Inventory Counts

Counts is where you reconcile what is on the shelf with what DayZero says you have. Walk a location, scan or type what you see, and post the differences as inventory adjustments, so your stock levels and your books agree.

Key capabilities

• Start count for any active location, with optional notes
• Scan a barcode or SKU, or paste it, and enter the quantity you counted
• Expected, Counted, and Variance on every line, with gains in green and shortfalls in red
• A reason for each variance: Count variance, Shrinkage, Damage, Expired, Theft, Found, or Other
• Post variances to create one adjustment per line that differs
• Cancel count to abandon a count without changing anything
• A list of past counts with status, line count, variances, and start and post times
• Search, a status filter, and saved views

How it works

A count starts as a Draft with no lines. Each scan adds a line and records what the system expected at that location at that moment. Once you add a line, the count is In progress. Posting locks the count and writes an adjustment for every line whose counted quantity differs from expected.

flowchart LR
  start["Start count"] --> scan["Scan or enter counts"]
  scan --> review["Review variances and reasons"]
  review --> post["Post variances"]
  review --> cancel["Cancel count"]
  post --> adjust["Stock and books adjusted"]

How to use it

1. Open Counts from the Operations group in the Inventory sidebar.
2. Click Start count, choose the Location (your default location is preselected), add optional Notes such as "Q1 perishables, aisle 3", and click Start.
3. In the count window, click Scan barcode or SKU, scan or paste the code, set Qty to the number you counted, and press Enter or click Add.
4. For items you already listed, type the number in the Counted column. It saves when you leave the field.
5. Choose a Reason for each line with a variance. Pick it before or after typing the quantity.
6. Click Refresh if teammates are scanning too, and review the Variance column.
7. Click Post variances and confirm. Or click Cancel count and confirm to discard it.
8. Reopen any count from the list by clicking its row. Use the status filter to find Draft, In progress, Posted, or Cancelled counts.

Pro tips

• Start with a small area or one category per count. Short counts finish faster and are easier to review.
• Scanning the same item again updates its existing line, so a mistaken scan is fixed by scanning again with the right quantity.
• Expected is fixed when the line is added. Pause receiving and shipping at that location while you count, or variances will include movements that happened mid-count.
• Items you never counted are skipped on posting, not treated as zero. To record that an item is gone, count it as 0.
• Give every variance a real reason. Posted reasons feed the Adjustments by Reason report in Inventory Reports.
• Posting cannot be undone, so scan the Variance column once more first.

In-depth guide

Statuses

Posted and Cancelled counts open read-only with a Close button. The list shows how many lines had a variance.

What posting does

Each non-zero variance becomes a manual adjustment at the counted location, using the line's reason (Count variance if you left it blank). Each adjustment updates the stock level and appears in the stock history. When the item has a cost, it also posts a journal entry between Inventory and Inventory Adjustments, or the category ledgers you mapped. See Production & Costing for mapping inventory ledgers and Products & Variants for manual adjustments.

Finding an item

Scans look up your non-archived variants by barcode first, then by SKU. If nothing matches, you get an error and no line is added, so add or fix the barcode on the product first. A counted quantity cannot be negative.

Edge cases

• A new count can only be started for an active, non-archived location.
• Only Draft and In progress counts can be edited, posted, or cancelled.
• Counted quantity and reason save together. If you choose a reason before entering a quantity, it is held and sent with your next quantity entry.
• A line with a quantity of 0 and a positive expected quantity posts a negative adjustment for the full expected amount.
• Inventory pages need the Commerce & Inventory add-on. Counts is available in both Finished goods and CPG modes.

Counts over the API

Counts are numbered by date, for example CC-20261015-001, per business per day. Developers can start, scan, preview, and post counts over the API; see the Inventory operations guide.