Inventory
Inventory is the part of the system that tracks the goods your clinic holds — the gel, the gloves, the implants, the products you sell over the counter — and what they cost you.
It is off until you switch it on. A clinic that does not track stock never sees a menu entry, a screen or a setting for it, and nothing on any other page changes.
TIP
Not sure you need it? If you only sell services, or you buy supplies and never count them, leave it off. Inventory earns its keep the moment somebody asks "how much of that do we have left, and what did it cost us?"
Before You Switch It On
Inventory needs two other modules already on, because stock costs money and money has to go somewhere:
| Needed | Why |
|---|---|
| Invoices | Selling a product is a line on an invoice |
| Journal and Chart of Accounts | Buying stock creates a debt, and using it is an expense |
The switch on the Plugins page tells you if either one is missing, and will not let you continue until both are on.
Switching It On
Setting → Plugins, then the Inventory switch under Stock.
Switching it on does three things:
- Builds the tables Inventory keeps its records in.
- Gives every branch a main store — so stock always has somewhere to be, and a clinic with one store is never asked which one.
- Adds a Purchasing section to the menu under Money, and hangs the stock screens — what is below reorder, stock movements, stocktakes, waste, the loss report and the inventory settings board — under Products and services, beside the catalogue they are about.
Switching It Off
Nothing is deleted. Your stores, balances and history stay exactly as they are; the menu entry and the screens disappear until you switch it back on.
WARNING
Stock keeps moving while the module is off — and nothing records it. If you switch Inventory off for a month and then back on, the balances are the ones from a month ago. Run a stocktake before you trust them. The system says this to you when you switch it back on.
What You Get
| Screen | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Stores | Where the stock sits: one per branch to start with, more if you keep stock in more than one place |
| Stocked items | What you hold: the unit an item is measured in, its packs, its category, its reorder level and what it cost |
| Suppliers | The companies you buy from, what you owe each of them, and their opening balances |
| Purchasing | Ordering, receiving, what a delivery really cost, supplier invoices, payments and returns |
| Stocktake and waste | Counting the shelf against the system, and writing off what was broken, expired or spilled |
| Product profit | What each product earns: cost taken at the moment of sale, returns, and what sells below cost |
Who Can See It
| Permission | Lets somebody |
|---|---|
| See stores | Open the inventory settings board and read the stores list |
| Add and edit stores | Open a second store, rename one, close one, delete an unused one |
Everyone with a role gets See stores when Inventory first arrives. Add and edit stores is given to nobody — hand it out yourself, in Setting → Roles, to whoever runs your stock.