What is an Inventory Location?
Inventory locations are where your materials are stored to be used later for jobs. This is separate from job inventory.
❗ An Inventory location must be set up in Aspire even if one will not be used to store materials. You will not be able to accept time if your company does not create any inventory locations.
Requirements
⚠️ To create an inventory location, you must have System Admin permission added to your User Role.
Creating an Inventory Location
- Starting from the home screen, using the blue side menu, click on the Purchasing module.
2. Click on the Inventory tab in the top menu. A list of current inventory locations will appear if some are already set up. Click the blue New button to create a new inventory location.
3. Enter in a name for the inventory location and select the branch that is associated with that location. For example, the name should be specific enough that if more locations are added in the future, they can be identified as different locations.
For example: St. Louis Yard, St. Louis Branch
4. Enter the physical address, city, state, and zip of the inventory location.
5. If this will be the branch's default inventory location, check the box.
For example, in the Time Entry Screen, St. Louis Yard would default as the inventory location when accepting time or allocating materials if the crew's route was tied to the St. Louis Branch.
Understanding the Allocations Tab
The Allocations tab provides a search list for filtering, displaying, and selecting inventory items to manage inventory levels at the selected inventory location. The items listed here are marked as inventory items; those that are inventory items will not appear here.
Screen Element | Description |
---|---|
Effective Date | Allows you to view the grid of inventory locations as of the specified date. Additionally, any adjustments they apply in the Quantity on Hand column are applied to the overall inventory quantity on the selected allocation date. |
A few of the columns available in the search list deserve a special explanation provided in the following table.
Column Name | Description |
---|---|
Name | Name of items for which there may be inventory. All catalog items are displayed that are marked as inventory items in the item catalog and for which purchased items have been received. The names are displayed as hyperlinks. Clicking on the hyperlink displays the Inventory Allocation History screen for that item. |
Quantity on Hand | Fields in this column allow you to set the quantity on hand as of the date specified in the Allocation Date field just above the list. Aspire will create a transaction that adjusts the inventory quantity on the specified date to match the quantity that they enter. You will be able to see the transaction if you click the item name hyperlink to view the allocation history for the item. |
Quantity | Shows the quantity on hand at the end of the day for the date specified in the Allocation Date field. |
Allocate Item | This column displays a blue arrow icon that will allow you to allocate some portion of the inventory amount to another inventory location. Clicking this icon displays the Move Inventory Items screen. |
Unit Costb | The unit cost is determined by the purchase unit cost of each inventory item. If inventory cost entries have been added for the inventory item specifying effective dates for costs, then the value of this field is determined based on the Effective Date field(in screen header) relative to the associated effective dates on the inventory cost entries. |
Total Cost | Calculated by multiplying Unit Cost by Quantity on Hand. |
Using the Inventory Allocation History Screen
The Inventory Allocation History screen shows the list of transactions that modified the inventory for the selected item over time. This screen is displayed by clicking one of the item names on the Inventory Location screen.
Using the Move Inventory Items Screen
Aspire allows materials purchased to be received into inventory for later distribution to active jobs. The Inventory Locations Search List screen works in conjunction with the Inventory Location screen to allow you to view the list of inventory locations they have established, set new inventory locations, and to view the list of catalog items that have been purchased into inventory and allocated from inventory to work tickets for each location. You will also use these screens when adjusting on-hand quantities and comparing inventory valuations to that in their accounting system.
The Inventory Locations Search List screen behaves like other search lists allowing the user to display and filter information to provide the most value in various situations.
The Move Inventory Items screen is displayed by clicking on one of the lines in the Allocate Item column in the list on the Inventory Locations Search List screen.
This screen allows you to select an inventory location to which part of the inventory from the currently selected inventory locations is being moved and the quantity being moved. Aspire adjusts the inventory levels for the two locations.