Setting up your Product and Stock Categories
RightControl stock management software lets the user analysis their stock first by Category and Sub Category and then with three levels of additional analysis, Grade, Condition and Attributes. To get the most from the analysis features of the inventory management software program it is worth thinking about the best way to organise your stock hierarchy before entering your inventory into the warehouse management system.
How you use the categories and analysis will depend on your business, the type of stock you deal in and its properties and attributes. It is worth mentioning that service based businesses and organisations can use the inventory control features of the software to differentiate between the services they provide, making sales management and invoice management easier.
You can go back to Settings → Options → Product in your inventory management system as an admin user to add or remove stock categories and to remove redundant attributes or assign new ones.
- From the top menu bar of the stock control program select Settings → Options and click the Product tab.
Enter a Category and then follow with the Sub Category. Finish with the additional analysis for each Sub Category.
- Category Tab: Refers to a type of product such as Coats, Trousers Shorts, or Desktop PCs, Laptops, Printers etc. To enter a product into the warehouse management system type in the box under Stock Category and click the Add button. You can enter as many categories as you wish. To delete a Category, simply click Remove and it will be removed from the stock control software.
- Sub Category Tab: Type of product within any given Category. For example a main Category might be Coats with Sub Categories of Leather Coats, Waterproof Coats and Cotton Coats etc. There is no limit to the number of Sub Categories that can be created. Select a Category from the drop down box under Sub Category, then enter a sub category in the box below and click Add. To delete a Sub Category from the warehouse management software click Remove and it will be deleted from your inventory management system.
- Stock Grade Tab: Add a grade to specify the class of goods. The stock control system default is 1, 2 and 3 but if you prefer this can be changed to A, B and C. More analysis can be added using the Add button but you are limited to single characters, up to 9 or I. Redundant descriptions can be deleted from the sales management system with the Remove button.
- Stock Condition Tab: Enter a Condition to specify the state of the stock, e.g. New, Faulty, 2nd User, Refurbished, then click Add. You can enter as many conditions as you wish. This is very useful for online sellers of second-hand goods such as clothes, DVDs, books etc. Books, in particular, have a very specific industry established range of condition descriptions. To delete a description from the inventory control system click Remove.
- Stock Attributes Tab: This is for attributes that define the Sub Categories of stock. For example leather coats could have size and colour as attribute names while Laptops could have Screen Size, Network Card, CPU and Memory as some of its attribute names. Select a category from the Attributes drop down list, then enter a product attribute and click Add. You can enter as many attributes as you wish. To delete an Attribute, simply click Remove and it will be removed from your invoice management system.
NB: This information is vital to proper use of the sales management software and will add clarity to all your product lines. A little time spent clarifying your product categories will save a lot of time in the long run.