Inventory Parameters

If you set up a new MyFBO system using our automated setup process and included Inventory Management as one of your options, then the option is automatically enabled  in your new system. 

If you wish to add the Inventory Management option later, the option can be enabled by an Administrator from the Admin Tab/Features & Options menu.

Once Inventory Management has been enabled, the Inventory Management menu will appear under the Manage Tab. Before adding inventory to the system, a few initial settings need to be made.

Upon first visit to the Inventory menus,  the messages below may be shown.

The red storeroom locations message simply means that you need to tell the system at which of your operational locations you track physical inventory. This setting will need to be made by an Administrator from either the screen shown above, or from the Admin Tab / Locations & Taxes menu. 

Once on the Location Parameters screen, select the Details button for the location where you will be tracking inventory. 

Find the Location Used as Storeroom choice and select Yes, then scroll to the bottom of the page and Save Settings..

If your MyFBO system contains multiple locations, turn on the storeroom option only for those locations that actually store inventory.

 

The red set categories message indicates that you need to take the first step of creating inventory categories before you can add inventory items to the system. This is accomplished through the Update Inventory Parameters option shown above, or from the Admin Tab / Parameters & Settings / Inventory Parameters. 

The Inventory Parameters menu can accessed by a Manager who has been granted additional access to Update Inventory Parameters, or by an Accountant or Administrator. It contains three groups of settings:

• General
• Inventory Categories
• Inventory Packages

General Inventory Parameters

The recommended settings for new inventory users are shown below.

Use SKU as primary identifier if you track inventory by any number other than a standard UPC (Universal Product Code).

Enable inventory packages only if you sell a defined group of items as a package. For example, a flight school might sell a starter pilot kit to each new student.

Allow category transfers lets you transfer multiple inventory items in one inventory category to another category. 

Master records apply to organizations tracking multiple locations in MyFBO. A Master record for an inventory item contains the default company-wide pricing, etc., and sub records for same item at each location can contain location specific pricing. Suppress Master records when possible for cleaner, less cluttered, inventory reports.

Every inventory item created has a default retail price. Use Wholesale/Other Pricing should be enabled only if you routinely sell inventory at multiple price points. For example, FBOs with a service shop may sell certain parts at below retail to a select group of customers. 

Inventory Categories

Inventory categories are used to sort inventory items into groups for ease of use. It is possible to have up to 26 named categories, each tied to a letter of the alphabet (A-Z) for cost coding purposes. 

Before creating inventory categories, take time to plan what categories your operation is likely to use long term. 

Too many categories with just a few items can be cumbersome when it comes to reporting, but too few categories can make it harder to locate inventory items. 

While it is possible to rename categories and to take separate action to move inventory items from one category to another, care must be taken to always maintain the integrity of the connection between the Category letter/ Cost code and the Description, since all previous financial and inventory reports are tied to that code. So, in the example below, revising the description for Category C to 'Charts' would be acceptable. Changing Category C to 'Parts' would not.

To create categories simply check the Active box, enter a category letter, and add a description. 

Note that categories for Oil (O-Oil) and Miscellaneous (Z-Miscellaneous) are already predefined as a system default.  

Inventory Packages

Inventory Packages containing multiple inventory items can be created. Then, instead of searching for and adding each individual inventory item to a receipt, the single package can be added. Even after an inventory package is added to the receipt, individual items contained in that package can be removed from the receipt as needed.

01/08/13 cli