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Tracking Products

This guide explains how to start tracking stock on a product, what each field on the inventory item does, and how to read the inventory list. It also covers adding your opening stock, which is not part of the item form.

Before You Begin​

Create the product first. Inventory tracks items from your product catalog, and only products — services cannot hold stock. See Creating Products.

You need inventory.read to view items and inventory.write to create or edit them. Adjusting stock is a separate permission, inventory.adjust, because it posts to your ledger while editing an item's settings does not. See the Permissions Reference.

Starting to Track a Product​

Go to Inventory > Items and select Track a product.

  1. Select the product

    Only products that are not already tracked appear in the list. If the product does not exist yet, enter its name and select Create new product to create it and start tracking in one step.

  2. Set the tracking type

    Tracked records stock levels and costs in your ledger. Not tracked keeps the SKU and reorder details without any stock or accounting effect.

  3. Enter a SKU

    Optional, but useful for searching and for your reports. A SKU must be unique within your company, and matching ignores capitalisation.

  4. Set the stocking unit

    The unit stock is counted in, such as each or kg. This is required, and Fiskl fills it in from the product when it can. All quantities and costs are recorded in this unit.

  5. Set the reorder point and quantity

    The reorder point flags the item as low stock. The reorder quantity is a suggested order size for when you restock. Both are optional.

  6. Set the accounts, if you need to

    Open Advanced accounting to point this item at a specific Inventory asset account, Cost of goods sold account or Income account. Leave them blank to use the defaults.

Select Track product to finish.

The product cannot be changed afterwards. If you picked the wrong one, archive the item and start tracking the correct product.

Adding Your Opening Stock​

The item form has no opening stock field. A new tracked item starts at zero, and you add what you already hold afterwards in one of two ways:

  • Adjust stock on the item, entering the quantity and the cost per unit. Best for stock you already own when you start using Fiskl.
  • A goods receipt against a purchase order. Best when the stock is arriving from a vendor now.

See Stock Adjustments and Counts for the adjustment flow.

Reading the Inventory List​

Inventory > Items opens the list. Three cards summarise it: Tracked items, Total value and Low stock.

Each row shows:

ColumnWhat it tells you
ProductThe product name, with the SKU underneath.
UnitThe stocking unit.
On handThe quantity you hold, with a Low stock badge when relevant.
AvailableOn hand minus any reserved quantity.
Avg unit costThe current average cost of a unit.
ValueOn hand multiplied by the unit cost.
StatusNot tracked or Archived badges, where they apply.

Items that are not tracked, or archived, show a dash for cost and value.

To order stock, select rows using their checkboxes and then Create purchase order, or use Order from a single row's action menu.

How Low Stock Is Flagged​

An item is flagged Low stock when it has a reorder point and the quantity on hand is at or below it. An item sitting exactly at its reorder point counts as low.

Items with no reorder point are never flagged.

info

Low stock is a report, not an alert. Fiskl does not email you or send a notification when an item drops below its reorder point. The count appears as a badge next to Items in the menu, on the Low stock card, and in the Stock Valuation report.

Archiving an Item​

Open the item and select Archive. Archived items disappear from the list and can no longer move stock, but their movement history is kept. An item that has ever moved stock can only be archived, never deleted.

Archiving has a consequence worth understanding: an archived item no longer relieves stock when you invoice its product. The invoice still sends and still bills your client, but no stock movement and no cost of goods sold entry is posted. Only archive items you have genuinely stopped selling.

Common Issues​

My product does not appear in the product list

Three things hide a product from that list. It may be a service rather than a product — only products can hold stock. It may already be tracked, in which case it is in your inventory list already. Or it may not exist yet, in which case enter the name and select Create new product.

I get an error saying the SKU already exists

SKUs must be unique within your company, and the check ignores capitalisation, so BEAN-1KG and bean-1kg collide. Search your inventory list for the SKU to find the item using it. Remember to show archived items, because an archived item still holds its SKU.

I invoiced a tracked product but my stock did not change

Check three things. The item must be Tracked, not Not tracked. It must not be archived, because archived items stop relieving stock. And the invoice must have been sent — stock moves when the invoice is issued, not when it is drafted or paid.

My new item shows zero stock

That is expected. The item form has no opening stock field. Add what you hold using Adjust stock on the item, or receive it against a purchase order.