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Identifying Inventory Changes

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Using the Inventory: Change History report to monitor inventory activity

CDBWin helps you monitor changes to your inventory through use of the Inventory: Change History report— a window into the who, what, where, and when of inventory change. In addition to displaying changed list prices, the report also shows you if a department/subdepartment/account was changed, or if the item was deleted. Other important information about the change is also included, which is described below. Operators can view this report on a regular basis to ensure their staff is holding to the organization's margin expectations and not making any unauthorized price changes.

There are two kinds of Inventory: Change History reports: Inventory Changes and POS Import Changes. You make your selection from the Report Type box (circled in the following illustration). Some selections you make in the filter window change depending on the kind of report you select.

Key information provided by the Inventory Changes report includes:

A list of changed prices, changed departments/subdepartments/accounts (expense items are included)
Added items
Deleted items
From where the changes originated within CDB or outside of CDB
The logged user name at the time the change was made

Key information provided by the POS Import Changes report includes:

What items were imported from the CDB to the poller interface
When the items were imported from the CDB to the poller interface
The name of the poller interface
The list price at the time the item was imported
The logged user name at the time the change was made

To access the Inventory: Change History report:

On the Reports menu, click Items/Inventory > Change History. The following filter window appears:

Work through the filter window as follows:
- Report Type — Select Inventory Changes or POS Import Changes.
- CDB Account Range — Select the department/account range on which you wish to report, including subdepartment. To print IDs from a single department/account, type/select the same department/account number for From Account # and To Account #.
- Beginning Change Date — Select the date to start the date range on which you want to report changes.
- Ending Change Date — Select the date to end the date range on which you want to report changes.
- Item/Inventory ID — Leave this box clear to include all items which meet the criteria you enter into this window or select an individual item from the box. If you select an individual item, you can more easily track changes to it over time. See Tracking Changes for an Individual Item to see how this works.
- User Name — Leave this box clear to include changes made by all users. To see changes made by an individual user, select a User ID from the box. The “User Name” column on the report includes a column to show you under whose User ID the change was made (see report example below).
- Source — Leave this box clear to include changes made in all parts of the system or select a specific source from the combo box. There is a “Source” column on the report to show you the area where the change was made.
  If Inventory Changes is selected in the Report Type box, the following options become available:
  - Adjust — Addition, deletion or change to the list made in the Inventory Adjustment window (on the Reports menu, click Inventory > Item Adjustment)
  - EDI — Addition or change to the list made when the EDI file was imported. In the case of an EDI delivery file this would include added items in addition to changes. In the case of an EDI item file, it includes only added items (on the Daily Work menu, click Purchases/Payables > EDI > Receive and Convert).
  - Hand-Held — The change to the list was made when a DSD was posted to CDBWin, using the HDP application, with the Apply List Price from Invoice to CDB check box selected.
  - HHTServer — New items that are received to the system through scanning DSDs or INVs.
  - InvMaint — Changes, additions or deletions made in the Inventory Maintenance window (on the Setup menu, click Inventory > Items (PLU/UPC/SKU).
  - LineItems — Changes, additions or deletions made in the "Line Items" tab of a paidout.
  - <PollerName> — Changes, additions or deletions that are imported from the CDB to the poller interface.
  When POS Import Changes is selected in the Report Type box, only <PollerName> is available in the Source box.
- Primary Sort — Use this box to sort your report by Inventory ID, Change Date, Source and User Name.
Click View or Print to see the report.

Inventory Changes

A typical Inventory Changes report sorted by Source and including all User Names and all Sources is shown below:

As can be seen, this report contains the inventory change information discussed previously (such as Source, User Name and Change Time/Date). In addition, users should note that:

(1) The sort type is noted in the upper left-hand corner of the report.
(2) This column displays the most recent department/subdepartment/account change.
(3) This column displays the most recent list price change.
(4) If an item has not changed, but has been added or deleted, a notation will appear here (A for addition; D for delete).

Tracking Changes for an Individual Item

It is possible to easily see each specific change to an item over time by isolating it within a date range. To do this:

In the Inventory: Change History report filter window, enter a Beginning Change Date previous to the addition of the item in your store. You can set the Ending Change Date to the current shift.
In the Item/Inventory ID box, type or select the item for which you wish to see changes.
Leave the User Name and Source boxes blank so you can see all changes.
In the Primary Sort box, select Change Date as to keep the items in chronological order.

The result is a report that looks something like this:

Here's what we can learn about the item's change history from looking at the above:

(1) The item was added on 1/26/2007. We know because it is notated with an A.
(2) On 8/22/2007 the priced changed to 1.99.
(3) On 7/23/2008 the price again changed to 2.69.
(4) On 7/29/2008 the price did not change, but the department changed to 22.00.

POS Import Changes

A typical Inventory Changes report sorted by Change Date for a store that uses the Passport is shown below:

While the POS Import Changes version of this report shares many of its characteristics with the Inventory Changes report, it does contain some important differences.

(1) If there has been a change to the UPC at the POS, a check mark will appear in this column.
(2) This column shows the POS department.
(3) As this report shows what item changes have occurred at the POS, it lists the Source as the poller interface, since that's where changed items are literally changed.