Congratulations on launching Katana! This guide is built for businesses that outsource some or all of their production. Whether you send raw materials to a contractor or purchase finished goods directly, this guide helps you fine-tune your setup and avoid costly inventory or workflow gaps.
Use it to strengthen cost tracking, streamline collaboration with partners, and scale confidently.
✅ Post-launch checklist
Before moving forward, double-check that your core setup is complete:
Set up general settings (base currency, tax rates, locations - including contractor sites)
Materials and products added, with ‘Make’ and ‘Buy’ enabled on outsourced goods
Configured product usability correctly (typically both ‘Make’ and ‘Buy’ checked)
Created product recipes/BOMs and set contractor pricing
Core workflows tested (sales → creating POs/OPOs → receiving POs/OPOs → fulfillment)
Entered initial inventory at your own and contractor locations
Connected integrations (ecommerce, accounting, CRM if needed)
Added your team and assigned permissions
Need a refresher? Revisit your outsourcing implementation path before continuing.
📌 Key areas to review after launch
1. Product and ingredient costs
Katana calculates product costs for outsourced manufacturing by combining the purchase price (what your contractor charges) and ingredient costs (based on your inventory’s average cost at the contractor’s location).
Purchase price is set per unit on the product card or directly in the OPO, and can include additional costs (e.g. freight) to calculate the landed cost.
Ingredient cost is pulled from your product recipe and calculated using the average cost of materials at the contractor’s location. You can adjust ingredients on the OPO if needed.
Make sure materials are in stock at the contractor’s location before completing the OPO. Otherwise, ingredient cost may default to zero and skew your product costing.
2. Order sync & fulfillment
Confirm that sales orders from ecommerce (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce), and marketplaces (via Extensiv) pull into Katana correctly.
For outsourced items, verify that products are marked with both Make and Buy usability, so you can create OPOs. This ensures ingredient tracking, cost accuracy, and inventory availability across your own and contractor locations.
3. Managing negative stock
If stock drops below zero, it usually means something happened out of sequence, like selling or items, or when OPOs are marked done before materials were received or transferred correctly.
Use Inventory Intel to trace back ingredient movements, and always verify that materials are stocked at the contractor location before completing OPOs.
4. Stock adjustments vs. Stocktakes
Use the right tool for inventory corrections:
Stock adjustments are for quick fixes like breakage or minor discrepancies. Make them manually or in bulk using the ‘Update stock levels and values’ template.
Stocktakes are for scheduled inventory checks across items or locations to catch larger gaps and keep records accurate.
5. Adding new items
As you expand your catalog or work with new contractors, add products, subassemblies, or services accordingly. Review usability settings ('Make' and ‘Buy’ enabled), and pricing to ensure everything flows correctly.
6. Keeping products and stock up to date
In outsourced workflows, keeping your product and inventory data accurate is key to smooth operations with your contractors. Use Katana’s bulk import tools to update product details like purchase prices, default suppliers, and more, without editing items one by one.
Set safety stock levels for both raw materials and finished goods to avoid production delays. Katana will alert you when items fall below these thresholds so you can replenish in time, whether that means creating a PO, OPO, or a stock transfer.
7. Invoice and billing flows (if accounting is integrated)
Ensure that invoices and bills are syncing into your accounting system for better financial visibility.
8. Team management
Make sure your team has the right access, whether they’re receiving deliveries, managing inventory, or fulfilling orders. Set clear user permissions to keep everything running smoothly.
9. Managing discontinued or seasonal items
Use archiving to hide products you no longer sell, without deleting them to prevent them from being added to new POs or OPOs. Archived items can’t be added to new orders but stay visible in past records and reports. You can archive or unarchive items individually or in bulk.
10. Sales & purchasing performance
Keep a pulse on what’s selling, what’s not, and where your margins are strongest using Sales insights. Spot trends across channels, track top-performing SKUs, and make informed decisions on pricing and stock levels.
With Purchasing insights, evaluate supplier reliability, lead times, and purchasing patterns. This helps you avoid delays, reduce overstocking, and optimize your restocking strategy.
11. Outsourced purchase order management
Managing OPOs effectively is key to keeping your inventory, costs, and timelines accurate, whether you’re fully or partially outsourcing.
Receive OPOs only once goods are actually received. Receiving too early (e.g. before the contractor ships or materials are ready) can cause inaccurate stock updates and financial reporting.
Use the Track ingredients tab on OPOs to monitor availability. Katana calculates ingredient cost from average stock cost at the contractor’s location—make sure stock is available before receiving the OPO to avoid zero-cost entries.
Batch tracking? Assign batches to ingredients or finished products before completing OPOs to maintain traceability.
Monitor your OPOs via the Outsourcing tab in the Buy screen to spot delays and manage incoming goods efficiently.
Need to correct something? You can revert or adjust OPOs as needed (e.g. change quantities or costs).
🔗 Additional Resources
Katana implementation guides