Counting your stock with Iris
A stock count tells you what's really on your shelves, what's gone missing and what it's worth. Iris walks you through one in four steps: choose what to count, count it (on paper, on a tablet or by scanning), review the differences as money, and apply them. Your orders keep shipping the whole time, and nothing in your stock changes until someone taps Apply count.
There are three ways in:
- Inventory → Warehouses → Count stock
- Inventory → Products → Bulk edit → Count stock, which starts with the warehouse you had chosen there
- I want to… → Count my stock
Every count you've made is kept under Inventory → Products → Counts, each with its own record you can print.
Who can do what
Anyone who can see your stock can start a count and enter counts, so the people on the floor can do the counting. Applying a count, closing it without applying and Start over change your stock records, so they need an owner or admin, or a team role that can adjust stock. Everyone else sees "Ask someone who can adjust stock to apply this count."
1. What to count
Pick the warehouse, then what to count in it:
- Everything in the warehouse
- A category
- Product types (raw ingredients, finished goods, supplies)
- Chosen products, found by name, SKU or barcode
- A cycle count: a set number of products, either the ones worth the most on the shelf or the ones not counted for the longest. Counting a few products often is easier than counting everything at once, and over a few weeks it covers the whole warehouse.
Iris then makes the count list. A few things to know:
- Lot-tracked products get one line per lot that has stock in the warehouse, plus an Unlisted lot line for units you find with a lot number that isn't on record.
- Kits made of components get no line. A kit's stock comes from its components, so count those instead.
- Quarantine warehouses aren't offered. Stock in quarantine is released, not counted.
Once the list is made it's fixed. To count something else, choose Start over: the count is cancelled and kept in your Counts list, and nothing in your stock changes.
2. Count sheets and tablets
- Download count sheet gives you a printable PDF of every line, in shelf order (by bin location, like a pick list), with a blank column to write the count in. It doesn't show how many Iraca expects, so whoever counts writes down what they see.
- To count on a tablet or phone, scan the QR code or copy the link. It opens this same count.
3. Counting
Each line has the product, its SKU, bin, lot and the figure Iraca expects. Enter what you find:
- Type the number and move on. Each line saves on its own as soon as you leave the field.
- On a tablet, use − and +.
- Scan with a barcode scanner (it types into the scan field) or the camera. Each scan adds one, as on a pick list. If the product is lot-tracked, Iris shows its lots and asks which one you're holding.
- Skip a line you won't count today. Skipped lines stay as they are.
- On an Unlisted lot line, enter the lot number and expiry of the units you found. Without a lot number they can't be added to your stock.
Products you count one by one take whole numbers; products measured by weight or volume (such as lb) can have decimals.
Several people can count the same count at once, each on their own device. The progress bar at the top shows how many lines are done and who counted what.
Importing counts from a list
If your counts are in a spreadsheet, choose Import counts. Paste or upload a list with the SKU and quantity, plus lot and expiry for lot-tracked products. Review shows each row and any problem (an unknown SKU, a product that isn't on this count, a duplicate, a kit) before anything is saved. Then Save records the good rows, just as if they had been typed.
Why a count uses what was on hand when each line was counted
Counting a warehouse can take an afternoon, and orders keep shipping while you count. So Iris remembers, for each line, how many Iraca had on record at the moment you counted it, and when you apply the count it books only the difference.
Say Iraca had 12 boxes of a product on record when you counted 10 of them. Later that day, 3 boxes ship, so Iraca shows 9. Applying the count takes the 2 missing boxes off, and you end with 7. It doesn't set the figure to 10, which would bring back the 3 boxes that already left. If you count a line again, it compares with what was on hand at that new moment.
This is different from Bulk edit, which sets the stock to the number you type. That's right for a quick correction, but not for a count that takes hours.
4. Review the differences
The review shows, for each line, what was expected, what was counted, the difference and its value at the product's cost when it was counted. At the top are the totals: shortages, overages and the net change, with the biggest differences first. You can sort, filter and search.
Iris flags lines worth a second look:
- Large difference: at least 20% of what was expected and worth at least 50.00 in your currency
- Not counted: lines nobody has counted or skipped (they'll stay as they are)
- Lots can't cover this shortage: a lot-tracked product counted short by more than its lots on record hold
- Won't apply, with the reason, for any other line that applying would refuse
To check a line again, tick it and choose Recount. Its count is cleared and it goes back to counting, and the count's record notes who sent it back and when. When you're happy, Mark as reviewed (optional) lets your team know.
5. Apply
The last step shows what applying will do: the lines that will change, the value of the shortages and overages, and the lines that will stay as they are. Apply count then books it in one tap:
- Each line is booked on its own. A line that can't be applied (for example, a lot that no longer has enough stock) is reported with its reason, and the rest still go through.
- Lines not counted, skipped or counted as expected stay as they are.
- Shortages are written off and overages are booked as stock found, both to Inventory Adjustments in your books, at the product's cost.
- Each sales channel affected gets the new stock once.
After you apply, you see what changed line by line, and the count can no longer be edited.
Close without applying changes nothing. The count stays open with its counts, so it can be picked up and applied later from its record.
The count's record
Every count is listed under Inventory → Products → Counts (also on the Warehouses page), newest first. Filter by status (open, applied, cancelled) or warehouse, and open a count to see its record:
- who started it and when, and who applied it and when (or when it was cancelled)
- who counted how many lines, and any recounts
- every line: expected, counted, the difference and its value, who counted it and when, and what applying did to it
- what posted to Inventory Adjustments: how much was written off, how much was found and the net, with the number of stock movements (their reference is
COUNT-and the count's number)
The totals at the top use each product's cost when its line was counted; the books use the cost on the day the count was applied. The two differ only if a cost changed during the count.
Print opens the whole record, every line included, ready to print or save as a PDF from your browser's print dialog.
For a count that's still open, the record offers Continue counting, or Pick this count up again if it was closed without applying.
The next cycle count
When a count has been applied, its finished screen and its record suggest the next cycle count: the products in that warehouse not counted for the longest (products never counted come first), with the first few named. It takes as many products as the count you just finished if that was a cycle count, and 20 otherwise. The link opens a new count with that choice already made; you check it and tap to make the list.
Good to know
- One count covers one warehouse. To count several, start one count for each.
- The expected figure is shown on screen while you count, but never on the printed count sheet.
- A cancelled count stays in your Counts list for the record.
- Your activity feed shows one entry when a count is applied, not one per line.