Definitions References

Inventory Control

What is the Best Inventory System In 2024?

Determining the best inventory system depends largely on your specific business needs, including your industry, the size of your operation, and your budget. BarCloud’s inventory management systems stand out for their features, usability, and customer satisfaction across various reviews. It is known as a comprehensive system that caters to all industries and business sizes. It offers features for any tracking challenge and offers many affordable options making it the best choice for businesses looking to streamline their inventory and asset management processes.
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What is an Inventory Management System?

Inventory management software can be implemented to control inventory levels, sales, and order fulfillment in a more efficient way. The inventory data collected can be used to generate work orders, bills of materials, comprehensive inventory reports, and more. Our Inventory System can be used by any business regardless of company size or industry.
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How does an Inventory Management System work?

An online inventory management system works by automating the process of updating stock levels and inputting data to track goods through the supply chain. But it can also do a lot more than that. Inventory systems can be used to facilitate faster purchasing; manufacture products using a Bill of Materials; fulfil customer orders from multiple sales channels; and streamline dozens of other common inventory control processes.
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Inventory Management System Examples

Inventory management solutions vary widely in complexity and format. At one end of the spectrum, there are basic methods such as manual record-keeping with pen and paper or spreadsheets, which require manual input of data. At the other end, there are advanced software solutions designed to automate a significant portion of the inventory management tasks.
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Types of Inventory Management System

Currently, the market offers a multitude of inventory management system options. For intricate business operations, options range from large enterprise-level software to customized, industry-specific solutions. Certain inventory systems are tailored specifically for unique sectors, like coffee production, for example. We've compiled a list of the most prevalent inventory management system varieties that are essential to understand:
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Periodic vs perpetual Inventory Systems

Companies typically employ one of two primary methods for inventory management: periodic systems or perpetual systems. Here's a brief overview of each method.

What is Periodic Inventory?
Periodic inventory management is a method that depends on regular physical counts of inventory. Businesses operating under a periodic system conduct counts at set intervals - for example, every quarter or bi-annually - to ensure the accuracy of their inventory levels, comparing these counts against sales data to check for discrepancies.

What is Perpetual Inventory?
On the other hand, a perpetual inventory system continuously monitors stock levels, updating in real-time as items are received, manufactured, sold, or returned. This approach generally provides more current and accurate inventory data, reducing the reliance on physical inventory counts to maintain accuracy.

Inventory Management System Features

When searching for an inventory management system, understanding the essential features you need and identifying those you can forego is crucial. Numerous inventory systems offer a wide array of functionalities, yet not all may align with your operational needs. Opting for a system that's more streamlined and cost-effective could be more advantageous if the extensive capabilities it offers aren't applicable to your business processes.

Our Inventory Management system allows you to only choose the features that you need so you don’t have to worry about purchasing a system with extra features you will not use.
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How much does an inventory management system cost?

The pricing of inventory management systems varies widely, from free versions to premium monthly subscriptions costing several thousand dollars. An analysis of over 70 software vendors featured on the software review platform Capterra revealed that the typical cost for an inventory management system is approximately USD 175 for each user license per month.

For those opting for cloud-based inventory systems, the average monthly expense for continuous customer support is around USD 80, with one-time setup fees averaging USD 789.

Larger corporations contemplating comprehensive ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) inventory solutions might face implementation costs ranging from USD 10,000 to USD 40,000. Additionally, the potential business disruptions during the setup phase should also be taken into account.
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When to upgrade your inventory management system

Transitioning to a specialized inventory management system can significantly benefit your business, marking a significant change in operations. Here are a few indicators that it might be time for an upgrade.

  • You're Seeking Greater Flexibility:
  • You Require Enhanced Accuracy
  • Inventory Costs Are Rising
  • Growth Is Stalling
Exploring the benefits of automated inventory management further, or delve into why precise inventory control is crucial for your business's success ->

What are the different types of inventory?

There are many different types of inventory that you can manage. Inventory can be any goods, materials, or services, physical or intangible. Our system subsets all inventory into 5 categories, including standard, serialized, serialized with quantity, batch/lot inventory, and non-inventory items
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What's the difference between Inventory and Assets?

Inventory includes your on-hand products and all the input materials used in the creation of those items. This could include assembled and processed parts or raw materials. Assets, on the other hand, are objects necessary to conduct business properly, whether physical or non-physical. These could include office supplies, audio-visual equipment and more.

How do I add inventory into your systems?

You can add inventory into our Inventory Management Systems by conducting the Receive Transaction.
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How do you deal with excess stock in your inventory?

There are a few ways to deal with excess inventory depending on your goals and business. In our systems, there are options to record your actions. Some examples include, if you decide to dispose of the excess inventory or if you decide to move the excess inventory to a different location.
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What is inventory breakdown?

In our Inventory Management Software, inventory breakdown is when you wish to break down an inventory stock item into multiple items. This is useful when you want to disassemble items into smaller components. These smaller components will be in our Inventory Tracking System as well after you've completed the breakdown process.
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What is the role of barcodes in inventory management?

Barcodes serve as unique identifiers that store your inventory information in an easy-to-process format, including size, color, location and more! We highly recommend barcodes as they improve accuracy, provide real-time inventory data, and come at a low cost. This increases your return on investment and improves the efficiency of your inventory control processes.
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Why is inventory forecasting important in an inventory tracking system?

Inventory Forecasting analyzes historical data of all your inventory to identify trends in your business. In essence, by implementing an inventory tracking system equipped with forecasting tools, you can make data-driven decisions with strategic insights on supply and demand in your business.
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What are the applications of inventory management software?

Our Inventory Tracking Systems are versatile and capable of handling any type of inventory you may have, whether it is standard or specialized! Our software has been implemented by customers across a myriad of industries, including but not limited to the Education, Government, Military, Warehousing, Healthcare and many more sectors.
Please speak with our Sales Team at sales@barcloud.com | 1-888-868-6282 or Get a Demo if you would like to learn more.

What is a Warehouse Management System (WMS)?

A warehouse management system is a software solution that maximizes visibility over all inventory in your warehouses or stockrooms. It helps you automate repetitive tasks, streamline material flows and optimize the usage of resources, labor and space for your growing business. We offer industry-leading solutions for Warehouse Inventory Management Systems.
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Do you have an On-Premise system?

Yes, our industry-leading Inventory System can be implemented as an On-Premise Inventory Management Software, hosted on your facilities. Our On-Premise database comes in 3 hosting options: Interval Server, Internal Server and Web Services as well as Cloud-Hosted and Web Services.
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Asset Management

What is Asset Tracking Software?

Asset tracking software lets businesses manage and control physical and non-physical assets their organizations use. Our asset management systems help companies look through and analyze their asset data, its status, its conditions, and more!
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What is a fixed asset?

Fixed assets are defined as any 'permanent' object that a business uses internally including but not limited to computers, tools, software, or office equipment. While employees may utilize a specific tool or tools, the asset ultimately belongs to the company and must be returne
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What is meant by asset life cycle management?

The asset life cycle includes every step or event that an asset goes through, from acquirement to maintenance to disposal. It’s imperative to implement an asset life cycle management system to ensure that your items and resources, whether physical or non-physical, are in optimal condition for streamlined operations.

What is Asset Maintenance?

Asset maintenance refers to regular, semi-regular or one-time maintenance events that an item in the possession of your business might have to go through. In our asset tracking system, we designed specific procedures to make sure that every maintenance request and action done on your assets are documented.
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What is IT Asset Management?

IT Asset Management, or ITAM, is the process where an organization’s assets are documented, maintained, upgraded as well as disposed of when appropriate. IT assets consist of tangible and intangible items, which include things like computers, keyboards, laptops, electronics, hardware, software licenses and many more!
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How do I add assets into the system?

Similar to the inventory side, we have Receive Transactions for our asset tracking software as well. This can be done through data import too, whether that is an Excel or CSV file format.

How does asset management software help in audits?

Your organization might incorporate several offices with a vast amount of assets in different locations. When you use our asset management software, a barcode label is attached to your items and asset tracking is done in our systems. This leaves you with a visible and well-documented audit trail, acting as a single source of truth that provides you with accurate asset data.

Barcode Inventory and Asset Tracking

What will happen if you scan barcodes with your systems?

Information for that item will auto-populate into the data fields when adding new items to our Inventory and Asset Tracking Software. Alternatively, it automatically marks a transaction made in our system, whether you are checking-out assets, moving inventory or requesting maintenance.
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Can you make Barcodes or QR codes with your Inventory System or Asset Tracking Software?

Yes, our systems include a feature where you can design and customize Barcodes and QR Codes. These Barcodes and QR Codes can be printed directly from our systems or exported in a compatible format.
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Why use barcodes for inventory management and asset tracking?

With barcodes, there is a low barrier of entry, meaning you only a few tools to get started. Besides that, barcodes are fairly straightforward, and your staff won't require much training to be productive. Barcodes also provide the opportunity to collect real-time usage data on your organization's inventory assets, so your stakeholders can efficiently make informed business decisions.
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What's the difference between a barcode and a QR Code?

Our Barcode Inventory System lets you configure both barcodes and QR codes depending on what you need for your inventory management workflows. These two unique identifiers differ in appearance and dimension. Barcodes contain information in a linear horizontal direction while QR codes store information in 2 directions. As a result, QR codes are capable of holding more information than a barcode.
Don't know whether your organization needs barcodes or QR codes?
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Using Our Systems

How do I become a system administrator?

To become a system administrator, contact our support team. Please note that the current system administrator in your organization will have to contact our Support team for this.

Can your systems be used for Audits?

Yes, our Inventory System and Asset Tracking Software records historical data for inventory and assets in the systems. There will be comprehensive audit trails and configurable reports ready whenever you need them.

How does Quickbooks integrations work?

Our Inventory Software integrates with Quickbooks Accounting software to streamline manual tasks like generating bills, invoices and receipts. This works through syncing data like inventory stock items, vendor information, customer information and more from Quickbooks into our systems.
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What currencies are supported within your systems?

Any currency, but only 1 at a time.

Can we track weight instead of quantity?

Yes, our Inventory Control and Asset Management Systems are fully configurable, allowing you to add data fields and categories specific to your business, inventory and assets.

Do you have a Point-of-Sale System?

No, we are not involved in the point-of-sale side of Inventory and Asset Tracking.

Do you have an ATO letter?

An Authority to Operate letter is a certification for software by the U.S. government for it to be used on-site. We do not have this. However, we are SOC2 certified, meaning that for customers that prefer data hosted on our cloud-based systems, we keep our client’s data private and secure.

What do you integrate with?

We have several notable integrations including:

What reports do you have?

Our systems provide a big variety of reports that are fully configurable for your inventory management and asset tracking needs. These include:

  • Physical Inventory Count Reports
  • Asset Counts Reports
  • Asset Maintenance Reports
  • Inventory Trends Forecast Reports
  • Vacant Locations Reports
  • Historical Inventory Reports
  • And Many More!

What devices does your mobile app support?

iOS devices: This includes iPhones and iPads, starting from iPhone 4 or higher.

Android devices that use the Android 5.0 or newer operating systems: Devices that have cameras that utilize AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistant technology are preferred most of the time as that can help your employees scan barcodes.

What is the difference between cloud-based systems and on-premise software?

These are both hosting options offered in our Inventory Software and Asset Management Systems. Essentially, the cloud based inventory system or asset tracking software hosts your database online through a cloud storage service. With the On-Premise option, your database is hosted onsite at your facilities or offices.

About The Company

How long have you been in business?

We’ve been in the industry for 30 years and counting!

Hardware Questions

Do I need to buy hardware to scan barcodes?

Yes, you would need to buy hardware to scan barcodes. Alternatively, you or your employees could download our Mobile App to scan barcodes on your iOS or Android devices.
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Do you sell just hardware?

While we do sell hardware, it is sold as an optional add-on to the purchase of our Inventory Control and Asset Management Systems. Please contact our support team at (support email) if you need specifications of hardware compatible with our software.

Support

How do I add an authorized user?

Please have an existing authorized user from your organization email the following details of the user who will be authorized to our support team at operations@barcloud.com.

  • Full name
  • Email
  • Phone number

How do I schedule training?

We would be more than happy to help you with that! Please contact our support team at operations@barcloud.com.

Benefits

How can AI be used to automate inventory control and asset management processes?

The development of AI has revolutionized the field of logistics. This gives us powerful tools to automate and simplify numerous processes, helping companies as well as employees save both time, resources and money. Tasks that are repetitive and mundane take up less space in our minds, offering you better focus on the status of inventory and assets.

Why is inventory control important to the bottom line?

In terms of expenses, proper inventory control helps you utilize available space by ensuring you only have stock the inventory you need. With a good system, you can even optimize your storage space and cut costs to improve your bottom line.

Why is asset tracking important?

Efficient and accurate asset management improves your business practice with more informed decisions, improved regulatory compliance, better asset reliability as well as an increased return on investment from a better understanding of your asset lifecycle.

How does asset management software help in audits?

The real-time updates and historical asset data means every step your asset makes is documented. This provides a comprehensive and airtight audit trail as information is compiled for your convenience, resulting in smoother work processes and a better-informed decision can be made, which is beneficial to companies.

How does a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) help you?

A CMMS digitalizes asset maintenance and makes it easier for you to manage asset downtime and upkeep. This helps you effectively balance your resources and maintenance costs to minimize backlogs, optimize your maintenance schedule, on top of increasing asset lifespans. Our Asset Management Software also acts as a CMMS with an efficient asset tracking system, providing you with end-to-end asset life cycle management.

Why is preventive maintenance important?

Performing preventive maintenance prolongs the life of your equipment, reduces downtime, decreases reactive maintenance requests, helps you manage compliance and inspection needs, and prevents costly emergency repairs from occurring.

What are some unique applications for inventory control and asset tracking software?

Our customers have used our systems to manage items in a myriad of industries. Here are a few examples:

  • From K12 schools to universities and vocational institutions
  • Fire departments
  • Aviation industry
  • Nuclear power plants
  • Military
  • Restoration work
  • Chemicals
  • Vaccines
  • Medical Supplies and many more!
Please speak with our Sales Team at sales@barcloud.com | + 1-888-868-6282 or Get a Demo if you would like to learn more.: