteria by pressing Return through all selection fields.
• Targeted Audit: Narrow the scope of the count by explicitly defining a specific Customer Code and/or Warehouse Code.

🛑 Important: Pay close attention to the prompt: "If no count is entered for an item, should the physical count be updated with a zero on-hand quantity?" Ensure this is toggled accurately based on whether you are doing a full facility wipe or a partial count.

Once your criteria are set, click the Proceed button.

Step 4: Printing Count Sheets & Executing the Count

1. Navigate to the Count Sheet Printing screen and execute the print command to generate your physical worksheets.
2. Conduct the physical walk-through of your warehouse grid, manually writing the actual quantities on the printed sheets.

💡 Note on Missing Items: If you discover physical inventory items that are completely missing from your printed count sheets, write them down separately. You will manually input these into the system as a standard Inventory Transaction after the physical count update is fully completed.

Step 5: Entering Physical Counts

Once warehouse tallies are compiled, log them into the system database.

1. Navigate to the Physical Count Entry option.
2. Click the Single-Forward Arrow  in the bottom left-hand corner to load the first item profile.
3. Type in your physical count numbers.
4. Click Save—the system will automatically load the next sequential item for entry.

Directional Entry Tip: If you need to jump to a specific entry point or return to a previous item later, you must fill out all explicit parameters at the top of the screen to allow the system to locate that exact line item.

Step 6: Reviewing Variance Reports

Before committing changes permanently, utilize system checklists to catch data entry errors.

1. Navigate to Count Checklist Printing. This utility generates a report comparing your newly entered physical numbers against the previous computer-calculated balances.

2. Review the output line-by-line to identify typographical or count errors.
   • Alternative Workflow: You have the option to bypass this checklist step and use the Physical Count Variance Report (detailed in Step 7) as your primary auditing checklist.

Step 7: Executing the Report Update & GL Posting

This final phase updates your core ledger balances and syncs the financial data.

1. Running the System Update

Navigate to Physical Count Report/Update. To successfully execute the ledger overwrite, you must apply the following report parameters:

• Set all range selection toggles from FIRST to LAST.
• Verify that the correct Year and Period are specified.
• Select the options to Print Additional Detail and Do Not Print Unchanged Items.

2. Validating Discrepancies

Print the report and audit the variance margins before running the system commit tool.

• If Errors are Found: Safely exit the update interface, return to Step 5 (Physical Count Entry), correct the mismatched counts, and rerun your report.
• If Totals Balance: Proceed and authorize the data update.

3. General Ledger Integration

If you updated distributor-owned stock, the system will automatically generate a corresponding General Ledger balance adjustment.

• To review and commit this financial change, navigate to: General Ledger > Updates > Journal Posting .
• Print the journal entry worksheet, perform a final administrative review, and finalize the update posting.