Katana's Stock screen is a central hub for real-time inventory management, where you can monitor stock levels, make adjustments, and handle transfers efficiently. This guide specifically highlights how to access and use the Inventory tab to track stock movements, manage batch numbers, and review detailed inventory intelligence, ensuring accurate and up-to-date stock information.
Note: Read more about Stock adjustments, Stock transfers, and Batch tracking.
The Inventory tab is the main view in Katana for managing your business's stock levels. Stock movements are entirely automated in real-time based on purchasing, manufacturing, and selling activities (also called perpetual inventory).
The Inventory tab shows stock levels for all products and materials at a variant level. You can quickly see the total Value of stock and Average cost per unit.
The table also displays the quantities you have In stock or Committed to Sales and manufacturing orders, Expected from suppliers or manufacturing, and whether you have too much or little inventory based on your safety stock level.
If you have more than one Location associated with your account, you can select the Location on the Stock screen to see the inventory statuses of different Locations.
The Inventory Intel window
By clicking on the In stock, Committed, or Expected quantities, you'll bring up a more detailed Inventory Intel window that shows stock movements, related orders, and other relevant info.
If a particular Location is selected, the window will show intel for that Location.
Note: The Unit of Measure for each product, material, and variant is set on item cards.
Stock quantities found in the Inventory tab
Quantities are shown based on the selected Location (if you have multiple).
In stock - the amount of stock you currently have on hand (i.e. physically in your warehouse).
For products, the level increases if you complete a manufacturing order (MO) or create a positive Stock adjustment and decreases if you pack or deliver a sales order (SO) or create a negative Stock adjustment. It also decreases when a product is used as a subassembly in the Product recipe of a completed MO.
For materials, the level increases if you receive a purchase order (PO) or create a positive Stock adjustment and decreases when materials are used in a completed MO or if you create a negative Stock adjustment.
Expected - the amount of stock that is expected to arrive in the warehouse from Open purchase or manufacturing orders (MO).
Expected Products are increased if you create a MO and remain expected until the MO is partially or fully completed. The Expected amount of products is always based on the Planned quantity for a product on a MO or the Remaining quantity of a product on an MO if it's partially complete.
The In stock quantity of the product increase if:
An MO is partially complete - by the Completed quantity of the product
An MO is completed - by the Actual quantity of the product on the MO.
Expected materials are increased if you create a PO. The items included in the order will remain Expected until the PO is Received.
Committed - the amount of stock that is committed to open sales and manufacturing orders.
A few things you should know:
Products are committed to open sales orders (SO) or manufacturing orders (MO) (as a subassembly).
Materials are committed to products on open SOs and MOs based on the Product Recipes of the products.
For sales orders, materials are only committed when the Sales items availability status is Not available. With this, you can see the total requirements for a material in the Stock screen based on your production schedule (i.e. manufacturing orders) and your sales needs (i.e. sales orders), regardless of whether production has been scheduled.
If Product Sales Items are In stock, no further production is required (i.e. no materials are required). The Product Availability status Expected indicates that an open MO is making the required product for the customer order, and no materials are committed directly to this SO to avoid double-bookings.
The Committed amount of materials is based on the Planned quantity of ingredients on a MO or the Remaining quantity if the MO is partially complete.
The In stock quantity for the material will decrease if:
The MO is partially complete - by the Consumed quantity of the ingredients
The MO is complete - by the Actual quantity of ingredients.
For products, the Committed amount is increased when you create a SO and the items included in the SO will remain committed until the order is Packed or Delivered. It also increases when the product is included in another product's Product Recipe (as a subassembly), and a MO is created for the other product.
For materials (or products used in other Product recipes), Committed is increased if you create a MO or SO and the products included in the order require the material. Materials will remain committed until the MO is complete or the SO is delivered. Click on the quantity to see all related orders and more info.
Safety stock level - the inventory level for a product or a material which indicates a need to replenish that item's stock. The safety stock level can be set and edited directly in the Stock screen for each product and material variant. Read more about how to set safety stock levels and how to determine the appropriate level for safety stock.
Calculated stock ( = In stock - Committed + Expected - safety stock level).
Indicates whether your stock level is above or below an optimal level, based on stock in hand, expected, committed, and safety stock levels. Negative values mean you should create a MO for a product or a PO for a material. This number helps to ensure you always have enough items in your warehouse to satisfy expected demand. Keep in mind that too much excess inventory isn't preferable as it comes at a cost (tied up cash, need to rent additional warehouse space, pay salary for those handling the stock, etc.).
Quickly add purchase and manufacturing orders
To quickly create a PO for a material or a MO for a product, click on the "+" button at the end of the row for a specific item. This is a quick way to create a MO or PO for products or materials to re-establish optimal stock levels.
To add more details or edit a newly created PO or MO, navigate to the PO or MO card in the Buy or Make screens.
If you have more than one Location on your account, the quick-add buttons are visible only for Locations where the Buy and Make functions are enabled.
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