Doing inventory counts – Lightspeed OnSite

OnSite's Count Inventory feature is designed for when you need to perform a full count of your entire stock. Examples of when you want to count inventory can include:

a periodic count, such as a stock take at year-end.
transitioning from another POS system.
starting out with OnSite if you already have stock on hand.

Using Count Inventory is not recommended if you only want to check the inventory level of a handful or grouping of products. In this case Lightspeed Support recommends making manual inventory adjustments for these products.

Doing a full inventory count adjusts the available total for products. Any quantities in warehouses will be left as is. If you make extensive use of the warehouses feature of Lightspeed, see To do a full inventory count with warehouses below.

OnSite does not freeze inventory when you are doing an inventory count. If you are counting while your store is open, or if some time elapses between counting and adjusting inventory, you may need to make manual inventory adjustments to products sold or received during your count.

To do a full inventory count

Create the inventory event and sub-counts

In OnSite go to Tools > Count Inventory and click New.
Name the event and click OK. An inventory event is the reason for the count, for example year-end stock take or shoes count.
Click the new event in the list. Create counts to split your stock into sections. For example, counts can be called basement and showroom if you want to count sections of the store separately. Or you can enter counts by type, such as accessories and jewelry.
At the right bottom click the New button at the bottom right to create your first count.
Name the count and click OK.

Count the stock

In the Inventory Count window, search or scan products in the Receipt field. You can adjust the counted quantities manually in the Qty field.
If you are scanning serialized products, first scan the product’s UPC or label. You are prompted for the unique serial number of this item.
After counting a group of products, click the Add button. Continue counting products and clicking Add until all the items for the count are added.
Click Post to save this count and return to the main window. A posted count is considered finalized, but you can reopen and remove or add products. To remove an item, select it and press the Delete key.
Continue creating counts, adding products and posting counts until you are finished.

Inspect the totals

In the Count Inventory window, click the Compare tab to review the totals you counted, including serial numbers, with the totals currently in OnSite. Continue when you’re satisfied with the counted values.

Run a manual backup

In OnSite go to Tools > Utilities > Backup Database. Click Backup and wait for the backup to complete before continuing. It's important to run a backup before the next step as Count Inventory does not contain an undo feature.

Adjust inventory

Before you adjust the inventory, you can click the Export button to save a text file containing your count levels. This is your record of what was counted.

If you select Zero Inventory for Uncounted Products before you click Adjust Inventory, Count Inventory will set the inventory level to zero for any products counted at 0 or unfound/uncounted. This can be useful if you want to clear old stock listings in OnSite while you performing a count of your current stock. Important: Use extreme caution if selecting this checkbox and make sure you perform a manual backup in Tools > Utilities > Backup Database before you make any adjustments.

Click Adjust Inventory only when you’re satisfied with the counted values. The adjustment can take some time depending on the size of your database.

To do a full inventory count with warehouses

Doing a full inventory count will adjust the available total for each product. If you make extensive use of the warehouses feature of Lightspeed, do this type of inventory count.

Set up the Inventory Event

In OnSite go to Tools > Count Inventory and click New.
Name the event and click OK. An inventory event is the reason for the count, such as year-end stock take.
Select the Count in Warehouses checkbox. This checkbox must be selected before any counts are created.

Count each warehouse

Select the inventory event in the list and click the New button at the bottom right to create your first count.
In the Inventory Count window, select the warehouse you’re doing the inventory count for. You must create a count for each warehouse that contains inventory. You must also create counts to include all of the other sections or groups of products.
Search or scan products in the Receipt field. You can adjust the counted quantities manually in the Qty field.
If you are scanning serialized products, first scan the product’s UPC or label. You are prompted for the unique serial number of each item.
After counting a group of products, click the Add button. Continue counting products and clicking Add until all items for the count are added.
Click Post to save this count and return to the main window. A posted count is considered finalized, but you can reopen it and remove or add products. To remove an item, select it and press the Delete key.

Count non-warehouse stock

Continue creating counts, adding products, and posting counts until you are finished. All of your non-warehoused stock should be counted in one or more counts.

Inspect the totals

Click the Compare tab to review the totals you counted, including serial numbers, with the totals currently in OnSite. Continue when you’re satisfied with the counted values.

Run a manual backup

In OnSite go to Tools > Utilities > Backup Database. Click Backup and wait for the backup to complete before continuing. It is important to run a backup before the next step as Count Inventory does not have an undo feature.

Adjust inventory

Before adjusting, you may wish to click the Export button to save a text file containing your count levels. This is your record of what was counted and can be useful if you notice discrepancies later.

Click Adjust Inventory when you’re satisfied with the counted values. Note that the adjustment can take some time depending on the size of your database.

To import inventory counts from a spreadsheet

You can create an inventory count in a spreadsheet and import the counted totals into Count Inventory. This is useful if you’re setting your inventory levels for the first time.

Format the spreadsheet

Set up your spreadsheet with a column for one of OnSite’s unique product attributes (product ID, product code or UPC) so that Count Inventory can match your spreadsheet to OnSite’s product listings. Note that you cannot use Multi-Store label codes with spreadsheet import. Save the spreadsheet in .TXT (tab-delimited text) or .CSV (comma-separated values).

The spreadsheet has three columns:

Column 1: Product ID, Product Code, or UPC

Column 2: Qty counted

Column 3: Serial number (if applicable)

Each unique serial number has a row in the spreadsheet and must have the same unique product attribute (product ID, product code, or UPC). Use a qty of 1 for serialized items.

Import the spreadsheet

Create an Inventory Event and create a count for it. See To do a full inventory count or Doing a Full Iventory Count with Warehouses depending on your scenario.
In the Inventory Count window, click the Import button.
Click the Open File button, browse to your spreadsheet and click Open.
Make sure the columns are in the right order. You can drag columns up or down in the right pane to match your spreadsheet if necessary.
Click Import and wait as OnSite adds the contents to the Inventory Count window.
Click Add > Post to finalize the contents.

You can continue to count products manually, create other counts or import other inventory count spreadsheets. If you get an error message that some products were skipped during the import, see Troubleshooting Count Inventory errors.

Counting your inventory over several days

If you don't have the time or resources to count your entire inventory at once, you can spread it out over a few days. There are pitfalls to consider, however, such as factoring in products that are sold during the count. There are a few different ways to accomplish this, depending on your circumstances. It is best to discuss your plans with our Support Team so they can guide you through the process.