Cycle Counting

Hi! I am trying to figure out how to do cycle counting. I have set up physical inventory counting period codes for all my part numbers but it appears that I have to run a function (calculate counting period) from the item card to update the next counting period for each item! We have thousands of items. It will take forever! Am I missing something? Also, when I calculate inventory from the warehouse physical inventory journal, a column headed “Physical Inventory Counting Period Code” comes up but does not populate on this worksheet, even though I have entered this code for all parts. Does anyone have any experience with this thst might help me? Thanks! Oh, we use the full warehouse management package, by the way. Emily Ryan

you could find & replace right in the item table for mass changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------ It might help to know what version you are running. I know in 3.1 we had to modify it a bit to include a last counted date on the item card that would be automatically updated if that item was posted in the physical inventory journal. We have thousands of items also and we would count them in small groups over a period of time. We didn’t want items coming up on the report again that we just counted. Therefore we could filter Last Counted Date >60 for example. But maybe it has been improved in 3.6 or 3.7?

Hi, Just want to know whether you have figured out how to mass update next counting period for each item. Did you modify code to auto update them? Another thing I have not figured out. Some items show on Phys. Invt. Item Selections window when I run Phys Inventory Journal > functions > calculate counting period, but do not show on phys. Inventory journal lines. These missing items do have Qty on hand and within the next counting period. I tried several things and have not came to a conclusion yet. Thanks,

Hi The updating of the counting period by item is a known issue with Navision. I logged it as a suggestion around 9-12 months ago that the updating of the next counting period on an item by item basis was ridiculous. A clear case of the specification writer or developer having never run cycle counting in real life! This global suggestion has been accepted by Microsoft and will be worked into the “next version” - so do not hold your breath. For our customers that use it we wrote a batch routine to update the field. Trin - I am not 100% sure but my memory tells me if you have an item that has zero stock and has NEVER had an item ledger entry then no matter what you tell Navision to do it will never tell you to count it - the logic being that how can you possibly ever have more than zero if you have never transacted against the item. If my memory is correct this is “by design” and not something Microsoft are willing to change (well not the last time I posted it as a suggestion!). So if you want to get them to appear (assuming you are filtering correctly) book one in and take it out again and count where there is zero inventory.

After getting this issue reported by a client, I went through the code line by line, and basically I just can not see anyway that this can work. I have tried older versions, can it just does not make sense. Has anyone ever seen cycle count work properly? [V]

Hi David I have but on a modified batch routine to update the counting period. Apparently it is an area due for re-release in the next version [:D] Having to update this on an individual item by item basis makes cycle counting anything over 10 (?) items a waste of time, and I have not met many companies utilising cycle counting with a small inventory.

I have found that evey client seems to have thier own totally differnt concept of cycle counting is, its just easier to write a new cycle count for each client than try to work out what Navision were trying to do with this one.

Its not too bad depending upon the definition of the items and discipline on the counting - as an example if you count a section od items every month and forget one month the calcualte counting period to suggest what items you should count will not suggest the items - the items have to require counting in the period your work date is in to qualify from this function. However as you rightly say, depending upon what the end user wants will determine if it is usable or not, and certainly at the extensive end of cycle counting and associated techniques the Navision offering would be seen as simple and restrictive. Horses for courses as they say.

To me cycle count means having a dynamic factor that determines how often an item should be counted, this is a function, of No. of Receipts and Issues, no of bin movements, no f sales, sales $ on hand inventory, age of inentory etc. It should then have a flag which warns if you are trying to pick an item that is over due for a count. etc etc.

Yes I agree - Navision gives you a tool to kind of cycle count when you know the basis of item segregation, but no method of getting this information from Navision to determine the frequency, so this part is simply missing, or manual if you prefer!

Thanks for all the information. The reason these items missing from Phys. Invt. Item selection window is because they do not have any sales or purchase item ledger entries. I used an item only consists of negative and positive adjustments as example. That item showed on Phys. Invt. Item selection window but not on Phys. Inventory Journal lines. I entered an sales entry for that item then it shows up on Phys. Inventory Journal lines. Thanks again, Trin