Inventory Counting 101: Terms n' Defs

Inventory counting can seem complex, but the concept is very simple: physically count what you have in stock and compare the results against what's in your inventory system.

That all said, every industry has its jargon and inventory counting is no exception. Here is a glossary of essential terms for reference.

Terms  and Definitions  

Area number: a number assigned to a unique count location.

Barcodes: product numbers or barcode numbers. The counter will scan each code or barcode during the counting process.

Codes: the product item number or barcode number used for verified inventory counts, and a related field within Transact.

Code files: used to verify and cross-reference the count to product numbers or barcode numbers.

Count: the physical inventory count.

Count supervisor: person responsible for setting up, running, and concluding a count.

Counter: person(s) who physically count inventory and are responsible for the input of count data during a count.

Cycle Counting: a system of inventory counting where small sections are counted throughout the month or year, instead of a full inventory count done all at once.

Day folder: a folder created when transacting is started, with the folders' name corresponding to the date on which Transact is being used.

Field: a location for data input within Transact.

Financial Count: A count of the items by price only, times the number of items. Giving a total of marked retail price, but no data of what items are counted or how many.

Grammar: words that may be uttered via speech within Transact.

In inventory: items that are currently tracked in inventory, but not necessarily on-hand.

In stock: items that are immediately available to sell.

Inventory: includes the products, raw materials, work-in-process goods and finished goods that make up the inventory that is or will be for sale.

Inventory accuracy: the process of maintaining accurate inventory counts using inventory software, controls, tools & discipline.

Inventory cycle counting: a perpetual inventory auditing procedure that follows a repeated sequence of checks on a portion of your inventory. The portion can change continuously, ensuring everything gets counted over a period of time.

Microphone mute: a button on the counter headphones or within transact, to be used when counting is paused for extended periods.

Periodic inventory count: this method is used for financial reporting. A periodic inventory count counts inventory at the beginning of a period, adds new inventory purchases during the period, and deducts ending inventory to derive the cost of goods sold.

Price: the price for which you sell an item to customers.

Quantity: a number and a unit of measure.

Report: a summary (with subtotals) of transaction files aggregated from a specific day folder.

Section: a unique count location within an area, corresponding to a related field within Transact.

Section tags: an adhesive tag for use by the counters to identify a unique count location within an area.

SKU: Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a number that retailers use to differentiate products and track inventory levels.

Speaker training: the configuring of the speech recognition engine for a specific counter’s speech profile.

Shrinkage: loss of inventory that can be attributed to employee theft, inventory breakage, and spoilage of inventory.

Team: a group of counters assembled for a count. [unnecessary]

Transact: a data capture program dynamically configured for PureCount’s data entry.

Transacting: the process of acquiring count data using Transact.

Transaction files: data summary files created in the related day folder while transacting.

Variancing: a process that validates the count data by comparing it with the master system data and identifying any discrepancies (within a custom threshold). A count without variancing is incomplete.

Verified inventory count - The cross-referencing of barcode count inputs with count files.