In this document, we will give step-by-step instructions and discuss the counting options available through the instruction process.
Before conducting any physical inventory it is important to have a plan. Your plan will depend heavily on the available tools and philosophy you have toward the counting process. Here are a few questions you should ask before you start.
It is also important to understand do we want to Cycle Count parts, which means a regularly scheduled counting of parts throughout the year, or do a big once-a-year count? This will impact some of the decisions made moving forward, and below you will see a path for both options.
- Are we conducting an annual inventory or are we Cycle Counting?
- Annual counting usually involves shutting down for a number of days. It can be an expensive process if not efficiently conducted but almost necessary if doing annual counts.
- Cycle Counting is a technique that counts products on a more frequently scheduled basis. If you use a min-max process in your dealership this is the best way to maintain that ordering efficiency.
- Cycle Counting can be done while you are open. There are extra steps to the process when this is done and most adjustments should have manual reviews before updating inventory, so counting the correct products at the correct times can really help if you want to do this why you are open.
- Will Dx1 let me do Physical Inventory while my dealership is open?
- DX1 offers all clients the ability to do a physical inventory either during business hours or when the store is closed.
- If you conduct inventory while open there will be a step you will encounter at the end of the process that will make you review all the products that have inventory adjustments different from your expected and counted.
- You will see the new actual amount and decide to ignore or apply the updates. This will be explained in the workflow below, but keep in mind this adds additional steps and work.
- Will we be using the traditional method of printing off count sheets and then entering parts manually?
- Remember you are doing twice the data recording, once on paper, and again into Dx1, and costly mistakes can happen in this process.
- Count sheets can create a bottleneck in the amount of data that can flow into Dx1, ultimately slowing down the process.
- How good are we at documenting our counts? Basically, can we write the correct inventory value on the right line?
- The upside is you can get all employees available for counting and that is important.
- If you are looking to go paperless. DX1 has a paperless solution using a mobile device that eliminates many of the pains of this process
- Of the two types of scanners, those that store data and those that don't, do we have the right ones for our dealership?
- Barcode scanners traditionally do not sync data in real-time, you cannot see who has counted what in the DMS. You also cannot edit that data being counted on the scanner from another device, you just have to wait for the data dump.
- Barcode scanners that do not have data storage are more affordable, but depending on the quality they can be inconsistent in performance and have the issue of a scanner needing to be linked to a single machine.
- Barcode scanners using a USB to connect to the PC limit the counting range based on the quality of the product. If using a laptop this can be a reasonable way to go, but if you have 10 employees available to count will you have 10 scanners and laptops to keep them all counting?
- Dx1 can only take 100 scanned items at a time.
- In many cases, scanners get misplaced and damaged, they are something that tends to get used once a year, so dealers know they need to be smart about what they invest in barcode scanners, and understand if the investment is worth it.
Those four questions usually determine how a counting plan is going to be conducted in your dealership. Make sure before you get this process going to come up with answers to those questions. You may find you have to blend them together to get things done as fast as possible.
In the steps below you will see a workflow that allows dealers to count physical inventory using a mobile device such as a cell phone. Using a mobile device to conduct physical inventory provides these benefits:
- Data updates in real-time. Watch who has counted what, how many, when, and where in real-time.
- Real-time Smart Reporting. Generate a report of real-time counting data to deeper analyze counted data using parameters, filters, and ordering.
- The DX1 Continuous Counting tool is specifically designed for counting on a mobile device. If this is a new concept to you in DX1 then the steps below will guide you through using the mobile option within DX1.
There are a few things DX1 recommends you do before beginning a physical inventory process. These are suggestions only, please follow any current process in place by your management otherwise.
- Run the "Negative Quantity On Hand" report, this is because DX1 does not count negative quantities.
- Close out all open parts invoices or ROs if possible, this will help for an accurate count. (Note that all closed invoices attached to service or sales invoices are already out of the physical inventory)
- Make sure your special orders are accurate. Almost all dealers have special order invoices open, but the customer had already taken the parts. Do an audit of your special orders to make sure you do not spend a lot of wasted time looking for parts that are not in the building.
Now that you have done your best to make sure all your invoicing is clean, you can now start the step-by-step process. If you do not have access to Physical Inventory in DX1 please see your dealership administrator to request access.
Note:
- This Physical Inventory process is an "ALL OR NOTHING" update. Once the physical inventory is posted all parts will be updated, and parts with an Actual Count of 0 will be updated and set to a zero quantity.
- Keep in mind if at any point you cancel the process on the counting page, and return to the Search page, you will lose all your session information and there will be a big warning banner letting you know so, so guard this process tightly.
- If at any time you use the back button to move from one page to another, it will force all other users to go to the same page. So this should be done by admin only.
Note: Once a session is started it stays open even if everyone closes their computers and logs out. This way you can come in the next day and you can pick up where you left off.
If you prefer video instruction, here is a short video that goes over the Physical Inventory process in DX1. You can view that video here:
Workflow - Each step refers to what device, counting tools, and type of user should be doing in each step.
Step 1 - Admin
It is not required but recommended administering a session through a desktop machine. This will not limit use but it will be required when finishing the process. With that said, navigate to the Physical Inventory page in Dx1. The quickest way to get there is to click the menu option in the left-hand corner of your DX1 screen.
Note: You can click on any image to see a larger view
Step 2 - Admin
Click the Inventory Management option. Note if you click the title it will load Inventory Management on the current page. If you use the arrow icon to the right of the title it will open the page in a new tab.
Step 3 - Admin
In the left navigation menu, click the Physical Inventory option under Management. If you do not see this option you need to contact your system administrator for access.
Step 4 (Desktop) - Admin
Choose the filter by option. In this case, you are going to count all vendors so you will leave Manufacturer, Vendor, and Bins unselected. This will add all currently in stock dealership parts to the search results.
Had you been Cycle Counting you could have selected specific criteria. Perhaps you just want to count one Vendor only, you could have selected just one vendor, clicked search, and followed all the steps below.
To display results in a particular way, you can use the Order By options to set that up. Once that is done click the "Search" button. See the image below in step 5.
If you have decided to count all parts then leave all criteria as they are and click Start. If you have decided to do a partial inventory count use the filters to select just those parts and click Start
Step 5 (Desktop) - Admin
You will now see a basic preview of the parts associated with your search criteria. Once you are ready to start your counting process you can navigate to the top right of the page and click the "Start" button.
Step 6 - Admin - Best Practice
This is not so much a step but a best practice. It was previously referenced that it would be a good idea for whoever is administering the entire process to base themselves on a desktop. This is mostly due to two factors:
- It is simpler to see how information is updated on the counting pages.
- DX1 records who and when an item was updated by, in real-time, and the desktop session is designed for monitoring this process. This is not easily visible in the mobile format as the mobile functions are more focused on counting.
Step 7 - Admin - Best Practice
Huddle your team up and come up with a plan. There are a lot of things that can be done to avoid mistakes of double counting or missing parts in a dealership. Remember your DMS can only show you what you have in your system, so you have to think about reminding people to keep an eye out for parts missing from your inventory.
Additionally, you will want to come up with a marking system to help track which bins, racks, shelves, or parts have been counted. DX1 takes a lot of precautions to not allow users to be in records at the same time, but DX1 cannot stop someone from overwriting recorded data. DX1 will show that a part was updated last, but people have to pay attention.
Step 8 - Users
If using the Mobile option:
Have your counting employees open DX1 on their mobile browser and navigate to the same Physical Inventory page you did on the desktop, just do it using their mobile device.
To do this go to your device browser (Chrome recommended) and go to login.dx1app.com or go to the help section of a desktop session, click help, and click DX1 on Mobile. This will show a QR code you can scan with your mobile device and move on to step 9. If you are using a scanner or count sheets keep reading Step 8.
If using Count Sheets:
If you are planning on using count sheets, go to the menu option on the top right portion of your screen and select the Print Count Sheets option.
You can now print out the count sheets, hand them out, and start counting. When the count sheets come into the Admin they will manually enter the counts into the Counting grid until they receive the Good Job message in Step
and move on to Step 12.
Note: Clicking the Stop button on this page will end the counting session and you will lose all data collected so far. Make sure before you click the Stop button you think this through.
If you are using a scanner:
If you are using a scanner go to the menu option on the top right portion of your screen and select the Use Scanner option.
Note: Clicking the Stop button on this page will end the counting session and you will lose all data collected so far. Make sure before you click the Stop button you think this through.
This will open the Download Inventory From BarCode Scanner Pop-Up. If you are using a scanner that stores data you will use the export option on the scanner to bring the data into the window. Once the data is exported you will see it on the list. Don't forget that Dx1 will only import 100 parts at a time.
If you are using a non-data storing scanner you will need to stay within range of the PC or move around with a laptop. In these instances, you will see the parts being added to the window after each scan.
Once you are ready to bring the parts from the BarCode window into the counting list, you can click the Validate button. That will open the Validate window, which allows you to preview the part details first. Once reviewed you can click Save and all the parts will be loaded into the counting list.
In some cases, you may have part numbers that share vendors. If this is the case the returned results will show in the Invalid Part List Form Scanner portion of the window. You will verify which of the part you actually counted and this will add the part to the verified section of the window and remove the other parts from the list. You can then click save where the parts will be loaded into the counting list. Once you are done adding all parts you can move on to Step 12.
Step 9 (Mobile Only) - Users
After users click the Physical Inventory option on their mobile device, they will land on a page called "Physical Inventory Continuous Counting".
In the case below you are going to assign a specific employee to count the Parts Unlimited portion of the dealership inventory. The mobile user will click the Continuous Count button and start to count in the specified order. In this example, the Order By was not selected so the parts will display as set in the admin-ordered session.
You can now begin to send the other counting users out based on filtered and ordered criteria. Everyone is counting without paper! You will start to see real-time results on the admin PC.
Step 10 (Mobile Only) - Users
After clicking the Continuous Count button the Continuous Count page will be displayed. What makes this process much more efficient is as the employees count only the items they should be looking for based on your organizational plan and filter order will be displayed
On this page, the user can add or edit a Bin Location. If a Bin Location exists it will display matched with the type ahead helping users understand what exists and saving them time when selecting a new Bin Location, no longer do you have to type the entire location out.
Now each user will cycle through the counting list without ever being on the same record as another user.
More importantly, the counting employees will only see the records they counted when using the Previous Part and Next Part buttons. This helps the user navigate to a part more efficiently without allowing them to accidentally edit another user's counted record.
No matter what type of device you are using, when using DX1 a blank value in the Actual field, means there has been no count recorded whatsoever. In the example below you can see that this record is blank.
You may notice in the counting process some parts have an On Hand or Expected value as a number with a blue hyperlink. This is to let you know that there are parts in the Expected or On Hand quantities tied to open invoices.
These could be open ROs, layaway parts, special orders with parts not picked up, uncompleted RMA's, essentially work in progress. Click this hyperlink to quickly see how many and where those parts will be located in your work-in-process locations.
Here you can see that 2 of the expected amounts are associated with invoices 53 and 54. After you locate the part click the X to close the window and add your count quantity.
Step 11 - (Mobile Only) - Users
The mobile user will enter a value and then click the Count button. Once the user does this it will take them to the next non-counted part on the filtered list.
Now that users have recorded counts as mobile users you can look through the parts they have counted. To do this just click the previous or next part buttons. In this case, each part you land on will have a counted value. If the value has a ZERO, that is because someone entered that value, so keep that in mind. The mobile user can then update their value and click count to update the record.
If you are updating a value that has been already been counted remember the amount you enter in the Actual field is the total count of that part. If you had counted 3 but meant to enter a 4, after clicking back to the part you would enter 4 over the 3, do not enter a 1, it will record the value as a 1.
On the desktop Admin session, you will now see count updates displayed in real time. You can modify any of the information displayed. If any user updates a value, that will be the user and time displayed in the count list. In the example, you can see a few parts do not have Bin values. You could now update them yourself or have the counting user go back and update the record right then.
Step 12 Users
After you have finished counting all the parts in your search, you will get an automated pop-up to let you know you have counted all the parts on your list. Click Close and report to your administrator for instructions on what next range of criteria of parts you should continue to count. If you are the Admin on your desktop session and you see this, it means the entire count according to expected is complete.
Mobile:
Desktop
Step 13 (Users)
As mentioned previously the continuous counting system only counts parts that exist in your DX1 inventory. You may have gotten our good job message, but many times parts exist in the dealership that do not show up on your dealer inventory reporting due to having a quantity of zero or negative.
To add these types of parts, or to update a record counted by any user, go to the "Free From Part Entry" portion of the Mobile Counting interface. Simply click into the "Search for Part" field and start searching by part number, description, vendor, or any of the powerful tools offered by the DX1 All fields search tool.
You can also do this as an Admin from the desktop session. Navigate to the last page of results and click on the add part field, it will be right below the last returned record. Enter the part number and press enter and add the count amount. This is also a quick way to edit a part on one of the many pages in your search results.
Once you select the part you need to add or edit on the mobile device, simply enter the appropriate location and qty and click count to add or update the record. In this case, we forgot to add the Bin number. We found the part, selected it and now we can update the Bin value. After updating the record you will click count to update the record.
Step 14 Desktop - (Admin)
Now that all your counting is complete it is good to review all the data and take a backup file. Use the drop-down menu to take a snapshot of exactly where you are in a count. You can print this file as a hard copy or you can also choose to save the report as a digital file.
If you are a backup person this is a good mechanism to take that snapshot at any time. You can also filter and sort the data on the report just to get a better understanding of the details of the counting process. If you want to look at one employee, just select them in the search parameters.
Note: Clicking the Stop button on this page will end the counting session and you will lose all data collected so far. Make sure before you click the Stop button you think this through.
Step 15 Desktop - (Admin)
Now that you have your backup snapshot and all your counting is done, you can click the "Continue" button to move to the "Update" page of Dx1.
If you see parts on this list someone counted a value different than what the system is expecting. The system wants you to basically communicate with your team to make sure this is correct before moving forward to posting your changes permanently. If you feel comfortable that the records are accurate you can then click the Update button.
Keep in mind if at any point you cancel the process on the counting page, and return to the Search page, you will lose all your session information and there will be a big warning banner letting you know so, so guard this process tightly.
If at any time you use the back button to move from one page to another, it will force all other users to go to the same page. So this should be done by admin only.
Step 16 Desktop - (Admin or Owner)
This is probably the most important step of this process. There is no going back. When you decide to click the confirm checkbox and click OK, you have passed a point of no return. Your inventory counts will update in about 15 minutes.
This process should only be done with the system administrator's or owner's permission. Check the box and click OK. If you need to make adjustments you can always click the back button and return to the update or count page.
If you get to this step and you have a really ridiculous number stop and do not proceed. Click cancel, return to the update screen and determine why the count amount is off so much. In the example below the inventory is only adjusting by .86 cents, that is the part manager of the century stuff. Otherwise, always proceed with caution when the adjustment amount seem obviously wrong.
Counting Parts While Open
Step 17 Desktop - (Admin or Owner)
If you decided to count parts while you were open, after checking the box and clicking OK, you will have one more window to review. This window will show you all the part adjustments that were made while the counting process was running. In the steps below I am going to show this with one part. Keep in mind depending on how busy you are you will need to review and verify every part on this list. So smaller more focused counts are probably better while open.
In the example below I have one part in inventory and the expected value is 5. In the morning I count the part but do not finish the session.
During that same time, 1 of the 5 parts was sold. As the admin, you were unaware and checked the update box and clicked the OK button.
You will now see the Inventory Data Has Changed Pop-Up. In this window you will be shown the original expected amount of 5, you will see the actual count in bold is also 5. The key is the OnHand amount. In this case, it is now 4, we know this is correct because we verified the counter did sale 1 and 4 is the correct OH amount.
You now have 2 options to process this change.
- In this case, it is a small number of parts. You can check the box next to the part, change the actual from 5 to 4 and click the Update button. You are done and the value will update correctly your inventory.
- In this case, if you had hundreds of parts on this list and you may not want to review the values and just trust Dx1. If this is the case check all parts and click the ignore update button. This will blindly apply all the changes for you.
So what we are saying is clicking Ignore Update is an at-your-own-risk choice and if done wrong could have huge financial impacts. If you want to minimize results do more smaller focused searches to minimize the potential results. You could also plan to count Winter parts in the Summer and count Summer parts in the Winter, the chances of selling those types of parts are limited.
Either way, after you make your selection you will be notified the process has been Successfully Updated.
Congrats you have finished Physical Inventory!
If you need further assistance reach out to our support team in any of the numbers of ways listed below. Good Luck!
