Using the Critical Inventory Feature of CDBWin

Tip: Spot check critical inventory items.

Overview

Every retailer has departments, item groups or items that require extra attention, including brisk movers and those susceptible to shrink, like cigarettes or lottery scratchers. Accurate monitoring of these "hot" items is one way to make sure you maximize profit from the items on your shelves. The Critical Inventory feature, introduced as part of CDBWin 7.4.3, helps you spot check accurately for variances.

How to Use It

Step 1: Identify a critical inventory item set that can be used to indicate broad-based performance.

That way, if potential issues surface you can expand your analysis to a larger sample of items and take corrective action before the problem negatively affects your bottom line. Taking a physical count on a small set of items can be accomplished quickly. Think of it as a "watch list" containing three to five items from each critical department.

Step 2: Enter the items into CDBWin using the Critical Inventory feature.

1. On the Daily Work menu, click Critical Inventory. The Critical Inventory window displays:
   
   
   
2. Use the ID/PLU combo boxes to select the critical inventory items identified in step 1. Press F6 to call up the complete list of inventory items to select from it. Note: You can also use CDBWin's Item Adjustment tool to create a critical inventory set. The "Item Adjustment" section of the CDBWin User's Guide contains a section on how to do this.

Step 3: Take a physical shelf count of the items in the inventory set.

1. After you finish selecting critical inventory items in CDBWin, click Print Form to print your watch list.
2. Hand the list to the person that takes shelf counts in your organization and have them write those counts in the space provided:
   
   

Step 4: Enter the shelf count into the Critical Inventory feature of CDBWin and identify any variance.

1. Type the quantity found in the Count column. The quantity you typed appears in the Physical Close column. If the item is a multi-pack, CDBWin does the math for you (for example, if you type in a quantity of 1 for a 12-pack container, 12 will appear in the Physical Close column).
2. CDBWin will automatically compare the physical inventory count to the last book count recorded in CDBWin (it appears in the Book Close column). If there is a variance, it appears in the Variance column.

Important note: Once you close the shift any variances that are generated as a result of what you entered in Critical Inventory will be committed to the system and used to re-calculate the book value. That's why, when ending the shift an Critical Inventory-related alert appears if a variance is about to be posted.

Step 5: Continue monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

Print the watch list and have your critical items counted daily. If variances repeatedly occur, it may indicate a larger problem at which time you may want to initiate a spot audit of the entire department using the Hand-Held Terminal.

For more information.....

For a more detailed look at the operation of the Critical Inventory feature of CDBWin, please consult the CDBWin User's Guide, specifically the sections "Critical Inventory" in Chapter 1, and "Critical Inventory Report" in Chapter 3.

For Past Tips of the Month...

Consult the Tip of the Month Library and click on the tip of choice.