How to: Perform Cycle Counting
Although you count all items in inventory at least once a year, you may have decided to count some items more often, perhaps because they are more valuable, or because they are very fast movers and a large part of your business.
Before you begin cycle counting, you must set up and assign physical inventory counting periods. For more information, see How to: Set Up Physical Inventory Counting Periods.
You can perform the cycle counting in either of the following ways depending on your warehouse setup:
If your location is not using directed put-away and pick, you use the Phys. Inventory Journal window in the Inventory menu, and the procedure is much the same as when you conduct a physical inventory without cycle counting.
If your location is using directed put-away and pick, you first use the Whse. Phys. Invt. Journal window, and then you use the Item Journal window to run the Calculate Whse. Adjustment function.
To perform cycle counting without directed put-away and pick
In the Search box, enter Phys. Inventory Journal, and choose the related link.
On the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Calculate Counting Period. The Phys. Invt. Item Selection window opens, which contains the items for which counting periods have been established that need to be counted, according to their counting periods.
Note
You can also keep track of stockkeeping units using cycle counting.
Select the items that warehouse employees have time to count on this work date. On another date, you can calculate counting periods again, and the items that you do not select now will be included in that calculation.
Choose the OK button, and the selected lines now appear in the Phys. Inventory Journal window.
In the Search box, enter Phys. Inventory List, and choose the related link.
Open the report request page and print the report, and count all the items in the warehouse with the item numbers on the report lines.
Enter the quantities counted in the Qty. (Phys. Inventory) field.
Post the results of the physical inventory. The program creates item ledger entries for the items where adjustment is necessary and physical inventory ledger entries for all the items for which you have performed the cycle count. If you are using bins, the program also creates warehouse entries for the items for which an adjustment is necessary.
To perform cycle counting with directed put-away and pick
In the Search box, enter Whse. Phys. Invt. Journal, and choose the related link.
On the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Counting Period. The Phys. Invt. Item Selection window opens, containing the items or stockkeeping units for which counting periods have been established that need to be counted according to their counting periods.
Select the items or stockkeeping units that you want to count and choose the OK button.
The program has created lines for each bin that contains the items in the journal.
Note
You must count the item in all the bins that contain the particular item. If you delete some of the bin lines that the program has retrieved for counting in the Whse. Phys. Inventory window, then you will not be counting all the items in the warehouse. If you later post such incomplete results in the Phys. Inventory Journal, the amounts posted will be incorrect.
Print the Whse. Phys. Inventory List report without filtering out some of the lines.
Count the items and note the quantities on the report.
Enter the quantities that were counted in the Qty. (Phys. Inventory) field on each line.
On the Actions tab, in the Registering group, choose Register to complete the warehouse physical inventory.
When you have counted the item or stockkeeping unit in all the bins that contain it, you are ready to post the results in the item ledger and the physical inventory ledger.
To post the results with directed put-away and pick
In the Search box, enter Item Journal, and choose the related link.
On the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Calculate Whse. Adjustment.
Select the same items that you counted in the cycle counting physical inventory you just performed, and any other items that require adjustment, and then choose the OK button.
The Inventory Journal window opens and lines are created for these items. Note that the net quantities that you just counted and registered bin by bin are now ready to be consolidated and synchronized as item ledger entries.
Post the journal without changing any quantities.
The quantities in the item ledger (item entries) and the quantities in the warehouse (warehouse entries) are now once again the same for these items, and the program has updated the last counting date of the item or stockkeeping unit.
For the items/stockkeeping units that you have just counted, you must now calculate the next counting period on each item/stockkeeping unit card.
To calculate the next counting period
In the Search box, enter Items.
Select the item card of each item for which you performed a cycle count.
On each card, on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Calculate Counting Period.
The new counting period is calculated and the date of the counting period is updated in the Last Counting Period Update field on the Warehouse FastTab of the item card.
Note
If you update the item cards on the same day that you post the physical inventory, then this field contains the last counting date, corresponding to the value in the Last Phys. Invt. Date field. If you calculate the counting period later on, this field contains the date of the counting period update.
When you have done this, the lines for these items in the Phys. Invt. Item Selection window will not be brought up until the work date is within the next cycle counting period, as indicated on the item/stockkeeping unit card.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Perform a Physical Inventory
How to: Set Up Physical Inventory Counting Periods
Concepts
Count, Adjust, and Reclassify Inventory