How cycle counts update on-hand inventory

Jump to: Short answer · Set vs add · Storage areas · Count date · Same day · Backdated · Not posted · Templates setting · Locations · Setups

The short answer

A counted line sets your on-hand quantity for that item. It does not add to what you already had. When you submit, Galley compares your counted quantity with what it held at the end of the count date and adjusts on-hand by the difference.

• A blank line changes nothing. A zero empties the item.
• Items that are not on the count are never touched.
• If two counts cover the same item, location, storage area and date, the one you submitted last wins. Counts do not add up, unless your company has turned on "Count templates cover separate storage areas" (see below).
• A count takes effect at the end of its count date.
• If a count did not change on-hand, the line shows an orange triangle that tells you why.

A count sets on-hand, it does not add to it

Say Galley holds 10 cases of flour and you count 8. After you submit, on-hand is 8, so Galley records a shortage of 2. If you count 12, on-hand is 12, so Galley records a surplus of 2.

A surplus goes into the line's storage area. A shortage comes out of existing stock, oldest stock first (lots are taken by expiry date).

Counts with and without storage areas

If your company uses sub-locations, the New Cycle Count form has a Sub Locations field. Sub-locations and storage areas are the same thing.

• If you pick one or more storage areas, the count is scoped to them. Each line reads and sets only its own storage area.
• If you leave Sub Locations empty, the count is location-wide. Its lines are compared with the item's total on-hand across every storage area at the location. A shortage can come out of any storage area, not just unassigned stock.

Which lines a new count starts with depends on how you create it:

The same item can be on two storage areas of one count. Both lines are counted, and each posts to its own area.

Removing a storage area from an in-progress count deletes its lines, including quantities you already entered. Adding the area back does not bring them back.

Count dates and time zones

The count date decides when a count takes effect: at the end of that day, in the time zone of the person who submits it. The time you submit only breaks ties between counts with the same date.

• The New Cycle Count form has no date field. A new count is dated today, in your local time.
• While a count is in progress, a user with edit permission can change its date. Changing the date or the location re-prices the counted lines.
• If your company uses Limit Cycle Count Backdating, a count dated more than the set number of days ago cannot be submitted.
• All counts for one location and one date take effect at the same moment, which is fixed by the first count submitted for that date.

Two counts of the same item on the same day

When two counts cover the same item, location, storage area and date, the count you submitted last sets on-hand. With "Count templates cover separate storage areas" off (the default, and every company today), this is true whether the counts use the same template, different templates, or no template. Counts on the same day do not add up. The earlier count shows a note that another count of the item for the same date was submitted after it.

A location-wide count and a storage-area count of the same item on the same day do not replace each other. Whichever you submit later waits until the earlier one has posted (this can take up to 24 hours), then sets on-hand from the balance that includes it.

Counting in the past

You can count for an earlier date. A backdated count changes on-hand as of the end of its own date. Receipts, usage and transfers after that date stay on top of it, so today's on-hand moves by the same difference.

There is one rule to watch. If a count of the same item at the same location with a later date has already been submitted, the earlier-dated line posts nothing. This applies whichever storage area, or template, the later count used, as long as "Count templates cover separate storage areas" is off. It is off by default, and it is off for every company today. With it on, a later count from another template adds to a templated location-wide count instead of closing it. A later count that entered a zero counts as a later count. A later count that left the item blank does not.

To avoid this, submit counts in date order. When you count several storage areas for the same day, give them all the same count date.

When a count did not post to on-hand

A line that did not change on-hand shows an orange triangle with "Count did not post to on-hand". Point at it to see the reason.

Count templates cover separate storage areas

This company setting is off by default. A company admin can turn it on in Settings, in the Inventory / Cycle counts section. It changes what happens when counts made from different templates cover the same item on the same date.

With the setting off, the count you submitted last wins, even when the counts come from different templates. With it on, counts from different templates add up: each template's count of an item replaces only that template's own last count of it.

When to turn it on

Turn it on only when each template counts a physically separate area with no overlapping stock. For example, a "Bakery" template and a "Kitchen" template that cover two different rooms.

When not to turn it on

Leave it off if the same item sits on two templates that count the same shelf. Adding the counts up would count that item twice. If you want stock kept per area, storage areas are usually the better tool.

Multiple locations

Every rule in this article applies per location and per item. A count at one location never changes on-hand at another location, and counts at different locations never replace each other. Count each location separately.

Recommended setups

To see how these counts show up in your reports, see "Which inventory reports use your cycle counts".