In WM, it is important to know what quantity of a stock is in a particular storage bin, but also its status and whether or not it is available. Stock in the warehouse is categorized in WM as follows:

Unrestricted-use stock that is physically located in the warehouse, valuated, and not subject to any kind of usage restrictions. You can carry out all stock movements for this stock to include stock transfers, putaway and picking.

This stock carries the stock category "Q" to indicate that it is in quality inspection. Stock in quality inspection has been valuated but does not count as unrestricted-use stock.

The Quality Management inspection data in the QM view of the material master determines whether a percentage of stock is to be designated as inspection stock when it is received in the warehouse. Once this stock has been inspected and a usage decision has been made, you carry out a transfer posting in the Inventory Management component and subsequent Posting Change in WM to remove the category Q, thus converting it to available stock.

In IM it is possible to designate goods as blocked stock. These materials are a company's own stock that should not be used. Stock can be blocked, for example, because it has been damaged and for various other reasons. This stock is displayed in WM with a stock category of "S". This stock is processed in exactly the same manner as inspection stock.

When delivered goods are returned by a customer, they are first posted in the system to "blocked stock returns" with a stock category of "R". This stock is neither valuated nor is it considered to be unrestricted-use stock. It is possible store this stock in the warehouse. You must carry out a posting change to return it to available stock.

When goods arrive in the warehouse, they are usually received in the Goods Receipt Area (GR-Area) near the receiving dock. Later, they are transferred using a transfer order to another area within the warehouse, such as high rack shelving or other reserve storage areas. In some cases, goods are moved directly to fixed bins in a picking area near the goods issue area or shipping dock.

During the period of time when move orders have been created for the movement of goods between the various storage types that have not been fully processed, two availability statuses exist for this stock which has not yet been moved. When warehouse evaluation lists are displayed for these material, these goods appear on the display lists under the following three headers:

This designator usually appears at the top of many stock display lists. This is the total quantity of material quants stored in the warehouse that does not include quantities for planned putaways and picks. For the display of materials in a bin, the total quantity in each storage bin is also displayed.

This column designator appears in some stock lists. The system has created a transfer order for this stock to move it from one storage bin to another. It has been marked for putaway (storage) in the warehouse.

This is also a column designator that appears in some stock lists. A transfer order has been created to pick this stock from a storage bin in the warehouse. In most cases, this stock will be transferred to a storage bin in the goods issue area.