Inventory Management for Articles

Inventory management in bessa allows you to link stock levels directly with your sales articles. This way, inventory is automatically updated with each sale, and you maintain oversight of your stock.

Enabling Inventory Management

Inventory management is configured in the Inventory Management tab when creating or editing an article.

Inventory Management: Enable this checkbox to activate stock tracking for this article.

Once enabled, the following functions are available:

• View inventory levels per warehouse

• Manually adjust stock (receipts/issues)

• Track stock history

• Perform inventory counts

Simple Inventory Management

For articles sold as whole units, setup is straightforward:

1. Create or edit the article

2. Open the Inventory Management tab

3. Enable Inventory Management

4. Save the article

The inventory level is then automatically reduced by the booked quantity with each sale.

Example: You sell wine bottles as whole units.

• Article "Grüner Veltliner 0.75L" with inventory management enabled

• Each sale deducts 1 bottle from stock

Main Article and Recipes

For more complex scenarios – e.g., when a product consists of portions from a larger package – use the Main Article Link.

Concept

The main article link allows you to automatically reduce the inventory of a "main article" (e.g., a wine bottle or coffee package) when portion articles (e.g., 1/8 wine or espresso) are sold.

Important:

• Inventory management is only enabled on the main article

• Portion articles are linked via Select Main Article and Quantity Content

• Inventory management should not be enabled on the portion article itself

Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create Main Article

Create an article of type Inventory for the base product:

1. Create new article

2. Type: Inventory

3. Name: e.g., "Coffee Package 1kg"

4. Inventory Management tab: Enable inventory management

5. Save

Step 2: Create Portion Article

Create the sales article and link it:

1. Create new article

2. Type: Article (Standard)

3. Name: e.g., "Espresso"

4. Inventory Management tab:

   • Inventory Management: not enabled

   • Select Main Article: Coffee Package 1kg

   • Quantity Content: 0.008 (= 8 grams)

5. Save

Calculating Quantity Content

The Quantity Content specifies what proportion of the main article is deducted per sale.

Formula: Portion Amount = Quantity Content ÷ Main Article Unit

Practical Examples

Example 1: Wine by the Glass

Goal: A wine bottle is sold by the glass, and bottle inventory should be automatically updated.

Main Article (Type: Inventory):

• Name: Grüner Veltliner 0.75L

• Inventory Management: Enabled

• Current Stock: 24 bottles

Portion Articles (Type: Article):

Result: After selling 6x 1/8 wine, exactly 1 bottle (6 × 0.125 = 0.75 L) is deducted from stock.

Example 2: Coffee Recipe

Goal: Track coffee bean consumption per cup.

Main Article (Type: Inventory):

• Name: Coffee Arabica 1kg

• Inventory Management: Enabled

• Current Stock: 5 packages

Portion Articles (Type: Article):

Result: Selling 125 espressos deducts 1 kg of coffee (125 × 8g = 1000g) from stock.

Example 3: Cocktails (Multiple Ingredients)

Goal: For cocktails, all ingredients should be deducted from inventory.

Main Articles (Type: Inventory):

Cocktail Article: The cocktail "Rum and Coke" is created as a regular article. Ingredient linking is done via Article Options of type "Inventory":

For the article "Rum and Coke":

• Article option "Bacardi" with quantity 0.04 L

• Article option "Coke" with quantity 0.15 L

More complex example – Cosmopolitan:

• Vodka: 0.04 L

• Triple Sec: 0.015 L

• Lime juice: 0.015 L

• Cranberry juice: 0.03 L

Example 4: Burger with Components

Goal: With each burger sold, all ingredients should be deducted from inventory.

Main Articles (Type: Inventory):

Burger Article with Ingredient Links:

Viewing and Managing Inventory Levels

In the Inventory Management tab of an article, you'll find the Inventory Levels section with a table showing current stock per warehouse.

Available Actions per Warehouse Row:

The Refresh button (🔄) reloads current stock data.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

Article Type "Inventory"

For pure inventory items that are not sold directly, use the article type Inventory. These articles:

• Do not appear on the order screen

• Are not printed on receipts or invoices

• Serve exclusively for stock tracking

More details on all article types can be found under Article Types.

Related Topics

• Articles

• Article Types

• Article Options

• Inventory Management

• Assigning Price Levels to Articles

FAQ

Can I manually correct inventory levels? Yes, via the inventory function (↔ symbol) you can set the stock to a new value. The difference is recorded as an inventory posting.

What happens with a cancellation? When a sale is cancelled, the inventory level is automatically increased again.

Can an article have multiple main articles? No, an article can only be linked to one main article. For complex recipes with multiple ingredients, use Article Options of type "Inventory."

Are negative stock levels prevented? Yes, but only if the option “Allow negative stock” of the warehouse is disabled. Otherwise bessa allows negative stock levels. This enables flexible operation even when inventory counts are not current. However, negative stock should be regularly reviewed and corrected.