Stocktaking

The annual stocktake without paper lists: one stocktake for the whole organization, split across several people. Each counts their area, the progress comes together live — and at the end there’s a report that holds up for the audit.

Running a stocktake

1. “New stocktake”: give it a name and set who counts by default (prefilled with whoever starts the stocktake) — on start, the expected stock is frozen as a snapshot (cut-off date). What doesn’t need counting is already sensibly preset: low-value, recently moved or recently confirmed items are skipped, and the counter shows live how much is really left to count. If needed, the scope can be limited to one location.

2. Distribute areas — the centerpiece: the overview shows all locations as a tree in walking order, with progress and responsible person per row. One click in a row assigns a building, a floor or a single room to a person; sub-locations inherit the assignment (“Default (from Building A)”) and can be overridden individually — the most specific assignment wins. The person set at the start is responsible for everything else until it’s distributed. Whoever gets an area assigned is notified automatically. Every participant sees the stocktake as one task under “My tasks” — with live progress across all their locations:

   

3. Counting: walk through the rooms with the mobile app and scan labels — a scan is exactly the same tick as “Confirm” in the list. The app guides you through the walk: tapping your own task shows your locations in walking order, with the expected items right inside — “Confirm” or “Not found” per row. “Scan” opens the camera right there in the list; every scan ticks its item off wherever it belongs, and the “x left” count shows what is still to be found. Once the last expected item is handled, the location wraps itself up and the app suggests the next one — no ticking off needed. Whatever can’t be found is marked “Not found” per item — individually or for all remaining at once: “Finish location — mark 2 as not found”. At the computer, the “My count” tab shows the same work on one page: your locations as a tree, the expected items right inside, “Confirm” or “Not found” per row — confirmed ones disappear, finished locations sink to the bottom. Works with a handheld scanner too. Several people count at the same time:

   

4. The progress comes together live in the overview — per location and per person in the tree:

   

5. The “Review” tab automatically collects what was marked “Not found” during the walk — the honest leftover list while the stocktake runs, with a note of who marked it and when. If an item turns up after all, one scan is enough; if the marking was a mistake, it can be lifted per item.

6. “Close stocktake”: if items are still open or not found, a dialog shows exactly what closing means beforehand. Then the report is frozen and kept as evidence. Export as CSV or Excel; the PDF report with signature fields is the document for filing and the audit — with cut-off date, method and result location by location.

Counting containers

If material sits in a container — say, tools in a case — the container itself is enough: after counting it, the app offers “Confirm all n items”, and one tap counts the packed contents along with it. Each item is treated as if it had been scanned individually. The offer appears in the room screen at the computer as in the mobile app’s scan walk; whoever prefers to open the case and check simply keeps counting individually. The PDF report keeps the origin traceable: items confirmed via a container carry the suffix “via ‘container’” in the count column.

The results

Every item ends with one unambiguous outcome: Confirmed, Not found, or accounted for in the system — someone moved it in the app during the stocktake, so it is documented rather than missing, and the report names who moved it and when. Scanning something that isn’t part of this stocktake changes nothing: the app says so and you keep going. The PDF report shows the results location by location in walking order, distinguishes “marked during the walk” (someone looked — with name and time) from “not checked” (never handled), and lists all discrepancies in the appendix.

Review

The “Review” tab cleans up, even after closing:

• Mark missing items as lost — each gets a status entry referencing the stocktake.
• Undo a “Not found” — if the mark was a mistake, or the item turned up after all, one click per row puts it back; a scan does the same thing on the walk.