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Inventory Management Features:

The primary objective of the Inventory Management System from Legler Systems is to process inventory information in an online environment, so specific online procedures are performed in seconds rather than the hours required by traditional batch methods of computer processing. This IM system performs the basic inventory management objectives by providing a complete and accurate record of all stock transactions affecting each item or product in inventory.

Specific Inventory Management features and objectives of this software are highlighted below:

  1. Maintain a separate Product Activity Record on each item in the inventory reflecting a chronological history of stock transactions - receipts (ins), transfers and sales (outs).

  2. Automatically update the inventory from completed sales orders in the OE System so manual entry of withdrawals (sales) is minimized.

  3. Print packing lists (IM12) for sales orders to aid in inventory picking and order processing. Packing lists are printed on letter-size paper for direct mailing to customers with the company heading format specified by System-Option-12 (DB03). This inventory management feature can be overridden at the time the packing list is printed.

  4. Print management reports, such as Stock Status Report, Product Activity Report and others, to provide an audit trail of stock transactions entered into the IM System.

  5. Maintain Product Master Records on each item in the inventory that is handled by the company, including description, unit price, list price, Item-Group code, cost, quantity on-hand and other data fields.

  6. Handle multiple warehouses by defining a separate Warehouse Code as Code Definition Records (DB01).

  7. Calculate the economic order quantity (EOQ) and reorder point based upon actual product sales. The results of these inventory calculations assist in stock replenishment decisions.

  8. Calculate inventory value based upon actual cost, LIFO (Last In First Out) or FIFO (First In First Out) method.

  9. Maintain a separate onhold quantity field to reflect the quantity sold in the OE System but not yet processed in the IM System by procedure IM05.

  10. Provide online inquiry capability to (1) query data elements about a single product, and (2) display historical information about an item in inventory.

  11. Define an Active-Flag to prohibit online entry of inactive customer and product codes, yet keep those old codes for historical reporting purposes.

  12. Provide source document control over stock transactions entered into the computer by establishing batch numbers.

  13. Provide the capability to create custom IM reports where the user defines the data fields to be selected, sorted and printed (DB12).

  14. Provide auxiliary input capability for initial file establishment and the processing of input created by other computerized systems, including separate data entry operations.

  15. Automatically display a detail record (Product Activity Record or Product Master Record) when function key F7 is pressed from a data entry procedure (IM01) and an inquiry procedure IM10. This inventory management objective enables the operator to quickly drill down to more information.

  16. Provide import and export capability using any PC ASCII file (comma separated fields) containing inventory transactions ("ins" and "outs").

  17. Automatic item number lookup occurs whenever the product name initials are entered as the item number for fast item number lookup. Product name initials are manually or automatically set in the Product Master Record.

  18. Handle item price discounts at the customer level.

  19. Create kits or assemblies of a group of products already defined in the IM System to support customer order processing. Each kit is assigned its own item or product number.

  20. Define separate Item-Group codes, as Code Definition Records (DB03) to group similar items for processing and reporting purposes. This inventory management objective allows the user to define multiple Item-Group codes as necessary.

  21. Print Price Lists (IM16) for a specific customer or all customers and for a specific Item-Group code or all Item-Groups. Price lists are printed on letter-size paper.

  22. Automatically update the Order-Status code as various IM procedures are completed to reflect the current status of each sales order.

  23. Provide system options in the Company Control Record to handle 6-digit and 8-digit dates for user preference.

  24. In addition to online processing, batch job processing is supported where IM report requests are entered online for later batch processing.
The Inventory Management System monitors the status of all items in an inventory, as well as product movements into and out of the inventory. When products or items are received into inventory, the Enter Product Activity Record procedure IM01 is executed to manually enter the quantity, cost, bin location, date and other data about the item received. This same procedure can be used to enter items taken from inventory, if the Order Entry System is not installed. If the OE System is installed, then procedure IM05 is used to automatically process completed sales orders and update the IM System with items sold (outs).

Based upon the inventory activity ("ins" and "outs") for each product, several types of inventory calculations are performed to control and monitor the amount of stock to carry:

  1. Calculate economic order quantity (EOQ):

    Based upon annual sales, cost of placing an order with a supplier and the carrying cost, the EOQ is mathematically computed for the optimum quantity to order.

  2. Calculate reorder point:

    Based upon annual sales and safety stock, the reorder point (stock quantity level) identifies when to order more stock.

  3. Compute total "ins" and total "outs":

    The total quantity received (ins) and sold (outs) is computed for any time period and stored in the Product Master Record for subsequent reporting or display.

  4. Calculate inventory value:

    The total value of the inventory can be based on actual cost, LIFO or FIFO method.

An important design feature of the Inventory Management System and the Order Entry System is the use of an Order-Status code to track the sales order through various stages of completion. Order-Status codes are defined by Code Definition Records, which allow the user to add new codes. The Order-Status code is automatically changed when various inventory management procedures are executed as follows:

  1. Procedure IM12 (packing list) changes the Order-Status code from 11 to 13.

  2. Procedure IM05 (update inventory from filled orders) changes the Order-Status code from 51 to 55.

  3. Procedure IM14 (purge) deletes old inventory records with a Order-Status code greater than 70.
Order Entry System procedures OE01 and OE02 can be used to manually change the Order-Status code.

The IM System procedures that can be run by the user are identified in the Inventory Management Menu document.

More Information on Inventory Management Objectives:

For additional information on this online Inventory Management software, please e-mail Bill Legler in the SF Bay Area, California or go to the main Inventory Management System page.

Version 7.11 - Copyright 2009 by Legler Systems Company. All rights reserved.