Stock Taking (Inventory Verification)

Enable employees to verify their assigned equipment through self-service stock-taking

Ralph’s stock-taking feature streamlines the inventory verification process by allowing employees to confirm their assigned assets quickly through a self-service interface.

Overview

Stock-taking provides:

• Self-service verification - Employees confirm their own equipment
• Automated tagging - Assets are tagged automatically upon confirmation
• Warehouse-based - Enable per warehouse or region
• Audit trail - All confirmations recorded in asset history
• Missing asset reporting - Track items that can’t be located

Enabling Stock Taking

Stock-taking can be enabled at two levels:

Warehouse Level

1. Navigate to Warehouses

   Go to Back Office → Warehouses or visit /back_office/warehouse/

2. Edit Warehouse

   Select the warehouse where you want to enable stock-taking.

3. Enable Stock Taking

   Check the Stocktaking enabled checkbox.

   This enables stock-taking for all assets in this warehouse.

4. Configure Tag Suffix (Optional)

   Set Stocktaking tag suffix to differentiate tags by warehouse.

   Example: Set to “WH1” to create tags like STOCK-WH1

5. Save Changes

   Click Save to activate stock-taking for the warehouse.

Region Level

1. Navigate to Regions

   Go to Settings → Regions or visit /accounts/region/

2. Edit Region

   Select the region where you want to enable stock-taking.

3. Enable Stock Taking

   Check the Stocktaking enabled checkbox.

   This enables stock-taking for all users in this region.

4. Save Changes

   Click Save to activate stock-taking for the region.

An asset is eligible for stock-taking if either its warehouse or its user’s region has stock-taking enabled.

Employee Stock-Taking Process

Once enabled, employees see stock-taking options in their equipment view.

Accessing My Equipment

1. Navigate to My Equipment

   Employees click My Equipment from the user menu.

2. Review Assigned Assets

   The page shows all assets assigned to the employee.

3. Confirm or Report Missing

   For each asset, two options appear:

   • Yes, I have it - Confirms possession
   • No, I don’t have it - Reports missing

Confirming Asset Possession

When an employee confirms they have an asset:

1. Click Confirmation

   Employee clicks Yes, I have it for the asset.

2. Review Asset Details

   A confirmation page shows:

   • Barcode/Inventory number
   • Category
   • Manufacturer
   • Model
   • Serial number
3. Confirm

   Employee confirms the information is correct.

4. Asset Tagged

   Ralph automatically adds inventory tags to the asset:

   • Base tag: INVENTORY (or configured value)
   • Warehouse suffix: INVENTORY-WH1 (if configured)
   • User tag: INVENTORY-USER
   • Date tag: INVENTORY-2024-03-15 (if enabled)

Reporting Missing Assets

When an employee reports an asset as missing:

1. Click Missing Report

   Employee clicks No, I don’t have it for the asset.

2. Asset Tagged as Missing

   Ralph adds a “missing” tag to the asset.

3. Contact Information

   Employee sees instructions to contact the asset management team.

Stock-Taking Tags

Tags are automatically applied to track stock-taking status.

Default Tags

Base Tag

• Default: INVENTORY
• Configured via: INVENTORY_TAG setting

User Tag

• Default: INVENTORY-USER
• Configured via: INVENTORY_TAG_USER setting

Missing Tag

• Default: INVENTORY-MISSING
• Configured via: INVENTORY_TAG_MISSING setting

Warehouse-Specific Tags

When a warehouse has a stocktaking tag suffix:

Base tag: INVENTORY
Warehouse suffix: WH1
Resulting tag: INVENTORY-WH1

This helps differentiate stock-taking campaigns across warehouses.

Date Tags

If INVENTORY_TAG_APPEND_DATE is enabled:

Base tag: INVENTORY
Date tag: INVENTORY-2024-03-15

Date tags help track when stock-taking occurred.

Configuration Settings

Configure stock-taking behavior in Django settings:

# Base inventory tag
INVENTORY_TAG = 'STOCK'

# User confirmation tag
INVENTORY_TAG_USER = 'STOCK-USER'

# Missing asset tag
INVENTORY_TAG_MISSING = 'STOCK-MISSING'

# Append date to tags
INVENTORY_TAG_APPEND_DATE = True

# URL for reporting missing assets
MISSING_ASSET_REPORT_URL = 'https://helpdesk.example.com/report-missing'

Asset History Tracking

All stock-taking actions are recorded in asset history:

• Timestamp of confirmation
• User who performed the action
• Tags added
• Comments indicating stock-taking event

This creates a complete audit trail.

Common Workflows

Annual Stock-Taking Campaign

1. Enable Stock-Taking

   Enable stock-taking on relevant warehouses or regions.

2. Notify Employees

   Send email notification asking employees to verify their equipment.

3. Monitor Progress

   Track completion by filtering assets with inventory tags.

4. Follow Up on Missing

   Contact employees who reported missing assets.

5. Generate Report

   Export list of verified and missing assets.

6. Disable Stock-Taking

   Uncheck the enabled boxes when campaign is complete.

New Employee Onboarding

1. Assign Equipment

   Assign assets to new employee in Ralph.

2. Employee Verifies

   New employee logs in and confirms receipt via My Equipment.

3. Assets Tagged

   Automatic tagging confirms handover is complete.

Department Reorganization

1. Enable Regional Stock-Taking

   Enable for the affected region.

2. Employees Verify

   All employees in region confirm their equipment.

3. Identify Discrepancies

   Find assets that are assigned but not confirmed.

4. Correct Records

   Update asset assignments based on actual possession.

Reporting and Analysis

Finding Verified Assets

Filter assets by inventory tags:

# API: Assets verified in stock-taking
curl "https://<YOUR-RALPH-URL>/api/back-office-assets/?tags__name=INVENTORY" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_TOKEN"

Finding Missing Assets

# API: Assets reported as missing
curl "https://<YOUR-RALPH-URL>/api/back-office-assets/?tags__name=INVENTORY-MISSING" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_TOKEN"

Stock-Taking Completion Rate

1. Count total assets assigned to users
2. Count assets with inventory tags
3. Calculate percentage: (tagged / total) × 100

Tips and Best Practices

Clear Communication: Send clear instructions to employees before starting stock-taking.

Set Deadlines: Give employees a specific timeframe to complete verification.

Use Date Tags: Enable date tags to track multiple stock-taking campaigns over time.

Warehouse Suffixes: Use different suffixes for different locations to track regional campaigns.

Stock-taking tags are added automatically. Don’t manually add inventory tags as they’ll be overwritten during the next campaign.

Integration with Regular Stock-Taking

Self-service stock-taking complements, but doesn’t replace, traditional physical inventory counts.

Use both methods:

• Self-service: Quick verification for standard equipment
• Physical audit: Detailed verification for high-value or sensitive items

The tagging system works for both approaches.

Troubleshooting

Stock-taking option not visible

• Verify stock-taking is enabled on warehouse or region
• Check that asset is assigned to a user
• Confirm user is logged in and viewing My Equipment page
• Verify user has permission to access My Equipment

Tags not being applied

• Check INVENTORY_TAG settings are configured
• Verify user has permission to modify assets
• Review asset history for error messages
• Check that tags don’t already exist

Can't disable stock-taking

• Uncheck the “Stocktaking enabled” box on warehouse/region
• Save the changes
• Already-applied tags remain for audit purposes
• New confirmations won’t be accepted

Related Documentation

• Custom Fields - Add custom inventory data
• Dashboards - Visualize stock-taking progress