Assess liquor-store inventory by tracing the same product through its purchase pack, issue or sale unit and physical count. Record the conversion basis and investigate differences before labelling them shrinkage. Keep damaged stock, missing transactions and unexplained differences distinguishable, so a corrected balance does not erase the question the owner needs answered.
How should cases and individual units be defined?
Start with an item sheet for each product being evaluated. Record the identifier, product description, purchase pack, intended inventory unit and the unit used for the relevant transaction. Check that a similar label or a different pack size has not been merged accidentally into the same definition.
Odoo documents buying a product in packs and selling it in individual units as a unit-conversion use case. Odoo can use different units of measure for one product. The Odoo units-of-measure guide provides a concrete software example for this case-to-single-unit discussion.
Use a hypothetical product called Test Bottle. Define a synthetic case quantity for the exercise and write it on the item sheet. Ask a second person to calculate the proposed single-unit quantity for a sample receipt. Those numbers belong to the example; they should not become an assumed pack quantity for other products.
Odoo describes sales units as product packagings, with multiple packagings possible for a product. Ask the evaluator to explain whether the proposed case is a packaging, a measuring unit or a separate item in the chosen design. Keep that choice consistent across the sample receipt, sale or issue, return and count.
Where does the conversion need checking?
Odoo converts a purchase unit into the inventory unit on the documented receipt flow. Inspect the relevant product mapping and the resulting receipt in a controlled test environment. Record the original purchase quantity, the intended inventory quantity and what the system actually recorded.
The inventory unit in Odoo is also used for internal transfers. Include an internal movement in the proposed exercise if goods are moved between a storeroom and a sales area. The reviewer should be able to identify which unit the movement uses and which source and destination records it affects.
Do not treat a plausible final balance as enough evidence. A wrong conversion might still be difficult to notice in an ordinary demonstration. Choose a synthetic example whose expected quantities are easy to calculate and keep the calculation beside the actual transaction record.
If an item definition changes, ask how earlier transactions remain interpretable. A new case size may require a deliberate data decision. Do not silently change the meaning of a unit and assume every historical quantity can be read under the new definition.
What should a store count actually record?
Define the count boundary with the person responsible: items, locations, units and which movements belong to the comparison. Keep unopened packs and individual units explicit in the proposed count sheet, then convert them using the agreed item mapping.
ERPNext’s Stock Reconciliation feature supports both opening stock and comparison with actual stock. ERPNext reconciliation identifies the item and warehouse. The ERPNext reconciliation guide illustrates the record-level identity needed for the comparison.
For Test Bottle, propose counting the synthetic case stock and individual units separately before combining them. Ask the reviewer to inspect both the original observations and the conversion. A combined total without those observations gives the next person less evidence to investigate a difference.
Record who counted and who reviewed the result. Decide how the office handles movements during the count and an item found in the wrong location. These are process decisions to establish for the store, not automatic protections inferred from a reconciliation screen.
How should an unexplained difference be investigated?
Use this original difference-investigation card to keep competing explanations separate. The card guides the review; it does not presume that any particular cause has been established.
| Difference observed | First evidence to compare | Decision to record |
|---|---|---|
| Case receipt produces unexpected singles | Item mapping and receipt quantities | Correct definition or transaction, with a reason |
| Sales-area count differs from record | Internal movements and count observations | Resolve the location or transaction question |
| Damaged units appear sellable | Agreed condition record and item location | Follow the authorised damage-handling process |
| Return cannot be matched | Original transaction and returned item definition | Investigate before changing stock |
| Missing quantity remains unexplained | Complete movement sequence and reviewed count | Assign an owner for the remaining discrepancy |
| Earlier records use another pack definition | Historical item meaning and change decision | Preserve the basis on which those quantities were recorded |
Work through the specific movement history before reaching a conclusion about loss. If a receipt was entered in the wrong unit, describe that recording error. If an issue was omitted, identify the missing transaction. Keep any remaining physical discrepancy as an unresolved finding until the owner has reviewed the evidence.
Avoid inventing an acceptable shrinkage percentage. If the business uses a threshold, its owner should explain its basis and how exceptions are reviewed. The software evaluation should show the relevant evidence rather than turn an unexplained numerical target into policy.
What needs care when importing a count?
The ERPNext reconciliation CSV format is case-sensitive. ERPNext asks reconciliation CSV rows to use exact existing item and warehouse codes. Use a separate synthetic import exercise to assess the intended format. Check the item and location mapping before treating a file as ready for a live reconciliation.
Include a deliberately incorrect item reference in the proposed test file. Ask the evaluator to record the actual response and the correction process. Keep the original test file and the corrected version together so the reviewer can see what changed.
The reconciliation guidance directs users to check the stock ledger after the update. For the controlled exercise, compare the resulting ledger with the intended update and the original count evidence. Record any remaining difference explicitly rather than repeating the import until the result looks plausible.
What should the handover make easy to understand?
Include the proposed return route in that handover. Ask who confirms the returned item, its unit and condition before a stock change is accepted. Keep the reason for a rejected return separate from the fact that a customer requested it.
Keep the item sheet, pack-conversion decision, synthetic transaction sequence and difference card together. A colleague should be able to explain which unit was purchased, which unit was counted and why the recorded stock changed.
For the broader stock process, use the inventory-control guide. Explore online stores, or discuss your requirements with Spout using one representative product and the unresolved conversion or reconciliation questions.
By Spout Team. AI-assisted drafting by Codex using the linked primary documentation.