• From: UK, Scotland, Aberdeen
  • Registered: 04/21/2010
  • Posts: 30

Topic: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

Hi,

Is there a simple way either to handle non-stock items or to create items that whose stock levels aren't monitored (as opposed to going negative)?

There are two situations we routinely encounter:

1) We supply a CD with specific software on it.  The stock change is that we're down by one CDR, but the invoice line is "Supply squiggle software".  We're only doing it this once and we don't care too much about our CDR stock level.  It would be nice to create an invoice-line that says "Supply squiggle software" that we can charge, but that is not on any inventory and only exists for that one instance.

2) We're doing an installation and we chuck in a big handful of network patch leads.  Frankly we use so many that they're a consumable.  We don't count them, but we do charge for them - usually by entering "Patch leads": 1 ea and putting in a sensible charge for the approximate number the customer has.  It's a cludge, but it just isn't cost-effective to issue a number and re-stock the excess.  They're obviously not a service and we do need to be able to purchase and sell them - it's just the quantities that we don't track closely.  Hence - can we create a stock item but not monitor its stock level?

Thanks

  • Registered: 12/25/2007
  • Posts: 2,448

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

Service (read dummy) inventory type should be used in this case. If you want real services to be posted in GL to another accounts than consumables,you can still select different GL accounts.
Janusz

  • From: UK, Scotland, Aberdeen
  • Registered: 04/21/2010
  • Posts: 30

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

Thanks Janusz,

That's what I suspected.  I was also looking at the code to see how difficult it would be to create a one-off line that never even appears in the inventory.  I suspect it might be more straightforward to have a stock item where the description can be edited at the point of entry.

By the way, thanks for this software - it's great to have a good open-source alternative for accounting for small-to-medium businesses - and it's got some really neat features!

  • joe
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 03/15/2007
  • Posts: 5,107

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

You probably know that you can click down an Item for editing, after you have entered it. Here you can also edit the description smile

/Joe

  • From: UK, Scotland, Aberdeen
  • Registered: 04/21/2010
  • Posts: 30

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

Thanks,

I didn't, but just gave it a try.  When I placed the invoice I got an error: "The entered reference is already in use.".  I wonder if I did what you had in mind?

Steps:
1)  Create a Service Item S1, description "Dummy Item"
2)  Start a direct invoice, select S1 and add the item
3)  Click on the pencil and amend the description and price
4)  Place the invoice

David

  • joe
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 03/15/2007
  • Posts: 5,107

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

I tried the same operation just without problems. Maybe the references is out of sync. Please increase it manually to see if it helps.

/Joe

7 Reply by Worrab (edited by Worrab 04/28/2010 09:38:40 pm)

  • From: UK, Scotland, Aberdeen
  • Registered: 04/21/2010
  • Posts: 30

Re: Non-stock items and unchecked stock items

Thanks Joe,

My blunder.  I tested it on our test system which is the one I've been hitting quite hard with freeform SQL inserts.  I think the error referred to a duplicate key that I unwittingly created.  I ran the same sequence on our live system and it was just fine. 

I like the warning for duplicate item numbers - neat.

D