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Function documentation Continuous Physical Inventory Procedures Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Use

In the following, the continuous physical inventory procedures supported by Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) are described in more detail. For all these physical inventory procedures, you must archive the warehouse tasks (WTs) in accordance with legal provisions. This is necessary to be able to provide proof of all individual movements involving storage bins or products over the entire fiscal year.

Ad Hoc Physical Inventory (Storage-Bin-Specific and Product-Specific)

For the storage-bin-specific ad hoc physical inventory, you carry out the inventory-taking for certain storage bins at any time during the fiscal year. This physical inventory procedure is manually controlled. An ad hoc physical inventory may become necessary because a product has been damaged, for example.

The product-specific ad hoc physical inventory corresponds to the storage-bin-specific ad hoc inventory except that you perform it for products. For example, you may have to make a targeted check of the stock of a certain product after receiving a complaint about the product from a customer.

Low Stock Check (Storage-Bin-Specific)

The low stock check is a physical inventory procedure that you perform when confirming WTs. Here you assume that a storage bin should only contain a small quantity of a product after a stock removal in accordance with the storage bin data in EWM. You define this quantity in the form of a limit value that is based on the operative unit of measure for the product per storage type. During the physical removal of stock from storage, you check whether the storage bin data reflects the actual stock situation. Since the stock comprises only a small quantity of the product (approx. 3-5 pieces), the picker can establish the stock level at a glance, without having to carry out an explicit count.

You confirm on the printed WT that you have performed the physical inventory. When you confirm the WT in the system, the system automatically creates the physical inventory document in the background on the basis of the WT. You can use the WT number to determine the physical inventory document number.

Note

A variant of the low stock check is the zero stock check. Here the limit value is zero.

You have the following options:

     Low stock check with physical inventory (low-stock physical inventory)

The first time that the stock falls below the limit value, you carry out the low-stock physical inventory. The system creates a physical inventory document.

     Low stock check without physical inventory

We recommend this setting if you want to carry out the low stock check multiple times to improve stock security. In this case, no physical inventory document is created. You must therefore carry out a physical inventory for the bin at the end of the fiscal year to create a physical inventory document.

     You can also combine the two options. The first time that the stock falls below the limit value, the system proceeds in the same way as for the low stock check with physical inventory (low-stock physical inventory). In subsequent cases, it proceeds as for the low stock check without physical inventory, in other words, it no longer creates physical inventory documents.

The following situations can occur:

     You request the low stock check manually if you discover that a storage bin lies below the defined limit value after stock removal, but no low stock check has been planned for this storage bin.

     The system automatically activates the low stock check as soon as you create a WT for a storage bin that should lie below the defined limit value after the stock removal.

When the WT is created, the system checks whether the following conditions have been met:

     No open WT exists for the storage bin.

     Negative quantities are not permitted for the relevant storage type.

     Mixed storage is not permitted for the relevant storage type, in other words, only one quant exists.

Note 

In the radio frequency environment, the check is performed when you confirm the WT.

If these conditions are met, the system requests that you enter the quantity counted when you confirm the WT. The following situations can occur:

     The storage bin should be empty and really is empty (zero stock check) or the quantity in the storage bin lies below the permitted limit value (low stock check).

In this case, you enter zero or the remaining quantity as the quantity counted. The system creates a physical inventory document.

     The storage bin should be empty, but is not empty (zero stock check) or the quantity in the storage bin does not lie below the permitted limit value (low stock check). In this case, you have the following options:

     You enter the remaining quantity. The system creates a physical inventory document and displays the differences in the Difference Analyzer.

     You reject the physical inventory, for example, because the remaining quantity is too large and you cannot enter the quantity based on a quick glance, but would need to count each piece. In this case, the system does not create a physical inventory document and does not display the difference.

Recommendation

If some storage bins do not fall below the limit value as a result of stock removal within the fiscal year, we recommend that you also define a periodic physical inventory for this physical inventory area in addition to the low stock check. This allows you to carry out a periodic physical inventory for the storage bins that have not been recorded at the end of the fiscal year.

Putaway Physical Inventory (Storage-Bin-Specific)

As with the low stock check, the putaway inventory is a procedure for simplifying the work involved in carrying out a physical inventory. In this case, the physical inventory for a storage bin is carried out at the time of the first putaway in this bin in the fiscal year. The warehouse employee confirms during the first putaway that the stock in the warehouse matches the confirmed quantity in the WT after the putaway.

During the current fiscal year, no further physical inventory is performed for this storage bin, even if a completely different quant is stored there at the end of the year, or if the bin is empty.

In the case of the putaway physical inventory, the system checks when the WT is created whether the following conditions have been met:

     The storage bin is empty.

     Mixed storage is not permitted for the relevant storage type, in other words, only one quant exists.

     You are putting stock away for the first time in the physical inventory year.

Note

In the radio frequency environment, the check is performed when you confirm the WT.

If these conditions are met, the system requests that you enter the quantity counted when you confirm the WT. The following situations can occur:

     The storage bin is really empty.

This means that after the WT has been confirmed, the storage bin quantity is the same as the WT quantity. The system creates a physical inventory document for this WT quantity.

     The storage bin is not empty, in other words, there are still products in the storage bin.

In this case, you reject the putaway physical inventory. The system does not create a physical inventory document.

Recommendation

If putaway does not take place for all storage bins within a fiscal year, we recommend that you make additional provision for a periodic physical inventory for the relevant storage type. This allows you to carry out a periodic physical inventory for the storage bins whose data has not yet been recorded at the end of the fiscal year.

Storage Bin Check

The storage bin check is a procedure in which you check whether a product is actually stored in the storage bin in which it is supposed to be located. The quantity of the product in the storage bin is immaterial in this case. Thus, the storage bin check is not a physical inventory procedure in the true sense.

 

 

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