Infinity POS
Inventory management that survives a real count
Infinity automatically maintains stock-on-hand as items are sold, received, adjusted or committed through a stock take. Purchase ordering, receiving and reporting all depend on that same stock record.
Specified against how the store runs. Nationwide remote implementation.
How does Infinity POS manage retail inventory?
Infinity maintains stock-on-hand from recorded stock movements and transactions. Sales, receipts, manual adjustments and committed stock takes change that figure automatically. The same inventory record is then used by reporting, purchase ordering and receiving, so the stock number is an operating value rather than a separate spreadsheet somebody has to maintain.
The practical test of an inventory system is whether a physical count agrees with it. If it does not, ordering becomes guesswork and the cash tied up in stock is invisible.
- One item file, not severalA second list is a second version of the truth.
- Receiving is a recorded eventStock that arrives without being received is stock nobody can trust.
- Counts correct the fileWhen a stock take is committed, Infinity updates stock-on-hand.
- Ordering reads the same figurePurchase decisions are only as good as the stock number behind them.
Inventory accuracy is a process as much as a system. A file nobody receives against will drift no matter what software sits behind it, which is why item file setup and training are part of an implementation.
What the Infinity documentation says about inventory
These are the stock behaviors the Infinity documentation describes for its inventory module, each with the condition that applies. They describe the software; how a particular store uses them depends on its setup.
| Stock-on-hand | Changes as items are sold, received, adjusted, or committed through a stock take. Reporting, purchase orders and receiving read the same figure. |
|---|---|
| Minimum and maximum levels | A stock item can carry minimum and maximum levels, and Infinity can suggest re-orders from them. Levels are set on the item, so they are only as good as the item file. |
| Quantity on order | Purchase orders raise it, and it falls as stock is received. Receiving has to be recorded for the figure to move. |
| Partial receiving and back orders | Infinity supports receiving part of a purchase order and tracking back orders. The delivery has to be received against the order. |
| Item cost at receiving | Receiving can update the cost held on the item. Depends on configuration. |
| Stock adjustments | A manual adjustment updates stock-on-hand. Adjustments are recorded movements, not edits to a total. |
| Stock take | Counts can be entered manually or collected on a portable data collector, then reviewed as a preliminary variance before anything changes. Accepting the stock take commits the adjustments to stock records. |
| Scheduled and scoped counts | A stock take schedule lets a store count part of its inventory instead of all of it. Scope is chosen when the count is set up. |
| Stock transfers | A transfer between locations is a recorded movement. Applies to stores that run more than one location on the system. |
| Serialized stock | Serialized items can be received, transferred, counted, returned and sold. Applies only to items set up as serialized. |
Source: the Infinity RMS Help for the inventory module (software documentation). Behavior can depend on configuration and hardware, so ask to see any row on your own item file in a demo.
Watch a delivery received and counted
Ask to see receiving, a stock take and one item’s history in the demo, with your own item file in mind.
What inaccurate inventory actually costs
-
The count never agrees with the system
Ordering is guesswork and shelves gap on the lines that sell.
Receiving, transfers and counts all write to the one item file.
Stock take -
Cash is tied up in stock nobody is buying
Working capital sits on a shelf instead of in the bank.
Movement reporting shows what is not moving, by line.
Reporting -
Deliveries are checked against a paper note
Short deliveries go unnoticed and are paid for anyway.
Receiving against the purchase order, so the variance is visible.
Purchase orders -
Nobody trusts the number, so a second list appears
Two versions of the truth and an argument about which one is right.
One file, and a count that corrects it rather than competing with it.
Item file setup
Spreadsheet, standalone inventory app, or inventory inside the POS
Most stores end up in one of three arrangements. None is wrong for every store. The difference is how many places a stock figure has to be kept in step, and who is responsible for keeping it there.
| Spreadsheet | Low setup effort, and fully flexible. Every sale, delivery and count is typed in by a person, so the figure is only as current as the last update. |
|---|---|
| Standalone inventory app beside a POS | Adds receiving and counts without replacing the register. Sales reach it by integration or import, so two systems have to agree and a failed sync shows up as a count difference. |
| Inventory inside the POS | Sales, receiving and counts write to one item record. Suits a store that can move its register onto the same platform. The existing item file has to be scoped for conversion first. |
A general comparison of approaches, not of any named product. Which one fits depends on how many items and locations the store runs and who receives deliveries.
In a demo
What to ask to see in an inventory demo
Ask for these in a demo, because each one shows the stock figure being produced rather than described.
A delivery received, then counted
Stock takeAsk to see a delivery received against its order, a department counted afterward, and the stock figure the count leaves behind.
One item’s history
Ask to see what was received, what sold and what the last count found for one item, and how the on-hand figure follows from them.
The lines that are not moving
ReportingAsk to see which lines have stock on hand and no recent sales, by department.
Inventory questions
Can I count a single department?
Yes. Counting by department or category is how most stores do it, because closing the whole shop to count everything is rarely practical.
Does the system handle transfers between locations?
Yes, and the transfer is a recorded movement rather than an adjustment at each end, which is what makes the two sites reconcile.
What happens to my existing item file?
It is converted where the current system can export it, and cleaned as part of setup. We look at an actual export rather than guessing what will come across.
How accurate should I expect inventory to be?
That depends far more on receiving discipline than on software. A system records what it is told; the value comes from everything being told to it.
Tell us how stock is handled today
How deliveries are received, how often anything is counted, and what the item file lives in now. That is enough to say what changes.